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The Double Watch: The Elder’s Stewardship of Life and Doctrine · Reformed Thinking

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  Reformed thinking. That is the name of the show.
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  And today, we're going to have to do some some really serious
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  thinking. We are cracking open a file that
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  is, well, it's a bit uncomfortable.
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  It is. It's all about leadership, about
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  failure, and honestly about the absolute mess we seem to be
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  seeing in the church landscape right now.
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  It's a heavy one for sure. We're looking at the pastoral
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  office and we're not, you know, we're not approaching this with
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  a business book or some kind of leadership seminar.
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  We are looking at it through a stack of sources that are
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  decidedly confessional. We are talking Westminster
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  standards. We're talking old school,
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  rigorous theology. Which is good because I think
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  the modern approach is just it's failing.
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  You can't scroll through a news feed without seeing another
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  implosion. A mega church pastor resigns.
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  A you know, a famous leader gets caught in a scandal.
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  It feels like it's happening every single week.
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  It does. And the sources we're looking at
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  today, these start right there. They describe the current
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  situation as a plague of inconsistent leadership.
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  That's putting it mildly. Oh, is and the text.
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  It talks about the celebrity pastor phenomenon.
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  You know the type. Oh I absolutely know the type.
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  The the cool sneakers, the massive Instagram following the
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  book deal before they even turn 30.
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  Right. And then, inevitably, comes the
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  crash. The source material points out
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  that when these guys go down, it's rarely because they were
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  bad at managing the budget or because they picked the wrong
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  worship songs. It is almost always a moral
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  collapse. The text used a phrase that
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  really stuck with me. Narcissistic pride.
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  Yeah. It argues that the whole
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  structure of their ministry was built on the self.
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  And when the self gets too big, the whole thing just it topples
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  over. And just look at the damage.
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  I mean, it's not just that one guy loses his job.
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  The source calls it scattered flocks.
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  You have hundreds, maybe thousands of people who looked
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  up to this man and suddenly their faith is completely
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  shaken. They get cynical.
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  They stop going to church all together.
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  The argument here, and it's a strong one, is that when a
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  leader falls, he holds the gospel hostage.
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  That is a terrifying image holding the Gospel hostage.
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  It it implies that people can't see Jesus because the man
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  standing in front of him is acting like a fool.
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  That's the crisis, Yeah. So the solution that's presented
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  in these texts, it isn't a better HR department or, you
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  know, a stricter board of directors, though those things
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  might help. Sure.
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  The solution comes straight to the apostle Paul, first Timothy,
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  chapter 4, verse 16. It's a concept the theologians
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  call the double watch. First Timothy 4.16 Keep a close
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  watch on yourself and on the teaching.
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  I mean, it sounds simple enough, doesn't it?
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  It does. But as we went through the
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  exegetical notes in the source material, I realize this is
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  infinitely more complex than just, you know, be good and read
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  your Bible. Oh, it is.
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  It's a rigorous, exhausting command.
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  It demands a kind of vigilance that most of us can't even
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  really imagine. And the stakes, according to
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  Paul, are life and death. For by so doing, you will save
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  both yourself and your heirs. OK, we are going to have to talk
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  about that. Save yourself part later because
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  my reformed alarm bells went off big time when I read that.
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  We'll get there, I promise. But let's start where the text
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  starts, with the grammar. I'll be honest, I usually glaze
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  over when we get to the Greek lesson, but this one was
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  actually really helpful. The verb Paul uses for watch is
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  a pecho. A pecho.
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  It's such a strong word. The source notes say it means
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  something like to fix the mind upon, but then it gives this
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  nautical illustration that I found really, really helpful.
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  It compares the two holding a ship's course against the wind.
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  OK, think about that image for just a second.
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  If you're steering a ship in totally calm waters, you can
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  maybe take your hand off the wheel for a minute.
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  Go grab a coffee. A real problem.
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  But if you were sailing against the wind, what happens the very
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  moment you let go? You drift instantly.
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  You don't stay still, you are immediately pushed off course.
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  The source is arguing that our spiritual default setting it
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  isn't neutral, it's drift. So the wind is always blowing.
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  The wind of sin, the wind of the culture, the wind of our own
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  flesh, It is always pushing against us.
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  So a pecho isn't a passive glance, it's active white
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  knuckled resistance. So a pastor can never really
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  truly clock out. Not in this sense.
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  He can take a day off from the office.
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  Absolutely he should, but he can never take a day off from
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  guarding his own soul. The grammatical tense here is
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  the present active imperative, which means it means keep on
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  doing it. It's a continuous, ongoing
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  action. The source argues that the
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  moment you stop watching, you start dying.
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  That sounds completely exhausting.
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  It is. That's why the text links it to
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  athletic metaphors later in the chapter.
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  Spiritual gymnastics. It takes sweat.
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  It takes real effort. OK, so that's the action, a
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  Pecho continuous active watching.
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  Now let's talk about the order. This was the first real aha
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  moment for me. In the reading, Paul says watch
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  yourself. And then he says, watch the
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  teaching. And that syntax is absolutely
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  deliberate. The reflexive pronouns so to
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  yourself, it's in the emphatic position.
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  It comes first for a reason. Why?
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  I mean, shouldn't the message be more important than the
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  messenger? God's word is perfect.
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  The man is flawed. Shouldn't we prioritize the
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  perfect thing? Logically, you might think so,
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  but practically you just yeah, you cannot separate them.
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  The source argues that the instrument, the man, has to be
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  honed before the the task. The message can be effective.
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  OK, think of a surgeon. You want the scalpel to be sharp
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  and sterile before he cuts you open.
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  Right, of course. If that scalpel is rusty or
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  dirty, it doesn't matter how correct the surgery is.
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  In theory you are going to get an infection.
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  So the pastor is the instrument, the scalpel?
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  Exactly, and the text has that great line.
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  The elder must be a watched man before he could be a watchman.
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  Wow. And if you flip that order, you
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  get what the source calls the professional academic.
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  Oh, we've all seen that guy. He knows the Greek.
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  He can quote the Westminster Confession backwards and
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  forwards, he writes the books, he speaks at the conference's.
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  But he's a jerk to his wife, or he's arrogant and dismissive to
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  his staff, or he has some secret life that nobody knows about.
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  The source argues that this dichotomy is impossible to
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  maintain. You cannot be a great theologian
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  and a bad Christian. Because eventually the bad
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  Christian part just eats the theology.
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  It rots it from the inside out every time.
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  But Paul doesn't say watch yourself and then stop there.
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  He says watch the teaching to Dida Scalia.
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  And note the definite article there, the teaching.
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  Not just any teaching. It's objective.
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  He isn't saying watch your own creative thoughts about God.
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  He is saying watch the deposit guard the specific body of truth
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  that has been handed down from the apostles.
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  And the two commands, they're linked by the word and the Greek
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  word Kai. Which means they form an organic
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  unit. You can't have one without the
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  other. This is really the main thesis
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  of all the sources we read. Moral integrity and doctrinal
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  purity stand or fall together. I think we try to separate them
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  all the time. We say things like, well, I
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  don't really like his personality and I heard he's
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  pretty aggressive, but man, that guy preaches the truth.
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  The source says that's a mirage. It's not a sustainable position.
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  If a man abandons the pattern of found words, he will eventually
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  lose his moral compass because he's lost the standard of truth.
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  OK, that makes sense. But the reverse is also true,
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  and this is the really scary part.
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  If a man abandons moral restraint, say he starts
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  sleeping around or embezzling money, he will eventually twist
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  his doctrine to justify his sin. He has to, otherwise his own
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  conscience would just kill him. Exactly right.
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  He has to change the theology to make himself feel comfortable in
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  his sin. So bad life leads to bad
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  doctrine, and bad doctrine leads to a bad life.
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  It's a death spiral. All right, let's dig into that
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  first half. Then.
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  The first watch, Guarding the Life, the source material,
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  grounds this whole thing in the doctrine of sanctification.
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  And since we are Reformed thinkers here, we need to be
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  really specific. We aren't talking about being
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  sinless, are we? No, absolutely not, and the
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  Westminster Confession is very clear on this in chapter 13.
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  Sanctification is a work of God's grace, but it is
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  incomplete in this life. We all still have corruption
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  remaining in every part. So if the standard was be
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  perfect, we wouldn't have any elders at all.
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  We would have empty pulpits everywhere.
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  The text actually warns against perfectionism because it leads
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  to one of two things, despair or hypocrisy.
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  Either you completely crush yourself trying to be perfect
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  and give up, or you just pretend you're perfect and become a
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  total fake. So what's the standard then?
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  What should we be looking for? Visible, progressive holiness.
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  The congregation needs to see that the gospel actually works.
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  On the guy preaching. It on the guy preaching it.
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  They need to see a man who is actively fighting sin, not a man
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  who claims he has no sin to fight.
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  The sources mention union with Christ here.
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  That's the fuel for the fight. The watch isn't just about try
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  harder. It's a discipline of abiding,
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  like a branch in the vine. If the pastor isn't connected to
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  Jesus daily, personally, intimately, he just dries up and
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  a dry branch can't feed sheep. The source text gets really
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  specific about the things that threaten a leader's life.
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  He calls them idols and respectable sins.
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  Respectable sins is a concept popularized by Jerry Bridges,
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  and it's so relevant here in the church world.
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  You know, there are sins we just tolerate.
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  We even praise them sometimes. Like pragmatism, That's the
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  first one on the list. That is a big one, a huge one.
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  OK, explain that to me. Because in any other job, being
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  pragmatic is seen as a good thing.
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  It just means you get things done.
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  Why is it an idol for a pastor? Because in ministry, the ends do
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  not justify the means, Pragmatism says if it works, it
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  must be good. So if we soften the message on
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  sin and 1000, more people show up next Sunday.
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  Pragmatism says good job, look at the fruit.
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  The numbers are up, but scripture says you just
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  compromised the truth. So you're judging by size
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  instead of substance. Precisely.
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  It sacrifices character for results.
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  It's the temptation to say I can be a little bit of a tyrant to
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  my staff as long as the Sunday service is spectacular and the
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  giving is up. That is tragmatism, and the
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  sources say it's deadly. The other big idol is Pride.
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  The pulpit is maybe the most dangerous place in the world for
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  a proud man. You're literally standing 6 feet
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  above everyone else. They're all listening to you.
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  They're taking notes on what you say.
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  If you're not incredibly careful, you start to think that
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  glory belongs to you. And then there are the secret
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  sins. The text explicitly mentions
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  pornography and bitterness. The lust of the eyes and the
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  lust of the heart. Pornography is obviously a
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  massive, destructive issue in the modern church.
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  It's accessible, it's anonymous, and it absolutely destroys the
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  soul. But bitterness is just as
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  dangerous. A pastor gets criticized
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  constantly. It's part of the job.
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  If he doesn't know how to forgive, he collects those hurts
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  like stones in a backpack. Eventually he's carrying so much
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  bitterness he can't love his people anymore.
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  He just resents them. There was an analogy from
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  Charles Spurgeon in the text that I thought was just
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  brilliant. He talks about the finger post.
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  I love Spurgeon, he has such a way with images doesn't he?
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  A finger post is an old road sign.
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  It's a post with the finger pointing down the road and it
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  says London 10 miles. It shows you exactly where to
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  go. Exactly.
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  It points the way, but the sign itself never goes to London.
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  It just stays stuck in the mud on the side of the road.
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  It's a. Stagnant sign.
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  Right. And Spurgeon says a hypocritical
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  pastor is just like that sign. He points the congregation to
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  heaven, he points them to holiness, he points them to
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  Christ. But he himself never moves an
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  inch towards those things. It's a total mockery.
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  Wow, that hits hard. So how does a guy avoid becoming
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  a finger post? The text brings up the third use
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  of the law. Now we need to unwrap this
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  because for a lot of people, the law is a really scary word.
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  It sounds like legalism. Right.
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  In Reformed theology, we distinguish three ways the law
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  is used. First, it restrains evil and
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  society. Like speed limits on a highway.
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  It keeps things from being total chaos.
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  OK. Second, it acts like a mirror.
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  It shows us our sin and condemns it, drives us to Jesus because
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  we realize we can't possibly keep it perfectly.
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  At the third use, that's for the Christian.
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  Yes, for the regenerate man. You were already saved.
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  You weren't trying to earn God's love.
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  So now the law becomes a guide. It's a map.
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  It shows you how to please the Father who already loves you
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  unconditionally in Christ. So the watching isn't motivated
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  by a fear of hell, it's motivated by gratitude.
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  Exactly and practically the text describes this beautiful cycle.
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  The elder looks at the law. He sees where he falls short.
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  Does that crush him? No, it draws him to despair of
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  self, which in turn pushes him back to Christ for cleansing and
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  forgiveness. And then he's washed and he gets
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  back to the work. It creates this constant cycle
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  of dependency, and the congregation sees that.
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  They see a man who isn't pretending to be perfect, but a
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  man who is constantly going to Jesus for help.
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  That is what gives him his credibility.
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  Let's talk more about that credibility.
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  The text calls the pastor an under shepherd.
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  Which is a reference to Acts chapter 20, verse 28.
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  Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock
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  in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for
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  the Church of God, which He obtained with His own blood.
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  Obtained with his own blood. Just let that sink in.
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  That is the weight of the office.
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  The church doesn't belong to the pastor.
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  It's not his brand. It's not his platform.
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  It is Christ's bride, bought with the highest price
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  imaginable. If you're babysitting someone's
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  kid, you're careful. If you're watching the King's
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  children for whom he died, you better be vigilant.
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  The source connects this credibility directly to the home
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  life. First Timothy 3 verse 5.
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  If someone does not know how to manage his own household, how
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  will he care for God's? Church.
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  This is where the rubber really meets the road.
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  You can fake it in the pulpit for 45 minutes a wink.
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  You can't fake it at the dinner table night after night.
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  The home is the testing ground. It framed the home as a sort of
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  laboratory for leadership. It is.
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  Is the man domineering? Does he bully his wife and kids
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  into submission? If so, guess what?
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  He's going to bully the church. Is he passive?
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  Does he just let chaos reign and never steps in to lead or
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  correct? Then he'll be passive.
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  When wolves come into the church, the home reveals the
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  true nature of the man. It really just destroys the idea
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  that a guy can be a great leader at work and a total disaster at
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  home. The Bible says no, if you're a
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  disaster at home, you are not a leader.
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  Period. You're disqualified and that
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  includes how he handles money. Not a lover of money.
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  That's a deep character issue. If a man finds his security and
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  his identity in his bank account, he will eventually
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  compromise the message to protect his income.
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  OK, that's the first watch guarding the life.
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  It's a massive task. Now we need to pivot to the
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  second watch guarding the doctrine.
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  The text calls the elder a steward of the deposit.
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  I like the distinction the source makes here.
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  It says the Elder is a Courier, not an editor.
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  That's a great line. A Courier delivers the message
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  exactly as it was sent. He doesn't change a word.
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  An editor changes it to make it read better or sound more
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  palatable. We have way too many editors in
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  the pulpit today. They get the Bible and they
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  think, oh, this part about God's wrath is a bit rough.
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  Let's just smooth that out. This part about gender is really
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  unpopular. Let's just delete that.
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  Yeah, The elder's job is to deliver the mail.
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  He That's the faith once for all, delivered to the Saints.
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  This goes right back to the sufficiency of Scripture.
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  If the Bible is enough, we don't need to fix it or add to it.
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  Right. And it requires real
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  intellectual discipline. This isn't just about having a
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  warm heart for Jesus. It's about having a sharp mind
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  for the truth. The text says he must ensure
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  every single sermon aligns with the pattern of sound words.
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  It brings up this concept of the analogy of faith.
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  Can you explain that in plain English for?
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  Us sure it's the principle that scripture interprets scripture
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  the Bible is a unified whole it doesn't contradict itself so you
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  can't take one verse isolated from everything else and build a
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  whole doctrine on it that contradicts the rest of the
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  Bible The. Example from the source was
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  God's love. It's a perfect example.
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  Everyone wants to preach on God's love.
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  But if you preach God's love in a way that ignores or denies His
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  Holiness or his wrath against sin, you aren't preaching the
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  biblical God. You've created a sentimental
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  idol. The text warns against a vague
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  pulpit. And it says a vague pulpit
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  creates a vague Pew. And a vague Pew is defenseless.
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  If the people sitting in the pews don't know the definitions,
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  if they don't know what justification means or what the
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  atonement is or what propitiation is, they will fall
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  for anything. They are sitting ducks for the
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  first smooth talking heretic that comes along on YouTube or
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  TikTok. Speaking of heretics, the text
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  gets pretty polemical here. Polemical meaning warlike.
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  It says the watch must be defensive.
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  It calls for naming names and identifying specific errors.
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  This is where people get really uncomfortable.
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  We like the positive feed the sheep part of being a shepherd.
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  We don't like the shoot the wolves part.
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  No, but a shepherd who doesn't fight off wolves isn't loving.
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  He's negligent. He's a coward.
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  The sources identify 4 specific modern errors that elders need
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  to be ready to fight, and we need to walk through these
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  carefully because these are big charge terms.
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  The 1st is liberal theology. This.
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  Is the old enemy. It's been around for over a
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  century. Liberal theology, at its core
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  denies the supernatural. It questions the inerrancy of
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  Scripture. It denies the virgin birth or
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  the literal bodily resurrection of Christ.
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  So what's left of Christianity if you take all that away?
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  Ethics. Just be a nice person, do good
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  things, fight for social justice, but without the
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  supernatural power of the gospel.
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  The source argues that liberalism reduces Christianity
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  to a Rotary Club with hymns. It strips the engine out of the
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  car. It might still look like a car
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  from the outside, but it can't take you anywhere.
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  The second error is a really hot topic.
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  Critical race theory, or CRT. Now the source has a very
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  specific theological critique here.
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  It's not just, you know, watching cable news.
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  It's looking at the structure of the belief system itself.
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  Correct. We have to be precise about
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  this. The source argues that CRT
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  changes the fundamental categories of sin and grace.
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  In the Bible, guilt is covenantal.
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  What do you mean by that? Meaning you are guilty because
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  you are in Adam. It's about your relationship to
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  the federal head of humanity, and you are saved because you
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  are in Christ. It's individual and it's
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  covenantal. And how does CRT change that
• 18:33
  framework? The source argues that CRT
• 18:36
  assigns guilt based on power dynamics and group identity.
• 18:39
  You were labeled guilty or oppressor based on your class or
• 18:42
  your race, regardless of your individual actions or beliefs.
• 18:46
  The theological problem is that the cross deals with sin against
• 18:49
  God. The source argues that the cross
• 18:52
  cannot resolve A structural power dynamic in the way CRT
• 18:55
  demands. If your fundamental guilt is
• 18:57
  based on your skin color or your historical group, there's no
• 19:01
  atonement for that. You were left in a state of
• 19:03
  perpetual penance. It destroys the IT is finished
• 19:07
  nature of the work of Christ. That's a crucial distinction.
• 19:10
  It shifts the core problem from sin to power, and therefore the
• 19:14
  solution shifts from grace to activism.
• 19:17
  Exactly. And while activism certainly has
• 19:19
  its place in the Christian life, it is not the gospel of
• 19:22
  salvation. The third era listed is
• 19:24
  mysticism and charismatic excess, and the source notes
• 19:28
  that this is from a cessationist viewpoint.
• 19:30
  Right, so a cessationist believes that the miraculous
• 19:32
  sign gifts like speaking in tongues and prophecy were for
• 19:35
  the Apostolic age to authenticate the Bible and they
• 19:38
  have ceased now that we have the completed Canon of scripture.
• 19:41
  So what's the danger with mysticism from that perspective?
• 19:45
  It undermines the sufficiency of Scripture.
• 19:47
  If you have people running around saying God told me this
• 19:50
  or I have a fresh word from the Lord, you were essentially
• 19:52
  saying the Bible isn't enough, you need extra biblical
• 19:55
  revelation. I see the source argues that the
• 19:57
  Holy Spirit speaks today through the written word, not apart from
• 20:01
  it. If you detach the Spirit from
• 20:03
  the word, you get chaos. You get people doing all kinds
• 20:06
  of crazy things and blaming it on God.
• 20:09
  The 4th and final error mentioned is replacement
• 20:11
  theology. This is all about the
• 20:13
  relationship between Israel and the Church.
• 20:16
  The source calls for rightly dividing the word of truth.
• 20:19
  It warns against the idea that the church has totally replaced
• 20:22
  Israel and inherited all the promises, but somehow none of
• 20:26
  the curses. It argues this messes up your
• 20:28
  eschatology, your study of the end times.
• 20:31
  You end up reading huge chunks of the Old Testament
• 20:33
  allegorically instead of literally.
• 20:36
  The text sums this whole section up by talking about the moral
• 20:39
  consequence of bad doctrine. It argues that false teaching
• 20:42
  isn't just harmless intellectual error.
• 20:45
  No, it's toxic. It's poison.
• 20:47
  Doctrine shapes life. If you believe the wrong things
• 20:50
  about God, you will inevitably live the wrong way.
• 20:54
  The example it gives is the prosperity gospel.
• 20:57
  This is a perfect, heartbreaking example of bad doctrine
• 21:00
  destroying lives. The prosperity gospel teaches
• 21:03
  that God wants you to be rich, healthy, and happy all the time.
• 21:08
  It's a message that appeals directly to the flesh.
• 21:10
  It sounds great on the surface. I mean, who doesn't want to be
• 21:13
  rich and healthy? Exactly.
• 21:15
  But it destroys the theology of the cross.
• 21:17
  It treats suffering as a failure of faith.
• 21:20
  So when a person gets cancer or loses their job, which happens
• 21:23
  to faithful Christians all the time, what does the prosperity
• 21:26
  gospel tell them? It tells them you didn't have
• 21:28
  enough faith. It crushes them under a weight
• 21:31
  of false guilt. It turns God into a cosmic
• 21:33
  vending machine. So the elder has to watch the
• 21:36
  doctrine or his people will drink poison and not even know
• 21:38
  it. That is the jow description.
• 21:41
  Shepherd the flock, protect them from wolves.
• 21:43
  OK, now we get to the part of the text that really made me
• 21:45
  pause. Is what the source calls the
• 21:48
  instrumental logic of salvation. The verse again.
• 21:53
  Well, by so doing, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
• 21:57
  It is a jarring phrase for any Reformed believer.
• 22:00
  Save yourself we. Believe in grace alone.
• 22:03
  So, Lagratia, we are adamant that we don't save ourselves.
• 22:08
  So is the Apostle Paul slipping into works righteousness here?
• 22:11
  No, not at all. We have to read it in its
• 22:13
  context. The source explains this through
• 22:15
  the doctrine of the perseverance of the Saints.
• 22:17
  Can you unpack that for us? The doctrine says that those who
• 22:20
  are truly elected by God will persevere in faith and holiness
• 22:23
  to the end. They won't ultimately fall away.
• 22:26
  So how do you know if a pastor is truly one of the elect?
• 22:28
  How do you know his faith is genuine?
• 22:30
  Because he keeps watching. Because he watches the watching,
• 22:33
  the fight for holiness, the guarding of truth is the
• 22:36
  evidence of his salvation, not the cause of it.
• 22:39
  So by persisting in the watch, he proves that he is genuinely
• 22:42
  saved. Exactly, He is working out his
• 22:45
  salvation with fear and trembling as Paul says
• 22:47
  elsewhere. The source quotes the Puritan
• 22:50
  John Owen here and it's so good quote.
• 22:53
  No man can preach the gospel to others who is not first
• 22:56
  preaching it to his own soul. If the gospel hasn't saved the
• 22:59
  pastor, it's pretty unlikely to save anyone who listens to him.
• 23:03
  But then it says and your hearers, you will save your
• 23:06
  hearers. How does that work?
• 23:08
  This brings us to the doctrine of the means of grace.
• 23:11
  The idea that God ordains the ends and also the means to get
• 23:15
  to those ends. Yes, God decides who will be
• 23:18
  saved. That's his sovereign election.
• 23:19
  But he also decides how they will be saved.
• 23:21
  And the primary method, the primary means God uses, is the
• 23:25
  faithful preaching of the Word by a faithful man.
• 23:27
  The pastor is a channel. Think of a pipe delivering clean
• 23:31
  water to a thirsty village. The pipe doesn't create the
• 23:33
  water. The pipe doesn't own the water.
• 23:35
  The water comes from the reservoir.
• 23:37
  But if that pipe is clogged with mud, that's hypocrisy.
• 23:40
  Or if the pipe is broken and leaking, that's heresy.
• 23:43
  The water didn't get to the people.
• 23:44
  And the people die of thirst. Right, so the elder saves them
• 23:48
  in the instrumental sense. He's the instrument God uses.
• 23:52
  He keeps the channel open. If he preaches the truth and
• 23:55
  live the truth, the water of life flows freely to the people.
• 23:59
  This just completely destroys the idea that we can use clever
• 24:02
  marketing or cool lights or a better band to save people.
• 24:05
  It is a total refutation of pragmatism.
• 24:08
  You can entertain a goat with a laser show, but you can only
• 24:11
  feed a sheep with the grass of God's Word.
• 24:14
  People are saved by the purity of the message and the integrity
• 24:17
  of the messenger. That's it.
• 24:18
  That's God's ordained plan. So we have the theory, the
• 24:22
  grammar, the theology, the Stark warnings, but we need to land
• 24:27
  this plane in the real world. How does a church practically
• 24:29
  implement this double watch? The source material gives us
• 24:32
  some really concrete steps. It starts right at the front
• 24:35
  door with examining the candidates who want to be
• 24:37
  elders. The text calls for a recovery of
• 24:39
  patients. Lay hands on no man suddenly.
• 24:43
  We are in such a rush these days, aren't we?
• 24:45
  We have a vacancy on staff. We need a warm body in the
• 24:48
  pulpit. Let's just hire the first guy
• 24:49
  with a seminary degree who sends in a resume.
• 24:52
  And that is how you get disasters.
• 24:55
  The text warns specifically and very strongly against novices.
• 24:59
  First Timothy, chapter 3, verse 6.
• 25:01
  He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with
• 25:05
  conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.
• 25:08
  Spiritual immaturity plus authority equals pride.
• 25:12
  It is a mathematical certainty. It's like giving the keys to a
• 25:14
  Ferrari to a 16 year old. The car is incredibly powerful,
• 25:18
  but the driver just doesn't have the reflexes or the judgment to
• 25:22
  handle it. He is going to crash.
• 25:24
  And he's going to hurt a lot of people when he does.
• 25:27
  The text argues that the interview process shouldn't just
• 25:30
  be about can he preach a good sermon?
• 25:32
  It should be. What are his patterns of
• 25:34
  character? How does he handle anger?
• 25:36
  How does he treat his wife? Does he have a long track record
• 25:39
  of faithfulness and small things?
• 25:40
  It asks the question, is he able to teach?
• 25:43
  And again, the source makes clear that doesn't just mean is
• 25:46
  he an entertaining speaker. No, it goes back to Titus
• 25:48
  chapter one, verse 9. Being able to teach means being
• 25:51
  able to give instruction and sound doctrine, and also to
• 25:54
  rebuke those who contradict. It so it's both offense and
• 25:57
  defense. Can he spot a wolf?
• 26:00
  And can he explain from scripture exactly why the wolf
• 26:03
  is wrong? If he can't defend the sheep,
• 26:05
  he's not a shepherd, he's just a hireling who will run at the
• 26:08
  first sign of trouble. OK, so once you have these
• 26:10
  qualified men in place, how do you keep them safe?
• 26:14
  The text really emphasizes plurality.
• 26:17
  This is a distinctively Presbyterian and Reformed
• 26:20
  emphasis, but it is deeply biblical.
• 26:22
  The New Testament pattern is never the solitary hero pastor.
• 26:26
  It is never the CEO pastor with the board of yes men who worked
• 26:29
  for him. It is always a plurality of
• 26:32
  elders, A-Team. Why is that so important for
• 26:35
  this double watch? Because you can't watch yourself
• 26:37
  alone. It's impossible.
• 26:38
  We all have blind spots. I need a brother in Christ who
• 26:41
  loves me enough to look at me and say, hey, you were arrogant
• 26:43
  in that meeting or hey, you seem really stressed and irritable
• 26:46
  lately. Are you praying?
• 26:47
  Are you in the word? It prevents isolation.
• 26:49
  And isolation is where a sin grows best in the dark.
• 26:52
  The text talks about creating a culture where confession is
• 26:54
  safe. That seems absolutely critical.
• 26:57
  If an elder is struggling, say he's being tempted by something.
• 27:01
  Can he tell the other elders without the fear of being fired
• 27:04
  on the spot? If the culture is one strike and
• 27:08
  you're out, then everyone just hides their sin and hidden sin
• 27:12
  grows until it explodes and destroys everything.
• 27:15
  You have to have a culture where correction is possible without
• 27:18
  panic. A band of brothers who fight for
• 27:20
  each other's holiness. The source also mentions these
• 27:23
  practical guardrails, things that seem kind of boring, but
• 27:26
  they save lives. Things like financial
• 27:28
  accountability, never handling the church's money alone,
• 27:31
  counseling boundaries, never being in a closed room alone
• 27:34
  with a woman who isn't your wife, protecting family time and
• 27:37
  taking real days off. These are the fences you build
• 27:40
  at the top of the Cliff, so you don't need an ambulance at the
• 27:42
  bottom. And finally, the text deals with
• 27:44
  the really hard stuff, discipline and restoration.
• 27:47
  James 3 verse one. Not many of you should become
• 27:50
  teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be
• 27:53
  judged with greater strictness. Scares me every time I read it.
• 27:56
  It should. It's a terrifying verse, and it
• 27:59
  means that when a leader falls, the response cannot be governed
• 28:03
  by public relations or brand management.
• 28:05
  We see that so often, don't we? The spin pastor so and so is
• 28:10
  stepping down to spend more time with his family.
• 28:12
  When really he was caught in an affair.
• 28:14
  That's lying, but the goal of church discipline must always be
• 28:18
  the honor of Christ and the safety of the flock, and
• 28:21
  sometimes that means removal from office permanently.
• 28:25
  Even if he says he's sorry. Forgiveness is one thing,
• 28:28
  Qualification for office is another.
• 28:31
  You can be forgiven by God and still be disqualified from being
• 28:34
  a shepherd. The text argues that we have to
• 28:36
  value the health of the sheep far more than the career of
• 28:39
  anyone shepherd. As we wrap up this deep dive,
• 28:42
  let's try to look at the final horizon because this has been
• 28:44
  pretty heavy. We've talked about wolves and
• 28:46
  sin and judgment and drift. Is there any good news here?
• 28:51
  There is immense hope. There really is.
• 28:53
  The source summarizes the whole concept of the double watch by
• 28:56
  pointing us away from the under shepherd to the Chief.
• 28:58
  Shepherd First Peter, chapter 5, verse 4.
• 29:00
  The elder is an under shepherd. He reports to someone.
• 29:03
  He lives his life before the face of Christ.
• 29:05
  And the great encouragement is that the saving power we've been
• 29:08
  talking about ultimately resides in Jesus.
• 29:11
  He is the only one whoever perfectly kept the double watch.
• 29:14
  Think about it. He perfectly watched his own
• 29:17
  life. He was without sin.
• 29:20
  He was tempted in every way that we are, yet without any fault.
• 29:23
  And he perfectly watched his doctrine.
• 29:25
  He was the truth Incarnate. He never spoke a false or
• 29:28
  misleading word. So when a pastor fails, or when
• 29:31
  we as Christians fail in our own watch, we don't look to our own
• 29:34
  watching as the ultimate hope. We look to His perfect
• 29:37
  watchfulness on our behalf. He is the safety net and he
• 29:41
  promises a reward. And when the Chief Shepherd
• 29:43
  appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
• 29:46
  That's the motivation, isn't it? Not a bigger salary, not fame,
• 29:50
  not a massive platform, but a crown from the hand of Jesus.
• 29:54
  That's what keeps a man watching when he is just bone tired.
• 29:57
  That's what keeps him fighting against the wind when all he
• 29:59
  wants to do is let go and drift the promise that the king is
• 30:02
  coming back. This has been a very serious
• 30:05
  discussion, but I think a really necessary one.
• 30:07
  It certainly changes how I pray for my pastors, and it changes
• 30:11
  how I look at my own life and my own walk.
• 30:14
  It was a privilege to explore these truths.
• 30:17
  It's a call to arms for the church to take this office
• 30:20
  seriously again. And to our listener, thank you
• 30:22
  for going on this journey with us.
• 30:24
  We hope this deep dive has challenged you to think deeply
• 30:27
  about the nature of leadership, the danger of drift, and the
• 30:30
  overwhelming beauty of the gospel.
• 30:32
  This is Reformed thinking.