You're listening to Key Life Fellowships Pulpit ministry
podcast. We thank you for tuning in as we
learn from God's Word together. If you would like more
information regarding Key Life or to speak with one of our
pastors, please visit us at keylifefellow-ship.com.
Well, Amen. Hasn't our great God been kind
to us this morning, allowing us as Casey already thanked Him in
prayer, allowing us to have decent enough weather that we
could join together this Lord's Day to open His word, to open
our mouths, to declare, declare His praises and His glory.
So good to see all of you. If you have your Bibles, if you
would turn to First Timothy as we begin the 3rd chapter this
morning. All we're already walking
through the 1st 2 chapters in our series entitled Biblical
Ministers and Biblical Ministry as we look at Paul's Pastoral
Epistles, and I'm so thankful. I dreaded the thought of not
being able to meet with you guys this morning to open the word of
God and to see what he has for us.
And when I say what he has for us this morning, I want you to
understand the context of what we're looking at this morning.
He has a lot for me because today what we're going to be
talking about is the role of church leaders.
What role do we play? Our Calling, who, who we are,
who we are supposed to be. And we're going to begin A2 part
message on that. Paul moves us from the roles
that we have seen and the callings of the laymen and the
lay women in the church, and he now moves to the role and the
calling of the church leaders, the pastors, the elders.
You're going to see the term overseer.
He's going to describe for us to this role that the overseer has
in the one verse that we're going to look at today.
That is verse one here in chapter 3.
And so this message pertains first and foremost to the
pastors and to the elders and to the leaders and the churches.
He does this before he moves into clear and specific
instructions on what the overseers lives ought to look
like. He's going to tell us here in
verse one, their importance, their heart, what it ought to
be. We're going to see, he's going
to give us a description of these men.
And I don't make apologies even in today's liberal time for
referring to them as these men. They always have been men.
They always will be men. We will not compromise on that
issue, period. And the reason that we're doing
this this morning, the reason that we're walking through the
Pastoral Epistles as a whole, is because there is a tremendous
lack of understanding in the church surrounding what we ought
to be as a church and what we ought to be as leaders.
I've already said that I'm going to address myself.
I'm going to address our pastors.
I'm going to address our elders and our leaders in our church.
That doesn't mean that you who don't play any part in any of
those roles, just turn your ears off and not listen this morning.
I'm going to ask you that you hold us accountable to every
single thing that you see here in this week and the week to
follow, told the man out in our men's prayer before we started.
The day we're not doing this, the day we're not fulfilling Our
Calling as we should should be our last day, whether through
firing us or whether through resignation, we're no longer
effective. So we read here this first verse
in chapter 3. It says this here is a
trustworthy saying. If anyone sets his heart on
being an overseer, he desires a noble task.
I want us to see who these he's are, and I want us to look at
their tasks this morning. Let's pray to God the Father in
the name of Jesus. We thank you for this day.
We thank You that You have been so overly kind and gracious to
us. Lord, we thank You for the
wisdom and the discernment that you've given us to meet together
today and to trust you well now we desire to hear from You
through Your Word, as we know that is the only way that we're
going to hear from you. God, I pray that you would speak
to us and that through the teaching and the preaching of
Your Word, You would change us. For those who are pastors or
leaders or elders in the church today, I pray that we would be
challenged, even convicted if need be.
But I pray for those who are here today that Lord, you may
call to be leaders in the church one day, even now.
God, I pray you use this message to prepare them for lifelong
service and ministry to you. That we would see men have gone
step up and take this role seriously once again, and we
would not accept just being clowns that entertain people on
a Sunday morning. That we would finally and
ultimately again view this as one of God's highest callings
unto man. That we would Revere that
calling. And most importantly, that we
would Revere the God who has called us.
And I pray for the soul who's here today who does not know
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. God, I ask that you would have
mercy on their soul, and you would open their eyes to see
their need for a Savior, and you would show them how utterly lost
and in the darkness that they are.
And God, that your kindness, your mercy would lead them to
repentance, that today they would surrender their lives to
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We'll give you all the glory.
Forward. We pray and we ask these things
in Christ's name, Amen. So we see one very clear, very
concise, very simple verse here. And if we look at it very
carefully today, we'll see that it begins to describe for us and
to teach us about the role of church leaders.
And what is that role? I want you to see this very
quickly. As he begins this, Paul begins
with a familiar statement. He says this is a trustworthy
saying. This is not a term that Paul
never uses or hasn't used before.
In fact, Paul uses this term in his pastoral epistles to
indicate moments that are essential in their nature
important. Teachings that he wants the
congregation to hear. It's like he's saying, listen up
or hear ye, hear ye. What are you saying?
You might want to pay attention to this very closely.
This is some important stuff. So when you see Paul in the
pastoral epistles, use that phrase.
Here is a trustworthy saying. He is saying, listen to me.
This is important. Don't let this just just fall by
the wayside. Pay attention to what I'm about
to tell you. He uses this term in first
Timothy chapter one. We saw it in verse 15 where he
says here's a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
the worst. He's saying Christ came to save
sinners. Pay attention to that.
It's important. First Timothy, chapter 4, verse
9. He's going to say this.
This is a trustworthy saying that deserves a full acceptance.
He uses it again and his teaching.
He uses it in Second Timothy as well in chapter 2 verse 11.
And then in Titus chapter 3, verse 8, he says this is a
trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these
things. He's saying these are important
things. So when Paul would begin to
teach on an important section that really demanded the full
attention of his listeners, this first listener?
Being Timothy, of course he would have received this letter.
He's saying to Timothy, that young pastor there in Ephesus.
Listen up, son. Pay attention to this.
Hear ye, hear you. This is of utmost importance.
Why? Why is this important?
I want you to see first. If you're taking notes, you can
write this down the. Role of a church leader is an
essential role that's why he gets his attention to show him
the essential. Role.
That he is playing there in the church, it's essential.
It's essential meaning this that is an important.
Role. In and to the Church.
Why is it so essential? Why is it so important right
now? When I say that I understand
this, it's very difficult for me to stand up here playing this
role and to tell you this, that my role.
Is very important, but I did not ordain this role.
I did not design this role. God then, and God is letting us
know how important this role is, that it is ordained by God
Himself. Why?
Because it is through the role of leadership in the church, as
we know, beginning with the apostles and the prophets we
know that Christ himself poured into those apostles.
They began the early church then passing that along to the
pastors and to the teachers and to the elders of the churches
that would come about in history.
So we know that this is an important role.
This is God's design to minister and to lead and to teach the
church through these God called men.
It's their job to warn about the difficult thing to defend
against the false teachings and the false doctrines that come
along constantly. In fact, Paul tells Titus and
Titus 19, he says, you must hold firmly to the trustworthy
message. That's the gospel as it has been
taught, so that you can encourage others by sound
doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
This is an. Important role.
In the church, because the enemy is introducing constantly
doctrines of demons. And it is the role of the pastor
and the elder, those overseers in the church.
It is their role. To defend against the false
teaching that would creep in, you can do just this.
Turn on any Christian broadcast company nowadays.
You men who are attending on Thursday night, who are learning
about the various ancient heresies and seeing how they
are, are popping up again in our culture.
You know this, There really are doctrines of demons, and we
really do need a man who will tell us constantly from the
Scriptures to be aware of these things.
They're cancerous. They're coming at us from every
angle. They're coming at your family
from every angle. They're coming at your children
from every angle. And it is a pastor's role to
warn about those things. It's an important role because
he has a responsibility to teach the Scriptures to the
congregation. This too is by God's design.
Oftentimes the critics would ask, who does this guy standing
in the pulpit think that he is? I hope that he doesn't think
that he's anything but hope that he thinks Christ is everything.
And I hope that he thinks that his Word is true and that he
will passionately preach the Word without apology every time
he stands in this most important role in the church.
Because it is essential. Because this is the way that God
has designed it, whether you like it, whether you don't.
It's our responsibility as leaders, pastors in this church
to teach you, not only myself, but all of our pastors who are
constantly devoting their lives, devoting their time through
Bible studies, through writing Bible studies, through teaching
Bible studies, through reach groups, wherever you see them,
serving the Lord in the capacity of a teacher.
They've been entrusted with this important role from God to give
you instructions and to give you instructions as they watch over
your souls. Many pastors often forget this,
that we're Watchmen, we're under shepherds to the Great Shepherd,
and our duty is to watch over your soul.
Isn't it sad that we live in a time and even in church culture,
where if a pastor went to one who was a member of that church
who was struggling and confronted them with an issue,
oftentimes they get upset at the pastor for actually doing his
job. He's not coming at you in some
judgmental fashion. He is simply concerned about
your soul. He wants you to see the error of
your way. Why?
So that he can point you from the scriptures back to Christ so
that you don't fall away. It's a.
Very, very important role that needs to be taken seriously.
Hebrews 13, seven says this about the church leaders, about
the pastors, he said. Remember your leaders who spoke
the word of God to you. Consider their outcome of their
way of life and imitate their faith.
Consider those leaders, see their lives, imitate their
faith. What an important role that we
have, you men who are pastors in this.
Church, or perhaps your pastors elsewhere, or leaders elsewhere.
Or perhaps you are a teenage boy who you know that God is calling
you to preach. Pay attention to this because I
want you to see the importance of your.
Role that when others quit, you can't.
Why the entire church is depending upon you, When others
waver, you can't. Why the entire body of Christ is
depending upon you? When others become lazy, you
can't. It is our duty to dedicate our
lives to this important role and to live a life that reflects
Christ as an example for others in every single thing that we
do. Peter gives instructions to the
leaders in First Peter 5/3. He tells us not to Lord over
those who are entrusted to us, but to be examples to you.
I pray that I never Lord over any of you or try to control any
of you, but I pray that I would live such a life and that our
pastors in this church and our elders in this church would live
such a life that it points you to Christ.
It gives you a greater desire to serve Him, to walk with Him,
gives you a greater desire to display His glory in your lines.
We have an important role. Men live as examples as we teach
the Word of God, Paul tells Timothy in chapter 4, and we'll
spend time looking at this in great detail when we get there.
But he tells Timothy not to let anyone look down on him because
he's young, but to set an example for believers.
And he says in speech, how you talk, how you talk to people in
conduct, how you behave in love, how you love others in faith,
you trust God or do you not really trust God?
Or do you only just say you trust God in the pulpit?
Are you giving the example that you really do trust God by
faith? This is be an example.
And also in purity. Live a life of holiness before
your congregation. Live a life as we're going to
see in the next message in the week to come.
Live a life that is above reproach.
What does that mean? You choose not to do some things
that could be seen as things that would bring reproach upon
the name of Christ in the name of His church.
Why? Because you're called to be an
example. It's an important role.
We'll see the essential nature of this role, an important role
in the church. That's why it's essential, but
also it's an integral part of God's plan.
It is God's plan to have pastors and leaders to oversee you.
That's why he calls them overseers.
That's why he takes the time to describe for you what it is that
they are and that they do. God has, by His own sovereign
design, designed this role so that the church would not be
wavering to and fro without any leadership or oversight, without
any compassion or direction or accountability.
Don't get mad. If a pastor holds you
accountable, don't get mad. If a pastor challenges you,
don't get mad if I preach something from the pulpit that
brings conviction upon your life.
I didn't bring the conviction. I just relayed the message.
It's the Holy Spirit's job to bring the conviction.
You take that up with him. In fact, I would encourage you
the best thing to do is repent in that moment.
Not get mad at the messenger, but to thank God that He has
sent people to oversee and to watch over your soul.
It's an integral. Part of his plan back in Acts
20, Paul gives some instruction to the leaders there as he's
leaving Ephesus. He says verse 28, keep watch
over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit
has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the Church of
God, which he bought with his own blood.
I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among
you and will not spare the flock.
He's warning them. What is he saying?
Be examples. Lead people.
Watch out for the wolves in sheep's clothing.
Don't be afraid. Point them out to call them out
to tell the people they are exactly what they are because
they bring damage. Their ethical part?
God's plan for the church. Where would we be without the
leaders who constantly point us to Christ through preaching,
through teaching, through personal encouragement and
edification? Oh, the very office of an
overseer in the church is essential.
It's essential because it is the integral part of God's plan.
It is essential because it's an important role.
But please make note of this and take note of this, the centrical
part of God's plan, the pastors and the leaders of the church.
It's a gift of God's grace to each and everyone of you.
Now, I don't say that arrogantly.
Then don't leave here and say Kirk Hall stood up there and
said he is the gift from God. His position is a gift from God.
Kirk Hall is in Mass who is in need of God's grace just as much
as each and everyone of you. But the position that he has
given me is a gift. In fact, Ephesians 4 speaks of
it as a gift. It says in verse 11, So Christ
himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the
pastors, and the teachers. Where do you think that this
gracious gift came from? It's Christ who promised never
leave us, never forsake us, who promised the church that He
would not abandon them. And He has throughout the ages
provided for them leaders who are capable of leading exactly
where He desires for His church to go.
What a gift. I pray that you would see the
pastors and the leaders in this church and whatever church you
serve at as a gift from God, that you would thank the Lord
for them as they give their time.
As they give their thoughts, as they give their prayers to you
and to your family, I pray that you would thank God for them in
return because they are a gracious gift, an integral part
of God's plan in His church. This office of overseer that we
see here being mentioned by Paul, including Timothy, and
those who would be in leadership there in Ephesus as he writes to
them. This office is designed for
purpose and that purpose is to equip and to encourage the
Saints to equip and to encourage the Saints to be useful in
ministry, to use their spiritual giftedness and to use it for the
glory of God and for the gospel. God has ordained these leaders,
these ministers, so that you can be prepared to do what God wants
for you to do. Ephesians 4, as we continue
reading in verse 12, it says to equip His people for works of
service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we
all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of
God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the
fullness of Christ. That's the role of the leaders,
to make sure that each and everyone of you here are
striving toward a place of maturity in the Lord Jesus
Christ. To encourage you to spend time
in prayer, to spend time in service and ministries, to spend
time in the Word of God so that you will grow as you're walking
through the sanctification process.
And as we saw Hebrews chapter 13, verse 17, when we looked at
it verse 7, we looked at it a moment ago, the great
responsibility and the important role.
But we also see this him describing for us in verse 17 of
that same 13th chapter. He's instructing the believers
there to have confidence in their leaders and to submit to
their authority. Why?
Because they keep watch over you as those who have to give an
account. Why is this an essential role?
We have to give an account. It's important that our role is
fulfilled as leaders in the church.
Why? We're going to stand before God
and we're going to give an account for how we LED God's
people. And that's no joke.
That's something that we have to take seriously, that the elders
have to take seriously, that our staff pastors have to take
seriously. And everybody in any type of
leadership in this church must take seriously.
Many people in our culture think this, oh, it's pretty cool,
looks cool to be a pastor, kind of glamorous.
You get to stand in the lights. It's not that cool.
It comes with great responsibility.
We are entrusted to watch over each and everyone of Christ's
sheep, and we will give an account for how we do that.
There have been people throughout my ministry who want
me just to lighten up a little bit about that.
Why don't you just loosen up a little bit?
No, that's a great responsibility that I'm not to
loosen up about. I will give an account for every
single one of you. How I taught you, how I loved
you, how I ministered to you. Both pastors would learn to see
how essential their role really is.
That we have been entrusted with this important role, this
integral part of God's work and His church.
Yet we will give an account. You see that it is an essential
role. Secondly, we see this.
It's an exclusive role. If we're going to understand the
role and the calling of pastors and leaders in the church, it's
an exclusive role. Paul goes on to say, here's a
trustworthy saying. Pay attention to this.
This is essential. This is important.
And then he says if anyone sets his heart on being an overseer,
he uses the masculine there so that we understand how exclusive
this role is. And I know I'm not going to make
friends now, and that's OK. I want to make disciples, and I
want to make disciples to trust the word of God over people's
emotions and their liberal ideologies.
He says if anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, the
overseer, of course, describing for us, as I've mentioned, the
pastor, the Bishop, some of your translations say the elders who
share in those pastoral responsibilities, those who
would teach. In the church.
One who leads, one who directs the affairs of the church.
This is an exclusive role and what we believe and what we
teach about this role here at Key Life Fellowship, it's not
because we prefer this teaching. It's because it's purely
biblical. Though many refuse to believe
the black and the white of Scripture on this topic.
Right where he says things like if anyone sets his heart, that
could mean her heart too, then it wouldn't say his and he
wouldn't have just spoken prior to this.
And the passages that we read there in Chapter 2 last week,
that I do not permit a woman to teach her to have authority over
a man, only to come back and say, oh, and if a woman wants to
have authority over a man to teach over a man, here, here's
some qualifications for her. It wouldn't make sense at all,
would it, in its context. I know what happens at this
juncture, Pastor, that makes me mad.
I have an aunt. Who's the pastor?
No, you don't. You have an aunt who's
pretending to be a pastor who needs to get right with the
Lord. She needs to get right with
Scripture, she needs to repent. But you don't understand.
She's ministered to a lot of people.
She can still minister to a lot of people.
But the role of pastor is exclusive for the male, for the
men. And we saw why last week.
We don't have to go back and we don't have to cover this again.
He said Eve was deceived. Leadership roles got out of
whack and what happened it? Started this chain reaction of
men falling into sin for all the time.
Now he's saying this, that the role of pastor and leader is an
exclusive role that belongs only to men.
That's how exclusive it is. I'm not going to even argue this
anymore. I'm not going to debate with
people anymore. This is a role that belongs only
to men, without exception. He says if anyone sets his
heart, his I know we're pronoun confused in our culture.
Let me just make this clear. His boy, her girl, everybody
clear. I don't have to break that down
in. Greek or Hebrew or Latin.
We all got that, don't we? See it here.
The role of pastors, elders, overseers in the church has
always been and will always be exclusively reserved for men.
Naturally born men. Boy, you try to use that one.
Because whether we know the difference or not, God knows the
difference. He knows exactly what He created
them to be. So you look at the role of
pastors and elders and we see this, that it's an exclusive
role that belongs only to men. Let's stop even entertaining
arguments with these people about these things.
Why waste our time? We could be using that time to
share the gospel. We could be using that time to
minister to others. I don't have to grab some
platform and debate someone over something that is so clearly
laid out in scripture. I just simply have to say here,
read it. I got other things to do.
It's very clear. Belongs to a man.
Not to say women don't have a place in ministry.
They always have and they always will.
Because that's what immediately happens, right?
This is an exclusive role for men.
Oh, you're saying that women don't have a place in ministry.
Has anybody heard me say that? Absolutely not.
My wife is not a pastor of this church.
Does she have a role in this ministry?
You bet. Where is she right now?
She's down the hallway teaching little kids.
You know where she's going to be this afternoon?
She's going to be ministering to me.
She's going to be encouraging me.
When the enemy comes along to me and says, Kirk, what you said up
there, it wasn't even worth saying.
You're, you're the most worthless preacher and pastor
that ever walked the face of the earth.
You know what my wife's going to do?
She's going to minister to me because she's going to encourage
me. She's going to pray for me.
I couldn't do my role. She didn't do her role.
So don't leave here and say Kurt said that women don't have any
role in ministry. They do not have leadership
roles in the church. Biblically, that's God's design,
as we saw last week in chapter 2 of this same letter where he
said a woman should learn quietness in full submission.
I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a
man. She must be quiet.
He says exactly why for Adam was formed at first.
He goes back to creation order. This is the way God designed it
from the beginning for man ever fell.
It was his design. So he formed Adam 1st and then
Eve. We know he formed Eve from Adam
and Adam was not the one deceived.
It was the woman who was deceived and became a Sinner.
He's saying it's not her role. Doesn't mean she doesn't have a
role, but he established all that so that he can now teach us
in chapter 3 what the role of the pastor, the the overseer
really is. It's an exclusive role that
belongs to men. Now watch what he says next
because you can miss this if you don't read scripture.
Everyone understand what I mean when I say read scripture.
Don't just go through it as fast as you can.
He says as if anyone sets his heart.
Oh, that's a big word. He's not talking about the organ
that pumps blood throughout your body.
In fact, if you were to break this down, in the original, he's
talking about your very bowels. What is he saying?
Your guts. He's saying this is a man who is
called by God from the depths of his guts, from his inmost being,
the deepest part of you, because that's where God calls you to
this role. And so I want you to understand
when he's telling us that this is an exclusive role.
One, it belongs only to men, but two, it begins in the heart, and
it begins in the heart by a work.
Of God. It's God who calls us
internally. Spurgeon said it like this.
He said a man who has no inward call thinks lightly of the
ministry and undertakes it as he would any other profession.
Boy, there is enough of that going on in the so-called church
in America today. Men who call themselves pastors
who have taken the role of a profession.
This is not a profession. This is a calling that begins in
our hearts, and it must have began in our hearts, because if
it. Begins in our hearts.
It's not going anywhere. Will always be what drives us.
For those of you who say. Things like, well, I'm thinking
about ministry. I'm tossing it around in my
mind, you're not yet there. Someone who's called by God
doesn't think about ministry. He thinks about nothing but the
ministry. I want you to see the
difference. It is his God called life,
period. We are all lifers if we are
really called, you're not called part of the time.
He makes it clear that this is an exclusive role for men who in
their heart seek to be an overseer, a role that God put
there. Because I can tell you this,
there is no way I called myself to preach.
Because I tried to go every direction that wasn't the
preaching, but in the very depth of my being, who I really am.
God placed the calling and a desire in there to follow that
calling. It is His sovereign calling on a
man's life that sets him apart for this role, this exclusive
role. Oh, you remember John 1516 while
Jesus was talking to His disciples?
And often times we use this and in our Reformed thinking to
prove that these men didn't choose Jesus, but Jesus chose
them for salvation. And that's rightfully so.
But this also has a double edge to the sword.
When he speaks to them in John 1516, he's speaking about their
entire. Calling, He says you did not
choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might
go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, and so that whatever
you ask in my name, the Father will give you.
He sang to his disciples. I have called you and I have
chosen you to go out and to bear fruit.
Did these apostles do that? Yes, Church history says they
did. We can recount their steps.
We can see how Christ used them in the church as leaders to
produce a fruit for his name and for His glory.
He's saying to us, those of you who are in the pastor, those of
you who are feeling drawn to church leadership, he's saying
this is a calling from God sovereignly.
To your heart before it will ever come out of your life.
I've seen many people who were called by their grandmas, called
by their moms, called by their dads.
Oh, but you know what? God called man when you see him
because when he preaches and when he leads, it comes from the
depths of his being. Why?
Because that's where his calling stems from.
It's his life, it's his passion, it's his mission.
It's an exclusive role for those was called men and God is
sovereignly selected for His work.
We're drafted into this. We didn't volunteer.
Why is that good news for me? Because I can't quit.
He won't let me. Oh, I've tried to quit often in
my flesh. But you know what?
Who I really AM and the depths of my being will never allow me
to do that. Why?
Because I am in Christ, this calling is over my life.
God has sovereignly set my heart there.
Well, if you're a leader in this church and your heart's not in
it, Resigned today. Your pastor in this church
today, No harm. Come to me and say, hey, my
heart's not in this. Because if your heart's not in
this, you're not called. We'll still love you.
We'll still pray for you. We'll still minister to you.
You'll still have a place in the church.
It just won't be in leadership. This is from your heart,
Spurgeon said. This about a man's calling to
the pastorate. He said if you can do anything
else, do it. Do it.
One thing that has confirmed my inward calling over and over and
over again, I can't do anything else.
I don't mean that I'm not good at anything else.
I could be good at. Something else?
I don't know. I've never done anything else,
but I've been crafted by God in the depths of my being to do
this. This is what I will do until He
calls me home. Why?
Because it is from my heart and the depths of my being.
He put it there. He is not going to take it away.
It begins in a heart. It's an exclusive role.
God's Word always reserves the position of pastors exclusively
to God called men. May it be so here.
Thirdly, those of you who normally attend the 9:00
service, you've already noticed I'm in no hurry today.
Thirdly, it's an excellent role. This is an excellent role, he
says. Here's a trustworthy saying.
If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, why is your
heart set on it? Because God called you there.
If you're a Christian here today, He is Lord of your heart.
You have a new heart. It's not your old heart anymore.
Is that new heart that he's placed in you, just as Ezekiel
said that he would. He calls you from the depths of
that heart. He says, here's a trustworthy
saying. If anyone sets his heart on
being an overseer, he desires a noble task.
Paul calls the task of being a pastor and a leader, an elder in
the church a noble one. I want to think for a second
that we have been trusted with what Paul calls a noble task.
This is a high. Calling men a high calling.
I want you to understand that, as in today's culture, the
pastor, well, he just gets kicked by the wayside,
especially if he's one who stands on truth, if he's one who
stands on the word of God and who preaches the gospel
unashamedly. This is a high calling must be
taken seriously. It's an excellent role.
You staff pastors who were here this morning, I know that you're
all here. Listen to me.
I know that we have difficult days.
I know that we struggle through much adversity.
I know that you give much time, you give much effort.
You sacrifice yourself and your family at times.
But it's worth it. Why?
Because it's noble, he says. This is a noble to ask a high
calling Martin Lloyd Jones. If you're familiar with him,
you'll know how he said this. I can't impersonate him as well
as others, but he said this. He said the work of preaching is
the highest and the greatest and the most glorious calling to
which anyone can ever be called. Again, I don't say that to make
you think Kirk is someone because God called him is if he
truly calls you from the heart, He makes you a no one before he
ever calls you from the heart so that you don't forget that.
But it is the highest and the greatest and most glorious
calling which anyone can ever be called.
Therefore it calls for seriousness and reverence.
Man, don't we need this today when men are dressing up like
clowns in the pulpit and riding roller coasters and jumping
through fiery hoops and trying to entertain a bunch of goats on
their way to hell? We need men who will stand up,
who will take the word of God with seriousness, to stand
behind this pulpit, not as having all the answers, but as
one who points people to the one who does.
It calls for seriousness. It calls for reverence.
From time to time I still get asked the question, Kirk, are
you nervous before you preach? My answer always has been the
same. I would think after 30 years it
would maybe dwindle a little, but it's not the case.
I tell them, no, I'm not nervous.
They look at me and they say, oh, that's what we thought.
I tell them I'm scared to death. I'm scared to death.
I have such reverence for the Word of God and such reverence
for the God who's spoken his word.
And who's given it to us? I don't want to mess it up.
I don't want to say anything wrong.
I want to make sure that everything I say comes directly
from His word, that it is intended exactly how He intended
it when it comes from my lips, so that you can hear it
properly. I want to make sure that
everything's in the right context, in the right order.
I tremble at His word. Why?
Because I don't have room to mess this up.
Isaiah 66 too. Isaiah speaks of those who the
Lord looks at with favor. He says in verse 266, These are
the ones I look on with favor, those who are humble and
contrite in spirit and who tremble at my word.
I pray that God would raise up a group of men from this church
and around this world who would step up to the pulpit, not to
entertain people, but who would step up in the pulpit and
tremble at the Word of God to know that the message that they
are delivering, it's not just a message of life and death, It is
a message of eternal life or eternal death.
We must get it right. Oh, the lack of seriousness that
we see in the pulpits, right? Those people who think that we
must begin with a joke, why? There's nothing to joke about.
This is not child's play. Your eternity is at stake.
This must be approached with great seriousness and reverence.
Why? Because it's a high calling that
demands it demands. It calls for seriousness and
reverence, but it demands excellence.
The staff of this church hears anything all the time.
It is that word excellence. You know, that being a hard case
when I tell them time and time again, is that excellent?
Well, no. Then why do we do that?
For the Lord? We must strive for excellence.
Will we miss the mark? Most of the time we're involved
in it. But shouldn't our mark be
excellent? Shouldn't our mark be excellent?
Why? Because it demands excellence.
Why if this is really a high? Calling in the highest of
callings, a noble calling, a noble task.
We should approach it with excellence.
You should see it as God's work that we have been entrusted
with. Is that not what Paul tells
Titus and Titus Chapter 7? Right, he says, since an
overseer manages God's household, you're managing a
work of God, so it ought to be excellent.
Isn't it sad that one of the few places that accept mediocrity in
the world is the church? So many pastors and so many
congregations are OK with their pastors just going through the
motions, just living up the status quo.
I don't want to be status quo in ministry.
Why? Because it demands excellence.
Our staff knows this. The pastors who lead here at Key
Life. Fellowship.
The elders who lead here at Key Life Fellowship, they know this
excellence that is the mark. Why this is the highest of
calling? It's an excellent role and we
must approach it with excellence because it's a high calling.
Not only is it high calling, it's a humbling position.
Far too often this is not the approach, right?
Humility, especially as we see all of the social media posts
from all these mega church pastors constantly, right?
You know, one thing that jumps off the page immediately and I
must think that there's anything wrong with social media if you
use it properly. But immediately they began to
promote self. The things that they say are
dripping with pride or arrogance, as if they have all
the answers and everyone else is just stupid.
Now, this is a very humbling position and just as important
as approaching it with excellence, we have to approach
it with humility. Some of you, I hope, have read
about John Knox's call to preach.
John Knox. If you're not familiar with
Knox, he was Scottish Reformer back in the 1500s, but John Knox
was called to preach at Saint Andrew's Church in 1547.
This was during a period of intense religious conflict in
Scotland and Knox had a duty in the church when he was a tutor.
And the second thing, he was a bodyguard.
He actually carried a double handed sword with him to church.
Aren't you thankful for our security team?
John Knox was a bodyguard in the church and he would protect
those Protestant families that were facing persecution.
And during a sermon, John Ruff was preaching.
He's addressing the congregation.
And in his sermon, he declared that John Knox was called to
preach. I don't know all the back story
to this, but I'm sure they had spent much time together.
And his pastors often do. They identify a calling in young
men far before they identify it. And he saw this in Knox.
And so Ralph addressed the congregation and declared that
Knox would be called to preach. And Ralph asked the people
whether they would accept Knox as their minister.
Now, Can you imagine that'd be like me today calling 1 of you
out? Hey, God's called you to preach.
Hey church, y'all accept him? From a human standpoint,
wouldn't that have been an honor for Knox to stand off and push
his chest out and see, man, John Ruff has faith in me.
I must be really something. That's not how the story went.
John Knox was so deeply affected by this.
He was so emotionally shaken that he wept openly.
Immediately, he began to weep and humility.
He withdrew from public view, out of sight.
He left and he stayed gone for several days.
As history goes, he was convinced of the seriousness and
the weight of this responsibility.
It was only after much prayer, much reflection, that he then
returned and he accepted the call.
And then he delivered his first sermon shortly after that, which
strongly criticized the Roman Catholic teachings and defended
the Protestant faith. This event marks the public
ministry of John Knox, right? No fireworks, No talking about
how awesome John Knox is. No, John Knox just hearing that
someone else identified the fact that God had worked in his life
and John Knox instead of saying yeah, I can do that, knew that
he couldn't and he ran away and for days got on his face humbled
by the fact that God would even allow.
Him to do such a thing, Well, listen to me, church leaders.
You know what we need? We don't need a bunch of Bani
Roosters walking around here with their chest poked out as if
they're somebody. We need humble men who
understand the high calling that God has placed on their life.
And like John Knox, we retreat often in tears, seeking the face
of God, the wisdom from God. We should be humbled that God
would allow us. To lead his people?
Oh, see the weight of that? See the weight of that?
When when God calls you to lead his people, do you know that you
are included among men like Abraham?
Is that not humbling men like Abraham who God used to lead his
people? How about men like Moses?
How about men like Joshua who courageously LED God's people
into the Promised land, courageously yet humbly?
How about David about the prophets?
How about the apostles? How about the pastors and
teachers throughout church history?
Oh, it ought to humble you. God called men in this church.
It ought to humble you. To think that you've been
counted among such men of God. You got to see how excellent
this role is. Those of you who are in this
role who because of a calling in your heart or aspiring to be in
this role, see how excellent it is.
See that it is a high calling and let it bring you to a place
of humility. Fourthly, I want you to listen
to this one because this is an epidemic in the church or lack
of this. The role of the church leaders,
their calling is an essential role.
It is an exclusive role. It is an excellent role, but it
is an effortful role, an effortful role.
Don't leave out this most important word that he says
here. Here's a trustworthy saying.
If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires
noble task. Oh, focus on that last word,
some of your translation state work.
That is exactly what it is. I often wonder how can these
so-called pastors play G2 or three times a week?
How can they fish or hunt two or three times a week?
How can they be away from their study when they need to be
diving into the Word of God to feed their flock constantly?
How can they go on so many vacations?
How could they ever go on a sabbatical?
It's a task. It's work.
He calls it a task. He calls.
It work because that is what it is.
That is exactly what it is. It is lifelong, grueling work.
And shame on all these pastors who've made us some glorious
position in the church that people want to just notice.
No, it is grueling and hard lifelong work.
You will pour out your life to this work or you're not called.
Stop pretending, stop fooling yourself, and stop trying to
fool everyone else. God call man.
We'll get up before the sun rises.
He will begin focusing on what it is that the Lord would have
for him as he leads his congregation that day.
And he would go to bed that night praying to God, thanking
him that he gave him the energy to get through that work that he
got through the day, and asking for the rest that he needs to.
Approach. The next day.
Why? Because he understands the
nature of the work. It's not a job like a career,
it's your life. People from time to time they
ask me, what kind of hours do you work?
24, 24? Yeah.
Well, Pastor, I know that you went on vacation last year.
You know what? I did my whole vacation.
I still worked. I still got the calls.
I still got the emails. I still got the prayer request.
I still was thinking about the next time that I would get in
the pulpit to deliver the word of God.
There's no day off. And if you're not fit for not
taking a day off, don't get into the ministry, period, he said.
Well, Kirk? If you keep going like that, you
are going to die an early death. There is no such thing as an
early death, as no one taught you about the sovereignty of
God. I have an appointment with
death, and what greater joy than to pour my entire life out and
to die serving the One who died for me, only to leave this world
and to look Him eye to eye and to thank Him for all the
strength and all of the encouragement that He gave me
along the way, that I might glorify Him with every fiber of
my being. It's demanding.
There's no room for laziness. I'm sick of lazy ministers.
We see them everywhere. This work requires great
diligence and effort. You'll not run out of things to
do, ever. Just when you think you're
running out of things to do, there's going to be something
else that needs to be done. Get with it.
You only have a limited amount of time.
You're never going to catch up. You can rest when you get home,
well, faster. Are you going to retire?
I sure am. I'm going to retire in the arms
of Jesus and I pray that on that day I hear well done thy good
and faithful servant. I sure hope I don't hear Kirk
Hall. You were lazy, slothful, what
you did leading my people. Oh, may we all who have been
called by God here, Well done, good and faithful servant.
And we have churches full of weak believers because we have
pulpits full of weak, lazy pastors.
It's true, if we believe the first part of this sermon, that
this is an essential role that God ordains so that the church
can be strengthened. And we look at the church and
the church is not strong. Why is the church not strong?
Because the pastors are weak and lazy.
We have no room for it. It's demanding.
It demands your time, all of it. It demands your effort, all of
it. It demands your energy.
All of it. If you can't give all of you to
the ministry, get. Out.
Get out again. No hard feelings.
We're going to hug your neck. We're going to pray for you.
We're going to thank God that you're not trying to put a
square peg in a round hole anymore.
We'll help you find new jobs. But don't be a detriment to the
church because of your lazy work ethic.
The spiritual well-being of everyone who sits in this room
right now, and those who are not attending here today who belong
to this church, their spiritual well-being is dependent upon
you. God forbid that we settle for
producing lazy disciples just because we're lazy ministers.
Pour out your life as an offering to the Lord.
Just as Paul said that he was doing there in Philippians
chapter 2 verse 17, where he said even now he's being poured
out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming
from their faith. He poured his life out as an
offering to Christ. Why?
Because he really understood that Christ poured his life out
as an offering for him. Shouldn't that be?
And isn't that the proper response for all of us, but
especially for those of us that are in leadership?
Because if we don't. Pour our lives out and God has
ordained us to lead His people. We can't expect His.
People to pour their lives out. Either can we.
This is an effortful role, demanding, but also difficult.
For all of you guys contemplating going into full
time ministry or leadership in the church, let me just tell you
this, This is the most difficult thing that a human being can
ever do. It's not an easy job.
It's not an easy life, right? Normal people, they get to have
birthdays, anniversaries, kids, birthdays, family members
birthdays, not those called by God.
Guess what? They missed those things.
Why? Because the family needed you.
Someone had passed away and you had a funeral that day or a
joyous occasion. Even to young people who God put
together and God ordained to make a covenant to helm and to
be married for their whole life. Guess what?
Their weddings that weekend. But, but, but it's my birthday,
honey. I know it's your birthday,
honey, but it's not about us. It's about them.
We'll we'll celebrate your birthday another day.
It's about total and complete sacrifice.
It's about you doing what others are unwilling to do.
It's not an easy job, sure. Not an easy life.
I say all that to say this. I love every second of it.
But every second of it depends on the Lord's strength and the
Lord's energy in and through me to get it done.
That's who Paul depended on. Colossus, chapter one, verse 28.
He says he is the one we proclaim talking of Christ,
admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that
we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.
To this end, I strenuously, strenuously contend with all the
energy. Christ.
So powerfully works in me. This is where most so-called
pastors and leaders fell. They are trying to do this thing
on their own. Paul understood and he gives us
great insight here. Energy that Christ gives us.
Most people quit because they were never called.
I believe that. But some who were called quit
because they start depending upon themselves and their own
strength and their own energy. You know what?
We only have so much strength and so much energy.
However, the strength of an almighty sovereign God is
endless. Paul understood that.
That's why Paul could suffer with such grace.
That's why Paul could still minister to people while he was
in chains. That's why Paul effects even
those. Of us 2000 years down the way by
his teaching. Why?
Because he didn't depend on his strength, it depended upon the
strength that comes from God. Why?
Because this is a difficult task.
You can't do it in your own human strength.
You have to work to stay in the fight.
And to stay in the fight you have to trust the Lord's
strength. Not an easy button.
Now, you remember those commercials with the easy
button? I think it was Staples or one of
those office supplies. There's no ministry easy button.
I promise you. You look all over the church
office. You can look over the building.
You won't find an easy button. You know where you better find
yourself as a minister of the gospel, not looking for a button
to push, but on your knees, trusting in the strength that
Christ provides. So that's the only what place
that you're going to find it. Oh, don't drop out of ministry.
Don't quit because someone didn't tell you.
It's difficult. It's difficult.
Prepare yourself for it. Prepare yourself for a difficult
life. The critics are going to hammer
you. The job is going to place
demands upon you that you couldn't do on your own.
You're going to suffer. You're going to be ridiculed.
But don't forget it's a noble work and work at it with all of
your heart as unto the Lord, because that's what it comes
down to, right? Who are you doing this for?
I can tell you right now, I wouldn't do this for anyone but
Christ because it is the most difficult thing that a human
being could do upon this earth. Note to self, you've never seen
it on episode of Dirty Jobs, but it's difficult and it's hard
work and you have to prepare yourself for that.
Why would we think that the same work of the gospel that cost
Jesus his life and most of the apostles, their lives and many
church leaders throughout history their lives would cost
us nothing? That is utter foolishness.
That is what's wrong with the American church.
No one is teaching young ministers.
It cost us everything. Just as it cost Christ
everything, and just as it cost the apostles everything, and
just as it cost the church fathers everything, it cost us
everything. But it's the greatest thing to
know that I can give everything for the Christ who gave
everything for me. John Calvin said, let those who
undertake the office of teaching remember that they are called
not to a place of honor, but to labor and hardship.
This is not a place of honor, a place of Labor and of hardship.
If you're not willing to give full effort, you're not willing
to devote yourself to this noble task, do something else.
Find a job. Be a greeter at Walmart.
Whatever you find yourself to do, do it other than ministry.
Because when we approach it with no effort, we insult Christ.
We insult the apostles who gave their life for Christ.
We insult all God called men throughout history who gave it
all for him. Lose the American church idea
that this is just another profession and give all your
effort to it. Give all your effort to it.
Understand this. You don't clock in and you don't
clock out when you go home. You're not any less responsible
for the souls that we've addressed here today.
See it for what it is. But we've looked at the role of
the church leaders and they're calling and Part 1 today, Part 2
next week. What do we do with it?
Well, for the believers who were here, who you've said, well, I
really don't, I really don't have a response to this message.
Let me help you. Yes, you do.
Please hear your response to this message.
Honor those who do their work. Well, that's what First Timothy
chapter 5, verse 17 tells us to do to honor those men who are
leading us. To honor them, encourage them.
Don't make their lives more strenuous than it has to be.
Don't make them pull out all of their hair.
They've already turned. Gray because of you.
Don't make them pull it out. Honor them.
That's what you can do as a church member.
When you see the pastors, and I'm not talking about just
myself, I am one of many pastors here, Please understand that
when you see them doing the work well, let them know.
Let them know that they taught you something.
Let them know that they said something worthwhile.
Let them know that they have encouraged you, brought you to
even a place of conviction, and you're thankful for that.
Secondly, as we saw in Hebrews chapter 13, submit to them
willingly. They're not trying to Lord over
you, but the Lord has placed them over you.
See that? See the benefit of it, Submit to
that. Don't again make their life
miserable by thinking that they have to constantly fight against
you so that you'll follow the Lord.
You know what I love about this congregation?
For the most part, we don't have to do that.
You've been taught well. I give you an opportunity to
serve the Lord and you've grown enough through learning the
scriptures and being taught the scripture and being discipled.
You know what you do? There's an opportunity to serve
the Lord. You jump up and serve Him.
I'm thankful for that. Thirdly and lastly for you or
thirdly and 2nd to the lastly, respect your leaders.
First Thessalonians chapter 5, it talks about this in verse 12.
It says now we ask you brothers and sisters to acknowledge those
who work hard among you, who take care of you in the Lord and
who admonish you hold them in the highest regard in love
because of their work. He says live in peace with each
other. Don't get mad at your pastor
just because he has to deliver something that you don't like.
Live in peace with him. He's just the messenger.
See for what it is. From time to time at the end of
the service, people will say things like this boy, you were
stepping on my toes. My response is always the same.
I was aiming for your heart. Get your feet out of the way.
Let the Word of God hit you where the Word of God is
intended to hit you right there in the heart.
So it's going to change you. You want to blame someone, blame
God and then try to bring an accusation against Him.
See how that works out for you. It won't.
It'll save you some heartache and some time.
And lastly, believers, pray for them.
Pray for us, pray for us. Colossians 4, Three, we see
instructions to pray for leaders and other believers.
First Thessalonians 525, we see the same thing, Paul calling on
believers to pray for those who are leading in ministry.
Do that to the elders, the pastors, the overseers who are
here today are those who God is calling a make all serve the
church in the capacity that we looked at today.
If you can't, don't, you'll never make it.
You'll never last. Take this calling in this work
seriously. Approach it with great reverence
and humility to the unbeliever who may be here today.
Perhaps you've been here week after week after week and you've
heard the gospel presented. God has used that to show you
your desperate need for Christ, that you are a Sinner and you
are alienated from a holy God. And perhaps this is the day that
God has ordained to usher you out of darkness and into light
His marvelous life. Perceive forgiveness of sin and
eternal life. Perhaps you would like to talk
with somebody about that. In just a moment, in our time of
prayer, there are going to be some people to my right and to
my left who will be standing here.
Perhaps you want to know more about what it means to know
Christ as Lord and Savior. Just go tell one of them.
They will take the Word of God and they will open it up and
they will show you how a person can be born again this very day,
what it means to truly be saved biblically.
Repent. Trust in Jesus Christ as your
Lord and Savior this very day. You've been listening to Key
Life Fellowships Pulpit Ministry podcast.
Join us each week for more teaching from God's Word.