1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:01,080 My name is Cole. We haven't met. 2 00:00:01,080 --> 00:00:03,960 I'm the lead pastor at Frontier and I get to preach most 3 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:07,320 Sundays. We are in Week 5 in our really 4 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:09,600 long sermon series through the book of Titus. 5 00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:12,400 And so if you've got a Bible, you can go and get that open. 6 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:14,960 If you don't have a Bible, don't feel bad without all the 7 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:16,720 relevant words on the screen for you. 8 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:21,880 But this morning we spent like four straight weeks just digging 9 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:25,640 through Paul's introductory notes in the letter that he's 10 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:27,640 writing to Titus. I had fun. 11 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:29,520 I don't know about you. It was a blast for me. 12 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:32,880 We got really nerdy and we dug into a lot of the original text 13 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:34,760 and I hope it feels a little bit more familiar. 14 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:39,120 Strangely enough, as we pivot, so Paul, he's done with his 15 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:41,640 introductory notes. As we pivot from his 16 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:46,480 introductory notes to the main letter or the main body of the 17 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:50,120 letter, has an interesting first thing that he wants to talk 18 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:53,120 about to these Christians and these churches that are in on 19 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:55,600 Crete. Crete, this island that's filled 20 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,880 with pirates and filled with crooks and filled with crazy 21 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:01,040 people. These churches have sprung up on 22 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:04,200 this little island. And now that Paul has said hi, 23 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:08,400 grace and peace, what he wants to talk about is actually 24 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:15,160 pastors or elders or overseers. They're kind of synonymous 25 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:17,680 terms. And so for those of you who are 26 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:19,800 members at at this church, we're going to talk about pastors this 27 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:21,720 morning. And for the majority of us, I 28 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:23,480 think this morning is probably not going to be the most 29 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:27,080 exciting sermon that you've ever heard as a part of your biblical 30 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:29,240 diet at this church. It probably won't hit like a 31 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:31,480 coffee that makes you feel like you want to run through a wall 32 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:33,320 for Jesus. It's not going to feel like a 33 00:01:33,320 --> 00:01:34,560 coffee. It's not going to be super 34 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:36,320 energizing. I think it's probably going to 35 00:01:36,320 --> 00:01:39,360 hit more like a multi vitamin, or so I've heard. 36 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:41,920 For those of you who take multivitamins, right, it's not 37 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:43,640 going to energize you right off the bat. 38 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:45,720 What it's going to do is it's going to feel more like a 39 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:49,880 multivitamin that that works quietly in the background to 40 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:54,120 help create a much healthier and more joyful body. 41 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:55,480 So yes, sweetheart. Huh. 42 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:57,640 Yeah. Yeah. 43 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:05,560 You can go kids in the room. If you're a kid, can you raise 44 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:10,000 your hand really quickly? Casey, I am glad that you guys 45 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:12,360 are in here. You guys are not an obstacle to 46 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:15,040 what we're doing in this church. You guys might be one of the 47 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:17,240 most important things in this church. 48 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:19,040 Here's what I'm going to do today. 49 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:20,920 Kids, you did great. You can put the hand down. 50 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:23,760 You did awesome. I'm going to talk this morning a 51 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:27,960 lot about pastors. And as I talk about pastors, I 52 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:31,400 might say a lot of things that you don't understand. 53 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:33,160 And you know what? That's OK. 54 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:36,320 Because even though you might not understand everything I say 55 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:40,720 about pastors this morning, what I do say is going to create a 56 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:45,560 healthier church that is more fun for you guys to grow up in. 57 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:48,920 And so even if it goes over your head, this sermon is for you. 58 00:02:48,920 --> 00:02:52,600 But if you're a kid, the most, if you're an adult too, but 59 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:55,120 specifically if you're a kid, the most important thing you 60 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:57,280 need to hear from me this morning is the gospel. 61 00:02:57,640 --> 00:03:01,640 So you need to know that Jesus loves you so much that he died 62 00:03:01,640 --> 00:03:05,280 for you on a cross. And if you believe in him, he 63 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:08,200 will take away all your sins and he will cover you in his 64 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:10,400 righteousness and he will give you heaven forever. 65 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:15,760 And if that sounds crazy, if if your heart leaps for joy at that 66 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:18,800 news, I want you to poke your mom or dad after church and say, 67 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:21,240 dad, mom, can you tell me the gospel? 68 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:23,920 That's the single most important thing for you to hear this 69 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:25,960 morning. So if you're able, would you 70 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:27,360 stand for the reading of God's Word? 71 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:35,280 Paul has said, hi, hello. Here's what I'm trying to do in 72 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:37,760 this letter, Grace and peace from Jesus. 73 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:45,360 And then he pivots in verse 5 to this, This is why I left you in 74 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:48,400 Crete. And by the way, I love that like 75 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:50,200 the way that Paul phrases, that is perfect. 76 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:53,280 Like it kind of gives you the impression that Crete was just 77 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:57,360 this absolute dumpster fire that Paul bailed on and was like, OK, 78 00:03:57,360 --> 00:03:59,240 Titus, you stay back here. So he left. 79 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:01,240 He left Titus and Crete. Why? 80 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:05,400 This is why I left you in Crete so that you might put what 81 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:07,720 remained into order. How? 82 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:12,680 By appointing elders in every town on the island, as I 83 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:17,920 directed you, if anyone is above approach the husband of one wife 84 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:21,120 and his children are believers and not open to the charge of 85 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:24,920 debauchery or insubordination for an overseer. 86 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:27,080 See how he's using that term synonymously. 87 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:32,520 Synonymously with with a elder as an overseer, as God's 88 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:37,040 steward. What's a pastor? 89 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:38,680 What's an elder? What's an overseer? 90 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:43,440 God steward for an overseer as God steward must be above 91 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:45,920 reproach. She must not be arrogant or 92 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:51,240 quick tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but 93 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:58,000 hospitable, a lover of good self controlled, upright, holy and 94 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:02,320 certainly disciplined. Heavenly Father, I pray that as 95 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:06,000 we work through this text, you would bring to mind the names 96 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,440 and faces of our elders. These are not just hypothetical 97 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,320 people in Crete. You have brought about elders, 98 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:14,600 pastors and overseers in this church and phenomenal ones. 99 00:05:14,840 --> 00:05:17,360 Steven Kerr. Who gets Steven Kerr as an 100 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:18,520 elder? Amazing. 101 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:22,600 Jaron Moore, the fellas that we're going to have gone through 102 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:25,320 two years of training that we're going to install as elders over 103 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:27,600 the next couple weeks. Jay Frichty. 104 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:31,080 Wow. Noah Holthouse, even Joseph 105 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:34,600 Donifrell, what amazing men the Lord has brought to Frontier 106 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:36,920 Church in order to lead us. I pray that we would be an 107 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:38,800 encouragement and a blessing to them. 108 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:41,400 Do all these things in the precious name of Jesus. 109 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:43,640 All God's people prayed. Amen. 110 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:54,240 You gonna have to see if if you know Paul's other letters in the 111 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:57,160 Bible, then you probably could already guessed what the first 112 00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:59,680 thing that Paul is going to say after his introduction. 113 00:05:59,920 --> 00:06:03,160 Almost always whenever you read a Pauline letter, he introduces 114 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:05,560 himself and then he jumps right into the gospel. 115 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:07,400 And so you would guess at the first thing that Paul would jump 116 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:10,360 into after his introduction would be the gospel, and you 117 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,320 would be right in almost every other Pauline letter he writes. 118 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:16,560 But if you guessed that about his letter to Titus, I'm sorry 119 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:18,680 sweetheart, you would actually be wrong. 120 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:24,280 What's the first thing Paul says in his letter to Titus after he 121 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,760 gets through the introductions? Essentially those 3 verses are 122 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:35,680 go build pastors. It things are a mess here, go 123 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:41,920 find, train, and install these guys as leaders. 124 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:44,760 Why? Well, if you've heard the other 125 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:47,280 4 sermons on Titus so far, you probably already know the 126 00:06:47,280 --> 00:06:49,040 answer. Because the island of Crete, 127 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:52,800 which is where Titus is, is an absolute trash fire. 128 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:55,960 It's filled with mercenary soldiers who are dishonest and 129 00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:58,800 pirates who are thieves and wolves who want to destroy the 130 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:01,280 church. And because of this, this young, 131 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:05,120 these young fledgling churches in Crete, they do not yet have 132 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:08,520 pastors or this, that's exactly what this would lead us to 133 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:10,640 believe. They are a football team without 134 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:14,160 a coach. They, they are a, they're a film 135 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:18,440 cast without a director, right? They're, they don't have healthy 136 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:23,240 leadership apart from Titus. And so much hangs in the balance 137 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:25,600 of finding these people and appointing them. 138 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:29,600 If Titus gets the pastors wrong, the churches are going to 139 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:33,360 perish. If Titus gets the pastors right, 140 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:36,320 the churches will probably thrive. 141 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:38,600 And so the main point of my sermon today, which I'm going to 142 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:41,000 try to keep shorter than usual, is this. 143 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:47,160 God establishes healthy churches through healthy leaders whose 144 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:52,160 lives imperfectly, but whose lives embody the gospel. 145 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:53,400 Let me show you where I'm getting this from. 146 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:57,800 Look at verse 5. If you look at verse 5, the 147 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:01,360 exact leader he's talking about are elders, or as he calls them 148 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:03,480 synonymously in verse 7, overseers. 149 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:06,200 Let me explain. In the Bible, the titles elder 150 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:10,480 and overseer and pastor, they, they're all the same position. 151 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:14,240 They're synonymous terms that are just used in different 152 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:17,760 locations. But the of all these titles, we 153 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:20,760 tend to as a church, use the term pastor most. 154 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:23,720 And so pastors or elders or overseers, they're the leaders 155 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:27,480 that God gives to the church to lead through three big 156 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:30,080 categories. Pastors lead through three big 157 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:32,000 categories. You see this all throughout the 158 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:35,880 Old Testament and New Testament direction, doctrine and 159 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:37,520 doctoring souls. Don't you guys love 160 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:40,200 alliteration? Don't roll your eyes at me. 161 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:45,440 It's great doctrine, direction, doctoring souls. 162 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:48,240 They're the chief leaders under Jesus in a local church, and 163 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:50,960 they're charged with the direction of the church or the 164 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:54,440 important decisions and taking responsibility for them. 165 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:57,440 They're charged with upholding the doctrine of the church, what 166 00:08:57,440 --> 00:08:59,960 gets taught and what doesn't get taught from the front. 167 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:04,160 And they're charged with the doctoring of souls or providing 168 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:07,320 ongoing prayer and care and counseling with people. 169 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:14,200 And again, Paul says, Titus, Titus before you do, it's such a 170 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:17,360 strange way to plant a church because I so we planted this 171 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:19,920 church nine years ago and the modern world, we tend to be 172 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:22,480 like, OK, here's how you plant a church. 173 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:26,520 You got to launch the church Instagram and then try to get as 174 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:29,040 many people to follow it as possible and get the word spread 175 00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:32,360 around town, right? You want to find, you got to 176 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:35,800 find the right camera so that you can take videos of the 177 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:39,920 sermon and put it on Spotify so to show people your sermons. 178 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:41,080 And there's nothing wrong with that. 179 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:43,200 It's just not the strategy that Paul has. 180 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:47,960 Paul's strategy for planting these churches in Crete is go 181 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:51,040 find elders. Before you do anything else. 182 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:57,040 Get these leaders right. Two things in the evaluation and 183 00:09:57,040 --> 00:09:58,840 finding of these people that we see in the text. 184 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:04,880 The first thing we see is as you're looking for elders, 185 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:09,440 training them and installing them, make sure that the pastor 186 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:13,480 is like Jesus personally, or say it a little bit different way, 187 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:18,480 make sure he's like Jesus, not perfect, but like Jesus in his 188 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:19,920 home. That's verse six. 189 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:23,480 I'm not making this up. Look at verse 6, If anyone is 190 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:27,560 above reproach, the husband of one wife or to say that in a 191 00:10:27,560 --> 00:10:30,400 different way in a culture where polygamy is normal and he can't 192 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:33,160 be an elder, he, this dude can't be an elder if he has more than 193 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:37,480 one wife or if he's unfaithful to his wife sexually or 194 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:42,080 emotionally in any way. I don't care how talented he is, 195 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:45,320 he fails that qualification. Keep reading. 196 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:48,920 And if his children are believers and not open to the 197 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:51,200 charge of debauchery or insubordination. 198 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:57,480 And so he's got to be a good, not perfect, but a good dad who 199 00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:00,320 is present with his kids and training them up in the way of 200 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:03,880 Jesus to the best of his capacity In in other words, 201 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:07,840 verse 6 is, hey, make sure that these guys are like Jesus 202 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:10,680 privately. And that's not that's not 203 00:11:10,680 --> 00:11:12,560 enough. He keeps on, he keeps on going. 204 00:11:12,560 --> 00:11:16,760 The second thing he says is make sure that the pastors or the 205 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:22,520 pastoral candidates, they must be like Jesus publicly, or to 206 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:24,840 say it in a different way, make sure he's like Jesus, not 207 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:27,520 perfect, but like Jesus in the world. 208 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:30,920 That's verses 7 and eight. He says for an overseer as God's 209 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:36,080 steward must be above reproach. And then he lists 5 things a guy 210 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:39,240 cannot be to qualify as an elder. 211 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:46,400 He must not be arrogant or quick tempered or a drunkard or 212 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:50,600 violent or greedy for gain. But it's not just about not 213 00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:56,120 being the wrong thing, right? It's also about being the right 214 00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:58,360 thing. And so after five things he must 215 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:01,800 not be, he lists 6 things he must be. 216 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:05,320 Instead. He must be hospitable, a lover 217 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:11,440 of good, self controlled, upright, holy and discipline. 218 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:13,040 Look, we don't have time to go through all of those 219 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:15,560 qualifications individually. Frankly, they're all pretty 220 00:12:15,560 --> 00:12:18,280 self-explanatory. So what I want to do is I want 221 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:21,280 to lace all of these qualifications together with a 222 00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:24,040 critical through line. OK, I need your guys's eyes for 223 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:25,480 this one. This is so important when it 224 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:28,320 comes to qualification, when it comes to all of these 225 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:33,920 qualifications, to meet the qualifications to be a pastor, a 226 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:36,680 man must be these things consistently. 227 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:45,040 Not perfectly, consistently not perfectly. 228 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:49,280 Say it this way. To be qualified means that he's 229 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:53,840 known for these things. Not perfect at these things. 230 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:56,320 Workshop really quickly with me. I'm going to do a quick workshop 231 00:12:56,320 --> 00:12:58,880 with you because this is so unfathomable that everybody will 232 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:01,160 know it's not true. OK, super hypothetical 233 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:04,400 situation. Suppose so, Jaron. 234 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:06,400 Where's Jaron at? Jaron. 235 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:08,800 So Jaron's one of our pastors, one of our elders, one of our 236 00:13:08,800 --> 00:13:11,240 overseers. Suppose. 237 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:14,920 Suppose you're at Barn Town Brewery on a Friday night, 238 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:15,800 right? Cook. 239 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:17,160 What's your favorite restaurant in Des Moines? 240 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:22,040 You got one in Des Moines? What? 241 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:25,720 OK, suppose you're at the sushi house. 242 00:13:26,680 --> 00:13:31,160 Wow, dude, that's bougie, bro. Sushi. 243 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:37,600 You think you know a guy? So suppose you're at the sushi 244 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:39,560 house. And suppose Jaron is at the 245 00:13:39,560 --> 00:13:42,640 sushi house too, right? So Jaron's with his family. 246 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:45,000 You see him across the room. You know Jaron's one of the 247 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:47,000 pastors here. And suddenly, surprisingly, 248 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:50,800 since Jaron is not like this, you see Jaron snap and he gets 249 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:53,920 visibly angry at his kids. And you see it. 250 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:58,840 And then you open up first, Titus verse 7, and it says an 251 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:05,160 elder cannot be quick tempered. Does this mean that Jaron is 252 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:10,960 disqualified as a pastor? Not necessarily. 253 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:14,880 Not necessarily. Now, you should probably have a 254 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:18,640 conversation with them. Hey, bro, I just, I noticed that 255 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:21,400 this thing, I saw this. Can you tell me more about this? 256 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:24,920 You should probably poke at his heart a little bit to see if 257 00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:29,880 it's tender and repentant. Maybe he had a bad night and he 258 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:32,640 went home and he repented to his kids and he asked for 259 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:36,120 forgiveness, right? If this is if this is the case, 260 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:40,160 then it can still be that Jaron can consistently be not quick 261 00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:42,560 tempered and still have some bad nights. 262 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:50,080 The dude's not disqualified for that, but if he's known for it, 263 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:56,320 there's this growing mountain of people in the church who've been 264 00:14:56,320 --> 00:15:00,040 wounded by his anger. If his kids are always walking 265 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:04,600 on egg shells because the temper is an ever present threat to 266 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:08,240 them, is he disqualified? Yeah, he's disqualified. 267 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:11,920 Unfit to be an elder. What if he's really good at 268 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:13,480 public speaking? I don't care. 269 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:17,280 I don't care. Disqualified. 270 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:21,360 No matter how gosh darn talented the person is. 271 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:26,240 The key phrase here, this is there's a single phrase that's 272 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:28,600 repeated twice in this section. Did you notice that? 273 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:32,680 It's critical. It was repeated before the 274 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:34,640 private qualifications and before the public 275 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:37,760 qualifications. The repeat, the repeated phrase 276 00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:41,800 that's repeated twice is above reproach verse 6. 277 00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:46,520 If anyone's above reproach, verse 7, an overseer must be 278 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:49,040 above reproach. So what's it mean to be above 279 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:51,120 reproach? The phrase above reproach. 280 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:55,760 What it is, is it is a summary phrase for all of those 281 00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:59,360 qualifications that Paul lays out for elders and Titus. 282 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:05,400 It's summarizing there's like 15 or 15 ish qualifications in here 283 00:16:05,640 --> 00:16:08,880 for Titus. It's a summary phrase for all of 284 00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:16,280 those exact qualification. What it is not is a catch all 285 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:20,160 for all the things that you wish were different about your 286 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:24,200 pastors. Does that make sense? 287 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:26,680 This, this is actually really important. 288 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:28,480 This is really important. So I, I actually want you to 289 00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:31,480 follow me closely, tailgate my bumper as I drive through this 290 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:32,680 argument. OK, come in close here. 291 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:36,080 OK. The, the thing about the phrase 292 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:38,440 above reproach is that it's beautiful and it's also one of 293 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:41,760 the most weaponized phrases against pastors in the entire 294 00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:43,680 New Testament. Some people, what they'll do is 295 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:48,080 they'll weaponize the phrase got to be above reproach in order to 296 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:51,080 leverage their desire to have all of their stylistic 297 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:54,440 preferences met. Have you ever seen this? 298 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:59,360 I've I you guys are awesome church to pastor. 299 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:01,800 So I don't feel like it's been leveraged against me. 300 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:06,880 But here I, I have a lot of relationships with other pastors 301 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:10,839 and I have heard of pastors being criticized by church 302 00:17:10,839 --> 00:17:14,280 people for not being above reproach for the craziest 303 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:15,960 things. OK, listen to this list of the 304 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:17,720 following things. I sat down. 305 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:21,200 I was like, what have I heard pastors accused for as above 306 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:23,000 reproach? I've heard pastors accused for 307 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:26,260 being not being above reproach because they preached in 308 00:17:26,260 --> 00:17:29,800 T-shirts rather than collared shirts, or because they preached 309 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:33,800 in collared shirts rather than suits, or because they preached 310 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:38,240 in suits rather than robes. You got to be above approach, 311 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:43,240 bro. Or for listening to secular 312 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:50,240 music, got to be above approach. Or for responsibly enjoying 313 00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:54,560 cigars, Or for responsibly enjoying alcohol, or for 314 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:59,120 watching rated R movies, or for watching PG13 movies, or for 315 00:17:59,120 --> 00:18:01,280 making barely above a livable wage. 316 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:02,600 You got to be above approach, bro. 317 00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:06,320 Or for being at a brewery on a Friday night or for being at a 318 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:08,920 sushi house on a Friday night, got to be above approach. 319 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:17,720 And often times what Christians don't have is the maturity to 320 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:24,400 say, you know, that that's just a, a preference of mine or I 321 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:27,560 wish he was a little bit different in the way that he 322 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:29,200 dressed when he was behind the pulpit. 323 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:34,240 And because Christians don't have that maturity, what they'll 324 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:38,360 do is they'll lurch onto the phrase be above reproach and try 325 00:18:38,360 --> 00:18:41,880 to give their preferences biblical weight. 326 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:44,080 And it's unhelpful. So let me tie. 327 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:46,160 Let me tie a boat at the same point in time. 328 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:48,800 The phrase above approach doesn't mean nothing, right? 329 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:51,360 So let me tie a bow on everything I've been saying here 330 00:18:51,360 --> 00:18:55,240 for the last couple minutes. If if you are a doodling in your 331 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:58,320 Bible, circle the phrase above reproach in verses 6 or 7. 332 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:00,880 Underline it or just tattoo it on your forehead. 333 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:02,360 Don't tattoo it on your forehead. 334 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:06,800 You know what I'm saying? If the criticism points to a 335 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:13,600 matter of sin and the listed qualifications in the Bible, you 336 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:16,920 need to take it seriously and your pastor may not be above 337 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:20,720 reproach and it would be helpful for him to hear that from you. 338 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:28,800 If the criticism points to a matter of style or liberty, or 339 00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:32,600 he's casual and you wish he was more formal in his personality, 340 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:35,080 or he's more formal and you wish he was just more casual in his 341 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:37,280 personality. If you wish your pastors were 342 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:42,360 just a little bit different, that is not what Paul means by 343 00:19:42,360 --> 00:19:47,200 being above reproach. And I'm making sense. 344 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:54,680 So here's this is so important. Did you notice how of all the 345 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:59,000 qualifications listed, only one is a skill? 346 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,920 And Titus actually didn't read it this morning, but as we look 347 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:06,280 at it next week, the only qualification in the Scriptures 348 00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:11,160 for an elder that's a skill is that he's able to give 349 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:13,480 instruction and sound doctrine. He's got to be able to teach. 350 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:17,400 But the rest of them are not skills. 351 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:23,560 It's all character. It like Titus does not read the 352 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:27,000 qualifications for an elder, does not read like like an 353 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:30,760 interview for Aceo or an executive, right? 354 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:34,720 It's almost all what's he like in the home? 355 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:37,480 What's his heart like? What's his relationship with 356 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:39,840 alcohol like does? Is he self-control? 357 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:42,320 It's almost all character stuff. Why? 358 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:49,520 Because of Paul's definition of a pastor. 359 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:58,160 Verse 7-2 words For Paul, a pastor is God's steward. 360 00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:01,360 That's verse 7 for an overseer as. 361 00:21:02,120 --> 00:21:08,280 So an overseer is for an overseer as God's steward. 362 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:09,600 That's what a pastor is, God's steward. 363 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:13,880 Why only one competency and 15 character qualifications answer? 364 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:17,160 Because pastors are not stewards of their own gifts. 365 00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:22,440 They are stewards of God's gifts. 366 00:21:23,360 --> 00:21:28,280 They're God's stewards. That means Paul is being very 367 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:31,280 clear. He's saying the church does not 368 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:35,680 belong to the pastors, belongs to Jesus. 369 00:21:37,120 --> 00:21:40,600 It's not Cole's church. It, I mean, it is in the sense 370 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:45,440 that I belong to it, but it is not in the sense that it belongs 371 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:48,000 to me. And so pastors are not stewards 372 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:51,200 of their own gifts. They're stewards of the gifts of 373 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:56,360 Jesus to the people of Jesus. Here's when our elder team gets 374 00:21:56,360 --> 00:21:59,080 together on a weekly basis. A lot of the times when we get 375 00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:01,960 together, we have these five reminders that we read before we 376 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:04,480 do any business. And one of the reminders that we 377 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:07,880 say whenever we read these reminders, which we need to read 378 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:13,200 more often now is, is is this? The church is not ours. 379 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:15,320 We say it out loud. The church is not ours, but 380 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:19,280 Jesus's. We are just Jesus's errand boys. 381 00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:22,080 That's what pastoral ministry is. 382 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:25,640 Jesus, what do you have for errands for us to run for your 383 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:26,520 church? This OK? 384 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:28,520 Yep, we'll do that. We'll care for that person. 385 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:29,920 We'll preach that. OK, got it. 386 00:22:30,120 --> 00:22:31,080 That's it. Like here. 387 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:35,920 Here's another way of saying it. The pastors, what pastors are is 388 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:41,840 they're, I like this image. They're like groomsmen, right? 389 00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:47,960 So if Jesus is the groom and the church is the bride, a good 390 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:49,960 pastor functions like a a groomsman. 391 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:53,080 What's a groomsman do? If, if the if the bride and the 392 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:54,720 groom are doing like a traditional wedding and they 393 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:58,040 don't want to see each other before the service, what what a 394 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:01,480 groomsman does is he stewards the gifts of the groom to the 395 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:04,480 bride, right? They're trying to remain hidden 396 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:08,760 until the service. And so if, if, if the groom 397 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:11,720 wants to say something to the bride to be, what's he got to 398 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:13,920 do? He gives the message to the 399 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:19,560 groomsman and the groomsman. Hey, yeah, your boy wants to say 400 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:21,240 this to you and he delivers the message, right? 401 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:28,640 Or like if, if, if the groom has a love letter that he wrote for 402 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:31,480 his bride to be on the wedding day, he'll give that to the 403 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:34,800 groomsman and the groomsmen will take that to the bride to be and 404 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:37,200 say, Hey, your, your man wrote this for you. 405 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:38,640 And he'll deliver the message, right? 406 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,520 If, if he got, if he got her a nice necklace, he'll give it to 407 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:43,120 the groomsmen. The groomsmen will take the 408 00:23:43,120 --> 00:23:46,160 necklace to the bride and say, Hey, he got you this right. 409 00:23:46,360 --> 00:23:48,400 If he does that, is he a good groomsman? 410 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:53,320 Oh, you're, you're unsettled on that. 411 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:57,400 I think he's a good groomsman that that's at least part of the 412 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:00,040 groomsman. He's just delivering the gifts 413 00:24:00,120 --> 00:24:04,520 of the groom to the bride. That's a pretty good dude. 414 00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:10,120 Suppose this though. Suppose the groomsman starts 415 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:14,040 delivering his own gifts to the bride. 416 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:21,280 Like got a necklace for the bride to be, and the groomsman 417 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:23,840 delivers his own necklace that he bought for the bride to the 418 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:29,520 bride. A little shady little creep, 419 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:32,360 Judy saying no, I'm going to cue off of Judy. 420 00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:37,800 No thumbs down. Suppose the groom's men, not the 421 00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:40,360 groom. Suppose the groom's men delivers 422 00:24:40,360 --> 00:24:44,280 to the bride to be a love letter he wrote for her. 423 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:53,680 You feel that dude's a creep? Shady traitor. 424 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:57,520 What's what's happening? What's happening? 425 00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:01,240 He's mistaken himself for the groom, where he's just the 426 00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:04,840 groomsmen. What he's trying to do, it would 427 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:08,320 appear to me, is entice the bride to be into adultery. 428 00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:13,160 Is this a good groomsmen? No, this is where everything 429 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:16,640 goes wrong with pastors is when they confuse themselves as the 430 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:19,920 groom rather than the groomsmen, and they think the church is 431 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:22,560 theirs rather than Jesus. I mean, the church is about 432 00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:24,960 delivering their gifts to the church rather than pointing 433 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:27,880 people to Jesus. And when a pastor does this, he 434 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:32,040 is starting to entice the church into spiritual adultery with him 435 00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:34,600 rather than Jesus. Not a good pastor, right? 436 00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:38,160 This is where everything it hits hits the fan, right? 437 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:40,960 This is where you get all the stuff you read about in the 438 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:43,760 headlines right now, right? The moment when pastors become 439 00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:47,360 the type of people who misuse the church's farms to buy a 440 00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:50,160 bunch of their books to get it on the New York Times bestseller 441 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:52,200 list. It happens when they stop seeing 442 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:58,600 themselves as God. Stewart when When pastors, when 443 00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:02,440 that root of anger and spiritual abuse takes root in a pastor's 444 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:06,200 heart, it's usually because they start mistaking themselves as 445 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:09,480 stewards of themselves and people don't understand how 446 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:12,360 great of a pastor I am and blah, blah, blah, and they start to 447 00:26:12,360 --> 00:26:14,400 explode on people and hurt people. 448 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:19,880 The key here it is for pastors to be qualified biblically and 449 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:24,160 for them to take on the rule of God steward and not stewards of 450 00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:26,320 themselves. Here's the point, the church 451 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:29,120 does not belong to the pastor as the church belongs to God. 452 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:37,120 Roughly 15 qualifications in here for elders and Titus only. 453 00:26:37,120 --> 00:26:43,040 One's a skill. If you do the math, that means 454 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:48,200 that roughly 5% of what makes a good pastor is skill or ability 455 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:50,440 and competency. And believe me, if you can 456 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:54,200 choose pastors who are competent and high character, you want 457 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:58,840 those. But being a pastor is 95% 458 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:01,680 character and only 5% skill. Why? 459 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:03,200 Here's an easy layup. Here's why. 460 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:06,680 Because they sparkly, impressive. 461 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:11,360 A talented man who would make a great CEO of a company but who 462 00:27:11,360 --> 00:27:16,560 does not love people will destroy a church as a pastor. 463 00:27:20,360 --> 00:27:22,080 What if he's really good at speaking? 464 00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:31,480 This is what Jesus says. What if he's really popular? 465 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:39,160 He doesn't meet these No, a super talented man who does not 466 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:42,560 love people well should not be a pastor, right? 467 00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:47,360 It's and the reason why is because it takes an immense 468 00:27:47,360 --> 00:27:51,680 amount of character and discipline to love people in the 469 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:57,400 church really well. Like I, I heard a quote. 470 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,040 I heard a quote the other day, a couple months ago that made me 471 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:08,160 rethink my life. It was it was the only man in 472 00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:13,680 your life who wants you to do better than them is your father. 473 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:19,080 And I, I read that quote and I was like, is that true? 474 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:23,240 Some of you maybe didn't grow up with good dads and that's not 475 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:26,440 true for you. Is the only man in your life 476 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:29,200 that you that wants you to do better than them? 477 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:30,600 Your dad is that? Is that true? 478 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:34,680 May there might be some truth to that, right, Sigmund Freud, he 479 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:38,040 famously made the observation that even in peer and friend 480 00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:41,760 relationships, they were characterized by primarily quote 481 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:47,480 quiet but competitive hostility. That's what Freud said. 482 00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:50,480 Unfortunately, I think Freud is mostly right. 483 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:54,640 Do you need water? What do you need? 484 00:28:54,640 --> 00:29:00,880 Yeah, you can do that. Quiet but competitive hostility. 485 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:03,400 Is that correct? I think it's mostly right. 486 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:09,560 Like friends are notorious for being envious of your growth and 487 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:12,400 improvement. Peers are notorious for not 488 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:15,280 being able to celebrate whenever you grow or get the promotion or 489 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:18,360 whatever it is. And so like, it's just really 490 00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:22,440 rare for you to have a person in your life who wants you to do 491 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,920 better than you currently already are, right. 492 00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:29,160 I was like, is that it made me? It made me think of my own dad. 493 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:33,880 Is that true of my dad? Did he want me to do better than 494 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:36,440 he himself did? And of course, that made me go 495 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:38,200 down just an absolute rabbit hole. 496 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:40,360 And you, those of you who are at Frontier, you know where that 497 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:41,920 led me? It led me to the wrestling room, 498 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:45,200 you know that. And yeah, I grew up wrestling, 499 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:47,880 obviously. And I, I grew up pretty 500 00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:50,320 decorated and youth wrestling that nobody cares about. 501 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:52,320 It doesn't matter, but you stay champ blah, blah, blah, blah 502 00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:54,120 blah, multiple time all American. 503 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:57,480 I say that all because despite all of those accomplishments, 504 00:29:57,480 --> 00:29:59,280 you know who I couldn't beat in wrestling? 505 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:04,520 My dad drove me not even like at the peak, even at the peak of my 506 00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:08,920 athletic abilities, like even when I was at high school and he 507 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:12,720 already had knee surgery, still couldn't beat him. 508 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:17,440 And it drove me nuts. The guy was in his upper 40s and 509 00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:20,640 he still was just absolutely making mashed potatoes out of 510 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:22,040 me. I was like, what in the world? 511 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:24,520 Guy's not in shape, he wears a knee brace. 512 00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:27,520 How was this a thing? So I couldn't take him down 513 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:32,800 until my senior year of high school. 514 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:35,360 Did it. I still remember it. 515 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,000 Is it a bit? It was late at night in the 516 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:41,280 basement of the middle school. I still remember the smell of 517 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:46,800 the old mats, exhausted, covered in sweat, my dad's knee brace, 518 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:49,200 right? I still remember the feeling of 519 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:51,440 taking it down and being like, who's the big dog now? 520 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,680 I still remember that it felt awesome. 521 00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:58,640 I was like, heck yes, I did it. I did it. 522 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:04,040 And then 18 years later, I read the quote, the only man in your 523 00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:06,680 life who wants you to do better than himself is your dad. 524 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:15,240 And I was like, hold on a second, does that mean 18 years 525 00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:20,680 ago, my one takedown on him, Dang it, he gave me that 526 00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:23,680 takedown and it took it away from me. 527 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:26,880 I was like, no, I don't even think I got that takedown 528 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:28,960 fairly. I think it was an absolute gift. 529 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:36,040 The only man in your life who wants you to do better than them 530 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:40,440 is your dad. The reason why there's such a 531 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:43,880 high calling on character and qualifications in the New 532 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:48,400 Testament is because the pastors of your local church should be 533 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:54,480 those men too. You should be able to 534 00:31:54,480 --> 00:32:00,200 confidently look at them and say that guy cares about my Christ 535 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:02,840 likeness maybe even more than I do. 536 00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:06,720 Like that's how I know my heart is in a pastoral place. 537 00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:15,520 If I can say honestly that I want your joy in the Lord, maybe 538 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:19,400 even more than I want my own, that is a pastor right there. 539 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:25,400 And it takes an immense amount of discipline and character to 540 00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:28,600 get to that place. Like you can't see it right now, 541 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:31,400 right? But in the room right now, if it 542 00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:33,400 were visible, I'm just, I'm just being honest with you. 543 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:38,760 If it were visible, you would see these opinions over here 544 00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:41,480 about me. You would see that this person 545 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:44,640 has been criticizing me behind my back for the last six months, 546 00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:48,360 and this person I know disagrees with what I'm about to say. 547 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:51,120 And that person is Troy. Like if you can see all the 548 00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:58,800 stuff in the room, you would see how easy it would be to let the 549 00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:03,160 pastor member relationship be characterized by relational 550 00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:09,280 bitterness and hostility. And the reason why a pastor has 551 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:13,720 to have such high character and be so disciplined is because 552 00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:17,440 every Sunday and in every meeting with the individual and 553 00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:20,680 privately, when we lift you up in prayer and pray for you, we 554 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:24,800 have to be able to see through this stuff in the room and not 555 00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:27,960 see you through the stuff in the room, but see you in the blood 556 00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:29,520 of Christ and love you well still. 557 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:34,840 And that's really hard. It means that right for for 558 00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:38,480 Jesus. It didn't just mean letting his 559 00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:40,640 people take him down in the sport of wrestling, that's 560 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:43,040 trivial. That's that's the analogy. 561 00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:46,560 It meant letting his people crucify him and still loving 562 00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:49,840 them. And that is what biblical 563 00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:55,680 leadership is. It's not being ACEO and making 564 00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:57,560 decisions. That's like 1/5 of it. 565 00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:03,920 Or it is suffering well and still through it all, loving the 566 00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:07,120 church, showing up for the church, praying for the church, 567 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:11,040 right the way that Alexander Strock said it in his massively 568 00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:14,600 beautiful book on biblical eldership is elders in the local 569 00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:18,800 church do not wear the crowns, they wear the aprons. 570 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:25,120 This is the self emptying leadership of the true lead 571 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:29,440 pastor of every true church. Who's the truly pastor of every 572 00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:35,840 true church? Jesus, the self emptying, 573 00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:38,239 suffering leader. Jesus emptied himself for the 574 00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:41,960 sake of the church. His throne is the cross, His 575 00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:45,600 crown is made of thorns. His leadership is his loving 576 00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:48,159 suffering for his people. That's the gospel. 577 00:34:48,159 --> 00:34:49,920 Jesus Christ was crucified for you. 578 00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:53,199 That's his leadership. So that in Christ by faith 579 00:34:53,199 --> 00:34:57,200 alone, all of your sins are taken away, all of His 580 00:34:57,200 --> 00:34:59,280 righteousness that is given to you. 581 00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:03,320 The gospel's the good news that despite humanity's endless need 582 00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:08,320 to try to annihilate God, God willingly goes to annihilate 583 00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:12,160 himself on the cross and still shows up and says, I love you. 584 00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:20,200 And what Paul is saying in a different way is he's he's 585 00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:25,600 saying make sure these churches find leaders who reflect that 586 00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:28,640 gospel in their lives. That's what he's saying. 587 00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:34,920 That's why when Paul's writing Titus and there are these new 588 00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:38,320 struggling churches in Crete, the first thing Paul says is go 589 00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:44,320 find these leaders. Go find, build and install 590 00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:47,240 elders. Healthy elders, healthy church, 591 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:49,400 unhealthy elders, unhealthy church. 592 00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:52,040 Even if the church is deeply unhealthy and emotionally 593 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:55,320 immature and relational divisive, often times when you 594 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:59,080 get the right leaders in the right place, the whole 595 00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:03,640 organization slowly grows up into maturity or the immature 596 00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:07,000 people end up leaving because they find the maturity 597 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:11,400 offensive. That's why so many leadership 598 00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:14,040 gurus make the note, and I think they're right, that an 599 00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:17,120 organization's maturity will rarely exceed the leaders 600 00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:21,680 maturity. And that's why getting the right 601 00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:25,680 elders is such a big deal to Titus in the Book of Titus. 602 00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:29,560 And that's why finding the right elders is such a big deal at 603 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:37,360 Frontier. But let me end with something 604 00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:42,200 practical. 95% of you won't become pastors, and that's 605 00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:45,360 great, right? You don't want like 50% of your 606 00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:48,160 church to be pastors. Too many cooks in the kitchen, 607 00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:51,560 as I say. So 95% of you aren't going to 608 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:53,520 become pastors, and that's great. 609 00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:57,280 So what do you, what's the point? 610 00:36:57,280 --> 00:36:59,240 What do you want? What do you do with this text? 611 00:36:59,240 --> 00:37:00,200 What do you do with this message? 612 00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:03,800 Let me be really practical. I think your job is just as hard 613 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:07,280 as the job of the elders. So let me tell it to you via 614 00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:09,760 narrative. Eugene Patter, Eugene Peterson, 615 00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:12,400 he's one of my favorite, was one of my favorite writers on the 616 00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:14,640 pastoral life. He wrote this beautiful 617 00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:20,640 biography called a Pastor. And in it he tells us haunting 618 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:23,320 story about when he was going through seminary. 619 00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:25,600 And as he was going through seminary and was so excited to 620 00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:28,600 be a pastor, he also had this atheist buddy who he was really 621 00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:30,880 good buddies with. And so he's got this atheist 622 00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:32,760 buddy. And his atheist buddy was like, 623 00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:36,520 Eugene, don't do it, bro. It's fine if you want to be a 624 00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:40,360 Christian and, you know, pretend to enjoy this fairy God in the 625 00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:42,640 sky, but don't become a pastor, bro. 626 00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:44,400 And Eugene was like, I'm going to do it. 627 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:47,280 He's like, no, don't do it. He's like, I'm going to do it. 628 00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:51,080 And so the atheist friend was like, OK, well, is it OK? 629 00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:54,760 He just happened to be a really talented painter too. 630 00:37:55,560 --> 00:38:00,040 And so his atheist buddy said, is it OK if you come for an hour 631 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:03,640 every week and my studio sit on a stool and I'm going to paint a 632 00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:06,120 portrait of, of you? And Eugene was like, sure, 633 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:08,000 whatever helps for you to grow as an artist. 634 00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:12,040 So Eugene showed up in his in his studio for a month, sat down 635 00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:16,040 on a stool and allowed the guy to paint him on a on a weekly 636 00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:19,760 basis. And he he kept the painting 637 00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:23,000 hidden from Peterson the entire time. 638 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:30,720 Yeah, you can go get some. But on, I think on Week 3, the 639 00:38:30,720 --> 00:38:34,760 painter's wife came in and she looked at the portrait of 640 00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:39,480 Eugene, and she went, why you're the worst. 641 00:38:40,720 --> 00:38:42,280 And Eugene was like, what? What was that? 642 00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:47,160 And the next week, when the painter finished the painting, 643 00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:53,600 Peterson saw why his painting buddy took canvas when he was 644 00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:57,040 finished with it. And he turned it around and he 645 00:38:57,040 --> 00:39:01,000 showed Peterson the painting. And what he had done is he had 646 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:06,080 painted a self-portrait of Eugene Peterson as a zombie with 647 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:13,960 hollowed out eyes, a dead expression, pale white, 648 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:19,800 lifeless. And he said to Eugene Peterson, 649 00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:23,160 this is my final warning for you. 650 00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:28,000 Don't become a pastor or this is what will happen to you. 651 00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:31,640 The church will suck out your soul and it will kill you. 652 00:39:31,640 --> 00:39:40,440 And you know what Peterson did? He took the portrait and he hung 653 00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:45,240 it up in his private closet and his pastor's office and looked 654 00:39:45,240 --> 00:39:48,280 on it at a weekly basis to remind himself to stay connected 655 00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:50,000 to Jesus and not let his church kill him. 656 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:56,960 So what does this mean for you? The Bible's clear about your 657 00:39:56,960 --> 00:39:59,120 role in the relationship with your pastor. 658 00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:02,000 Here's the way that Hebrews 13 says it. 659 00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:06,400 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch 660 00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:09,320 over your souls as those who will have to give an account. 661 00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:14,800 Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that 662 00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:19,600 would be of no advantage to you. Here's what I'm not saying. 663 00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:22,560 I'm not saying that you've got to give your pastors a special 664 00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:26,440 parking spot in the parking lot. That was the first thing we 665 00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:28,040 ripped out when we bought this building. 666 00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:31,680 I'm not saying that on Pastors Appreciation Month you've got to 667 00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:34,640 write a sappy emotional post about how important your pastor 668 00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:37,600 is to you on Facebook, but I'm not. 669 00:40:37,640 --> 00:40:39,520 I'm not saying you have to do any of that silly stuff. 670 00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:42,440 I am certainly not saying that you can never rebuke or correct 671 00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:44,040 them. They need your rebuke and your 672 00:40:44,040 --> 00:40:46,240 correction. But at the very least, the Bible 673 00:40:46,240 --> 00:40:50,960 is clear that your job is to be a joy to pastor. 674 00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:56,240 Or to use the language of Eugene Peterson's friend, don't kill 675 00:40:56,240 --> 00:41:03,640 your pastors via gossip, via slander, via spirit. 676 00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:06,880 Just don't kill them. And the cool thing about me 677 00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:08,760 preaching the sermon is I'm not doing it reactively. 678 00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:11,640 You guys are like the best church ever to pastor. 679 00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:13,480 You guys are like, really encouraging. 680 00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:15,840 And I'm not like, I'm just saying like, do more of this. 681 00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:17,960 I hang out with other pastors sometimes. 682 00:41:17,960 --> 00:41:20,720 And I'm like, I wish you guys could pastor my church. 683 00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:23,360 You guys are way too good and it's fun to pastor you. 684 00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:25,880 So thanks for being a joy to pastor Heavenly Father. 685 00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:31,800 I pray that you would continue to build into and invest in the 686 00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:36,240 member elder dynamic. It's probably I was praying 687 00:41:36,240 --> 00:41:38,680 about this this week. It's probably the third most 688 00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:40,680 important relational dynamic in the church. 689 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:44,360 The the most important relational dynamic is the people 690 00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:48,880 to God relational dynamic. That's the most important thing. 691 00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:52,680 The second most important relational dynamic is probably 692 00:41:52,680 --> 00:41:57,840 the pastor and pastor dynamic. When a pastoral team collapses, 693 00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:01,960 often times the church follows. But the third most important 694 00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:05,560 relational dynamic is the pastor and member dynamic. 695 00:42:05,560 --> 00:42:09,960 Would you protect that Lord? Would your Holy Spirit hover 696 00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:17,240 over our pastors and our members and help us endure seasons where 697 00:42:17,240 --> 00:42:20,200 we don't like each other or we would prefer that we were 698 00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:23,600 different and still hold together in the bond of love 699 00:42:23,600 --> 00:42:25,920 that the Gospel of Jesus has purchased for us? 700 00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:34,000 May May our elders take their character seriously and may our 701 00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:39,040 members celebrate their selfless leadership, especially the lay 702 00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:42,960 elders who give their time and energy and don't sing a see a 703 00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:45,200 single dollar in response to that. 704 00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:49,680 May we protect that and just remind us that the church does 705 00:42:49,680 --> 00:42:52,520 not belong to the pastors. Church belongs to Jesus. 706 00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:56,200 So it's in his precious name that all God's people prayed. 707 00:42:56,200 --> 00:42:59,560 Amen. Let's stand and let's worship.