Character and Work of a Pastor

Titus 1:5-9
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, November 30, 2014
Copyright © 2014, P. G. Mathew
Language [Japanese]

Titus 1:5–9 speaks about the qualifications and work of pastors. We may think these qualifications only apply to pastors. But what is good for the goose is good for the gander. If something is good for pastors, it is good for all people, especially the people of God.

The apostle Paul, together with Titus, evangelized all the cities on the island of Crete. Then Paul had to leave to preach the gospel in other places. So he charged Titus with completing certain unfinished tasks, especially organizing and establishing order in the new churches.

God is a God of order. There is order in a family. Under God, a family is under the leadership of the husband and parents. There is order in a church. The church is under the leadership of pastors, and everything in the church must be done decently and in order. This is also true of the state.

So Paul left Titus in Crete to straighten out things that were left undone, especially the task of appointing elders in churches in every town. God always finishes what he starts, and we should too. Paul declares, “[I am] confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus ” (Phil. 1:6). He also wrote, “Tell Archippus: ‘See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord’” (Col. 4:17).

 

Qualifications of an Elder

What are the qualifications of an elder, an overseer, or a pastor? God requires very high qualifications for this holy, high, and heavenly calling. There is no job in this world higher than the job of a pastor, an overseer, or an elder. These qualifications are higher than what is required to be the president of the United States, or to be the head of the largest corporation in the world.

First of all, the pastor must be called of God. A pastor cannot call himself, nor can a church make a person a pastor. In Luke 9:57–59 we read, “As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’ He said to another man, ‘Follow me.’”

Jesus calls his ministers. Moses was called by God, as were Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the apostles. For example, about Jeremiah we read, “The word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.’ ‘Ah, Sovereign LORD,’ I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.’ But the LORD said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am only a child.” You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the LORD” (Jer. 1:4–8).

The truth is, most pastors are not called by God. But those called by God will be born of God. They will be full of the Holy Spirit—full of wisdom, full of grace, full of faith, and full of power to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the whole world. These were the kind of men Titus was to appoint as elders.

Paul likewise had left Timothy in Ephesus to establish biblical order, especially in stopping false teachers from spreading their false doctrines: “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer” (1 Tim. 1:3). Notice, true pastors do not beg; they command. And through them, God himself commands. God commands all people everywhere to repent and to believe.

Christ is the head of the church. Every church of Jesus Christ is ruled by him. In the church, everything is done decently and in order and with reverence (see 1 Cor. 14:33, 40). We are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

Paul himself ordered Titus to ordain elders in every church. The basis of his work was the apostolic authority, which is the authority of Christ himself. So he was to appoint elders in every church. Every church must have more than one elder. “Appoint elders [presbuterous] in every church.” In other words, one pastor doing all the work in a church is not scriptural. We see this idea throughout the New Testament. To the Philippian church Paul wrote, “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons” (Phil. 1:1). In Acts 14:23 we read, “Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.”

Elders, pastors, and overseers are synonymous terms. “Elder” speaks about one’s qualification. An elder should not be a novice. He is an older person, pious and learned, experienced, knowing things. The words “pastor” and “overseer” speak of his responsibilities and functions.

Titus 1:5 speaks about elders while Titus 1:7 speaks about overseers. First Peter 5:1–4 speaks about elders, overseers, and pastors. First Timothy 3:1–2 speaks about overseers, while 1 Timothy 5:17 speaks about elders, as does Acts 20:17. Acts 20:28 speaks about overseers and pastors. So elder, overseer, and pastor are used synonymously.

 

Family Values

The first qualifications Paul speaks about are the family values of the pastor. If a man wants to be a pastor, he must have certain family values. And remember, if it is good for the pastor, it is good for all of us.

Paul begins, “An elder must be blameless,” (v. 6, see also v. 7) that is, irreproachable. This is a general qualification. An elder must be unimpeachable in character. He must have a good reputation within the church and outside the church among unbelievers. As God’s man, he must be godly. People must look up to him and desire to be like him. He must be able to say with Paul: “Follow me, as I follow the Lord” (see 1 Cor. 11:1). Like a father, he must be an example to the flock.

Then Paul gives the first specific family value: a pastor “is to be the husband of one wife” (v. 6). Paul is speaking in terms of normal situations. Normally, people are married and have children. So pastors normally, as older men, would be married and have children. Leviticus 21:13–15 tells us whom the high priest should marry. He must marry only a virgin from Israel. He could not marry a divorced woman, a widow, or a prostitute.

This directive also shows us that imposing celibacy upon ministers of the church is contrary to Christ’s order. In fact, Paul calls it a teaching of demons (1 Tim. 4:1–3). A pastor should be enrolled in the seminary called the family. He must have family values according to Ephesians 5:18–6:4. He must be the husband of but one wife—not two, and not seven hundred, as King Solomon, who introduced pluralism into Israel. He cannot be polygamous. This qualification also prohibits all forms of sexual deviancy and immorality. A pastor is to be faithful to his one wife.

The second family value Paul gives is that the pastor must have children who are believers in Jesus Christ, not prodigals living in dissipation and insubordination (v. 6). A man’s inability to evangelize, train, and govern his own children means he is not able to train and govern God’s church. The pastor’s family should be a small church where there is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, a place where there is rule of the kingdom of God.

In a pastor’s family, there cannot be disorder and division. What the father says goes. The children should be under his rule, which is the rule of God. So a pastor’s family life qualifies or disqualifies him to govern the household of God, which is the church (1 Tim. 3:15). The Bible gives examples of what happens when a father fails to rule his household. For example, Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, were drunkards. They were ministers, but they were drunkards, and God killed them (Lev. 10). Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were wicked. God killed them and also killed Eli (1 Sam. 2–4). Samuel’s children were accused of corruption (1 Sam. 8).

Our children are to obey us, and the pastor’s children should especially obey their father, the pastor. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right” (Eph. 6:1).

 

Personal Values

Then Paul says a pastor must also possess personal values, consisting of both negative and positive values. These qualifications are a must: Paul uses the Greek word “dei.” We find it in the Greek text of Titus 1:7 and 1 Timothy 3:2. In other words, these qualities are not optional; they are necessary.

Why are they so important? Because the elder is considered as God’s oikonomos, house steward, house manager. An elder is the manager, the ruler, of God’s household, the large family called the church. Oikonomos comes from oikos (house) and nemô (to rule). So the pastor is to rule the house of God. Jesus used this word: “Who then is the faithful and wise manager [oikonomos], whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions” (Luke 12:42–44).

A manager, a pastor, is appointed by Christ to function under Christ and is to be fully accountable to Christ, the master of the house. The Hebrews writer speaks of this: “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you” (Heb. 13:17). True pastors must give an account to the chief shepherd, the chief pastor, who is Jesus Christ himself (1 Pet. 5:1–5).

A pastor’s high office demands a high standard of moral qualities (1 Cor. 4:1–2). He cannot kill the sheep and eat them (Ezek. 34) Instead, like his master, he must love the sheep by giving his life for them, as an undershepherd.

Let us then consider first the five negative qualities a pastor should not be characterized by. In the Greek text, all five begin with mê (“not!”).

1. Mê authadê: not self-willed. Authadê comes from autos plus hêdomai, which means self-pleasing, self-willed. A self-willed person says, “I want to do what I want to do how I want to do when I want to do, and who are you to tell me what to do!” He is philautos; he loves himself rather than God or his neighbor (2 Tim. 3:4). He is mê philotheoi; not a lover of God. He never raises his head to heaven to worship God. Many people love themselves at the expense of everyone else. Look at a child who loves himself. He wants his mother and father, brother and sister, and everyone else, to take care of him.
2. Mê orgilon: not quick-tempered, explosive, quarrelsome, not peaceable. Such a person gets angry very easily. Proverbs 22:24 warns, “Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered.” Proverbs 29:22 says, “An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered one commits many sins.”
3. Mê paroinon: not given to wine, meaning not a drunkard, alcoholic, or drug addict. As we already noted, Aaron’s children, Nadab and Abihu, were drunkards, and God killed them (Lev. 10:8–11).
4. Mê plêktên: not a striker, a bully, a violent man. He must not always be looking for a fight.
5. Mê aischrokerdês: not a lover of money, not using religion to make “dirty money.” Paul writes about false ministers, “They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.” Then Paul says about himself: “Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit.” We do not dilute or corrupt the word to make a profit. “On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God (2 Cor. 2:17). In Hebrews 13:5 we read, “Keep yourselves free from the love of money and be content with what you have.” Paul also writes, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Tim. 6:10). And Jesus said, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?” (Matt. 16:26). A pastor should not use religion to make money. This is not speaking about not paying a pastor for his work. A pastor must have money to live (1 Tim. 5:17–18). False ministers make dirty money by preaching not the apostolic doctrine but what people want to hear. Such people are false prophets and Christ condemns them. Such ministers do not preach about sin or repentance or faith in Jesus Christ and a holy life. Rather, they delight in entertaining the congregation. But a true pastor will not entertain. He will speak about reality—about sin, repentance, and faith in Jesus Christ—so that his listeners may be saved.

Paul then gives six positive qualities required of an elder, an overseer, a pastor.

1. Philoxenon: a lover of hospitality. In Acts 27 we read about Publius, the chief official in Malta, who entertained 276 people, giving them food and everything else. A pastor must love poor people, and travelers, especially Christians. He must open his house for them. Jesus himself said, “Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave” (Matt. 10:11). This is hospitality. Lydia exemplified this: “When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited [Paul and his companions] to her home. ‘If you consider me a believer in the Lord,’ she said, ‘come and stay at my house.’ And she persuaded us” (Acts 16:15). In the same chapter we read, “The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family” (Acts 16:34). Elsewhere Paul wrote, “And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers” (Philem. 22). We also read, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people [such as Abraham] have entertained angels without knowing it” (Heb. 13:2). Remember, this is not just a requirement for pastors; it is for everyone. So Peter exhorts, “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Pet. 4:9).
2. Philagathon: a lover of the good. A believer loves all that is good, especially God, because God is the ultimate goodness. And God made us sinners good by saving us. So we love God’s people who are good and seek their fellowship. We as God’s people are characterized not by self-love but by a selfless attitude. (PGM) We love God’s people as Christ loved and died for us. Unbelievers, we are told in 2 Timothy 3:3, are aphilagathoi (not loving good). In 2 Timothy 3:4 they are called aphilotheoi (not loving God). We also are to love God’s word and his commandments. We don’t endure God’s commandments; we love them, because they tell us how we should live in this present evil age. In fact, we delight in them. So Paul exhorts, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you” (Phil. 4:8–9).
3. Sôphrona: A pastor must be self-controlled, especially in his mind. Sôphronameans having a sound mind. Holy Spirit-filled believers have Spirit-controlled minds. Paul says, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of [a sound mind] self-discipline” (2 Tim. 1:7). When Jesus saved the crazy legion-demon man, he received a mind that understood reality from God’s perspective. Those who do not believe in Jesus Christ have undisciplined minds. The fool says in his heart there is no God (Ps. 14:1). So we read 1 Corinthians 2:15, “Ho de pneumatikos anakrinei ta panta” (“but the spiritual man judges all things”). He has a sound mind. Then Paul declares, “Hêmeis de noun Christou echomen” meaning, “But we have the mind of Christ” (2 Cor. 2:16). We used to have a depraved mind (Rom. 1:28). Now we have the mind of Christ. The Spirit-controlled mind thinks God’s thoughts after him. That is why we love the Bible, because it is the word of God. The unbeliever hates the Bible because it tells him that he is a sinner.
4. Dikaion: A pastor must be righteous in his dealings with people. He must keep his word even when it hurts. John writes, “Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous” (1 John 3:7). Paul says the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17).
5. Hosion: A pastor must be holy. He must be able to worship God with a pure heart. God is holy, so we are to be holy. And God will make us holy. Scripture tells us that without holiness, no one shall see God. Jesus taught, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” So a pastor must exhibit righteousness toward people and holiness toward God.
6. Egkratê: A pastor must be self-controlled, self-disciplined. The word “egkrate” comes from en plus kratos, which means having power (lit., “in strength”). Do you have strength? Believers are powerful to control their bodily appetites and passions. We have the power of the Holy Spirit to resist the devil and his temptations, as Jesus himself did: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil” (Luke 4:1–2). We need the power of the Holy Spirit. We must be “in strength” to say “No” to ungodliness and “Yes” to the will of God. This self-control is the last fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:23). Consider Joseph in Egypt. As a young man, he was tempted by Potiphar’s wife. But he said, “How can I do this wicked thing and sin against God?” and he was victorious. In Daniel 1:8, Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the food and wine of the Babylonians because at that time it was against God’s word. Later, the Medes and Persians made a law that for one month, no one was to pray to anyone but King Darius. Daniel defied the order and went and prayed three times as usual. They put him in the lions’ den, but an angel came and helped him (Dan. 6). The three Hebrew children were told to worship the image. They said no. They were thrown into the fire and the Son of God was there in the fire. He said, “I will be with you always even unto the end of the ages.” Jesus himself lived by the Spirit and never sinned. Of him it is said, “Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens” (Heb. 7:26). And Paul says, “And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control” (en kratê). “So I beat my body and make it to obey me” (1 Cor. 9:25–27). A pastor should be a disciplined person.

 

Ministry Values

There are also ministry values a pastor must have. We read in verse 9 of Titus 1: “He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message.” The verb is antechomenon, meaning he must “continually hold on” to the trustworthy word, the gospel. We must do the same. Hold on to the Bible. Study the Bible. Be filled with the Bible. Be convicted of the Bible truths. Though the culture is degenerating, the word of God will endure forever.

An elder, an overseer, a pastor (and we could also say a father) must always hold fast to God’s word. Never let go! Hold fast to the trustworthy word of the gospel, which is entrusted by Christ to his apostles and to his God-called and commissioned ministers. It is a sacred trust. We must not add to it or subtract from it.

Children, obey your parents. Wives, be submissive to your own husbands. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. This is the constitution of a family. Psalm 1 says that we delight in the law of the Lord, and in his law we meditate day and night.

The elder must hold fast to the Bible and the apostolic doctrine in spite of all opposition of the devil, including that which may bring about his own martyrdom. Anyone can believe in Christ and go to church when there is no problem. But people are being killed even now throughout the world because they are Christians. So hold fast! Stephen held fast. James held fast. Peter held fast. Paul held fast. Millions of Christians throughout the ages have held fast. Some were burned at the stake, others were sawn asunder, and still others were boiled in oil for their faith in Jesus Christ. But we must not let go.

The faithful word the pastor preaches is kata didache, that which conforms to the apostolic doctrine, which we have in the New Testament. He has no right to say what he wants. What he preaches must conform to the New Testament. That is why the pastor must be pious and learned.

In Acts 2:42 we read that the disciples devoted themselves, gave themselves over to the apostolic doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread and to prayer. The word is trustworthy because it is the apostolic doctrine. What the apostle says, God says. That is what apostle means.

The word is trustworthy also because it is Christ’s doctrine. In 1 Timothy 6:3 Paul writes, “If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching,” he is proud. The word is trustworthy. It is unfailing, unlike the teachings of false teachers, self-called and self-appointed ministers who peddle their false gospel to make dirty money.

It is the trustworthy word. How many times have we heard people promising, making covenants in baptism, in marriage, and as they joined the church, only to unilaterally violate their vows! Such people are damned. We cannot lie to God. We don’t make vows and break them.

False ministers are spiritual pimps. Many of them are on television. We must have anger toward those who will not preach the apostolic doctrine that we have in the Bible.

The word is trustworthy because it is the word of God who is apseudês (who cannot lie). Let God be true and all men liars. Jesus said, “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:9–13).

Jesus told the truth. Elsewhere he said, “If you want to follow me, deny yourself, take up the cross, and follow me to death.” Paul said, “To me to live is Christ and to die is gain,” and, “To be absent from the body is to be present with Christ.” God’s Son destroyed death by his death on the cross.

In his last epistle Paul wrote, “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering.” He knew he was about to be beheaded because of Christ. He continued, “and the time has come for my departure,” my exodus. Exodus means death, but for Paul it meant departure from this world to the world to come, from this world to paradise. He concluded, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:6–8). Do we long for his appearing?

Revelation 2:11 says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.” And the previous verse says, “Be faithful till death, and he will give you a crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). Notice death, life.

Any teaching that is not in agreement with the apostolic doctrine is the teaching of demons. So we read in 1 Timothy 4:1–2: “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith [the apostolic doctrine] and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” This country is full of demon-possessed ministers who declare demonic teachings in the name of Jesus and in the name of the Holy Spirit. “Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.” No matter what we say, they are not affected or moved. No sensitivity. Their consciences are seared.

A pastor, therefore, must be characterized by biblical orthodoxy. Paul writes, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17). The man of God is equipped by the word of God so that he is able to preach, teach, and counsel.

In 1 Timothy 1:10–11, Paul explains that the law is “for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.” As a minister of the gospel, I have no freedom or authority to preach what I want. I must preach the apostolic doctrine. And as we read before, “If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Tim.6:3). Paul also writes, “What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 1:13). He also says, “”Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel” (2 Tim. 2:8). The gospel is about the person and work of Jesus Christ, who he is and what he did.

Second Timothy 4:3: “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.” We are living in that time. Children, do you want to listen to God’s word that says, “Children, obey your parents in everything, that you may be blessed, that you may live long, that you may prosper”? You don’t want to listen to me? “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” You switch channels. You turn to those who don’t preach the gospel.

Titus 2:1: “You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.” Look at the ecumenical movement. What do they say? Doctrine divides, love unites. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones opposed it because doctrine matters. It is not that we feel and cry and go to heaven. No, we must believe the right doctrine so that we may be saved. There is a way clearly marked; it is the narrow way, the way of Jesus.

In 2 John 9–10 we read, “Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him.”

Those who are of a certain character and filled with doctrine of the New Testament are dunatos, mighty. That is what the text says. Acts 18:24 speaks about Apollos, who was mighty in the Scriptures. That is what a pastor ought to be—mighty in the Scriptures. That is what a father and husband ought to be—mighty in the Scriptures. Such a person will teach and preach and counsel according to the Scriptures.

Chrysostom, the fourth-century archbishop of Constantinople, said for the sake of money, fathers were not taking care of their children nor raising them in the apostolic doctrine.¹ It is still true. Parents are running after money. They think more money means salvation. No, what we need is less money and more God (Hosea 12:8; Rev. 3:17–18).

A true pastor is dunatos. He is mighty to preach the gospel because the gospel itself is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16). Jesus promised, “You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth” (Acts 1:8). We are made mighty by the Spirit of God. Apollos was mighty “en tais graphais,” in the Scriptures. May God help us to be mighty to preach the word with great conviction and boldness, without fear of man, the devil, or the world.

A true pastor is clothed with the Holy Spirit and filled with the mighty word. So he uses the sword of the Spirit to cut and convict sinners, and to heal and feed the saints. When he preaches, miracles happen, especially the miracle of regeneration. The pastor preaches expository preaching. He explains the Scriptures.

So Paul exhorts, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Tim. 4:1–2). This is the pastor’s job. If we do not like the counsel, it is our problem, for the pastor is giving us the word of God spoken for our salvation, as Paul did in Acts 20:32, “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” Politics will not do that; philosophy will not do that. Science will not do that. Only the word of God will do that.

If the preacher does not preach the word, he is not a servant of Christ. He is a servant of the devil, and his church is a synagogue of Satan. It sends people to hell. If you are born of God, the Holy Spirit will direct your feet to go to a church where the gospel is preached. Some people go to church to find a husband or to sell their wares. They are not worried about the word of God. They have other agendas.

Through the preaching of the word, we encourage the people of God. We feed the sheep with the living bread of the word of God. We encourage God’s people in the sphere of sound, healthy doctrine.

In this brief epistle Paul uses the term “sound doctrine” five times (Titus 1:9, 13; 2:1, 2, 8). The word “sound” (hugiainô) is a medical metaphor; it means hygienic, health-giving, not sickness-giving. Most churches are preaching a gospel that makes people sick.

But we must preach hugiainô doctrine. Such doctrine is not designed to entertain; it is designed to give health. The gospel brings us health and healing. It is the false gospel that makes a sinner feel good for a time. But in the end, it will kill him. It makes him sick and he dies.

By the true gospel we are healed. So we read, “This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones” (Prov. 3:8). We also read, “My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body” (Prov. 4:20–22). Spiritual and physical health comes to us through the word of God. It is medicine for our bodies and souls. Peter says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Pet. 2:24).

Not only is it the duty of a pastor to comfort, encourage, preach, teach, and counsel God’s people, it is also his solemn duty to expose and oppose all those who contradict the gospel. We do that in this church. There is no pluralism, treating every religion as equally valid. In this country we have the freedom to preach whatever we want. We have the freedom to go to hell. But only Jesus Christ can save us. This is the exclusivism of the gospel.

False prophets always oppose truth. They lie daily, as did the prophets of Baal, who prophesied in unison to the wicked Ahab. They told him to go and fight and he would come back victoriously. He did go, but he came back dead (1 Kings 22).

Like Micaiah, we must preach the word of God and speak against all lies. A lot of people preach truth, but they fail to speak against errors because that is not popular. But we oppose error because we are not looking for money or fame. We are concerned about what God will say to us on the last day.

Ahab came back dead. The devil is a liar and the father of all lies. All liars are children of the devil, and all lying pastors are children of the devil. God said, “The day you eat thereof, you will surely die.” But in Genesis 3:4 the serpent said, “You will not surely die.” So the pastor’s duty also is to oppose and expose errors by naming them and shaming them—those who work for dirty money.

Many churches today oppose the truth of the gospel and preach lies. There is a spiritual Ebola killing people who hate the word of the gospel. It did not begin in Africa. It began in the Western world. It is spreading through its universities and churches, killing the people.

Conclusion

An elder, overseer, or pastor:

1. Must have family values: fidelity in marriage and children believing in Jesus Christ and obedient;
2. Must not be controlled by certain besetting sins;
3. Must have positive character qualities;
4. Must know and be convinced of the apostolic doctrine;
5. Must preach and teach and counsel the word of God, and oppose all lies.

A pastor’s calling is high, holy, and heavenly. Therefore, he must possess these high character qualifications. But don’t worry; if God called you, he will equip you fully for the job. And we read in 1 Thessalonians 5:24, “The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”

¹ “We should observe what care [a father wishing to be a church leader] bestows upon children. For he who cannot be the instructor of his own children, how should he be the Teacher of others? If he cannot keep in order those whom he has had with him from the beginning, whom he has brought up, and over whom he had power both by the laws, and by nature, how will he be able to benefit those without? . . . But if, occupied in the pursuit of wealth, he has made his children a secondary concern, and not bestowed much care on them, even so he is unworthy. For if when nature prompted, he was so void of affection or so senseless, that he thought more of his wealth than of his children, how should he be raised to the Episcopal throne, and so great rule? For if he was unable to restrain them it is a great proof of his weakness; and if he was unconcerned, his want of affection is much to be blamed. He then that neglects his own children, how shall he take care of other men’s?” Quoted by William D. Mounce, Pastoral Epistles, vol. 46, Word Biblical Commentary series (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2000), 393.