Ecclesiology 101 Part 7
As we discussed last week, we are now looking into the characteristics of the individuals who hold today’s churches up. As I mentioned last week, if there are problems within a church, it typically begins with the pastor. So this week, we are going to look at the characteristics a pastor needs to have if he is going to lead a Biblical church.
Luckily for us, scripture provides the answer for what characteristics a pastor needs to have, and this can be found in 1 Timothy 3:1-7.
“3 It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. 2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, skillful in teaching, 3 not overindulging in wine, not a bully, but gentle, not contentious, free from the love of money. 4 He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity 5 (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?), 6 and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into condemnation incurred by the devil. 7 And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil.”
We see that there are traits that a man must have if he is to be a pastor of a church, but they can all be summed up in one line. He must be above reproach. This means that a pastor must not have idols, this is not the same as not having sin. After all, a pastor is still human and all humans sin. What Paul is stating to Timothy is that a pastor must be someone who does not allow his sin to control him and cause him to place that sin above his relationship with God. When a pastor has an idol in his life, he is holding onto something greater than God, and the church will suffer.
1 Timothy 3:1-7 provides a litmus test if a man wishes to become a pastor, and in today’s churches we can see many examples of pastors who have failed this. While some may have failed in one or many of the characteristics mentioned, it all comes down to one thing. They did not hold themselves above reproach. They allowed the sin in their lives to take over. While there are churches out there who hold these men accountable to their actions by removing them from the pulpit, there are other who allow them to keep preaching and by doing so more false doctrine is spread.
Now I am about to say something that until recently I did not know how bad the problem had gotten. You may have noticed that in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 we see that a pastor is identified as a man, and even in this post I have referred to a pastor as a biological male. The reason for this is simple and yet I am sure some of you will disagree, a Biblical pastor cannot be a woman. This is pointed out in 1 Timothy 2:12, “12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.”
In today’s society, this is a difficult idea to confront. So much of the world is screaming that woman are not inferior to men, however, this is not what Paul is saying in 1 Timothy. Paul is pointing out that there are different roles designed for men and women, just as there are different roles for Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Remember back to Genesis when God created Eve, He designed her to be a helpmate to Adam, not his stepping stool. But today’s society does not wish to see that man and woman were created with different roles in mind, and this is where problems begin in a church. Society today pushes the argument that if God was truly fair then there should be no reason for women to be pastors; but in doing so they deny that God has a role for men and women, and this allows questions about the rest of God’s authority.
Next week, we will discuss the roles of elders and deacons.
Seek the truth and encourage one another,
Alex