Many of you have “split-a-gut” laughing while reading a church bulletin blooper (unless you are the church typist and it was yours!). Here are some of my favorites.

· The outreach committee has enlisted 25 visitors to make calls on people who are not afflicted with any church.

· The pastor would appreciate if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday morning.

· Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7:00 p.m. Please use the back door.

· Ushers will eat latecomers.

· The third verse of Blessed Assurance will be sung without musical accomplishment.

· For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

· The Rev. Merriwether spoke briefly, much to the delight of the audience.

· A songfest was hell at the Methodist church Wednesday.

· Due to the Rector's illness, Wednesday’s healing service will be discontinued until further notice.

· Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and community.

· Don't let worry kill you. Let the Church help.

· Thursday night–Potluck Supper. Prayer and medication to follow.

· This afternoon there will be a meeting in the south and north ends of the church. Children will be baptized at both ends.

· This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs. Lewis to come forward and lay an egg on the altar.

· The ladies of the church have cast off clothing of every kind and they may be seen in the church basement Friday.

· At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.

· Weight Watchers will meet at 7:00 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.

· The Senior Choir invites any member of the congregation who enjoys sinning to join the choir.

Bulletin bloopers happen – and they are funny! But when it comes to spiritual leadership in the church, there is no room for pastoral candidate “bloopers,” for the spiritual leadership of the church is deadly serious. “Like people, like priest” was the incriminating divine evaluation in Hosea’s day. (Hosea 4:9) Thus, anticipating the passing away of the apostles and their apostolic delegates (Timothy, Titus, etc.), God gave us an inerrant record in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 of the required spiritual qualifications of those who desire to shepherd God’s flock.

This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. (1 Timothy 3:1-7)

SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

In our last article, we began examining the scriptural qualifications for an elder/pastor. Before considering each specific qualification, we noted some general observations about this divinely-inspired listing.¹

1. The qualifications for church leadership apply to MEN only. (1 Timothy 2:11-15)

2. The qualifications for church leadership are a MUST, not a maybe… “A bishop then must be blameless….” (1 Timothy 3:2a)

3. The qualifications for church leadership stress MATURITY, not giftedness.

4. The over-riding requirement for church leadership is BLAMELESSNESS, not perfection. (Titus 1:6-7)

5. The qualifications for church leadership evaluate where the pastor’s life is PRESENTLY, not where he may have been in the past… “a bishop must be blameless….” (1 Timothy 3:2a)

As the sins of the culture become the sins of the church, the evangelical church must not ape or accommodate the world-system by elevating “job performance” over godly character. Spiritual giftedness and personal maturity are both essential qualities in order for a pastor’s preaching ministry to not stand in sharp contradiction to his lifestyle. No wonder “blameless” is etched in granite on the overhead marquee of spiritual leadership, with the remainder of this list of qualifications detailing what it actually means to be “above reproach” (NASB).

SPECIFIC PASTORAL QUALIFICATIONS

1. As to his inner compulsion… “If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.” (1 Timothy 3:1)

Our first word translated “desire” (oregomai) means “to stretch oneself out in order to touch or to grasp something, to reach after or desire something.”² George Knight III states, “Field elicits several examples from Greek writers to show that the word ‘has a special application to such objects as a man is commonly said to aspire to’ and therefore repudiates ‘the idea of an ambitious seeking which does not belong either to the word itself or to its connexion.’”³ Therefore, the person being considered in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 is a man who actually aspires (indicative mood) with great intense interest (middle voice) to the function (“office”) of an overseer (“bishop”) of God’s flock.

In addition, it is said that he “desireth a good work.” “Desireth” (epithumei) means “in a good sense, of a natural or commendable desire, long for, earnestly desire.”⁴ In this context, it speaks of a passionate, intense inner compulsion to be used to serve the Lord as a pastor. One pastor has accurately written, “Taken together, the two terms describe the man who outwardly pursues the ministry because of a driving compulsion on the inside.”⁵

J. Oswald Sanders wisely discerns that it is not the office but the work that is the object internally desired.⁶ This inner compulsion is for service; not for position, fame, glamour, fortune, or ease. Fleshly motives and human viewpoint reasons must be personally evaluated and rejected when considering a call of God to pastoral ministry. Spurgeon insightfully warned in the 19^th century,

Mark well, that the desire I have spoken of must be thoroughly disinterested. If a man can detect, after the most earnest self-examination, any other motive than the glory of God and the good of souls in his seeking the bishopric, he better turn aside from it at once; for the Lord will abhor the bringing of buyers and sellers into his temple: the introduction of anything mercenary, even in the smallest degree, will be like the fly in the pot of ointment, and will spoil it all.⁷

But since pastoral aspiration and inner compulsion alone are insufficient, 1 Timothy 3:2 reads…

A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; (1 Tim. 3:2)

2. As to his walk… A bishop “must be blameless…” (1 Timothy 3:2a)

This has been discussed in our last article but is crucial to remember as pastors are to set the spiritual example for God’s sheep.

3. As to his marriage… “the husband of one wife,”

The Greek text literally reads “a one-woman man.” While many have interpreted this to refer to a man’s marital status,⁸ the absence of the article in the Greek text causes it to be better understood to refer to his marital fidelity. This interpretation is also consistent with the entirety of this qualification list, which focuses on personal maturity and character. If a man is married, he is to be faithfully devoted to his wife. Many men, who have only married once, are not “one-woman” men. While staying in one marriage, they may have been sexually unfaithful to their wives, or may have neglected them for selfish or even “spiritual” reasons.

In our day of loose morals and sexual impurity, it is interesting that this specific qualification heads the list. Yet its appropriateness is attested by the unfortunate reality that the sin of sexual infidelity most often disqualifies a man from pastoral ministry. The pastoral hills are painfully strewn with ministry dropouts who have morally fallen in Samson-like fashion resulting in the testimony of Jesus Christ being disgraced.

The placing of this qualification first also underscores the importance of the pastor’s marriage. As some wit has remarked, “If your Christianity doesn’t work at home, don’t export it.” Perhaps a good question for a pastoral search committee to ask a candidate’s wife would be, “would you vote for your husband to be the pastor of this church?”

This is not to communicate that the pastor must be a perfect husband, but he needs to be a progressing one who is devoted in his heart and mind to the woman who is his wife. If this fails to be true, he will especially be susceptible to sexual temptation in person, magazines, video, TV, Internet, etc.

Furthermore, he must be extremely careful to take the necessary safeguards to protect himself and his testimony when giving personal counsel to a woman. In my opinion, any on-going, long-term counseling of a woman by her pastor is unwise and should be engaged in by another mature, female believer. While it may take years to establish an example and a testimony for Jesus Christ, it only takes one event of minutes to possibly irretrievably destroy it. May God help us!

Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (2 Timothy 2:22)

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour. (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4)

For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house. But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. (Proverbs 6:26-33)

Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. (Hebrews 13:4) n

Footnotes:

¹For a detailed explanation of these general observations read the Sept./Oct. 2000 edition of the Grace Family Journal.

²J.H. Thayer, “Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament” (Baker, pg. 452).

³George W. Knight III, “Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles” (Eerdman, pg. 154).

⁴Friberg Lexicon from Bible Works computer program (Hermeneutika).

⁵John MacArthur, “1 Timothy” (pg. 95-96, Moody Press).

⁶J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership, Moody Press, pg. 13.

⁷C.H. Spurgeon, “Lectures,” pg. 24-25.

⁸Interpretations run the gamut from requiring a pastor (1) to “be married; (2) have only one wife his entire life; (3) be monogamous, or (4) be faithful in the marital and sexual realm.” (George Knight III, pg. 157) Knight devotes two pages of interaction with the various views.

To be continued in our next edition of the Grace Family Journal.

Dennis Rokser has been involved with the Duluth Bible Church for the past 19 years, serving as pastor-teacher for the last sixteen years.

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