The sermon explores the biblical qualifications for a pastor, emphasizing that a pastor is a shepherd who oversees the church and administers order. The appointment of elders is a process involving existing elders, underscoring the necessity for a pastor to be a man with high character, above reproach both within and outside the church. The sermon stresses that a pastor must be a man, highlighting that the role is biblically reserved for men, referencing the phrase 'husband of one wife' to support this. It critiques feminism for seeking to diminish the distinct roles of men and women, asserting that women should embrace their unique God-given roles. The character and faithfulness of a pastor are considered central, with the sermon stating that a pastor must demonstrate oversight in his own life and household before leading the church. The pastor's household serves as a resume, reflecting his ability to lead and manage the church. The qualifications extend beyond personal character to include the faithfulness and behavior of the pastor's children. The sermon concludes by affirming Jesus Christ as the ultimate example of a pastor, being above reproach and the perfect groom for the church, his bride.

Well, this morning we begin to examine the biblical qualifications of a pastor. A pastor is a shepherd. He guards, he cares for the flock of Christ, the church. A pastor is an overseer. He administers order in the church.

He exercises oversight. A pastor is an elder, appointed by other elders. In verse 5, Paul appointed Titus to appoint elders to set things in order in the church. I Just want to re-emphasize that. Paul appointed Titus.

Titus was to appoint elders. And now today, who appoints other elders biblically? Other elders. Those already appointed, appoint. Elders appoint other elders.

Pastors appoint pastors. You just don't appoint yourself. You don't ordain yourself. You don't set yourself apart. You don't go online and print out a certificate and then in the next moment say, I'm a pastor.

It doesn't matter what the website might say, it's not an elder. And so in verse 5, Paul tells Titus that God's will for his church is for it to be ordered how? How's it to be ordered? Through the appointment of elders, pastors, overseers, one of us, who pray and administer the word and sacraments. And so it makes sense then, doesn't it?

That immediately following the explicit command for elders in the plural to be appointed in churches, that then Paul would give Titus a rubric for the kind of man that should be an elder. Makes a lot of sense. If an elder is one who governs the church and overseer, if an elder is a pastor who is authoritatively handling the preaching and teaching of God's word. He's applying God's words to the lives of Christ sheep week in, week out. If a pastor is to administer the word and thus the sacraments and to put things in order in the Church of Jesus Christ, if the pastor is to take on those weighty and massive responsibilities, he better be a man who doesn't mess it up.

He better be a man that demonstrates the capacity to do first those things in small, in his own life, and in his own home before he can do them in the household of God. And so it makes absolute sense why Paul v. Titus, these pastoral qualifications, here is the kind of man you are to appoint as an elder. Elders appoint elders. Pastor Matthew, Pastor Grant, Pastor Dave, here is the kind of man that you are to appoint as an elder at Crossroad Church.

And so Lord willing, we're gonna spend some time working through church officer qualifications, verses six through nine, namely this morning, what a man must be, what a man must possess if he is to be appointed to the pastor of a local congregation. What a man must be and what a man must possess if he's to be a pastor of Crossroad Church. And so number one, a pastor must be a man. Seems pretty obvious, thank you, brother. It's right there in the text.

There is confusion in our day, and so I know it might be low hanging fruit for this audience, but I think I need to talk about it briefly. The office of pastor is reserved for men. Verse 6. If any man is above reproach. If you look at in the original language, you might say, you'd be justified in saying this, the word Man isn't there in the original Greek.

It's only there in verse six implicitly. Sure, the Greek word for man isn't there, but it is very implicit. Do you know why it's implicit? The word man There is implicit in the Greek because of the phrase immediately following that phrase. The husband of one wife.

Those words are exactly in the Greek. Husband and wife. That's why verse 6 says man. Because only a man can be a husband. Only a man can have a wife.

A pastor must be a man, so you might ask, okay then, then what do you call the women around our country, what do you call the women around our state, what do you call the women in our very town of Erlem who call themselves pastors? What do you call them? Disobedient. That's what they're to be called. They're not to be called pastors.

To be a pastor appointed by other pastors is to first have the calling of Jesus Christ on your life. Local church elders then come alongside you and they either affirm or deny the calling of Jesus Christ on your life. And Christ calls men. Christ Jesus does not call women to this office of pastor. Dear sisters, dear women, that is the opposite of a put down for you.

Feminism, that ungodly cultural movement that's been going on for way too long, feminism, it seeks to rob you of your femininity. Feminism, I just want you to think about this. Feminism seems, it seeks to make the pinnacle of your existence as a woman, the peak of your value as a woman is to be a man. That's feminism. Or if you could just be what a man was and do what men do, now you'd be something.

That's feminism. That's the message of feminism and it's a load of absolutely filthy garbage. I really want to use stronger language than that, but hey. Sisters, you were taken out of the rib of the first man. Women, you were the final act of creation, literally the crown jewel of creation.

God makes the tiger, God makes the elephant, God makes whales that blow water at the top. He makes giraffes. He makes the peacock. And then at the climax of creation, after he makes the man, he gets to the end of all of creation the glorious creation and God just lays a fat dud is that what you think ah I guess here at the end I just ran out of ideas. I guess I'll make a, I don't know, throw something together, a woman.

You think that's what God said? That's ridiculous. Women, sisters, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, that as man is the glory of God, that you are the glory of the glory. Glory of the glory is distinct, different from men. The peak of womanhood is not to be man.

The beauty of womanhood is not to be able to do what men do. No, that message robs you of the beauty and the grandeur and the glory of your God-given femininity. The beauty of womanhood is seen in being a wife, helper for your husband. The beauty of womanhood is seen in the unmatched calling of being a mother. The beauty and glory of being feminine is seen in the church as single and married women alike adorn the gospel with their dress and their conversation and their obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.

So that is why when men try to appoint women to be pastors that far from that being a loving thing for them to do. It's not a loving thing for a man to appoint a woman to the pastor. No, far from loving, it's abusive. It robs you. He's a thief.

It's an abusive thing for men to appoint women to the office of pastor because real men love real women. And so real men appoint real men to the office of the pastorate. And those same real men free their women up that they really love to be about the glory of Christ that He's called them to in their femininity. Not going to rob you of the glory that is yours in Christ and say well you just got to do what men do. So don't think when we throw that up there be a man.

That's somehow a let down. The last thing you should think when you leave here is the glory to be a woman. And I got five of them. Amen. Who knows, maybe another one one day.

A pastor must be a man. And it's not in Titus, but I'm going to briefly add what Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 3 that a man who is to be an elder is a man. That man must aspire to the office, not in Titus, but Timothy does add this additional qualification. He must desire to be an elder. He must desire, he must want to be a pastor.

If he doesn't desire it, if a man's just forced into it, he won't be able to be about it gladly, he won't be able to be about it willingly, he won't be able to obey the command in Hebrews 13, 17 to perform his oversight with joy and not without grief, which ultimately would not be profitable for the church. And so Paul tells us as a church, here's qualification number one, a pastor must be a man who aspires to the office. And He must be above reproach. A pastor must be above reproach. Now here's where we get into the heart of the qualifications.

It's not enough simply to be a man. There are evil men. There are lazy men. There are irresponsible men. Those men won't do when it comes to governing the Church of Jesus Christ as under-shepherds.

And so Paul now moves to the heart of the matter. A man, hear this, this is the main idea of this entire sermon, a man who is able to exercise righteous oversight of Christ's church must first be able to demonstrate righteous oversight in his own life and in the life of his home. If these things are not present, if these things in verses 6 through 9 are not present in his life now, nor in the life of his household, Why would you think that in him becoming a pastor? That they would then suddenly show up in the household of faith They won't It's like the man. This is so common.

It's like the man or the woman I think it should just be men by the way, but it's like the man who wants to be a missionary and yet he isn't qualified, who thinks that somehow on that plane ride overseas, like I'm gonna go for 50 years and be a missionary. He's not qualified, but he gets on a plane, and he thinks that as he gets on the plane and he crosses the ocean, something magic's gonna happen. That plane ride's gonna change him into something that he wasn't when he was in America. You're gonna show up on the mission field in China the same way you left America. A man who is able to exercise righteous oversight of Christ's church must first be able to demonstrate righteous oversight in his own life and in his home.

In short, he must be above reproach. That phrase, above reproach, can be translated a number of ways. Blameless, not guilty, good reputation, a good name. All of those translations get at the gist of this qualification, he must have high character. He must have high character.

Really, all of these qualifications in verses six through nine, all of these qualifications have to do with that initial phrase, above reproach. If you wanted one qualification that summarized them all, this is it. In fact, Paul says it in verse 6. Do you see that there? A man is qualified to be an elder if the man is above reproach.

You see that in verse 6. Do you not? Give me a head nod if you do. Thank you. That's the beginning of verse 6 and then look in verse 7 again, Paul begins verse 7, for the overseer must be above reproach.

Says it twice. And so in these four verses, in verses 6 through 9, there are only two sentences in the four verses. In those four verses there was only two sentences and both of those sentences are summarized by that phrase above reproach. Both sentences have that phrase above reproach. All of these qualifications and these verses can be summarized by a man with godly character, a man with high blameless character.

And let's just be very clear. These qualifications are not just for elders. If you've checked out already this morning, you think, oh well, I'm not a man and I'm not a pastor, but I'll just snooze on this one. No. You check back in these character traits these descriptors are descriptors of godliness for all of us.

For all Christians, we should all seek to possess these things and these verses. We should all, as new creations in Jesus Christ, desire for these fruits to be born in our life. And that's why elders should possess them first and foremost. Elders are to be examples to the flock. And so that which the church should be, her leaders should possess.

As my former pastor, Brett Kepranicka, says, these qualifications start with the character of elders because elders set the course for the character of the rest of the congregation. Whatever bent you find emphasized in the lives of the pastors, you will eventually find as the emphasis of the entire church what leaders model members will eventually reflect." So I couldn't resist. I love Chipotle, therefore... That was a joke. Kind of.

It matters, right? These things are for you. And elders should possess them so that they might be possessed in all of the church of Jesus Christ. A man must be above reproach. A man must possess high character.

Paul goes on to say in 1 Timothy 3, verse 7, that this man's blameless character should not just be a parent within the church, but also outside the church. Which means that an elder is a man whom people have a hard time finding legitimate fault with outside and inside the body. It's difficult to find legitimate, legitimate, non-ticky-ticky fault. It doesn't mean that those outside the church will think he's right. Doesn't mean that.

Actually, those outside the church will likely not like what the man believes and what the man teaches because it pricks their conscience. But Boy, that man's reliable. Boy, he's the best neighbor you could ask for. I mean, he does tell me about my sins. He does tell me about the Savior who died for my sins.

He does exhort me to repent and believe the Gospel, and I could do with a little less of that. But boy, is he kind to my wife. Man, is he kind to my children. Boy, is he generous with his time. Boy, is he so good about coming over and inviting me over to dinner, why boy is he hospitable?

Boy is he slow to anger. I mean I don't like his Jesus, but I can't deny it. He's a good man. I might not like his Lord. I might not like his message.

But I cannot deny that he's a good dude. He's a good neighbor. I cannot deny that he's a blameless man, a man of character. He really believes what he says he believes. That's what Paul means.

A pastor must be above reproach. Now lest you be confused, this isn't the qualification that a man is to be an elder must be perfect and we see the word blameless we're not talking about perfection here right that he's without sin being above reproach does not mean that elders do not wrestle with sin themselves at this if this qualification just disallowed any sin then the only elder that would qualify to this office To oversee the church would be the Lord Jesus himself And him alone and he is the great shepherd whom every under shepherd submits to But it does not mean that the elders must be sinned less. Nor does it mean that slander from outside the church disqualifies a person. So long as it's false, if there's an accusation against the pastor, it should always be on the basis of two or more witnesses. But if there's an accusation, it should always first be made sure that it's false.

In your life, beloved, if someone makes an accusation against you, don't just immediately whoop! Don't throw the hand up. Check. Check your heart. Is that true?

And if it is, repent. The blood of Jesus covers a multitude of sins. But if it's not, then move on. Slander from outside the church is to be expected, For so they treated the Lord Jesus. They called Jesus a what?

A glutton and a tax collector. They were wrong. The key there is that Christ was blameless. Those slanders were just that, they were slanders. And so too it must be for the elder.

The slander should not be able to stick. A pastor must be above reproach. Listen to this, Pastor Matthew Henry says this, he must be one who lies not under any ill character, but rather must have good report, even from those that are without, not grossly or scandalously guilty, so as would bring reproach upon the holy function. A pastor must not be such a one." Let me summarize that quote because it's really good. You might not have gotten it.

As pastors who are to handle the holy things of God, they're handling the holy things of God, their life and the life of their household should complement the holiness of the office they are to occupy. And so then it shouldn't surprise you one bit for Paul's next qualification to be concerned with the man's household. As Pastor Michael Foster puts it, a man's wife, A man's children, a man's household is his resume for the pastorate. When you apply for a job, what do you do? When you aspire to any office, you present your resume.

Well, a potential elder's resume is his household. If his own household is not in order, then you have all that you need to know that this man will not be able to put God's household in order. So it is to the man's household then that we now turn in qualification number three. A pastor must be the husband of one wife. The husband of one wife.

Now that phrase, husband of one wife, it definitely rules out polygamy. Rules it out. One wife. But I think that this qualification extends merely beyond the number. It's not just the number of wives a man can have.

Rather, it's rather his faithfulness to the wife that he has that matters. And again, this is talking about being above reproach. Again, these qualifications are summarized by that phrase in verse 6, above reproach. This is talking about a man with high character. Will he be faithful to the bride of Christ the church?

Will this pastor candidate, will this pastor who's currently serving in the office of pastor, will he continue to be faithful to the bride of Christ the church? The answer to that begins with, well, is he faithful to his earthly bride? And so that phrase, husband of one wife, I think rightly has been retranslated often to mean a one-woman man. He must be a one-woman man. We're talking here of faithfulness to and affection for a man's bride.

Is he regularly about the work of Ephesians 5 verses 25 through 27? Where Paul exhorts, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in all of her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless. An elder is to be an example to the rest of the flock. Does his example exhort and encourage the men in his flock to obey the commands in Ephesians five, for husbands to model to their wives the way that Christ loves his church? In giving this qualification, Paul is helping Titus grapple with the kind of man that he should be appointing to the office of overseer.

Titus, Paul is saying, you are supposed to appoint men who will be faithful to the Bride of Christ. They will be faithful to the bride of Christ the church as they administer the word in sacraments. And Titus, you know a really good starting point in knowing whether his faithfulness to Christ's church is there or not? Start with his bride. Is he faithful to his bride in and out of the home?

What are his habits with women in the church? What are his habits with women outside of the church? What steps has he taken to stay above reproach? Is he comfortable texting women individually or is he quick to loop in his own wife or the husband of the woman that he's communicating with to stay above her approach? That matters.

What are his online habits? Is he a man whose life seems prone to having an affair? That's what this qualification is all about. If he will cheat on the wife that God has given him here, then he'll cheat on the Church of Jesus Christ here. An elder must be faithful to his bride, a one-woman man.

And just as an aside, as a desire to be above reproach, that is why your pastors for years now have placed on every device in this building coveted eyes. We want to be above reproach. We don't want there to be any reason for anyone to think that what happens in this building online is not above reproach. Now there are several questions that come up when this qualification is discussed. Does this passage, does verse six mean that a man who has been divorced, if he's supposed to be a one woman man, does it mean that a man who has been divorced can't be an elder?

What about a man who has been remarried? What about a man who isn't married? Well, let's start with the last one and work backwards, okay? Those are a few questions. And as we answer those questions, more questions will come up.

I'm not going to be able to answer them all. Aren't you the big ones? What about a man who isn't married? Well that would mean that he doesn't have a wife. And more than likely, he doesn't have children.

He might. That would be another question we have to talk about. But if he isn't married and he doesn't have children, then how does he meet the qualification in verse 6? One wife and believing children. He has no wife.

He has no believing children. Is he automatically out? Well the answer to that is again, these qualifications are far more about the faithfulness of the man, the measure of the man, than about the actual issue of does he have a wife and does he have children. A man may have had a wife and she died leaving him with no wife a Man may truly have the rare gift When I emphasize that rare gift of singleness That Paul talks about in first Corinthians 7 and he doesn't burn with passion and so he does not have a wife does that disqualify him necessarily? Does a man who is married but does not have children, does he disqualify because he doesn't have children?

In verse 6 he should have believing children. Well here's the position that your pastors take. Does this disqualify the man? No, not necessarily. Your pastors believe that the normative pattern in appointing elders is for that man to be a married man with children.

That's the normative pattern. The resume of a man's household is easy to read when he has a wife and children. And children, not a children. But non-married men, or a married man without children, he has a resume too. It's not as easy to read.

It's going to take some extra work to read it. So for instance, if the man is married but he has no child, doesn't have any children, why? The answer to that reveals all kinds of things. There's a big difference between not wanting children and not being able to have children. It's a massive difference.

One is a blatant rejection of the creation mandate of what God calls a blessing. He's saying, I don't call what God calls a blessing a blessing. I don't want children. That's a big deal. That's disqualified.

While the other, he wants children, but God has not given him children. The other is a willing and faithful and waiting on the Lord's heart for the blessing of children that may or may not come from the Lord. So for the married man who doesn't want children, he cannot be an elder. He's not faithful to what God has said. He will not be a good example for the flock.

He's not above reproach. But for the married man who cannot have children, there is still a resume. There is very much still a resume. What about children in the faith? I mean, that's the kind of children that Paul had.

It's the kind of children that the guy writing this book had. Look at verse 4 of Titus chapter 1. Look at verse 4. What does Paul call Titus? To Titus, my true child in a common faith.

Paul was not married. Paul did not have biological children, but he was faithful. He had spiritual children, Titus and Timothy being some of them. Spiritual children, true children who believe. And so too, the man who was like Paul would not necessarily be barred from the pastorate.

There are a lot of questions that come from that. I understand. I just can give you the principle. Paul was not married. More than likely, Titus was not married.

Paul did not have biological children, but he was faithful. He had spiritual children, Titus and Timothy. But what about the man who has been divorced? What about the man who's been remarried? What about him?

Well, to get the full exposition of this, if you're asking those questions about can a man who's been divorced or remarried be a pastor, You really need to go back and listen to the sermons on Mark chapter 10 and 1 Corinthians 7. That was a long time ago, like almost a year, I think. But in those two sermons, we carefully unpack divorce and remarriage according to God's standards and no one else's. The Bible makes it clear that there may in fact be a time for divorce. If you disagree with me, I...

If You disagree with God. In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul says that if an unbelieving spouse desires to leave the believing spouse, that the believing spouse should let them leave. It's commanded. Divorce is actually the right thing in God's eyes in that instance, and that is a very particular instance. Divorce is not a light thing.

Divorce is always, always occasioned by sin. There is no no fault divorce. It's always occasioned by sin, but there could be the right thing in God's eyes if the unbelieving spouse leaves. So that would be part of the equation when we talk about a pastor. When it comes to remarriage, the same measure applies.

Was it a biblically permissible remarriage? Was it lawful according to God's law for that man to be married again? And again, I just really encourage you to go back and listen to those sermons to get the meat of this. But Paul says that it's possible for that to happen and for that marriage to be above reproach. It's possible for that not to be sinned.

So we ought not to just make blanket statements that this man was divorced or this man was remarried, so he's automatically disqualified, maybe. That's a huge yellow light flashing. It's a huge yellow light flashing when there's been divorce or remarriage, but not a necessary red light. And that's why Paul uses the language of church officers needing to be tested in 1st Timothy chapter 3 verse 10. You need time to see whether these qualifications exist in a man's life.

You need time to ask the hard questions and to pray and to consider all the details about a man's life and a man's faithfulness. That's what your elders need time. That's why men should be tested. And that's part of why we've had two years, two years of the Timothy Fellowship. Two years of asking men of our church to come and join us in knowing how to study their Bible, knowing how to better teach the Bible more faithfully because we want to see men grow in family worship and their affections for the Lord Jesus.

We also, though, want to see men tested. We want to rub shoulders with the men that have been going through the Timothy Fellowship for two years. Because the Timothy Fellowship is one of the pools from which we as elders wish to be appointing other elders and deacons. A pastor must be a one-woman man. What are your online habits?

What safeguards have you put in place to ward off temptations? How do you protect your wife? How do you wash your bride with the water of the Word? If a man is faithful towards his bride, That's a wonderful indication that he will be faithful to the bride of Christ. But a bride is not the only thing that is oftentimes in a household.

There's often the second page of the resume as well. And that is children. A pastor must have faithful children. Now again not all married men can have children and again there's a world of difference between don't want children and can't have children. We've already discussed that.

The absence of children, it doesn't necessarily disqualify a man from the pastorate. There are spiritual children too, like Paul had in verse 4. But the normative pattern is for a man and his one wife to have children in their household and it's to their faithfulness that Paul now turns at the end of verse 6. Let me read again verse 6 just so we have it again in our minds. If any man is above reproach the husband of one wife having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion.

It says here in the NASB, having children who believe. And I know why it says that. But Tom, get your amen ready because I very much prefer the King James Version's translation. Major let down. The Greek word there is pistos.

The King James version translates it instead of believing children, faithful children. Faithful. And in the New American Standard Bible that word, pistoos, is translated faithful or trustworthy eighty percent of the time. But in this instance it is translated believing. Now, with that being said, I just told you I prefer the translation of faithful.

And the reason for that, by the way, is because of this whole context of being above reproach, above reproach, all these other things, it's talking about a man's faithfulness. So it seems consistent to me, it's talking about a children's faithfulness. His faithfulness in the home results in faithfulness in his children. With that all said, I'm gonna be real clear here. Should children of elders confess faith in Christ?

Yes, they should. If a man aspired to the office of an overseer and we, Pastor Matthew and I, went to his preteen son, and we asked his son if Jesus is Lord and Savior, and if the son looked us in the eye and said, no, I would go right back to the man with tears in my eyes, and he's aspiring to the office, I say, man, your son is rejecting Jesus Christ. Which means he's rejecting your teaching and discipleship and authority in your own home. You don't need to be a shepherd of the church right now. You need to be a shepherd of your child right now before it's too late.

You don't need to shepherd him. So yes, children should be believing, but you can't make children believe at the heart level. They can say they believe and they should. They can confess faith in Christ and they should. But only God can work true salvation into them.

And so that's our position as pastors concerning this passage. Children of men who aspire to the office of elder should be confessing that Jesus is Lord and Savior but the legitimacy of their belief is in the Lord's hands. I don't know how you can argue against that. At some level you say man Amen. And so what is observed then is the faithfulness of your children.

That's what is observed. We don't even in elders meetings, when we interview you for membership, we don't have this gold monocle that we put on and we say, oh I can see the heart. We can see your faithfulness. We can see that you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God's raised him from the dead. We hear that.

We can see his faithfulness in your life. Praise God, let's have you to be a member. But we leave the legitimacy of their belief in the Lord's hands. So we're going to use equal weights and measures here. We do that with you 40-year-olds.

We do it with the four-year-olds, too. And so what is observed then here is the faithfulness of children, the behavior and conduct of the man's children. Paul says in 1 Timothy 3, same qualification, but he uses a different word there, that an elder must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity. Because if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God? And that's exactly what Paul tells Titus in the last part of verse 6 here.

An elder's children should not be accused of dissipation or rebellion. Do you know what those words mean? I didn't either. Dissipation is wastefulness and wildness. Deboterie, that's what it is.

Wildness. Rebellion is much the same but a little different. It's insubordination. In their wildness they will not yield to the parents' authority. Rebellion refers to children with no respect for and no godly fear of their father.

These children should not be with their actions rejecting the faith. They should not be engaged in things that will result in excommunication from this table in this church. And beloved, isn't this the advice that you want of your pastor? I mean, if your child goes off the deep end, and he or she completely rejects Christ, and they're excommunicated from this table, from this church, wouldn't you want for God to tell you directly in His Word, hey, now's the time to leave the 99 and go get the one. That one that you're to go get is your child.

Go get him. What an example to the flock even in stepping down from being an elder to address this qualification. What an example even if you aren't a pastor because you did what Jesus did for you, he went after you and chased you down in love Jesus did that for you so you do that for those he's given you some people I know a lot of people they think that this qualification is too heavy he won't say with their mouths but they believe it in their hearts. You're not really going to say that like, you know, if they're children, I mean, you're going to make a guy resign from the pastor if he's, you know, he's so good at preaching, He's faithful in being an elder. How could you cause him?

How could you say step down? How could you say you're not going to be a pastor? I mean, don't you see he's so pastoral? I think it's so heavy that this qualification is too harsh. That This qualification is a burden.

It's too difficult of a burden to bear for a man with children. Beloved, if you think that this qualification is too harsh, I would ask you please to stop thinking that way. This isn't a burden that is too difficult for an elder to bear. This qualification isn't God being too harsh. This is God being abundantly gracious.

Abundantly gracious. This is God Almighty giving a pastor like me clarity on when he needs to step down and go after his own children. I mean, what a gracious thing from God to me, one of your pastors, if one of my little girls in her teenage years goes off the deep end in rebellion and she's not repenting, and I'm not left wondering as your pastor, God, what do you want me to do? I'm not left wondering. Should I continue pastoring this church?

They're counting on me. But she's counting on me. God, what do I do? It's no question. So gracious of God.

God is so clear. Go get her, Grant. Go get her. Go get that little precious girl. Go leave the 99 to go get the 1.

She's the priority. Spend your time on her. This is my will for you now. This qualification is an extremely gracious qualification. It's gracious clarity from God to your pastors with children who go wayward.

And so I would say again, we shouldn't look at these things as too harsh, but as God's abounding grace towards those who He calls to shepherd's church. Now all of what I'm saying, if you're like, yeah, some of that stuff about divorce, remarriage, children, well, you can't take my word for it. Here is Pastor Michael Foster, who I think is very helpful. And he just said what I said. But more concise.

Who would have thought? In Titus chapter 1 verse 6, this is what Pastor Michael Foster says, in Titus 1 6, the context emphasizes children's behavior and conduct rather than their inner self-evident state. So the focus then is not on whether or not the children have come to saving faith, something that no parent can ensure, but on whether they are obedient, respectful, and well-disciplined. That is something you can control, especially when they are young children still within the home. It's not that the kid threw a fit here or there or that the kid is going through a difficult season in their lives.

Kids go through all kinds of rough patches. We're not looking for perfection. We're not looking for perfect kids or perfect parents. We're looking for maturity. How parents are responding when called upon.

Are they on top of things? We're looking for children that are responsive to mother and father. They go to church and they listen and they honor their parents and they don't have a consistent rebellious behavior. And the elders' children are not to be accused of debauchery or insubordination. Paul is telling Titus to be concerned with the father's ability to exercise Godly authority and discipline in his home.

Elders cannot allow that sort of rebellion because when children are marked by debauchery and subordination, it reflects the father's ability to lead, manage, and shepherd his own household and by extension, the church. Paul underscores the seriousness of this standard by reiterating it in verse 7 as God's steward. The home is the proving ground of godly leadership. If a man is to be called to the pastorate, he will have to lead through loving discipline in God's household of church. You understand that?

If you are a pastor, you will have to exercise church discipline with the children of God. If a man is to be a pastor, you will have to deal with sin in God's household with the children of God. If a man is to be a pastor, he must evangelize the truth of the Gospel in God's household to the children of God. If a man cannot do that in his own household, he will not be able to do that well in the Church of God, in the household of God. Do you see clearly why this is the normative path?

A man's family, his household is a resume for the man called to be a pastor. An elder must be a man. An elder must be one who is above reproach, a man of high character, the husband of one wife, a one-woman man, and a man must have faithful children. Friends, if you're like me and you read this and you've spent time reading 6 through 9 several times, you might ask the question, and I hope you do here at the end, who is sufficient for these things? Who is sufficient for these things?

Who is adequate for these things? Christ is. Jesus Christ is. Jesus is the man. Jesus is the God-man.

Jesus is the son of man and son of God. Jesus is the eternal God, the Word become flesh. Jesus is above reproach. Jesus is the one whose name is above all names. Jesus is the one who is holy, Holy, holy.

Jesus is the one whom at his ascension, God has bestowed the name which is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Jesus is the God man. Jesus is above reproach. Jesus is the husband of one bride. His church.

There are none more faithful. There are none more purer than the Lord Jesus. And this Lord Jesus loves you. He gave himself for you to make you a sinner in his bride. He hung on the cross for you.

So that by his grace, the repentance and faith in him, your sins would be blotted out, placed on Him at the cross, and His righteousness imputed to you in His resurrection and His power and His authority at work in you forever because of His ascension. You are His forever Because of what He's done, Christian, He made you His bride. And He will keep you forever, for He is the ultimate one-woman-God-man. He's the perfect groom. He's the perfect groom of Ephesians 5.

He will present to himself the church and all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, and He will make her holy and blameless. What a groom you have, beloved, in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a groom you have, we have, in the God-man Jesus Christ, perfectly righteous and perfectly above reproach. The God-man above reproach. The perfect groom.

And what a father we have in the Lord God Almighty who redeemed your life from the pit. By nature, do you know what you were? You were children of wrath, but God made you alive. He purchased you at the cost of His Son's life so that no longer you would be children of wrath. Far from it, He's made you children of Himself.

Children of God, members of his household gathered around his table, of which we will partake in just a moment. He calls you out of your sin. He calls you out of your dissipation and rebellion. And he gives you good works to walk in. Works that he has prepared beforehand before the foundations of the world were laid.

Oh, Church, Who is sufficient for these things? Your Great Shepherd, the Great Pastor, Jesus the Christ. He is sufficient. He is your Great Shepherd. He is your great groom.

He is your heavenly father. He is greater than your sin. And that is what we will now sing together. Fairest Lord Jesus. And so Isaac, if you would come and lead us as we reflect on what we've just heard.

Thank you, Bill.