The sermon, based on 1 Timothy 3, outlines the qualifications for an overseer or pastor in a church. It emphasizes that a pastor must be a man with high moral character, including being above reproach, faithful to one wife, self-controlled, hospitable, gentle, peaceable, and not addicted to wine or driven by the love of money. These qualifications are not only applicable to pastors but are also virtues that all believers, including children, should aspire to by God's grace. The sermon stresses the importance of a pastor managing his household well, as it reflects his ability to lead the church. Hospitality is highlighted as crucial, demonstrating a pastor's openness and ability to connect with others. Furthermore, a pastor should not be a new convert to prevent conceit and should have a good reputation outside the church. The sermon concludes by showing that these qualities exemplify Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate Shepherd, and encourages believers to seek and emulate Him.

1 Timothy chapter 3 beginning in verse 1. It is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity.

But if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the Church of God? And not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil may God bless the reading and now the preaching of this is worth men you may be seated Amen. You may be seated. In this passage, in this sermon, Here is what he must be if a man is to pastor Crossroad Church.

Now as soon as I say this is for a pastor of Crossroad Church what he must be, does that mean that the rest of you can check out during the rest of this sermon. Children what's the answer? Thank you. This is for you. These are the things that God, children, will work in you by his grace.

These are the things that you must aspire to by the grace of God. He will work these things into you by the power of his spirit and you are to work them out according to Paul. So children, I'm very much talking to you this morning. These are the qualities, listen to me children, these are the qualities that heroes possess. These are the things that dragon slayers possess.

These are the things that women who change the world possess. These words we are using this morning to describe men who are to be pastors are the kinds of things that conquerors and mighty men and glorious women possess by the grace of Jesus Christ whether they're pastors or not. So little children and older children and everyone in this room hear these things and aspire to these things and ask God to work these things into and out of you. And children, get with your father and your mother today, and this week. And you need to ask them, as you hear what I preach this morning, would you pray with me, daddy?

Would you help me to become like one of David's mighty men? Would you help me to become a man like Saint George who slayed the dragon? Would you pray with me, Mother? Would you help me to become like David's wife, courageous Abigail? Like the unwavering Ruth, the faithful Esther?

Would you help me become like you father and mother? You go home and do that children Go home and do that Saints this is what your pastors must be if they are to pastor this church because this is what you must be as children of God. Above reproach. Your house in order, full of the Spirit, free from disordered affections. Your pastors must be these things as examples to you that you might imitate them as they imitate Jesus Christ.

So what must he be in order to be your pastor? Well first, he must be a he. That's the first one. He must be a he, a man. We received a letter in the mail this week in our mailbox.

Many of you did. It had a woman on the front running for office. And on this piece of mail it had a quote from this woman regarding why you should vote for her. Quote, as a minister, as a minister, my faith is my foundation. As a minister, as a pastor, my faith is my foundation.

And I showed Carissa and the girls were all sitting at our table asking what I was showing mommy and so I showed them and they said what is it I said it's a woman who thinks she's a pastor and out of the mouths of babes out of the mouth of one of my four year olds, well that's not right. And I said, that's right sweetheart, God didn't make women to be pastors, he made them for a different kind of glory, a glory unmatched, a double glory, of being a wife, a mother, a daughter, a helper. The office of pastors for men and men who aspire, men who aspire. A man who is a pastor who must want to be a pastor. So my father, my father name, his name is Charlie Brown.

It's his name, if you're a visitor. It's my middle name. I'm a Charlie Brown. And my father is my greatest hero apart from the Lord Jesus. And I remember as a young man one Sunday morning after service, the elders of our church approaching my father and asking him if he'd ever consider being a pastor, an elder of the church.

And he thanked his pastors, he thanked his overseers, but then he said, I do not desire that office. I do not aspire to be a pastor. But I pray for, and I love you men who do. And he went on pastoring his family. He went on pastoring me, my dad, for years.

And it was just so clear to everyone involved. It's not that Charlie Brown didn't have the capacity or the ability to be a pastor. He's an amazing family shepherd, which means he'd be an amazing shepherd of the church if he aspired to it. But he didn't aspire to the office and that was so clarifying for everyone involved. I need you to hear this, particularly you men who might aspire.

My dad didn't need to be the pastor of my church to be my hero. He is my hero and he didn't aspire to the office. That didn't make him any lesser of a man or any lesser of a father. There is no greater father that I know. So you don't have to be a pastor to be a hero, and you don't have to be an elder to leave a monumental legacy.

So I just want to urge you men, check what you're aspiring to. I have known too many men who have aspired to the office and their children hate them. I've known too many men who have aspired to the office and that aspiration has become idolatry and the very things that God puts right in front of them for glory, they don't want that glory because they thought there was a better glory in the pastorate. A man must aspire to the office, but beware, brethren, what you aspire to. Give yourself to the glory that God has put right in front of you, first and foremost.

Number three, he must be above reproach. He must be above reproach. A pastor of Crossroad Church must be a man of high character and that's really the summary of all the rest of the qualifications beginning with number four, the husband of one wife. This is to be a one woman man. If he's prone to cheat on his bride, he will cheat on the bride of Christ the Church.

We've said this last Lord's Day, we'll say it again. A man's relationship with his wife, a man's household, is the front page of his pastoral resume. If he doesn't love his bride, how will he love the bride of church? I mean, how will he love the bride of Christ, the church? If a man won't put things in order in his home, how will he put things in order in the household of God?

He won't. He won't do that. And that brings us to the rest of verse two in our text. A pastor of Crossroad Church must be temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, and able to teach. And Let's go through each of these briefly.

In a word, you could say temperate, prudent, respectable. In a word, self-controlled. Is that a word, or is that like a hyphenated two-word thing? I think it's one word because it's got a hyphen. So I'm going to go with it.

Temperate could be translated sober or restrained. A pastor is not to be one who is given to excess, whether it's excess with money, excess with alcohol, excess of food, or something else. He ought to be self-controlled. Now this also includes gluttony. And gluttony might be one of the most respected sins in all of evangelicalism.

Gluttony is a sin, and a man who cannot master his appetite for food is not temperate. The next word, prudent. That word could be translated sensible. He is able to read the room. He's able to know the day that he lives in.

He's able to apply God's Word in his own life first and then that of the people that he is shepherding. He is wise, applying all the Word of God for all of the life of his people and he does it first in his own home and then for his people in the pew. Respectable. That could be translated well ordered. A man who is disciplined.

Laziness does not belong in the same sentence that this man is used in. He is vigilant. And he takes serious that title, pastor, shepherd. There are wolves out there. There is a roaring lion named Satan hoping to devour those under this pastor's watch care.

So there's no time to prop up his feet and eat bonbons in the office. War is afoot, immortal souls are on the line, and God has told the pastor, God has told your pastors beloved, stand and fight. These are your people, face the enemy, First in, last out, always laughing loudest, to the death. So be vigilant, protect the flock, have hard conversations, exercise church discipline, Keep wolves out, pray. Pray hard for the sheep, and then wield the sword.

Wield the sword. Bring this almighty word of God to bear upon their lives, to guard and to guide them, to cut through lies, to quicken their souls, and to see them through to glory. So in a hyphenated word, self-control. Temperate, prudent, respectable, a pastor must be self-controlled. And what is the final fruit of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5.

A man who can give an example of what a spirit-filled life is, namely self-controlled, that's what he must be. He does battle, he goes to war for his sheep, he meets the enemy at the gates. But he doesn't just do that. So he meets the enemy at the gates, he protects the flock, and he invites that same flock that he goes to battle for, He invites them into his own home. He meets the enemy at the gates, and he brings the sheep in.

To the gates. He must be hospitable. He must be hospitable. Now the word there in the Greek is literally loving strangers. A lover of strangers.

So think about that. Back in a day when hotels weren't so prevalent, there was no VRBO, there was no Airbnb, there wasn't even any internet. Where would traveling brothers and sisters in the faith stay? Well, as the old Scottish theologian Patrick Fairbairn reports, quote, the loose ungodly manners which prevailed in all places of public resort in the days of Paul rendered it of special importance that Christian strangers should know where to find a kindly reception and a proper fellowship. So it would be a sign of a minister of Christ Church that he, once a stranger to the promise himself, but provide shelter and table to brothers and sisters in the faith, as God had so too loved him as a stranger and brought him to his table.

The pastor must be hospitable. Now this makes sense when thinking through the earlier qualifications. A pastor is to have brothers and sisters in his home. Why do you think it matters? Not only does it reflect that he was a stranger to the promise and God rescued him and brought him into his household, So the pastor demonstrates that as well.

But why else might this be important? Well, if a man's home and life is not opened up to others, how can you know if the beginning of verse 2 is true? How can you know if verse 4 is true? How can you read the resume of a man's household if his household is off limits? How can you verify that he is a man of high character if his life is off limits?

You can't. You need to see his life. You need to be involved in his home. So for a brief season of my life, a very brief season, Carissa and I attended a church where the man who would preach from the pulpit each Lord's Day was flown in from a different state on Saturday night and then he would be he would fly out home on Sunday afternoon after preaching. So every week flown in Saturday night, service is over, Sunday afternoon he's gone.

It's a very large church. He was a very good speaker, a very good preacher. But he wasn't a pastor. There's no pastoring going on. And the reason he wasn't a pastor is because he didn't know his sheep.

His sheep didn't know him. And there was absolutely no time for hospitality. And Paul says that matters if you're going to be a pastor. A pastor must be hospitable. And of course he must be able to teach.

Able to teach. That's the end of verse 2. Able to teach. Now the scriptures are clear. God gives a variety of gifts to his church and not all our teachers, not all our pastors, not all our deacons.

Now if that's all we had in our church, just think about that, if all we had was pastors and deacons, would we have much of a church? No. We wouldn't exist as a church. We couldn't. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 4, there are a variety of gifts, but the same spirit.

There are a variety of ministries and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things and all persons, but to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit, giftings for the common good. And then verse 21 of 1 Corinthians 12, so the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you. And again, the head to the feet, well I have no need of you. Brothers and sisters, we need each other, do we not?

I need you. Can't have a whole room full of pastors. We'd all be speaking at once, No one would hear me. We need all the gifts that God has given to His church here at Crossroad, not just teachers and preachers. We do need them.

We do need, you very much need teachers and preachers to put things in order in the church. But we need all the gifts. Pastoring being one of them. And so in Ephesians 4, 11 and 12, Paul writes, and God gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service. That He might equip you and all your giftings to use your giftings to His glory, to the building up of the body of Christ.

A pastor is responsible, brothers and sisters, for administering the word and sacraments. You cannot have the sacrament, you cannot have this table apart from the teaching and preaching of this word. The word proclaimed makes these sacraments more than a snack. You get that, right? It's like when you go home, well actually you don't even have to go home, if you have low blood sugar and you're like I'm about to pass out and the only thing in the fridge is grape juice, and you go in there and take a sip of grape juice, you didn't just take communion.

Why is that? Because the sacrament, this table right here, has had the word proclaimed first. And as the word is proclaimed, These become the elements by which you partake in the body of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The bread and the juice aren't snacks anymore when the Lord is proclaimed on the Lord's day to the Lord's people from pastors who teach and that administer the word made flesh. It preaches the word and you ingest the word made flesh.

The word is scripturated, the word made flesh. A pastor must be able to administer the word in sacraments. Verse 3, a pastor must not be addicted to wine. If he's to administer the table, he ought not to be in the back room overtaking in the table. Now, we don't have wine.

Maybe one day. This is not a prohibition against alcohol. Don't put that in the text. This is not addicted to wine. But it is a prohibition against being controlled by alcohol.

Now we've already seen this. Elders are to be self-controlled in the power of the Holy Spirit. They're not to be controlled by strong drink. So, think back to the early chapters of Acts. Think about Acts.

What was the thought in Acts chapter 2 when the spirit came upon the people at Pentecost. What did all the people seeing God at work think about the Christians? Spirit falls, and what do all the outside people think? They gotta be drunk. Were they drunk?

No, drunkenness brings disorder. But the Spirit brings order. Men and women in Acts 2 were understanding the gospel and they were being converted as they heard the good news of Jesus Christ crucified for sinners in their own tongue. They were being filled with the Spirit, and it did not bring about disorder, it brought about unity and order, it brought about salvation. But drunkenness, that's the opposite.

It brings disunity and destruction. Paul tells Titus in Titus chapter 1 that elders are to bring order to the church which means that elders must be filled with the spirit of the God of order. The God of order must fill them that they might bring order in the church. And if they're filled with wine, they'll be filled with the spirit not of order, but of disorder and disunity. A pastor must be not addicted to wine.

He must be filled with the spirit of unity and not filled with the spirits that wine might bring. And that leads to the next qualification. He must not be pugnacious. Pugnacious. Oh man, I forgot the click, sorry.

Not addicted to wine, not pugnacious. There's too many clicks today. Pugnacious. Now, I think of all the words to say as just a fun word to say. I don't know why.

Pugnacious. But it comes from the Latin word for fistfight. Maybe that's why it's cool to say Fistfight a pastor of Christ Church is not one that is to be going around looking for a fistfight He's not to be one known as man. That guy goes around just looking for trouble, looking for violence. He's not going around bullying people.

A bully takes power and authority and uses it over people as a weapon against them. That's being pugnacious. But a pastor, a shepherd, uses his God-given authority for his people, not against them. His authority is not a weapon to be used against his people, nor is it wielded for the sake of his people. And that ought to be very clear.

How a man handles authority tells you a lot about a man. A pastor may not be a bully, he may not be pugnacious, and instead he must be gentle and peaceable. So instead of pugnacious Paul gives you the opposite. Here's what he must be gentle and peaceable. Now if he's to pastor Crossroad Church this man must have the capacity to bear the rod.

I want you to hear this A pastor must bear the rod. A pastor must not be afraid to call out sin. He must not be afraid to exercise church discipline. He must not be afraid to drive out wolves. A pastor must have that capability.

But, if that is all a man has, if all a man can do is wield the rod and nothing else, that is not a man who may be a pastor. He must also have the capacity to deal tenderly with his sheep. This man must be a man who will weep with you, a man who will fast with you, a man who loves you, a man who cares for you, a man who prays with you, A man who will point you to the Lord Jesus as he follows the Lord Jesus himself. Matthew chapter 11 verses 28 and 29. We read it this morning during our time of confession.

Matthew 11, 28. Come to me, he said, all who weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Why, Jesus, why? For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. So don't get it twisted.

Some people just lean into the gentle and lowly aspect of Jesus. Let me just make one side of the coin. Jesus overthrew the tables in the temple in righteous indignation. He hates sin. He bore the rod.

He literally fashioned a whip and beat men out of the temple with it. Jesus is not only gentle and lowly. Jesus got serious, he dealt seriously with sin, and he also said, come. To those who are contrite, come, you will find rest. And so in my office downstairs, when I meet with people, there is often a lot of, come.

Come and see Jesus. But there are also times, particularly maybe with young men, that there is no contriteness and there must be some kind of rebuke. There must be both in the pastorate. There must be. You must have fathers, you must love your children enough to discipline them, and Then at the same time to bring them in and embrace them And to turn their eyes upon Jesus to look full in his wonderful face a Pastor must be gentle and peaceable and not pugnacious These things once again are fruits of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5.

Paul says the same thing in 2nd Timothy chapter 2. 2nd Timothy 2, 24 and 25, the Lord's bond servant must not be quarrelsome but be kind to all, able to teach, be patient when wronged, and with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth. So some men may have only violence against heresy and sin, and some men have only gentleness towards the contrite a pastor must have both righteous indignation a zeal to protect his flock and the love for that flock that they might come gotta have both next a pastor must be free from the love of money. Free from the love of money. For those of you who didn't think I could get through this list in 45 minutes, ha ha, we're doing it.

Free from the love of money, not greedy. Another way to put this, he must not be fond of sordid gain. He must not be greedy. Now, hear this. I want you to understand this qualification.

Sometimes we take qualifications and we just put them and make them things that they aren't. There's nothing wrong with gaining money from honest investments or earning an income for honest labor. In fact we are commanded to work hard and to earn an income for honest labor. Paul tells you in 1st Timothy 5 that you would be worse than a pagan and effectively denying the faith if you are able-bodied but you don't provide for your own household. If you're able-bodied and you don't leave an inheritance for your children, that's not okay.

Monetary gain is good, it's very good, it's very important. Monetary gain is a blessing from God investing is a very good strategy It's one that Jesus commends check out the parable of the talent a pastor ought to demonstrate Faithful stewardship of his time and money if you can't handle his own finances rightly how is he going to steward the finances of the church well? He won't. So money isn't the problem here. Wealth isn't the problem here.

But the love of money, The love of wealth, covetousness, disordered affections in his heart, that's something else entirely. 1 Timothy 6, 10, For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. And some, by longing for it, have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. A pastor must be free from the love of money. His affections must be ordered correctly according to the tenth commandment.

If an elder will cheat someone outside the church for some kind of gain. What will keep him from cheating someone inside the church? To be greedy is simply not above reproach. An elder must have a track record of working honestly. Otherwise how can you trust him?

You won't be able to trust him if he's fond of sordid gain. If his affection for money supersedes all the other affections that God says should come first, Christ, his family, his church, his neighbor, if his affections aren't in order he is not fit to pastor. He must be free from the love of money. Verses 4 and 5, he must also be one who manages his household well. He must have order in his home.

He Must have an ordered home. Look at there in verses four and five, keeping his children under control with all dignity, but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God? Now we've already talked about this last week, so we won't spend too much time here, but a man's household is love for his wife and the way he loves and disciplines his children. Again, that's the front page of his pastoral resume. And Pastor Michael Foster puts it excellently.

So I'm gonna quote from Pastor Michael Foster. When it comes to managing his household well, it's not that his kid threw a fit here, or his kid is going through a difficult season in their lives. Kids go through all kinds of rough patches. We're not looking for perfection. When we are examining a man for the pastorate, 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 mom and dad. And they go to church, and they listen, and they honor their parents, and they don't have a consistent rebellious behavior. In Titus chapter 1, Paul says, and elders' children are not to be accused of debauchery or insubordination.

Paul is concerned with the father's ability to exercise godly authority and discipline in his home. Elders can't allow that sort of rebellion in their own house because when children are marked by debauchery and insubordination, it reflects the Father's ability to lead and his ability to manage and shepherd his own household, and by extension, his ability to lead, manage, and shepherd the Church of Jesus Christ. The home is the proving ground of godly leadership." End quote. So what is a pastor called to do? One of the things your pastors are called to do is to deal with sin and to lovingly exercise church discipline in God's house with God's children, you.

Yes? If he will not do that in his own house with his own children, if he will not exercise discipline in his own house, if he will not deal with sin in his own house, how can you expect him to do it in the household of God? You cannot, He will not. If disorder exists in the lives of a man's own children, then what can you expect in the lives of the children of God that he pastors? You can expect one thing, disorder.

And that cannot be in the Church of Jesus Christ. Coming to the end now, look at verse 6. One of the final qualifications here is that he must not be a new convert. Not a new convert. Not a new convert.

Verse 6. So that he will not become conceited and all and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. Now Wilson says it this way quote, the word here is neophyte, neophyte, new convert and probably refers to time as a Christian and not age proper. The danger that comes when promotion to a church office is rapid is that of conceit. End quote.

So not a new convert. He needs to be tested. He needs to get the basics of the faith down for him and his household first before he even begins to think about going around and helping others do the same. Not a new convert. Now again, I need you to hear this.

This isn't speaking necessarily of age. How old someone might be. Who is Paul writing to? You need to understand this. Who's Paul writing to?

What's the title of the book? Timothy, as they say. Timothy. And Timothy became an elder likely in his mid-twenties. Paul writes to Titus, who became an elder likely even younger than that.

When you possess in your church a young man raised in a Christian household, made born again when he was young, having been examined and found possessing all these other qualifications. When you have that kind of man in your church, that's the kind of man whom Paul would say, don't you look down upon him because of his youth, instead appointing to the office. Last one. Paul ends our passage with verse 7. He must be reputable.

Reputable. Reputable. Not only should the man be above reproach within the church, but also outside the church, John Calvin put it perfectly, quote, so far as relates to external behavior, even unbelievers themselves shall be constrained to acknowledge him to be a good man. For although they groundlessly slander all the children of God, yet they cannot pronounce him to be a wicked man who leads a good and inoffensive life amongst them. Such is that acknowledgement of uprightness, which Paul here describes for pastors." End quote.

These are the pastoral qualifications. You are not to add to them. You are not to subtract from them. God is perfect in his wisdom. Here is what a shepherd of the sheep must be and Here in this list is exactly Perfectly what Jesus Christ your great Shepherd is He is the God man the perfect man With a holy ambition he went to a cross to save you and the world.

He is the definition of being above reproach, for He is the husband of one bride, the church, who loved her and gave himself up for her, that he might cleanse her by dying on the tree in her place. He is self-controlled. Jesus, tempted by Satan three times, and unlike the first Adam, the second Adam, Jesus stood firm and the devil fled. Jesus Christ is hospitable. Here you, we are seated at his table in his household, no longer enemies but friends, even more his children.

Bobbed with the precious blood of Christ, declared righteous in his sight, once strangers to the covenant, but now called beloved children, inheritors of the promise. Members of his covenant table, Jesus is the teacher, The Word made flesh more than able to teach. He is what we teach. He is not addicted to wine. No, rather Jesus gives us this feast, His body and His blood, that we would hunger and thirst for Him and Him alone.

For only He can satisfy, and He alone fills you with His Spirit. His blood is the wine. King Jesus is not pugnacious. King Jesus is not a bully, no, rather, he is the master of all masters, the Lord of all lords, the King of all kings, and who did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. But he emptied himself and took on flesh, and then he went to a cross.

Why? So that pugnacious sinners like you, so that pugnacious sinners like you would be cleansed and be made new. So that those who are covetous, so that those who are lovers of money would See what Jesus did for them in his cross, how he loved them, how he gave himself for them, how he makes them born again, so that now, far from being in love with money for the redeemed and regenerated sinner, all is lost in comparison to knowing Christ, because they've gained the greatest treasure. Jesus Christ is all these things and more. Beloved, I need you to hear this.

Jesus Christ is all these things and more. Run to Him. Cling to Him. Cry out to Him. Trust Him.

Obey Him. He is greater than your sin. He is your great Shepherd, and by His grace you are His sheep, you are His children, you belong to His household through His shed blood and righteousness. And He gives to you pastors, He gives to you fallible men who preach to you an infallible word and the word may flash Jesus Christ crucified risen raining and coming again hallelujah and amen that's right father thank you for this your word and for the preciousness of it. That Lord, though we fall short of these things, There is a Redeemer, Jesus, your own Son, who is the precious Lamb of God, our Messiah, and He's the Holy One.

Thank you, Father, for giving us your Son and for your Spirit. Grant us now, Lord, that we would delight in you. Grant us, Lord, that we would partake in this table together with you, that we would remember our baptism, that we would remember being called out by you, once strangers, now children of the promise. Thank you for pastors. Thank you for my pastor, for Pastor Matthew.

Please strengthen him and cause him to stand, upheld by your righteous, omnipotent hand. Do that for all your pastors, please, and all the sheep that are underneath them. For Jesus' sake and in his name we pray, amen.