Church Leadership 101: The Pastor

“CHURCH LEADERSHIP 101: THE PASTOR”

1 Timothy 3:1-7

FBCF – 1/19/25

Jon Daniels

INTRO – WELCOME ONLINE AUDIENCE

I’m going to preach about preachers today.

A preacher was walking down the street and came up to a young boy. The preacher asked him if he knew where the post office was. The boy said, “Yes sir, go down the end in the block, take a left and then the building on the right is the post office.” The preacher said, “Thank you, & if you will come to my church on Sunday, I will tell you how to get to heaven.” The boy looked at the pastor and said, “Come on Preacher. You don't even know how to get to the post office.”

People have asked me, “What do I call you? Bro. Jon? Pastor Jon? Dr. Jon? Dr. Daniels?” An elderly lady once asked me that – answered, “Just Jon.” From then on to this very day, every time she sees me, “Well, hello, ‘JUST JON.’”

So, whether you call me Bro. Jon, Pastor Jon, Dr. Jon, Dr. Daniels, Reverend, or “Just Jon”, I’m going to preach a sermon about myself today. It’s important that I preach my sermons TO myself before I preach them to you. And if there was ever a sermon that I preached to myself, this one is it! I really do have to preach this passage to myself. But I don’t think I’ve ever preached a sermon ABOUT myself. So here goes.

EXPLANATION – 1 Timothy 3:1-7 (p. 992)

Word study on v. 1:

“trustworthy” – pistos – faithful; reliable – 1 Timothy 1:15 – “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” (NIV)

“aspires” – desires; longs for

“office of overseer” – one word – episcope – position of responsibility; office as a church leader

“noble” – good; important – 1 Timothy 3:7 – “…well thought of…”

3 words in Scripture for this office in the Church:

- “overseer” – episcope – the office as a church leader

- “elder” – presbuteros – community leader; those who preside over the churches

- “shepherd/pastor” – poimen (poy-mane) – only term that can be both a noun & a verb. It’s who I am AND what I do. In our context, we use pastor more frequently than we use the terms overseer & elder.

1. A herdsman – He to whose care others have committed themselves & whose precepts they follow.

2. The presiding officer, manager, director of any assembly of the overseers of Christian assemblies.

“The tasks of near Eastern shepherds were: To watch for enemies trying to attack the sheep – to defend the sheep from attackers – to heal the wounded & sick sheep – to find & save lost or trapped sheep – to love them, sharing their lives & earning their trust.” (https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/poimen.html)

What a privilege & honor! It’s a huge responsibility that requires great strength to serve in this office! The only way any man can serve as a pastor is this:

APPLICATION – A strong pastor relies on his strong God.

He MUST rely on his strong God in order to have these necessary characteristics in v. 1-7. As Pastor Ray Pritchard said: “…remember that this is an aspirational list. No one lives like this 100% of the time. Paul sets before us a worthy goal—which most of us will work on for a lifetime & still not completely reach. We ought to take this list seriously but also graciously and realistically.” (https://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/portrait-of-a-godly-leader/)

A STRONG PERSONAL LIFE – v. 2-3, 7

Paul saying to Timothy: “This is a good, noble, honorable work. So, Timothy, you need to look for good, noble, honorable men.”

When you read these characteristics in v. 2-3 & 7, you come away w/ this thought: “This is a guy you can trust. His personal life is strong. He’s got a good reputation; you can tell he really loves & leads his wife well; he consistently keeps himself under control; people respect him; he’s a good teacher & preacher of the Word; he handles his money well & doesn’t live an extravagant, greedy lifestyle; he’s not perfect & he knows it, but he’s a guy I can follow. You can tell he loves Jesus & truly strives to follow Jesus. I can follow this guy.”

A STRONG FAMILY LIFE – v. 4-5

Why is it important that a pastor have a strong family life? Paul clearly answers that question in v. 5. It’s a leadership issue. David Guzik: “The godly leader demonstrates his leadership ability first in his own home; Paul recognized that it is in the home where our Christianity is first demonstrated.” (https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/1-timothy-3/)

This is where the PK’s – “preacher’s kids” – come into the picture – the butt of a lot of jokes – the subject of a lot of conversations – the source of a lot of heavy pressure. We all know stories of “preacher’s kids” who rebelled, did some dumb stuff & got themselves in trouble – usually because they were hanging out w/ the deacon’s kids!!!