Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz19961201.htm

THRU THE BIBLE SYNTHESIS
"Part LV: 1 Timothy - The Pastor's Manual On His Ministry Role"

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

(1) I was recently given an copy of a sermon outline from a party that had attended an area pastor's conference. The sermon was about what it takes for a church to be healthy.

One of the sermon's outline points was, and I quote: "A healthy church is a Growing church." Since the message was given for ministers, the implied that the pastor is doing his job if the church's giving and attendance are going up!

This idea is quite prevalent today. I once heard from a home missionary that its missionary pastors are expected see dynamic growth in the numbers attending their churches in less than ten years or they are removed from their pastorates by the mission leadership!

Well, is the pastor responsible for the Church to grow both in numbers attending and giving? If so, how FAST should the numbers grow for him to be "certified"? Where does SCRIPTURE place the cut-off point in terms of numbers-per-year gained to qualify a pastor as being "successful"?

(2) Another note in the minister's conference message was that "A healthy church . . . should have a vision." By this term is meant the need for a "plan", a ministry program or building goal of some sort.

Well, is the pastor responsible to get the Church into a new building, a big bus ministry, a Christian day care center outreach, a Christian medical out-patient facility, etc. to be a success? If so, what if the CHURCH can't AF FORD this, or REFUSES to follow this suggestion? Is the PASTOR then a failure? How big must the effort or plan be, to be termed "successful"?

(3) During our Sesquicentennial Celebration, I was directly questioned by a Christian leader attending on what plans Don Shell had for Nepaug's future. In talking with him, I noticed by "plans" he meant specific program or building development. Question: Must Don Shell lead Nepaug into an expansion of program and building? If he doesn't, is he failing? KEEP IN MIND THAT IT IS NEPAUG'S WELFARE AND MONEY, INCLUDING YOUR OWN, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT!



(We turn to the "Need" section of the message . . . )



Need: "With various expectations directed toward the PASTOR as to what he should ACHIEVE, those of us in the PEW wonder! After all, the welfare of our Church is ultimately at stake!"
  1. Because of sin's DECEIVING effects, man has often ignorantly pursued goals for his spiritual fulfillment that actually HARM him:
    1. God originally told man in Eden not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil or he would die; rather, he could eat of every other tree, including the Tree of Life, Gn. 2:8-9,16-17.
    2. However, the wicked, deceiving Devil twisted reality for man, and he tragically sinned by following an errant MEANS for fulfillment:
      1. Satan told Eve that the reason God did not permit her to partake of the forbidden fruit was that God was jealous of His insight, 3:5.
      2. By implication, Satan said that eating the forbidden fruit would actually promote Eve's spiritual insight to her ADVANTAGE!
      3. In REALITY, though Eve would have greater insight, gaining that knowledge that WAY would KILL as its means was sinful!
      4. Eve then replaced God's command with Satan's idea to partake of the forbidden fruit, and with Adam tragically sinned, Gn. 3:6-7.
    3. This pattern of following a deceiving goal with all "good" intentions only to get hurt has plagued man throughout history:
      1. When God sought to reach the postdiluvian world with Abraham's seed, Israel, the nation strayed after idols and stopped following God and His prophets' teachings. That hurt Israel, 2 Chr. 36:14-17.
      2. When God sent His Son, Jesus Christ as Israel's Messiah, Israel rejected Him since she followed the unbiblical guidance of her religious leaders, Mtt. 16:21 with Acts 2:22-23 and John 5:39-40.
      3. Even in the Church, Christians have been misled to their spiritual harm by false ideas entering the Church, 1 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Tim. 4:3-4.
  2. Thus, God had Paul write out 1 Timothy as a Manual to equip the Church for proper DIRECTION to counter harmful DECEPTION:
    1. The 1 Timothy instruction equips a pastor to know how to direct himself AND his hearers to be saved from harmful deception, 4:1-16.
    2. The setting in which Christians are thus equipped to retain spiritual health through sticking to the truth is the local church, 3:14-16.
    3. Thus, the ministry of the PASTOR in the local church SHOULD BE that of preserving Bible truth by means of exampling it in his life and teaching and preaching from the Scriptures, 1 Timothy 4:11-16.
    4. As such, the following qualities of a Biblical pastoral ministry arise:
      1. The Biblical pastor must discern truth from error by using Scripture and apply his findings for his hearers' benefits in his preaching and teaching ministries, 1 Tim. 1:3-20 with 4:1-16.
      2. To further the assertion of truth, he must also promote proper roles for men AND women as this counters the inverted roles of Eve over Adam that led to man's original waywardness, 2:1-15.
      3. He must aim for reliable men to help lead toward bolstering the local church's commitment to Scripture's truth, 1 Tim. 3:1-13.
      4. In keeping with preserving the gender roles that help promote the truth (Gen. 3:16b), the pastor must example how to relate in the church by using the Biblical human family model, 5:1-6:2; 3:5.
      5. He must downplay the significance of money in ministry and life, which entity is often a lure for false teachers who infiltrate the church for it and destroy its stand through abuses, 1 Tim. 6:3-21!
  3. 1 Timothy adds to the "thread of redemption" by reaffirming the need for PASTORAL ADHERENCE to SCRIPTURE to escape errant deceptions that MISLEAD people to their spiritual harm!
Application: For a Church to be healthy, its PASTOR must (1) believe on Christ for salvation from sin, Jn. 3:1-16. (2) As a believer, he must (a) confess his sins (1 Jn. 1:9) and (b) depend on the Holy Spirit for behavior control and use of his spiritual gift (Gal. 5:16-23; 1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6). (c) Then, he must FAITHFULLY example Scripture in life and relationships, and study, teach and preach it (1 Tim. 4:11-15). (d) In so doing, he will PRESERVE himself and his hearers from spir itual defeat and keep the church healthy, 1 Tim. 4:16. (e) In particular application to our contemporary Evangelical era, the Pastor MUST discount MONEY or NUMBERS ATTENDING as goals so as not to sidetrack himself or the body from the truth or risk luring apostates into the church who lust after money and fame: thus, programs, "numbers", etc. must not be SOUGHT as the church's GOAL, but handled as GOD'S RESULTS to the promotion of the TRUTH in the local church, cf. the model of this in Acts 2:42-47 in light of 1 Tim. 4:16.

Lesson: Contrary to pressures thrust upon him to the contrary, GOD wants the pastor NOT to be DERAILED into ministry pursuits that keep him from being God's "immovable hitching post" of SPIRITUAL REALITIES for the local church. The pastor thus KEEPS the body from WANDERING away from the TRUTH that sustains its spiritual health!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 Viewing the topic of church growth in light of 1 Timothy as applied to Nepaug Church, I make the following analysis:

(1) On the one hand, it is my humble appraisal that in the last several decades of Nepaug Church history, including my own time, when its leaders have tried to push expansion or program growth, it has consistently led to unedifying problems contrary to God's will!

(2) On the other hand, I have always felt that Nepaug nevertheless DOES have great needs for such progress:

(a) From the time I first viewed the church plant while candidating as pastor back in January of 1982, I immediately felt its facilities were inadequate for long-range ministry in today's world. The building was excellent 150 years ago, but I honestly feel that from the pews to our land-locked status to the parking lot drainage to our sagging and possibly questionable roof to rather plain inter ior decorations, etc., we are limited in what we can accomplish for Christ.

(b) There is also a great area need for a strong Bible teaching church that is also GRACE oriented: (a) with legalism by some Fundamentalists on the one hand and (b) Charismatic license on the other hand and the (c) lack of strong, male leadership in area churches for decades, I believe this type of church is greatly needed!

(3) Consequently, what I seek to do is to take advantage of our stressed situation that I believe the LORD has purposely permitted to keep ministering the Word so that Nepaug might fill that void:

(a) I believe that God has intentionally allowed us to be stressed by program and facility shortages so as to attract only people who place an absolute priority on the ministry of the Word. In this way, we have the luxury of growing into maturity as individual believers BEFORE focusing on externals. Thus, WHEN--not IF--the building and program really blossom, the RESULTS will be STRONG enough to make Nepaug a LIGHTHOUSE in our region for Christ.

(b) Accordingly, I ask that you join the Board and me in praying for God's clear leading in this matter. We can use the example of God's provision of our computer equipment as His encouragement for further developing our ministry. What growth will occur, we want to be in God's way and in God's time so that the results will edify everybody and LAST for His glory!