Awesome Responsibility

Titus 1:7a For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. …

When I think of the word steward, I generally think of someone like a flight attendant or a waiter on a fancy cruise ship, so I’m not sure that this is the best English word to translate the original Greek in this verse. A secondary, less familiar meaning of the English word is “household manager,” and that is what the original indicates. Interestingly, the Greek word is actually a combination of the words for “house” and “law,” indicating that that the steward is to guide and administer the house of God (the local church). This corresponds with the title overseer (one of the biblical titles that corresponds with “pastor”), which also indicates a position of responsibility and authority in the church.

This places an awesome, fearful responsibility on the pastor of a local church. Think of the cruise ship captain who, a few months ago, took his ship off course to show off to some friends, and ran the ship aground. Dozens of passengers died and the rest were traumatized by the desperate escape. As the overseer and steward of that ship, he is responsible for the disaster and must answer for the great harm brought to those under his care. It is the same with a pastor or other spiritual leader; even more so, because a pastor is given “stewardship” over eternal souls.

Since the responsibility is so great, the qualifications God lays down are correspondingly great. The man called to manage God’s household must be above reproach. Paul will go on to describe some of the specific areas in which the man of God must maintain a substantial degree of victory, reminding us that great responsibility demands high qualifications.

The Pastor as a Parent

Titus 1:6b… and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.

Part of the biblical requirements for a pastor involves the behavior of his children. If one were applying for a job in the secular workforce, it would be unusual for the hiring party to do a background check on the applicant’s minor children. We would consider that an intrusion and insist that our home life is none of their business. That is not the case in the high and holy calling of pastoral leadership. As Paul says in another place, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? (1 Timothy 3:5)

I would take this requirement to relate to minor children, those who still live in the home. When our growing children begin to object to some of our rules, we counter by insisting, “As long as you live in this house, this is how it is going to be!” When a son or daughter comes of age and leaves to establish his or her own home, we certainly hope and pray that each will continue in the ways of the Lord. If an adult child does stray from his upbringing, however, I do not believe that this disqualifies the father from being a pastor.

The point is, rather, that as long as children are in the home, the father must command their respect and obedience. Debauchery speaks of the child’s lifestyle, as one who is morally reckless and abandoned. Think of a teenager getting drunk or indulging in sexual immorality. Insubordination speaks of the youngster’s attitude. An insubordinate child talks back to his parents with total disrespect and flaunts his disobedience without hesitation.

I must disagree with the ESV translation of the phrase, his children are believers. This is a possible translation of the word, but it might also be translated his children are faithful or dependable. While it is certainly the goal of every Christian father that his children come to know Christ as Lord and Savior, one certainly cannot expect that this will always happen at the youngest possible age. This phrase should rather be taken as the positive opposite of the following two negatives. Rather than being open to the charge of debauchery and insubordination, the pastor’s children must respect the authority of their father. They can be counted on to live in overall submission to his leadership in the home.

This makes good sense. If a man is a shallow hypocrite, his children will be among the first to pick up on that. They will not respect him nor give much weight to what he says. If a man is weak, his children will exploit that. What happens in the home will happen in the church, if such a man is given the office of pastor. And so, the Bible insists, a pastor must have faithful children who are not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.

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Sermon outline for Sunday, May 13, 2012

Pastor Richard C. Klueg

Nothing Succeeds Like Success

Luke 16:10-13

Sermon preached Sunday, May 6, 2012

Pastor Richard C. Klueg

Your Golden Parachute

Luke 16:1-9

I Am a “One Woman Man”!

Titus 1:6a if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife …

In this verse Paul begins to give biblical standards for a man to be designated as an elder in a local church (verse 5). The term elder indicates someone with maturity, and so it is a title that calls attention to the personal qualification of that man. Other terms used for the same position are “overseer” (cf. Acts 20:28) and “pastor” (cf. Ephesians 4:11).

To say that a pastor must be above reproach is not to say that he must be sinless. If that were the case, no one could be a pastor! The term is used in a relative sense, indicating that a church’s designated spiritual leader must have an established degree of stability and victory in certain areas of his life. The first area Paul emphasizes has to do with the pastor’s marriage. He must be the husband of one wife.

I would not take this to mean that a bachelor or widower may not serve as a pastor. Paul himself was single, as was our Lord Jesus. It is safe to assume the obvious, that Paul expects us to understand this to apply “if he is married.” Of course, the overwhelming majority of men do get married, so the Scripture is speaking to that point.

We are immediately struck with the implication this has for Roman Catholicism. That church requires that the church clergy (incorrectly called “priests,” but that’s another subject) must be unmarried. That is the exact opposite of what the Bible here assumes to be the normal condition of pastors! Speaking for myself, I cannot imagine being in pastoral ministry without my wife beside me.

This requirement also stands as a rebuke to churches that do not hold their leaders to the highest levels of sexual morality. Since the Greek words for husband and wife are simply the words “man” and “woman,” this could literally be translated a man of one woman or a one woman man. The pastor is to be absolutely faithful to his wife. Even a platonic love relationship with another woman would absolutely disqualify a man from being in pastoral ministry. Also, there is no question that this requirement clearly excludes a man in a homosexual relationship. He cannot be “the husband of one husband.” Churches who allow such an abomination only show how desperately far they have strayed from the Word of God.

And finally, it is clear that the office of pastor/elder/overseer is gender-specific. An elder may not be “the wife of one husband.” It is not a matter of one gender being better or worse than the other. It is simply that God made men and women with complementary differences. He gives them distinct roles that correspond with those differences.

I know that I am not and never will be worthy to be a pastor. That is a matter of God’s pure grace. I must, however, be sure that I am biblically qualified. Please hold me to it.