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THE PROFILE of a PASTOR a Sermon Based on 1 Timothy 3:1-7

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THE PROFILE of a PASTOR a Sermon Based on 1 Timothy 3:1-7 Presbyterion 19/2 (1993) 67-76 THE PROFILE OF A PASTOR A Sermon Based on 1 Timothy 3:1-7 Daniel M. Doriani* We are all so prone to stuff ourselves with our own importance, that the wise will make the most of an opportunity to be humbled. For many of you, seminary offers you your last best chance to be humbled, to be a "nobody." The opportunity to be a nobody is like the advantage that comes to those with average looks. In their youth, the beautiful and the athletic "learn" that they can get through life with a wink and a nod, a home run and touchdown. But average men and women learn at an early age that, for them, it takes more — hard work, discipline and perseverance. By the time we reach our late 30s or 40s, almost everyone is average looking. Faces are no longer handsome, beautiful, or plain; they either do or do not have "character." In the 40s almost everyone runs slowly, and the mere absence of a bulging gut may pass for athleticism. Winks and nods accomplish nothing, and suddenly the average person, who knows the value of hard work, has the advantage. Being a nobody, an unknown, has similar advantages. Some are obvious. For example, to be a restaurant critic — short hours, good benefits, no heavy lifting — one must arrive in the city's finer restaurants unknown, or at least unrecognized. The restaurant critic is the one columnist whose face must never appear in the paper, for the critic needs to know how the restaurant treats her when she is just another customer, a nobody. Similarly, before he reached the height of his fame, Sam Walton used to drive up to his Walmart stores in a pick­ up truck and blue jeans, stroll in and buy some light bulbs, shampoo and toothpaste, just to check out the service. To discover the truth he had to appear to be a nobody. When I was a young, new faculty member at a certain academic institution, I visited the library to check its resources for an upcoming Dan Doriani holds a Ph.D. from Westminster Theological Seminary and is Associate Professor and Chair of the New Testament Department at Covenant Theological Seminary. "The Profile of a Pastor" was originally presented as a chapel message for the students at Covenant Theological Seminary. Here we have decided to keep the flavor of the original oral presentation, but we hope that every elder, indeed all Christians who strive for personal maturity, will be able to see themselves in this message. 68 PRESPYTERION: COVENANT SEMINARY REVIEW 19/2 (1993) course. In August, in short sleeves, incognito, I had to ask the desk librarian for help three or four times in an hour, and she began to act just a little annoyed, a little imperious, a little snappish, at this older student who kept interrupting her work. Another librarian, sitting nearby, knew who I was, heard her colleague's tone and began to fidget. She tried to catch her friend's eye. She started to rise...she sat, she rose finally, "Wanda, let me introduce you to Dr. Doriani, one of our new professors...." Wanda found her beauty queen smile in an instant, "Oh, Dr. Doriani, how nice it is to meet you." Gently solicitous, Wanda offered every assistance, and my impromptu investigation of student- librarian relations ended. I had lost the advantage of being a nobody. You, however, have one more opportunity to be "nobody special." By God's mercy, even the "nobody specials" get treated rather well at Covenant and many other seminaries. Still, for many of you, the trip to seminary involved quite a drop in status. Martin Luther once said, "Young fellows are tempted by girls, men who are thirty years old are tempted by gold, when they are forty years old they are tempted by honor and glory."1 I hope no one loses his girl when he comes to seminary, but more than a few seminarians lose their gold, their honor, and their glory. You were rising salespeople, rising engineers, celebrated potential leaders of your churches. You had an office, a secretary, business cards, even a beeper and a portable phone! But now, you are just another student, and your former status and networks cannot get you through one language quiz. Money is scarce, status nearly nil. Sometimes your professors have no idea who you are, how important you are! It can be discouraging, even if you sacrificed little gold and no title to come to seminary. But look again; consider your low status an opportunity to complete your preparation for ministry. In seminary you learn the facts of the Bible and church history, the cardinal tenets of Christian doctrine. You learn the methods of exegesis, of counseling, of preaching, of working with a session. In your internship you learn by doing, gaining invaluable experience working in a ministry under a mentor. But being "nobody special" grants you the unique opportunity to work on who you are. You see, once we enter the ministry, we become like a restaurant critic whose picture has been published everywhere, or like a recognized Sam Walton. Ministers have to endure extra criticism, but they also get a little special treatment, a little deference. Further, once you enter the ministry, you know you have to "behave yourself' for the sake of your ministry, for the sake of your job. Holiness, kindness and sincerity are occupational requirements. In our fallenness, we may learn 1 Martin Luther, Table Talk, in Luther's Worte, trans. Theodore Tappert (St. Louis: Concordia, 1967), 158. THE PROFILE OF A PASTOR 69 to be content with presenting a veneer of holiness, the ritual of kindness, to the hazard of our souls. And as one cynic put it, "The one thing you really need in the ministry is sincerity, and if you can fake that, you've got it made." So, let us all attend to our character, and heed the Lord's profile of a pastor, from 1 Timothy 3:1-7. Paul has three concerns: the virtues of an elder, the family of an elder, and the public standing of an elder. ITim. 3:1 Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap, (NIV) THE VIRTUES OF A PASTOR/ELDER Before we look at any details from our passage, it will help to get a broad view of the person and the work of an elder or overseer, as the first two verses of our text describe them. Verse 1 says the overseer has a job: 'If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires noble work, a beautiful task (καλοΰ έργον επιθυμεί)/' Yet when Paul states the qualifications to be an elder, he begins, "An elder must be..." not, "An elder must do..." So Paul emphasizes the character of an elder more than his skills. Yes, Paul says an elder must be able to teach, and able to manage his family and the church. But these are just two items in a list that has at least twelve more requirements. Most of the list refers to character or personal qualifications, not tasks. This emphasis on character should give us pause, especially since Timothy calls the leaders overseers, a term that ordinarily draws attention to the task of leadership. It may help to recall that Paul and the rest of the New Testament use two interchangeable terms to describe the highest leader of the church: "elder" and "overseer." An "overseer" is not a bishop.2 Rather, 2paul uses two very similar terms that mean "overseer" in 1 Timothy 3:1, 2 (επισκοπής· and επίσκοπος). Paul uses the term "elder" (πρεσβύτερος) four times to describe the same leader and teacher of the church in 1 Timothy 5:1-2 and 17-19. The two terms are used as synonyms in two or three places in the New Testament. In Titus 1:5, Paul tells Titus he left him in Crete to appoint elders in every town. Verse six then describes the traits of an elder in terms very similar to 1 Timothy 3:2-4. In verse seven of Titus 1 he continues, "It is necessary that an overseer be above reproach.. .not arrogant, not quick-tempered." In Acts 20:17 Paul sends for 70 PRESPYTERION: COVENANT SEMINARY REVIEW 19/2 (1993) the term "overseer" points to the elder's task or function as one who watches over the church. The term "elder" describes the same person, but now with an eye on his personal qualification, his maturity. The connection of the person and the office emerges when we notice that Paul calls oversight a "noble task," but devotes most of the list to the overseer's maturity. For those who train and select elders, for those who prepare themselves to become pastors and elders, this means that it is not enough to do the work of an elder; one must be the person.
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