Every few weeks I try to write a “Pastoral Postcard,” a post that aims to encourage pastors in the work of ministry. I take one verse of Scripture and apply it to the blessings and afflictions every gospel minister experiences. The postcards originate from a time when I was preaching through 1 Timothy while reading Thomas Boston’s The Art of Man-Fishing. As a young pastor myself, I tried to channel my inner Boston and write short-ish notes to encourage my labor. Hopefully they can be some encouragement to you.
“Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife.” – 1 Timothy 3:2
Pastor, you are to be a “one-woman man.”
The apostle says this world is filled with sensuous souls greedy to practice every kind of impurity, “but that is not the way you learned Christ!” No, you have learned to renew your mind and put on the new self, from which flows the life of purity – the life of “one-womanness.” If sexual immorality is “out of place” in church, how less of a place should it have in the pastor’s life? You are a herald of the Light, so walk as a child of light. A “one-woman man” does this by reveling and repelling.
A ONE-WOMAN MAN REVELS
The wise preacher said, “Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth.” If you are blessed with a wife you have a reason to rejoice. God saw it was not good for you to be alone, so He fashioned you a woman. Revel in the Giver of this gift and revel in the gift itself.
It is a mighty scheme of the Serpent to have your wife become common in your eyes, for he knows that you won’t revel in the common. In portraying her as common he pokes your heart toward pursuing things, and women, that are uncommon. But that is a poker pulled from the fires of hell and it will burn you if it isn’t fought with the shield of faith and sword of the Spirit.
Remember that the wife of your youth is a treasure and treasure is never boring – never common. Stomp on the sly Worm’s scheme by studying your wife. There are riches in her body and soul you have yet to discover, but such discovery will require effort. The apostle wrote, “The fruit of light is found in all that is good, right, and true”; therefore, you must find for the treasures contained within your wife. The Worm’s world says a wife’s treasure lies in the soil of superficiality, but the King of creation says, “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Revel in her God-fearing heart. Yes, drink in her physical beauty, but intoxicate yourself in her spiritual beauty. The Rock himself said this kind of beauty is imperishable and precious in the sight of God. Why revel in that which is perishable when you can revel in that which is imperishable?
As an under-shepherd of Christ it is your task to image the glory of Christ to your sheep; remind yourself regularly of how being a “one-woman man” uniquely reflects the Savior. Our Lord Jesus saved His bride and united her to Himself. He is fixated on her and sings over her; His heart is not divided with other lovers. He has only one lover. Revel in your wife and you will reflect the Savior.
A ONE-WOMAN MAN REPELS
It is not enough to simply revel in your wife, you must also repel any other lover. You must be, after all, a one-woman man.
I know the vanity of your heart and how it will want to gravitate toward other lovers. The Serpent know this and thus will employ one of his favored conspiracies, “The Conspiracy of Greener Grass.” He will enjoy leading you to the fence in order to look at the greener grass (another lover) on the other side . . . he may even give you a boost to jump over to the other side. Once over the fence, The Fork-Tongued One will let you enjoy the freshly shaded blades for a period of time before he begins to whisper, “Have you seen the grass even greener than this? Let’s go look.” But I warn you now that the grass is never a better shade of green, it’s merely a different shade of green.
What vigilance you must have to repel the Worm’s conspiracy! The Savior knows this for in the great mountainside sermon He says to lustful men, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.” With the Spirit’s power you must make war against the members of your flesh; kill the sins of lust and unlawful lovers before they kill you.
Just as every bicycle needs two wheels to advance, so too does your purity need two things to grow: reveling in your wife and repelling the Serpent’s schemes.
P.S. – Remember greener grass actually does exist. The Serpent is crafty, but he is not smart enough to come up with original truth, he just distorts – expertly so – the real truth. The real Greener Grass lies at the feet of the Lord Jesus who will soon make “all things new” and lead His bride into lush valleys and rolling hills.