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.

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.

“If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach.” – 1 Timothy 3:1-2

Pastor, you are to be a boring picture of godliness.

When the great apostle requires that elders be “above reproach” he is requiring that your life be one free of popular suspicions and charges of sin or immorality. This doesn’t mean you are to be perfect, rather it means that your life will be visibly virtuous.

A VISIBLE LIFE

Faithful shepherds always lead their sheep from the front, thus a faithful pastor will ordinarily be leading from a place of visibility. You know this to be true. From the minute you – and your family – walk through the church doors you are walking into a holy display case. Your actions will be observed and your words will be heard. From the moment you enter this display case the Serpent will try to smash its shell. He will tempt your congregation to be cruel in their judgment of you, so that you will crumble. Or, should your congregation be faithful, he will try to cause you to crumble under your own sinful expectations of perfection that you cry out in despair, “I am not worthy!” If theses schemes don’t work, be assured that the Worm is still slinking around in his sly subtlety.

Have you ever noticed the great number of pastors who delight in keeping to themselves, pastors who cherish seclusion? You are likely one of them. God seems pleased to create His lieutenants in such a way that their introversion leads unto daily swims in the deep things. Remind yourself that the Serpent is pleased by this trait as well. He is familiar with the Spirit’s Sword and the Sovereign One’s desire for shepherds to be examples to the flock. Therefore, you can expect him to aim fiery darts of sinful isolation at your breastplate. To be an example you must be visible, so why should he not try to get you to be invisible? If you keep to yourself, have no friends, stay away from regularly engaging with your town, and don’t regularly lead your sheep in public ways, know the Worm is probably winning the battle. Winning by keeping you invisible.

Cultivate then a heart that mirrors the eternal Three in One, a heart that is outgoing and communicative. Don’t only open the Good Book in your study or on the sacred desk, open it with brothers and sisters as you go from home to home to offer the Whole Counsel. Sin and Satan want you to be sinfully invisible or visibly sinful; God requires that you be visibly virtuous.

A VISIBLY VIRTUOUS LIFE

The apostle’s understands visible virtuousness for he exhorts his son in the faith to, “Set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” This is what it means to be above reproach, to be visibly virtuous.

Be visibly virtuous in speech. You are called to speak of the unsearchable riches of Christ, but don’t let the Good News come from your mouth only when you ascend to the desk. Season all of your speech with the savor of Christ. Resist the temptation of your age to casual colloquialism, but labor in the language of the Loved One. If your speech is accused, let it be accused of having too much faith, hope, and love. Load your heart with the treasures of Christ so that they pour from your lips.

Be visibly virtuous in conduct. You are placed in the holy display case because the Spirit is at work in you to exude a kind of godliness that shapes your sheep. Your actions are to be echoes of the Savior, even if they are often faint echoes. You must daily slay the pride of life to that your life displays and declares the exalted Prize of Eternal Life.

Be visibly virtuous in love. Love is the only thing that will remain in eternity, so let it be the dominant accent of this life. The Serpent will labor to enslave you to love of self or love of the world, but you must terminate his labor with the Spirit’s power. Let your ministry be a two chord song of love, love for your God and love for your people.

Be visibly virtuous in faith. Everything depends on faith, for whatever is not from faith is sin. You were saved by faith and you are being sanctified by faith. The eyes of faith are ones that delight in looking above, looking to where Christ is seated. His is your life and faith alone is what takes hold of that life. Be on guard against doubt and despair, things that come from looking down far too much. Mr. M’Cheyne has it right when he exhorts, “For every look at self, take ten looks at Christ.”

Be visibly virtuous in purity. You know how much the Serpent delights to slay shepherds through impurity, so expect peculiar temptations in this area. Be filled with the Spirit and give no opportunity to the Worm. He wants a foothold here so that he might give a scandal to the scandalized world, but you must close the door of your heart, lock it, and throw away the key. Pray for a mind captivated by, and with, the Beautiful One.

Being above reproach means being beyond spiritual suspicion . . . thus, you shouldn’t surprise your sheep. You should be gloriously boring in godliness. Visibly virtuous pastors are boringly bright pastors who shine and burn for the glory of God.

“The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.” – 1 Timothy 3

Pastor, you are Christ’s gift to His church. Let this truth flood your soul with holy delight.

The holy delight of pastoral ministry is found in the apostle’s trustworthy saying to young Timothy, “If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.” Remind yourself often of the ministry’s nobility. It is a grand scheme of the Serpent to tempt you unto thoughts of boredom and purposelessness in your charge. Away with such evil! You are God’s steward and banality has no place in a ministry filled with nobility.

THE NOBILITY OF MINISTRY

First, the message is noble. You have been entrusted with the gospel of Jesus Christ and a more noble message cannot be found on earth. Your eternal, creative, and powerful Father created this world to reflect His glory . He spoke everything into existence by the word of His power and He breathed life into man. Man was created in His image; he was to be a small icon of glory extending God’s lordship in the earth by ruling and subduing. But man wanted to rule as Lord, not just as vice-regent. He ate of the forbidden fruit and brought upon himself – and all his children – the promised curse of death. Yet, the curse was not without promise, for God promised woman that her seed would one day crush the head of the serpent.

This seed is none other than the God-man, Jesus Christ. In His love for sinners God sent His son to fulfill where man failed and slay the Serpent. Where man broke God’s law, Jesus obeyed. Where man succumbed to the serpent’s temptation, Jesus cast him out. After thirty-three years of perfection His people turned on him, because unrighteousness is never a friend to righteousness – let alone the Righteous One. He carried a log up a hill, laid Himself on it, and suffered the agony of crucifixion. Yet, while all His enemies gloated under the gleaming prospects of victory, the Serpent’s head was about to be smashed. In the greatest cosmic collision the world has ever seen God’s justice and mercy, simultaneously, fell on Jesus. He took our sin so that we might become righteous through Him, and He died because of it.  God’s pleasure in His Son’s perfect sacrifice rolled the stone away and made Him alive in the tomb. He was raised for our justification, ascended to the right hand of God, and is now enthroned in glory. He cries out to the sons of Adam and call them to repent of their sins and place their faith in Him for salvation.

This is the message that you steward; the cosmic collision of a Serpent being smashed and sinners being saved. And a noble message demands a noble method.

Second, the method is noble. The apostle sums up your message with the command, “Preach the word.” Do not cower under the demands of the age to be a visionary leader, innovator, or movement maker. You are first and foremost a preacher. Your method is ascend each week to the sacred desk and herald the good news of Jesus Christ. Like the town criers of old you to look at the sheep and announce, “Hear ye, hear ye! This is the day of your salvation.” Your enemy has an arrow in his quiver marked for preachers and it flies on a path that goes something like this, “You think preaching is the method for this age? You are in trouble then, for no one will listen to you.” The Serpent is not a master of deception without good reason, because he’s right – no one will listen to you. But he forgets, and you are prone to forget, that the power of preaching does not rest in your cool rhetorical charisma. No, the power of preaching is found in the power of God’s word. His word is living, active, and able to bring the dead to life. His word is sweeter than honey, food for the soul, and more valuable than silver or gold.

Give yourself then to this work of preaching. Sweat yourself in preparation because treasure comes to those who search. Exhaust yourself in prayer because light comes for those who beg. Empty yourself in delivery because heat comes through those who plead. When you stand in front of Gods’ people you must shine and burn before them, just like that old voice who cried out in the desert, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” Should you do all of this in the Spirit’s power you will step down from the sermon with a weariness few can fathom. The Serpent knows your weakness and that’s why his arrows appear to blot out the sky after each sermon. If you are not watchful he will load your soul with crippling condemnation, “You failed. You didn’t get through. You were not engaging. You were not clear. Why did you ever think you could preach?” But oh! the Spirit knows your weakness as well. Look through the devil’s dark darts to truth that God’s power is made perfect in weakness. The Spirit is powerful to take your feeble offering and bring from it a bountiful harvest.

The message is noble, the method is noble, and . . .

Third, the mission is noble. Every steward is summoned to the front lines in His mission to redeem people from every tribe, language, people, and nation. The light of Christ has broken in and is shining to the ends of the earth. It shines on the dead and brings them life. It shines on the reborn and is making them new. Call your people to stare at the Son:

“Awake oh sleeper,rise from dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”

The mission shines then on the sands of the soul, and the soul is the noblest thing in a man. These sands represent the mission’s battleground and, like every battle, these sands are littered with the blood and bodies of God’s stewards. This mission is costly, for you it might even be deadly. But fear not! If you are slain on the sand a crown awaits and a glorified body is on its way. If the mission doesn’t kill you, it will probably cost you more than any person can see: scorn, slander, misunderstanding, and misrepresentation. For these reasons and more the Serpent will tempt you to stay in the ship and not wade your way toward the shore. Take courage! You have the armor of Christ and the power of the Spirit, what can mortal man do to you? The light you carry terrifies the darkness, so hide it not in your life nor your ministry.

The noble message carried by the noble method is the substance of your noble mission, a mission that aims at the noblest part of men. This is a noble ministry indeed.