1 Timothy 3
When I was a boy I, like many other
boys, went through phases of wanting to be a fireman, a policeman, a sailor, or
some other adventurous vocation. For a
while I thought about being a pharmacist.
Ultimately, I felt called (compelled even) to go into the pastoral
ministry. At the time, I hadn’t read the
qualifications listed in 1 Timothy 3, or I may have bowed out! Thankfully, as in all aspects of the
Christian life, God does not call the qualified, but qualifies the called with
His grace and Spirit.
Let there be no doubt that pastoral
ministry, or as Paul refers to it here, the office of overseer, is a noble
task. It is a great privilege to be God’s
steward to deliver His Word and Sacraments, to represent Him in people’s lives speaking
authoritative words of forgiveness, and to walk with God’s people through their
joys, sorrows, fears, and celebrations.
Furthermore, let there be no doubt that
no pastor (or deacon) has ever been and done all the things listed here
perfectly. Pastors are sinners, as are
all who follow Christ. They live by
grace, through faith in Jesus, trusting Him for forgiveness and salvation … and
if not, they crumble and fall. As such
pastors need the prayers of their parishioners.
It is through the pastor’s weakness that God displays His grace, so pray
that God gives him courage to be that display and to speak God’s pure Word to
you and to all people.
Above all the pastor’s job is summed up
at the end of this chapter with a verse from an early Christian hymn or
creed. It confesses Jesus. And that is what pastors, above all else, are
supposed to do: confess Jesus.
In the original language the word, “confess,”
is “homologeo.” The prefix “homo” means “same,” and the, “logeo,”
part points us to words and speech. To
confess then is, “to say the same,” to say the same as Jesus, to teach what Jesus
has committed to us – the message of salvation by His death and resurrection
through faith in Him. But it means more
than to just say, it is to speak from faith:
“This is what I believe: Jesus
died and rose for me and for you, so we are forgiven.”
Father, help pastors (and all Christians) to
rightly believe You and speak from their faith in You, saying as You say, Jesus
has saved us. Amen.
Comments