Cambria Pulpit

Every good coach focuses on the fundamentals of the sport with their team. No team can succeed if they fail in the fundamentals. A football team that can’t tackle, block, or run the right routes will lose a lot. Any basketball team that can’t dribble, pass, or shoot will lose a lot. During his career, every offseason, Peyton Manning would go and meet for a week with his old college quarterback’s coach. That week all they would do is practice the fundamentals of playing quarterback. They would spend time evaluating his footwork, his throwing motion, his line of vision, and so on. Even in his 15th year of NFL football (already one of the greatest to ever play the game), Manning headed to North Carolina where his coach lived and went through a week of drills. All because he understood, if you fail in the fundamentals you fail. A successful quarterback must be the best at the fundamentals. 

Paul reminded Timothy of this same concept. A successful church and a successful minister is one who focuses on the fundamentals. There are certain marks which must be true of any minister in order to be considered successful in the sight of God. This text this morning is vital because these fundamentals have been deserted today. In order for Cambria Baptist to be successful, we must keep the main thing the main thing. So what exactly is the main thing? What is a minister to focus his time and energy on? What are the fundamentals/the marks of a faithful minister? ...

Millennials: can you believe them? With their distressed jeans, avocado toast, and entitled perspective. You’ve heard statements like this. The older generation has taken to calling them snowflakes. Soft, weak, insignificant. Millennials (and Generation Z) responded with the derogatory phrase, “OK, boomer” as a way to pass off the attacks as ramblings of old people yelling at clouds. Generational challenge and conflict has been a reality from the dawn of time. The older generation looks at the younger with thinly veiled contempt for their youth, and the younger generation stand in bitterness with an outsized opinion of themselves. 

Often, these generational conflicts work their way into the church. As a result, the church seeks to make itself compatible to one generation or another. Hanging doggedly to tradition in order to please the older generation, and tearing it all down in order to appeal to the younger. But how is the church actually supposed to respond to these generational conflicts? 

Timothy faced the reality of these conflicts as he sought to bring the Ephesian church back to health. Last week we observed the challenge that Paul gave to Timothy to faithfully stand for the faith, faithfully study the faith, faithfully stand against foolish teaching, and faithfully pursue godliness. He concluded with the challenge to command and teach these things to the church. Yet, this was not going to be easy because of the generational conflicts which were apparently taking place in the church.

What makes a successful church? What makes a successful servant of God? These are perhaps the most important questions we must ask in any church. The problem reveals itself in the fact that there are so many answers to these questions in the Christian world today. Most measure the success of a church by the number of attenders. A large church equals a successful church. A small church means that something is wrong. This view means that everything should be done to get people in the seats. Another view believes that the success of a church or servant of God is measured by the number of ministries that church has or that leader oversees. If the church or servant of God is busy and accomplishing a lot of things, then they are successful. Others measure success by things like popularity and exposure, influence, finances, or facilities. 

All of these have two major things in common. First, every one of these is easily measurable and seen. You can count attendance, ministries, and finances. You can look at schedules and facilities. Second, every one of these is driven by the American consumer culture. They are the same measurements which businesses would use to measure their success.

Yet is this the way that God determines the success or failure of a church? Are these the measurements by which God determines a good servant of Christ? One day, when we stand before Christ, what will be the measurement used to determine whether He will say to us, “well done”?

The Ephesian church faced the same problem that we do today. They had lost sight of the true measure of success. As Timothy worked with the church to bring it back to health, Paul reminded him of God’s measurement of success. Through this text, we learn what makes a good servant of Christ and a successful church. 

Over the last three years we have continually emphasized the importance of the Word. We sing the Word, pray the Word, Read the Word, preach the Word, picture the Word (through the ordinances), so that will live the Word. This emphasis is vital because the Word is Truth. In John 17:17, Christ states, Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. We must remain solidly on the Word of God because many who claim the name of Christ do not follow the Word of God. Just because something claims to be Christian does not make it Christian. Just because the individual speaking claims to be a Christian does not make what they day true. The Word is what determines truth. 

So in our services, we guard carefully who stands behind this pulpit and that those who do, faithfully exposit the Word. We zealously guard what songs we sing. We insist that our songs be deeply theological and faithfully biblical. For much music today that claims to be Christian is nothing more that theologically shallow, unbiblical, self-focused, emotional drivel. 

However, we must ask, “Are we being unnecessarily narrow?” Does what we sing, and what we say really matter all that much as long as it is spiritual in nature? In our text this morning, Paul reminds Timothy and the Ephesian church of the danger of departing from the Word. For these things that pull our attention away from the Word and cause us to depart from it are not just dangerous, they are Satanic. 

Throughout the first part of 1 Timothy we have been examining the Biblical structure of the church. We have been called to stand for Biblical fidelity, we have answered the questions, what is a woman to do in the church? What is a pastor to be? And what is a deacon to be? However, as we have examined these instructions, perhaps you have wondered, Is this really a big deal? Many of these instructions go directly contrary to modern thinking and perhaps even our own thinking, So why is it so important that we structure the church in a certain way? Why is it so important that we follow biblical roles in the church and demand certain character in our leaders? In this next transitional section in 1 Timothy, Paul gives the answer to these questions. We must follow these instructions and demand certain character of our leaders for two important reasons.

Without question, the issues discussed the last month have been very hard. They have gone directly contrary to our cultures egalitarian demands in the role of women. They have opened old wounds as we discussed what a pastor and deacon are to be. But they have been discussed for good reason. And we must stand for these biblical guides for two important reasons which we find in this text: the vital importance of the church, and the great mystery of godliness. 

Caring for the church is a big task. This quickly became evident in the early church. As the apostles preached and the church grew, the needs grew along with it. In short order, a conflict arose because some felt that they were not being adequately cared for. We see this in Acts 6. Interestingly, the apostles did not step in to solve the problem. Instead, they instructed the church to select a group of men to oversee the care for these individuals. The spiritual care of the church is demanding and requires much time for prayer, study and discipleship. Rather than pull the pastors from this noble task, the solution was to institute godly men who would see to these issues. The title deacon is not found in the text, but all indications are that this group of men are the precursor to what became known as the office of the deacon. By the time that Paul penned 1 Timothy (around 30 years later), the office of deacon had been firmly established.

But we must ask, what is a deacon? What is a deacon to be? There is a lot of confusion about these questions today. As we consider the church, we understand that there are two God ordained offices in the church: that of the pastor and the deacon. We spent three weeks looking at what a pastor is to be. Next, Paul addresses the other God ordained office: the office of the deacon. In this section he addresses that a deacon is to be. 

As we work through this, I hope that this will be a help to you as a body. Each year you select from among yourself, men who will serve in this office. In many places and in many churches, these kinds of selections turn into a kind of popularity contest based on likability or business acumen. However, as we look at this text, I believe that we will discover that there is much more that needs to be considered as we select deacons. 

There is a pandemic sweeping the nation. Do you fear it? No, I am not talking about COVID. No, this pandemic is far worse. It is a pandemic of murder. This murder has nothing to do with gangs and guns. This murder is not confined to a large metropolitan area. This murder takes place all over the country, and even in our own county. Last year, this pandemic resulted in over 42.7 million lost lives globally. This pandemic is the sin of abortion. 

Last year Planned Parenthood reported over 300,000 abortions. They did this receiving $500 million dollars from the government. 

Psalm 127:3 – Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Although as believers we know this, the reality is that …

Since the Roe v Wade decision, 60,000,000 babies have been murdered through abortion in the US. 60,000,000 innocent lives have been snuffed out. Compared to deaths by gun violence in that same period (1.5 million) we find the ratio to be 1/60. And yet our society screams to end gun violence but screams for the right to snuff out the lives of innocent babies at a 6000% greater rate.

Matthew 19:14 – but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

God loves children. As the children were clamoring to meet Jesus, the disciples believed that he did not have time for them. But Jesus response was to state his love for them. But today they are being murdered by the thousands. This cannot be ignored; this cannot be forgotten. As God’s people we must act. But what can we do? We aren’t legislators. We aren’t powerful? How can we affect change? To answer this question we must look at the core of the problem. Why is it that so many desire to do away with their children? Because we have forgotten God’s sovereignty in the home. We have bought into the lie of the world that we control our own destiny. In Psalm 127, the psalmist lays waste to this myth. In our time this morning, I would like us to walk through this psalm and understand the responsibility we have and the ability we have to change our country through the way we live our everyday lives. 

For the past two weeks we have been looking at the position of the pastor. The church is weak today because they have accepted men into the pastorate who are unqualified. We hold a high standard for this position. Paul covers this standard in our next text in 1 Timothy. In this text, Scripture presents very clear qualifications for a pastor. 

At times I have been asked how America, our culture, and Christianity have arrived at the mess we are in. I have been blunt in my answer. The fault lies in the pulpit. The church has settled for and followed unqualified men. The church has forgotten what a pastor is to be. You see, not just anyone should serve behind this sacred desk. So, what is a pastor to be? Who should be a pastor? What expectations should we have of the pastor? There are a lot of views about this in the church today regarding a man’s education, family life, and background. Are there some things we should expect regarding ability, personality, beliefs, and so on? Can just anyone be a pastor? Or should we be picky? And how do we know if someone should be a pastor?

Too many churches have not thought deeply about these questions. As a result, many pulpits in this country are filled by unqualified men who have no business being in the ministry. Too many churches are just happy that someone would be willing to be the pastor. This is a sad thing and has done immense damage to those churches and the lives of their members. As your pastor, what standard are you to hold me to? What are you to look for in the next guy? As we look to expand our staff, what are we looking for? What is a pastor to be? ...

Every January we pause our study to take some time and return to some foundational issues. We call this annual series, Foundations. This year, the next section in 1 Timothy lines up with what I want to cover in the Foundations series and so we will kill two birds with one stone as it were. We will continue our study in 1 Timothy as it covers some important foundational aspects of the church. This next section in 1 Timothy covers the leadership of a church. We believe that God has ordained two specific offices in the church: pastor and deacon. But who is to fill these offices? Does God give us a list of what we ought to expect from those who are in these offices. The answer is “yes.” Over the next several weeks we will look at what God tells us about this in 1 Timothy. 

When we think of leadership in a church, we immediately think of the office of pastor. But what is a pastor to be? Who should be a pastor? What expectations should we have of the pastor? There are a lot of views about this in the church today. Some churches believe that the pastor must have extensive advanced education. They will not consider a man for the pastorate without advanced degrees. Other churches believe that formal training is a waste of time. All the man needs is a love for people and he is good. He don’t need no edumication. 

Are there some things we ought to expect regarding his marriage status? Some churches believe a man should be married, the Roman Catholic church requires that its priests be unmarried. Are there some things we should expect regarding ability, personality, beliefs, and so on? Can just anyone be a pastor? Or should we be picky? And how do we know if someone should be a pastor?

Too many churches have not thought deeply about these questions. As a result, many pulpits in this country are filled by unqualified men who have no business being in the ministry. Too many churches are just happy that someone would be willing to be the pastor. This is a sad thing and has done immense damage to those churches and the lives of their members. Over the next two weeks, we will seek to answer the question, “What is a pastor to be?” As your pastor, what standard are you to hold me to? If tomorrow I get run over by a rogue Amish buggy and God calls me home, what are you to look for in the next guy? As we look to expand our staff, what are we looking for? What is a pastor to be?