SO, YOU WANT TO BE A PASTOR

TEXT- 1 TIMOTHY 3:2

INTRODUCTION

This morning I am going to continue with my series of messages from the book of First Timothy which was written by the apostle Paul to Timothy who was the pastor of the church in Ephesus.

The main theme of this book has to do with the Lord's Church.

In chapter one we learned that the church is to proclaim the message of salvation to those who are lost.

Then in chapter two we learned that the men and women members of the church have certain responsibilities.

In chapter three Paul describes for Timothy the qualifications for being a leader within the church.

In the first half of chapter three he gives us the qualifications of the pastor and in the second half, the qualifications of the deacons.

This morning our text is found in 1 Timothy 3:2 and I would like us to continue looking at the moral qualifications of the pastor.

After hundreds of years of churches observing pastors a list of qualifications for the model preacher has been devised that will suit everyone. The model pastor is one who preaches exactly 20 minutes and then sits down whether he is done or not. He condemns sin, but never hurts anyone's feelings. He works from 8 am to 10 pm in every type of work from preaching to custodial services. He is 26 years old and has been preaching for 30 years. He is tall and short, thin, heavyset, and handsome. He has one brown eye and one blue, hair parted down the middle, left side dark and straight, and the right brown and wavy. He has a burning desire to work with teenagers, and spends all his time with the older folks in the church. He smiles all the time with a straight face because he has a sense of honor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his work. He makes 15 calls a day on church members, spends all of his time evangelizing the lost and unchurched, and is never out of his office.

In my last message dealing with the qualifications of a pastor we learned that there are six ways that the pastor’s calling can be characterized.

This morning I would like us to consider the seven moral qualifications of a pastor found in verse 2.