As you can imagine, it is an unspeakable joy
for my wife Diana and myself
to arrive at this day,
when our son can be officially recognized
as a shepherd
in a church of the blood- bought people of God.
It is also a sobering reality
in light of what we have heard.
And mine is to bring a charge to you,
the congregation of Grace Community Church
as to your responsibilities
in receiving a pastor to be among you
and as the Scriptures say,
to be over you in the Lord.
And I want to bring to you from God's Word,
six areas of responsibility
given to you by the Lord
as you receive a new pastor.
And I'll get right to it.
The first one is this:
Recognize him according to the gifts
and graces God has given.
Someone has said,
"Only God can make a minister.
Only God can make a pastor."
And that's true isn't it.
Because only God can furnish a man
with the graces of character
and the gifts of leadership and preaching
that are needed to shepherd the flock of God.
Only God can make a pastor.
Now that doesn't mean that there are not people
who run into the pastorate
not having been called and sent by God.
There are men who do that.
In our day, sadly, there are even women who do that, wrongly.
Why do they go?
In some cases, they go to try to live up
to the misguided expectations of others.
Perhaps a father who says,
"My son is going to be a pastor."
In other cases, a man likes to study theology
and he thinks, "Well, that would be a nice job.
Being holed up in a room,
reading theological books all day.
I think that'll be a nice gig!"
Others are very sociable, and they would say:
"You know, I like to socialize with people
and being a pastor I get to socialize with people.
I think I'd like to be a pastor."
More culpably, sadly, there are people
who like to exercise control and power
over other people.
And they enter the ministry for that wrong reason.
And others, because of a large ego,
they like to be front and center
and be the center of attention.
There are people, there are men,
sadly even women,
who seek to run into pastoral ministry
without having been called and sent by God.
But only God can equip, and call,
and send a true shepherd.
And your job, church at Laredo,
therefore is not to make a man a pastor.
You can't do that.
It is to recognize the man and men
that God raises up among you
to be in that calling.
And that's what you are doing today.
You are recognizing,
based on the qualifications given by God
in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9,
you are recognizing a man
whom you believe God has give you
to shepherd your souls.
Your work is the work of recognition.
And may I say, that I heartily concur
with what is being done today.
If I might say some personal words
as the father of this young man,
I have marveled at the grace of God
that has brought him to this day.
I never groomed my son to be a pastor,
because it was my conviction
that I don't make men pastors.
I never even imagined it.
Quite frankly, for many years -
and his brother and sister are here
and can testify to it -
Jeremy was our fun-loving,
people-loving jock.
Much more likely to have a soccer ball on his foot
than a book in his hand.
But it's been amazing to watch
what God has done.
Beginning midway through college,
when he decided to plant his flag for Christ.
Started a fellowship of Christian athletes on campus,
and from there on after,
every Sunday night at eight o'clock,
he would be teaching his fellow college students
from the Bible.
And then there was the first professional contract in Finland
where he had a premature mantel
of leadership responsibilities thrust upon him;
where he was looked to teach and lead
a rather immature group of saints.
And we did a lot of Skype-ing,
across the Atlantic that year.
But it was then that I began to see in him
a shepherd's heart.
He would review with me a letter
that he was writing to someone twice his age
giving counsel.
And as I read that thing I said:
"I could not do any better than that!"
The truth-content,
and the love and grace in that letter!
And I began to see...
I began to say to myself:
"If I know anything of what a pastor is,
of what a shepherd's heart is,
I'm beginning to see it in my son."
And then, two years spent
in the Conway's home
and in the church in San Antonio
for which my wife and I
are tremendously grateful
for the influence, Tim and Ruby,
of your home, your lives,
the influence of the church.
It has been hugely challenging
and formative in our son's life.
And we are forever grateful
for God's usefulness of you in his life,
bringing him to this day.
So, church of Laredo.
You can't make a pastor;
now or in the future.
But you are called to recognize
those whom God has gifted and called.
And you're doing that today.
The second thing that is your responsibility
is to receive him as a loving gift
of the glorified Lord Jesus Christ.
I turn briefly (or just listen) to Ephesians 4:9-11.
You are to receive him
as a loving gift of your glorified Savior.
In Ephesians 4:9-11 we read:
"Now this expression, 'He ascended',
what does it mean except that He also
had descended into the lower parts of the earth?
He who descended is Himself also
He who ascended far above all the heavens,
so that He might fill all things."
And notice verse 11
"And He gave some as apostles,
and some as prophets,
and some as evangelists, and some as..."
as the Greek would likely have it, "pastor-teachers."
Jesus descended to live a perfect life
that we could not live, and died a death
in our place that we deserved to die!
And then He was raised from the dead,
He was ascended to the Father,
and He's glorified at the Father's right hand
and from that place of glorification,
He has given gifts to His Church.
Rather, He has given men as gifts to His Church!
He gave apostles and prophets.
Earlier in that letter it says
the church is built upon the foundation
of the apostles and New Testament prophets.
He gave evangelists.
Christians disagree as to what an evangelist is.
I would take it to mean those who
take the gospel into virgin territory.
But he gave pastor-teachers.
And church at Laredo.
The point for you is this:
Jesus Christ, your ascended, glorified Lord,
is giving you a gift today!
It's a gift of His love!
It's a token of His grace and favor!
Little flock in Laredo,
Jesus has His eye on you.
He has not forgotten you!
He loves you
and is giving you a gift.
Someone has said:
"Pastors are not needed
for the being of the Church,
but for its well-being."
And I think that's true.
Acts 14:23 says,
"When they had appointed elders
for them in every church..."
The idea was they were already churches
before they had elders.
Elders are not needed for the being of the church,
but for its well-being.
If the church is to flourish
and grow internally and spiritually,
if it is to expand numerically and evangelistically,
it needs shepherds.
Jesus loves you.
He has His eye on you.
He is giving you a gift, today, of a pastor.
Receive him as a gift
of Christ's love for you.
Thirdly, you are to respect him
for the sake of his diligent labor among you.
And for that I turn you to 1 Thessalonians 5,
just two verses.
Either turn there or just listen.
"But we request of you, brethren,
that you appreciate those who
diligently labor among you
and have charge over you in the Lord
and give you instruction..."
Now listen to this,
"and that you esteem them very highly in love
because of their work."
Now let's unpack briefly,
some of those words.
The word "appreciate" is actually the word "to know",
but it's understood in the Hebraistic sense
of having regard for, cherishing,
paying attention to.
The word "esteem":
consider, think, account,
it means to have deliberate
and careful judgment.
"Esteem very highly."
That's the word used in Ephesians 3:20 when it says:
"God is able to do super abundantly
beyond what we ask or think."
You are to super abundantly esteem him,
but for his work, his diligent labor.
And that word "labor" means
wearisome effort, intense labor,
it actually comes from a verb that means
to beat the breast in grief.
He is to be a hard diligent worker,
sometimes to weariness of body and soul.
And he admonishes you,
he puts in your mind truth
that leads you back into the way.
You put all this together
and this is what you get:
You are to know, pay attention to,
have regard for the laborious work
that your pastor is doing among you.
What does that mean practically?
Take some time to think
about the many hours he takes
to study the Word of God,
in order to teach it
and preach it and counsel it
accurately and profitably for your soul.
Give attention to the hours he spends
in prayer over your souls.
Men in the ministry are to give
more time to prayer like the apostles:
"We will give ourselves to prayer
and the ministry of the Word."
And he's gonna be laboring hours
in prayer over you individually.
And think about those hours
he's spending in prayer for your needs,
for your souls, for your struggles,
for your hurts, for your sins.
Take stock of the hours he will spend,
and does spend,
sitting down with you as families;
giving you a spiritual check-up.
Checking up in how you're doing
in your devotional life.
How are things in the marriage? How is your family life?
How are you training your children?
How are you using your gifts
for the edification of the church?
How can you be a better witness
to the lost ones around you?
And consider also the many hours
that he spends counseling you one on one;
listening patiently, and then seeking to give
thoughtful, wise, and biblical advice.
Think of the times that you
or a loved one has a crisis,
and maybe lands in the hospital.
Who is likely to be the first one
at your bedside to pray,
to comfort, to minister?
It's likely going to be your pastor.
And as you think about these things,
God is saying to you as a church:
"Super-highly esteem him
for that diligent work
that he is doing among you."
And may I make a logical deduction from this?
As you super-highly esteem him,
will you look for ways to express that to him?
I've been a pastor for a lot of years,
and one of the things I've noticed over the years
is people tend to appreciate their pastors,
but rarely tell them.
You ask a man:
Do you appreciate your pastor?
"Oh, our pastor is wonderful!
He feeds us so well on the Word of God,
He's such a patient, loving counselor to us!"
Have you ever told him that?
"Well, I think there was a time a few years ago.
I might have mentioned something."
You know men, it doesn't work in marriage
to be like the proverbial guy who
said to his wife,
"Look, I told her I loved her when I married her,
and if I change my mind, I'll let her know."
Now that doesn't work in marriage, does it?
You can hardly tell your wife
enough times in the day, "I love you!"
Assuming it's sincere.
People of God,
express your appreciation
for your pastor and his labor.
"Oh, but I don't want him to get a big head!"
Let me tell you, God knows how
to keep a man's head small. Okay?
God knows wonderfully
how to balance encouragement
with humbling.
You leave that to God!
And you just seek to encourage him,
and there are many ways to do that.
And church at Laredo,
from what I know of you,
I need to just commend you,
because you have expressed
your esteem and respect in so many ways.
Material gifts,
household furnishings for his apartment,
money for books, books;
you've already done much of that.
You know the highest way
that you can show respect for your pastor
however is to allow the Word of God
that he teaches, preaches, and counsels
to take root in your life,
and to let him see the fruit
being born in your life
from what he's laboring in.
That's the greatest way to show him respect!
Here's a fourth thing:
Rejoice his heart by your obedience,
and some of you know where I'm going with that.
Hebrews 13:17
Rejoice his heart by your obedience.
The writer to the Hebrews says:
"Obey your leaders, submit to them.
they keep watch over your souls
as those who will give an account.
Let them do that with joy,
and not with grief,
for that would be unprofitable for you."
We live in a moral universe,
and God reigns over this universe,
He is the absolute authority
and King of this universe!
By nature, we are in rebellion
against His authority however.
The Bible says,
"we've all turned to our own way."
But when we've become rightly related
to God through faith in Jesus Christ,
we become a submissive people.
Submission becomes a watch-word
for the child of God.
We submit ultimately to God,
but one of the ways we show our submission to God
is by submitting to the human authorities
that God has put over us.
Wives, be submissive to husbands.
Children, obey parents.
We are to obey the governing authorities.
Employees are to obey employers.
And God has called His redeemed people
to put themselves into local assemblies,
churches, where there are elders,
pastors, overseers,
who are over them in the Lord.
And this text of Scripture calls us to obey them.
Literally "to be persuaded" by them.
And to submit to them,
literally "to give way to, to yield" to them.
And let me point to a two-fold responsibility that this gives us.
On the one hand,
obey your leaders, submit to them...
Brothers and sisters in the church of Laredo,
when your pastor labors in the Word of God,
to tell you what biblical words mean
what biblical sentences mean, in context,
near and far, consistent with systematic theology,
the doctrine fitting in with the other doctrines of the Bible,
consistent with biblical theology,
consistent with the whole sweep
and totality of God's revelation;
when he is getting out of God's Word
what is pretty clear the Holy Spirit
put into God's Word,
and he's giving it to you accurately,
brothers and sisters, obey it!
Do what it says!
Believe what it says!
Think the way you're supposed to think!
In doing so, you won't so much be
obeying a fallible man,
but you'll be obeying God
and that will be to the blessing of your soul!
It will also bring him joy!
Remember what the elder Apostle John said?
"I have no greater joy than this,
than to hear of my children
walking in the truth."
And a true shepherd has no greater joy
than to hear of his spiritual children
walking in the truth.
Rejoice his heart by obeying,
not what he says, but what God says!
And there will be a wonderful circle
of celebration and joy.
You will be blessed for doing what God says,
and he will have joy
for seeing the people under his care
walking in the truth.
But I need to qualify that
for the balance of truth.
I had an old Amish bishop or minister once say to me:
"For every mile of road,
there's two miles of ditch."
And I'm always concerned about balancing truth.
The main duty people have got is:
obey your leaders when they bring you
the Word of God,
but I need to say this for the balance of truth.
All human authority is limited.
All human authority has boundaries.
Only God has absolute authority.
And you are to obey your pastor,
as long as he is bringing to you
the Word of God.
But when he goes outside of the bounds
of the Word of God;
when he misaligns himself with God and His Word,
may I say that you are to
conscientiously and respectfully disobey.
We see that in the Scriptures,
when the Hebrew midwives were commanded
to kill the Hebrew baby boys.
Exodus 1:17 says, "They feared God
and did not do as the king of Egypt
had commanded them,"
but let the boys live.
They defied the human authority
and God blessed them for it.
In the New Testament, the apostles
are told by Jesus, "Go and preach!"
The human authorities come and say,
"Stop teaching in this name!"
And they were put on the horns of a dilemma, weren't they?
If you got two horses
and they're going in opposite directions,
you better jump on one, and let the other go.
If the boat is moving,
departing from the dock,
you can't stay on the dock
and jump on the ship at the same time.
You gotta make a choice.
And they said, "Whether it is right
in the sight of God to listen to you
human authorities or to God,
you be the judge.
We cannot stop speaking
the things we've seen and heard."
And a chapter later, they said:
"We must obey God, rather than men."
I have passion for this
because for nearly eleven years,
I have worked among one of the most legalistic groups
claiming to be Christians
anywhere on planet earth:
the Old Order Amish.
And I have seen what man-made rules
and traditions do to
sear the conscience of people
and keep them from understanding the Gospel.
And so I sound this as a balancing note.
And friend, it's no small matter.
It's a matter of Lordship.
Who will be Lord?
There's only one Person
who has the right to be
the Lord of your conscience,
your soul, and your life.
Romans 14:9 tells us:
"For to this end, Christ died
and lived again that He might be Lord
both of the dead and the living.
But you, why do you judge your brother?"
It's the context of Christian liberty of conscience
where it's not a moral issue.
Christian, don't judge one another.
Let Christ be the Lord of your brother's conscience.
You never want to sacrifice the Lordship of Christ
over your conscience.
Now, am I saying that because I think
there's any realistic danger
that my son, your pastor, will lord it over you?
I don't have that concern in the least.
And as I know, the pastors represented here,
they are not those who lord it over.
They are humble servant-leaders.
But some of you have been under abusive leadership.
And you need to be warned.
Human authority is to be obeyed,
only insofar as it obeys God and His Word.
So, submit to your pastor.
When he's bringing you the Word of God
publicly or privately, do what it says!
Submit, but make sure he's giving you
the Word of God, not his own opinions
because he has no warrant from heaven
for giving you anything other than
what God says in His Word.
Fifthly of six: Imitate him insofar as he imitates Christ!
Now you notice they all start with "R" don't they?
And if you like alliteration as I do, you can say:
"Resemble him as he resembles Christ!"
In Hebrews 13:7, we are told:
"Remember those who lead you,
who spoke the Word of God to you
and considering the result of their conduct,
imitate their faith."
I'm thankful that my son has practiced that.
He has learned a lot of faith
at Grace Community Church in San Antonio,
the kind of faith we've heard powerfully proclaimed.
And he's walking in the path of that faith,
and I'm grateful - grateful to God;
grateful for the human instruments that He uses.
Paul said, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ."
And Paul said to Timothy,
"Don't let them despise your youthfulness,
but set the believers an example
in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity."
Examples are meant to be imitated.
Now make no mistake about it,
Jesus is our exemplar.
He is our example par excellence.
But Jesus has gone to Heaven,
and Jesus has given us human role-models
that we are intended to imitate.
That's one of the things pastors do.
Peter said, "Don't lord it over."
To elders, "Don't lord it over
those committed to your charge,
but be examples to them."
You see, the reason overseers
in 1 Timothy 3 must be -
and there's a little Greek participle of necessity -
"An overseer must be (dot dot dot)!"
The reason they must be those things is because
all the people of God ought to be those things.
We all ought to be above reproach.
We all ought to manage our households well.
We all ought to be gentle and considerate
and have our children under control
with all dignity.
We all ought to have good reputations.
Pastors must be those things,
because all people ought to be those things.
Here's another reason to study your pastor,
to know him, to consider him
not only that you might esteem him,
but that you might imitate him
in so far as he is imitating Christ.
And then finally, remunerate him
according to his merit.
Remunerate him - that means pay him -
according to his merit.
1 Timothy 5:17 says,
"The elders that rule well are to be
considered worthy of double honor,
especially those who work hard
at preaching and teaching.
For the Scripture says, 'You shall not muzzle
the ox while he is threshing' ."
Here's a biblical basis for paying pastors.
Now that doesn't mean that all pastors need to be paid.
You have some from San Antonio who are bi-vocational,
they're not paid by the church.
But the Bible says there are some men
who work especially hard in preaching and teaching,
who ought to be given double honor.
In the context of that chapter,
it means monetary pay.
Widows were to be honored
in the sense that they were
to be put on the roles of the church.
They were to be financially supported.
And the statement about the ox
really seals it, doesn't it.
Don't muzzle the poor beast,
he's treading out the grain.
Take the muzzle off, let him nibble on some grain.
Well, God cares about animals.
The righteous man has regard for the life of the beast.
But He cares far more about
those who labor in His spiritual vineyard.
There's a place for paying pastors.
So.
And here again, church of Laredo,
I commend you.
You have taken good care of your pastor so far,
according to the means that God has given you.
Beyond the salary you have given him,
you have given him household furnishings,
money for books, books,
extra-monetary gifts,
bonuses, loaning him a car
when his car is in repair in the shop.
And here's something very creative.
More than once, somebody at the church in Laredo has,
at a social event,
stolen his keys,
taken his car out to the gas station,
filled it with gas, brought it back,
put the keys back in the same place.
Leaving him wondering:
"I thought it was half empty.
How did it get filled?"
Many have been the expressions of love
that you have given to my son, your pastor.
We as parents are deeply grateful for that,
but above all, God is going to bless you for that.
Because in doing it -
since he is a gift of the glorified Christ to you -
to do it for him, you're doing it for Christ.
Have you noticed that Jesus
takes very personally, first of all,
the things done against His people.
"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" [Acts 9:4]
He also takes very personally the things
that are done for His people.
"Insofar as you have done it to the least of these My brethren,
you've done it unto Me." [Matthew 25:40]
In taking care of your shepherd, your under-shepherd,
you're doing it for Christ.
And the Lord Jesus will bless you for it.
So, people of God in Laredo,
but also in San Antonio, Corpus, Austin,
or whatever church you represent,
take these things to heart.
Look to the Lord Jesus for the grace
to carry out these privileges and responsibilities.
Recognize the men among you
who display the gifts and graces
that fit them to be a pastor.
Receive him as a loving gift of the glorified Christ.
Respect him for the sake of his diligent labor among you.
Rejoice his heart by obeying the truth
that he brings to you, publicly and privately.
Imitate, or resemble him,
insofar as he imitates Christ.
And take care of him materially,
as he sows spiritually among you.
Take care of his material needs.
That is God's pattern.
Well, may God richly bless you
with growth in grace internally,
with additions of souls saved from the community,
and may your loving,
victorious Lord Jesus Christ,
in the days ahead,
give you additional elders -
because plurality is His norm -
and even deacons. Amen.