ROUGHLY EDITED COPY LUTHERAN PASTORAL THEOLOGY & PRACTICE LPTP-3 Captioning Provided By: Caption First, Inc. P.O. Box 1924 Lombard, IL 60148 800-825-5234 www.captionfirst.com *** This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. *** >> NICK: Dr.�Senkbeil and Dr.�Warneck, I too am pleased to be here. I serve in a deeply urban church in central Los Angeles. We have great diversity in both our congregation and the surrounding area. And I guess my first question is prompted by the presence of so many Christian churches in this city. Here in the L.A. area there are numerous nondenominational churches served by laymen with no seminary training or preachers with very little formal education in theology. What qualifications should a man have if he is to serve in the pastoral office? >> PROF. SENKBEIL: Well, Nick, it's a privilege to be able to teach you, for Dr.�Warneck and I to be available to you in this way in this medium. And we're very, very interested in exactly that, in helping you understand the duties of the office, the qualifications of the office, and a number of the areas of pastoral practice and pastoral theology. Probably in order to directly answer to your question, one has to begin by saying this: That the office of the ministry is not something merely that someone volunteers for. In the Lutheran church we've insisted on having training for this office and certainly a call extended by the congregation so that a man may properly enter into this office. The training is not so that we could be on a pedestal, a cut above the rest of the people, if you will. But rather that's so we might be thoroughly equipped to do this challenging and daunting task. And so it is that we insist on a course of study or preparation so that in all the areas of theology that is exegetical or biblical, historical in terms of systematic or doctrinal, and then also in the area of practical theology or pastoral theology, a man might be equipped for the task. Now, directly to your question, what qualifications should a man have if he is to serve in the pastoral office? I think there we need to look in the first letter of St.�Paul to Timothy, himself a young pastor much like yourself on the verge of engaging in the office. In the third chapter, I Timothy chapter 3 the first 7 verses. And, if I may, I'd like to comment at some length on this whole very important section in which the apostle gives us the apostolic qualifications for the office of the ministry. "This saint is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task." That's you, isn't it? It's all of you really. You desire this noble task, this high privilege, this joyful task of bringing the gifts of God to his people, of announcing in Christ's name instead the forgiveness of all their sins, preaching the glad good news that God was in Christ reconciling the whole world to himself not counting their trespasses against them. That's a job that no other profession on earth really gets to do. And it's a wonderful, wonderful privilege of being there in the ups and downs of life, of ministering to hurting people and joyful people alike, to provide them with what they really need both for this world and the life to come. This belongs to the office of the ministry. It is indeed a noble task. Here the apostle calls the ministry the office of overseer. And perhaps it's important to remember there, if you haven't already covered this, that overseer or bishop means one who is responsible for the entire flock, who looks out over them. Not like the overseers back in slavery times that cracked the whip. They were tyrants. But rather like shepherds, who pastors really are, looking out for the needs of the individual members of the flock and for the flock collectively, the congregation as a whole, so that they would be guarded against predators, so that they would be led to green pastures and find the food that they need, and so that their ailments or diseases might be cured and cared for as needed. The apostle continues, "Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach." Now who, of course, is above reproach? This means above public reproach. That is, their external demeanor, their public life is without accusation regarding moral standards, to be sure, but chiefly regarding Christian conviction and Christian virtue. "That they be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach." The husband of one wife. If you are blessed with a helpmate that God gave you as wife, if you have been given children to nurture, to care for, one must remember as a pastor, that you dare not neglect that precious vocation as well. This belongs, according to the apostle, also to the office of the ministry if he's accompanied by a wife, if he's married, that he pays attention to her, that he cares for her, that he exhibits toward her the kind of love and devotion expected of any Christian husband especially because�-- particularly because he is pastor of a congregation. The entire congregation, young and old, observes such love and devotion. Being a husband, one who cares for his wife is part and parcel of what you're about as a pastor. Sober minded and self-controlled belongs to the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, not something that is dredged up from within. To be a man of integrity belongs to being, again, a Christian, to have a reputation as being one who is faithful to God's word, who regularly receives his sacraments, who thereby is fed and nurtured so that all the drives and salts of the old Adam within may not rear their ugly head and show themselves in ugly ways. To be sober minded and self-controlled is the mark of a faithful pastor because it's also a mark of a faithful Christian. Respectable, hospitable, able to teach. As the people of your congregation, indeed of your community look to you, they are to see someone who is what he says he is, who practices what he preaches. Who is hospitable to all, who is welcoming, is not standoffish, not always having a scowling demeanor on his face. But a friendly person, approachable, winsome, who is given to this kind of hospitality, a welcoming nature for Jesus' sake again. It's part of being an evangelist to be sure, but it's also part of being a pastor. To also then be able to teach. Teaching goes with the territory in the ministry. It is certainly a gift of God to be apt to teach, some of you, perhaps have been teachers in the past. All of you, if you're fathers or if you're involved in the responsibility for children, have been engaged in a form of teaching. This is part and parcel of being human. But in the pastoral office, we are always to preach and to teach the word of God, never neglecting at every opportunity to be able to offer that kind of word which alone brings life, namely, the word of God to direct people in all of their quandaries and questions and problems for the surety and the certainty of God's word. And this, of course, comes not only with practice but also with experience. As one himself imbibes the word of God, who daily meditates upon it, who prays on the basis of it, then you can learn more regarding the treasures of God's word so that you're better able to teach these in appropriate ways, in appropriate circumstances. Not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle. Not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. So it is with all of the positive virtues and qualifications there come a number of exclusions. If one has an addictive personality, addicted to certain substances, in this case alcohol, could be other drugs, or people or things one cannot be free in order to serve as a pastor of souls, as a shepherd of souls. These things are important to remember. To be not violent but gentle. Not quarrelsome is also important. If we're always antagonizing people, how can we be a good news man? How can we properly engage people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ? We always want to have a gentle spirit about us, a winsome spirit, even when we were admonishing, correcting people, so that they don't get the impression that we're out to get them or that we're up on our high haunches and looking down on them. Rather we're down among the people, caring for them, patiently teaching them what God has to give to his people. Then, the apostle continues, not a lover of money. The love of money, the Bible says, is the root of all evil. And it is possible, as no doubt you've seen there in the broader community, the urban community of L.A., for some people to be engaged in various aspects of the ministry for personal gain. You as Christ's men are not about that. You are rather recognizing that you're serving Christ in his people. They, in turn, certainly give of the gifts that they've received from God for your support and for the expansion of Christ's kingdom. But non of us in the Lutheran ministry ought to be seeking monetary gain. Rather, we're seeking the love of God, the welfare of Christ's people. And then we have the confidence that, if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all these things we need to support our daily life will also be given to us. I know that's what I myself have experienced and so many others in the ministry. Verse 4, "He must manage his own household well with all dignity keeping his children submissive. For, if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?" You know, Nick, someone once said that the best way that a father can care for his children is to love their mother so that they can see that connection, that intimate union, that genuine love between their parents. That gives them security and confidence in the kind of environment that they need in order to grow up whole and complete as functioning members of society, as healthy adult Christians. Now, if that's true in the family environment, it's also true in a reverse way when it comes to the congregation. They'll be watching you in your own marriage and family. They will want to see in you the very kinds of virtues and dimensions and qualifications that belong to the vocation of every Christian father and husband. How you treat your wife and how you love her will also be an aspect and dimension of how you treat and love the bride of Christ, Christ's church. Because you serve that Lord Jesus Christ who has called you as his own. And it is your joyful privilege then to serve as his minister or his servant in that place. So, if you treat your wife with gentleness and kindness and love, you'll be more likely to treat your congregation with corresponding gentleness, kindness, and love. In verse 6 the apostle continues. "He must not be a recent convert or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil." Now, I know, Nick, in the kind of context in which you are working, it's not uncommon for self-appointed ministers to be engaged in their own kind of ministry in terms of their relationship with their church. And very frequently you'll find that a lot of them are recent converts to the faith. Why would the apostle warn against this kind of thing? Well, notice he says "he might be puffed up with conceit." Pride always goes before the fall, doesn't it? He may fall into the condemnation of the devil. And that, of course, is a great danger for all of us, but especially for recent converts. That we begin to think that our achievements are due to our own efforts or maybe our own personality, our own unique capabilities. And we begin to pride ourself on those achievements. That plays right into the hands of the evil one. Our sufficiency, the apostle says, is of God. Whatever you and I achieve, we achieve by the grace of God. Because we're only errand boys for the Lord who has bought us with his blood. It's our joyous privilege to convey Christ's gifts to his church. Richly and abundantly to pour out these guests as we have the opportunity in our preaching and our teaching in our private and public ministry in Jesus' name. It's not about us. It's about him. That's why the apostle warns about recent converts. There must be some experience in faith, some conviction that it's God who's at work in us to serve others. Finally, verse 7, "Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace into a snare of the devil." Now, this, again, in two consecutive verses the apostle speaks of the devil who is always out to destroy Christ's church at every opportunity speaking to devour, as the apostle St. Peter writes. So we must always be on guard. Having a good public reputation. Those outside the church, as the apostle says, is important for the qualifications of the minister so that the ministry be not blamed. So that who he is does not speak so loudly that a person cannot hear what he says. You know that old saying, what you're doing is speaking so loudly I can't hear what you're saying. So it is then that having a good reputation with those outside the faith is necessary so that the Gospel might be clearly heard. So it's not a matter of personal volition or impetus. But rather we speak as those who are oracles of God, having the very words of Christ to give to his people and to proclaim indeed to the whole community until the ends of the earth. It's a wonderful task, a noble task, the apostle says, that you aspire to. These are the qualifications. And by the grace of God we serve in this joyous office that Christ has given to his church. *** This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. ***