Preaching Eternal Life

Scripture Lessons

Acts 20: 28-35                      “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock.”

Psalm 71:1-14                      “For You, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.”

Titus 1:1-9                              The attributes of a pastor

Luke 10:1-9                           The Lord sends out the Seventy-Two.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

On any given Sunday, what do you expect to hear the Pastor preach to you? Some people expect to hear some witty aphorisms. Some people expect an encouraging speech to lift their spirits. Some people look for moralistic preaching, for the words of the Bible to declare unto them the law…that they think they are fulfilling. Others hear the law and desire to hear the law that it may rouse them, wake their moral conscience, and cause them to live a better life, to improve their walk with the Lord.

What do you expect to hear from the pastor? How do you judge the words of the pastor? Our lesson from Titus 1 has a couple headings in the ESV (not part of the original text, but headings added for the readers convenience). One is “Greeting” and the other “Qualifications for Elders.” My worship planning book for 2025 has this caption related to the Titus passage, “The attributes of a pastor.” It is true that Titus 1:5-9 provides a list of attributes which every pastor must meet. Above reproach, husband of one wife, children are believers, not arrogant or quick-tempered nor drunkard nor violent nor greedy. Hospitable, lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.”

In these days of declining church attendance, the marks of Christianity are increasingly obfuscated and practically unknown to the masses. In other words, most people encounter the public proclamation of the faith through news clips and celebrity pastor interviews. When the media needs a Christian opinion they call Joel Osteen, paragon of theological insight that he is (not). Recently you may have heard the angst surrounding the inaugural prayer service (perhaps you tuned into the service to listen). The “bishop” who is no pastor at all asked the incoming president to “have mercy.” Actually, prayer is meant to be directed to God? “Let my prayer rise before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” Psalm 141:2 quoted from LSB. The purpose of prayer is to ask God to have mercy. More specifically, have mercy on me a sinner which includes even the most virtuous social-justice warrior of the left.

In the midst of such abhorrent disregard for the word of God, the violation of male-female boundaries which God Himself has established and ordered in creation, the subject of qualifications for the pastoral office for all Christians, including conservative Christians, is diminished. I’ve said a mouthful, so let me elaborate. Christians who still believe the Bible to be God’s inerrant word look at the Christian landscape and recognize quickly that some people who are so-called “pastors” don’t fit the Biblical criteria. They don’t regard obvious sin like adultery, fornication, homosexuality, as sin. They don’t regard Adam and Eve as historical people whom God created and who ate of the apple. They deny original sin. They practically deny the need for a savior at all. They are more interested in social-justice warfare than they are about God’s word. They are fixated on politics.

And so, Bible-believing Christians look with disgust on the state of these liberal so-called churches, they identify as one of the obvious reasons the fact that the so-called pastors do not meet the Biblical criteria, and then they reasonably and logically and predictably look for someone who meets the right criteria. Well, that’s a start. But that is only the start. We need to move beyond the surface. Yes, certainly the pastor must meet the criteria established. But there is more.

Titus 1:1-3, the so-called “greeting,” says this: [this is Paul writing to Titus]:

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, ² in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began ³ and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;

In Paul’s greeting to Titus, he says that God promised eternal life and that this eternal life is manifested in his word through preaching. Go back to the question I asked before. On any given Sunday, what do you expect to hear the Pastor preach to you? You should be looking (and listening) and expecting the pastor to preach eternal life into you. Eternal life is delivered through the Word. Come to church and hear the words, “I forgive you all your sins.” Come to church and hear the words, “Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Come to church and hear the words of eternal life. “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Come to church and hear the word expounded, not diminished, not denied, but expounded. “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” That means you should expect your pastor to teach clearly and plainly what the Bible says. You should expect your pastor to rebuke those who contradict God’s word. That may seem impolite. Well, take it up with God. As for your pastor, you should hold him accountable to these criteria and to this charge to which he was called by God to serve you.

Your pastor has not been called to whip you into submission. Your pastor has been called to preach the word to you and preach eternal life into you. This is the pastoral office. Pray that God would fill vacancies we have in our pulpits. Pray that God would call more generations of young men to take up this office. Pray that God would put a burden on the conscience of all Christians to seek out and support a pastor who is faithful, not just to saying the right things, but to the trustworthy word as taught, a pastor who will preach eternal life into God’s people.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.