1 Timothy 3: Where Have All the Preachers Gone?

Introduction

“This is a faithful saying: someone who seeks to be an overseer desires a good work” (1 Timothy 3:1). On this one verse, Dr Peter Masters of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London builds a message with a blunt title: “Where Are the Preachers?”

This verse is one of the five “faithful sayings” of the pastoral epistles. The others speak directly of Christ and of salvation. This one speaks of the office of overseer, and it seems almost out of place in the list. For the preacher, that is exactly what underlines its importance.

He dwells above all on the preaching elder, the preacher of the Gospel, and asks a troubled question: why are there so few of them today?

Outline of the message

1. A faithful saying about a noble desire

The Greek word translated “seeks” means to stretch out the hand. The one who seeks this office reaches out for it, desires it, longs for it with all his heart.
That may sound proud. Yet Paul declares, with a saying that is “completely trustworthy”, that this desire is good and rightly motivated: “It is the best thing you could possibly aspire to.”
The word translated “good” literally means beautiful. It is a beautiful, virtuous, noble work.
It is costly in earthly terms. The young man who aspires to it knows he will not have a big income, a fine house, or the nicest cars. He will probably live on modest means, and he does not care, because he longs to preach the Gospel.
The Church, like everyone in it, should place great value on this desire.

2. The overseer makes Christ known

The King James Version translates “bishop”; there is no need to worry about that. “Overseer” and “elder” are interchangeable terms in the New Testament. They “watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account” (Hebrews 13:17).
The preacher longs to make Christ known, the eternal Son of the living God, who became God-man to suffer and die, and to bear the punishment for the sin of all who will be saved.
Perfect and without sin, he lived in the midst of evil, temptation and hostility. He allowed himself to be arrested, unjustly tried and executed on a Roman cross, the cruelest death. Harder still: God laid on him the sins of all who would be saved.
Peter Masters contrasts this with militant atheists who make little fortunes from town to town and from one television set to the next, with arguments refuted “a million times”, many of them pitiful. Can these “apostles of darkness” make people happy, lift their burdens, lead them to the living God? No, it is the opposite.
Christ, for his part, offered his perfect life, a life of tireless compassion. The preacher invites us to think about the inner life of the Son of God: “Think of your own thought life.” How many of our thoughts, even when they are not impure, envious or resentful, are truly pure, compassionate, loving? Christ’s were all of these.

3. A teacher of the Word, not a priest

The preacher of the Gospel is not a priest. Peter Masters reminds us that the Church of England was never fully reformed: after the death of Edward VI, Mary brought back Catholicism, then Elizabeth I supported the Reformation “up to a point”. The royal motto was: “No bishops, no queen.”
After the Reformation, with the bishops’ control weak, the Church of England knew great evangelical preachers. John Newton, a former slave trader who became rector of St Mary Woolnoth in London, could act as he saw fit. In the twentieth century, bishops, many of them unbelievers, took control, and today, he says, more unbelievers than believers officiate in the Church of England.
To keep the word “priest” is to stop halfway, because the priesthood has been abolished in Christ. “No power flows through the cuffs of a clergyman to convey a blessing.” Everything comes to us directly from Christ, by faith.
Elders do not lord it over God’s heritage (1 Peter 5:3). Their authority is not personal: they lead by teaching the infallible Word of God, and it is that Word which speaks to our souls.
The New Testament knows only two offices: the overseer (or elder) and the deacon (verse 8). The body of elders is itself divided into preaching elders and ruling elders (see 1 Timothy 5:17).
The word pastor, also interchangeable with elder, means shepherd: he watches over the people and leads them.

4. The stars in Christ’s hand

How many preachers in a church? At least one per church, answers Peter Masters, relying on Revelation 1:16 and 1:20: the seven stars in Christ’s hand are the angels of the seven churches.
These are not guardian angels: the angel of each church is counted with it, accountable with it, present on earth, and charged with telling it where it needs correction. A guardian angel does not speak to a church.
Nor are they delegates sent to Patmos: John was in exile there, he was not free to receive delegations, and the New Testament mentions nothing of the kind. Nor are they personified “truths”.
The majority interpretation over the centuries sees in them the pastors, the preachers who teach each church. The book of Daniel, on which Revelation draws heavily, already compares to stars those who make God’s mercy known (Daniel 12:3), and the word angel means messenger.

5. Where have the preachers gone?

“If anyone,” says the text, and Peter Masters specifies that this means a man, not a woman, noting that the Church of England, “in its terrible state”, has appointed a woman.
Across the country, many Bible-believing churches cannot find a pastor. “There has never been such a shortage.” And among those in post, he says “delicately”, many make you wonder whether they should be: they may be sincere and committed to the truth, but they do not seem equipped to preach.
First reason: few churches still regularly preach persuasive evangelistic messages. Scripture is explained to believers with an evangelistic remark now and then. Yet what grips the hearts of young men is the preaching of the Gospel for the salvation of souls.
Second reason: theological colleges sometimes have excellent teachers of biblical languages and church history, but very few help students to preach the Gospel. They do not even believe it is important, and they say so; they have no specialist for it.
Third reason: for some thirty years, the movement toward a plurality of elders has almost made the preacher-pastor disappear. All the elders share the pulpit, and the standard of preaching has dropped.
On holiday, he visited a church where a very sincere man, with no gift for preaching, preached in rotation. A woman from the church confided: “We have lots of visitors, but they never come back.” Who will want to give his life to preaching in order to preach once every five weeks?
In the past, the preacher was held accountable, a bit like a football manager after five defeats in a row. If the church declined, people said he had not been blessed by God. Today he is only a member of the team, sometimes not even named on the church’s website.
The apostles themselves called themselves elders: Peter (1 Peter 5:1), John (2 John 1; 3 John 1). There is a certain equality among elders, but the preacher of the Gospel has a distinct place: he works solely with the Word of God, and he is first of all a preacher of the Gospel.

6. What God asks of the overseer

Without reproach: he cannot be accused of being a liar, a cheat or an adulterer. The requirements that follow expand on this word.
The husband of one wife, which some translate “a one-woman man”: if he is single, he does not flirt; he believes in the sanctity of marriage and loves his wife.
Vigilant, attentive to needs and to souls. “Sober” here translates a Greek word meaning a sound, balanced mind, not an extremist. The text does not speak first of alcohol, although the preacher adds that it is better for him to be sober in that sense too, and abstinent if possible.
Orderly in his conduct, dignified. Hospitable, personally and at the level of the church: some churches enjoy fine fellowship among themselves but turn their backs on the newcomer. “That is tragic.”
Able to teach. Moderate, self-controlled, unselfish. Peter Masters cites the fantastic incomes of some American pastors: “That is contrary to Scripture.” A man is disqualified for adultery; he should be disqualified for greed as well.
Patient, not violent. He manages his household well, with love, without tyranny, and keeps his children in obedience with dignity, without anger. “(but how could someone who doesn’t know how to rule one’s own house take care of God’s assembly?)” (verse 5)
Not a new convert, lest pride make him fall (verse 6), and well thought of by those outside (verse 7).

7. A call to young men

Peter Masters addresses those in the congregation who have received the gift of explaining, persuading and exhorting, and a heart for the Gospel: “Aspire to this noble work.”
You will never earn much, you will be called to a modest way of life, but you will give all your hours and all your days to reach people with the Gospel, and souls will matter more to you than anything.
Those who are truly called all say the same thing: “I reached a point where I could not imagine doing anything else. Nothing else made sense to me.”
He concludes with a prayer: that God, by his power, would change things and raise up, in these last days of unbelief, devoted preachers of the Gospel, even among us.

Key takeaways

Desiring to preach the Gospel is not pride: Paul calls it a faithful saying, a beautiful and noble work.
The preacher is neither a priest nor a lord: his authority comes solely from the Word of God that he teaches.
Every church needs at least one preacher-pastor, like the stars in Christ’s hand.
Where the Gospel is no longer preached to save souls, callings to preach become rare.
The qualities required of the overseer concern first of all his character, his household and his relationship to money.

Personal application

How much value do you and your church place on those who desire to preach the Gospel?
If you feel a desire to preach, are you ready to accept a modest life for this work?
Does your church truly welcome the newcomer, or does it keep to itself?
What place does money hold in your choices of life and service?
Do you pray that God would raise up preachers of the Gospel, perhaps among the young people of your church?

Verses cited

Frequently asked questions

Is it pride to desire to become a preacher?

No, according to Peter Masters. Paul calls it a “faithful saying”: whoever seeks the office of overseer desires a good work. The Greek word translated “seeks” means to stretch out the hand toward something, and “good” means beautiful, noble, virtuous. This desire is costly in earthly terms, and the one who accepts that cost in order to preach the Gospel makes a noble choice.

What is the difference between a bishop, an elder and a pastor in the New Testament?

For Peter Masters, these terms are interchangeable: the bishop (the overseer), the elder and the pastor (the shepherd) designate the same office. It is not a priest or a lord: his authority is not personal, it comes solely from the Word of God that he teaches. The other office in the New Testament is that of deacon.

Why are there so few preachers today?

Peter Masters gives several reasons: churches hardly ever preach regular evangelistic messages, theological colleges do not train students to preach the Gospel, and the plurality of elders sharing the pulpit has blurred the figure of the preacher-pastor. Yet it is the preaching of the Gospel for the salvation of souls that grips the hearts of young men.