The Pastor’s Charge

In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ… (1 Timothy 6:13–14 NIV)

Though here our text is specifically directed toward pastors, it is relevant for all Christians. Each Christian should know what God has called pastors to do and to be, and each Christian has a similar obligation to follow Christ their entire life.

To “charge” another person, in the sense that the word is used here, means to command them to do something. But the word, or the idea itself carries with it more than merely something that may be done in one act. It describes a moral obligation to God, one that involves not merely public actions, or an day-time job commitment, but a life long commitment. And as a commitment that demands a lifestyle that is given wholly to the cause. For the rest of Timothy’s life, and every hour of every day of Timothy’s life, this charge, this duty, this calling, the obligation fell upon him.

Each pastor should feel this obligation, and each of us, if he is honest, shutters under the thought of how often we have failed to keep this command. In this modern day and age, the pastor may be serving his church with a job description, with work hours, vacation time, and clearly enunciated expectations carefully spelled out. There is nothing wrong with this, of course, and some of this is very wise. Just as Christ took His apostles on short retreats for rest and rejuvenation, so a pastor needs to protect his mental health so that he can function effectively. I have found that I serve more effectively when I sleep well, take reasonable times for relaxation, and live a healthy lifestyle.

A life long calling: Yet none of this can remove the pastor’s obligation under God, nor should remove from the pastor’s mind this spiritual reality. Paul commanded Timothy to keep this command “without spot or blame” until Christ comes for His church or until he goes to meet Christ himself at death. The pastor also, or anyone who believes he has a calling from God — a missionary, an evangelist, a teacher in seminary, etc. — should feel the same. Whatever limitations our specific ministry assignment puts on our lives, whether work hours, vacation, retirement, or duties, these do not remove from us this obligation to fulfill our calling as a lifelong pursuit.

John Newton is not only an example of the amazing grace of God — a former slave ship captain, saved, called into the ministry, and later became a spokesman to end slavery. He is also an example of someone who served God, after his salvation and call into the ministry, with a lifetime of devotion. Serving into his eighties, even in failing health, and, for the last seventeen years, despite the death of his beloved wife, he was faithful as long as he lived. Once upon a suggestion that due to his age and failing health that he retire and stop preaching, he said: “I cannot stop. What? Shall the old African blasphemer stop while he can speak?”

A spiritual endeavor: The calling is not only a lifelong endeavor, it is also by its nature a spiritual one, one that may only be done best as the pastor is empowered by God. The apostle wrote, “In the sight of God, who gives life to everything,” and these words were not added as a random embellishment. They were given to remind Timothy and to remind each pastor since that time, that God gives new life to believers and empowers for service through this gift those who are called.

It is essential for the pastor and for the church to realize that the pastor serves under a divine command, and not merely on a contractual basis. Though there is a moral basis for honoring his contract with the church, if he has one, there should be in the contract the statement that the work is by its nature a spiritual work and is to be done by a called person. Immediately this reality brings into the dominant position Jesus Christ as Lord of His Church. Empowerment by Christ also by necessity demands surrender to His Lordship.

A pastor who is unable and unwilling to heed the voice of God will be of no use to the church. And a church that is also unable to unwilling to let the Lord lead the church by His Spirit is likewise severely limited in its usefulness to God. Both pastor and people should understand that everything about the mission and programs and decisions in the church should be done under the Lordship of Christ as He leads them by His Spirit.

A signal moment in salvation history was Moses’ prayer in Exodus 33:12–23, where he asked God for three things: the blessing of His presence, the knowledge of His ways, and the vision of His glory. All three of these requests are increased and heightened in the New Testament.

• The presence of God is heightened to mean not only His presence around us but His presence within us. Jesus commanded His disciples to wait for the Spirit to come upon them, prophesying about Pentecost (Luke 24:49). And our experience with the Spirit today is that Christ lives in us, empowering us, filling us, and enabling us. We are to live and to serve in the fullness of the Spirit (Eph. 5:18–20).
• The knowledge of His ways are also heightened by the presence of His Spirit, who transforms our hearts and enlightens our minds to understand the Scripture.
• The vision of His glory is also heightened by our experience with His Spirit, as Jesus said in His prayer to the Father: “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” (John 17:24–26 NIV)

To live for God and to serve God is only possible as God Himself empowers us and enables us. We must learn to stand daily in God’s power and not in or own.

A calling with an example that went before: Paul also stressed that this calling, this life long witness and lifestyle, has an example of one who has gone before. Christ Jesus Himself went before us, and as He made the good confession of His Messiahship before Pontius Pilate, even though it cost Him His life, so we are also to be faithful. Since God gives life to all things, we do not even fear death. His example is to spur us on and encourage us.

Where we have failed to keep this charge let us repent and confess. If we have taken ourselves out of the hands of God, let us put ourselves back in His hands, under His Lordship. Let us regive ourselves to God, to follow His command either until Christ comes for His church, or until He calls us home by death.