Well, thank you all. Can you hear me okay online? Just give me a nod if you can. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate you all being here. Let's pray as we get started. Father God, thank you for this time. We approach your word and even our confession, knowing that we are just simple people that need to be taught We need your spirit to open our eyes and our ears. Would you do that for us tonight? Would you keep us from error? Would you help us to understand and think correctly about these things? And we pray this in Jesus name, amen. Well, this may be something that some of you have heard before. I did one part of a lesson once on this, but I've added some things and I think it'll be helpful for us. So in the confession, we're going through what is the church? What is it made of? It's got elders and deacons. pastors, and now we're to the point of how does the church think about its pastor? How does the church take care of its pastor? And so that's what this chapter is. It's chapter 26, paragraph 10. How do we take care of our pastor? So you may be thinking here in the beginning, Why is the treasurer teaching this and not the pastor? Well, there's three good reasons. The first one is it's difficult for a pastor to teach this to their congregation because it's outside their area of expertise. I mean, it's not really what they spend their time on. Number two, it takes time away from their other duties. And number three, the big one is It can seem self-serving, and therefore it doesn't get the rigor that it deserves. So two other reasons, though, is our church is small, and the pastor's salary takes up a good chunk of our budget. So I want to be able to explain that to you, why that is. And finally, it's a good opportunity to bring all these principles and all this thinking and all the teaching together at one time. So that's why I've been given the privilege of teaching this to you. But before we start in on that, I want to go through two often overlooked or disregarded realities that have to do with this subject. Reality number one is this, that it is each individual believer's responsibility to support the local church financially. Now, that may seem obvious, but we all come from so many different backgrounds and have so many prior experiences with our church that I just don't know where everybody's experience and understanding is. So it may be obvious, but it is a reality that I want to address. I'm going to spend a little bit of time on this so you understand the rationale that I'm not just pulling this out of the air, that it's a biblical principle. Now, this is usually addressed, if it is addressed by a church, when there's a building program. And that is not our purpose here, I wanna make that clear. But when it is addressed in that context, it kind of blurs the real purpose and the real principle behind it. It turns out to be discussions about how do we need to meet targets? Or how much do you need to give to get your name engraved on the cornerstone of the new building? Things like that, which are totally outside of what we're gonna talk. That's not our purpose here. So most of you, if you think about your financial support to the church, it probably comes in a question like this, are New Testament believers required to tithe? And that's a legitimate question. And so I wanna talk about that. And just FYI, I think everybody knows this, but tithe means giving a 10th of your income or your increase, however you wanna define it. So tithe means a 10. So the short answer to the question, are New Testament Christians believers required to tithe? The short answer is no. Everybody's thinking, yeah, not so fast. There is not a specific command for Christians to tithe. And while there's not a specific number, a percentage or even an absolute number, that God lays upon his people as a requirement, we are to support the church with our money, just as we support the church with our time, with our skills, with our energy, our prayers, our efforts, as a loving response to the mercy and grace of God in saving us from the punishment we deserve. So it's a loving response. Our giving is a loving response. Now, I'm gonna go through the correct attitudes toward giving and then some dangerous attitudes. So let's look at the Old Testament. To help us understand what giving looks like, we'll look at the history of God's people and his directions for their use of money. Under the theocracy of Israel, That means Israel is a nation state under God as their head. The tithe was established as part of the law of Moses and was a tax that supported the temple and the priests who administered the law to the nation. It was basically the national tax that funded the government, okay? There were other tithes and taxes also for feasts, for festivals, for the Passover, a poor tax for an estimated total on the theocracy that laid on the children of Israel, a total tax of between 23 and 25% per year. And some of this could be paid as in-kind values, such as livestock or produce, rather than in currency, such as talents, shekels, and giras. Now, in the New Testament, recall that Jesus did not condemn the tithe when he was speaking with the Pharisees about their over-scrupulous specifics with mint and cumin in Matthew 23, 23. He rebuked them for using their tithing as a way of avoiding the weightier matters of the law, like justice and mercy and faithfulness. He tells them they should have done the weightier things while continuing to tithe the smaller things. He also differentiated the tithe from the government tax, since Israel was no longer a theocracy, when he said, render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and to God that which is God. So Jesus is in this special time when Israel as a nation is still there. and the Messiah is here trying to show the difference between the theocracy and the believer under a secular government. Now, that statement, render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and to God that which is God's, can be taken as a physical and spiritual differentiation. but also is a financial differentiation between the way they were to be giving. So basically Jesus and the apostles taught that we are to give to the work of the church, thankfully, freely, sacrificially, generously and cheerfully. So those are the attitudes that we're talking about from the Old Testament into the New Testament. And I'm gonna give you some verses to show that. Mark 12, 42 through 44, Jesus is talking, they're talking about the situation that Jesus is present at. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he, Jesus, called his disciples to him and said to them, truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box, for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on. So this is generously and sacrificially that she's giving. Luke 638 says, give and it will be given to you. Good measure, press down, shaken together, running over will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9, 6 and 7, the point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And then again, in 2 Corinthians 8, we want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. So here are people that are giving thankfully and generously also. So even though the church isn't under the old covenant, the tithes was the historical pattern that continued in Israel, even in the time of Jesus, as a very visible example of God's requirements for giving to support the work of the temple and the priests. In that context, the terms generous and sacrificial probably meant at least 10%. I'm deducting this principle. I'm deducing the principle. It's not a hard and fast rule. I'm not trying to bind your conscience on a 10% tithe for your giving, but that's the way I read it. If Jesus is talking about sacrificial and generous, and the tithe is there as the pattern, it seems like he's talking over and above that. Let's see. So given these examples, while it isn't a biblical law that believers must give a specific number, obedience to Jesus' teaching to render to God what is God's And Paul telling that God loves a cheerful giver should be in the same spirit of thankfulness as their obedience to the moral law. Just as believers are blessed who strive by the spirit to actually obey the moral law in its specifics from a thankful heart, rather than taking its requirements very lightly because they're under grace, So will they be blessed that give sacrificially, faithfully, and generously of their money from that same thankful heart. I want to be clear with you again. I'm not trying to bind your conscience, and this is not a health and wealth message. But as John MacArthur has said, God blesses the faithful giver because the faithful giver being blessed is faithful and able to give more. That's God's economy. Now, here's some dangerous attitudes toward giving. Just as Jesus taught that even with outward obedience, the inward motivations of the heart reveal who we really are. I think it's reasonable to go beyond the outward act of giving, no matter what the percentage is. and speak about our attitude toward giving. Now, my purpose here is not to step on anyone's toes with this lesson. I just want you to know the principles that are shown to us in the Bible and leave it to your conscience how you serve the Lord with your finances. But because our hearts, and I'm including me, because our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked, It may be helpful to shine a light on some of the ways we, including myself, rationalize our approach to our finances. People show their priorities in their checkbooks, and they show their hard attitudes in their giving patterns. When they begin looking for ways to minimize their obligations to give, that is a sign their hearts are in danger of becoming pharisaical. Now, this can be manifested in the following ways. Get ready. I'm probably gonna step on somebody's toes. It's not my intention to personally do this. I'm just gonna put it out there. giving most of your money to, quote, important ministries outside the local church and only giving what's left, if any, to your local church. Not planning for a specific amount to give and giving only what you can find in your pocket at the end of the pay period. This then leads to giving only when you feel you have enough to get by. This then blunts the force of being under an obligation to give and leads to viewing it as something you can choose to do or not to do. It can then become a source of pride when you see a special need or a special project and your conscience tells you it will lay off accusing you if you will be the one to meet that need even though you haven't been giving consistently. Or you may tell yourself that you will only give when you have built up your savings to a point where you feel comfortable you won't miss the money. Or you may try to be clever and determine the minimum you can give and still be thought of as a consistent giver. Or you may congratulate yourself and even tell others that you are tithing. that you are secretly basing the tithe on an amount that comes after you've deducted your taxes and your benefits and your savings and your debts from your salary. Or making your giving the first thing to be cut in your budget if hard times come. Again, I'm not trying to step on people's toes, but I know my heart and every one of these things I just said has been in my mind. If any of these or any combination describe your approach, you are in danger of embracing the Pharisee's attitude, not because of the amount of your giving, but because of your attitude. Research has shown over the years that of those in the U.S. that claim to be evangelicals, only 4% give consistently to the church. So given that the temptation not to give is so prevalent and this issue is rarely if ever addressed, it's reasonable to assume that we all can benefit from hearing these things and meditating on them. But our hearts are even more deceitful and can invent other ways to interpret our responsibility to support the church by saying, it's really only a spiritual responsibility. that I have to support the church. I don't really need to give at all. The less money I give, the more spiritual the church will have to be. And others confuse themselves with the assumption that it's God's work to provide for the physical needs of the church, not theirs, and therefore they don't have to give, they just have to trust God. Well, in truth, it is God's responsibility and only he is able to make it happen. But as Martin Luther said, when commenting on Matthew 6, 26, where God promised to feed the birds, Martin Luther said, God promised to feed them, but he didn't drop the food in their mouths. God uses means and in the local church, you are the primary means. But some may still ask the question, if the church is a spiritual entity, why the focus on money? Well, go back and look at the early church. The giving of real money and not just prayers and good wishes was necessary in order to provide a stable foundation for the church as it was literally starting from nothing physically. and was composed of the poor and the lowly, not the wealthy and powerful. The progress of the church shows that teaching the word and taking care of the poor were the focus of the two classes of church officers established early on. Elders and deacons in both of these functions and the financial support for their work is evident as you go through Paul's writings, some of which we've already looked at. It's clear then that the pattern for the nation of Israel, which was God's covenant nation, and for the church, which is God's covenant people spread throughout the nations, is that it does not exist on just prayers and goodwill, nor is it a free ride that is funded miraculously by heavenly Bitcoin deposits into the church accounts. It is supported and provided with the worldly currency necessary to exist in a given economy through the means of the cheerful, generous, and sacrificial giving of real money by the people of God. We must realize that the church is lovingly nurtured and cherished and increased and expanded only by the express attention of the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but he has delegated the actual funding of it to you and to me. And it is through God enabling you to earn a living so that you can show your faithful, sacrificial, generous giving that you and I are able to participate in a tangible way in the work of the church. I'm not trying to give money and undo or unbiblical importance, but I want us to realize We sometimes have incorrect thoughts about our practical responsibilities and expect God to drop the food into our mouths, as Luther said. Now, real quick, I want to look at the difference between denominational and independent church finances. Because I don't know, again, I don't know your background. Some of you may have come from a denominational background, Southern Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists. So having established a biblical rationale for giving, we should look at how that has been worked out over the years. Like I said, because you come from different backgrounds, I need to explain our approach. Most formal denominations have a central administrative function that is funded by dues paid by each local church to a state or regional headquarters, which then passes a portion of them on to the national headquarters. So here's some information you may not be aware of, like for the Catholic Church, it's a percentage of the overall receipts from each church, eight to 9% that goes to the diocese and then the parish, but they also have investments. that helped to fund all of their administrative functions. The total revenue and worth isn't known for the Catholics, but for comparison, the Mormon Church has estimated net worth of about 100 billion. The Episcopal Church of England, you remember, for a while taxed the entire population of England. in order to fund the salaries of their pastors and the physical buildings and all of that. Now it's through donations and investment. They get about 12 billion a year for that. The Presbyterian church, it's a per person rate. It's not a percentage, it's by head count. which funds the General Assembly, the Presbytery, the Synod. And interestingly enough, they don't have a chapter 26, paragraph 10 in their confession like we do, which talks about, taking care of the pastor, they have a chapter 31 that says of presbyteries and councils. So that's where they authorize their presbyteries and councils, which then decide how much their pastors make. The Methodist, it's a per person rate. It's got a local and national. Set up as well, even the Southern Baptist Convention, which is made up of independent churches and is not an ecclesiastical governing body, is funded by dues from its participating churches. It's based on a percentage, the church sets the amount, but they have a state and local convention. In 2020, they received $11.5 billion. Okay, I'm telling you that because these are big numbers. This is the way denominations think about money. Now from that, just real quickly, what does a local church, how do they benefit from that denominational money? Well, there's missionary training, mission sending agencies, missionary salaries, seminaries, seminary faculty, outreach programs, ongoing pastoral training programs, Sunday school programs. And then here's a big one. In many denominations, the buildings are owned by the denomination. like the Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church of England, some Presbyterian churches do that. So building programs are sometimes funded entirely or partially by the denomination. not the local church. Pastoral benefits in that denominational model include specific salary guidelines that account for the local cost of living, church-owned parsonage or manse, medical plans for pastors, pension plans for pastors, vacation, paid study leave, paid sabbatical, savings plans, and tax-free annuities. Those are for pastors in those denominations. Let's talk about our finances. By contrast, our church is an independent local congregation of believers that has an association relationship with a relatively small number of other like-minded churches. But there is no national governing body that requires dues from us, other than the small amount for our yearly association dues, or from which we can look to get support for programs or financing or training. All right, I want you to do this. Look around at everybody in this room and on Zoom. And I want you to realize that this is where the finances from our church come from. Only from these people. There is no denominational safety net. As I said a minute ago, you individually have been given the blessing and the opportunity to participate and make this ministry a shining lamp stand in this area through your financial participation, which is a very different model than many of you may have grown up with, and it should make a difference in how you think about supporting the church. And please remember, it's not your money anyway. We are all just stewards of the resources God has given us. Our time, our energy, our health, our skills, our abilities, our money, our wisdom, all are to be used for God's glory and in his service. Those that want to minimize or spiritualize their giving are withholding from God what was never theirs to begin with. The Lord calls this stealing from him in Malachi 3, verses 8 through 12. All right. As if that wasn't painful enough, here comes reality number two. We need to be clear about who we really are. Our 21st century individualistic, democratic, American attitude is that the church is a group of people made up of equals, and that we are all just as able to lead and teach and preach as anybody else. In addition, because of the teaching of our humanistic culture and our own self-centered attitudes, We tend to minimize the dangers of treating spiritual things ignorantly. Recall Simon the sorcerer whom Peter had to rebuke for trying to buy the spirit. And we ignore the consequences of presumption in approaching the ministry with our own wisdom. Think Nadab and Abihu. Both examples, which are symptoms of being exposed to true spiritual realities, but thinking more highly of our own understanding and abilities than we ought to. Because of this, over the thousands of years that the Bible was written, the various human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit compare us over and over to sheep. It is a consistent theme throughout the Bible. Moses said in Numbers 27, let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out and before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd. Isaiah said in Isaiah 53, All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way. Paul says in Romans 8, 36, as it is written, for your sake, we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. In case you aren't aware, sheep have the following desirable, attractive, and very compelling characteristics. I'm being sarcastic. As I read these, I want you to consider which ones you think the biblical author's thought applied to you. Okay. Sheep do not know how to take care of themselves. Sheep smell and will sometimes sit in foul waste, soiling themselves. Sheep will eat and drink polluted food and water and get very sick from it. Sheep are weak and prone to disease and infection from parasites and pests. Sheep are gullible and foolish, meaning not wise. and therefore are easy prey for their predators. When sheep fall down, which they do a lot, they sometimes aren't able to get up and can literally die if no one quickly helps them. Sheep are prone to conflict and violent arguments, even within their own herd and their own family. Sheep can't tell the difference between good pasture and bad pasture. And sheep will leave a good pasture for a bad pasture, even if the good pasture has plenty to eat and there's nothing to eat in the bad pasture. Sheep will go into dangerous areas. with cliffs and ravines, even if it takes considerable effort to leave the good area and then not be able to find their way back. What was it Isaiah said about going astray? Sheep have no defenses, so predators need not worry about being harmed by them. Sheep have to be continually cared for in order to stay healthy. Sheep are likely to run the wrong way when danger approaches. Sheep are really nervous, they can't rest, and will literally worry themselves to death unless everything is just right. Sheep will follow another wandering sheep, even if it means leaving the good pasture. Sheep are frightened easily and sometimes become immovable, frozen with fear, making themselves even easier targets for predators. Sheep will sometimes follow the rest of the herd over a cliff to their own destruction when they are frightened. Now, this all comes from a book written by a shepherd about sheep that he tended. Now, I could go on, but the point is this. Because the biblical authors didn't compare us to brave lions, or to intelligent dolphins, or cunning wolves, or resourceful apes, or even to loyal dogs, these are the attributes that appear to be applicable to us. Whether we like it or not, even the Lord Jesus himself compared us to sheep. And because he created the sheep in the first place, it's not like he was trying to find a good example to compare us to. No, he knew specifically how he created the sheep, and he knew specifically what we all would be like after our first parents sinned. To him, who has perfect knowledge, the equation looks like this. Fallen man equals sheep. I want you to think about that. Now, not only are we like these sheep, but the Lord said we are like sheep without a shepherd. Thankfully, in another consistent theme throughout the Bible, He, Jesus, is not ashamed to claim the role of shepherd to us. And he says in John 10, 11, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. And again, later on in verse 14, I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me. David says of him in the 23rd Psalm, the Lord is my shepherd. The author of Hebrews says in 1320, Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep. And then Peter says of him in 1 Peter 2.25, for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. Jesus knew that in order to keep us from perishing, just like sheep, due to all the different reasons listed above, we needed a shepherd. And he chose to be identified with his lowly, smelly flock, willingly claiming the role, saying that he would lay down his life for his sheep. And after he had indeed laid down his life and then rose and ascended into heaven, he knew that even as the Holy Spirit would descend and ignite and grow the church, each flock would still need the guiding and protecting hand of a shepherd. And that is why he gave pastors, which is the Latin word for shepherd, in a delegated under-shepherd role, who also need to be taught and led by the Spirit. Now, whether we like it or not, whether it hurts our ego and shines an unflattering light on us, or whether it seems totally unfair, unreasonable, or undemocratic, there is a difference between the sheep and their under shepherd. But let this be clear, it's not in their nature but in their calling and equipping and commissioning by the Lord of the church. Not every sheep is called or equipped to lead a flock. And when you think about the characteristics of sheep that we saw, you see that it is utterly impossible and dangerous for any sheep to pretend to be a shepherd without the special anointing and upholding of the Lord. Sheep are still sheep and need to be guided and protected, even if they are filling a role as undershepherds. Pretend shepherds, meaning those who are not called, are dangerous to themselves and to the flock and hopefully we won't recognize their voice and we won't follow them. So with this understanding about our obligations to give of our finances and the further understanding about our traits as sheep for the background, now we're gonna look at paragraph 10 of chapter 26 in our confession. We're gonna look at this under three headings. First of all, we're gonna read the confession and the associated Bible verses to understand the charges to the congregation about taking care of their pastor and the benefits to the congregation that come from this. And this is where we're gonna spend most of the time. Number two, we'll talk about how the charges given to the congregation affect our individual church's financial priorities. Number three, we'll talk about how our congregation specifically fulfills the charges given. And because this isn't just a hypothetical teaching, I will necessarily call your attention to our pastor and his role amongst us. So, the charges to the congregation. Before reading the specific paragraph, you should know that the man that wrote the confession lived in a time when, as we mentioned earlier, the Church of England was funded through the taxation of the entire population, and its ministers were paid by the government, or in some cases, the population paid the tax directly to the minister in the form of a portion of their produce and livestock. The act of uniformity, you remember hearing about this, in 1662 said that all ministers must adhere to the regulations for worship in the Church of England and to the Book of Common Prayer. Those 2,000 plus ministers that could not in good conscience do that became dissenting ministers liable to punishment and persecution. Those that were not martyred or jailed had to maintain their ministry fully dependent on their congregations for provision. It was not until the 1689 Act of Toleration that non-conforming or dissenting congregations were allowed to worship according to their view of biblical worship. Obviously, notice the date of that act of toleration. It coincides with our confession. However, this toleration did not mean that the salary of dissenting pastors would then be paid by the government. Far from it, the dissenting churches had come to realize that this was a dangerous trap for Christianity. and wanted nothing to do with government-controlled religion. So the writers of the Baptist Confession gave the following specific charges to the local congregations in chapter 26, paragraph 10. Quote, the work of pastors being to constantly attend the service of Christ in his churches, in the ministry of the word and prayer, with watching for their souls as they must that must give an account to him. It is incumbent on the churches to whom they minister, not only to give them all due respect, but also to communicate to them of all their good things according to their ability, so as they may have a comfortable supply without being themselves entangled in secular affairs, and may also be capable of exercising hospitality toward others. And this is required by the law of nature and by the express order of our Lord Jesus, who has ordained that they that preach the gospel should live of the gospel. That's what our confession says. It's a very clear and specific paragraph, and it's amazing how often it is modified or reinterpreted or just plain ignored by churches today. So let's look at the pertinent Bible passages. First off, we'll see that a foundational principle from the Bible is that we should see our pastor as a necessary and a good gift from the Lord, sent specifically to a congregation to do them good by their preaching, teaching, exhortation, and their example. Think again of us as sheep. What do we need? shepherd. This is what our pastor is called to be, an under shepherd. Ephesians 4 11 through 14 says, and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children or sheep, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes." I just ask you to remember the nature of sheep as you hear that. Additionally, the Bible says that our pastor is to be valued, respected, and provided for by the congregation. Galatians 6 says, let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. First Timothy 5.17 says, let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the scripture says, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain and the laborer deserves his wages. Now you should notice that we, the congregation, are the beneficiaries of the gift of our pastor. He is devoted to looking after our souls and will have to give an account to the Lord for his care of each of us. God loves us enough to give us Pastor Jerry. knowing that neither he nor we are what we should be. And therefore, because he is flawed and we are flawed, we are prone to undervalue this gift. Thinking back to our discussion about sheep, I'm absolutely sure the sheep don't realize all that their shepherd does for them. There's no way they can't comprehend it. And I'm sure their need for him is much more than they can possibly comprehend. The truth about ourselves is that we are just as helpless as sheep and our life is just as, our spiritual life is just as dangerous as theirs without a shepherd. They are doomed to death by a thousand different diseases and predators without the shepherd, and so are we. Our good shepherd knows this and sent his under shepherds to protect his flocks with his help. They are to feed us the right amount and the right type of food. They're to keep the pastures free from diseases. They're to keep the predators away. They're to warn those that are straying. They're to help those that are injured and hurting. And they're to lead us to safety by always pointing us to the Lord. And we as sheep need to see our pastor is totally committed to our health and wellbeing. One who is, as the confession just said, constantly working to please the Lord and to bring us safely to him. Hebrews 13 verse 17 says, obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Now, I want you to think about something with me. I want you to let the concept of our pastor giving an account to the Lord sink in. Picture yourself as a wayward, smelly, and dim-witted sheep watching our pastor who, as a sinner himself, is standing before the Lord on that day when eternal destinies are made known. And after the Lord has spoken to him about his own life and his stewardship of his family, he will then begin to ask him about each person in his flock, you and me, and all the other weak, smelly, and self-willed sheep in our congregation. Did he pray for this person, he'll ask? Did he exhort that person? Did he encourage this person? Did he study each of us well enough to know when we were hurting and whether we were being led astray by strange doctrine? Was he willing to confront sin in us and have difficult discussions with us because he loved us enough to be willing for us not to like him? Was he too harsh? Was he too gentle? Was he distracted by the demands of the larger world and guilty of taking his eyes off of his own flock? Was he unwilling to get in the middle of messy personal situations? Was he able to determine which doctrinal issues of the day were unimportant and which were important? Was he able to identify the wolves in sheep's clothing and keep them out? Was he more concerned about his reputation than about each of us making it to safety? Did he represent the love and mercy of the Lord Jesus correctly in each sermon? Did he understand the Bible well enough to present it as, thus saith the Lord, and admonish us when we didn't listen? was he a true and faithful servant of his master in all his dealings with his flock. As a parent, having the responsibility for teaching and raising a child or children can feel overwhelming. But for a pastor, add to that the responsibility for the spiritual education, maturity, and theological orthodoxy of each person in the congregation, along with exhorting each of them positively to good deeds, service, and perseverance, and also negatively, to warn them to turn from idolatry and heresy, and to repent and return to the Lord when they sin, and it becomes a crushing burden when attempted seriously by any man. And it is something that no man is adequate for, and no man should attempt it unless he is specifically called, equipped, and enabled by the Lord, especially because he is, after all, just a sheep. I want you to think about this. The Bible in the confession tells us that the man that the Lord does call and equip is only able to do all of that effectively when he is not encumbered with worldly concerns and it is our duty and it works to our benefit to see that he has what the confession calls a comfortable supply and doesn't involve himself in secular affairs. Paul says in 2 Timothy 2.4, no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. Now, let's address the issue of bivocational pastors. I am aware that some people think that all pastors should be bivocational. so that the majority of the funds of the church can be devoted to missions or local outreach or to whatever endeavors the individual church believes are important instead of supporting the pastor in full-time ministry. But remember the nature of sheep. People sometimes act as though they think that their church isn't full of sheep, that they're actually a church of really sharp people. And therefore the pastor doesn't need to spend time taking care of them. He can work a full-time job and just prepare a sermon each week. Then they'll save money and give it to missions. Just don't give the pastor too much time to tend to his flock, to visit and fellowship with them and learn about them and know about their lives, because that puts too much emphasis on their own progress and sanctification. their own understanding of their salvation, their own walk with the Lord, their own personal holiness. No, keep the pastor bivocational and out of their lives and they'll contribute to missions and feel good that they're supporting the important work overseas. I personally know churches like this and love many of the people in them. but I am too much aware of my own sheep nature to think I can get away with that lack of pastoral oversight and accountability in my life. It is clear to me and to the authors of our confession that the Bible teaches that pastors should be supported by their congregation in order for them to avoid all the distractions that go along with becoming entangled in worldly affairs, so they can spend the time necessary to understand and defend the faith from attacks outside and inside the church, and to know, understand, and build up the believers in their flock, so that they can in turn tell others around them about the good news. In order that there would be no confusion about this, Paul uses an Old Testament example, then applies it to the New Testament church to show specifically that the congregation is responsible for taking care of their pastor and his needs. In 1 Corinthians 9, 9 through 11, he says, for it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain. Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? Then again, a few verses later, he uses a different Old Testament example, but applies the same pattern of logic. Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those that serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. Let me pause here and say that I'm aware that Paul, as an evangelist, did do secular work in Corinth, literally tent making, and that it is therefore a biblical choice that an evangelist can make. But the reason he did that work was in order to shame the Corinthians and teach them this very lesson about their obligations to their gospel ministers. not to show the pattern for the churches to follow. The Bible and the confession tell us it is good for our pastor and for us when we provide for him. In the age of Reddit and YouTube and Twitter and Facebook and Instagram, believers have access to every type of teaching under the sun. You can hear from missionaries and Bible teachers and professors and theologians and radical inner city pioneers and parachurch leaders. and authors with new covenant definitions and new definitions of truth and more inclusive explanations of the gospel, including gender fluid ministries and ministers, and new types of interpretations of each and every doctrine in the Bible. Are you, as a very wise sheep, really able to discern what is good and what is not in all of this swirling mass of socially relevant opinions masquerading as biblical teaching? Is this where you want to get your guidance? Are these people really trustworthy? And even if they are, how many of them are praying for your soul or holding you accountable for holy living like your pastor does? It is part of the nature of this online accountability disconnect that makes it so tempting for us to tell ourselves that we are really being spiritual by listening to such a wide range of different teachers and even supporting them. when by doing so we are potentially diluting and even short-changing the very person the Lord Jesus put into your life who is more concerned about your spiritual well-being than anyone else on this planet. How can I expect a pastor to stay up to date on my soul and the souls of all the rest of the flock and be aware of and understand all the spiritual diseases and ecclesiastical poisons that are in the world when he's doing it on a part-time basis? All while taking care of his own soul and his own family. It is evident, at least to me, that I can't be sanctified without being part of a local church with a godly, biblically focused, non-distracted pastor. I believe the same is true of you as well. I hope you see that your primary focus is your local church pastored by a called and equipped shepherd that can devote his time to the good of his flock. It is the center of gravity of our spiritual life. It is where we get to worship and fellowship with the saints. It's where we live and grow and learn to shine as part of one of Jesus' lampstands. It's where we have the safety of being fed, cared for, and protected by our under shepherd. I ask that you recall what the Bible says about us as sheep and spend some time considering what the Bible and the confession says about taking care of our pastor. Now, in light of this, how does Berean Baptist Church structure our finances to take care of our pastor? Well, several years back, we established four financial priorities. I'm gonna give them to you. They're very simple. They're still in effect today. Priority number one, provide for our pastor. Priority number two, tend the flock. Priority number three, defend the faith. Priority number four, spread the faith. Now, people may argue that our first priority should be to spread the faith. That should be our first priority. But wasn't that what Jesus charged his disciples to do in the Great Commission? But please remember that these are our financial priorities. They're not our ministry priorities. These priority provide guidance when establishing our budget based on limited funds. Also, they tell me where to make cuts in the lower priorities when and if that becomes necessary during the year. Now, the way we've structured our finances enables us to provide for our pastor and fulfill the Great Commission. Our four priorities hold together like a chain, much like the logic that Paul uses in Romans 10, 14, and 15 to describe how the Great Commission is implemented. Paul says, how will they then call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? In the case of our local church, the chain would be built like this. How can a congregation effectively reach the lost if their message is not true and pure? That's priority number four, spreading the faith. And how can the message be true and pure unless it is constantly refined and defended from attack? Priority number three, defend the faith. And how can the congregation know the true message unless they are taught? Priority number two, tend the flock. And how can they be taught unless they have a pastor? And how can they have a pastor unless they support him? Priority number one. And as the Bible and confession have shown us, all the rest of that chain depends on the undistracted focus of the pastor in leading, guiding, teaching, and training the individual members of the flock so they can be salt and light to the local community and beyond that to the ends of the earth. And realize that unless the chain is solid from the very beginning, the message in the end may not be recognizable. and spreading a false gospel is worse than foolish. So to be clear, we as a local church have structured our financial matters to ensure that our pastor doesn't have to engage in secular employment. We believe that we are the primary beneficiaries of his undivided focus. And through us, our communities and the world at large will benefit as well in fulfillment of the Great Commission. Now, how do we specifically fulfill the charges from the confession in the Bible? Well, first, we understand what our pastor is called and gifted to do. Since the Lord does not give generic, mass-produced, off-the-shelf pastors, but handpicks individuals with unique gifts, unique circumstances, and unique family situations to give to his churches, each local congregation should determine what is necessary for their pastor to be able to do the following, provide for his own family's physical, financial, spiritual, emotional, educational, and medical needs. continue his own personal study of the word, minister to the spiritual needs of his congregation through prayer, preaching, teaching, leadership, and hospitality, and to practice hospitality with visiting believers and pastors, as well as pastors, believers, and unbelievers in the local community. Additionally, though, in order to being charged to do all that, our pastor has been gifted to minister to others outside of our church. And so we want him to exercise those gifts by representing Berean Baptist Church through membership and leadership and associations of like-minded churches, leading and serving on various association committees as they clarify the historic faith delivered once and for all to the saints, by researching, writing, and publishing articles, books, and papers to defend the faith and build up Christ Church, and by teaching and training men for the gospel ministry and encouraging other pastors and churches locally, nationally, and internationally. We should not be a selfish congregation, but should joyfully embrace the opportunity to help our pastor participate in the Lord's work with other pastors and churches by providing for and protecting our pastor and his family, enabling him to engage the enemy on a much larger battlefield than we can do on our own. Now the question is, how do we provide for him? to enable him to do all these things? Well, we do it based on his specific situation and needs. In general, we have determined as a congregation that we will provide for our pastor in the following ways, specifically tailored for his circumstances. Through financial compensation, which includes his salary, a housing allowance, and a health benefit. Through paid time off, which I will tell you he has never taken all of what we give him, ever. Vacation, holidays, sabbaticals, or continuing education, he's never taken it all. We also contribute to a retirement account. Now, the tools that we use to do this as the treasurer, I use the following tools to evaluate and adjust each of these compensation components on a yearly basis. For salary, we use churchsalary.com or other secular and church-based salary comparison tools, which shows average pastor's salary in a given geography based on congregation size, cost of living in the particular zip code, and components that other churches include as part of the overall pastoral compensation package. Salary, housing, car, education, retirement, health insurance, all of that. I do it through discussions with other pastors, what they believe congregations should know about what is financially important to pastors. I send our pastor a yearly pastoral questionnaire to understand his current and projected personal family and ministry needs and any changes from previous years. I use the government cost of living indicators, the current ones, and any changes due to the cost of living for household. This doesn't include health care costs. I use health care cost indicators separately to get average health care costs for families and households. Now, I provide detailed information about each of these items and how they affect the components of the pastor's compensation at our yearly business meetings so you can understand our budget for the coming year and how we are providing a comfortable supply for our pastor. All right, in conclusion, the authors of the confession wrote to inform congregations of their biblical obligations. We must realize that these charges were not written in the Bible or in the confession in order to provide an income for the authors, because they were considering whether to devote themselves to preaching or to pursue some other field or career. On the contrary, Paul and many other pastors I've known have said, woe unto me if I don't preach. So it is not as though they were trying to negotiate with their congregations to decide whether or not they would provide them enough to make it worth their while to devote themselves to preaching. As I understand them, if they have been called by the Lord, they are compelled to preach and will minister whether they are paid or not. The authors of the confession and in the Bible wanted us, the sheep, to understand our biblical obligations to the men the good shepherd has put over us to feed us and to protect us from harm, because it is good for us to understand and appreciate the work they do. We support our pastor for two simple but profound reasons. Number one, It's our obligation to provide value for value received. That's even in nature, as Paul says. We are under an obligation or a duty, whatever you want to call it, that comes from a biblical understanding of the value of what is being provided to us. Galatians 6.6 says, I read it before, let the one who has taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Even on a worldly level, we have an obligation to return value for value to those that provide something for us. But strangely, in many congregations, the attitude seems to be that providing for the pastor is an act of charity, not an obligation. As we've seen, this could not be further from the way the Bible and the confession presents it. I'll use a biblical example to show you how that kind of attitude looks. In 2 Samuel 24, King David comes to the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite, to offer a sacrifice to the Lord to stop the plague in Israel. Araunah offered to give the king his own oxen and wood for the altar, but David said, I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord that cost me nothing. It says that the Lord responded to the plea and the plague was averted from Israel. Now, think about what God's response would have been had David offered what was not his and that did cost him nothing. Had he done so, he would have, in effect, been saying to the Lord, I expect you to do this for me because that's your job, but I don't feel any personal obligation or deep appreciation for you when you do it. And I certainly don't think it should cost me anything to have you do it for me." That is how many churches treat their pastor. And as we saw earlier in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul admonishes the Corinthians, Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the law say the same? For it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain. Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake because the plowman should plow and hope, and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? Repetition aids learning. That's why I'm repeating these. In these examples, the Lord is showing us that we, the congregation, are obligated to respond to the work our pastor is doing, and it benefits us when we provide for his material needs with appropriate consideration for the eternal value of his work. Next, we do this because it enables him to use his gifts to build us up and other pastors also. Another aspect of our obligation is that our pastor gets time to exercise his gifts. God didn't bless our pastor with these gifts in order to set them on a shelf so he can do roofing work for the rest of his life. Sometimes pastors do have to make tents or roofs, but our congregation has been blessed with the ability to support him so that he doesn't have to do that. And then we receive the benefits of those special and uncommon gifts God has given. Haven't you noticed that throughout history, God blesses the work of his pastors with a power and an unction that is unlike what you experience when reading the word alone, or even when talking with another believer? Often while listening to your pastor's sermons, difficulties that you may have wrestled with for years are cleared up. insights that had never occurred to you are presented with beautiful clarity. God is shown to be more righteous and holy than you had ever imagined, and sin is seen to be more disgusting than you ever thought possible, and Jesus is shown to be the only Savior for sinners like you. And many times when you're facing difficult decisions and circumstances in your personal life, don't you find that your pastor is able to lead you to truths in the Bible that you had not considered and that shed much needed light on your path? And when we hear of other pastors and missionaries who are encouraged by our own pastor to persevere in their calling or to endure hardships from persecution or government harassment, we realize that the application of these gifts of the Spirit to our church and all those other pastors and churches would not be possible to the degree we see now if our pastor spent 90% of his waking time and energy in efforts to feed and clothe his family. It is a tremendous blessing to have a minister called by God, because whether we like to hear it or not, I'm going to remind you one more time, we are just ignorant sheep. And we need an under shepherd who is like us, but willing to lead us through the packs of wolves that would like nothing more than to devour our souls. an under shepherd who is also willing to test our food for us in order to make sure it is good for us to eat and not poison that will rot and destroy our souls. The confession says that we endanger our own souls if we cause him to neglect his primary calling, which is to preach the word in season and out, to do the work of an evangelist, to thoroughly study the word in the councils of the church down through the centuries, to understand the heresies of our age and how to avoid being ensnared by them, to continuously pray and intercede for each of us and our families by name, to maintain relationships and encourage other pastors as they face trials of various kinds, to represent our church and to participate in our association of churches, to help equip missionaries and other pastors, to disciple each of us in our various circumstances and our various levels of growth, to counsel us in our various situations and callings, to warn us and admonish us when we get too near the edge of the good pasture, to lead us through the minefields of today's culture, to keep himself from falling prey to all the temptations and distractions of the age, to model the Christian life in his own walk and to lead his own family. Finally, let us not make our pastor's work a burden because of our own tendency to think that we aren't stupid sheep, as we wander from the fold just like all sheep do. Hebrews 13, 17 says, again, I'll repeat it. Obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning for that would be of no advantage to you. Paul delivers a colossal understatement in 2 Corinthians 2, when he speaks of the various labors and the trials he faces as a minister of the gospel. And then he asked rhetorically, but really, who is sufficient for these things? And then just a few verses later, he says, not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit. I don't know about you, but I'm not a sheep that needs a distracted part-time shepherd that's working two other jobs and isn't aware of the wolf pack roaming on the outskirts of the pasture and doesn't know what the latest sheep diseases are or whether the weeds in the pasture are poisonous. I need a laser-focused shepherd that has the calling, the skills, the time to devote to watching over me and all of the rest of the dull and pitiful sheep in our congregation. We are blessed to have a man with the heart of a shepherd and the flesh of a sheep. In a biblical sense of symmetry that I mentioned earlier and that I hope you spend some time meditating on, The Bible specifically states that our pastor must give an account to the Lord on that day for all of our immortal souls. And likewise, we, each one of us, must give an account to the Lord on that same day for how we provide for our pastor's earthly needs. On a personal note, I have known our pastor for six plus years now. And I can say that he has remained in that time absolutely consistent in his focus. He hasn't turned to the left or the right. He doesn't get distracted with social or political or even unimportant ecclesiastical issues. Every muscle in his body and every neuron in his brain is focused and tuned to the key of ministry. He lives to serve the Lord and to care for the flock the Lord has given him. He has maintained his focus on the one thing needful. He knows the most important thing everyone of us needs to hear. He warns unbelievers to flee from the wrath to come, and he exhorts believers to continue trusting the Lord and to persevere in the faith. And if we have fallen away, he exhorts us to return to our first love. He knows that all other issues are mere distractions and will be swept away on that great day of the Lord. And therefore he wants nothing more than to be 100% spent in bringing his flock and his family to safety. The confession says of pastors, it is incumbent on the churches to whom they minister, not only to give them all due respect, but also to communicate to them of all their good things according to their ability, so as they may have a comfortable supply without being themselves entangled in secular affairs. I am so very thankful that we are able to do this. And I'm also thankful that the Lord loves us enough to give us his handpicked under shepherd, with all of the specific gifts and abilities that are necessary to take care of each of the sheep and lambs in this flock. And I hope you are thankful as well. God bless you all and thank you for your attention.