A Pugnacious Parson - Tuesdays with Timothy #26

1 Timothy 3:3 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;

No striker. A pugnacious pastor will not be a profitable parson.  Or put in a not so alliterative way, your pastor should not be a quarrelsome person. A minister of grace should not be all the time looking for a fight.

An ambassador for the Prince of Peace ought to be a man of peace. A herald with a chip on his shoulder is incongruous to the Lamb of God that laid down his life for the sheep. A pastor is not to lay a hand on God's people - he isn't to be a brawler with his fists or his tongue. A man with an ungoverned temper has no business as a pastor. The adolescent bravado and the boyishness that passed for masculinity that was popular a few years ago in the New Calvinist circles was not a sign of manliness but an evident token that these men were not qualified for the pastorate. Follow the trajectory of their ministries, you can see how it played out as disastrous for the people in their churches. Christlikeness is portrayed in the book of Proverbs and proverbs is clear on how a real man should act (Proverbs 15:18; Proverbs 14:29; Proverbs 16:28; Proverbs 26:21; Proverbs 29:22; Proverbs 19:11).

Does this make the man a milquetoast? Of course not, the pastor has to be a fighter. Spurgeon once said something along the lines that God’s people are born into this world like the men of Sparta – warriors. We are born for battle and a pastor must be a fighter, not out of choice but out of necessity. He must contend for the faith. He must fight against his own lusts and sins. He must fight against his emotions and to bow the knee to Scripture (Proverbs 16:32). There are fights against heresy, and fights against the devil; but our fights are spiritual battles fought with spiritual weapons.