Being respectable does not mean that you won’t be mistreated, that you won’t be falsely accused, or slandered, maligned, or insulted. In fact, being genuinely respectable, on God’s terms, might make you a target of the evil one. But there is a respectable, dignified way to handle mistreatment. Indeed, when unfairly and poorly treated, true dignity shines its brightest. There’s a time, like Jesus, to simply remain silent before your accusers. Other times to own and apologize for any part that’s yours. And other times, like Jesus, to say calmly, bring forward the evidence. They crucified the most respectable man who ever lived. And we respect Him all the more because of how he handled it.
Men Worthy of Admiration – Why Pastors Must be Respectable. Copyright 2021, Used by permission. www.DesiringGod.org.
We all know there is a kind of pretend dignity that’s not natural to a person’s maturity but put on for show, typically to compensate for some insecurity or sense of inadequacy. Such “dignity” is not produced by a heart satisfied in God, seeking to put others at peace, but a restless, growling stomach seeking to fill itself with others’ attention and approval. Faux dignity is selfish, rather than selfless. It dresses, acts, and speaks “up” to protect and posture itself above others… But selfless dignity serves. It comes down from its heights to associate with others, bring up the lowly, and foreground the needs of others.
Men Worthy of Admiration – Why Pastors Must be Respectable. Copyright 2021, Used by permission. www.DesiringGod.org.
The image of an ambassador might be helpful for us as pastors. We are not the king. We are ambassadors. A good ambassador doesn’t dress to look like a king, or eclipse the king. Nor does he dishonor the king by wearing conspicuous rags. Rather, the ambassador seeks to honor the king whom he represents, not draw attention to himself. This is true for all Christians, but especially so for pastors. We do not want our clothing to be conspicuous, either because of how fashionable we are, or how surprisingly casual and informal we are.
Men Worthy of Admiration – Why Pastors Must be Respectable. Copyright 2021, Used by permission. www.DesiringGod.org.
We are unavoidably saying something to others with how we dress and comport ourselves. Here, we as Christians will want to be especially diligent not to take our cues from the unbelieving world. As society continues to devalue marriage and cultivate a hookup culture in which dress subtly (if not overtly) signals sexual availability, we will want to think carefully and fundamentally differently about how we dress. We cannot simply take our bearings from the world.
Men Worthy of Admiration – Why Pastors Must be Respectable. Copyright 2021, Used by permission. www.DesiringGod.org.
It is at least juvenile, if not self-absorbed, to attempt to draw special attention, whether positively or negatively, by the way we dress. This cuts both ways: preaching in an old hoodie and slobby jeans, or in designer kicks and $5,000 leather jackets. Love and maturity lead us to consider others, from a full heart, and to try, within reason, to put them at ease, rather than shock, offend, distract, or entice.
Men Worthy of Admiration – Why Pastors Must be Respectable. Copyright 2021, Used by permission. www.DesiringGod.org.
By our conduct, our behavior, we signal inward rest and security and stability — or neediness. We evidence whether our hearts are satisfied in God and ready to overflow to meet others’ needs — or not. We show ourselves to be starved for undue attention, or eager to generously give our own attention to others. Humility demonstrates concern for others, while outward ostentation, or carelessness, broadcasts an inward emptiness aching to be filled.
Men Worthy of Admiration – Why Pastors Must be Respectable. Copyright 2021, Used by permission. www.DesiringGod.org.
Good pastors help the flock in its call to respect its leaders. Christ calls His church to respect its leaders, and He calls its leaders to do their part to be respectable — make respect easier, not harder. Church, respect your leaders. Leaders, be respectable. We acknowledge the difference between being respect-ed and respect-able. We are not charged to be respected; that lies beyond our control. But we can be respectable… Good leaders, out of love for their people, seek to cultivate and maintain a kind of humble, godly dignity that encourages, rather than discourages, respect from others. They make it easier, not harder, for the flock to take them seriously as they take Jesus seriously.
Men Worthy of Admiration – Why Pastors Must be Respectable. Copyright 2021, Used by permission. www.DesiringGod.org.
To be sure, the kind of dignity or respectability to which God calls His people, and His pastors, is not simply outward appearance, words, and behavior, but a manifestation of inward virtue. It’s a subtle quality that demonstrates internal stability, and is not an outward show. It elicits respect and demonstrates worthiness of trust. It is a genuine external expression of inner maturity — not hollow or faked.
Mounce says [respectable] “refers to a person’s outward deportment or outward appearance.” Towner says it’s “an observable quality of behavior with an inward source.” He says that “respectable” appearing after self-control “is almost predictable.” It occurs frequently alongside “self-control” in the literature, the two together completing a picture of honorable and dignified bearing.” Inward self-control, outward respectability.
Men Worthy of Admiration – Why Pastors Must be Respectable. Copyright 2021, Used by permission. www.DesiringGod.org.
As BDAG captures it, [respectability] means “having characteristics or qualities that evoke admiration or delight”… In other words, to help others take you seriously, for Jesus’s sake. To present yourself as “worthy of respect,” carrying with it a sense of seriousness or holy dignity. Noble, esteemed, admirable. Not being frivolous or crass or indecent.
Men Worthy of Admiration – Why Pastors Must be Respectable. Copyright 2021, Used by permission. www.DesiringGod.org.
Respectability loves others by not being rude (1 Cor. 15:5).
Men Worthy of Admiration – Why Pastors Must be Respectable. Copyright 2021, Used by permission. www.DesiringGod.org.
The Greek [word] “kosmios” [often translated “respectable”] appears only twice in the New Testament: [in 1 Timothy 3:2] and just verses earlier in 1 Timothy 2:9. However, “kosmios” is largely synonymous with “semnos”, which the ESV translates as “dignified” in 1 Timothy 2:2; 3:8, 11; and Titus 2:2. (Related is the noun “dignity” in 1 Timothy 3:4 and Titus 2:7).
Men Worthy of Admiration – Why Pastors Must be Respectable. Copyright 2021, Used by permission. www.DesiringGod.org
It is immeasurably sweet, and awe-inspiring, to know that Jesus’s two natures are perfectly united in His one person. Jesus is not divided. He is not two people. He is one person. As the Chalcedonian Creed states, His two natures are without confusion, without change, without division, and without separation. Jesus is one.
What Is the Hypostatic Union? Copyright December 19, 2007, Used by permission. www.DesiringGod.org.
“Hypostatic union” sounds fancy in English, but it’s actually a simple term. Hypostatic means personal. The hypostatic union is the personal union of Jesus’s two natures. Jesus has two complete natures: one fully human and one fully divine. What the doctrine of the hypostatic union teaches is that these two natures are united in one person in the God-man. Jesus is not two persons. He is one person. The hypostatic union is the joining (mysterious though it be) of the divine and the human in the one person of Jesus.
What Is the Hypostatic Union? Copyright December 19, 2007, Used by permission. www.DesiringGod.org.
Missions is the church’s sending out of missionaries (the sent ones) to pioneer the church among peoples who otherwise have no access of the gospel.
Missions by David Mathis taken from Don’t Call it a Comeback, edited by Kevin DeYoung, copyright 2011, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org, p. 226.
Jesus spent over three years with His twelve disciples. He called them to be discipled at the outset of His ministry (Matt. 4:19), and He gave them the lion’s share of His life until His departure in Matthew 28. He invested His life in His men. It is amazing to track in the Gospels how much Jesus gave of Himself to His disciples. The crowds pursued Him, but He pursued His disciples. He was willing to bless the masses, but He invested in the few.
Missions by David Mathis taken from Don’t Call it a Comeback, edited by Kevin DeYoung, copyright 2011, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org, p. 229.
Suffering is not only the consequence of completing the commission, but it is God’s appointed means by which He will show the superior worth of His Son to all the peoples. Just as it was “fitting that He…should make the founder of [our] salvation perfect through suffering” (Heb. 2:10), so it is fitting that God save a people from all the peoples from eternal suffering through the redemptive suffering of Jesus displayed in the temporal sufferings of His missionaries.
Missions by David Mathis taken from Don’t Call it a Comeback, edited by Kevin DeYoung, copyright 2011, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org, p. 235.
The church that seeks to give to God and receive from others will suffocate faith and smother love. But if Jesus’ gospel takes root, we will gladly come to God to feast and drink. Then with our hands full and our thirst being quenched, we will most gladly do good to others, especially the church – those who are of the household of faith (2 Cor. 12:15; Gal. 6:10).
Served by God, Serving Man, Tabletalk, March, 2009, p. 69. Used by Permission.
So many of us think about it the other way around. We think of church in terms of our serving God and receiving from others. But this is backwards. Sacrificial service in the church doesn’t start with serving. It starts with being served by God. Then as we are satisfied in Him and who He’s revealed Himself to be in His crucified Son, we gladly overflow in service of others.
David Mathis Served by God, Serving Man, Tabletalk, March, 2009, p. 68. Used by Permission.
It is profoundly loving for Jesus to exalt Himself. He cannot love the nations without putting Himself on display because it is He alone who truly satisfies the human soul. This makes God’s heart for God the deepest foundation from missions.
Missions by David Mathis taken from Don’t Call it a Comeback, edited by Kevin DeYoung, copyright 2011, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org, p. 227.
Missions is about the worship of Jesus. The goal of missions is the global worship of Jesus by His redeemed people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. The outcome of missions is all peoples delighting to praise Jesus. And the motivation for missions is the enjoyment that His people have in Him. Missions aims at, brings about, and is fueled by the worship of Jesus.
Missions by David Mathis taken from Don’t Call it a Comeback, edited by Kevin DeYoung, copyright 2011, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org, p. 225.