Where Are The Preachers? — Dr Peter Masters — 1 Timothy 3.1

9th October 2026 • Sword & Trowel • Metropolitan Tabernacle

Where Are the Preachers?

1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 1: “This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop”, an overseer, “he desireth a good work.” And our title is “Where Are the Preachers?”

Now, it’s very remarkable, but this is the second of the five faithful sayings. The other four are all translated with that word: “This is a faithful saying.” For some reason, our translators chose to use a different word in 1 Timothy 3.1: “This is a true saying.” But it is exactly the same word in the Greek as that in the other four faithful sayings. “This is a faithful saying”, a trustworthy saying, an utterly reliable saying.

And when you realise that, you might just find it curious what the saying is. The other sayings are directly about Christ and His work, and things that are so very obviously all-important and foundational about salvation. But this one is about the office of an overseer. It doesn’t seem to quite fit into the faithful sayings, but it is one, and it draws attention to its importance.

This is a true, or faithful, or utterly trustworthy saying. What is it? “If a man desire…” The Greek word translated “desire” means “stretches out the hand”. If a man stretches out the hand, and it’s used here in a figurative manner: longs for, yearns for, reaches out for the office of an overseer. Oh, but that sounds perhaps possibly a proud thing to do. How can that be a true saying, that such a man is desiring a good work?

Now, this is what it says. This is an utterly faithful saying. If you long for the office of an overseer, the truth of the matter is you are longing for and desiring a noble work. It’s the best thing you could possibly long for. It’s a good thing. It’s a tremendous thing, and it’s well-motivated, though it perhaps possibly sounds as though it might not be. It is well-motivated.

I want to explore this alone for a while before we carry on. This is going to be about overseers or elders, and I’m particularly going to be emphasising the preaching elder, the preacher of the gospel, though it applies to the ruling elder as well. We’ll come to that.

This is an utterly reliable saying. Somebody who has this burning longing and desire to preach the gospel reaches out for something very noble. Again, the word translated “good” in the Greek, “a good work”, it’s literally a beautiful work, a virtuous work, a noble work. That’s the sense. That’s the richness of the passage. Oh, to stretch and to long for! The work of preaching the gospel is the most beautiful and virtuous work you could long for.

Such a person is prepared to give up everything. He may be a young man, and he knows full well he’s not going to have a high income. He’s not going to have a fine, especially fine house. He’s not going to be driving around in the best cars. He’s going to be a man, perhaps, of modest means. He doesn’t mind that, because he longs to be able to preach the gospel. That’s a noble thing and a virtuous thing. It’s something on which great value should be placed by the church, by the individual.

So it’s a powerful opening verse, though maybe at first sight it didn’t look like it. “This is a true saying.” It ranks with the five faithful sayings. If a man reaches out for, with all his heart, the office of an overseer, an elder—preaching elders, ruling elders—we’re going to be looking at the preaching elder in particular. He longs for a noble, beautiful, virtuous work, which will cost him dearly in earthly terms. Where have the preachers gone?

An elder, then, an overseer, must be blameless. So we look at this, the office of an overwatcher, translated in our King James Version “bishop”, which you don’t have to worry about that: an overwatcher. Interchangeable in the New Testament, the term is interchangeable with that of “elder”, an overseer or an elder. “They watch for your souls, as they that must give account”, says the Word of God. They watch for your souls, for your spiritual good. This is a virtuous work.

I’m not going to be able to say an awful lot about Christ the Saviour this morning, because the passage before us dwells on the preacher of the gospel. But, of course, it’s Christ whom the preacher longs to make known. It’s Christ, the eternal Son of the living God, truly God, who came into this world and became the God-man in order to suffer and to die, to bear the punishment of sin on behalf of all who would be saved, so that they could be forgiven.

It’s Christ whose love was so great that He entered into time, eternally equal with the Father. He entered into time, took upon Himself the weakness of human flesh, and, though perfect and sinless, with a sinless nature, had to bear and live in the surroundings of evil and temptation and hostility and antagonism against Himself. All the hosts of darkness, as well as His enemies on earth, attacking Him, and then eventually, in apparent weakness, allow Himself to be arrested and mistried and executed on a Roman cross, the cruellest possible death.

But something infinitely more difficult to bear: God laid upon Him the sins of all who would be eternally saved, and punished them in Him. The Saviour of the world. It’s Him that we proclaim.

Now, the militant atheists who make small fortunes, going from city to city, television station to television station, running down God and the faith and Christ with their arguments that have been answered a million times, many of them pathetic arguments, many of them scientific theories that are untenable. And what can they do for people? Nothing.

Can they make people happy? These militant atheists, these apostles of darkness, can they lift people’s burdens? Can they introduce them to the living God? No, the very reverse. Can they bring them heaven and salvation? Can they help them with character and happiness and life? They’re miserable people who believe everything will one day be destroyed, and there’s no purpose in everything. Everything can be explained, they think foolishly, materially; that everything is worthless and meaningless.

We’re talking about Christ, who came to suffer and to die, to make a way of salvation, who saves souls everlastingly, who blesses us in life. He is everything. His beauties and perfections secure heaven for us. He offered up, apart from dying for our sins so that we don’t have to be judged if we believe in Him, He offered up His perfect life, a life of non-stop compassion and teaching and helping.

And, oh, imagine the thought life of the eternal Son of God. Do you ever think of your own thought life? How many of your thoughts are… If they’re not unclean thoughts, or covetous thoughts, or vindictive thoughts, they’re not pure thoughts, clean thoughts, compassionate thoughts, loving thoughts. Think of Christ. His thought life alone, so pure and perfect and unchallengeable. And He offered up Himself, the perfect Son of God, to deserve heaven. He died to deliver us from hell, and He offered His righteousness to open the way to deserving heaven on behalf of all His people.

It’s to be a representative of Him that matters. “This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop”, an overwatcher of souls, he desires a noble, beautiful, virtuous, most constructive imaginable work.

Well, the office of an overseer or elder, interchangeable terms in the New Testament. The overseer or the preacher of the gospel is not a priest. One of the mistakes of the Church of England is that, at the time of the Reformation, when the Church of England reformed from being lost in Catholicism and under the Pope, and became, according to the Scriptures, a gospel church, it never fully reformed. Some people say it half-reformed. Some people say it three-quarters reformed, but it was never allowed to fully reform because of the politics of the day.

As the leading reformers tried to go forward, so the Crown held them back. The Reformation was about to complete almost a final leap to become a wholly biblical Church of England when King Edward VI died. And Mary came to the throne, and Reformation stopped dead, and the clock began to be put back to Catholicism.

Then eventually, of course, Elizabeth I came to the throne, a nominally Protestant queen who wanted to uphold the Reformation, but only up to a point, because she was convinced, as the Crown always used to be, that if you reformed the Church of England too much, and you did away with the hierarchical structure and the authority of the bishops and so on, then the authority of the Crown would be weakened. And the royal watchword was “No bishops, no queen”. Reformation that far, to be wholly biblical, was seen as a threat to the Crown. No further. So the Church of England sadly reformed no further. That’s why we got an archbishop and bishops.

Now, for many years, the bishops’ control was very weak. So, in the history of the Church of England after the Reformation, you have got many great preachers and fervent evangelicals, because there was no discipline in the Church of England. And when John Newton, the ex-slave trader, was the rector of St Mary Woolnoth in the City, he could do as he pleased.

But in the twentieth century, the last century, the bishops, most of them unbelievers, got control, and there are more unbelievers now than believers officiating in the Church of England. And the Church of England, because it didn’t fully reform, it kept words like “priest”. When you become a full minister, you become a priest. Well, that’s not complete Reformation, because the priesthood was done away with in Christ. There is no power flowing through the clergyman’s cuffs, transmitting blessing. Everything comes to us directly from Christ by faith.

There is no hierarchy, not supposed to be, in the church. These elders are not lords over God’s heritage. Christ says so; the apostle Paul says so. The only sense in which they rule is by teaching the Word of God. Their authority is not personal. It’s what they draw from the Word. That’s what challenges our souls and rules us.

So I note that the overwatcher is not like a priest, and he doesn’t have personal authority. He’s the teacher of the infallible Word of God, and everything is drawn from that. He’s distinct from a deacon. These are the two great offices in the New Testament church: the overseer, translated here “bishop” or “elder”, and the deacon. Verse 8, he’s a different office: “Likewise must the deacons…” There were only the two. But the eldership is divided into two parts, and the apostle Paul goes on to tell us this in this very passage.

And the two parts are to be seen in these different texts in 1 Timothy and chapter 4, for example. It’s all laid out. I’ll come to that perhaps in a few moments. But here we’re talking about the overseer, the preaching overseer and the ruling overseer.

How many preachers are there in the church? The term “pastor” is also used interchangeably for elder. So the preacher is pastor. “Pastor” means “shepherd”. He watches over, and he shepherds the people, and he’s a servant of Christ, and he’s a preacher of the gospel. And some of his necessary minimum qualifications are going to be listed in this very chapter. “He desireth a good work.”

Well, how many preachers? Well, at least one to every church or family of God’s people. In the book of Revelation, in chapter 1 and verse 16 and verse 20, there is reference to the stars in the hand of Christ. And the explanation is given that these stars are the angels of the churches. And in the book of Revelation, the seven letters to the seven churches are all addressed to the angels of those churches. Who are the angels of the churches?

Well, some people have thought that each church has a guardian angel, and those letters are addressed to the guardian angels of the church. But that’s a little bit absurd to think that, because in each of the letters to the churches in the book of Revelation, the angel of the church seems to be counted as one of the church people. He’s addressed with the church. He’s responsible with them. He’s somebody on earth with them, and he is to tell them where they need to be corrected.

In effect, the angel of each of the seven churches is to tell where some of those churches were badly out of line, warn them, tell them. Well, an angel doesn’t speak, so he can’t refer to the mythical guardian angel of the church.

Some people have said that the angels of the churches are just messengers. There was a kind of convocation to the Isle of Patmos, where the apostle John was, and delegates were sent from the churches, and they’re the angels to the church. Well, that is equally absurd, because John was in exile on Patmos. He wasn’t at liberty to receive delegates, and there’s no mention of such people in the book of Revelation or anywhere else in the New Testament. They’re an invention, too. So these are not just delegates.

Some people say that the angels of the churches in Revelation—you may think I’m well off the point, but I’m not, as you’ll see—some people say the angels of the churches in Revelation were certain truths. But that’s equally absurd, because how can certain truths be counted as though they’re members of the seven churches, and responsible for telling them where God is pleased with them and where God is angry with them?

There’s no alternative to the majority interpretation down the centuries that the angels of the churches are the pastor-preacher-teachers of the churches, the teaching overseers, the people who are called to preach the gospel. And you see them referred to, although Revelation is a figurative book, nevertheless you see the clue there that they’re referred to as one to each church, as a general pattern.

Why are they called stars and angels? Well, it’s biblical. Back in the book of Daniel, in chapter 12, those who make known the mercy of God are referred to as stars. The book of Revelation leans much on the book of Daniel, so when you see stars in the hand of Christ, it doesn’t surprise you at all that they, who are also called angels—an angel means “messenger”—represent the preachers or the pastors in the churches.

“This is a faithful saying, If a man…” Not a woman, you note. Once again, the Church of England, in its terrible state and condition, has appointed a woman. If a man reaches out for the office of an overseer, he reaches out for a noble work.

So the preaching elder, well, where are the preachers today? There are so few. Around the country there are numerous churches, Bible-believing churches, that cannot get a pastor or a preacher. There’s never been such a shortage. And many of those, and I say this delicately, the men they have as pastors and preachers, you wonder if they should be. They may be earnest. They may even be truthful, lovers of the truth, but it doesn’t sound, when you hear them, as though they were ever equipped to be preachers.

Why is it? And there are many people who are capable, humanly speaking, who are able to explain things and persuade of things. Why are they not preachers? It’s an extraordinary shortage today. And I’m going to give just a few reasons quickly in passing.

One reason is, no doubt, because there is a great fall in the number of churches and men who are preaching regularly persuasive evangelistic sermons. Everybody’s just expounding the Scripture to believers, with an occasional evangelistic comment or reference, and that practice doesn’t inspire a new generation of preachers.

What grips the hearts of young men is the preaching of the gospel to save souls. They’re going to have to expound the Scriptures too, to believers, as a vital part of their work and a precious part. But what traditionally inspires people is the preaching of the gospel. And if churches are not believing any more in the necessity of regular evangelistic sermons, few people will be inspired to be preachers.

And then the colleges, the so-called seminaries. They may have excellent lecturers in biblical languages and church history, but very few of them are helping people to preach the gospel. They don’t even believe that that’s an important thing to do, and they’ll say so. They haven’t got a specialist on the faculty for preaching the gospel, so there’s no encouragement there. Things are very sad.

There are other influences too. A big influence among the churches in the last thirty years has been a movement towards what’s called a plurality of eldership, and the preaching pastor has virtually disappeared. “Oh, we do have a pastor, but he’s just one of the elders who’s privileged to be full-time, to look after people, and all the elders share the pulpit.” But they’re not necessarily called to be preachers, so the preaching standards are dropped.

I visited a church once during a holiday period, and the preaching was sound, but very poor. A very poor presentation of the things of God. The dear man who was very sincere, who was preaching that day, was not really able to be a preacher, but he was one of the elders. Well, that’s all right as a ruling elder with many tasks to do, but that church had decided, “Oh, these elders must all preach in rotation.” And one day a lady in the church said, “We get many visitors, but they never come back.” And it wasn’t surprising.

And this idea of plurality of eldership, and everyone’s a preacher, that doesn’t inspire people to be preachers if they’re only going to preach once every five weeks. They’re not going to be preachers of Christ, winners of souls, and teachers of the people, and give their lives to that. So that’s a foolish thing to do. One of the side effects of this idea of total plurality of eldership is the diminution of the preaching role.

And sometimes it’s difficult to find out who the preacher is. You go to a church’s website, and he isn’t named. He’s just one of a team. That’s a shame. You know, when I was young, perish the thought, it was rather like being a football coach. If they lose five matches in a row, he’s out. He’s responsible.

Well, it was a little bit like that with the preacher, because you’d hear people say, “Such-and-such a person is at such-and-such a church. He’s not doing well. The church has gone down.” And like we do with a football coach today—I’m not into football, mark you. I don’t know anything about that, but I can see this. It’s obvious. In the old days, they used to say, “Well, the preacher has not been blessed of God. It’s not been… This is a problem here.” He was responsible.

That’s gone now. “Oh, he’s just one of the elders.” It’s God’s fault now if the church diminishes. It’s nothing to do with the preacher, because they share it all out between several people. We’ve done foolish things. I’m answering the question, “Where have the preachers gone?”

Here in the Scripture, there is the office of the preacher, pastor, preaching elder. He is an elder. Why, the apostles were elders too. Peter says so. In 1 Peter, “I also am an elder”, he says. The apostle John tells us he was an elder. In 2 John, very first verse; 3 John, very first verse, he announces himself as the elder.

So even apostles were elders, but the eldership was divided between those who preached and those who led the church, watching for souls in other ways. There’s a certain parity, but there is a distinctiveness about the preacher of the gospel, the pastor-preacher, preaching elder. He’s not a priest. He works only from the Word of God, but he’s first and foremost a preacher of the gospel.

Here’s the text, and our time has really gone, but: “This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless.” That is to say, beyond… He can’t be accused of being a liar or a cheat or an adulterer. And the following requirements really work out this word “blameless”.

“The husband of one wife.” Some would translate that “a one-woman man”, by which they include, if he’s single, not a flirt. Somebody who believes in the sanctity of marriage and will love his wife. “The husband of one wife.” “Vigilant”, watchful, always aware of needs, watchful for souls.

“Sober”, which translates the Greek for “safe-minded”, a safe-minded person. It isn't actually about alcohol here, though hopefully he’s sober too, and an abstainer, best of all. But “sober” here actually means “safe-minded”, not an extremist.

“Of good behaviour”, dignified. “Given to hospitality.” Where the opportunity arises, personal hospitality, but certainly at church level, welcoming everybody under the sound of the gospel and constantly reaching out. Some churches are not hospitable. There’s nice fellowship within the church, but they cold-shoulder the newcomer and the outsider. That’s tragic.

“Apt to teach.” Then: “Not given to wine, no striker”, and that’s meant figuratively as well as literally. “Not greedy of filthy lucre.” Well, the preacher, even if he has the opportunity, is not to be involved in business. The apostle Paul tells us elsewhere. And he needs to be a modest man, a self-controlled, non-covetous man. You read of these fantastic incomes that some of the pastors in America earn, and it’s against the Scripture. They shouldn’t be doing that.

“But patient.” Patience is the great watchword. “Not a brawler, not covetous.” Not covetous. Just as we would disqualify a man from ministry for being an adulterer, so we should disqualify one who is covetous.

“One that ruleth well his own house”, in love. He’s not a tyrant, but from when the children were small he had the capacity to maintain happiness and order in the home without being violent and tyrannical. “Having his children in subjection”, in obedience, “with all gravity.” There’s the dignity word again. He’s dignified in the way he goes about it, not squalls of rage.

Verse 5: “For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?” “Not a novice”, verse 6, one too briefly converted, “lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil”. Verse 7: “A good report of them which are without.” And then verse 8, on to the deacons.

We would go through those words very carefully if we were gathering as a church to elect or to appoint a new preacher or ruling elder. Teaching elders, ruling elders. We could go to so many different Scriptures to demonstrate the importance of these things.

But, dear friends, our time is out, and I just have tried to elevate the enormous significance and importance of the office of the preacher of the gospel in that first verse. One of the reliable sayings.

Perhaps there’s somebody here, or several people, young men, and we pray that God may move in your heart, if He’s given you a gift to explain and to persuade and to urge people, and a heart for the gospel, to aspire to this noble work, where you’ll never earn very much, and you’ll be called to a reasonable and modest lifestyle; that you’ll give all your hours and all your days to a community, to reach out for the gospel. And the souls of men and women will be all-important to you.

That’s a reliable saying. If a desire for that is formed in your hearts, and a longing, people who are truly called, they all say the same thing: “I came to a point in life where I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Nothing else meant anything to me. No other aspiration but to be able to preach the gospel of Christ, and to be wholly given to this.”

May there be those in our midst. Where have all the preachers gone, friends? May God, by His mighty power, alter things and raise up, in these last days, these days of unbelief, more and more dedicated, committed preachers of the gospel, even from among ourselves.

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