The Coming Winter: Pastoral Reflections on 1 Timothy

By T. Patrick Jensen

The Coming Winter is a work for pastors, by a pastor, about Paul, the pastor. The work seeks to integrate both a personal story of contemporary pastoral ministry within the rubric of Timothy’s story as a benefactor of Paul’s guidance in and through the epistle of 1 Timothy. The book seeks to guide the local church pastor through conflict management, polity, liturgy, and healing from woundedness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664212695

T. Patrick Jensen

T. Patrick Jensen is a physician and pastor who has sought to integrate theology and mental health ministry. He has served in various pastoral roles within the church for nearly 20 years and as a psychiatrist for 10 years. He and his wife live in East Tennessee with their seven adventurous children.

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Copyright © 2020 T. Patrick Jensen.

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This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version® Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-1268-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-1267-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-1269-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020922598

WestBow Press rev. date: 12/10/2020

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1 The Winter of Myth

Chapter 2 Instilling Virtues in Winter

Chapter 3 The Lawful Use of Law in Winter

Chapter 4 The Winter of Warfare

Chapter 5 Praying in Winter

Chapter 6 Gender-Nuanced Prayers for Winter

Chapter 7 The Winter of Leadership—Part I

Chapter 8 The Winter of Leadership—Part II

Chapter 9 Confession in Winter

Chapter 10 Diabolical Doctrine of Winter

Chapter 11 The Winter of Despising

Chapter 12 Honor and Veneration in Winter

Chapter 13 Honor and Value in Winter

Chapter 14 Obedience and Holy Dissent in Winter

Chapter 15 Contentment in Winter

Chapter 16 Profession in Winter

Appendix A Church of God Polity on Church and Pastor’s Council

Appendix B Administrative Council Covenant

Appendix C Pastoral Review and Evaluation

Appendix D Church Discipline, Restoration and Reconciliation

Appendix E A Prayer Liturgy

Appendix F A Modified Declaration of Faith

Appendix G Local Church Polity on Elders

Appendix H Naomi’s Note

DEDICATION

To my constant Savior, whose promises were indeed true as one who never leaves or forsakes me. Jesus, my winter companion who both encouraged and admonished me in my winter. I can still see the footprints in the snow next to mine. To my wife, who is likely the most steady and courageous person in my life. Her fidelity to our family never ceases to amaze me. Her constant ear to help me reflect through the winter and during the writing of this book was a gift indescribable. Certainly, you will always be a gift from the Lord Himself, my darling. To my children, Asher, Charity, Jayken, Jaron, Naomi, Ezra, and Evangeline. You gave me levity when I needed it most. You all endured a move that was disruptive in nature but with a kind of resilience that set the tone for my own response to our situation. You have said things unaware that have encouraged my soul. I am so grateful to our Lord for the relationships He has given me in you all. To Pastor Gary, who sat with me in private counsel and aided me in understanding that this winter experience never need define ministry but will only augment it, for whatever exposes my weakness brings me closer to God’s strength.

INTRODUCTION

Pastoring is a task, rather, a calling filled with the trappings of pain yet inundated with some of the sweetest exchanges one will have in this life. Most pastors come to this call with great enthusiasm and humility, simply enthralled that God would take such a vessel and fashion their mouths to speak, pray, and counsel those under their care.

A pastor will often approach the task of pastoring by setting out to love well, teach well, listen well, and lead well. The presupposition is, If I have good intentions, create adequate systems, and create documents that enjoy agreement, all will be well. A pastor begins often by creating a family of leaders that would be vulnerable and serving such leaders with humility and love. The fruit is often expected to be one where objectives are realized, the vision caught, and the people enthused.

However, while not invalidating the above, I would also like to argue that pastoring is an incredibly disorienting journey. The unexpected comes like a north wind to awaken us both to human obedience to the Lord and human depravity. This can occur, for example, when people continue to drop out of the congregation, blame becomes affixed arbitrarily, and nostalgia moves people away from the present so that a future, if any, appears grim. What begins as an exciting prospect and a realization of calling can became ground zero for a wounded heart. However, for the pastor who resounds with an amen, he or she should be encouraged that the wounds are never without purpose, and even in the most disorienting of circumstances, God is present to reorient the pastor to His dream.

This is where the pastoral epistles are quite relevant. These epistles are written by a pastor to pastors. It is a field book for the most intense of battles that a pastor will face. The wisdom encased in this manual provides pastors with help both in the emotional-theological realms and the pragmatic-organizational realms. As a point of disclosure, I am writing this also for my benefit to assist in the future of pastoral ministry and to guard against future ills that attempt to turn disorientation into cynicism.

Paul’s letter to Timothy is a letter to keep him from disenchantment and naivete. Paul is writing with his death in view and is herein leaving a legacy to Timothy and Titus. Timothy had come to faith in Christ, but it was not long until he was quickly surrounded in controversy regarding circumcision. And in order to prevent an offense, Timothy was circumcised (cf. Acts 16). So here we have an outsider making attempts to feel included in the community.

As an aside here, pastoral ministry can be summed up in just that—an outsider desperately longing for friends. The pastor often attempts to make friends within the congregation, only to be wounded by those same friends when there is a conflict, disagreement in the direction of the church, or some other misunderstanding. The pastor becomes more and more alienated with every wound until he feels outside the camp looking in. He essentially has removed himself emotionally to insulate from further wounding and misunderstanding. The pastor submits to the circumcisions; essentially, this is submitting to the church culture in order to belong. But even this submission can be a wounding one, and with each wound, the pastor is less vulnerable. With each wound, the pastor is less trusting. With each wound, the pastor loses true community.

However, even after submitting to the cultural and religious norm, Paul must still defend Timothy to the church at Ephesus, given his youth (cf. 1 Timothy 4:12). I tend to wonder how long Timothy pastored the church at Ephesus. He certainly had a great task in rooting out false doctrine, organizing the church with elders and deacons, and confronting influential members. Of course, pastors do not necessarily jump for joy when called upon to fulfill this part of the job description.

Timothy, like Paul before him, would become imprisoned. Although we know nothing of Timothy’s destiny thereafter, we do find he endured the cell for Christ (Heb. 13:23). As we look at the books of Timothy and Titus, pastors can once again learn the authority by which they operate, and by doing so, they can bring correction to a church veering off course. May we be reminded whether we are pastors or, as I am, a pastor in transition to pick up the field manual once again and learn from its timeless lessons.

Moreover, I thought it best that this introduction also include a perspective from my wife, an ordained minister who was working within the church as well. She brings a perspective not only as a minister going through transition but that of a pastor’s wife, which is uniquely nuanced and may provide a cathartic insight to the pastor’s wife who is navigating the demands of a family and the expectations of a church community. She writes below.

It came to my awareness this week after/during a steady diet of tears, most of which are shared in private with the Lord, that what I am dealing with is a broken heart. It takes a great deal of vulnerability to admit this. The brokenness was certainly there within the church family, but I suppose the realization of it all, along with the grief, is becoming more substantive as the notion of starting over, being in a new place, laying down an identity, admitting a broken dream is all emerging with greater awareness every day. That is not to undermine the joy of our new little¹ one or to disdain a quietness from some previous battles. Everything that happened this past year was just a disruption on so many fronts, and I underestimated the processing it would take once our move took place.

Furthermore, upon realizing this state of a broken heart, the Lord led me to Isaiah 61 and Psalm 147. He came to bind up the brokenhearted. The psalmist notes, He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds. The Hebrew word chabash is used for binding. It literally means to bind up/wrap/bandage. Ezekiel uses the same word when he mentions the headpiece of the priest. Indeed, He equips and binds our thoughts to the obedience of Christ as He does a work of healing (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:5).

But what has been more captivating to me is the image that comes to me as a mom. I have wrapped little Evangeline at night, and her quality and duration of sleep is improved when swaddled. I find myself wondering if the steps we take to swaddle has an intimate connection to the incredibly healing act of chabash. Is this not what happens when swaddling occurs … a wrapping and binding? So perhaps when the Lord binds up our brokenness, the image that can bring comfort is the image of a newborn baby being swaddled. Indeed, it was one sign given to the shepherds that glorious night when the Savior was born.

And this is the sign unto you: Ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. (Luke 2:12)

What if the sign of the swaddling clothes is a foreshadow of His work to bind up the wounds of humanity? Our Savior swaddled and bound by the human frame would soon swaddle the wounds of humanity with His blood shed upon a cross. What if the sign is the foreshadow of future possibilities of freedom through the divine paradox of being hemmed in by the swaddle of God? We may fight it with an intuitive resistance, erroneously believing that freedom is found in kicking against the goads of the swaddle (cf. Acts 26:14). However, God in His mercy, in Christ, swaddles us nonetheless in the sign of a Savior who is healing us as a priest who Himself suffered with wounds so that He could heal our wounds.

His healing involves a wrapping of our soul that prevents the startle reflex. It offers a security that is unmatched by everyday clothes. Swaddling eliminates external forces that would cause us to reach out in desperation and binds up everything within us that is wanting. I love the Casting Crowns’ song, Just Be Held.² It is an invitation to just let Father God hold us in the midst of brokenness. Indeed, as I listen to modern hymnody, it seems every other song mentions brokenness. Christ disrupted all religious spirits when He read from Isaiah’s scroll and declared His binding upon brokenness. I suppose the declaration of these biblical passages and even the visual imagery of our sweet new baby being swaddled are key to healing and moving through the grief and broken heart of transition. A swaddled baby is afforded little opportunity to turn her head. She looks straightforward into the face of the caregiver. Likewise, the healing that our Abba Father offers when He binds our wounds allows us to look fully into His face that the things of earth may grow strangely dim.

SwaddleEvangeline.jpg

I (Patrick) chose the title The Coming Winter from a citation at the end of Paul’s second letter to Timothy as a personal attempt to sum up my writing herein. The winter is an interesting season, and Paul longs for his friend to visit him before the winter is upon them. Indeed, he also intimates this to Titus as well when, at the end of his letter to him, he identifies where he will spend the winter. My wife tends to remind me often that the apple tree in the winter is just as much in the will of God as the apple tree in the fall. There may be no leaves or low-hanging fruit during the winter season, but the tree has obeyed in the season that it is in. It has lost its leaves; it stands barren with branches revealed and weathers the snow when it comes.

Pastors or pastors who have transitioned can likewise be in the will of God even if it is winter but also should take note of a certain coming that is necessary in the winter. The winter changes the landscape of our vision. Pastors, we need company during the winter. Our coming to holy community is a movement that prepares us to weather the winter. Pastors may resonate with the notion that their entire ministry was done in the winter. And if so, then consolation is needed by the act of coming. When the hearts have frozen, the minds set, the systems paralyzed, and the soul is heavy, come in the winter. Every pastor will eventually experience a winter in their time of ministry. One feels the chill in their bones, the frostbite nipping at the soul, and the temptation to harden one’s heart as the tide turns against them. And indeed, winter is part of most if not every pastor’s journey. This title is of course not original to me, as it has been cited by many. One contemporary work by evangelical writer Charles Swindoll reflects on the theme through a series of devotional writings. Swindoll provides remarks in the introduction that also illustrate what I am attempting to describe here:

Just as a calendar cannot skip those bone chilling months, we cannot escape the barren days! Prisoners in our own dungeons of discouragement, loneliness, and spiritual impotence, we struggle to keep our equilibrium … to make sense out of our apparent insanity.³

Winter is thus inevitable, and certain dispositions accompany this season, which is why an invitation is necessary. But the invitation must be selective—one who truly loves you, believes in you, one who will strengthen the weary hand. Will you extend an invitation to another in your season of winter?

Moreover, I wonder if our lives in the winter cause us to reflect wrongly over our lives. But I also wonder if we are inviting others to us in the winter. It is one thing to endure a winter season; it is yet another to go at it alone. What if we were to extend an invitation to a Timothy or a Titus God has placed in our lives to visit us just before winter or even during our winter?

Doing this, however, may mean that the very people you invite during this season may get a glimpse of barren branches, a sense of vulnerability that on one hand is a gift to a listening ear and, on the other hand, a risk to the one who may trample such vulnerability. And yet is it not a beautiful risk? When you let another come to you, the branches barren, the cards on the table, the heart exposed, a Timothy ready to come, an ear intent on listening, a hand ready to hold, a love hastening to be expressed—it is an interchange that perhaps will enable you to weather the winter.

But letting your guard down comes with such great risk! Yes, it is a risky thing to invite someone into your life when the chill seems to hang as icicles from your branches. Yes, it can even be threatening as you utter the words, Come to me. Perhaps these words have not been said in many years as a safeguard against hurt and wounds. Perhaps cynicism has gotten the best of you and the only safe thing to do is hibernate alone in the winter. And yet, if you really listen to your soul, you can hear the refrain burst forth in a glorious melody that you were made for community.

But I have been betrayed, I have been reviled, I have been beaten, bruised, and altogether ravaged by community. Rejoice in this, beloved, for our Lord also endured such reviling from His very own (cf. Matthew 5:10–12). Dare to be vulnerable once again, dare to be yourself, dare to let your guard down, dare to trust again, dare to love again, dare to pour yourself out as a drink offering (cf. Philippians 2:17). Dare to come to Jesus so that you can find rest. Dare to invite someone to your winter. Dare to reveal the barren parts of yourself again, for the winter is the winter but only for a time. Spring is dawning, and Timothy is coming, and yet even the more, Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming to you in your winter!

Finally, I would like to inform the reader that what follows is not a systematic commentary of the pastoral epistles and thus should not be conceived as such. Rather, themes or certain passages were selected for the purpose of exposition, sometimes exegesis, and narrative vignettes inspired by true events. Please note that the names in the pastoral vignettes have been altered to protect individual privacy. I hope this will be a tool of dialogue, didactic, and hope for any pastor who faces their winter season.

Chapter 1

The Winter of Myth

As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.

—1 Timothy 1:3–4

WE ALL KNOW the Norman Rockwell painting so very well.⁴ What begins with innocent news turns into a contorted reality once the communication has gone through several iterations and hearings. So, by the end of the line, the person hearing is the person objectified and made aware of the subverted knowledge that misconstrues all reality from which it may have begun. And so one of the first safeguards Paul would like to put into place is a stop to the chatter.

Pastors, we must be intentional to stop the chatter once it comes to our ears. We may hear all kinds of conversations proliferating throughout the congregation, generating questions rather than unity. Take, for example, Pastor Chad. In an effort to protect an outgoing staff member’s reputation, he did not directly deal with inaccurate gossip, hoping that truth would somehow prevail. Many families began leaving the church, having believed the gossip over Pastor Chad’s silence in dealing with the gossip. Pastors, take note: if you do not deal with the gossip, people will believe it. Certainly, we do not retaliate and know that vengeance is the Lord’s (c.f. Romans 12:19). However, if we remain silent when there are criticisms of preaching Old Testament passages, rumors that the pastor would like to destroy or close the church, or other inaccurate accusations, this kind of talk can spread through the congregation like a cancer. And so it did with Pastor Chad.

One of the most subtle kinds of dissension can begin in our current age, where dispensationalism has come off its hinges, where the Old Testament is perceived as irrelevant, and where the hyper grace movement is diminishing the necessity of holiness. Make no mistake, pastors, Paul’s call to Timothy here is the same to you: confront these deceptive ideologies. Do not let dispensation run amok in the congregation, or the sheep find ways to abrogate their responsibility to holiness and justify their present sins.

The first kind of chatter Paul instructs Timothy to stop is the propagation of the myth. Paul uses the term μύθοις (muthos), which is a tale or a myth. Perhaps we would coin the term legend to describe the same kind of notion.⁵ Now we should note that myth can be powerful in how it can shape culture and even reality. It is an idea fabricated in the mind, set over and against the truth. It is as if we would say, Reality is what you perceive. We uphold many myths, much of which we discuss after we have seen an entertaining movie. We somehow know the movie is fiction, yet we discuss these characters in a way where we have constructed an entire new reality. We might use the word universe in today’s nomenclature of the modern myth. For example, as I write, there is a popular series of movies that have proliferated throughout the entertainment world based on heroes from Marvel comics. When people discuss these movies, it is known that they are a myth, yet they discuss these characters as if there is a sense of truth in who they are and what they stand for and how they relate to the self. The Marvel universe has penetrated the human vocabulary and, more than this, the human way of thinking.

Myth can have logical underpinnings and adhere to even the severest of reasonable scrutiny. But the logic of myth will always have a faulty base, for it is conceived in the mind, which construes reality to its own making.

Myth becomes true the more we ride its wave within the ocean of our own thoughts. This is where the devil can enter subtly, using myth to draw many away. If the myth that the pastor would like to close the church (which was a myth being propagated about Pastor Chad) becomes the iterated reality of perception, then it must be true even if it is a preposterous notion.

The Greeks took great pride in sophistry or wisdom. Wisdom and knowledge were cardinal virtues in Greek culture. So Timothy enters this Greek world in Ephesus where a deceptive wisdom is drawing many away using the medium of myth. The myth has become so pervasive and would intensify to the extent that Paul would write about this again in his second letter to Timothy:

The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned into fables. (2 Timothy 4:3–4)

Myth is the antithesis of sound doctrine, for it is birthed from human desire rather than from divine mind. Anytime one seeks out a speaker to confirm one’s myth, alarms should sound loudly within one’s heart, and the question should always be asked, Am I seeking to itch my ears once again? If, as is the natural bent of humanity, we seek out only those who confirm our myths, we become ever more lost than our first state. The myth draws us away from truth. The fable has a semblance of wisdom but lacks the power of true wisdom. True sophistry is the sound doctrine once delivered to all the saints, found in the person of Jesus Christ and the revelation of scripture. True wisdom is the Spirit of the Living God, shouting from the rooftop, Follow me (cf. Proverbs 1:20). And all too often, it is only the poor in spirit who hears His voice.

Gordon Fee writes about myth in his commentary on the pastoral epistles. Even while acknowledging our scholarly ignorance on the content of these myths, he indicates a possibility of the Hellenistic influence upon the Ephesian church through teachings of a Judaist mysticism. But Fee brings us to an awareness of Paul’s motive that could be easily missed. Perhaps Paul does not enumerate the specifics of these myths because he would rather address the utter futility of engaging in such myths. Fee expresses it this way:

It is the utter futility of it all that grips Paul at this point. Indeed, the word translated endless most likely refers to the exhausting, wearisome nature of the teaching. What such myths and endless genealogies promote are speculations not controversies. Thus, myths and genealogies are interminable tediums, promoting foolish speculations, full of sound and fury, but signifying nothing.⁶

Pastors, ask yourself why you might feel a sense of exasperation after a meeting filled with allegations, or a teaching that exhausted rather than edified. Are you weary from the last conversation, didactic, or special revelation? Then begin to search the scriptures and pray if a propagation of myth is yet rising within the congregation. The myth can be identified when it gains a lot of recognition without substance, clout without meaning, bluster without benefit, and rigidity without refreshment.

The work of God is rather mitigated if such myth propagation is unabated. The work of God is work brought into existence by faith. It is a stewarding of God’s house for the clear redemptive purposes He has for every soul who may enter the community. Those who are given a platform to air the myth of novelty may corrupt the soul from the simplicity of the Gospel received by faith. Or, the one who shares a new word, a fresh vision, an assumption of the pastor, or any other myth that has the semblance of novelty may shipwreck the faith of some, which has unintended consequences of hindering God’s work, which is the arrangements for people’s redemption.⁷

And so how do we debunk the myth of our own deceptive hearts? Paul is clear here. We must learn to love again. Love is the way, pastors. We lose love in our own woundedness. We want to strangle our parishioners rather than love them. We want to jettison ourselves to a lonely island to find respite when God calls us to love in the thick of the crowds. Love is the end of the commandment and will unravel the threads of the tangled-up, garbled-up myth of our society. Love is the key that opens the door to true wisdom and obliterates the deception of myth. But love is not all that is called for here by the teacher.

Love must also come from a pure heart and of a good conscience. That is, we must be clean if we are to be instruments to debunk the myth. We must forgive the many injuries from those close to us. We must have no ill will toward those who belittled and bullied us. We must love our enemies, even if we vehemently disagree with them. We must have a pure heart and clean conscience.

The Greek συνειδήσεως (suneidesis) is a compound word meshing experiential knowledge with other and intuitive knowledge within.⁸ It is conjuring up the witness from within to testify in the court of human opinion. This conjuring must come from a pure source, and if in the conjuring, there is iniquity, then the conscience is not clear, and repentance is the clarion call.

For an example of one’s consciousness bearing testimony, we need not go any further than the apostle Paul himself. Nestled in Paul’s introduction is the testimony of his conscience that he was indeed an apostle of Jesus Christ both by virtue of the command encounter he received from Jesus Himself on the road to Damascus (cf. Acts 9) and because of his internal witness that his call was appointed. Paul indeed defended his apostleship in other letters when this was vehemently opposed.

For Pastor Chad, his call came into question when a member of the church board called for his resignation. Pastor Chad had invested in both divinity and MBA degrees. He was working both as a pastor but also as a teacher in the local community college. Pastor Chad had experienced a journey that had spanned approximately ten years in responding to both calls to preach and teach. The call led him to the local church and to the community college. But as congregants began to believe myth and leave the congregation, a financial decline ensued, and the myth that Pastor Chad had to choose between these two paths became the overarching narrative and the central blame for the church’s decline. At some point, as the narrative intensified, Pastor Chad entertained the myth rather than debunking it. He bought into the notion of the other’s assertion, who had never journeyed the expanse of those ten years with him on the road to seminary. The board member who called for Pastor Chad to resign at one or the other vocation had not been present when God arrested him one night when driving home, calling him to the preach the Gospel. He was not present when God spoke to Pastor Chad in his prayer closet, calling him to pursue his MBA. They were not there when hours were committed to understanding the integration of a financial ministry within the framework of shepherding a local congregation. Pastor Chad experienced the encounter that in good conscience called him and sent him, but others outside of his journey introduced an entirely new universe to consider. This new universe of ideas and assertions influenced not only Pastor Chad’s idea about himself but also other board members and thus conceived a new reality.

Pastors, I say this to illustrate the need to follow your call. Like Paul, there will be many who oppose your work and you as a person. Paul was not timid to defend that he had been sent by Christ Himself. Do not let the myth of someone else’s imagination convince you that your call is invalid and that your work does not fit nicely into a certain cultural norm.

And at the same time, take note that of those who will ascend the hill of the Lord, it is he who has a clean heart who has not raised up an idol over and against our God (cf. Psalm 24). Unforgiveness can be an idol, for we brood over the unforgiveness as if it holds a dear place in our hearts. We feed it, nurse it, coddle it, and give it life in our own animosity for others. It is high time to crush this idol in the name of Jesus and in and through love and find that we, as pastors, are clean again, pure again.

So we have found that love debunks myth, but it is clean love—love filtered in and through the blood of Jesus. Love is the quintessential tool of victory. It is what will give the pastor personal victory over the wounds from others and corporate victory in loving the sheep. Paul is clear; we are not to owe anything to anyone, except for love (Romans 13:8). That is, we are indebted to love everyone, even the one who slandered you to your face. Love them, pastors! Love them well! We should not forget the Word of our Lord, that the entire law and prophets is summed up in the love of God and love for neighbor. We must fight the temptation to let our love grow cold, as this will eventually take over the world,