"Give me a man of God - one man,
Whose faith is master of His mind,
And I will right all wrongs
And bless the name of mankind.
Give me a man of God - one man,
Whose tongue is touched with heaven's fire,
And I will flame the darkest hearts
With high resolve and clean desire.
Give me a man of God - one man,
One mighty prophet of the Lord,
And I will give peace on earth,
Bought with a prayer and not a sword.
Give me a man of God - one man,
True to the vision that he sees,
And I will build your broken shrines,
And bring the nations to their knees."
-George Liddell
Today, it seems, that a successful Christian pastor looks like this :
Going to Seminary, Growing a church in number and baptisms,
preaching motivational sermons, leading a church like a CEO,
Having good Sunday School and VBS programs,
going and visiting the sick, and being culturally driven.
No doubt some of these things are good,
but are they characteristics of a biblical pastor?
Is this what God's messenger should look like?
Most of the Biblical teachings regarding pastors come
from the God-inspired words of the Apostle Paul.
Paul's teaching can be summed up as the pastors' :
Purpose, Call, and Character.
For the Pauline pastor, the purpose for everything
is that Christ would be glorified.
"For what we proclaim is not ourselves but
Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as
your servants for Jesus' sake"(2 Cor. 4:5).
He will not be focusing on glorifying Himself,
but on proclaiming the glories of Christ.
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay,
to show that the surpassing power belongs
to God and not to us" (2 Cor. 4:7)
His purposes are to glorify God by building up the Church.
The is spelled out very clearly in Ephesians 4:11-14.
"And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists,
the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the
work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ,
until we all attain to the unity of 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 ,
tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every
wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes."
So the Pauline pastor will watch over and nurture
God's Church for God's glory.
"By ruling and teaching, elders supervise the
spiritual lives of the church. They look after things
on God's behalf" (Philip Graham Ryken).
The ultimate responsibility of the pastor is to lead by preaching and teaching.
"But we will devote ourselves to prayer
and the ministry of the Word" (Acts 6:4).
"Until I come devote yourselves to the public reading
of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching" (1 Tim. 4:13)
This preaching and teaching will flow from the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. It will be the center of preaching for
the Pauline Pastor. "Now I would remind you brothers,
of the gospel I preached to you, which you received,
in which you stand, and by which you are being saved,
if you hold fast to the word that I preached to you, unless
you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance
what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in
accordance with the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:1-3, emphasis added).
In the context 1 Corinthians 15, Paul had already preached
the gospel to the Corinthians, but he chose to preach it again
as of "first importance"!
The gospel is everything to the Pauline pastor.
For the sake of clarity the words used in the
New Testament for "Pastor", "Bishop", and "Elder"
are often used interchangeably.
The calling of the pastor is very important.
The pastorate is not a second-option to another career.
God specifically calls some to be pastors.
"And He gave the apostles , the prophets,
the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers" (Eph. 4:11, emphasis added).
Notice here in Ephesians that this giving of the leaders of the church
is God's work! No man can make himself a pastor. According to Paul,
the pastors' calling is important because it is a work. "We request
of you brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you,
and have charge over you in the Lord and give instruction, and esteem
them very highly in love because of their work " (1 Thess. 5:12-13).
"The saying is trustworthy : If anyone aspires to the office of overseer,
he desires a noble task (or work)" (1 Tim. 3:1).
"Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all
may see your progress" (1 Timothy 4:15).
The pastorate is a sobering responsibility!
This responsibility involves an eternal list of things,
but one huge one specifically applicable today is
protecting the flock against false doctrine.
"As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia,
remain on at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons
not to teach any different doctrine" (1 Tim. 1:3, emphasis added).
"He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able
to give instruction in sound doctrine and also rebuke those who contradict it"
(Titus 1:9, emphasis added).
God has chosen men to preach, teach , and lead by the gospel of Jesus Christ!
This is no small task! The office of the pastor should be held in high honor!
"It is no light matter to represent God's Son, in such a great task as erecting
and extending God's Kingdom, in caring for the salvation of souls whom the
Lord Himself has deigned to purchase with His own blood, and in ruling
the church which is God's inheritance" (John Calvin).
"The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer,
he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach,
the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable,
hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle,
not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well,
with all dignity keeping his children submissive,
for if someone does not know how to manage his own household,
how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert,
or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.
Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders,
so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil".
-1 Timothy 3:1-8
"if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife,
and his children are believers and not open to the charge
of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer,
as God's steward, must be above reproach.
He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered
or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain,
but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy,
and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy
word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction
in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it".
- Titus 1:6-9
The man called by God to lead His church will have
the character to back up that call.
The Pauline pastor is a pursuer of Holiness.
First Timothy chapter three and Titus chapter one give a set
of qualifications of a pastor (or elder/overseer).
While it is true that all leaders that all leaders should be
upstanding individuals , pastors are God's representatives.
Nowhere in Scripture does it say that secular leaders will be
held to a higher standard, but it does say that about pastors.
"Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers , for you
know we who teach will be judged with greater strictness" (James 3:1)
These men will be "above reproach". The Greek term for
"above reproach" means "not to be held". The Pauline pastor
"cannot be arrested and held as he were a criminal: there is nothing to
accuse him of " (John MacArthur). David Dickson wrote, "The office and
work being spiritual, it is necessary that elders be spiritual men.
It is not necessary that they be men of great gifts or worldly position, of wealth
or high education; but it is indispensability necessary that they be men of God,
at peace with Him, new creatures in Christ Jesus."
People's idea of Christ mostly based on pastors. "Pastors are special targets of Satan,
and he will assault them with more severe temptation than others" (John MacArthur).
This is no job for ordinary , upstanding men, but only for God's men.
These men will be exemplary husbands.
"The husband of one wife" (1 Tim. 3:2, Titus 1:6). It literally means a
"one-woman man". He will passionately love her and desire her. He will love
her as Christ loved the church. He will be a faithful father.
"Manages his household well, with all dignity keeping
his children submissive" (1 Timothy 3:4). "And his children are believers
and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination" (Titus 1:6b).
He will be involved with his children (if he has them), and discipline them and
nurture them in the Lord. He will be well-disciplined in his mind and life.
"Sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable.."(1 Tim. 3:2a). "Self-controlled,
upright, holy, and disciplined" (Titus 1:8b). He will be a good teacher of God's truth.
"Able to teach" (1 Timothy 3:2b). He will proclaim the glories of Christ. He will
love the truth. "He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught,
so that he may be able to give instruction in sound
doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it" (Titus 1:9).
He will love people! "Respectable, hospitable" (1Tim. 3:2b).
He will not be in ministry for money, but, instead God will be his master.
"Not a lover of money" (1 Tim.3:3b).
Lastly, the Pauline pastor will be spiritually mature.
This man will know God. "He must not be a recent convert,
or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the
condemnation of the devil." (1 Tim. 3:6).
This man Paul paints in his epistles looks quits different than
today's understanding of what means to be a pastor.
The fact is that is not popular
to follow God's word. They are , however, just as
sufficient today as when they were fist written.
According to Paul,
a successful pastor will live for the glory of God,
will be called of God, and will have the character
to back up that calling of God.
Be thankful for your pastor
No comments:
Post a Comment