What Is A Pastor

Do you want someone who is going to tell you the truth or someone who is going to tell you what you want to hear? It may sound like an easy question…but most of the time it isn’t. There is a reason they say don’t shoot the messenger. It’s because too many people have been killed trying to give bad news.

It is not an easy job to be a leader of God’s people. He calls His people sheep. They wander off and get into trouble often. Then they run from the one who has been given charge of them to take care of them.

Now there are two types of leaders who tell the truth in the face of this kind of situation. The first is someone who doesn’t care about how the people feel or what they do with what he says. The second person tells the truth because he does care and wants them to be changed by the truth.

The Good Pastor

The job of the pastor is to feed the flock knowledge. He is called by God to strengthen the church through preaching and teaching the truth. Without the preaching of the word of God we would lack the nourishment to stand against the lies of Satan. It is because of truth not being given that the bible declares God’s people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6).

But notice how Ecclesiastes says the preacher delivers the word. He studies the word and searches out how to best deliver the truth to the people. If your only goal is to speak the truth then you can do so as rashly as you want. But if your goal is to speak the truth in love (as the Bible says we should) then you may want to take note of the type of words the preacher sought out.

He looked for acceptable words. He literally tried to find a way to speak to the people in a way that they could understand the truth and not only that but also accept it. The goal is not to speak truth. The goal is to speak truth in love for the purpose of changing the heart.

A pastor needs to have the heart of Jesus. Let me tell you about that heart. The ruler of heaven and earth…got on His knees to wash the feet of His friends. He gave His life for it. We have a God who is amazing in power and terrible in wrath. Yet He chooses to serve us.

We need the same heart. We are all servants to each other. Jesus is going to be just a prayer away in your time of need. He saves us when we call. He isn’t all about fire and brimstone…He is also about kindness and gentleness. You will never find a more humble God. You will never find one that could wipe you out but chooses to save you.

A good pastor will have the sword of truth that could destroy you…but he will only use it gently to heal you. The wounds he inflicts will hurt but they drive out the poison of Satan and they heal easily.

I have known pastors who try to be the master instead of the servant. This is what the scripture says about them:

They are called brutes, violent and dumb men. They think they are not to be questioned and act very much like an abusive person. They think they have authority in everything over people. But the truth is that the authority of the pastor is for serving and nothing else.

If you read Titus 2 you will see the things a pastor should speak, exhort, and rebuke with authority.

Now I want to leave you with one last thought on the subject of a Godly leader. They have been put in place by God. They are His messengers and part of the body of Christ. We should honor them as such! They spend their lives giving for you…should you not give for them? Honor should be given where it is due.

July 14, 2015 at 7:40 pm | | No comment

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