The Pastor and His Role.
What is the Pastor’s role in the church? In their podcast, Pastors Nathaniel Jolly and Ekkie Tepsupornchai discuss how vital it is that every Christian understand the role of a Pastor. Here are some highlights.
The Pastor’s role in the church is…
Equip the church members for their service in ministry, and build up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4).
To feed church members with knowledge and understanding to grow them up. To grow up means to be discerning - to know whether what we read, hear, and are taught is indeed the Word of God or is influenced by the world, and thus, is false doctrine (Malachi 2:7).
To preach and teach truth according to the Bible - not according to what the denomination, elders, or majority of the church wants to hear.
He should be a dedicated theologian - devoted to the Word of God, to studying not only to teach the flock but also to grow in character. His main job is not to attend meetings and join ministries but to study God’s Word and pray (2 Chronicles 31:4).
It’s not enough for him to know sound doctrine. He must also be able to refute those who teach false doctrine and call out names when needed. He must protect his flock from the wolves who sneak into the church, especially those dressed as pastors.
He must be discerning of false doctrine creeping into the church. Some pastors either:
1) understand doctrinal truth but cannot discern when false doctrine has entered their church or
2) They can discern the false doctrine but don’t have the backbone to stand up against it. Under both these circumstances, the pastor is unqualified and is part of the problem. Perhaps he knows the Bible and is sweet and kind but cannot discern or stand up against false doctrine - then he should step down from the pastorate and become a Deacon whose requirements are not as stringent as the pastor or elder of God’s people.
In addition:
A pastor should not plagiarize another’s sermon or pay someone else to write his sermons. Even if the source is cited, this is an integrity issue. It also means the pastor does not understand his job.
Regan Rose points out, “Pastors are responsible to their flock. And it's not to regale them with someone else's material. The calling is to guide those people with God's truth in a way only he can. That is why God has providentially brought him to your specific church. It's such an incredible calling, which should comfort pastors. He doesn’t have to be the best preacher in the world! The elders worthy of double honor aren't the best of the best but simply those who labor hard in the Word (1 Tim 5). Why did God arrange the church so elders/pastors would teach local congregations? God could have made it so that there was no teaching, just the reading of Scripture. Or He could have providentially arranged that the cassette tape or CD had existed in the first century and only the best preaching would go from church to church. But He didn't. He made pastors. It's part of God's design for the local church. A local pastor is uniquely responsible for representing God's Word to a specific group of people he has been charged to shepherd in a particular context. That pastor should know those people, their needs, their struggles, and their culture better than anyone else. His sermons are not just informative lectures but are the blood, sweat, and repentance of a man who is following Jesus, empowered by the Spirit, and is using his ability to teach to guide his flock.”
Church leaders read widely as they prepare to teach their congregations, but to ensure a steady diet of sound theology, they need to cite writers regularly and refer to books that will not lead people astray. The theological nugget from a deviant source or heterodox thinker (not in agreement with accepted beliefs, especially in church doctrine) isn’t worth confusing the people of God. Look at the books your pastor recommends and review the books on your church shelves. Do the offerings there point people back to our theological center, or do they encourage “radical theology” that takes people in the church down unfamiliar paths? (summarized from Eric Landry, False Teaching and the Peace and Purity of the Church.)
Todd Pruitt writes in his article, You Probably Have a Good Pastor:
If you are a member of a church…
Being led is not abuse (1 Timothy 5:17).
Church discipline (including excommunication) is not abuse (Matthew 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 5:1-12).
Correction and rebuke are not abuse (Mark 8:33; 1 Timothy 5:20; Titus 2:15)
Being told hard things is not abuse (Galatians, 1 Corinthians).
Being expected to follow leadership is not abuse (Hebrews 13:17).
Being told you need to mature spiritually is not abuse (Hebrews 5:11).
Being confronted in your sin is not abuse (1 Timothy 5:20)
Being rebuked for holding to errant doctrine is not abuse (Titus 1:9, 13).
Being expected to faithfully attend and support the church is not abuse (Ephesians 4:12-13; Hebrews 10:23-25).
The expectation that you honor and obey your elders is not abuse (1 Timothy 5:17; Hebrews 13:17)
The expectation to care for the financial needs of your pastor is not abuse (1 Timothy 5:17-18).
Being disappointed is not abuse.
Discovering that your pastor can sometimes be in a bad mood is not abuse.
“A preacher must be both soldier and shepherd. He must nourish, defend, and teach; he must have teeth in his mouth and be able to bite and fight.”
Ken Puls commentary on The Pilgrim's Progress from the scene, A Portrait of a Minister, in the Interpreter’s house.
The first lesson that the Interpreter sets before Christian is to show him a picture hanging in a private room. Christian notices immediately that the man portrayed in the picture is a man with a very grave countenance. This man represents a faithful minister of the Gospel, and his countenance speaks to the seriousness of his calling before God. This minister understands his responsibilities as a watchman and shepherd of Christ's flock. He is aware that his vocation involves real dangers and great rewards.
The Interpreter speaks of the Gospel minister as "one of a thousand" who "can beget children, travel in birth with children, and nurse them himself with they are born," alluding to Paul's description of his ministry:
I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore I urge you, imitate me (1 Corinthians 4:14-16).
This minister speaks and teaches truth, but he also looks upon the people with whom God has entrusted him as his children in the faith, as those whom he must watch over, guard, feed, and protect. In Galatians 4:19, Paul also speaks of the church as his "little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you."
John Bunyan's portrait provides a six-fold description of a true Gospel minister:
1. His eyes are lifted to Heaven.
The Gospel minister has his eyes fixed upon Jesus. Jesus is preeminent in his life and ministry. The beauty of holiness and the glory of God manifest in the person and work of Christ are the focus of his affections. The minister looks intently to his Lord, who is exalted at His Father's right hand in heaven. We see this fixed gaze described in the book of Hebrews:
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2).
2. The best of books is in his hand.
The Gospel minister is committed to God's Word. He does not preach his ideas, opinions, or agenda but only seeks by God's grace, as God gives him light, to expound and declare the Scriptures in their completeness. Bunyan undoubtedly had his own pastor in mind as he described a minister set upon God's Word. He relates in Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners:
At this time, also, I sat under the ministry of holy Mr. Gifford, whose doctrine, by God's grace, was much for my stability. This man made it much his business to deliver the people of God from all those faults and unsound rests that, by nature, we are prone to take and make to our souls. He pressed us to take special heed that we took not up any truth upon trust—as from this, or that, or any other man or men—but to cry mightily to God that He would convince us of the reality thereof, and set us down therein, by His own Spirit, in the holy Word; for, said he, if you do otherwise when temptations come, if strongly, you, not having received them with evidence from heaven, will find you want that help and strength now to resist as once you thought you had. [Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, par. 117]
3. The Law of Truth is written upon his lips.
The Gospel minister is a man committed to speaking God's truth so that he might turn himself and others from sin. He is one like Levi, of whom the prophet Malachi spoke:
The law of truth was in his mouth,
And injustice was not found on his lips.
He walked with Me in peace and equity,
And turned many away from iniquity.
(Malachi 2:6)
The Interpreter explains that these first three characteristics demonstrate that the minister's work is to "know and unfold dark things to Sinners." To do this, the minister must gaze upon Christ and grasp God's pure Word.
4. The World is cast behind him.
The Gospel Minister is not enamored or burdened by the philosophies and allurements of the world. His joy and satisfaction is in knowing and serving Christ. Many who call themselves pastors today seem to offer the world on a platter. They extol health, wealth, success, and prosperity instead of humility, sacrifice, self-denial, and service. But this is not the way of a faithful minister. A true minister values Jesus more than anything this world can offer. As the man in Jesus' parable, who found a treasure hidden in a field and sold all he had so he could buy the field (Matthew 13:44), the minister has cast the world behind him for the sake of following Christ.
5. He stands as if He is pleading with men.
A true minister of the Gospel also has a heart for the lost. He longs to see others come to Christ and find the same joy, peace, and satisfaction he enjoys. He understands that eternal realities are at stake for the souls of his hearers—life and death, heaven and hell—and his heart burns with a desire to warn men to flee from the wrath to come.
6. A Crown of Gold hangs over his head.
The Gospel minister can endure the hardships and sufferings of this life because he knows he has reward in heaven. Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him so the Gospel minister, for heaven's eternal joy and glory, can forsake the world and seek God's kingdom first.
These last three characteristics show that a faithful minister despises the things of the present for the love of His Master. He is a man who lives by faith, knowing that God's eternal blessings and promises are far greater than the false, temporal attractions of sin. He is able to slight this present world because his hope is in the world to come. He is looking to the glory and reward of heaven, which is Jesus Christ Himself.
I close with two crucial points of application from this lesson in the House of the Interpreter:
1. We must seek out true and faithful shepherds to guide and watch over our souls. As we have already seen with Christians' encounters with Evangelists and Worldly Wiseman, it is a great advantage to recognize and follow godly counsel, and it is folly to disregard it. Some of Christian's most discouraging moments that follow in this allegory occur when he fails to heed this first lesson. We must "take good heed" and "bear well in mind" what Bunyan teaches here to avoid pretenders and pitfalls. Only a minster of this description is fit to be a Guide to those on the Way. Only this kind of pastor will be prepared to help his flock along the problematic places along the Way. We must pray that God will teach us to prize and cherish such men who will care for our souls. We must pray that God will continue to raise such men to serve as Gospel ministers.
2. All believers should strive to imitate the godly character of the Gospel minister. This portrait is a fitting representation not just for a minister of the Gospel, but it sets forth a character that every faithful minister of the Gospel longs to see flourish in the people he shepherds. Paul said to the Corinthians: "Imitate me" (1 Corinthians 4:16 and 11:1). Christ gave the church pastors and teachers
for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:12-13).
Paul told the Colossians of his labors in the gospel:
Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily (Colossians 1:28-29).
We must not be content to seek spiritual maturity, godliness and zeal for ministry only in pastors and elders, but labor and persevere by God's grace until these fruits flourish in all the church.
Articles
Learning the Art of Pastoring by C. H. Spurgeon (article) - Spurgeon never changed his core pastoral convictions. He believed in the importance of preaching and the proper administration of the ordinances. He held to regenerate church membership. He was a firm believer in congregational polity. And he believed in the pastor’s responsibility to shepherd Christ’s flock. Even with so many joining, Spurgeon refused to compromise his convictions about what the church or the pastor is to be.
Why Is Seminary Training Important for Pastors? by Joel Kim (article + audio) - we want educated men leading the churches; we want people who love the Word, study the Word, and are specialists in the Word. So, our primary focus in theological education is that ultimately, at the end of their education, they are experts in the Bible, which is the ultimate goal.
The Job Description of a Faithful Pastor by John MacArthur (article + audio) - a pastor’s responsibility is to feed the flock of God so they can grow into Christ’s likeness. The measure of any man’s ministry is not the number in his congregation; it is the Christlikeness of his congregation. That’s what a pastor is. That’s what a shepherd is. In Acts 20, Paul says, “Be on guard for yourselves and all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.” And again, he brings in the fact that part of this shepherding is to oversee and care for your flock. That can’t be done in a media ministry. That’s a personal and intimate expression of responsibility to shepherd the church of God.
The Character of the Pastor by John Macarthur (article + audio) - A man of God is known by what he flees from, what he follows after, what he’s fighting for, and finally, what he is faithful to. The man of God is marked because he is faithful before God in whose presence he serves - the Creator and Sustainer of all life. He is faithful before Christ Jesus his Lord and Master, who witnessed His confession of faithfulness to the heavenly kingdom before Pilate. He is loyal to that heavenly kingdom that belongs to God and the Lord Jesus Christ and will keep the truth without stain and blemish.
Pastor-Theologians by Tom Ascol (article) - Christ intends for His churches to be led by men who meet specific qualifications. In his letters to Timothy and Titus, the apostle Paul writes very plainly about what the elders of a church must be. The main concern is character. They must be men whose lives are exemplary in holiness and also be doctrinally sound. They must believe truth sincerely and be able to teach it clearly. In the first chapter of Titus, after highlighting the moral qualifications that every elder is to possess. He “must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to instruct in sound doctrine and rebuke those who contradict it.” (Titus 1)
For Church and Minister by Martyn Lloyd-Jones (audio) - Based on 1 Corinthians 3, his sermon discusses the importance of the church and its pastor and how the two relate to each other. Dr. Lloyd-Jones begins by laying out three points centered around Paul’s letters to various congregations and his relationship with them. First, an unsupportive church can significantly hinder the pastor and his ministry. Second, a good church can fill a vital role by encouraging its pastor. Finally, as Paul declared in the epistle, his best testimony is a church filled with people seeking the Lord and following the pastor’s instruction. Like an ambassador, pastors are appointed by God to their position to speak on His behalf to His people. They are the shepherd, and their responsibility is not just to be the “nice guy” but rather one who speaks the truth of God’s Word.
How open should pastors and church leaders be about their sin? by Steven Lawson and Joel Kim (article + video) - If a pastor falls into immorality, he’s disqualified from pastoral ministry. As he resigns from his church, he needs to confess the sin he has fallen into fully. If the pastor misses a green light when driving to church, is frustrated, and hits the steering wheel, I don’t think that needs to be confessed before the church. Those would be the two opposite ends of the spectrum.
The Healthy Church by Lawson Harlow (article) - what to expect when you join a healthy church.
John MacArthur explains the primary role of the pastor.
In this episode, Nathaniel and Ekkie discuss how vital it is that every Christian understand the role of a Pastor. Do deacon boards, search committees, or elders determine the role of a pastor, or has God pre-determined his role? These are questions that are answered, plus many others in this episode.
This episode discusses what the pastor wants to see in the people he shepherds. Ekkie and Nathaniel pastor churches in different locations and share their hearts for the people they shepherd and what every pastor wants for his flock.
Pastors are called to shepherd the flock of God. But what does that look like? In this podcast, Burk Parsons explains the role of pastors and elders in the church and the life of a Christian.
The Crucial role of an Associate Pastor.
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