Appointed to Shepherd
“And He gave some as…pastors and teachers” (Eph. 4:11). There’s no doubt that professional clergy teaching the Word of God is a vital part of God’s plan for the church. But unfortunately, people can become overly dependent on a particular teacher for all their spiritual feeding, and some pastors can be in it for the wrong reasons.
Growing up in the church, I felt sorry for my pastors. I didn’t see what they did as having any glamour or real prestige to it. In my immature mind, they were sort of forced into it, ostensibly by God or some questionable motive, mostly against their will. In the denomination of my youth, it appeared that they weren’t even allowed to dress cool; long robes on Sunday and plain suits with a distinctly uncool collar on the other days. Nope, that wasn’t for me. On the other hand, professional basketball, now that was cool.
I guess I didn’t see pastors as real people of influence. As I saw it, people feeling obligated to sit in a hard pew and endure a boring speech showed up and pretended to listen but didn’t appear to enjoy it. It seemed more like going to the dentist; you don’t do it for any other reason than you have to. But at least dentists make good money and indulge in fun stuff once in a while. Pastors dressed the way they were must have had boring lives, and no one could take them seriously.
I pitied a particular pastor who said he had a shot at professional baseball. I assumed his life must have been nothing but regret that he didn’t follow that dream and instead answered what he referred to as a “call” into the ministry; boring life—boring outfit. I honestly saw him as touched in the head to pass up an opportunity to be a pro athlete.
Then, after coming to know Christ in a personal way, my attitude began to change. For one thing, I learned that all pastors didn’t dress that way! I also started to respect a pastor’s influence on people’s lives. I saw the value of that unique call, but still not for me.
Even after attending and graduating from Bible college on a basketball scholarship, majoring in religion and biblical studies, the thought of being a pastor didn’t attract me in the least. I still pictured myself with a Bible (just for research) in one hand and a basketball in the other. Playing basketball in a packed arena was one thing, but opening my mouth in front of a crowd of any size, no way.
God had His plans, and eventually, He revealed them to me. As I grew in my unlikely role as a pastor, I learned the truth concerning my false assumptions about the clergy. However, some had always aspired to be in the pulpit to preside over crowds of adoring followers. Most saw the difference between the under-shepherd and the hireling. (John 10:11-13).
I saw that pastor-teachers have a tremendous responsibility related to God’s authority. We must point people to God through His Word and not use the Bible as bait to attract them to ourselves. Our influence is not permission for prideful self-promotion. We should be able to say with a straight face and a clear conscience, as Paul did, “I exhort you, be imitators of me” (1 Cor. 4:16).
Of course, the ultimate example is Jesus. Although His ministry drew crowds that would make many pastors salivate, He wasn’t interested in numbers. Instead, his focus was on authentic ministry despite drawing crowds.
In Mark 3, the numbers were so great that Jesus had to go out on a boat to preach to the crowds on the beach. Nonetheless, He focused on preaching, healing, and casting out demons. It didn’t matter that this created an opportunity to reveal Himself as one to be celebrated, the true Messiah. Instead, for Him, it was about the Father’s timing. So “He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was” (Mark 3:12). Some pastors take every opportunity to direct attention to themselves. Let’s pray for pastors who listen to God instead.
“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. ─Acts 20:28