God's Good Authority in the Life of a Pastor

I see this conference as an opportunity each year to bring local pastor’s together who are laboring in the trenches of New England gospel work, to get you to see one another, and to remember that you’re not doing this work alone.

I’m thankful for each one of you, and the work you are doing to shepherd the flock of God that is among you. I’m grateful for the church members, wives, and elder teams who are here, because a pastor’s work is a shared work. It cannot be done in the right way without others who are holding up the arms of the weary, and stirring one another up to love and good works.

I want us to look at a familiar passage together in Acts 20.

Turn to Acts 20 and lets read from v. 25-32

“And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. 32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified

Let’s pray

Consider that directive from the Holy Spirit, to pay careful attention to yourselves.

In the show The Office, that character, Kelly, applies for the manager position that just came available. She tells the interviewers that she has management experience, because she is the head of her department. They ask “The department is just you, right?” To which she replied “Yes, but I’m not easy to manage.”

What would pastoring be might be like if you only had to shepherd other people? You are not easy to manage, are you?

So, very simply and clearly, I want to share just 5 things about God’s good authority that can help you keep watch over yourself, oversee others well- and find the encouragement to stay faithful in the work.

The authority that made you an overseer

The overall sense we get from Scripture is not that a pastor feels a calling and therefor he gets to lead a congregation. The emphasis is really on the character of a man, and the authority of the church to recognize his character and appoint him to that office.

It’s a matter of faith in what God’s word says about the office. It may include a love and a passion for the work (in fact I think it should), but much more than this, there needs to be a serious understanding that the local church WILL downgrade when unqualified overseers are in their pulpits. There’s a greater authority that is at the foundation of all of the biblical characteristics of a shepherd.

Consider what the Apostle says in v28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.

Brothers, we need to feel the weight of our calling as it pertains to the authority of God, who alone reserves the right to call and appoint men to His Church.

Who is it that makes a man qualified to be an elder in the church? The Holy Spirit. Who gives a man the wisdom to oversee in the church? The Holy Spirit. Who gives a pastor/elder the strength for the tasks of caring, teaching, counseling, disciplining, protecting? The Holy Spirit does.

Not only is this humbling to remember, but it is also encouraging in seasons of sorrow, fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Since it is the Holy Spirit who makes an overseer, then it must be the Holy Spirit who keeps him Him.

In Elliott’s Commentary he notes: “The appointment, as referred to the Holy Ghost, implies, probably, (1) the inward call, the impulse which drew the man to the office; (2) the attestation of that call by the voices of the prophets, as in Acts 13:2, 1 Timothy 4:1; (3) the bestowal of gifts fitting them for the work.”

Remember Acts 13? Notice there in v.1

“Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. 4 So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went...”

In the thick of ministry, family life, and work, you need more than a fleeting feeling to look back on. You need to be able to look back on a greater authority that called you, and the gracious means by which he affirms one’s calling through the local church, and the laying on of hands.

No doubt Paul draws from his own experience when encouraging the Ephesian elders to pay careful attention that their life as overseers of God’s blood-bought flock be rooted in this truth: The Holy Spirit put you there, act accordingly.

Now notice what it says in Acts 20:2-27 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

2. The authority to declare God’s purposes

Consider the text. What is counsel? It’s like advise. God is Counselor, and He has counsel to give to all of His people, including his overseers.

This certainly includes the counsel of His Word, old and new Testament - because therein contains the revealed will of God. But as Paul is speaking it here before any Bible was canonized, we need to take it to mean what he intended it to mean.

The Word Paul uses can be translated “purpose”, or “will”.

Based on Paul’s words, that he did not shrink back, we know he’s not talking about easy Christianity. He’s not saying, “I’m innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink back from declaring to you that God has a plan for your life” any any number of other things that Paul probably would not have recognized as Christianity. There are purposes of God that must be declared, and that if we do not declare, make us culpable.

in v32, He passes the mantle. “And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”

Brothers and sisters, fellows pastors and leaders…God has given you the authority to declare His purposes of grace. You are not a pastor to declare your purposes, or to make people happy, or to make it on to the list of most liked churches in your community. I don’t know how someone can get there without compromise at some level.

You know that sermon you prepared, or the counsel you needed knew you needed to give, or the truth you needed to stand on that was never going to get you popular, but by doing so you could declare yourself innocent, and your conscience clean, because you did not shrink back? That’s the kind of authority we have behind us, brothers?

Listen to Spurgeon on this:

There is a tendency in this age to throw doctrinal truth into the shade. Too many preachers are offended with that stern truth which the Covenanters held, and to which the Puritans testified in the midst of a licentious age. We are told that the times have changed: that we are to modify these old (so-called) Calvinistic doctrines, and bring them down to the tone of the times; that, in fact, they need dilution, that men have become so intelligent that we must pare off the angles of our religion, and make the square into a circle by rounding off the most prominent edges. Any man who doth this, so far as my judgment goes, does not declare the whole counsel of God. The faithful minister must be plain, simple, pointed, with regard to these doctrines. There must be no dispute about whether he believes them or not. He must so preach them that his hearers will know whether he preaches a scheme of freewill, or a covenant of grace-whether he teaches salvation by works, or salvation by the power and grace of God.

As a called minister of the Gospel, and an overseer in the Church of Jesus Christ, this authority of God’s purposes stands behind you to strengthen you. You have words supplied for you so that you never need to be short of what to say, how to say it, and to whom you must say it.

This is an applicable word for leadership teams to consider together as well. What is the purpose of your local church as you lead together. Is it to declare the whole counsel of God, and not shrink back?

3. The authority of His Blood

This is the final, and most crucial point I can make to you as pastors, and for all Christians.

Look at what Paul says at the end of v28. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

Right now I want to really encourage your heart with some truths.

The blood of Christ did not only purchase redemption for your congregants. He purchased you life too! He payed your sin debt, cancelled your guilt, gave you His righteousness, covered your sins with His holy blood, and HE approves of you, not because you’re a good pastor or good preacher, but by your faith in Christ alone the Father has justified you.

Deacon, members, elder, aspiring pastor, young and old… You are not your own. You were bought with a price. YOU HAVE BEEN OBTAINED.

That’s the authority of the blood of Christ in your life.

But also, this authority, the purchasing power of Christ’s blood, and that it is by grace, helps orient us to care for the flock.

Remember what Paul said to the Thessalonians? 5:14 “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.”

There are idle, fainthearted and weak people in the church and they need care. Who’s caring for them? Christ is, and His ministers. And as you do, keep the Gospel front and center, for that is your strength, and you may even need to preach it to yourself often “He obtained them with His blood.” (x2)

And it is by this authority that is over us, and ministering to us, that righteous and precious blood of Christ for sinners, that our hearts are made humble, filled of compassion, patience, and perseverance.