What is the Purpose of Pastors

Introduction

The church today has a variety of different models for how the church should function, but one thing is common among most churches is that they are led by the pastors. Earlier we preached on congregational rule in the church; so why do we need a pastor? Why not just have the men of the church rotate preaching or giving a word of exhortation as the Quakers did? While the congregation makes some decisions in the church, God has ordained that churches be led by pastors in those decisions. In fact some decisions in the bible were not made by the congregation, but by the elders themselves.

Paul commanded Titus in Titus 1:5 “For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:”

And he Himself practiced this in his ministry Acts 14:23 “And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.”

Even in churches that have pastors, the role of the pastor is different from church to church. Some pastors only preach sermons and then they run out the door as soon as they are done. Some focus on administration of the church and build giant ministries with a social media presence. Some are strictly teachers while others spend a lot of time doing interpersonal ministry or service. In many mega churches today, the pastor is merely a CEO of a large corporation. Some even have their own satelite ministries which function like franchises of the church.

So what does the bible say the role of the Pastor is in the church? Tonight we are going to do a survey of some of the passages that give us a basic pastoral theology. They tell us what the pastor should be doing.

Preaching and Teaching

We will start with the most obvious; in fact this role of the pastor is one of the only distinctions between the qualifications for a deacon and the qualifications of a pastor. 1 Timothy 3:2 “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;” The word apt here means able to teach or skillful in teaching. Pastors need to be able to explain the scriptures to others and apply those scriptures to daily life. Obviously skill in teaching comes from practice; so we should not expect a new pastor to be as good at it as an experienced pastor; but we all know when someone just doesn’t have the ability to teach. This skill presupposes knowledge. He must be a man who knows his bible. Elsewhere Paul tells us he is not to be a novice- a new Christians largely for this very reason. His faith has not been tested and he has not had the time to grow in his knowledge.

Later in 1 Timothy 4:16 “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” The pastor has a responsibility to take heed unto the doctrine or teaching. His study of the scriptures is a serious task that he is to put a lot of effort into. This is not a pastor who gets up Sunday morning and decides what he will preach that morning. There are churches in the South that do not believe a pastor should ever study, but should just preach what the spirit puts on his heart in the moment. This fails to take into account that the Pastor is to take heed to his teaching, but also it assumes that God cannot lead you in advance on what you are to preach.

Many assume that Pastors only work one or two days a week. For a pastor to obey this verses, he will not be working just a couple days a week. Much time will be spent in study. To do this well, you need more than just a few hours a day. The estimate for expository preachers for the amount of time it takes to study, outline and write one message is 8 hours of work. If the preacher is preaching Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday nights and possible Sunday school that is 24-32 hours just in study a week. Then you add the times of actually delivering those messages, visitation, counseling, administration ect. No pastor who is doing the work of the ministry truly works just two days a week.

Paul tells us why it is important for a pastor to take heed to the doctrine: you will save both yourself and those that hear you. In our world today, there are a lot of voices clamoring for us to follow them. The winds of doctrine shift with every passing season. Study, preaching and teaching save deliver both the preacher and his audience. Preaching challenges us with the word of God in areas we may have forgotten to apply the word to. It also reminds us of truths we may have forgotten.

Sometimes this work of preaching and teaching will be negative. A pastor who only preaches you things that make you happy and comfortable is not doing his job. Just as a shepherd at times had to corral or even discipline the sheep to get them to stay out of trouble; so a pastor at times has to speak a stern word about sin. Titus 1:9 “Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.” The word convince is more clearly convict. It carries the idea of rebuking. While the general tone of the pastor should be one of teaching sometimes rebuke is in order. If someone where driving off of a cliff, you wouldn’t say he can I explain why that road is dangerous to you and what it might cost you. No in that moment you might yell, “Watch Out! There is a cliff ahead!” There is a sense of urgency, and seriousness to his rebuke.

Feeding the Flock

1 Peter 5:1–3 “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.”

Acts 20:28 “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”

One of the names we give to elders in the church is pastor. The word pastor literally means a shepherd and it paints the picture of someone who takes care of leads and feeds the flock of God, his church. This name for the office of pastor is not used often in the NT, but when it is, it is emphasizing the role of the pastor as a shepherd who feeds the flock.

If we want to understand Christian elders and their work, we must understand the biblical imagery of shepherding. As keepers of sheep, New Testament elders are to protect, feed, lead, and care for the flock’s many practical needs.” Alexander Strauch

There is a real need in churches for spiritual meat. How many churches might be starving because their pastors only ever feed them junk food. They never plummet the depths of biblical truth, they don’t explore the application of scripture to our deepest problems. They are satisfied to teach meaning with application. They avoid doctrine because doctrine divides.

Spurgeon claimed

“I know of no way of keeping God’s people together like giving them plenty of spiritual meat. The simple shepherd said that he tied his sheep by their teeth, for he gave them such good food that they could not find better, and so they stayed with him. Be this our custom as the Holy Spirit shall help us.”

People need to be fed and the pastor is the one who is supposed to be feeding them. But what is the food? 1 Peter 2:2 “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:” 1 Corinthians 3:2 “I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.” Jeremiah 15:16 “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.”

The pastors responsibility is to preach the word. He isn’t to get up here and give his opinions; or weigh in on his thoughts on culture or politics. Rather he is to bring scripture to bear on all matters of life whether it is christian living, culture, politics ect. The food he must provide is God’s word. Without that true food people will be malnourished.

There is a tendency among people in churches to run from one church to another church and usually the excuse given is “I wasn’t being fed there.” While that may be true in some churches, there are a few reasons you might not feel fed:

You aren’t seeking something from God in the preaching

You want to hear about certain things of your choosing (picky eater)

You can’t handle meat even though you might want it

You are only concerned with your spiritual needs and not others

Truly if a pastor preaches the word of God, he has fed you. No pastor is required to chew the food up for you and make you swallow. But a good shepherd will lead you to the best of waters and the greenest of pastures because he has been eating there himself. If a pastor does not Take heed therefore unto yourselves, he will have nothing to feed the flock with. It is imperative that before you can feed others you have fed yourself. If you are going to pour out living waters from your vase; you must make sure it is full.

Maturing Believers

Ephesians 4:12–13 “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”

Pastors are also responsible for maturing the believers. The word perfect appears in this verse twice, but they are different words. The second time it is used it refers to a complete, mature man. God gave pastors the responsibility to help saints grow into adult Christians, to help them be conformed to the image of Christ. Everyone of us in this room is at a different level of spiritual maturity. I might be up here preaching but that doesn’t necessarily mean I am the most spiritually mature believer in the room. We all have room to grow. Pastors are intended to help in that process.

But if we go back to that first time the word perfect shows up, we are told how pastors do this work. Perfecting of the saints- this first word perfect literally means equipping. As a pastor I am to equip you. To give you the tools you need for something. But what is it I am to equip you for. This verse has three fors in it, but in Greek two of them are not the word for. They are the word in. Let me read this to you as it is in Greek the language God gave the words in: And he gave some on the one hand to be apostles and some to be prophets and some to be evangelists and some to be pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints in the work of the ministry in building up the body of Christ…

So my job as a pastor is to equip you for ministry. As we will see in Romans 12, God has called all of us to minister or serve one another. We are all called to help edify, to grow each other. But the pastor is called to train you to do that. To give you the tools and the opportunities to serve. These two things are tied together because as you are trained and equipped, you grow in maturity and you help others grow in maturity.

Caring for the Flock

James 5:14 “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:”

Pastors are called not just to shepherd the sheep in good times, but in the bad as well. I am not going to spend a lot of time here, but notice who is called when there are sins to confess and when there is sickness in our lives. The pastors of the church pray and annoint the sick.

Oversight of the Church

1 Peter 5:1–3 “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.”

In our democratic society, authority structures are viewed as oppression and any form of authority is resisted in the church. And yet, God has given pastors a role of oversight. This means they are responsible for watching over the church, protecting the church from danger whether internal or external. Oversight is related to management which includes calling to account those who are in unrepentant sin, intervening in disagreements, and taking care of the administration of the church.

It isn’t too different from managing employees at CFA. Part of my job as a management in CFA, included sitting down with employees to go over employee reviews (to help them grow); training employees to do their jobs, making sure the building is unlocked and the lights and air are on, making sure everything is ready to go. Writing employees up when they break the code of conduct, fixing problems that arise and dealing with customers. All of these activities are oversight of the business. If I do not do my job, my boss would at some point fire me from my position. This is why the author of Hebrews says:

Hebrews 13:17 “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”

This verse is about pastors not secular leaders because pastors are the ones watching your souls. As a leader, one of the lessons you must learn early on is that you can get in trouble for the things those underneath you do. You may not have done anything wrong, but you have to give and account for those you are supposed to be watching over. Here we are told to obey them and submit to them so that they can give an account with joy.

Now there are limits on this authority:n

not by constraint- don’t do it just because you feel you have to

not for filthly lucre- you should be in it to make money

not as an overlord- we are shepherds not kings.

Be an Example

1 Peter 5:1–3 “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.”

The pastor is also to be an example of how a Christian should live. People should be able to look at him and follow his example because he is following Christ. In fact, this is the primary way in which he leads the church. He doesn’t do so from behind with a whip to get the sheep to move, but he leads from up front.

Conclusion