Purpose of a Pastor

Introduction

The last several messages I preached have been asking the question: What is the Church? We saw that Matthew 16:13-18 describes the Church as the thing which fights against the Gates of Hell and in 1 Timothy 3:14-15 described the Church as a Pillar and Buttress of Truth. We have seen that the Church is NOT a place of Brick and Mortar but rather the church/ ἐκκλησία is the well-defined assembly of the citizens of Heaven. It is described in scripture as both the Universal Church, All believers everywhere, and the Local Church, a specific local assembly who regularly meet together. Thus, to be saved is to be, by definition part of the Universal Church. However, we also saw that the pattern of Scripture is that when a person is saved, they are then connected with a local Church in which they carry out the commands of our Savior-King in community, together. We then looked at the two ordinances that the Church is commanded to carry on. Those two ordinances being: The Lord’s Table and Baptism. With the Lord’s Table, we look back and remember the cost of our sin. We see the bread and we remember Jesus’ body broken in my place. We see the cup and we remember His blood spilled out to pay my debt of sin. In the Lord’s Supper we are reminded that sin is not a small thing, but that as Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Then with the ordinance of Baptism, a believer takes that step of obedience and publicly proclaims through the physical act of water baptism that they have been immersed into Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:13 “For in one Spirit we were all baptized/immersed into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” Then we looked briefly at the Spiritual Warfare we engage in on a day to day basis and how the vast majority of spiritual warfare we deal with will have nothing to do with demonic activity. Rather spiritual warfare is most commonly fought in the day to day normal activities of prayerfully obedience your king. As individuals we do this by daily putting on the whole armor of God and standing in the strength of His might. As a Church, we do this through Unity with one another, Loving One Another, and by being Humble with One Another. This brings us to today. Today we will be overviewing what might be considered a side note to the topic of what is the Church? That side not being: What is the purpose of a Pastor? Now if you ask 5 random people off the street what the purpose of a pastor is, you will probably get 5 different answers, so like everything in life, we need to return to scripture and see, what is the purpose of a Pastor?

Descriptions of a Pastor

Within the pages of Scripture we find 5 different words all used to describe the same role of responsibility. Those are Pastor, Overseer, Elder, Preacher, and Teacher. Pastor/Shepherd (Eph 4:11) is an Old Testament idea that is brought into the New Testament and refers to “one who shepherds” carrying the idea of feeding, guiding, and protecting a specific flock. Jeremiah 3:15 , God promises “‘And I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” Overseer (Titus 1:7) is just that, one who oversees (think a manager). Elder (1Peter 5:1-5) refers to both the Dignity and Authority of the Office, for an Elder is one who “exercises oversight” of a specific group. Preacher (1Tim 2:7) refers to One who proclaims the message of God’s truth and finally Teacher (Eph 4:11) refers to an Instructor of God’s Truth. Each of these carries a different aspect of the responsibilities that are bound up together in the office of what we here simply refer to as “Pastor”. One who leads a local flock of God is and must demonstrate the dignity of the office, he must shepherd and oversee, and he must be able to preach, and a teach. This is the reason the character of the man who would fill this office becomes extremely important. Thus scripture gives commands as to the Character of the Person who would fill this position of responsibility. It is not enough that the person who desire the position is a skilled speaker, or is very nice. His character MUST meet certain requirements. Thus...

Character of a Pastor

We find the character of a pastor described in both Titus 1:5-9 and 1 Timothy 3:1-7 “The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.” So we read that a person who desires the position desire a noble task. Yet just because the task is noble does NOT mean everyone who desires to do it is qualified to do it. If I desired to do the electrical installation of a house, I am desiring to do a needful task. Yet I am not qualified to carry out that task. Just because someone has the desire to do a task, however Noble or Important, does NOT mean they are qualified to do that task. Therefore, the one who desires to do this work must be above reproach/blameless. This does not mean that a pastor must be perfect, but that his reputation must be able to withstand assaults from opponents inside or outside the church. (Remember the Apostle Paul had enemies from both inside and outside the church.) He must be a one-woman man. Faithful to his wife and the vows he took. He must be sober-minded/clear-headed/temperate. To quote one scholar, “The overseer is to maintain command of his reason, to be watchful and observant of things going on around him, and balanced in his assessments.” Self-controlled over his own behavior, impulses, and emotions. This does not mean the man is a stoic, but rather he controls his emotions and does not let them rule him. Respectable and hospitable. He must be able to teach. This requires having the intellectual ability to take the truths of scripture and make them able to be understood. As one scholar notes “The church has been at its weakest when this basic requirement has been absent in its leaders.” He must not be a drunkard. He must not be a violent person, meaning quick to come to blows. Rather gentle. This word covers a wide range of things from “forbearing in justice” to “tolerant and conciliatory” when used in reference to kings, it means “showing clemency”. The KJV translates this as patient. He must not be quarrelsome. He doesn’t go around picking fights. This does not mean he won’t fight, but rather he does not go around stirring up trouble. It has the idea of Peaceable. He is not a lover of money. He is not greedy. He must manage his own household well, because if he cannot manage a small thing, how will he manage the God’s Church? He cannot be a recent convert. Jay Vernon McGee relates a story “I had the privilege for several years of teaching a Bible study group of Christians in Hollywood. It was natural for them to want to push to the front some prominent personality who had recently made a decision for Christ. However, the cause of Christ is hurt when those who are young in the faith attempt to speak on matters of doctrine about which they are not knowledgeable.” How many times have we seen that in our modern culture. A person, no matter how skilled, popular, or intelligent he may be, is UNQUALIFIED to be a Pastor. And the final characteristic of a Pastor is that he is must be well thought of by outsiders. In other words, if a man doesn’t pay his bills in the community, if he is untrustworthy in the community, if he has a bad reputation in the community, he is not qualified for the position of Pastor. So here we find a list of the qualifications that someone who desire the office of a Pastor MUST have. But why you may ask? Because a Purpose of a Pastor is to be a living example. 1 Peter 5:3 “not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.” Did you notice something remarkable about this list? What is remarkable about this list is just how unremarkable these requirements are. For nearly every requirement for the office of a Pastor is the normal requirement of a normal christian living in obedience to Christ. Thus a Purpose of a Pastor is to be an example of godly character as described here.

Purpose of a Pastor

So what is the purpose of a Pastor? Well we see For that we turn to Ephesians 4:11-16 “And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Read that first part again. Christ gave shepherds/pastors why? to Equip the saints. If you are a Christian, you are a saint. The purpose of a pastor is to equip you so that you can do the work of the ministry. And what we see here is that when the saints, are doing the work of the ministry, the result is that the body as a whole is built up. And this building up is not something that will be fully achieved until we see Christ. Yet when the saints are doing the work of the ministry, it will lead to spiritual maturity in both knowledge and godly character. Maturity is not simply knowing a lot of information. If that were the case a lot of high schoolers would be more mature than some of our grandparents who only had an 8th grade education. Nor is maturity simply having godly character. Spiritual Maturity is when both biblical knowledge and tested godly character are bound together. Thus helping people pursue spiritual maturity is where we find the Purpose of a Pastor. His purpose is to equip you not just with the answer to your immediate question but biblically teaching you how to find the answer for yourself as well as being an example of how to live this life in a God-Honoring way. So what is the Purpose of a Pastor?

Application

Purpose of a Pastor: is to shepherd, oversee, preach, and teach the Flock of God all while demonstrating the dignity of the noble task to which he was called.

Purpose of a Pastor: is to be a Living Example of Godly Character. As I said earlier, the list of qualifications for the office of a Pastor is remarkable for being unremarkable. Above reproach, faithful in marriage, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money, someone who runs their own household well. All of these are the goal of every Christian. The only truly unique qualification for a a Pastor is the ability to Teach. Thus the Purpose of a Pastor is to be a living example of Godly character. Now a warning: No pastor is perfect. Human tendency is to exult leaders to unduly high positions or to unduly debase them. Both are wrong. We must keep all things in their proper place.

Purpose of a Pastor is to Equip the Saints: The Pastor’s Job is NOT to Bury People and Marry People. His Job is NOT to wait on tables and visit everyone who may get sick. All of these things are good and it is good for a Pastor to do them. But that is NOT his purpose. That is the job of the saints. You. It is your job to do the work of the ministry. It is your job to grow godly character and in knowledge of God’s word well enough to share it, to encourage one another with it, to build one another up. The Pastor’s job is to equip you with the truths of scripture and with examples of how you are to do that. Remember, the unique requirement given to the Office of a Pastor is that he must be able to teach. In fact the ministry of the word of God, the teaching and preaching of it, is the primary responsibility of all Pastors. Doing other things are good and right, but it is not primary. The work of the ministry is to be done by saints. And when the Pastor is faithful in equipping and the saints are faithful in ministering, the flock of God will not be carried around by every wind of false doctrine, nor by silver-tongued false teachers who mix a bit of wrong into a pot of good.