What is the work of the Pastor- elder? In
our day there is much confusion about the nature and the purpose of the
pastoral ministry. The pastor/elder, depending
on whom you speak to, is sometimes
thought to be a social worker, or a psychologist, a teacher, a facilitator, a motivational
speaker, an administrator or perhaps a problem solver. And churches do have problems! You know of
course that wherever two or three are gathered together, problems develop! You
only have to read Paul’s epistles to see
that. Egos are easily bruised, procedures become messed up,
arrangements become confused, plans go wonky, temperaments clash! There are marriage problems, work problems,
child-raising problems, committee problems, emotional problems, and the first we normally look to are the
pastor-elders to interpret, explain, administer, organise and
solve all this. Clearly, nobody can be and do all this.
So what is the essence of Pastoral work?
Acts 20: 17-38 : A helpful paradigm - Paul counsels the elders of the Church at Ephesus
In Acts 19 we saw
that Paul spent almost three years in Ephesus. It is by far the most time that
he had spent anywhere in the churches in the regions of Asia and Macedonia and
Greece. Here a church was born, and to this church was written the wonderful
letter to the Ephesians. Many years after this, John the last surviving apostle
writes from the island of Patmos, more than 40 years after the founding of the
church at Ephesus. He says that he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day and that
he was directed by the risen Lord Jesus to write alternatively a letter of
warning or a letter of encouragement to 7 churches in the Asian region (Rev. 1:9-20). The first letter was directed
to the Ephesians and we know that it is a letter of warning. At that time they had become a church that
had an orthodox flavour about it, but it had abandoned its first love. There
can be no guessing what that means. They had become like the Pharisees who had
an orthodoxy about them, but they had no love for Jesus. I remind us all that orthodoxy
not rooted in a real love for the Lord Jesus Christ kills!
So Paul is now done with his ministry in Ephesus. From there he went back up to Macedonia and
then again down to Greece. After
ministry there, presumably in Corinth, he got on to a ship (20:13) and in Acts 20:22 we read that Paul was
on his way back to Jerusalem,
with the love gift for the poor brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. They stopped over at Miletus, not
far from Ephesus and there Paul asked that the elders of the church at Ephesus
should come to see him. He had some important last words to share with them.
Last words are powerful. They are condensed and full of
weight.
Paul's last words to the Ephesian pastors/elders about their work are
deeply instructive.
1. Paul begins with an appeal for them to consider his own life as a
minister of the gospel , and please note, that it is not a sign of pride for him to say what he said in vv. 18-21. It was the truth after all!
2. Then he informs them of his plans (vv. 22-24). He
says that he is ‘constrained by the Spirit’ to go to
Jerusalem, knowing very well that he is in constant danger of being imprisoned
and hurt by his enemies. He informs them
that he does not care much about his own life. He must finish the course and
the ministry which he has received from the Lord Jesus, the ministry of testifying to the gospel of the grace of God.
3.
He informs them that he thinks that it is unlikely that they will see
him again, and he makes it clear again that they understand
that he has not omitted to tell them anything they needed to know for their
life and ministry in Ephesus. He says, “I
did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” (20:27). That in essence is the mandate of a biblical pastoral ministry. The
work of the pastor is to make the whole counsel of Scripture known to the flock.
4.
However, the pastoral ministry is not easy to maintain for reasons now given
in vv.
28-30. The pastoral ministry, the gospel
ministry threatens Satan’s kingdom like nothing else on earth. The gospel is the undoing of Satan’s work on
earth, and pastors lead the charge . Now tell me: Who do you think Satan would love to get out of the way , if
not the true shepherds of God? “Strike the shepherd and the sheep of the
flock will be scattered” (Matt.
26:31 cf. Zech. 13:7)
So now the counsel of
the apostle to the Ephesian elders becomes relevant in 5 ways:
(i) "Pay careful attention to yourselves …". The first duty of the pastor-elder is to make sure that his own spiritual life is
in order. How can he preach/teach/lead, if
his life does not lead by example? We all know the proverb "Actions speak louder than words" -
so why do pastors spend so much more time on the preparation of words, and how
they might look and come across, rather than looking at their lives? Why should anyone have confidence
in someone who leads us only with biblical words but with no biblical actions? So
then the pastor's first work is to make sure that he keeps watch of over his own soul. Life in a fallen world affects the elder as
much as it affects his flock. This requires a reflective, prayerful and careful
way of living and thinking, fueled by a
solid knowledge and understanding of the Word of God. Reflection upon God's Word should therefore first
sink into the soul of the pastor, before He preaches to others. Our profession
of what we believe should be first seen in our own life, our speech, our public conduct and especially
in terms of how we treat our families.
A particular area in which a pastor-elder needs to watch
himself is in the temptation to let his
personality and ambition rule. I mention
that, because if slackness
in devotional habits has killed thousands of pastor/elders and their ministries, then pride, the great snare of a spiritual leader, has slain her ten
thousands. Pride in the heart of a pastor -elder gives Satan an opportunity to invade the church. More about that in v.30. So Pastor- Elders, Shepherds, Overseers must
constantly work against their flesh and say to themselves repeatedly, ‘Not I , but Christ!’ John the Baptist
said, ‘ I must decrease , He must
increase!’ (Jn 3:30).
(ii) Elder’s must keep watch to themselves and to all the flock. How do overseers keep watch over their flock? The main task is
to feed them with the Word of God. The work of the teaching pastors of the
church is to have regular times with their
people, to equip them, train them,
counsel, encourage, rebuke them with the
help of God's Word - the Truth. Listen to what William Still says to pastors:
"It is to feed sheep on such truth,
that men are called to churches. If you think that you are called to keep a
largely worldly organisation, miscalled a church, going, with infinitesimal
doses of innocuous sub-Christian drugs or stimulants, then the only help I can
give you is to advise you to give up the hope of the ministry and to go to be a
street sweeper; a far healthier and more godly job , keeping the streets tidy,
than cluttering the church with a lot of worldly claptrap in the delusion that
you are doing a job for God. The pastor is called to feed the sheep, even if
the sheep do not want to be fed. He is certainly not to become an entertainer
of goats. Let goats entertain goats, and let them do it out in goat-land. You
will certainly not turn goats into sheep by pandering to their goatishness. Do
we really believe that the Word of God, by His Spirit changes, as well as
maddens men? If we do, to be feeders of sheep, we must be men of the Word of
God… (and p.23)… "The ministers who are the greatest failures are not
necessarily those who make such havoc of a church that they have to pass on
and leave someone else to put Humpty Dumpty together again (for that
may mean merely re-establishing the synthesis of church and world again) , but
the greatest failures are those who, having tried to "run" Christ's
church as a money making racket, a clockwork train, or a social free for all ,
depart and leave a spiritual wilderness behind them, in which the one thing
that is not known at all is the Word of God."[1]
(iii) Pastor – elders are to undertake their ministry with the
knowledge that it is laid upon them by
the Holy Spirit! They need to consciously work in submission to
the Holy Spirit who calls them with the common consent of the church (Acts 13:1-3), and who works through them by His own inspired Word.
Many people think that any Dick, Tom and Harry can preach, as long as
he can open his mouth. Paul makes it very clear that the call to preach is a
matter of being Spirit - enabled! Those
among the elders who are called
to preach and teach in the main
must have an awakening ministry. There must be a response to the Word preached. William Still says it again: "The whole soul of man, even ungodly
man, cries out against the Word of God as a dead thing. But where the Spirit of
God is, there may and will be unpleasant manifestations, but there will not be
boredom. Divisions there will be, some for and some against- that is another
story - but there will be life, and the Word of God will cut and melt ice, even
if it confirms the unmeltability of some ice!"
It is important that pastor-elders lead the congregation with Spirit directed power and if the
Spirit of God be not with them in that ministry then may God have mercy upon the
congregation!
(iv) Pastors are called
to oversee the flock.
This is not a matter of lording it over God's people (1 Peter 5:1-3), but a matter of making
sure that God's flock are encouraged to behave in accordance with His word. What
sort of pastor is it, when one of God's people runs headlong into sin, does
nothing about it? Of course it is notoriously difficult to bring back a wayward member. They always will resent
being challenged and rebuked. But is it not an act of love to rescue a sleeping
person out of a burning house? Congregations must realize that it is the
pastor's duty to inquire into their spiritual health, and to ask questions, and
to visit with them pastorally. I get the impression that many people don't like
it when pastors do that. They would rather have a smiling tea-drinking sort of
chap that doesn't challenge them. Remember they are accountable to God for your
souls. Do not hinder them in their work. Encourage your pastor to visit you -
particularly when you are struggling!
(v) Pastors are called
to protect the flock. Every biblical church is a thorn in Satan’s side. Spiritual wolves
converge upon the flock.
- Sometimes they come from the outside (v.29) and they prey particularly on weak sheep. It is in the nature of sheep to be careless at times. Often they walk where angels fear to tread. They stray off the road into Satan’s domain, and then he mauls them because they become careless. Many sheep live with the consequences of their disobedience - some with greater consequences than others. Pastors can do very little when some of their people begin to flirt with sin - the flesh, the world and the devil. Often the only thing pastor elders can do, when their people have been hurt by Satan through their obedience is to tend them and to nurse them back to spiritual health.
- However in v. 30 Paul also reminds us that Satan’s wolves may also come from the inside … speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Did you know that the church is not always the safest place from Satan’s attacks? Satan finds people in leadership with sinful dispositions, and he frequently uses such that occupy a teaching office in the church, to cause division and confusion and church splits. We have seen all these things at Eastside in the 33 years of our existence.
5. Consider Paul’s passionate and repeated warning in v. 31. Paul is a
faithful pastor himself, and he warns these Ephesian pastors to watch
themselves and to expect to be attacked, within and without.
6. Consider Paul’s prayerful commitment of these pastors in v.32, and his repeated affirmation concerning the integrity of his ministry in vv.
33-35. How we need to have pastors to our pastors who speak the truth in
love and remind them not to be naïve concerning the nature of the pastoral ministry.
7. Consider Paul’s
moving closing prayer as they all kneel
on the beach, as they would ask the Lord of the church to keep His flock at Ephesus. At the beginning and at the end of the work of the pastor there is the unwavering commitment to prayer for the flock of Jesus.
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