UPPORTING THE WORK OF YOUR PASTOR (EPHESIANS 4:11-16)
The young preacher had just announced to his congregation that he was
requesting the dissolution of the pastoral relationship in order to
accept another call. He was standing at the door after the service
and greeting people, as preachers are wont to do, when one of the
elderly saints approached him, her eyes swimming with tears. She
sobbed, gOh, pastor, Ifm so sorry youfve decided to leave. Things
will never be the same again.h
The young man was flattered, but was equal to the situation and took
her hands in his and most benevolently replied, gBless you, dear
lady, but Ifm sure that God will send you a new pastor even better
than I.h She choked back a sob and was heard to say, gThatfs what
they all say, but they keep getting worse and worse.h
I am sure everybody is anxious to meet the next pastor. Who is he?
Where does he come from? What experience does he have? Is he
passionate or private? While all these are question on peoplefs mind,
they are not the most important questions. The more crucial ones are,
What is the pastorfs role in ministry? What does he do with Godfs
people? What is the best use of his time? Why does a church need a
pastor?
Equip the Church to Grow
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some
to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare
God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be
built up (Eph 4:11-12)
Your Pastor and mine:
If he is young, he lacks experience; if his hair is grey, he is too
old; if he has five or six children, he has too many; if he has none,
he is setting a bad example. If his wife sings in the choir, she is
being forward; if she does not, she is not interested in her
husbandfs work.
If he speaks from notes, he has canned sermons and is dry; if he is
extemporaneous, he is not deep. If he spends too much time in his
study, he neglects his people; if he is visible, he is a gadabout. If
he is attentive to the poor, he is playing to the grandstand; if to
the wealthy, he is trying
to be an aristocrat.
If he suggests improvements for the church, he is a dictator; if he
makes no suggestion, he is a figurehead. If he uses too many
illustrations, he neglects the Bible; if not enough, he is not clear.
If he condemns wrong, he is cranky; if he does not, he is a
compromiser. If he preaches the truth, he is offensive; if not, he is
a hypocrite. If he preaches an hour; he is windy; if less, he is lazy.
If he fails to please everybody; he is hurting the church; if he does
please everybody, he has no convictions. If he preaches tithing, he
is a money grabber; if he does not, he is failing to develop his
people.
If he receives a large salary, he is mercenary; if a small salary, it
proves he is not worth much. If he preaches all the time, the people
get tired of hearing one man; if he invites guest preachers, he is
shirking responsibility.
SO WHAT! They say the preacher has an easy time.
If you notice, the gifts God gave to the church are five, but the
word gsome,h which is the article (gtheh) in Greek, occurs four
times. This leads many scholars to suggest that the last gsomeh
modifies gpastors and teachersh together, not gpastorsh or gteachersh
individually. The role of pastors and teachers are inseparable. No
matter how caring, considerate and compassionate the pastor is,
without teaching, churches suffer, struggle and maybe shrink. Good
pastors are more than just relational, affectionate and kindly; they
must also be teachers, expositors and communicators of Godfs word.
The former is short-term, the latter longer lasting. Phillip Brooks
say, gThe preacher needs to be a pastor, that he may preach to real
men. The pastor must be preacher, that he may keep the dignity of his
work alive. The preacher, who is not a pastor, grows remote. The
pastor, who is not a preacher, grows petty.h (John Stott, The
Preacherfs Portrait, p. 81)
gPrepareh (v 12) in Greek is not a verb, but a noun, its only
instance of a noun of the said word in the Bible. The NASB
translation is gfor the equippingh and the KJV is gfor the
perfecting.h Its verb in the Bible comes with the practical
application for gmending netsh (Matt 4:21, Mark 1:19) and restoring
the lapsed (Gal 6:1). The intrigue is who does the works of service
in church – pastors and teachers, or Godfs people? From the text
equation, the pastorfs role is to equip Godfs people for works of
service, not to execute all the work by himself; not to expand his
empire, but empower Godfs people; not to electrify the congregation,
but equip the body. The presence of a full-time pastor could be a
liability if members see it as an opportunity to fold their hands,
shake their legs and doze to sleep, which is, unfortunately, the
widespread practice in many churches. The pastor is to provide
believers the training, give them the tools and teach them the trade.
A good pastor works himself out of a job, so to speak. Like a good
parent, his concern is for the churchfs independence and
interdependence, not dependence on him. Itfs been said, gGive a man a
fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed
him for a lifetime.h
The success of a church lies in Godfs people, not the pastor,
competently and confidently using their gifts, talents and resources
at their disposal. Godfs priority is not building up the pastor but
the parishioners, not the clergy but the church, who is His body, His
bride and beloved. In that sense, the bigger the pastor is in
peoplefs eyes, the smaller is he in Godfs eyes. The more
indispensable he is in church, the more ignorant he is about
ministry. While the pastor is crucial to the church, he is not
central in the church.
A pastor is a shepherd, never a therapist, a babysitter or a manager.
The former feeds the sheep, gives them water, and fends off
predators. Caregiving is the work of the whole church. If you find a
pastor-teacher who does his role, the church will function properly.
A pastor is strong in one of three areas - teaching, caring or
evangelizing, but never in all three. Of course, he must not be
uninterested, unconcerned and unresponsive in other functions either.
The ministry of encouragement is the membersf, not the pastorfs alone
to do. Often in the Bible, the verb gencourageh is incomplete and
complemented by the reflexive pronoun gone another,h addressing to
the church, not the pastor alone (1 Thess 4:18, Heb 3:13, 10:25).
The analogy for gbuilding uph (oiko-dome) is always structural,
architectural and residential. It comes from two words, ghouseh
(oikos) and gdoma,h an edifice or a roof. A house, unlike a hut or a
shed, is strong, stable and secured, not a house of cards, built on
sticks or built with straws.
Encourage the Church to Grow
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the
Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the
fullness of Christ. (Eph 4:13)
When I was a young pastor in my first church in the States in 1990,
an elderly lady from an Anglo church befriended me and told me of an
advice for pastors she heard from the pulpit:
gIn the first year, they'll idolize you; in the second year, they'll
utilize you;
In the third, they'll criticize you; in the fourth year, they'll
mutilize you; and
In the fifth year, they'll ostracize you.h
Itfs been said, gA pastor must be ready to preach, to pray and to
pack up!h
A pastor has a short tenure at a church, three years, experts say.
The success of a pastor when he leaves depends on whether he
accomplishes his task. The goal is to reach or attain three things,
as indicated by the three-fold Greek word geis,h or English gtoh
(verse 14fs first gin,h gandh gtoh and NASBfs three gtofsh)–
one,
unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God; two, become mature;
three, to the measure of the fullness of Christ. The three goals
therefore, are preserving unity, producing disciples and practicing
Christlikeness. The first concerns the community of Christ; the next,
the character of Christ; and the last, the conformity to Christ.
The stress of the first part is on the gunityh of the church.
This gunityh is not mentioned in any book or chapter in the Bible
except twice in chapter four, where verse 3 mentions gmake every
effort to keep the eunityf of the Spirit through the bond of peace.h
(Eph 4:3) There is no better witness than the unity of the church,
but there is no worse witness than the unraveling of the church. Itfs
been said, gIt takes months to build a house that can be wrecked in a
day.h In our multilingual, multicultural and multigenerational
church, with 80 worshippers from more than 10 countries, diversity is
our strength and our weakness. Unity alone wonft steer people through
the front door, but unity lost ushers people out the back door.
The second (gmatureh) refers to membersf mental and moral character.
A pastorfs success is not measured by church programs, church
property or church parking, but by the progress of his members in
their sanctification, steadfastness and surrender to Christ, and the
stride they made they in loving God, learn Godfs word and listening
in obedience. Are the members better off and more mature than when he
first came? To be mature is to reach onefs potential, make good
progress, and choose right priorities. There is no point leading a
church where there is no qualitative and quantitative growth, where
people are deadened to sin, dull of hearing and drunk with power.
Pastor Earnest Campbell says it eloquently:
gTo be young is to study in schools we did not build.
To be mature is to build schools in which we will not study.
To be young is to swim in pools we did not dig.
To be mature is to dig pools in which we will not swim.
To be young is to sit under trees, which we did not plant.
To be mature is to plant trees under which we will not sit.
To be young is to dance to music we did not write.
To be mature is to write music to which we will not dance.
To be young is to worship in churches we did not build.
To be mature is to build churches in which we may not worship.h
The third is to grow in Christlikeness. To be Christlike is to show
Christ in our attitude, behavior and commitment. It is to live a life
that is offered to Him, obedient to Him and ordered by Him.
Expect The Church to Grow
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the
waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the
cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up
into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole
body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows
and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Eph 4:14-
16)
Things you never hear in church:
11. I couldnft find space to park outside. Praise God!
10. Nothing inspires me and strengthens my commitment like our annual
stewardship campaign!
9. Pastor, wefd like to send you to this Bible seminar in the Bahamas.
8. Since wefre all here, letfs start the service early.
7. I love it when we sing hymns Ifve never heard before!
6. Forget the denominational minimum salary, letfs pay our pastor so
he/she can live like we do.
5. I volunteer to be the permanent teacher for the Junior High Sunday
School class.
4. Ifve decided to give our church the $500 a month I used to send to
TV evangelists.
3. Personally I find witnessing much more enjoyable than golf.
2. I was so enthralled, I never noticed your sermon went 25 minutes
over time.
1. Hey! Itfs my turn to sit in the front pew.
The delight of pastors, as indicated by the Greek gthath (translated
as gthenh in NIV), is seeing the members are no longer children.
Children (nepios) is made famous by Paulfs five-fold repetition of
the word in 1 Corinthians 13:11 - gWhen I was a child, I talked like
a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I
became a man, I put childish ways behind me.h
gChildrenh are not teenagers, youth, adolescent, minors or juveniles;
they are merely babies, infants or toddlers, learning to stand, walk
and speak. Children are used in the Bible in the context of having
to gcherishh (thalpo), cuddle and coddle them, not merely care for
them (1 Thess 2:7) and in the context of requiring milk, rejecting
solid food (Heb 5:13).
As a result, qualified by two Greek participles, the child
is gtossingh back and forth and gblowingh here and there. Tossed back
and forth refers to the raging sea; blown here and there refers to
the howling wind. The winds sway you, but the waves sink you.
There are two ginh prepositions in the passage: Verse 14fs gand byh
is ginh (en) in Greek, complemented by another ginh at the end of the
verse. The first preposition – gcunningh (kubeia) - is fraud and
scam, the second for gcraftinessh is trickery or sophistry, the
serpentfs tool on Eve, according to 2 Corinthians 11:3.
The contrast with the two participles – gtossing back and forthh
and gblowing here and thereh – is the participle gspeaking the
truth,h which is simply gtruthingh in Greek, the use of the
noun gtruthh as a participle, an action noun. Paul gives us the
strongest and foremost principle in communication - speaking the
truth in love. Speaking the truth without love hurts and hinders, but
speaking the truth in love honors, helps and heals. Both hurt, the
former passing, but the other permanent. One leaves foes, the other
friends. Speaking the truth in love is the healthy, honest and
helpful way; other ways will result in anger, antagonism and
aggression, succumbing to the dark side. Truth alone produces self-
righteousness, but love alone produces softies.
Conclusion: Are you giving the pastor the respect due his work and
his calling deserves? Do you know his financial and his familyfs
needs? Do you support your pastor in prayer? Do you instruct him or
inspire him? Are you doing your part by attending meetings, obtaining
training and volunteering service? Are you his ministry associate or
merely a church acquaintance? Is he your spiritual elder or an office
employee?
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