3.7.11
PASTORS AND TEACHERS -- Psalm 23
INTRO
Have you ever thought of entering the ministry? Maybe you have. Or maybe you haven't and you wonder how a church pastor spends their time during the week.
What is involved:
There is a well-worn joke that pastor's work only one day a week. It's about as funny as a 2.30 appointment at the dentist.
There are lots of committee meetings, action points to follow up on, phone calls and emails to respond to, visits to make, sermons to prepare, books to read, time devoted to personal devotions and prayer and finding a diversion from ministry in order to rest.
Much of what a full-time pastor does is hidden because of confidentiality. Pastoral work includes leadership, administration and bearing the burden that is sometimes placed upon a pastor's shoulder.
Burden bearing is a demanding part of pastoral ministry.
George Barna has collated some shocking statistics on pastoral ministry and the dropout rate because of what could generally be described as stress.
* Only 1 in 10 people who enter pastoral ministry will retire whilst still in some form of ministry.
* And the number one reason why pastors leave ministry is to do with direction, and the accumulating effects of the conflict that arises when Church people have differing ideas of the direction the Church should take but not willing to follow the same direction together. Congregations can be unwilling or very reluctant to change and follow in the direction that Pastor believes to be right and best for the Church together.
POINT
* In many respects Pastoral ministry today is similar to, but different from, pastoral ministry in New Testament times. At Westwood we recognise pastoral gifting in the membership. This is not only in the members of the pastoral team. There are others among us who have a notable pastoral gifts and ministry.
* What are the similarities and the differences we find between our practise and New Testament practise?
How can we be helped not only to recognise if this is our gift but also how we can excel in exercising it?
* In recent weeks we have taken a look at the three of the five ministries of apostles, prophets and evangelists in the early church. Today we are going to take a look at the last two ministries grouped together: that of pastors and teachers.
READINGS
Ephesians 4:11-16; Psalm 23
Expectations of pastors have altered through the generations. There was a time when churches would look for pastors to be evangelists who would persuade large numbers of people to become Christians. Later this shifted an expectation that the pastor's role was to nurture the congregation and respond to the needs of individuals. Now, in addition to the traditional roles of preaching, visiting and taking weddings and funerals etc the ability of the pastor is measured by their ability to organize, build and manage a complex organization, leading to new levels of growth. (James Thomson -- Pastoral Ministry according to Paul p9).
Let's return to what the Bible shows us.
THESIS: The role of the pastor/teacher is to assist Christian believers towards maturity in Christ.
What is involved in the process? What example can we follow?
Psalm 23 reveals how the Lord, the 'great shepherd of the sheep' goes about it.
SHEPHERDING
* What is the goal of the shepherd? Ultimately it is to ensure that the sheep become mature and productive.
* The work of a shepherd today is very different in many respects to that in Bible times.
* The shepherd stayed with the sheep for many years.
* Sheep were largely kept for their wool and not for meat.
* They were all known by the shepherd.
The intention was to arrange that the conditions were right for the sheep to be able to stay healthy, be safe and grow.
APPLIC -- The five ministry gifts of Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are all needed QUOTE:
'so that the body of Christ may be built up 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.' Ephesians 4:12-13
The work of the pastor/teacher is integrated with the work of the others. Apostles innovate, prophets speak from God into the situation, evangelists lead people to Christ and the believers are built up through the ministries of teaching and pastoral work.
The ultimate goal is that Christians become mature in their faith. How?
This is a word for those whose call and gifting is to pastoral ministry as members of the body of Christ.
But it is also for each of us as followers of the Good Shepherd.
1. FEEDING
'The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures'
The sheep were not force fed but led to places where they can be well fed.
Lying down indicates contentment. Sheep no longer graze when they are full. They lie down only when they feel safe.
Sheep need solid food. It is only the lambs that need milk that is ready-made for them.
POINT
In Bible times the shepherd did not gather the hay and then dump it in the field. He led the sheep to where they could feed for themselves.
APPLIC
Believers should not simply rely on listening to a Sunday sermon in order to grow spiritually. We need to learn to feed ourselves.
There are numerous ways and resources for this. Books, podcasts, prayer partnerships in which each partner covenants to follow the same Bible reading plan on a daily basis.
[New group beginning in the Autumn: a book reading group]
It is essential that we learn to feed on God's word for ourselves if we are going to grow up, be healthy and strong and mature.
2. LEADING
'He leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul'
POINT
If green pastures refer to spiritual nourishment, the quiet waters are a picture of God's unfailing grace.
The quiet waters are a symbol of the Holy Spirit of God.
Jesus said: 37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."[a] 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.
APPLIC
We need both the Word of God and the Spirit of God -- pastors and congregation alike.
Part of pastoral work includes not only equipping believers to feed from God's word, but also encouraging them to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit daily so that we can exercise the gifts and bear the fruit.
The work of the Holy Spirit is essential to the restoring of the soul.
3. GUIDING
'He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake'
POINT
A key difference between shepherds today and shepherds in David's time is that whereas today shepherds drive the sheep, in David's time shepherds led the sheep.
John 10:4 reads: 'When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice'
APPLIC
Part of pastoral ministry is to provide a good example. All of you who have a pastor's heart and do pastoral work among us, your ministry is more than that of a carer. It involves leading and guiding also.
People will be influenced by your example. You lead from front. In every form of pastoral ministry our example should be that through which others are guided into right paths.
In a sense we are all called upon to be like pastors. We should get some T shirts with 'sheep' written on the front and 'shepherd' written on the back, because this is what we are. We should take care that we are a good example to others. Luke wrote in Acts 20: 28 'Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God'
4. PROTECTING
'Your rod and your staff comfort me'
The rod was a cudgel with which the shepherd fought off predators. The staff was to assist in rounding up the sheep for their safety.
David told of times when he had to fight off not only a bear but also a lion in order to defend the sheep. A true shepherd has a strong commitment to the sheep.
Jesus said: 'The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me-- just as the Father knows me and I know the Father--and I lay down my life for the sheep.(John 10:12-15)
King David knew just how faithful the Lord was to him in the dangers he faced. So much so that he was able to say:
'Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil'
APPLIC
Pastoral work includes guarding the church against false doctrine, divisiveness, extremism, deception and every possible form of attack against it. This is largely the responsibility of the Elders of the Church who share in this aspect of pastoral ministry.
5. EVANGELISING
* In the pastoral letters in 2 Timothy 4:5 Paul exhorted Timothy by saying 'do the work of an evangelist'.
* And in James 5: 20 we read, 'Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins'.
Evangelism is included in pastoral work. This is different from the ministry of an evangelist. But a pastor cannot be a true pastor if he or she is unconcerned about the lost.
PARABLE
Remember the parable of the lost sheep. The shepherd ensured that the 99 were safe and he went out and looked for the one that was lost until he found it.
APPLIC
Notice how committed to the flock the shepherd is -- protecting and guarding with his life, and caring for the one that has strayed. This is the pattern set down for us who would be pastors, by the Great Shepherd of the Sheep.
CLOSING
As a young Christian I was at church one afternoon doing some work and someone was taking a Sunday School class in an adjacent room. She was teaching the children a memory verse and was going over it and over it again. It was this:
"My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them and they follow me. I give to them eternal life, and they will never perish, no one can snatch them out of my hand". [John 10:27]
She did not know it but because it took so long before the children had got it, I got it before them and I have never forgotten it.
It is a powerful verse full of powerful truths.
It would seem inappropriate at the end of a sermon on pastoral ministry not to issue the call of the Good Shepherd to those who either have not yet responded or who have strayed. Listen to his voice, follow him, know that he knows you, rest in his promise of eternal life and be assured: Jesus will never let you go.
