We call these letters chain letters and most of the time included in the letter is a curse of some kind if you break the chain.
Illus: There’s a story about a church that decided to include in their newsletter something similar. It had some tongue-in-cheek suggestions for church members that were unhappy with their pastor. It went like this:
"Simply send a copy of this letter to six other churches that are tired of their ministers. Then bundle up your pastor and send him to the church at the top of the list. Add your name to the bottom of the list. In one week you will receive 16,436 ministers, and one of them should be a dandy. Have faith in this letter. One church broke the chain and got their old minister back."
People are always joking about preachers. (At least I hope they are joking!)
Illus: Some people like to think of creative things to say to the pastor after service. They will say something like:
• "You always manage to find something to fill up the time."
• "I don’t care what they say, I like your sermons."
• "If I’d known you were going to be good today, I’d have brought a neighbor."
Most preachers have thick skin and they can take a joke. In fact, some preachers joke about themselves.
Illus: One preacher said, “Do you know how I knew I wanted to become a preacher? I woke up one morning with a strong urge for fried chicken and I didn’t want to get out of bed, so I knew I was called to preach.”
While there is a lot of joking about God’s man, it is one of the highest callings on the face of the earth.
Illus: Dr. Jerry Falwell, in the days when his popularity was soaring and many considered him as the next Billy Graham, was asked why would he not run for President of the United States. He said that he would not want to accept the demotion.
Pastoring and preaching are second to none, and my purpose for preaching this sermon is so that we have a better biblical understanding of how we are to work together as THE PASTOR AND THE FLOCK of God.
There are two ordained offices in the church:
• Pastors
• Deacons
Both of these positions are important in the church because if they were not, God would not have placed them in the scriptures. Let me show you three things concerning THE PASTOR AND THE FLOCK that we need to consider.
We see –
I. THE FELLOW
We talk about pastors being God-called. We do not talk about:
• Plumbers as being God-called
• Truck drivers as being God-called
• Doctors or lawyers as being God-called
But when we talk about the pastor, we refer to him as GOD-CALLED!
What does it mean to be God-called?
There are some today that say they are GOD-CALLED and God never called them. I am sure that some are in the ministry for the money.
Some of the wealthiest people alive today are television preachers. At one time, men like the PTL Club's Jim Bakker and television's Jimmy Swaggart seemed bigger than life! They seemed to be supermen that had been blessed with an uncanny ability to attract followers and money.
Later, they were only men - fragile, flawed, and the butt of jokes and newspaper cartoons. In many ways, it seemed like the beginning of the end for big-time TV religion.
BUT NOT SO! The only difference today is that the names have changed. They are raking in money hand over fist due to the ignorance of God’s people.
Illus: Consider these ministries:
• Joyce Meyer's heads a ministry with an annual income fast approaching $100 million a year.
• Kenneth and Gloria Copeland’s annual revenue is around $70 million and the man can not even preach!
• Jan and Paul Crouch’s ministry, according to the Los Angeles Times, provides the Crouches a $10 million, 80-acre, eight-home ranch near Dallas and two Land Rovers that the Crouches drive. In 2001, the couple bought a $5 million oceanfront estate in Newport Beach, Calif.
• Creflo Dollar’s ministry's income is unavailable, but newspaper accounts say the ministry paid $18 million in cash for his new 8,000-seat World Changers Church International on the southern edge of Atlanta. He drives a black Rolls-Royce and travels in a $5 million private jet.
• Benny Hinn is said to have an annual income now exceeding $90 million. Hinn told CNN in 1997 that he drew an annual salary of $500,000 to $1 million a year. He has a $3.5 million home in the Los Angeles area and drives an $80,000 Mercedes-Benz G500.
These only a few of the many out there raking in money hand over fist because of the ignorance of God’s people.
Listen, there have always been God-called men and there have always been people that did not FEED THE FLOCK BUT FLEECED THE FLOCK! These people are not God-called.
Illus: They remind me of the fellow that stood up in church and said that GOD HAD CALLED HIM INTO THE MINISTRY.
He went on to say that he was praying one day, and God showed him the letters “PC” in the sky. He that God was telling him to “PREACH CHRIST.”
He got into the ministry and after several years of hard times he appeared before that same congregation. He said, “Several years ago, I told you that God was calling me into the ministry when He showed me the letters ‘PC’ in the sky.” “I thought that meant, ‘Preach Christ.’” He said, “I just want you to know that ‘PC’ did not mean “PREACH CHRIST,” God was telling me to PLANT CORN!”
There are many people in the pulpit today that God never called and maybe they should be planting corn.
Illus: I have heard men say that God called them almost the same way He called the Apostle Paul while he was on his way to Damascus.
However, when you ask most ministers how they know God called them to preach, the answer is almost always the same: “You just know.”
How do you know you have a heart inside of you? You can not see it, but you just know it is there! When God calls a person into the ministry, they JUST KNOW! It is not something a man chooses to do with his life; it is something God chooses to do with his life.
We see THE FELLOW and -
II. THE FEEDING
WHY DOES GOD CALL THE PASTOR INTO THE MINISTRY?
His primary job is twofold:
(1) He is placed as the OVERSEER of God’s Church to PROTECT the flock of God.
Paul wrote to the elders of Ephesus and said, in Acts 20:28-30, “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. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.”
God knew that the church could not survive unless He called certain individuals and placed them as the OVERSEERS OF THE FLOCK.
There are a lot of false teachers and preachers out there that would like to make merchandise of God’s church. It is the duty of God’s man to make sure they do not get in among God’s people.
(2) He is placed as the OVERSEER of God’s Church to FEED the flock of God.
Look at 1 Peter 5:1-4, we read, “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. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”
Why did God call men into the ministry? To FEED the FLOCK OF GOD!
Many ministers are not able to feed the flock of God because:
• They are involved in too many social functions in the community
• They are involved in doing all the visitation of the church
God calls men into the ministry to FEED THE FLOCK OF GOD.
Illus: This is exactly why God placed those deacons in the New Testament church. The men of God got so involved in doing things that they did not have time for PRAYER and FEEDING THE FLOCK OF GOD.
Look at Acts 6:1-7, we read, “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.”
A good pastor knows how to delegate, because if he does not, the devil will have him so busy doing so many things, he will not have time for feeding the flock of God.
Illus: In Columbia, S.C., a pastor stayed on the road, visiting people. This man of God:
• Could hear of someone in the hospital and he would visit them.
• Could hear of a shut-in and he would visit them
• Could hear of a prospect for his church he would visit them
• Could hear of someone in jail and he would visit them
• Could hear of someone in the nursing home and he would visit them
This man stayed on the road, out of a loving heart, visiting with people almost seven days a week.
As a result his church began to grow into a very large church. The people came because they knew he was a loving pastor, but about everyone that you talked to in that church would tell you that he preached short, shallow sermons. Why? Because he did not have time to stay in the Word of God and feed the flock of God. This congregation was filled with weak Christians because they never got the spiritual nourishment they needed.
Feeding the flock requires that he realizes that:
• Some can only DRINK THE MILK OF THE WORD
• Some need the MEAT OF THE WORD
We see THE FELLOW, THE FEEDING and -
III. THE FLOCK
Look at 1 Peter 5:1-4 again, we read, “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. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”
The flock does not belong to the pastor; it belongs to GOD. The scripture says the pastor is to feed the FLOCK OF GOD.
We have some preachers that seem to think that the FLOCK OF GOD is their flock, meant to serve them.
NOT SO! God called and placed the minister in the church to FEED THE FLOCK OF GOD! The flock belongs to God.
Some congregations have been brainwashed to believe the pastor is someone to fear, because the pastor told them if they did not do certain things that bad things would happen to them.
Illus: One lady attended such a church, and the pastor, in trying to keep his congregation in line, had them living in such fear that they were afraid to leave. Years after she left the church, she was still so afraid that something bad was going to happen to her that she has been under a doctor’s care.
The pastor is to FEED THE FLOCK OF GOD; HE IS NOT A DICTATOR OVER THE FLOCK OF GOD.
Look at 1 Peter 2:2-4, we read, “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. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”
The Pastor is not a dictator that you bow down to. It is true that Paul talks about HONORING him. HOW CAN YOU HONOR HIM?
You can honor him in several ways, such as:
(1) THE FLOCK SHOULD HONOR HIM BY TAKING CARE OF HIM FINANCIALLY
Illus: In the Old Testament, some of the farmers would work an ox from daylight to dark. They were such tightwads that if the old ox as he was plowing would snatch an ear of corn, they would put a muzzle on him. But God said, in Deut. 25:4, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.” He takes care of you; you take care of him.
(2) THE FLOCK SHOULD HONOR HIM BY RESPECTING THE OFFICE OF PASTOR
We honor people that are over us. When I see my old football coach from high school, I still call him, “Coach.” I do not call him by his first name. I showed him respect then and I show him respect now by still calling him my coach.
(3) THE FLOCK SHOULD HONOR HIM BY GIVING HIM THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT IN SITUATIONS
There are some people that will say something about the pastor and there is absolutely no truth to what they are saying.
Illus: A man and his wife were going through a nasty divorce. He said to his wife, “I told the pastor everything that has taken place between the two of us.” The woman would not attend church because she was too ashamed to attend. But the man never had talked to the pastor. If she had talked to the Pastor, he would have told her, but she never talked to him.
(4) THE FLOCK SHOULD HONOR HIM BY HEARING AND OBEYING THE WORD
If I have gone to the trouble of answering God’s call, and of answering your call to proclaim God’s Word to you, then when God speaks to you through me, you should obey Him.
Conclusion:
Listen, God has promised a special blessing to the pastor that will answer his calling and PROTECT and FEED HIS FLOCK.
God said, “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”
We looked at –
I. THE FELLOW
II. THE FEEDING
III. THE FLOCK
