On June 16, 1875, the Milwaukee Sentinel published this want ad for a new pastor:
Wanted—A rector for St. James' Church. He must possess all Christian graces and a few worldly ones; must have such tact and disposition as will enable him to side with all parties in the parish an all points, giving offense to none; should possess a will of his own, but agree with [everyone in the church]… Must be willing to preach first-class sermons and do first-class work on second-class compensation—salary should not be so much of an object as the desire to be a zealous laborer in the vineyard; should be able to convince all that they are miserable sinners without giving offense. Each sermon must be short, but complete in itself—full of old-fashioned theology in modern dress: deep but polished… should be young enough to be enthusiastic but possess judgment of one of ripe years and experience. Only he who possesses the above qualifications need apply. To such a one will be given steady employment for a term of years (Milwaukee Sentinel, June 16, 1875, Leadership, Vol. 2, no. 2; www.PreachingToday.com).
I had to laugh when I read that, because they’re asking for the impossible. They want a strong-willed man who agrees with everyone, a young man with years of experience, and a preacher who offers short but complete sermons and convinces everyone that they are sinners without offending them.
I wonder. What do you expect of your pastor? Well, if you’re looking for the perfect pastor, I invite you to turn with me to Exodus 28, Exodus 28, where God describes the perfect minister as reflected in his clothing. God says to Moses…
Exodus 28:1-5 “Then bring near to you Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the people of Israel, to serve me as priests—Aaron and Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. You shall speak to all the skillful, whom I have filled with a spirit of skill, that they make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him for my priesthood. These are the garments that they shall make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a coat of checker work, a turban, and a sash. They shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons to serve me as priests. They shall receive gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen (ESV).
God wants Moses to employ the best craftsmen to make beautiful and ornate clothing of the finest material for the high priest and his descendants. The gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarns reflect the same colors of the inner curtain of the tabernacle, which convey the glory and beauty of its Occupant, God Himself.
For the priest represents God before the people even as he represents the people before God, but no human being can do that adequately. So, if you’re looking for the perfect pastor, you have to look beyond any human being. You need to look to Jesus Christ Himself.
The writer of Hebrews says, “Jesus is our High Priest: Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man” (Hebrews 8:1-2).
Jesus is our High Priest, ministering in heaven itself, of which the tabernacle on earth is only a poor copy. So, if you’re looking for the perfect pastor…
LOOK TO JESUS, who reflects the glory and beauty of heaven itself.
Look to our beautiful Savior. Look to the Lord, who alone perfectly reflects the glory of God. Every other human being will disappoint you.
In his book Culture Care, Makoto Fujimura tells of a time when he and his wife were newlyweds. He writes:
As a newlywed couple, my wife and I began our journey with very little. After Judy and I got married in the summer of 1983 we moved to Connecticut for Judy to pursue her master’s degree in marriage counseling. I taught at a special education school and painted at home. We had a tight budget and often had to ration our food (lots of tuna cans!) just to get through the week.
One evening I was sitting alone, waiting for Judy to come home to our small apartment, worried about how we were going to afford the rent and pay for necessities over the weekend. Our refrigerator was empty, and I had no cash left.
Then Judy walked in, and she had brought home a bouquet of flowers. I got really upset. “How could you think of buying flowers if we can’t even eat!” I remember saying, frustrated.
Judy’s reply has been etched in my heart for over thirty years now. “We need to feed our souls, too” (Fujimura, Makoto, Culture Care, InterVarsity Press, 2017, p. 1; www.PreachingToday.com).
My dear friends, feed your soul by gazing on the beauty of Christ. If you’re looking for the perfect pastor, 1st, look to Jesus, your beautiful Savior. 2nd…
LOOK TO JESUS, YOUR INTERCESSOR.
Look to the Lord, who prays for you every day. Look to Christ, who constantly bears your name before your Heavenly Father. You see this in the ephod God instructs Moses to make for the High Priest.
Exodus 28:6-14 “And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and of fine twined linen, skillfully worked. It shall have two shoulder pieces attached to its two edges, so that it may be joined together. And the skillfully woven band on it shall be made like it and be of one piece with it, of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen. You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth. As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree. And you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders for remembrance. You shall make settings of gold filigree, and two chains of pure gold, twisted like cords; and you shall attach the corded chains to the settings (ESV).
The ephod, worn only by the high priest, was an apron-like garment attached at the top with two shoulder straps. It’s colors reflected the inner curtain of the tabernacle, and it’s shoulder straps contained two onyx stones, on which skilled craftsmen engraved the names of the 12 tribes of Israel, 6 on each stone. That way the high priest bore the names of God’s people on his shoulders before the Lord.
You see, before any minister can talk to people about the Lord, he must first talk to the Lord about his people. Before he can preach, he must pray for those he is preaching to. That’s what God calls every spiritual to do. But dear friends, we do it so imperfectly. We forget to pray sometimes, and we don’t always know what to pray for.
However, there is One who prays for you constantly and with powerful results.
Hebrews 7 says, “He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
Jesus, our High Priest, always lives to make intercession for you, which results in your ultimate salvation.
Not too long ago, David Brooks wrote in The New York Times about a woman with a brain injury who sometimes falls to the floor. People around her would rush to immediately get her back on her feet before she was quite ready.
She told her rabbi, Elliot Kukla, “I think people rush to help me up because they are so uncomfortable with seeing an adult lying on the floor. But what I really need is for someone to get down on the ground with me” (David Brooks, “What Do You Say to the Sufferer?” The New York Times, 12-9-21; www.PreachingToday.com).
That’s what Jesus does for you! He gets down on the ground with you. Then He ascends to heaven to bear your name before His heavenly Father, from Whom you receive real help in your time of need.
If you’re looking for the perfect pastor, 1st, look to Jesus, your beautiful Savior. 2nd, look to Jesus, your intercessor. Then 3rd…
LOOK TO JESUS, YOUR COUNSELOR.
Look to Christ, who shows you the right way. Look to the Lord, who lovingly leads you down the best paths. You see this in the breastpiece God asks Moses to make for the High Priest.
Exodus 28:15-30 “You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, in skilled work. In the style of the ephod you shall make it—of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen shall you make it. It shall be square and doubled, a span its length and a span its breadth. You shall set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle shall be the first row; and the second row an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold filigree. There shall be twelve stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel. They shall be like signets, each engraved with its name, for the twelve tribes. You shall make for the breastpiece twisted chains like cords, of pure gold. And you shall make for the breastpiece two rings of gold, and put the two rings on the two edges of the breastpiece. And you shall put the two cords of gold in the two rings at the edges of the breastpiece. The two ends of the two cords you shall attach to the two settings of filigree, and so attach it in front to the shoulder pieces of the ephod. You shall make two rings of gold, and put them at the two ends of the breastpiece, on its inside edge next to the ephod. And you shall make two rings of gold, and attach them in front to the lower part of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, at its seam above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. And they shall bind the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, so that it may lie on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, so that the breastpiece shall not come loose from the ephod. So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the LORD. And in the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron’s heart, when he goes in before the LORD. Thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the LORD regularly (ESV).
That word “judgment” describes the act of deciding a legal dispute or case, a task God assigned to the priests (Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages). You see, when two Israelis had a legal dispute they could not resolve on their own, they consulted a priest who rendered a decision for them (Deuteronomy 17:8-13). Well, here, the high priest bears the names of the children of Israel on his heart, along with the instruments that help him decide what they should do—the Urim and Thummim.
Now, no one really knows how the priest used the Urim and Thummim to discern God’s will. One commentator suggests that the Urim and Thummim were two stones, one which represented a negative answer and the other a positive answer (John Hannah, Bible Knowledge Commentary). However it worked, it is clear that the high priest rendered his decisions with two concerns on his heart—God’s people and God’s will, love and truth, mercy and justice.
Earthly leaders tend to skew one way or the other—to apply the law without mercy, or to show mercy without regard to God’s law. But the best decisions are made when you have both on your heart. We leaders do it so imperfectively, but there is One who perfectly balances mercy and justice.
Hebrews 2 says of Jesus, “He had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:17-18).
Jesus is both merciful to people and faithful to God’s law. Think of the way Jesus treated the woman caught in adultery. Her accusers wanted to strictly apply the law and stone her. Jesus, on the other hand, refused to condemn her, but told her, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:1-11).
In his book Let Your Life Speak, Parker Palmer, a Quaker, tells the story of how God used Palmer's friends to shape his vocational path in a significant way. Palmer had been offered the opportunity to become the president of a small educational institution. He was certain the job was for him, but he honored the tradition of the Quaker community, which is to call on a dozen trusted friends to engage in a "clearness committee," a process in which "the group refrains from giving you advice but spends three hours asking you honest, open questions to help you discover your own inner truth." Palmer writes that the initial questions were all very easy, until someone simply asked, "What would you like most about being a president?" He writes:
The simplicity of that question loosed me from my head and lowered me into my heart. I remember pondering for at least a full minute before I could respond. Then, very softly and tentatively, I started to speak: "Well, I would not like having to give up my writing and my teaching… I would not like the politics of the presidency, never knowing who your real friends are…. I would not like having to glad-hand people I do not respect simply because they have money… I would not…"
Gently but firmly, the person who had posed the question interrupted me: "May I remind you that I asked what you would most like?"
I responded impatiently, "Yes, yes, I'm working my way toward an answer." Then I resumed my sullen but honest litany. …
Once again the questioner called me back to the original question. But this time I felt compelled to give the only honest answer I possessed, an answer that came from the very bottom of my barrel, an answer that appalled even me as I spoke it.
"Well," I said, in the smallest voice I possess, "I guess what I'd like most is getting my picture in the paper with the word president under it."
I was sitting with seasoned Quakers who knew that though my answer was laughable, my mortal soul was clearly at stake! They did not laugh at all but went into a long and serious silence—a silence in which I could only sweat and inwardly groan.
Finally, my questioner broke the silence with a question that cracked all of us up—and cracked me open: "Parker," he said, "can you think of an easier way to get your picture in the paper?"
By then it was obvious, even to me, that my desire to be president had much more to do with my ego than with the ecology of my life—so obvious that when the clearness committee ended, I called the school and withdrew my name from consideration. Had I taken that job, it would have been very bad for me and a disaster for the school (Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak, Jossey-Bass, 2000, pp. 45-46; www.PreachingToday.com).
Parker’s friends combined the truth with love and directed him down the right path.
Carol Mayhall, author and speaker, put it this way: “Honesty is not always the best policy. Truth must be married to love; honesty must be intertwined with kindness (Carole Mayhall, Marriage Partnership, Vol. 11, no. 2; www.PreachingToday.com).
If you need direction in life, seek such friends, friends who are both honest and kind. Most of all, seek the Lord, who better than anybody bears you and God’s will on His heart.
If you’re looking for the perfect pastor, 1st, look to Jesus, your beautiful Savior. 2nd, look to Jesus, your intercessor. 3rd, look to Jesus, your counselor. And 4th…
LOOK TO JESUS, YOUR PROTECTOR.
Look to Christ, who shields you from any real harm. Look to the Lord, who guards you from certain death. You see this in the blue robe God asks Moses to make for the High Priest.
Exodus 28:31-35 “You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. It shall have an opening for the head in the middle of it, with a woven binding around the opening, like the opening in a garment, so that it may not tear. On its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet yarns, around its hem, with bells of gold between them, a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, around the hem of the robe. And it shall be on Aaron when he ministers, and its sound shall be heard when he goes into the Holy Place before the LORD, and when he comes out, so that he does not die (ESV).
The blue robe was worn under the apron-like ephod with ornaments of pomegranates and bells hanging off the hem. The sound of the bells kept the high priests from dying when he entered God’s presence. One commentator suggests that “the ringing was to take the place of knocking at the door of Jehovah’s palace, as an abrupt entrance into the presence of a great king was punished with death” (Keil & Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament).
Perhaps. But more likely, the jingling bells just let those outside the tent know that their high priest was still alive as he represented them before the Lord. It was a signal of God’s mercy in preserving the priest’s life as he interceded for those outside the tent, because he and they are not worthy to stand before a Holy God. However, all the priests eventually died if not in God’s presence, then later on of other causes.
The author of Hebrews says, “The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but [Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:23-25).
Jesus died and rose again, so now He is our forever High Priest, guaranteeing our eternal salvation.
The Apostle John says, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).
When a believer sins (and all of us do), Jesus pleads our case as our High Priest before a Holy God. He intercedes on our behalf, reminding God that He already paid for those sins. It’s like the bells on the hem of the High Priest’s robe. Listen to them jingle in heaven, letting you know that you are safe as Jesus intercedes for you.
If you’re looking for the perfect pastor, 1st, look to Jesus, your beautiful Savior. 2nd, look to Jesus, your intercessor. 3rd, look to Jesus, your counselor. 4th, look to Jesus, your Protector. And 5th…
LOOK TO JESUS, YOUR SAVIOR.
Look to Christ, who bears your guilt before a holy God and so delivers you from God’s wrath against your sin. You see this in the headpiece God asks Moses to make for the High Priest.
Exodus 28:36-38 “You shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet, ‘Holy to the LORD.’ And you shall fasten it on the turban by a cord of blue. It shall be on the front of the turban. It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall bear any guilt from the holy things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts. It shall regularly be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD (ESV).
As the high priest bore the guilt of the people when offering their gifts, he made them acceptable to God. He declared that they were “holy to the Lord” and brought them God’s favor.
However, in a greater way, Jesus brought us God’s favor when He bore our guilt on the cross.
The author of Hebrews says, “Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:23-26).
Jesus put away sin once and for all when He died on the cross, bearing your guilt. Then He entered into God’s presence in heaven with a sign on His forehead, “Holy to the Lord.” He declared that every believer is set apart to God and brought them God’s favor.
If you’re looking for the perfect pastor, 1st, look to Jesus, your beautiful Savior. 2nd, look to Jesus, your intercessor. 3rd, look to Jesus, your counselor. 4th, look to Jesus, your Protector. 5th, look to Jesus, your Savior from sin. And finally, if you’re looking for the perfect pastor…
LOOK TO JESUS, YOUR PURIFIER.
Look to Christ, the One who cleans up your life. Look to the Lord, who helps you overcome sin to serve the Living God. You see this in the rest of the clothing God asks Moses to make for the High Priest and all the other priests.
Exodus 28:39-43 “You shall weave the coat in checker work of fine linen, and you shall make a turban of fine linen, and you shall make a sash embroidered with needlework. “For Aaron’s sons you shall make coats and sashes and caps. You shall make them for glory and beauty. And you shall put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. You shall make for them linen undergarments to cover their naked flesh. They shall reach from the hips to the thighs; and they shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they go into the tent of meeting or when they come near the altar to minister in the Holy Place, lest they bear guilt and die. This shall be a statute forever for him and for his offspring after him (ESV).
The priests clothing included linen underwear to cover their nakedness. Again, unlike the Canaanite priests, who exposed their nakedness to encourage immorality, God’s priests covered their nakedness to encourage purity.
Now, it’s hard to think of Jesus wearing underwear, but He is our High Priest, who purifies those who believe in Him.
The author of Hebrews says, “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16).
Jesus understands our struggle against sin and helps us in that struggle. In fact, His blood purifies us from all sin (1 John 1:7).
The author of Hebrews also says, “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:11-14).
Do you want a pure conscience? Then look to Jesus, the only one who can make you clean. The Old Testament priests couldn’t do it with their rituals. In fact, no spiritual leader can make you clean. Only Jesus! So look to Jesus, your protector, your savior, and your purifier.
Author Nijay Gupta tells the story of six boys who ran away from their homeland of Tonga in 1965.
The young boys stole a boat and headed out hastily in search of Fiji (some five hundred miles away). They took a sack of food and a small gas burner stove, but no map or compass. Due to their amateur sailing skills and the unfriendly seas, they were lost, adrift for eight days, until they finally spotted land. They ended up on the deserted island of Ata. These Tongan boys were stranded there for fifteen months.
Their rescue finally came through Australian Captain Peter Warner, who happened upon them as during a return sail from the capital of Tonga. Casually focusing his binoculars at a nearby Ata Island, which was thought to be uninhabited, he noticed a burned patch of ground. He said during a later interview, “I thought, that’s strange that a fire should start in the tropics on an uninhabited island. So, we decided to investigate further.”
As they approached, they saw a teenage boy rushing into the water toward them; five more quickly followed. When the boy reached the boat, he told Mr. Warner that he and his friends had been stranded for more than a year, living off the land and trying to signal for help from passing ships.
Immediately after Wallace delivered them back home, they were arrested for stealing the boat they had “borrowed.” Warner took pity on them and paid the boat owner $200 to get the kids off the hook. Furthermore, Warner decided to quit his job in Sydney and stay in Tonga long-term. He started a fishing business there and hired the shipwrecked boys as his crew. Warmer mentored and stayed friends with some of them for the rest of his life. One of the boys said, after several decades of friendship, “He [Warner] was like a father to me” (Nijay K. Gupta, 15 New Testament Words of Life, Zondervan Academic, 2022, pp. 121-122; www.Preaching Today.com).
That’s what Jesus does for those who put their trust in Him. He not only saves you, He protects you and gives you a new life.
If you’re looking for the perfect pastor, 1st, look to Jesus, your beautiful Savior. 2nd, look to Jesus, your intercessor. 3rd, look to Jesus, your counselor. 4th, look to Jesus, your Protector. 5th, look to Jesus, your Savior from sin. And 6th look to Jesus, your Purifier.
Every other spiritual leader will disappoint you. Only Jesus completely satisfies all who come to Him. Please, come to Him this morning and find Him to be more than enough. Dear Jesus…
All of You is more than enough for all of me,
For ev'ry thirst and ev'ry need.
You satisfy me with Your love,
And all I have in You is more than enough (Chris Tomlin, Enough).
