Pastors

One of the reasons the Church is in such a state of confusion today is that the church has become unbalanced. We are going to take a journey throughout the Bible in this teaching, and we shall begin with a jump from Genesis to Revelation.

There is a lifetime of knowledge to be gained just from the first 6 books of Genesis. The creation story is so deep and has such a wealth of knowledge, it is difficult to comprehend just how much can be gained from it.

One thing you will learn in an in-depth study of the Creation is that there was and is great intended order to it. Everything God has done has order and a hierarchy—a rank and file system, in common terms.

Everything was created in order, and then Adam (mankind) was created and given dominion over it, all under the Godhead. To simplify—God, then man, then the animals and the Earth itself. Order is a trait of God, and Satan is the father of confusion.

Before we jump to Revelation, let’s pause a moment in the book of Ephesians, chapter 4, 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.

Now, I will not begin to speculate whether these are listed in a specific order of importance, but what I can tell you is that these are the chosen by the Lord God! Remember this from Matthew 22:14, For many are called, but few are chosen.

God calls many to salvation, but few are chosen to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, or teachers. Why? Why are many called and few chosen? I believe I can give some explanation for this from my own experience.

God chooses a few because they are the ones that will! When I was chosen to teach, it was hard for me to understand. I had that question, “why me?” I prayed and prayed asking God, “why me?”, over and over. Then one morning, after I had just spoken to the Lord and said, “I don’t understand, but I will do my absolute best to please you in all that I do.”

Shortly after my prayer time, the Holy Spirit spoke to me. (I am not saying I heard an audible voice; it’s more easily described as a loud thought.) My answer came to me that morning, and the answer was, “Because you would.” I knew then that my “why me?” had been answered.

My best friend is a pastor and he has come up with a very effective method for culling those that have been chosen from those that want to do.

When someone goes to him and says they think they are being called into the ministry, he will ask them if there is anything else they can do or can think of where they would be satisfied serving God. This in itself often separates those who have been chosen from those who fancy themselves chosen.

I had no idea I had been chosen; I just knew that my only desire was to serve the Lord. It was revealed to me by others that I had been called to Teach.

I’ll explain the list in Ephesians 4. Apostles were followers of Christ during the time of His presence—those who knew Christ and proclaimed His majesty from firsthand knowledge. Prophets are those who are sent to deliver a message of coming events, generally to a specific group or nation.

Evangelists are those called to proclaim, lead, and guide through the use of the Word of God towards salvation. Pastors are those who proclaim the Word, turning those that have ears to hear toward the Lord Jesus. Pastors are also those that shepherd the Church. Teachers are those who give the details, explain the application, and give great meaning of the Word of God.

Let’s get back to the Pastors. If you study the Bible in-depth, you will learn that those who are chosen will be spoken to differently by God. Yes, God through the Holy Spirit speaks to your Pastor differently and more in-depth than He does to you.

God holds your Pastors in a high place—He holds them there because much is required of them! This part of this teaching is where many will begin to turn away, because they cannot accept that God would place a higher expectation on the Pastor than He would them, or that somehow God has given a man charge over them, but He did, and He does, and we as Christians must understand this fact and show reverence to the Lord’s decision and the Men He chooses!

Here is the Biblical proof—when John was exiled on Patmos, Jesus came to him with what we call the “Revelation”. In this time, the Scripture tells us that seven lamp-stands appeared in front of John. These represented the seven churches of Asia—Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Then the Scripture tells us that in Christ Jesus’ hand were seven stars.

The seven stars were the Pastors of the seven churches of Asia. Think about this for a minute—the churches were shown to John as freestanding lamp-stands, but the Pastors were held in the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Revelation, we are taught that when Jesus appeared to John, the eyes of the Lord were like fire. (These are the eyes of Judgement. ref. Ezekiel) Jesus was gazing in His authority as Lord in judgment upon the churches of Asia, but He held the Pastors in His protective hand.

Read closely and you’ll notice the Lord was not gazing at the pastors but towards the churches. We must have a firm understanding of how Jesus Christ places our pastor in a place of reverence in the Church. Jesus even addressed the churches differently than He did the Pastors.

When Jesus told John to write the letters to the seven churches of Asia, John was told to address them to “The Angel” of each of those churches. The phrase “the Angel” in itself has great meaning. It shows us Christ has designated our Pastors as His personal messengers.

This is enough to understand that the Lord speaks differently to Pastors than He does the churches. These men, our Pastors, are the presenters of the message they receive from the Lord through the Holy Spirit.

As Christians, we must realize the Pastors’ position as the Lord has placed them. Contrary to popular belief, our Pastors are not there to serve the people of the church! The people will gain from the Pastor’s obedience to the Lord. We must not put expectations on our Pastors outside of Preaching the Word of God. We should not busy them and consume all their time.

When we feel convicted by the message or disagree with it, we should not run and complain to the Pastor. If the message was in accordance with God’s Word, then we have a duty to present ourselves in prayer before the Lord with our issues.

As I stated, it is not the Pastor’s duty to serve the members of the church. That is the duty of the Deaconship. Our Pastors must have time to study, pray, hear the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and not be overburdened with needy people. When the order of the church is running in accordance with the will of God, the church will become effective. If not, then the church will struggle and be in discord, not only in their worship but with one another.

In closing, I believe it to be a sin to disrupt the calling of our Pastors and prevent them the time required to serve the Lord properly as His messengers to His Church.

The church doesn’t need more people who think they are leaders; the church needs more people who know that they are servants!

Kenneth Kellar
A Man Called by God to Teach and Disciple