What Do We Want from Our Pastors?

Looking back on the many different churches I’ve been a part of, the matter of church leadership has always been a major concern. Pastors, elders, deacons (and deaconesses), board members, teachers, and various other office-holders appear in my memory in varying shades of “the good, the bad, and the ugly.” The overarching question that I keep coming back to is: What does the Lord of the church want His church to be? Because that ought to determine the nature of the church’s leadership.

Shepherding the “flock of God” is, or should be, a high and holy calling. Jesus prayed, not only for His immediate band of apostles and other followers, but also for “those who will believe through their word.” For the church of the future, all the way down to you and me. And He prayed that the Father would “sanctify them by Thy truth; Thy word is truth.” Throughout the Scriptures, the ministry of that sacred, sanctifying word is of paramount importance.

If you’re like me, you’re in constant need of reminding about “the basics.” I’m apt to forget what the Bible is. Not simply a written record of the opinions of those who lived centuries ago in a far-off land. It’s exactly the opposite. The Bible is the eternal truth of the living, ruling, supreme, saving God of the universe. The Bible’s message is as contemporary and relevant as if it had been written this very morning. And its truth, its WHOLE truth, is to SANCTIFY God’s people.

Parts of the Scriptures are thrilling, inspiring, fascinating, heartwarming, challenging. Other parts are strange, obscure, tiresome, uncomfortable, terrifying. But Christians consider “all Scripture” to be “God-breathed...profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God should be complete, fully equipped for every good work.” Serious Christians should desire to learn and treasure and obey “the whole counsel of God.”

Perhaps you find yourself in a church that seems content with lighthearted “sermonettes” on a Sunday morning. Your pastor picks his topic based on what he deems to be the “felt needs” of his people. Or the current crisis facing society the previous week. Or maybe he follows the dictates of the church calendar that rotates through a set litany of topics each year. Many pastors appear eager to make their flocks feel better about themselves and life in general. They portray God as a fountain of happiness, but downplay His desire to SANCTIFY us (make us HOLY).

Really, I’ve found that, by and large, a church will get the kind of pastor it WANTS. And very often, the kind it DESERVES. Unless a group of believers is truly hungry to be taught ALL of the Scriptures, that group will end up with a pastor who is more of a “hireling” than a shepherd. One who feeds the sheep with just what will keep them barely alive, not make them all that God wants them to be.

When was the last time that your minister preached through an entire book of the Bible? How about one of the difficult ones like Ecclesiastes or Ezekiel or Hebrews? Does your preacher tend to cycle through a limited pool of topics or preach only from the New Testament or even just the four Gospels? Would you be willing to go deeper and broader in God’s truth, if only your leader was willing to lead the way?

God gave us 66 books for a good reason. He knew what His people needed from all eternity, and He gave it to us in the form of a magnificent Book! Do we want a pastor who is everybody’s “pal” and keeps us all feeling good Sundays with his jokes and anecdotes and pep talks? Or do we want a scholarly mind that grapples with the depth and breadth of holy Scripture in order to challenge His people to make strides spiritually, preparing them for an unknown future that might include persecution and call for strong, sanctified soldiers of the cross?

What DO we want from our pastors? Isn’t it time to voice those desires in prayer? Isn’t it high time to be serious about our faith, our Lord, our churches, our world?

MNA
7/3/2020

Cheap Imitation God?

Atheism is on the rise. But, you know, that doesn’t bother me a whole lot...

According to the Bible, the inerrant word of God, true belief in the non-existence of God is itself non-existent. In short, nobody believes, in his heart of hearts, that there’s no God.

As a witty writer once quipped, “God doesn’t believe in atheists.” In the heart and mind of every man, woman and child, there is at least a haunting awareness that we are creatures: products of a transcendent Creator, made in some way like that Creator, and will be held accountable by Him.

So, no, the “new atheism” being promoted nowadays, even selling millions of best-selling books, is, to me, nothing to rob me of sleep after a grueling day on the job.

What bothers me much more, is the “god” so many so-called believers believe in.

Idolatry comes in all shapes, modes and manners. Gone, at least in our sophisticated times, are the honest, heathen, pagan idolaters who bow down to images of wood, stone and metal, like the golden calf fashioned by Aaron the priest while his brother Moses was up the hill receiving the Ten Commandments from the one true God. No, today, we are far less crass and overt with our idol-making.

And really, I’m not even much disturbed about the idolaters who worship at the shrines of pro sports stadiums, materialism gone wild, workaholism, kids and grandkids who can do no wrong, and other substitute “divine” pursuits.

What genuinely get me to the edge of madness, are the caricatures of the true God.

You know what a caricature is: the funny, cartoonish, pastel portrait an artist might draw of you while you pose for her at the mall or the fair ground. It is designed to bring a smile to those who know you and can detect the resemblance to the real thing because the artist focuses on one or two prominent features like your nose, haircut, or earlobes.

Caricatures are fun, but if an investigator is trying to find an actual person, he doesn’t ask for a caricature, but for a photo. Because, as the saying goes, “the camera doesn’t lie.” And everyone created in God’s image, being innately aware of the Creator’s existence, is called by that very awareness, to investigate...to somehow discover their Creator’s true identity and divine nature.

Thankfully, the invisible Being who created us and rules our universe--His universe, that is--hasn’t left us in the dark about who He is, what He’s like, or what He expects. As Christians, we are supremely privileged to have a whole library of sixty-six books we call the Bible. And in its pages we have God quite clearly and vividly revealed, described and explained to the human mind. We even have Him illustrated and literally “personified” in the incarnation of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ! How’s that for a reliable portrait?

Investigation over--problem solved, right?

Well, the sad fact is, a whole lot of “Christians” are dissatisfied with the picture of the real God captured so photographically in the pages of scripture. To many, the portrait it paints is a little TOO vivid...a bit TOO specific...and a great deal too unsettling. They read about a God who institutes a death penalty for crimes they see as minor offenses. They cringe at accounts of holy jihadist campaigns in Canaan. They wince at Psalms that rejoice in the conquest and destruction of God’s enemies. They wink or roll their eyes at St. Paul when he writes about a wrathful God, and hem and haw when the gentle Jesus preaches about hell as if it’s a real place.

Someone posted a blurb recently on a certain social media site, quoting a purported man of God who was criticizing those who portrayed God as vengeful and angry, bemoaning the criticism he received because he portrayed Him as too loving and tolerant. I wanted to ask the probing, but reasonable, question: “But, what if He’s BOTH?” Let’s have the humility and honesty to take a good look at the WHOLE picture.

Truth is, the Bible is God’s word. Yes, inscribed by human beings, but inspired by the invisible God so as to make Himself clearly visible and understandable to honest readers of all ages.

Truth is, God reveals Himself to be loving AND wrathful. Forgiving AND vengeful. Tolerant AND demanding. Life-giving AND life-taking. A gentle Father AND a consuming Fire. “Jacob I have loved and Esau I have hated.” We may have trouble reconciling what we see as negative traits with the ones we feel are positive...but God says they are ALL true.

It is faith and trust in the true God that makes a Christian persevere in his or her investigation of this surprising, puzzling, unexpected God in order to see how perfectly He expresses every one of His many attributes. His love is quite different from ours...and so is His anger. If a human mom can be simultaneously loving and angry toward her child, what makes me think that God’s emotional makeup is any less complex?

A pastor friend of mine observed, when we were discussing this subject, “People have trouble fitting God into their own little picture of reality. But which is more reasonable, to believe in a God who easily fits our picture, or to believe in one that challenges us to fit into His?”

The answer is never to reduce or cheapen our image of who God is and what He’s like. The Bible gives us a God-designed, God-ordained, God-approved portrait. And all of us would do well to take each and every page of that portrait seriously. Every phrase is a brush stroke that makes His image larger and larger, His identity clearer and clearer, His holiness higher and higher.

Don’t settle for a cheap, carnival caricature of the triune Ruler of the cosmos. Jesus taught His followers that all scripture is important because it contains “things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). Let’s follow His example and fill in the true picture.

Beware of imitations.