FULL DISCLAIMER: Large portions of this sermon are taken from a sermon I heard Mark Dever preach to his own congregation, Capitol Hill Baptist. I listened to that sermon, by the same title, while on sabbatical from my own congregation, Lake Wylie Baptist, during the Summer of 2024. Mark’s sermon ministered so deeply to my heart that I took his structure, much of his exposition, and reworked it into a similar sermon for my own congregation. The following represents what I delivered at LWBC.
THE PASTOR
The Church
GRAB THEIR ATTENTION
Lake Wylie Baptist, I’m glad to in the pulpit with you after three months away. Our family has not been with you since May 5th. I’m thankful for the good preaching that has happened here, all accomplished by men in our own church. What a blessing the Lord has given to us to have men who are equipped and capable of preaching the Word to us.
And I think it’s appropriate today, as my first time back in the pulpit to speak to you on the subject of “The Pastor.” Someone has described “Super Pastor”:
Super Pastor is always available to everyone and accomplishes great things, but always has time to stop and talk and never misses anyone’s birthday, and if you are sick, he is at the hospital and you can call him at home whenever you need advice, and he loves meetings, and spends hours studying and praying and yet you can interrupt him if you need something. Did I mention he always puts his family first?
A more realistic picture comes from the fiction novel, Gilead, authored by Marilyn Robinson. The protagonist is an elderly pastor in Iowa who’s had a young son late in life, and so he writes a long letter that gets to be as long as a book, the book Gilead, that he will give to his son so he will know him one day.
At one point in the book, the pastor reflects, “I get much more respect than I deserve This seems harmless enough in most cases. People want to respect the pastor and I’m not going to interfere with that. But I’ve developed a great reputation for wisdom by ordering more books than I ever had time to read and reading more books than I ever had time to find useful by far than I learned anything from except of course that some very tedious gentlemen had written books. This is not a new insight but the truth of it is something you have to experience to fully grasp. Often enough, when someone saw the light burning in my study long into the night it only meant that I had fallen asleep in my chair. My reputation is largely the kindly imaginings of my flock I chose not to disillusion.
Well, I wonder what you think when you hear the word, “pastor”? Many of you likely think, “preacher,” and that’s fine so far as it goes. Pastors do preach, and preaching is the primary function pastors are known by. But there’s much confusion today over what as pastor is.
In the first place, many of us come from different religious traditions. Some of you grew up in Roman Catholicism, where you had a priest, not a pastor, who gave homilies, rather than sermons. Or, perhaps, you grew up unchurched, an irreligious background and had no experience with a pastor. Beyond our personal experiences, it’s also true that our culture has modified, and reshaped the role of pastor greatly in the last century.
George Barna said a few years ago that the traditional idea of a pastor is rapidly losing ground. David Wells has observed this change in church life that often obscures the biblical view of pastor. He writes, “Across much of evangelicalism, but especially in market-driven churches one sees a new kind of leadership among pastors now. Gone is the older model of the scholar-saints; one who was as comfortable with books and learning as with the aches of the soul. This was the shepherd who knew the flock; knew how to tend it. And Sunday by Sunday took that flock into the treasures of God’s Word. This has changed. In it its place is the new celebrity style.”
“What we typically see now,” Nancy Piercy suggests, “is the leader who works by manipulating the feelings of the audience, enhancing his own image with personal anecdotes, modeling himself after the CEO adopting a domineering management style. He usually is completely results oriented, pragmatic, happy to employ any technique from the secular world that will produce the desired results. And this leader has to be magnetic, entertaining, and light on the screen up front.”
Well, is this what a pastor is? And, how do we know? I want to take you to several key passages and tell you what God says a pastor is. This Summer I listened to a brother pastor preach a similar sermon to his congregation after returning from sabbatical and it was such a fitting word for the church that I decided to do the same.
RAISE THE NEED, SIGNPOSTS, STATE THE DESTINATION
As we consider the topic of pastors, we’ll do so under three headings:
1. The Number of Pastors
2. The Nature of Pastors
3. The Duties of Pastors
Friend, I pray that this sermon will challenge what you believe about pastoring. I pray that it will help our church understand the pressing Biblical need for more pastors or shepherds within our own congregation, and if you are not a Christian, I pray this sermon will help you understand how pastoring actually points us to our true spiritual shepherd, Jesus Christ.
1. THE NUMBER OF PASTORS
A pastor serves many roles in a congregation, but when we read the New Testament, the same set of people are referred to as pastors/shepherds, bishops/overseers, elders. Those are not different offices. They all refer to the same group of people. Any of these names could be applied to all of the elders in a congregation regardless of how often they preach. There is no distinction in the New Testament between bishops and elders, or pastors and bishops.
There are denominations who make distinctions between these offices, but those distinctions are not found in the Bible. In the Scripture there are no hierarchy of churches with bishops and archbishops.
There are also plenty of churches in which a Senior Pastor acts as a kind of CEO of the company. They may have other pastors, but they are lower in the chain of authority in the church.
And still other churches run with a kind of brethren of men who have no senior pastor whatsoever, where every decision from the preaching to the songs we’re going to sing is made by the group.
When I first came to Lake Wylie Baptist, and ever since, our church has been led by the single pastor with the aid of a deacon board, and by God’s grace that has served us well. We have always had deacons who love the church, who meet biblical requirements, who are not seeking after more and more power, but who merely desire to serve you all by helping administrate the congregation. Church we should praise God for those deacons.
At the same time, from my earliest years as the senior pastor here, I have taught what I believe the Bible clearly teaches: that biblically faithful churches are led by a plurality of qualified men called elders or pastors.
So, if you have a Bible, open it to Acts 20:28. (930)
28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
Here, Paul addresses not the single pastor of the church at Ephesus, but a plurality of shepherds. Again, in Acts 14:23
23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Again, in Titus 1:5
5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—
Once more in 1 Peter 5:1
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you,
The clear and repetitive teaching of the New Testament is that churches are led by a plurality of Biblically qualified men known as elders or pastors.
These men are called by the church to the role of spiritual oversight, teaching the Word, the ministry of prayer, and to shepherding. More on that in a little bit.
The New Testament also recognizes the office of deacon: men whose ministry is not the direct spiritual care and oversight of the church, but to oversee the administrative and logistical needs that may on occasion draw pastors away from the ministry of word and prayer.
Over the last 8 years, I’ve spent numerous hours praying for God to raise up men in our church who aspire to the office of elder. I’ve spent hours discipling men, teaching men, giving books to men, exhorting men to this kind of leadership.
In the last 2-3 years I have spent much time watching and waiting. God has raised up many men here who love his Word, who love to teach, who love to disciple. I have been watching them, patiently. Though I have seen the Lord raise up godly men, I have not been in a hurry to appoint them as elders. I have tried to obey the word of the Apostle Paul to Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:
22 Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure… 24 The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. 25 So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.
I feel confident that the Lord now has our church in a season in which we can begin the transition from having a solo pastor to a plurality of Biblically qualified men who all work together to oversee the spiritual health and well-being of the congregation. Church this Summer has shown there are godly men who can come along side me in sharing the weight and responsibility of spiritual oversight.
Let me be clear—I still intend to do the vast majority of preaching as the Senior Pastor of our church. I still intend to give leadership to our church. But there are good, Biblical, and wise reasons for having multiple elders:
Having other men serve as elders helps round out the pastors’ gifts and weaknesses. They help supplement the pastor’s judgment, create support within the congregation, especially when big or difficult decisions need to be made. Having elders who are rooted in this congregation and community makes the leadership of the church more permanent and brings continuity across time and change.
A plurality of elders brings increased Biblical accountability, ensuring that no single person assumes too much power. Elders bring a balance of gifts to the church, complementing one another, allowing each elder to devote most of his time to the area of ministry in which he is most gifted. Elders share the burden of ministry which no single man can carry on his own. It is difficult for a congregation to become mature and equipped for the work of the ministry through the labor of a single pastor. Having a plurality of elders increases the amount of disciples made. It narrows the gap between clergy and laity. (Merkle, 40 Questions)
Men of Lake Wylie Baptist, I pray that all of you would ask yourself the question, “Why shouldn’t I at least aspire to be an overseer in my church?” The Apostle Paul says it is a noble task. It is a high calling. It is a dignified calling.
Yet, it is not a calling only reserved for seminary trained professionals. You men who are following Christ, pray that God would mature you, that he would give you a greater heart for ministry in your church. Come and talk with me after the service about ways you can increase in your leadership.
Our church needs a number of pastors.
2. THE NATURE OF PASTORS
Church, how do we know what a pastor or shepherd is to be like? We do not have time today to do word studies on all the terms and descriptions of pastors in the Bible. We have to limit the scope of our study, and I want to spend a minute following this word “shepherd” through the Bible, for that’s what a pastor is.
God’s Old Testament people were an agricultural people. I’ve been teaching through the book of Genesis in our community women’s Bible study, and we see that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob they were all shepherds.
If you turn back to Genesis 47, Joseph is introducing his family to Pharoah. They are brought in before Pharoah who asks them what their occupation was. They answer with one word, “shepherds.” And in the following chapter, 48, Jacob even refers to God as a shepherd, calling him:
the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day,
Over and over again, the saints of the Old Testament see God as a shepherd who is caring for his people, watching over his people, protecting his people from danger, feeding his people.
So, it should come as no surprise that those who are called by God to lead his people are known by this same image and description.
When Moses had led the children of Israel to the border of Canaan, and his time comes to die he prays to God asking for God to raise up a new leader who, he says in Numbers 27:17
shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.
Throughout the Old Testament we see images of God’s people as sheep who are abused by evil shepherds, such as in Ezekiel 34. The leaders of Israel were to teach the people the law of God and serve them. Instead, they had begun to serve themselves. Because of this God’s sheep were scattered and God promised to gather them under one who he will send to be a true shepherd.
In Jeremiah 10:21 God says
For the shepherds are stupid
and do not inquire of the Lord;
therefore they have not prospered,
and all their flock is scattered.
The idea of shepherding is a central paradigm for leading God’s people. And we see how crucial leadership is, and how perilous it is when leadership fails.
The sternest of God’s judgments is spoken against failed shepherds in Ezekiel 34:
10 Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.
As Mark Dever said, “Being without good leaders is a sign of God’s judgment in the world.” And having good and godly leaders is a sign of his goodness, and his faithful loving authority.
So, it should not surprise us, when we turn to the New Testament to see God fulfilling this promise in the coming of his Son, Jesus Christ. In Mark 6, Jesus has been ministering to crowds, he departs in a boat with his disciples to rest and the crowd runs around the lake to follow them. Mark tells us
34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
The Lord promised that he himself would come to feed his sheep, to protect his sheep, to rescue his sheep, and Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise. And how does he rescue us?
Friends, he rescues us from our own sin and from God’s wrath. You and I are sinners. We have not obeyed God perfectly. We have not loved God completely. We stand condemned by God’s holy laws. But our shepherd, Jesus Christ, perfectly obeyed all of God’s law, precisely because he loved God with his entire being. And at the cross, God poured out the punishment that the sheep deserved onto the shepherd. This is why Jesus said in John 6
14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Friend, if you are new to church, this is the good news of the gospel. Jesus Christ, took the place of sinners, bearing the just wrath of God. And all you need to do to receive God’s forgiveness and be welcomed into his family is look to Jesus and believe in what he has done.
If you have questions about what it means to trust Jesus, come talk to me after the service is over, or talk to one of our church members. We would love to share more with you.
Friends, Jesus Christ is THE shepherd to whom all the other shepherds in the Bible point. This is why the Apostle Peter says this in 1 Peter 2:25
25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
This past year, we saw in our study of Revelation, when all of history is complete, and the church standing around the throne, we are told:
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Rev. 7:17)
Well, after Jesus was raised from the dead and ascended to his Father’s right hand in heaven, the Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 4 that the risen Christ is now giving gifts to his people. And what are those gifts?
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ
That word there, shepherd, is the same exact word we translate as pastor. And so, Peter says this in 1 Peter 5:
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
Friends, the role, the office, the function of an elder or pastor is to shepherd God’s flock. If you own a Bible, a concordance, and can spell the word “shepherd,” you can have a month’s worth of wonderful time in your Bible reading about all God has to say about shepherds.
You can see how God intends leaders, pastors, to care for his flock. For that’s what the nature of a pastor is. Pastors are not CEOs. They are not entertainers. They are not service providers.
They are shepherds called to oversee the flock of God under the authority of the chief shepherd, Jesus Christ.
3. THE DUTIES OF PASTORS
Finally, let’s take a moment and ask, “How?” How do pastors oversee the flock? I want to commend a small book to you by Jeramie Rinne entitled Church Elders. It’s a wonderfully Biblical and practical summary of the duties of a shepherd.
Rinne says that elders, or shepherds:
1. Smell Like Sheep
Just last week I talked with a friend who had left an abusive church. She told me how the pastors of the church were completely isolated from the people. When it was time to preach, they emerged on stage from their green room. When they were finished, back in they went, and it was understood that they were not to be approached. Friends, that sounds like the exact opposite of the chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ.
Peter tells elders to “shepherd the flock among you.” How can a shepherd do that unless he is among the flock? In all out pictures of real-life shepherds, we find them in the middle of the sheep, not sequestered off by themselves. Certainly, pastors take time to study and prepare sermons, to pray and to plan, but sermons cannot possibly be effective if the pastor spends no time with the sheep he is leading.
Over the years I have invited hundreds of people to coffees, to read spiritual books with me, to help me develop sermons, or to ride along with me to hospital visits. Its become a kind of running joke here that if you come to talk with me, you will usually leave with a book to read so that we can discuss it later. Occasionally someone will ask, “Do you really have time for this?” Too which I reply, “Friend, in many ways, this is the job.” Shepherds smell like sheep.
2. Serve Up the Word
As I prepared for the sabbatical there were many details to arrange and many bases to cover, but one was most critical: who will preach?
And this is because shepherds are called to be competent to teach and preach the Word of God. If you read the qualifications of elders and deacons in 1 Timothy 3, you will find that teaching is the only competency that separates elders from deacons.
Now, this does not mean that the elders will equally divide up the preaching on Sundays. No, as we move to a plurality of elders, I fully intend to do the vast bulk of the Sunday preaching. But, nonetheless, elders are called upon to participate in the teaching of God’s Word to God’s people. That may be on a Sunday morning, or it may be in an Equipping Hour class. It may even be in a counseling scenario with a struggling marriage or parent. Regardless of the venue, elders ought to be competent to open the Bible and explain it, teach it, encourage, and exhort others to believe and obey it.
An elder need not have a seminary degree, or mountains of theological books in his personal library, but he ought to be theologically adept. This is because elders are charged by God not just to teach right doctrine, but to protect right doctrine as well. Titus 1:9 says:
9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
So, and elder must be able to play both doctrinal offense and defense. He must be able to teach right doctrine, and discern and warn against false doctrine. Elders serve up the Word.
3. Track Down the Strays
Hebrews 13:7 tells us that church leaders “keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account.” Good shepherds keep watch over their flocks. This is one of the reasons we need elders, because one shepherd can’t keep his eyes on the entire flock.
Side-note: this is why church membership is critical. Shepherds need to know who they are accountable to watch; and the answer can’t be “those who show up on Sunday.” When Peter tells elders to “shepherd the flock among” them, the elders need a list. Who is the flock? This implies that the elders have agreed to oversee a specific list of people, and those people have agreed to come under the spiritual overwatch and care of those elders. If you want to know more about church membership, sign up for the course on our church center app.
What kind of things should elders keep an eye out for?
Sinning Sheep – Every church member struggles with sin. And most of the time, the Lord works through the relationships within church membership to help us address our own sin. We learn, through daily life with other Christians how to grow in forgiveness, humility, generosity, and honesty. Yet, sometimes Christians stop struggling against sin and embrace disobedience. So, when sin is both public and continually unreprentant, God has called elders to address it with love, care, and attention.
Wandering Sheep – Wandering sheep slowly meander out of the church. That drift may be the result of a busy travel season, overbooking activities for kids, or buying a fixer upper house that’s taking more time than expected. Regardless of the reason, elders take notice. They lovingly remind sheep not to crowd out the regular meeting of the congregation for fellowship and worship.
Limping Sheep – God calls us to bear one another’s burdens, and God has never promised us immunity from pain or suffering. Christians get laid off from jobs, dumped in relationships, diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, rear-ended on the highway, and hit with lawsuits. Once active believers age and become homebound. Limping sheep are easy prey to spiritual attacks from the enemy, depression, anxiety, and fear. When a sheep is limping it’s time for elders to come alongside them. Are they supported by brothers and sisters in Christ? Are there practical needs that the deacons can meet? Has the news of their difficulty gotten into the right channels for prayer in the wider church? Sometimes, just a quick hug or text message of encouragement can mean everything to a limping saint.
Fighting Sheep – I know this will come as a surprise, but sometimes church members disagree and even enter into conflict with one another. Of course, this has never happened here. All of our members share identical political views, worship music preferences, finances, and no one ever sins against someone else.
In reality, given the wonderful diversity of people in our church, I’m surprised we don’t have more conflict than we do. When church members lock horns there is a potential to disrupt the unity of the entire church. Some simply leave the congregation, while others may begin to take sides. We should never think ourselves above this kind of scenario. Elders can’t turn a blind eye to strife and hope that it will fix itself. In such cases, it falls to elders in the church to lead the way in peace-making.
4. Lead without Lording
What do I mean by “lead without lording”? I’ll put this as plainly as I know how: our culture is in a crisis, and that crisis is in large part due to a lack of masculine leadership that is courageous, clear, authoritative, which takes responsibility, refuses to make excuses, without being overbearing and abusive.
God has called men to lead in the church. If you want to know more about that go read 1 Timothy 2 and 3. That leadership demands conviction and courage. It demands that elders fear God, and not man. It means that elders faithfully proclaim the Word. It means that elders take decisive action, always of course with wisdom and input. And they are to do all of that, as 1 Peter 5 says, “not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.”
So, I believe it is possible to be a courageous, convictional leader and at the same time be the kind of man that the smallest and most timid child can approach for a high-five or a hug.
Church, there is so much more that could be said about elders. In the 8 years that I have pastored you, nearly every other pastor who was in our town when I began has gone. There is a great and growing need for the church to raise up men for the ministry.
Not men who want influence, or fame; but men who are willing to settle into the trenches of mundane ministry for the sake of others. What a privilege it is to pastor; to be able to say with Charles Spurgeon, when he described his own ministry:
I am occupied in my small way, as Mr. Great-heart was employed in Bunyan’s day. I do not compare myself with that champion, but I am in the same line of business. I am engaged in personally-conducted tours to Heaven; and I have with me, at the present time, dear Old Father Honest: I am glad he is still alive and active. And there is Christiana, and there are her children. It is my business, as best I can, to kill dragons, and cut off giants’ heads, and lead on the timid and trembling. I am often afraid of losing some of the weaklings. I have the heart-ache for them; but, by God’s grace, and your kind and generous help in looking after one another, I hope we shall all travel safely to the river’s edge. Oh, how many have I had to part with there! I have stood on the brink, and I have heard them singing in the midst of the stream, and I have almost seen the shining ones lead them up the hill, and through the gates, into the Celestial City.
May the Lord Jesus Christ, the great shepherd of the sheep give us more shepherds.