Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the One Who was crucified. I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
I only want Jesus lifted up; not me.
As Your Spirit gives me words to share, may people turn to You; not me.
May anyone who hears me desire more of You; not me.
May my messages create a hunger and thirst for You; not me.
I want people to find encouragement in You; not me.
May I find my strength to minister in You; not in me.
May people only follow You; not me.
May everyone who hears me be impressed with You; not me.
Do you think they’re some of the greatest people on earth?
If you didn’t pastor your church, would you attend your church?
Do you enjoy recreating with your church family?
This is an important principle: You cannot treat someone differently than you think about them.
Listen to what Paul said about the church in Rome:
I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another. (Romans 15:14)
Do you hear what high regard Paul had for them? He told them that they were good people, growing in their relationship with Christ, and were competent to be teachers themselves!
Not only did Paul write this to them, but he bragged about them to others too:
Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you. (Romans 16:19)
As a pastor, you are going to have to deliver the hard word from time to time. You will have to address touchy subjects, both corporately and privately. It is very instructive to see how the apostle Paul approached the hard word.
In Romans 9, Paul is getting ready to address one of the most sensitive subjects of his day. The Jews felt they were “in” with God just because they were Jews, and the Gentiles were “out” with God just because they weren’t Jews. Paul is going to have to deliver the word that both Jews and Gentiles can be accepted by God because of what Jesus did on the Cross.
So notice how he begins:
I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit—I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
1. I speak the truth in Christ. It wasn’t his opinion, but the word from God. I must settle this matter before delivering the hard word. Far too often we can put our preferences on par with God’s Word. I cannot do this!
2. My conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit. Before I speak a hard word that people may not like to hear, I need to make sure my conscience is right before the Holy Spirit. He alone confirms His Word. The reaction of the audience, however, may or may not confirm what God says.
3. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. It should be a major red flag if I looked forward to delivering a painful/challenging/correcting word. I need to put myself in their place, not try to put someone else in their place!
My job as a pastor is not to condemn, nor even to convict; the Holy Spirit will do that. My job is to (a) hear God’s truth, (b) get my conscience right with the Spirit, and (c) empathize with people as I lovingly speak the truth to them.
Obvious statement #1:Church ministry is not lone ranger work.
I needed to state that not only as a reminder to myself, but to my other pastor friends too. It seems like we can often lose sight of this fact. We can become so focused on the next sermon, the next appointment, the next Board meeting, the next outreach that we are actually worshiping the ministry instead of worshiping God through our ministry.
Oswald Chambers gave this warning:
“Beware of any work for God that causes or allows you to avoid concentrating on Him. A great number of Christian workers worship their work. The only concern of Christian workers should be their concentration on God. … A worker who lacks this serious controlling emphasis of concentration on God is apt to become overly burdened by his work. … Consequently, he becomes burned out and defeated. There is no freedom and no delight in life at all. His nerves, mind, and heart are so overwhelmed that God’s blessing cannot rest on him.”
When we are more focused on the work than on God, we can easily begin to feel over-worked and under-appreciated. And this usually leads to us either bearing down to work harder or to simply throwing in the towel.
There is a healthy alternative: link arms with The Co-Worker—
“Walk with me and work with Me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:29, The Message)
Link with The Co-Worker, and then you will do ministry out of the overflow of your personal worship. Remember, you are a co-worker, not a solo-worker.
Obvious statement #2:Church ministry is not just for the pastor.
Church member, you too are a co-worker with Christ. And with your pastor.
Allow me to paraphrase a quote from President Dwight Eisenhower:
“Never let yourself be persuaded that one [pastor] is necessary to the salvation of America. When [the Church] consists of one leader and [a bunch of] followers, it will no longer be [the Church].”
The Church is a beautiful thing! It functions best when:
Pastor and church member are both linked with Christ
“Too long.” You’re going to hear that more and more often.
The movie, the book, the meeting, the memo… few people will tell you that they ran short.
(Shorter, though, doesn’t mean less responsibility, less insight or less power. It means less fluff and less hiding.)
As a pastor, I laughed when I read few people will tell you that [your sermon] ran short. That is so true!
But Seth’s conclusion is right on target. In the attempt to keep our message at just the right length, we must be cautious of reducing the insight or the power. Instead, get rid of the fluff and the posturing.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
As a pastor, one of your responsibilities is to point out what may be harmful in someone’s life. We have a word for that: confrontation.
Handled correctly, confrontation can lead to restoration and newfound maturity. Handled incorrectly, and, well, let’s just say it can get very ugly!
I just heard the story of a pastor who felt like he needed to confront one of his board members. I don’t really know this pastor, nor do I know the board member; I don’t know what was said in their meeting, but I have heard about the outcome, and it got ugly.
Samuel was going to be sent by God to confront King Saul about the sin he had committed. Look at this passage:
Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from Me and has not carried out My instructions.” Samuel was troubled, and he cried out to the Lord all that night. (1 Samuel 15:10-11)
Did you catch how Samuel responded? He cried out to the Lord all that night.
Perhaps if we, as pastors, cried before we confronted the results might be more healthy.
“Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength.” —Billy Graham
Nehemiah was another pastoral/prophetic figure that was going to confront the inhabitants of Jerusalem about their sin.
When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said: …I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against You. (Nehemiah 1:4-6)
Before Nehemiah confronted the sins of the people, he tearfully took a hard look at himself, and then asked for forgiveness. Jesus shared this same concept with these words:
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:3-5)
So before you confront your brother or sister, let the Holy Spirit confront you. Then, if it’s needed, confess your sin and ask God’s forgiveness. Let the Holy Spirit remove things in your life so that you can see clearly how to lovingly confront your brother.
Cry before you confront. Cry over your sin. Cry over the sinful state of your brother or sister. Plead with the Lord for this time of confrontation to lead to restoration and maturity.
Each morning T.M. Moore shares a verse of Scripture, a quote from a trusted author, and his application of that quote to the pastoral setting. For instance, after quoting a passage from John R.W. Stott, Moore’s thought this morning was:
“Good preachers are good learners, and not just of the Scriptures. They need to understand the times and the ways the times impact the people they are called to serve. Preachers who know their sheep well, as our Good Shepherd exemplified for us, will hear their concerns, understand their thoughts, discern their hopes and fears, and be able to preach in a way that speaks directly to their souls with transforming grace and power. Let us strive to be sons of Issachar when it comes to the ministry of God’s Word.”
UPDATE: Pastor, T.M. Moore has established his own ministry with vastly more resources for us than he had at the Colson Center. Please check out the Fellowship of Ailbe.
As I am preparing my message for each Sunday, I have one point that I want everyone to have clear in their hearts and minds when they leave. It’s sort of my “finish line.” I say, “If they get only one thing from this message, what should it be?” This is the part where I spend quite a bit of time.
Then I read this from the Apostle Paul:
When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:1-2)
So what’s my point?
Something clever and witty?
Something that shows how eloquent I am?
Perhaps another rule to follow?
Or another application to make?
Oswald Chambers says, “To say that we are called to preach holiness or sanctification is to miss the main point. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ….” (emphasis mine)
My point should be only this:
To help people see Jesus more clearly.
Anything less than this is to miss the point.
Anything more than this is attempting to make myself sound eloquent.
One of my biggest pet peeves is hearing pastors say, “Ministry would be great if it weren’t for the people.”
Pastor: PeopleAREyour ministry!
After Christ’s resurrection, He wanted to help restore Peter. Jesus asked Peter a simple question, “Do you love Me?” When Peter acknowledged that he did, Jesus gave Peter a way to show it: “Feed My sheep.” I believe this exchange is what Peter had in mind when he penned the words,
Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. (1 Peter 5:2-3)
Is it hard to be a shepherd? Yes.
Are some sheep difficult to shepherd? Yes.
Is it worth it to shepherd them? Yes, yes, YES!!
I love Oswald Chambers’ insight on this:
“Jesus has some extraordinarily peculiar sheep: some that are unkempt and dirty, some that are awkward or pushy, and some that have gone astray! But it is impossible to exhaust God’s love, and it is impossible to exhaust my love if it flows from the Spirit of God within me. The love of God pays no attention to my prejudices caused by my natural individuality. If I love my Lord, I have no business being guided by natural emotions—I have to feed His sheep.”
Jesus, increase my capacity to love Your sheep. All of Your sheep—the ones that bite; the ones that are nice; the ones that are untidy; the ones that are clean; the ones that are thankful; the ones that are ungrateful; the ones that “get it”; the ones that don’t. All of YOUR sheep. Thank You, Lord, for the supreme honor and heavy responsibility of serving as Your under-shepherd.
This is another post especially for pastors (but I think others will find this helpful too).
John the Baptizer had no credentials, and yet people flocked to hear him speak.
He had no formal training, and yet people hung on his every word.
He had no authority from a sanctioning body, and yet he spoke with such power.
This perplexed the religious leadership. After all, they had credentials, training, and authority. So they came to John asking, “Who are you? What do you have to say about yourself?” (John 1:21-22).
If God has called you to the pastorate, He will equip you.
There’s nothing wrong with credentials, training, or sanctioning, per se. But when you think your call to preach has authority because of your title, your training, or your denominational appointment, you have missed the point! John had none of these, and yet Jesus said, “There’s never been a greater prophetic voice!”
So, pastor, who are you?
Are you the one who is credentialed, or trained, or sanctioned?
Or are you the one who has been called and equipped by God?
There’s a huge difference!
Who are you? I hope you can answer, “I am only a servant of the Most High, equipped by the Holy Spirit to make Jesus known in my city.”
When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the One Who was crucified. I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
Craig T. Owens 