One of the most common occupations used to describe pastors in the Bible is the shepherd.

“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them. Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I never stopped warning each on of you with tears.” – Acts 20:28-31

In his farewell address to the elders in Ephesus, the apostle Paul exhorted the elders to vigilant, shepherd-like protection of the church. Elders/Pastors are shepherds who must watch out for the wolves who try and steal away the sheep. One of the main duties of a shepherd is to protect the sheep. They do this in two ways: proactively and reactively. Shepherds proactively protect their sheep by constantly keeping an eye out for danger. They keep their staff and sling in hand, prepared for an enemy attack. They also create sheep pens, structures of safety designed to keep wolves out when the shepherd is not able to be with the sheep. Shepherds are forced into a reactive protection of the sheep when a wolf or a bear or a lion manages to nab a wandering sheep. When that happens, the shepherd chases the beast down and pummels it in order to rescue the sheep.

To protect means to be aware of dangers that could harm those under your care, and to both proactively and reactively guard against those dangers. Like shepherds, pastors proactively and reactively protect their sheep through teaching sound doctrine. The apostle Paul knew that one major way the Devil attacks the Church is through false doctrine that leads God’s people away from Christ. Like a lion seeking to devour the wandering sheep, the Devil seeks to devour the faith of those wandering from the sound and pure doctrine of Christ. Pastors also protect the sheep by practicing sound doctrine in their own lives as an example to the flock. They also do this as they seek to see Christ formed in the lives of the saints as they aim to see sound doctrine lived out in the lives of the Church. That is to say, Pastors proactively protect the sheep by prayerfully proclaiming and practicing sound doctrine. Each week, as the pastor preaches from God’s Word, he is proactively protecting the sheep from the wiles of the Devil by arming the saints with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

In terms of reactive protection, this is often done through counseling and practicing Biblical church disciple. Another form of reactive protection comes through defining statements of faith. In fact, most creeds and confessions were written as a result of a reaction to false doctrines that had infiltrated the church. Present day creeds and manifestos, like the Danvers statement on masculinity and femininity were written in reaction to false practices in the church.

In the High Priestly prayer (John 17), Jesus prayed the Father would protect the sheep. ^“I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by your name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one,” (v. 11). The prayer for the sheep’s protection had a two-fold purpose: unity and joy. Jesus prayed for the protection of His sheep “so that they may be one as we are one” (v. 11), and “so that they may have my joy completed in them” (v. 13). Unity and joy are the desired outcomes of God’s protection. And what means, outside of his prayers for the saints (Hebrews 7:25), has Jesus left the Church in these days of His heavenly reign? “I have given them your word,” He says, and “sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:14, 17. ) As pastors seek seek to secure the unity and joy of the saints, they do so through proclamation of the Word.

To restate the central thesis, The Priority of the Pastor is to Prayerfully Protect and Promote Sound Doctrine in both Proclamation and Practice in the Church and before the World. The previous post focused on what I mean by priority; the aim of this post is to focus on that unseen act with clearly seen results: prayer.

E.M. Bounds signaled the call, the challenge, to fill the church with praying men when he wrote, “What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use — men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men — men of prayer.”

Now, Bounds was not saying that the Spirit of God only moves on men and not on women. In this age of history the Spirit has been poured out on young and old, men and women, see Joel 2:28-29. But as someone who believes that the pastoral ministry is for biblically qualified men, I am going to apply what Bounds said to men, and in particular men who serve the church as pastors.

Prayer should fuel all endeavors in life. The Apostle Paul encourages Christians, “in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). From the car salesman to the stay at home mom to the pastor, all work must be done in prayer. In fact, Jesus taught us that without him we can do nothing (John 15:5). But that’s not all he said concerning what his disciples would do. “Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12). How is this possible, Jesus? How can your followers do your works, and do even greater works? “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13). It is clear from these verses that Jesus intends to glorify the Father by the Son being glorified through prayers of his followers being answered, resulting in greater works being done in His name.

As will explained in later posts, pastors must not only teach prayer (the proclamation of sound doctrine), but they must live it (the practice of sound doctrine). Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, did more than teach his disciples to pray; he was a man of prayer himself. When Jesus’ ministry grew to magnitudes of crowds throughout the Holy Land, he did not become puffed up in pride over the following he built. Instead, “the news about him spread even more, and large crowds would come together to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed” (Luke 5:15-16).” When opposition to his ministry arose among the religious elites in his day, Jesus did not respond in violence or fear. Rather, “during those days he went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12). The author of Hebrews bolstered his argument for Jesus’ heavenly ministry as the great high priest by describing Jesus’ earthly life of prayer. “During his earthly life, he offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who as able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence” (Hebrews 5:7). If Jesus prayed thus while on earth, how much more is he praying for us now! Jesus did not only teach his disciples to prayer, he modeled it for them, and praise God he ever lives to intercede for his people.

So every endeavor must be done in prayer, and since we have great promises from the Lord that he will answer our prayers, and since Jesus himself prays for us and modeled a life of prayer for us, then it is no small thing to say that pastors must baptize all their endeavors in prayer. Protecting sound doctrine must be done in prayer. Promoting sound doctrine must be done in prayer. Pastors, do not minimize prayer to maximize some other aspect of ministry. Bathe all ministry in the pure water of prayer. Fellow church members, pray for your pastors, and pray that they would be in constant prayer for you. It is to your advantage that their schedules have time blocked off for prayer. This is not a lack of ministry, but the means by which God’s blessing falls on the ministry.

What, then, is prayer? John Bunyan, author of the famous Pilgrim’s Progress, has offered the best definition of prayer that I have found. He states, “Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised, or according to his Word, for the good of the church, with submission in faith to the will of God.”

Amen, brother. Pastors, may your ministry be marked by that sort of prayer, the unseen act of Christlikeness that produces clearly seen Christlikeness both in yourself and in the church. To God be the glory, amen.

The Priority of the Pastor is to Prayerfully Protect and Promote Sound Doctrine in both Proclamation and Practice in the Church and before the World.

That is the summary of pastoral ministry that I believe best encompasses all I have studied and meditated on in Jesus’ life in the Gospels and all the passages in the New Testament that speak directly to the pastoral ministry. Each post in this series will focus on one aspect of the thesis. There are nine aspects in total: Priority, Prayerfully, Protect, Promote, Sound Doctrine, Proclamation, Practice, the Church, and the World. This post will expound on the first aspect of that thesis: Priority.

The Priority of the Pastor
Every position in society requires prioritization in order to be effective or fruitful. Priorities are those activities that bear the most importance in fulfilling a role in society. The dish washer at a restaurant must prioritize washing dishes as opposed to say, baking cookies, since his role is to wash dishes. If he does not wash dishes, the restaurant will have some angry, and maybe sick, customers, thus resulting in a loss of business, and before you know it, the dishwasher has also lost his job. This includes the role of a pastor. What I am aiming at here is the biblical mandate on a pastor to prioritize his ministry on those tasks which must be front and center for faithful and fruitful ministry.

Priorities assume a common mission, a common goal. There were many activities Jesus could have involved himself in. He could, like Peter, have gone fishing. Yet he had a mission from his father to accomplish. This is why he could say to his parents at the mere age of twelve, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know that it was necessary for me to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49). Jesus was focused on the mission for which he was sent, and that mission determined his priorities. In Luke’s Gospel we read of Jesus’ ministry as primarily a teaching-preaching ministry (4:15-16, 31, 43-44). Jesus, after a time of isolated prayer, refused the Capernaum residents insistence that he stay in their town. “It is necessary for me to proclaim the good news about the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because I was sent for this purpose” (Luke 4:43). That is, Jesus did not stay in Capernaum because his mission required going to other towns. Matthew’s Gospel summarizes Jesus’ ministry as a two-fold ministry: teaching/preaching and healing (Matthew 4:23-25, 9:35). Jesus’ mission of accomplishing eternal redemption for his people through crucifixion and resurrection required him to prioritize his activities to preaching and healing, with prayerful dependence on his Father in the power of the Spirit.

The pastor has a mission, which means he has to prioritize his ministry to accomplish that mission. So it is necessary to speak of the mission of a pastor if these priorities are going to make sense. I cannot persuade you that these are priorities if I do not place the priorities within the framework of the pastor’s mission. The mission of the pastor is to labor night and day for Christ to be formed in the people God has entrusted to him by the power of the Spirit in accordance with the Scriptures until Christ returns. This is how the Apostle Paul described his ministry to the Colossians, “We proclaim [Christ], warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me” (1:28-29). And for the Ephesians he prayed, “that [the Father] may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Ephesians 4:16-17). When the Galatians began to turn away from Christ to another gospel, Paul expressed deep anguish, “My children, I am again suffering labor pains for you until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). The mission and purpose for all church leadership was summed up this way, “And [Christ] himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers… until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.… But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head — Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-15).

This was not just his desire for the Church, it was Paul’s desire for himself. “My goal is to know [Christ] and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead. Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:10-12). What Paul is saying here is that Christlikeness in the saints is the end for which Christ died. The apostle Peter resonates the same sentiment when he writes, “His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. By these he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire” (2 Peter 1:3-4).

And this is not mere moralism. To share in Christ’s likeness also means to share in the Son’s fellowship with the Father. Jesus, the Christian’s great high priest, who lives to intercede for us, said these words in his longest prayer recorded in Scripture, “I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me…. I made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them and I may be in them” (John 17:21-26). Sharing in the fullness of Christ means sharing in the fullness of that glorious Triune fellowship of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Oh Lord Jesus may it be!

So we see that the mission of a pastor is to see Christ formed in both himself and in the lives of the saints to which he is entrusted, with view to please God, resulting in the joyful maturity of God’s people. That is the mission. The means to accomplish that mission is the prayerful protection and promotion of sound doctrine in both preaching and practice in the church and before the world. In the next post we will look at the second aspect of my thesis: prayer.

(all Scripture quoted from the CSB)