The Ministry of the Pastor…

Recently I have been preoccupied with considering the work of a pastor. It seems that the majority of pastors in my area have departed from the teaching of scripture and have chosen Christian psychology and life-skills as the syllabus of their preaching. Is that what pastors of Christ’s church are supposed to be ministering? The apostle Paul surely didn’t think so. He explained ministry to one young pastor by writing:

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.   —2 Tim. 4:1–4

One wonders: is it the people who have turned away from the gospel? Have congregations decided that they would rather learn financial planning than righteousness and holiness? Or is it that ministers have forgotten their commission?

In the seventeenth century, many ministers in England likewise forgot their calling. Richard Baxter, a Puritan minister, wrote a book addressing the problems with the ministry of the times, The Reformed Pastor. Many of Baxter’s complaints are as relevant today as they were nearly three hundred years ago. Baxter explains that the ministry of the pastor is to acquaint people with God:

“The first and greatest work of ministers is acquainting men with the God who made them…. We should open up the treasures of His goodness for them and tell them of the glory that is in His presence, a glory which all His chosen people shall enjoy. By showing men the certainty and the excellence of the promised joy, and by making them aware of the perfect blessedness in the life to come in comparison with the vanities of the present life, we may redirect their understanding and affections toward heaven. We shall bring them to the point of due contempt of this world and fasten their hearts on a more durable treasure. This is the work we should be busy with both night and day” (70).

Pastors today complain that they must speak of this world in order to reach people of this world. Yet Baxter saw the proper role of the pastor not as evangelist, but as shepherd of Christ’s flock. Rather than reaching the lost—what today’s spineless pastors call “those distant from God”—Baxter suggests that pastors should be caring for Christians:

“The ultimate end of our pastoral oversight must be … to see to the sanctification and holy obedience of the people under our charge. To nurture our peoples’ unity, order, beauty, strength, preservation and increase must be our task. It is the right worshiping of God” (68).

How do we do this? Paul simply declared, “Preach the Word!” Baxter says the same thing, yet not as succinctly:

 “We must show them the danger of evil [and sin], and how much hurt it has already done to us. Then we must unfold to them the great mystery of redemption: the person, nature, incarnation, perfection, life, miracles, sufferings, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, glorification, dominion, and intercession of the blessed Son of God. We must help them also to know the meaning of His promises, the conditions imposed on us, and the duties He has commanded we should fulfill. … In a word, we must teach our people as much as we can of the word and the works of God. … All Christians are disciples or scholars of Christ, and the Church is His school. The Bible is His textbook. And this is what we should be daily teaching to those in our care” (70, 71).

What do they preach at your church? The Bible? Christ? God? The Word? Thank God for it, for sadly, you are in a minority. The majority of us suffer under a steady diet of the words of men. Pastors either regurgitate popular works of Christian psychology (conflict resolution and marriage counseling) or have jumped on the bandwagon of financial planning and checkbook balancing. Christians don’t come to church to listen to amateurs paraphrase other people’s books. We come because there is supposed to be someone who has given his or her life to the study of the Word of God. We come to hear the word of God thoughtfully, accurately and clearly expounded.

The task of the pastor is the teaching of the Word of God. It is not evangelism, nor is it church building. As Christians, we need to petition God for pastors and shepherds after His heart. And we must search out pastors who do and will teach the word. God is watching—He waits for our choice. What will we choose? His Word—or this world? May God have mercy on us all!

 

—Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (ed. James M. Houston; Vancouver: Regent College Publishing, 1985).