The Pastor´s Job Description

 

The Pastor’s Job Description
I Peter 5:1-4
 
These verses compose what might be called a job description for a pastor. Every born again child of God needs to be in a local church, and every Christian needs to have a pastor. It is God's plan and God's intention that every Christian have someone of whom they can say, "This is my pastor."
 
Simon Peter was a pastor. He is the human author of the book of I Peter. He had a second book, and we're probably going to move right on into that after we finished these verse-by-verse studies in the first one. But he had been called of God to be a pastor. He was a fisherman, and then the Lord Jesus called him to be a disciple and he became a pastor. 
 
He is sharing a job description for his own responsibility. I'm aware of the fact that I am also talking in some sense to myself and Bro. Juimmy because these words apply to us also. 
 
If you were just sitting down and writing out a job description for a pastor, what would you expect your pastor to be? There are a lot of ideas out there for the pastor. There are some misconceptions for what a pastor is suppose to be and what his role is and what his requirements are and what the standards are for a pastor.
 
These are very strong verses of scripture, and they lay before us the great responsibility of what it means to be a pastor. 
 
 
 
Let's talk first of all about
 
I. The Role of a Pastor.
 
There are some words which are used in these opening statements of the fifth chapter which delineate the role of a pastor. There are really three of them. The first one is in verse 1 where it says the elders. We get our word Presbyterian from that. 
 
The second word is Shepherd. We get our word pastor from that. 
 
Then the third word is “overseers”, found there in the second verse also. That's where we get our word bishop.
 
Simon Peter said, "I am also an elder." He is saying, "I am a pastor." He was a pastor. He didn't put himself above the people. He had no role of responsibility in any kind of hierarchy. He said, I am also an elder. I'm also in this same role. 
 
He says in verse 1, "And a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed." That indicates to me that Simon Peter evidently witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus.
 
Remember what happened to Simon? The night our Lord was betrayed, Simon was around the fire that night, and he denied that he even knew the Lord. After he had denied Him three times, the Bible says that the rooster crowed. Then the Lord Jesus turned and looked upon him, and Simon remembered what the Lord had said he was going to do. The Bible says that he went out and he wept bitterly. They were bitter tears of repentance.
Probably what happened, Simon Peter got himself somewhere far off from Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified, and with tears pouring down his face, he probably watched the suffering that Jesus Christ went through on the cross.
 
"I am a witness," he says, "of the sufferings of Christ." Then he says, "A partaker of the glory that shall be revealed." He was with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. He saw him glorified there. He witnessed the resurrection and saw the glorified Lord Jesus Christ. He saw Jesus as He ascended back to heaven. He was a witness of that glorious departure of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
Bottom line, what Simon Peter is saying in these verses is, "I am an elder. God has called me to be a pastor, and Jesus is very real to me."
 
One of the things you need to look for in a pastor is if Jesus is real to him. We shouldn’t be sharing second-hand information. 
 
When I preach to you about Jesus, I am preaching about someone who is more real to me than anyone else in this world. Jesus Christ is real and precious and special to me. You need a pastor to whom Jesus Christ is very real.
 
Let's look at these three roles of the pastor and these three words. 
 
There is first of all the word elder that talks about the matter of consultation. It probably has its historical background in those elders who were selected to assist Moses in the Old Testament in his work with the children of Israel. 
It carried the idea of the dignity of the office. The word elder sometimes refers to a person who is older in age. It came to mean a description for an office, and it referred to the idea of mature counsel. An elder is someone who should be able to give mature counsel.
 
I will be quick to admit to you that I am not unusually gifted in counseling. I do some counseling along. People come to me and I listen to their problems, and I think, "You idiot! Why in the world have you got your life in such a nmess? And why don’t you fix it?”
 
I'm not especially gifted in that area. I really try to do my counseling in the pulpit. And I strongly believe if people would take my counsel and would do the things that I encourage you to do from the teaching of God's Word, it would spare you a lot of problems along the way.
 
An elder is someone who has a ministry of consultation. 
 
Then he uses the word oversight in verse 2. The word oversight, as I have said, is where we get our word bishop. It means to look over and it carries the idea of administration. 
 
A pastor is not only to provide consultation and mature counsel for his congregation, but he is also to provide administration, that is, leadership. He is to lead the congregation. He is to guide the congregation.
 
 
 
Some churches have a hard time accepting pastoral leadership. This church is not one of them. That’s not to say there aren’t individuals who have a hard time with that, but this church as a whole is good at following pastoral leadership. 
 
Your pastor is to be your spiritual leader. That puts a real responsibility on me because I know that if I propose that we all line up and jump in the lake, many of you are going to line up and jump in there with me. So I really had better pray and find what God wants us to do. I had better get the will of God in the matter and the direction of the Lord.
 
So, a pastor is a bishop. A pastor is a spiritual leader who provides oversight and direction and guidance for the congregation.
 
Then he uses this word pastor, and it comes from the statement in verse 2, "Shepherd the flock of God which is among you." 
 
He gives us here that beautiful picture of the relationship of the shepherd and his sheep. That was a special thing. That was a precious thing. There was a closeness about a shepherd and his sheep. 
 
There is a special relationship between the pastor and his people. Not only to just feed the sheep, but there are other things that are involved. 
 
The pastor is responsible for the flock’s Direction. He is to guide the sheep. The shepherd was to guide the sheep, and they were to follow after their shepherd. So I have a responsibility to guide the sheep. 
He is responsible for the flock’s Protection. I have a responsibility to guard the sheep. I am very, very careful about the welfare of my sheep. 
 
I am jealous over his flock. I guard this flock. I don't consciously ever let anybody get in this pulpit who is not solid and doesn't believe God's Word and is sound in the faith. I'm always on the lookout in case there is any false doctrine that may get in. 
 
I'm not going to let false doctrine come in this church. I don't want anything bad to get in here and hinder my flock.
 
Not only that, he is responsible for the flock’s Nutrition. You've got to feed the flock of God. The diet of the flock of God is the Bible. One of the things you need to look for when you're looking for a pastor and checking a church out, is you need to look and see if there is a Bible anywhere around. You need to look and see if the people have a Bible. What kind of emphasis is placed upon and reverence given to God’s word? That will tell you a whole lot about a church. 
 
When a preacher walks into the pulpit, and never reads from the Bible, and never talks about it, then you know that you don't have a shepherd there. You might have something else, but you don't have a shepherd. A shepherd feeds the flock the Word of God.
 
If you come on Sunday morning and Sunday night and Wednesday night, I'm going to be preaching the Bible. You say, "Preacher, that's old timey."   I don't care what it is. You can call it anything you want to call it. 
I just simply know this, that the sheep of God need to be fed, and that the only thing that will feed the hungry soul of the people of God is the Word of God. I have found that if you will put the food in the trough, the sheep will come to the trough to eat the food. The goats may go somewhere else, but the sheep will come to get the feeding of the Word of God.
 
Dad would call up the cows in the winter to feed. As long as he brought hay and feed, they came. When he honked them up to count them, they quit coming. 
 
That's why I preach the Word. I want my people to be well fed.
 
Of course, there is a problem right there. Some of you are so well fed that you've gotten fat and indifferent and lazy and you don't appreciate the Word of God the way you should appreciate it. 
 
What should happen to some of you is God should send you to a six month sentence at the First Baptist Church of Moab over there somewhere where you don't ever hear the Bible and where the Word of God is not preached and you'll come back here and you will be more grateful for the spiritual feast that God prepares for you from the Word of God.
 
Then he talks about
 
II. The Responsibility of a Pastor.
 
He makes it very clear that being a pastor is not a profession. Being a pastor is a calling. 
 
 
I believe in a God-called ministry. I believe God calls people to preach. I don't think it is something that you just decided that you are going to go into. I don't believe that the model for the pastor today is some kind of CEO. I believe that the pastor is to be a spiritual man who has been called of God. One writer said that preaching must never be a profession. It must be a passion.
 
Notice what he says about the responsibility. He uses a negative and a positive in three different ways. 
 
He says, first of all in verse 2, "Not by compulsion,  but willingly." 
 
That means that you fulfill the responsibilities of the pastor because there is just some kind of constraint upon you. You are kind of forced into the responsibility.
 
It’s kind of an odd mix, in that you have to, but at the same time, because you want to.
 
I hear people talk about surrendering to the ministry, and how they fought that calling, and didn’t want to. That was not my experience. I have never looked upon it as that it is something that God has forced me to do. I've looked upon it as something that the Lord has let me do. I'm willing to do it and I'm thrilled to do it and I enjoy doing it
 
He's says to do willingly. 
 
 
 
 
Then he says, "Not for dishonest gain, but eagerly.
 
There are some pastors who are interested not so much in the flock as they are interested in the fleece. 
 
He's saying that you shouldn't be preaching for money. 
 
I think about how God has blessed me. God has been so good to me. You wonderful people have provided for me and you should provide for a pastor. 
 
There is nothing wrong in providing well for the pastor. The worse thing in the world is for a man to be called of God to preach and he spends all of his time wondering how he's going to pay his bills and how he is going to provide for his family.
 
First Timothy chapter 5, verses 17 and 18, say, "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor." That means double pay. "Especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn and, The laborer is worthy of his reward."
 
There is nothing wrong with taking care of the preacher, but there is something wrong with people being in the ministry for money, for what they are going to get out of it.
 
I know there are some who believe the pastor is over paid. I’ll tell you the truth of the matter: There’s not enough money in the world to pay a man to put up with some of you! Listen: when you’ve got a man of God doing his job, you can’t pay him what he is worth!
"Not for dishonest gain. " 
 
We are not in the ministry for money but he says, "eagerly”. 
 
I tell you: I come to the house of God eager to preach. I come to the work of the Lord eager to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. If you didn't let me be your pastor I'd pay you to let me be your pastor. It's a joy to be a preacher of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
He says thirdly in verse 3, "Neither as being lords over those entrusted to you. I like the old KJV: God’s heritage" One paraphrases it, "Don't be little tin gods." "Don't be lords over God's heritage."
 
I see some pastors who abuse their people and take advantage of their people and lord it over. Pride is a real temptation to a pastor especially the bigger the church gets and people start bragging on you and telling you how wonderful you are. You've got this crowd of people out there.
 
Sometimes these young boys see a preacher up here and he's got a suit and tie on and he's got a crowd of people out there and when he says to stand, they stand.  When he says to sit down then they sit down. He's preaching and they're listening. They're saying, "Amen" to what he has to say. These young boys say, "I'd like to be a preacher." 
 
You had better be sure God calls you because there are other things besides standing up front here. If you are not careful you will be tempted to pride and you'll get to the point that you think you are more important than you are. 
Every time I think I'm more important than I am I just stick my finger in a glass of water and pull it out and see what kind of impression I left.
 
The pastor is the leader of the church, but he's not to be a dictator. He's to lead.
 
It says, "But being examples to the flock." The word example is an interesting word. It was a word that was used to describe a mark that had been made by the blow of a hammer, hitting a piece of metal and leaving a mark, leaving an impression. He's saying that the pastor should be an example. He should be a model, a pattern for the congregation. The pastor should so live that you could see him anywhere he is, wherever he is, and could follow his example and you would not be led astray.
 
I want to live in such a way and conduct myself in such a way that any member of the flock could say, "That's my pastor," and not be ashamed of what I was doing or the way I was living.
 
We have the role of the pastor. Then we have the responsibility of a pastor. Then he talks about
 
III. The Reward of a Pastor.
 
Verse 4 is a special verse to pastors and a special verse to me
 
Simon Peter says, "I'm a shepherd, but we all know that we've got a chief Shepherd." 
 
By the way, did you know Jesus is referred to as a Shepherd in three different ways in the Bible?
 
For instance, in John 10, verse 11, He is called the good Shepherd. It says, "The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." 
 
In Hebrews 13, verse 20, He is called the great Shepherd. "That great Shepherd of the sheep." It talks about the resurrection, that He rose again from the dead to be our great Shepherd. But here it says that Jesus is the chief Shepherd and it talks about His appearing.
 
Jesus is our good Shepherd because He died on the cross to save us. 
 
Jesus Christ is our great Shepherd because He lives to be real to our lives today. 
 
But Jesus is also the chief Shepherd which means one of these days He's going to come again and take us unto Himself. "The chief Shepherd shall appear."
Jesus is hidden from view now. People don't see Him now. Colossians 3, verse 4, says, "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." 
 
First John 2, verse 28, says, "And now, little children, abide in him, that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming." 
 
"The chief Shepherd shall appear."
 
I am just an under shepherd trying to take care of the flock of God and get them ready for the appearing of the chief Shepherd, Jesus, one of these days.
 
Notice what he says he's going to do. "And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." 
 
There are two Greek words that are translated crown in the New Testament. One of the words is the word diadem which refers to the kingly, the royal crown. 
 
This particular word, which is used here, is the Greek word stephanos from which we get the name Stephen or the name Stephanie. It refers to a victor's crown, an athlete's crown. 
 
In those days the victorious athletes would be awarded these crowns, and they were normally laurel wreaths, flowered crowns. They would put those crowns on their heads, and they would have their moment of glory and their moment of acclamation. They were perishable crowns. Those crowns would wither and they would waste away.
 
Here he says that one of these days we're going to get a crown of glory that does not fad away. All this earthly glory and praise and all the stuff we get now doesn't last. 
 
I've got my old basketball jacket in the closet. I can just hold that thing up and think about the glory. Actually, I'm a far greater athlete now than I was when I was actually playing. The longer you live, the bigger the records became and the further you ran and the more points you scored. I was a center. I loved to block shots and play defense. 
 
The older you get the bigger it gets. I've got that old basketball jacket. I don't think I could even begin to get in it. That's a glory that fades.
These athletes that are so popular now and getting all of this honor and glory that fades. It doesn't last.
 
Some of you out maybe were a beauty queen. You were Miss Turnip Green of 1940. You were hot stuff. It doesn't last.
 
But what you do for Jesus, the Bible says that one of these days you're going to get a crown of glory that does not fade away. Just be faithful to Jesus and if we'll just be faithful to Jesus, when the battles over we'll wear a crown. When it's all over, the Lord is going to come and reward us with crowns.
 
I don't know if they are going to be literal crowns or not. It may mean capacity. It may mean capacity to enjoy heaven. It may be that the crown, the rewards, means enlarged capacity to enjoy the glories of heaven.
 
Maybe the crowns mean that we will have a greater capacity to enjoy the fullness and the richness and the glory and the might of heaven.
 
Whatever it may be I can guarantee you this, that we are not going to be strutting around heaven boasting our crowns. 
 
In Revelation 4, verse 10, I'm going to show you what we're going to do with these crowns when we get to heaven. It says, "The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne."
 
 
 
You are not going to be strutting in heaven and I'm not going to be up there strutting with all my crowns on my head. We're going to take those crowns and we are going to lay them at the feet of Jesus. Don't you want to have something to lay at His feet this morning? Don't you want to have a crown to lay before the feet of the Lord Jesus? Every Christian needs a pastor.
 
I read these verses and I see how far short I am, how far away I am from the idea of what I should be. You will never find a perfect pastor. But you need to find a pastor who is sincere and genuine, someone to whom you can point and say, "That's my pastor."
 
I love that tile and greeting. Sometimes I’m asked about reverend and titles and all that. I lean toward ‘most high, right and holy reverend”. Nothing is more precious to me than “Pastor”. I love to be able to sign correspondence, “Your pastor”. 
 
You'll never know what it means to me when you call me pastor. It is a designation I take seriously. Pray for your pastor. 
 
Let's bow our heads in prayer.