Reflections on the Call to Pastor- part 3

I enjoy what I do- I thank God for the opportunity to serve Him and His people day after day! To be a Pastor, this is it!

It is interesting to me that God spent more time describing the qualifications for a Pastor than He did with all the other five fold ministry gifts. The qualifications for a Pastor listed in I Timothy chapter 3 are more than about moral issues. You will find that these qualifications describe a man who is able to see the various challenges of life, who knows how to live life and serve Christ while keeping things in balance, avoiding the pitfalls of life, so that he and God's sheep can finish this life having run their race, having finished their course, and having kept the faith.

Here's what these qualifications mean to me:

-blameless (no legitimate accusations against him),
-husband of one wife (knows how to build long-term stable
relationships),
-vigilant (on the ball, not easily bamboozled),
-sober (lives in the real world, faces facts straight-on),
-of good behavior (conducts himself appropriately in all situations),
-given to hospitality (loves blessing and fellowshipping with others),
-apt to teach (not always preach),
-not given to wine (sees the dangers of things that intoxicate and partakes of them moderately, within Scriptural bounds, or not at all),
-no striker (not a bully),
-not greedy of filthy lucre (isn't running a shake-down operation);
-but patient (people make a lot of mistakes, and take a long time to learn from them),
-not a brawler (doesn't walk all over others to get what he wants),
-not covetous (isn't trying to pocket everything the sheep have);
-one that rules well his own house (his first church),
-not a novice (must have wisdom and maturity),
-having a good report of them which are without (respected by all).

I think it speaks volumes that God did not entrust the governing of the local church to healing evangelists, gifted prophets, teachers of doctrine, or missions-minded apostles. All these individuals are needed, and all that they contribute are of great value, but God appointed the Pastor to govern along with similarly called elders. Why?

Because the Pastor's strength is balance and stability.

The congregation needs occasional doses of the fire of an evangelist. But if they have a steady diet of fire at every single spiritual meal, they'll burn up.

Christians need the inspiration of the prophet, speaking under a sudden inspiration of the Spirit. But if all they have is prophecy, prophecy, prophecy, without the solid grounding of the teaching of God's Word, the group will eventually get off into error.

The sheep need to be taught sound doctrine. But if all they hear is doctrine, doctrine, doctrine, they will eventually evolve into Phariseeical experts on the jots and tittles of the law, but useless and destitute, as Christ said, of the weightier matters of judgement, mercy, and faith.

God created the evangelist to fire us up for souls, the prophet to inspire us of heavenly things, the teacher to ground us in sound doctrine, and the Apostle to focus our ultimate aim on reaching foreign lands.

And God set the pastor and elders over the congregation to oversee these ministries, keep the portions of these spiritual feedings balanced out so that the congregation does not go off the deep end.

I am convinced that God knew what He was doing when He created the five-fold ministry system. I think He has invested much more anointing and purpose in the Pastor's office than we have comprehended up to this time!

What do you think!