Category: Pastoral

Proper Christian Growth

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Leadership, Pastoral, Quotes2 Comments

It is all too easy for us to think that once we know the basics of the gospel we must then move beyond them for true spiritual growth. Yet it is not extra-biblical revelations and methods that mature us, nor is it the search for esoteric meanings and codes in Scripture. Instead, it is the continual attempt to plumb the depths of the gospel message and its application to all of life, which is, in fact, the story of the Bible.

Question for Reflection

  1. How do you pursue Christian growth

Resources

Table Talk Magazine, Proper Christian Growth, January 6 2011.

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6 Qualities a Congregation Should Expect of Their Pastor

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Pastoral, Practical8 Comments

Country Church

It is not too much to say a congregation places a lot of expectations on their pastor. To give you an idea of some of the expectations churches have, I recently googled: congregations expectation of a pastor. I found that most congregations expect their pastor to be:

  • A great preacher who accurately and dynamically proclaims God’s Word, while meeting their needs and inspiring them to live for Christ.
  • A wise leader who studies God’s Word diligently, spends hours each week in prayer, is involved in the community and denomination, while at the same time they are a faithful family man, someone who is always available for counseling, and home and hospital visits.
  • A man who knows how to best meet the needs of every age group; is biblically faithful, yet never offends anyone by calling them to repent; and can rescue and revive a dying church without changing anything.

That list is just the tip of the iceberg of what congregations all across America expect of their pastor. But are these expectations realistic? Can a pastor really be all these things? Should he be all these things? More importantly: What does God’s Word tell a congregation they should expect of their pastor?

Paul in 1 Corinthians 4 lays out six qualities a congregation should expect of their pastor.

6 Qualities a Congregation Should Expect of Their Pastor

(1) A Pastor should be a servant of Christ 

Paul begins chapter 4 by saying,

“This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ.” (1 Cor. 4:1a)

By using the word “servant” Paul tells us pastors are subordinates who are cater to the needs of their boss; they are helpers, assistants, servants.

Who are pastors to primarily serve?

Paul tells us pastors are first and foremost to serve Christ. I think that is an important point because it means the pastor’s primary job is to carry out the will of Jesus and not the will of the church. That’s not to say a pastor shouldn’t serve his church. That is not it at all. Pastors should certainly serve their church. But as one commentator puts it,

“When I serve Christ, I will best serve His people. When I serve His people, I may not serve Him.” — John MacArthur

What MacArthur means is that when we focus first on serving the needs of the church, we may give them what they want instead of what Jesus wants for them. While it might be easier for the pastor to give the church what they want, that is not always the biblical thing to do, nor is it always what’s best for the church.

(2) A Pastor should be a steward of God’s Word 

Look at verse 1 again. Paul starts by saying,

“This is how one should regard us, [first] as servants of Christ [to that he adds] and stewards of the mysteries of God.” (1 Cor. 4:1)

The second image Paul paints for us is that of a household steward. A household steward is someone who manages and dispenses goods to the household at the request of the owner.

Pastors are household stewards because they have specifically been tasked to manage and dispense to the congregation “the mysteries of God” or God’s gospel.

Pastors are to steward God’s gospel by making sure it is faithful taught in their church. As well as they are to dispense God’s gospel, His Word to His people.

Pastors are not to stand in the pulpit and dispense: Public opinion, or philosophical teachings; they aren’t there to give a political speech, an inspirational feel good message, or even their own opinions about how this world should operate. Pastors are not to do any of those things. Instead they are to dispense God’s Word to God’s people.

It is for this reason that I primarily preach through books of the Bible. I believe that a diet of consistent consecutive exposition is what is best for the church because it best exposes them to God’s Word, instead of my opinions or my soap boxes.

Preaching then isn’t me telling you what I know, or what you want to hear. It is instead me exposing you to what God wants you to hear – His Word.

(3) A Pastor should be a faithful worker for God

Looking again at 1 Corinthians 4, in verse 2 Paul says,

“Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.” (1 Cor. 4:2)

Someone who is faithful is someone who can be trusted to do what is asked of them. That’s what God wants and what a congregation should expect – pastors who are faithful to proclaim God’s Word to His people week in and week out.

In order for a pastor to be a faithful steward of God’s Word, his greater allegiance has to be to God, not to the church. That’s because there will be times when God’s message is needed but is not popular.

(4) A Pastor should be content with what God has given him.

Pastors, and all Christians for that matter, should not allow what they don’t have or what they are experiencing to get them down.

While it is easy to say we should be content, it is not always easy to practice, especially given that Paul tells us we will:

“hunger and thirst..[be] poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless…[we will be] reviled…persecuted…slandered” (1 Cor. 4:11-13).

Even though we will experience those things, we can be content knowing God is sovereign and that He has a plan for each and everyone of our lives.

As well as contentment in the worst of situations comes by looking forward to Jesus’ return, knowing He will defeat our enemies one day. When that times comes, we will not only be vindicated for our beliefs, but we will also live in a perfect world with our Savior for all eternity.

(5) A Pastor should be one others can Imitate 

Paul tells the Corinthians they are to imitate him, to mimic him (1 Cor. 4:16). He doesn’t tell them that because he wants them to get on his nerves by playing an indefinite game of copy cat. He tells them to imitate him because he knows by them imitating his speech and actions, as well as his heart for God and others, they will better follow Christ. Just like Paul, pastors should be those others can imitate.

In order to be imitatable, we have to take following Jesus seriously. When Jesus called us to be His disciples, He didn’t just call us to believe in Him. He also called us to follow Him, to live as He lives, to allow Him to direct and guide our lives. So if we want others to imitate us, we must allow the One we are to imitate to guide and direct our lives.

(6) A Pastor should provide guidance and discipline, if necessary

Pastors are given as gifts of God to teach and lovingly guide their congregations in the truth of God’s Word with patience and long-suffering (Eph. 4:11-12). They are also given to rebuke and discipline those who are unwilling to repent (1 Cor. 4:18-21).

When I say pastors are to rebuke and discipline, I do not mean pastors have the right to be heavy handed or domineering. Pastors, even when they must rebuke or discipline, must do so with love, care, patient, and compassion, just as Christ does.

Conclusion

So these are the qualities the Bible tells congregations they should expect from their pastors. They should expect them to be men who are faithful servants and stewards of the Word of God, who are content, imitatable, and ready to guide and discipline with love and patience, if necessary.

Question for Reflection

  1. Are these the qualities you expect of your pastor?

Resources

Post adapted from my sermon: What should a congregation expect of their pastor?

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Eat the Word for Breakfast

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Church Life, Pastoral6 Comments

Holy Bible

Every Friday morning at 6:30am for the last three years I have gathered with a group of men at IHOP for breakfast and Bible study.

The Plan – One Chapter

When we get together, our plan is to cover one chapter in God’s Word. As we cover that chapter, we work to understand what it means and how it applies to our lives, church, and culture. We don’t use any particular studies, nor is anyone designated as the teacher. We are all responsible for reading and studying ahead of time, and participating in the conversation. I was first introduced to this concept through David Helm’s book One to One Bible Reading.

The Effect – Changed Lives

The method is simple, but it has been effective. Over the last several years, we have covered all the Minor Prophets and most of the New Testament. During that time, not only has our knowledge of God’s Word and ability to interpret Scripture grown, but our minds have been renewed, our hearts transformed, and our actions corrected. As well as our relationships with one another have grown, allowing us the ability to encourage and help one another work through difficult situations and sin that the Word has exposed through our study.

Reflecting on the group and the changes over the last several years, I am reminded of the Cry of the Reformers

The church reformed and always being reformed according to God’s Word.

While I have always known God’s Word changes lives, experiencing it in my life and that of others has given me the confidence to stand with the Reformers of years past in calling for the primacy of God’s Word in our lives and churches.

The Encouragement – Eat the Word for Breakfast

Knowing the effect our gathering has had on our lives, I encourage you to do the same. Get together with a few people in your community and eat the Word for breakfast.

Question for Reflection

  1. How has consistently studying God’s Word changed your life and the lives of those around you?

Resources

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David Helm One to One Bible Reading

On Church Discipline

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Leadership, Pastoral, QuotesLeave a comment

Church discipline is not just “clearing the membership roll” as if the point were primarily accuracy in bookkeeping. Neither is church discipline designed to be a punishment, as if the church were saying,

“We don’t want your kind around here.”

Yes, the church speaks of this stage of discipline as the delivering of one to Satan (1 Corinthians 5:5), but the very next phrase in the same verse reveals that such is done precisely for the purpose that “his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.”

Thus, the goal in church discipline is that the one being put out of fellowship will hear the warning in the church’s action as Jesus’s own voice, saying to him,“I am handing you over to Satan,”and in response turn back in repentance and faith. If that happens, Scripture tells us, we will have “gained [a] brother” (Matthew 18:15).

The church disciplines in the hope that the one being disciplined will hear Jesus’s warning voice and return — as Jesus says of his flock, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

Question for Reflection

  1. Do you realize church discipline is for the benefit of our brother and the church?

Resources

Russell Moore, Acting the Miracle Together: Corporate Dynamics in Christian Sanctification

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On Being Guilty but Forgiven Sinners

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Leadership, Pastoral, QuotesLeave a comment

As guilty but forgiven sinners, what the powers and principalities of this age say to us is true.

But we’ve already been accused; we’ve already been indicted; we’ve been arrested; we’ve been dressed in purple and beaten; we’ve been stapled to a Roman cross; we’ve had the wrath of God poured out upon us; we’ve been left in a tomb as a bloated, abandoned, cursed corpse; and on a Sunday morning in Jerusalem, we were resurrected.

So when the accusations of the Evil One come against us, what he hears in reply is the gospel truth that we can’t be re-executed. What we hear said of us from the Father is,

“This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,”

because we are in union with Christ, and what is true of him is now, by the grace of God, true of us. And that is precisely why

“there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

Question for Reflection

  1. Do you realize the implications of being buried with Jesus in the likeness of His death and raised with Him to walk in newness of life?

Resources

Russell Moore, Acting the Miracle Together: Corporate Dynamics in Christian Sanctification

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On the Need to Preach the Whole Counsel of God’s Word

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Leadership, Pastoral, QuotesLeave a comment

The sad decline in the quality of Christian life and witness in our country is largely due to the fact that the evangelical church has for several generations been a huge nursery, not only for infant babes but, much worse, grown-up babes…thus laying them open to all the carnal excesses and sectarian and heretical influences around them.

This is largely because [they] regard the Bible as the book which contain the Gospel message. Although they generally hold the whole Bible to be the inspired Word of God, they far from draw upon the totality of its inspired writings. All their search is for the simple Gospel, and if they don’t find the simple Gospel in its pages then it is politely, even reverently set aside.

There is nothing so sorely needed in the world today as the Word of God hammered home to people’s minds, hearts, and wills [through a consistent diet of expository preaching, covering the breadth and depth of God’s Word.]

Question for Reflection

  1. Pastor, do you recognize the need to feed your people with a consistent diet of expository preaching that covers the full counsel of God’s Word?

Resources

William Still, The Work of the Pastor, 80-82, 89.

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