02-Misconceptions: “Pastors: The Misconceptions Breaking Churches.”

Chapter 1: Intro: The Danger of Importing Culture into Church

Well, last week we started by confronting a misconception that's pretty much everywhere within our society. That being the topical preaching is automatically unbiblical. And we said that not if it's anchored in the word of God. Jesus himself preached the most Bible saturated topical sermon in history, the sermon on the mount. and he used it to correct cultural drift and to bring God's people back to the true intent of scripture. Now family, the same drift doesn't just happen with sermons.

It happens with how we understand our shepherds. We don't just import unbiblical expectations into preaching. We often will import them or force them upon pastors in what we understand to be their pastoral ministry. And when we let the c church culture when we let business culture or we allow personal preference to define the position of pastor, we set pastors up to fail and we keep the church immature. So today we're going to do something simple, but we're going to do something that I think is all too necessary.

And that's to let scripture define the role of pastor, elder, and overseer. Now, it's not lost on me that some will think, well, this is rather self- serving. But here's the thing. A lot of guys will dodge this because of that very reason. I'm not afforded that opportunity.

Paul tells pastors, elders, overseers, preach the word. And guess what we're going to talk about? We're going to talk about the word. And it's going to be uncomfortable for some because quite frankly, a lot of us have been lied to or just mistaught as to what we should expect of a pastor. There's been a lot of additional baggage that has been thrown on pastors, not just over the decades, but over the centuries.

A lot of abdication of responsibility from the church to the pastors. Uh leading to the point where at one point I heard a stat that said 10% of pastors actually retire as pastors. And I don't think that's what God intended. And when we actually talk about what we're going to talk about today, we're going to see that if the church and pastors actually do their respective jobs, that's probably going to less be less of a of an issue and a concern. But again, it's going to challenge many of us in this room.

Now, first off, we want to talk about the misconception of what pastor and elder are or the idea that they are different offices. They are not. And you'll see

Chapter 2: Misconception 1: Pastor, Elder, & Overseer are Different Roles

that here in a sec in a second because the reality is is this is one office but three different terms in the New Testament. Pastor, elder and overseer are the same office describing different angles of the same calling. You'll see here in a second. Bring in the receipts. Let's go to Acts chapter 20.

From Alletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. Let me jump to verse 28. Therefore, take heed to yourselves and all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd, also known as pastors, the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. And so, this is what we're talking about here. So, when you look at when we use the word elder, we're really looking at character quality.

We're looking at the maturity of who these individuals are supposed to be. And Paul details this out to Titus in chapter 1 uh starting at verse 5 in that letter. For this reason I left you in that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you. If a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of dissipation or insubordination, for a bishop must be what? Blameless. a steward of God.

Not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, soberminded, just, holy, self-controlled, holding fast to the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convict those who contradict. Now, I want to pause here for a second because we have another misconception. This is a bonus

Chapter 3: The "Bonus" Misconception: Are You Exempt from Biblical Standards?

misconception that if you're not an elder, you're exempt from these qualifications. I I don't know how often you think about that, but that's how a lot of believers act. And this is my response to that. So, let's come back here. It's like, so if you're not an elder, you're allowed to be self-willed.

You're allowed to be quick-tempered. You're allowed to be given to wine. You're allowed to be violent. You're allowed to be greedy for money. You're allowed to be inhospitable.

You're you're you're you're to be a hater of what is good. You're not to be soberminded. You're not to be just. You're not to be holy. You're not to be self-controlled.

You're not to hold fast the faithful word that's being taught. Are you getting what I'm saying here? These are qualifications for every single believer. So, don't think that, oh, I'm not an elder, therefore I'm not held to those requirements and responsibilities. Family, that's nonsense.

You absolutely are. Okay. Now moving on because otherwise we'll be here all afternoon which I know some of you would like but others of you would not. Now when you look at the so you have that elder thing that's that's the character quality that's the maturity element of what we now call pastor underneath pastor. This overseer part is the responsibility and the protective authority that comes in

Chapter 4: The Role of Overseer: Managing God’s House

that umbrella. So what we call a pastor also has to have the responsibility to be administrative and to have protective authority over this office. In the classical Greek context, an episcopos was an inspector and a manager. So this is someone who has the eyes of a leader. It emphasizes the responsibility to look out for the spiritual health of the assembly.

So not only does the pastor have to have this character quality, but they also have to be looking out for the spiritual health of the assembly. That is one of the main jobs that we have. Now, it's very important that you pay attention to what pastors, elders, overseers are supposed to be because one of the things you're going to find out as we move on, we've added a bunch of stuff. We've added on maybe you've maybe you've seen this a job description at your work and it says, "And these are your responsibilities and all other duties as assigned." Anybody ever get that? Anybody ever see that?

That's what we've done. But what we're focused on family is what does the Bible say, right? What does the Bible say? So here are the key responsibilities of the overseer, pastor, elder that the that ensuring that the wolves do not distort the gospel, always watching out for those false teachings that can come in and begin to distort what's going on. There's also this element of management of leadership that managing the household of God in the church with the same diligence with the same diligence one would apply to their own family as we see in Timothy.

One who rules his own house well having his children in submission with all reverence. For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? This is one that's often ignored. How now, okay, I'm going to throw this okay throw this out there. I'm not going to name any names, but how many of you know pastors whose kids are a disaster area?

There there's a reason why a PK has a certain idea behind it, which is completely unfortunate because our as pastors, as overseers, as elders, we set the tone for the church. And if we cannot manage our household, how can we manage the church? But this is the thing that you need to understand. This is coming from a guy who's now been a pastor for 17 years. So my girls grew up part of their life where they weren't pastor's kids, but they spent a lot of their life where they are.

Guess where their much of their biggest concern has come from? Expectations of the church all kinds throw in all kinds of things. But guess what? Another thing happens is you're and and this is this is more implied and sometimes it's very explicit. Your family does not matter in this moment, pastor.

You have to tend to me. Think about that. And and you've probably seen this. Maybe you've been someone who has done that. Now, that doesn't mean that we're not available to you guys, but oftent times pastors feel the pressure to set their family aside because of the expectations that are coming from the rest of the congregation.

And we're going to see more of that and why that is as we continue on. Now moving on the word pastor. Th this is where we get this

Chapter 5: The Role of Shepherd: The Rod and The Staff

word shepherd. And this comes with the idea of feeding and protecting. Right? This focus of hands and heart of the leader emphasizes the tender yet firm guidance to that required to sustain the the life of the flock. Right?

This is where we often focus. We focus on the pastor as this shepherd. We often ignore the elder part. We often o ignore the overseer part cuz those ones can be a little more inconvenient for us because those two often are the ones where we're calling people out because they're out of alignment with the word of God. We don't like that as much.

We like the idea of a shepherd letting the sheep do what the sheep are doing. But what we don't understand is that the shepherd actually has that corrective element as well. So David in Psalm 23 says this. Yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of the death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

This is picture of a shepherd. But what we don't understand, like we always like, oh, oh yes, shepherd, come up, pet me. Bring me to the nice streams of water. Bring me to the green pastures. I I love that.

I don't know what a rod and a staff are for, but but I like this other stuff. I like this other stuff. Except the rod and the staff were used for discipline, right? A good crack of the rod up to the side of the head for a sheep that was not listening and was not behaving. This is something that would happen.

They would also use the staff to drag them along. Think about that in modern American Christendom. What happens if the p pastor brings correction to somebody? Well, I'm out of here because obviously this pastor doesn't love me. I'm going to go somewhere else where they're actually godly. that ain't that what you've seen it.

You know you have and yet this is what a shepherd is to be. So yes, leading and guiding to these streams of water, leading to pastures, yes, for sure. Absolutely. But being willing to raise that staff up as needed to lead, to guide, to direct, to strike the enemies that come in and try and ravage the flock if need be, but also to use as necessary that rod to smack that sheep who is not listening in that moment. And now you're beginning to see the rub that is here.

What I just described to you is not modern American. You hurt my feels that that you you watch that how many times it's like you can't say that. You know how many times I get told I can't say something all the time. You can't say that. But family, this is what our God is calling us to do.

We're going to continue on. I could I could do a whole sermon on this part. Okay. [laughter] Our key the key responsibility of the shepherd is the feeding. This this is what Jesus as he's reconciling with Peter. Feed my lambs.

Tend my sheep. feed my sheep. Bring a good healthy dose of the word of God to people. Family, what most of the modern Christendom wants right now is like Froot Loops and Twinkies. That's what people want. Bring me the crispy cream, pastor.

That's what I want. Family, that's not what our God wants. That's not what we're supposed to be bringing you. It's that good, healthy dish of the word of God to help God's people grow. Amen.

We're told, Peter tells us, "Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers by compulsion, not willingly." There's that overseer word, not dishonest gain, but eagerly, nor bringing lords uh being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to what? The flock. Again, there's that imp that implied thing. You're that overseer, you're that manager, but you're also that shepherd, right? Okay.

Now, here we go. We're going to now we're getting out of this. We've established what's supposed to be. Now we're going to get into the really dicey tuff. Pastors should be poor.

Chapter 6: Misconception 2: "Pastors Should Be Poor"

Pastors should be for poor. Okay, we're going to jump into Timothy. We're going to see what uh what Paul says to Timothy. Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. For scripture says, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain. and the laborer is worthy of his wages.

And everybody went what? Okay, the first thing we want to talk about is this word honor. This word otter. Honor is t in the Greek and it literally means respect and esteem. But it also has a commercial usage which is price, value, and compensation.

Are you starting to pick up on a theme? Okay. So now is when we have to talk about that double what Paul is saying is that elders are worthy of a double portion of honor and compensation. There are two main views that come from this and you actually see this played out in different denominations. I'm not going to call them out at the moment but there's one particular denomination that pops into my mind when I first heard what their pastors got paid.

I'm like maybe I could be a little more charismatic. [laughter] [panting] That's the only hit you need to know about that one. But this idea is one of them is like that double honor is like literally double pay and and literally when I first heard about this the same the same position this is back when I was associate pastor same position in this other denomination was triple triple my income is what they were doing. Okay. But then the more conservative theologians look at this and they're like no it's not so much about double pay. What it is is you want to have an attitude of respect and submission to the leadership while also providing an income from them.

And you think about that when it comes to the perspective of pastors in our churches today. Now again, this may seem a little bit self- serving, but I I used to be in the public sector as a as a manager supervisor kind of person. And any of you that have ever been in a manager supervisor role, you know what it is like to be disrespected. Right. I have learned that I am as disrespected or more disrespected as a pastor than I ever was in the private sector.

Which is really interesting. Like some of you are just like a gas like what what are you talking about? But it's the truth. I have been told literally over in that direction, you are my employee. It's effectively you will do what I say.

So those kinds of things happen on a regular basis. It's like, look, I'm not looking for you to come and like make golden statues of me outside or something or come and kneel at my at my feet and worship me. That's not what I'm talking about. Just that basic level of respect. Do you understand what I'm saying?

As a shepherd, as the director, because you think about that, you have a shepherd and then you have sheep. There there's a good interaction that needs to be there where we work together for the accomplishment of the word of God because that's where this all goes. This is where we're leading. We are here to accomplish the great commission. That's what we're doing.

And the thing that confuses me, and I've literally had this said too, it's like, "Pastor, I love your preaching, but I don't respect you. I am here for your preaching, but I don't respect you." And I know I I can hear right now one of my brothers used to always say to me, it's like, "Did did they did they really say that to you?" It's like, "I can't believe they would say that." Yes, these are actual quotes that I have been told. But this is what I was talking about that literally giving respect to the pastors. Of course, they have to be worthy of respect and that's a whole another long discussion. But then also this idea of providing uh wages which can be very difficult because especially in this area where we live now it's like well you know my bishop works for free.

Well first of all no he doesn't. There's a whole another side to that thing. But this is not what Paul is saying. That they're actually worthy of their wages. The labor is worthy of his wages.

Now, many in this room, you have jobs. Many of you have retired from a job. But my guess is if you've had a job at any particular point, you didn't do it for free in most cases, right? You actually got a a livable wage that's there. So then this ties into what Paul's talking about when he says muzzling the ox.

Muzzling the ox. So what this is is the phys there's physical provision. The threshing floor was exhausting dusty work preventing the animal from eating while it was surrounded by food was considered a form of cruelty. Expecting work without expecting to actually be fed. Then there's this idea of uh of justice and equity.

The principle establishes that the creature performing labor was a fundamental has a fundamental god-given right to benefit from the immediate fruit of their labor. So this is the idea. This is the the idea that Paul has here. If somebody is performing this function, they have a right to live and make a liveable wage. Uh it also reflects God charact God's character.

While the law is civil, it reveals a theological truth that God is not a distant factory owner interested only in output. He is a creator who cares about the well-being of the instruments the instruments used in his provision which includes those who serve him and especially Paul says those who labor in the word and doctrine. Failing to compensate a pastor adequately isn't frugal stewardship. I'm going to pause here for a second. We may not get through this whole thing just to warn you.

I thought we could but maybe we won't. I was literally sitting at a kind of a postfuneral thing. This isn't in Utah. You won't know any of these people, but we were sitting, this is in Arizona. We're sitting at a meal post a funeral of an extended loved one.

And this one particular individual from the Midwest was telling me how proud they were that they were giving 50% of everything they brought in from tithe to foreign missions and that their pastor lived in poverty with this like it was like four or five children. I can't tell you how angry that made me. Family, that's not right. Now you guys don't do that to me. Thank you.

But it's something important for us to understand because these thoughts, these things come through our minds. And you will hear people you many of you have probably been told like, "Wait, you guys pay your pastor? Why do you do that? Why do you do that?" Well, this is why we do that. Okay.

Misconception number three. Now, this one's going to be challenging,

Chapter 7: Misconception 3: The Pastor is the Primary Minister

so read it, but stay with me. The pastor is the primary minister. Now there's a cultural assumption that ministry is what staff does for the people. The biblical correction however is different. Pastors equip saints for the ministry.

Saints do the ministry. Church and church grows into maturity. This is what we read in Ephesians 4. And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. What?

For the equipping of the saints, for what? The work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Family, whose job is it to edify the body of Christ, the saints, everyone in this room, family, this has been flipped upside down on its head in the American church. We've said, "We hire the professional, the person who's gone to school. They are the expert.

They were the only one who was capable of equipping because I certainly can't. I don't know. I don't understand. It's his job. This was not God's intention.

And it is not God's best. And it hampers the church when we do that. When we require one individual to be the person, it's like you think about it this way. What happens when you put a pyramid up on on its upside down? it falls over. And this is what our churches have done.

We said this one individual is the person who accomplishes everything. So many of you have been trained that if you have a problem in your life, you don't ask the saints. You go to the man because the man will solve your problem. Now that doesn't mean that I can't be involved. Just even in the last week I had a situation where someone went to a member in the body and they reached kind of their their level of understanding.

So then they came to me and then what did I do? I equipped them. I empowered them to then go and execute on the thing. That is the body of Christ working properly. So here's the thing.

When the body of Christ actually does its job, there's exponentially more ministry that gets done. I am a fallible person. I know that's strange to hear. I am not a perfect person. I am not the all-gifted one.

I have my limitations. I have only so many hours. But when we multiply all of us together, it does amazing things in life and in ministry in the accomplishment of ministry. Right? We continue.

One from whom the whole body joined and knit together by every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share. Family a healthy church has everyone active and involved doing their share causing the growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. If the pastor is doing all the ministry, the church is not being discipled. It is being serviced. and family. That's not the church.

That is not the church being

Chapter 8: The Great Commission is for Everyone

the church. And it's directly disobedient to the great commission. Just a reminder of this. We're going to be here again in a few weeks. But go therefore and make disciples of all nations.

Now, pay attention to this. Jesus is giving this to the disciples, but when we get to the end, we see that he doesn't expect the disciples to do everything. What they expect, what he expects them to do is get something going in motion, right? Baptizing them. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to do what?

Observe all things that I have commanded you, which includes go make, baptize, and teach, which is go make, baptize, and teach. Make many mis who will then make many mis who will make many who make many mimeies. all the way down thousands of years of people being disciples who make disciples who make disciples who make disciples who make disciples not who go and sit in order to be serviced. Well, some others go and actually do the work of the ministry. Jesus does not allow that. There is no out to that.

When we sit here and we say I am not gifted, I am not skilled. I am not able. You give yourself an excuse to exempt yourself from the great commission. Jesus does not give you an excuse. And you're like, "But I don't." But then we remember Acts 1.

And I will give you power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Every single person in this room who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ can be used for his purposes anywhere and everywhere that he would put you. And you're like, "But like no, the power of God working through you is always a majority." Always a majority. There's nothing that you cannot do. What did Paul say in Philippians 4?

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Every single person. There's not a man, woman, or child in here who has Jesus has the Holy Spirit that cannot do the things that he's called us to do. If a church expects its pastor to merely serve them rather than teaching them to observe their biblical mandate, which again is to go make baptize and teach, it has embraced a lie perpetrated upon them by tradition. And they've rejected the clear mandate of the savior.

The pastor, elder, overseer's primary job is the equipping of the church who is to be the primary minister. family. Our society again has turned this on its head. And countless pastors have left the ministry exasperated because of this. And people who perpetrate this misconception, deeming um demeaning, trashalking, belittling, or worse, they're pastors because they're not fulfilling a mandate that is from men and not from God.

Chapter 9: Misconception 4: The Pastor is a CEO & Vision Driver

Now, kind of a a this one's going to be actually kind of strangely tied to it because whereas we have this this one misconception we just talked about in some churches, we have this other misconception in other churches and in some cases they start crossing over but they are distinctly different and it's that the pastor is the CEO and vision driver of the church. The cultural assumption is that leadership equals metrics, growth, branding, and efficiency. Those are all those CEO metric things that we're talking about. Now, this is going to be some true confessions from a guy who has his master's degree in Christian leadership from Dallas Theological Seminary that I struggle with this a bit because everything that I've studied wants to try and struggle with this until I actually understand that what the CEO perspective is is just a perversion of God's actual intention. See, there's nothing wrong with actually having a vision.

Vision is just a way to capture the how we do the great commission that that's what we talk about here at Sunrise. So, how do you do the great commission? So, our purpose, we'll talk about this more in the next few weeks. Our purpose is to love God and love people, right? That's biblical mandate.

Come Matthew 22. Our our our mission is to go make baptize and teach. We get that from Matthew 28, right? These are biblical things. So, we have modern words that we use for it.

And then our vision is how we go about doing it. And what that is here at Sunrise is we utilize life groups which are just basically home churches. So think about first century home churches of how they do that. You're like,"Well, what are those?" If you go to Romans 16, you'll see some examples of home churches. Priscilla and Aquilla, if you know those names, they led a home church.

They essentially led a first century life group, if you will. So there's nothing wrong with having a an actual vision if it's properly framed. The problem that we have is we make everything about the metrics. And the thing about ministry is it is more subjective than it is objective. And if you don't know what that means, subjective means let's let's say for example, we baptize 50 people.

If we baptize 50 people in a year here, that's a number that we could hang on our hat. The local collection of churches or you could call the denomination. That's a whole another misconception we need to talk about sometime because that's a bunch of nonsense now where denominational churches are calling themselves non-denominational because that's what people are looking for just so they can draw people in. I have a problem with that. But we might address that at a different point.

But point being is the local collection of churches, they'll send us a thing. Joanna will send me an email saying, "Hey, they're asking for the numbers again." I go, "You're not sending them the numbers." Because I don't care about that. I do, but I don't. And this is what I mean. Let's say in a year we baptize 50 people.

Okay, we baptize 50 people. We could all stand up. We could clap. We could be so excited. But what if every single one of those 50 people do nothing for the commission in their lives?

What if those 50 people do nothing to show the fruit of the spirit in their lives? What did that mean? What did it matter? That's why it's subjective.

Chapter 10: Why Church Metrics Are Often Wrong

Objective is is when you can actually see a real metric. So when you're looking at sales figures, we actually had x amount of dollars come in. we had x amount of profit. That's something that you can do. But when you're talking about like even here, you could have a church in this valley that has 5,000 people showing up on a Sunday that does absolutely nothing for the gospel of Jesus Christ that does absolutely nothing for the great commission whatsoever. But it's heralded as a great work of God and revival because there's a bunch of people who show up.

Whereas you come here and it's like, well, you know, about half the seats are empty. So obviously God's judging, but is that necessarily an objective truth? Because then when you start looking and seeing what individuals are doing and the activity that's going on, the ministry that's going on within different life groups and different individuals and different families, how do you possibly quantify that? You can't. And so the pastor being a CEO and beating the drum because this literally this is what happens.

I literally got told, "But we need those numbers, Chris, so when we go to our big donors." I hope you see the inherent problem with that. I am not a CEO, but I do set vision and I'm desiring to equip us for the work of the gospel. And so one of the things you need to understand is I am driven by purpose, mission, and vision. I am driven by loving God, loving people. I'm driven by going, making, baptizing, teaching.

I am driven by that vision of living together, loving together, and learning together in life groups. That's why when people come to me and they're like, I have an idea. No. If it doesn't align with those things, the answer is no. because I believe those are the things that God is using to drive us to be what it is that we need to be for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Okay. A church may appear impressive, but it also may be starving at the same time. And this is the thing that I'm constantly watching for is when I see that we're not actively being the church. That's when I feel down and low. I feel like some of those Old Testament prophets off somewhere lamenting to God and praying that he would lead and guide that we would see the family uh moving forward.

Now, moving quickly through this part just to give you a scriptural example of what I'm talking about and how the number thing is just nonsense is success. I think we can all agree that Jesus was the greatest teacher and greatest leader in history. Do we have agreement? Okay. Now, you may remember something called the um the feeding of the 5000.

We all remember the feeding of the 5000. And that's just men. We understand that there was more women and children. And Jesus does this amazing miracle. All these people are around.

They're watching all of this stuff. But then Jesus preaches. The next day after this miracle, Jesus preaches and he preaches something that's very difficult for them to understand. And they're not liking what it is that he's preaching. And what are we told in John 6?

From that time, many of the disciples went back and walked with him no more. In fact, we're told right after this, he turns to the 12 and says, "Are you going to leave me also?" The overwhelming majority of this crowd leaves. Why? Because of what he's teaching. Because of what he's teaching.

What Jesus is doing by that by preaching the word is he's separating the wheat from the chaff. He's separating what is true, what is real from that which is not. Again, just because a church has a large mass of people does not mean that it's a work of God. Now, it doesn't mean that it's not. I have seen large churches that do amazing things for the work of the gospel.

But I'm just going to ask you a question. If you see a church, because some of these churches are just enormous, like 50,000 people. If you have a church of 50,000 people who's actively working for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, what should you expect? Problems, yes, but the communication of the word of God should just be everywhere. You should see this just multiplying and multiplying and multiplying and multiplying, which is actually what you end up seeing in Acts 2 when Peter preaches, which by the way, how many of those 3,000 that came to faith had direct access to Peter, do you think?

Just a little side nugget. More on that in a second. But when it says that it could they continue to multiply, why? Because then the people went out and continued to communicate the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have to continue to remind myself that elders, pastors, shepherd souls, we don't market products.

The win is maturity and endurance, not looking successful. And I'm going to confess to you, that's hard for me because I've been trained both inside and out of the church that these metrics matter. And that's the the true metric of your value, Chris, is how many people follow you on the socials and how many people watch your sermons and how many people show up. And then God's like, "No, it's not. You just need to preach the word.

You need to be about preaching the word." Okay. Number five. This is We're going to come back to the one that might uh make some of you squeamish a little

Chapter 11: Misconception 5: The Pastor Exists to Make Me Feel Cared For

bit, and that's the pastor exists to make me feel cared for. The cultural assumption is that care is equal to constant accessibility. Shephering, the culture says, is emotional satisfaction. The biblical correction though again comes back in a passage we already looked at. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole council of God.

Therefore, take heed yourselves and all the flock among you with the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. As long as you make him feel good. That's not what it says. For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also, from among yourselves, men will rise up, speaking perverse things inside the very walls of the church, to draw away the disciples after themselves.

Therefore, watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. Now, what comes next? I want I want to frame this next passage because I already kind of alluded to the fact how many of the people did Peter actually get to interact with? And what I'm going to say next, I want you to think about this when I read this from a modern Christian perspective, at least within the traditions that you've experienced, and see and ask yourself, how would churches have responded if their pastors and elders responded in the way the apostles uh respond here? You guys ready?

You're not ready. That's all right. Here we go. Now in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews. Wait, a complaint in church by the Helenists.

So this is the Greeks. These are Gentiles. Because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the twel summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables through your modern American church experience filter. How well would that be received?" Therefore, brethren, seek out from among yourselves among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. Now get this. And the saying please the whole multitude. I struggled to think this saying would be well pleased in today's church. I struggled to think that pastor would probably be run out pretty quickly who did this because pastor that's your job.

That's what you do. You find those things. But are you seeing what is it the apostles are doing? Long before Paul writes Ephesians, what are they doing? They're equipping the saints for the work of the ministry.

You guys can take care of this. Why? Because we need to be about prayer and the ministry of the word of God. Everybody needs to do their part and their job. But I also want you to ask yourself this question.

Who would be better at this? The people or the apostles? And here's the thing. This is a little plug for our life groups. The number of times I've seen individuals blessed within the life groups that used to be that's the pastor's job, right?

You think about somebody has surgery. It's often been in many churches, well, the pastor has to organize that and figure all that stuff out. Versus what happens now in our life groups for the people that are in the life groups, they're just cared for immediately. consistently, constantly, and a much higher level than if I had to try and figure stuff out and my wife is young. Amen. Right?

The body can minister in these ways to a far higher degree than the pastors. And what ends up happening, what so often ends up happening is we have pastors chasing after these care needs that the body should be taken care of at the expense of them actually focusing on the things that they need to be focused on such as the preparation of the word and the protection against the enemy. Okay, moving on quick. We're going a little long, but we're almost there.

Chapter 12: Misconception 6: The Pastor is Responsible for My Spiritual Growth

Pastors are responsible for my growth. cultural assumption. If I'm not growing, leadership has failed. That's like saying that um you know, if I'm not losing weight, the chef's at fault. [laughter] What? Okay. It's interesting how often when we have an issue, rather than starting with ourselves, we start with others, right?

It's someone else's fault that I'm having those thoughts in my mind, right? As an example, it's someone else's fault that I'm losing I'm not losing weight. And if it's not somebody else, it's my thyroid, right? That's the that's the main one nowadays. The the reality is is that I'm responsible for my spiritual growth.

Pastors teach believers obey and apply. Uh again from Paul to Timothy, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires. Anybody hearing anything from today, today's Christian church, they will not endure sound doctrine because they have itching ears. They will heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. Family, your maturity is not and cannot be delegated. Just as someone could tell you how um as someone could tell you how to successfully budget to parent and fruitful to be fruitful in your marriage, but you choose to ignore the advice.

You ever seen that? I mean, the number of people that come to me and they're like, "Hey pastor, I need you to help me learn how to manage my my money." Okay. And what do they not do? They don't take that advice. Hey pastor, I'm struggling with my child in this situation.

You give them advice. What do they not do? They don't listen to that advice. Is it the person is it the fault of the person giving the advice or is it the fault of the person fault of the person who's not heeding not taking that advice? If you're not growing spiritually, you need to start with looking in the mirror.

Now, I'm not telling you that you can't have a pastor who's not preaching untruth. That obviously can happen, but we need to first start and ask ourselves, are we actually applying what's in the word of God? The other thing I love to remind people is the fact that if this is the only Bible you're getting in the week, you're grossly malnourished. You need to be actively in the word of God on a daily basis. The word of God is living and active.

It's sharper than any two-edged sword. But the thing is is that next part, it slices us. And I know that's part of the reason why we don't want to go to it. But family, that's the word of God. He God uses that to change and to transform our lives.

No one can obey Jesus for you. Not your spouse, not your pastor, not your church. So family, God gives a church pastors, elders, overseers. He's He's not hiring spiritual Hey, look at that. That's the wrong one.

I forgot to change it. That's all right. Hey, Jacob, can you Never mind. We'll leave that on black. He's not hiring spiritual employees to keep religious customers happy.

I want you to think about that again. He's not hiring pastors to keep religious customers happy. He's giving shepherds to feed, to guard, to model, to equip. That's the job description that we read about in the word of God. So, let me say this plainly.

The church breaks when we ask pastors to do what Christ assigned to the body. Because biblically, pastors are not the church's substitute. They are the church's servants. They are the church's equippers. Pastors and elders are responsible to teach sound doctrine, to guard the flock from error, equip the saints for ministry, model godly character, and shepherd willingly and humbly.

But the saints, every believer are called to do the work of the ministry. That means the question is not do I like how my pastor does everything. The question is am I being equipped? Am I stepping in to ministry? Because in Ephesians 4, the body doesn't grow because one man is gifted.

The body grows when every part does its share. That's why I'm calling us today to do something that's simple, but it's also not easy. Stop grading church like you're a consumer. Start serving like you're a member of a body. If you're a believer, you're not an audience.

You're called to be an ambassador. If you've been waiting on the church to meet your needs, your focus is in the wrong place. The New Testament doesn't describe the Christian life as being served. It's describes it as being built up as we serve. If you're if you've been frustrated or critical or disappointed, I'm not saying that there's never real issues within the church.

We're all a bunch of broken, imperfect people. But I want you to listen to this before you point outward. Start with this question. Am I obeying what Christ told me to do? Am I carrying the load that Christ gave me?

Because spiritual maturity cannot be delegated. No one can obey Jesus for you. Again, not your spouse, not your pastor, not your church. And one of the main places this becomes real is in our life groups where the saints actually do the work of ministry. Praying, discipling, bearing burdens, opening the word and applying it together.

That's not a program. That's the body acting like the body. So here's what I'm asking you to do this week.

Chapter 13: Call to Action: Stop Consuming, Start Serving

Not just attend more. Not just to consume better, but instead to step in, serve, carry, disciple, pray, open your Bible with someone, join a life group, and if you're in a life group, stop hovering at the edges and start acting like a living part of the body. Because Christ did not purchase you with his blood so you could sit by in the stands. He saved you so you could follow him. So you could take responsibility, love his people, and advance his mission.

So church, let's repent of cultural expectations, and return to biblical categories. Let shepherds shepherd and let the saints do the work of the ministry. And as every joint supplies, as every part does its share, the body will grow for the edifying of itself in love. and all God's people said, "Amen."

Chapter 14: Closing Prayer

And Father, we are thankful for this word and pray that you would use it for your glory. Lord, I pray that this would be a time of of just change in hearts that need changed, encouragement for hearts that need encouraged. That you would you would use these words from your word to just spark such love and good deeds, Lord. that you would you would just do continue to do the good work in us. Continue to conform us into the image of the son. In whose name we pray, amen.