We are living in a time where pastors are leaving
the ministry in record numbers. I think that part of the reason is because of
the incredible pressure on pastors today. As I was speaking with a dear friend
the other day, he summed up one aspect of the pressures this way: it feels like
I have to do three or four term papers every week. The work pastors do just to
prepare sermons and Bible studies is tremendous -- research, prayer,
organization, writing, etc. Add to that the administrative duties, hospital
visits, evangelistic visits, dealing with people in crises, and all the other
things, and you begin to see a PARTIAL picture of the pressure. The work is
never ending. Seminary cannot prepare you for all of that. Truthfully, I
learned more about being a pastor in my first two church than I did in all
seven years of my formal educational experience.
Why do I write this? Because Paul said that the
pastor must not be a novice. The word "novice" means "newly
planted." The Greek word gives us our English word "neophyte,"
and Paul was describing for us a young Christians that didn't yet have deep
roots in the faith. When your spiritual roots aren't deep, it doesn't take much
of a wind to uproot you, and some days being a pastor is like walking into a
Category 5 hurricane. So the idea is that you shouldn't put a new convert into
the role of a pastor. it doesn't matter what his physical age is or what kind
of worldly experience he has. It's just a bad idea. If the man is newly saved,
don't make him your pastor. Why? Because of his lack of spiritual depth, he
would be tempted to become prideful. Pride in a prominent position produces a
blindness that blunts spiritual alertness. It's too easy for ego to get in the
way, and the arrogance that it produces makes it difficult to hear God's voice
and to be obedient. I've seen pastors who believed that they were beyond the
need for confession and repentance. But know this. Spiritual maturity causes
you to recognize your sin and forces you to humbly repent before God.
Truthfully, the "holier" you become, the more you sense your need for
repentance.
The consequence of this blindness and deafness is
that the minister "falls into the same condemnation as the devil."
Wow! What a statement! But remember. Satan's condemnation was due to pride, and
that pride resulted in his fall from heaven. The same kind of fall -- not from
heaven but from the pastor's position -- could easily happen to a new believer
who is placed in a pastor's role.
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