The life of the Church is a battlefield; cities full of lost people are the ground to win against the enemy; sometimes darkness threatens to approach and turn off the light; but the gospel is our weapon and the church is the outpost of the Church. new creation behind enemy lines. Church planters are the general, doctor or chief, depending on the day. This figure of war is biblical and exciting.
But is there another battlefront that is significant, but easily overlooked?The shepherd’s heart. Shepherds who serve in darker areas are at great risk. The battle around him is so dramatic that internal battle can be dangerously ignored.
- So how can a pastor who works in a difficult place pay due attention to his own heart?Here are three important ways.
The pastor should keep a close eye on his life and doctrine (1 Timothy 4:16). His own soul and those under his teachings depend on it. Unfortunately, almost everyone who reads this can remember a pastor who lost the inner battle, abandoning faith, following a mistress, or seizing the coffers of the church. It is an urgent priority for a pastor to take care of the state of his heart as a minister.
The pastor must renounce his reputation if he wants to be a faithful long-term pastor. The pulpit is a platform, sin and Satan likes to promote distortions on this platform that lead him from exaltation to Christ to his own exaltation.
Can you imagine that a stimulating shepherd could wear anything, skinny jeans?And a V-neck T-shirt with a bow tie and a sophisticated suit. Chances are you’ll preach to thousands of people in multiple departments and enjoy a reputation in Christianity. preaching circuit. But this isn’t the only place you’ll find these shepherds. Contrary to your expectations, you can find a pastor who is excited in small slum churches, social projects and poor housing projects. A small church can be consecrated as an idol as well as a large one.
The uncompromising relationship is the most critical aspect of the pastor who has turned the neighborhood into his playground on social media. The people of his church live in broken houses, he posts about them simply to motivate donors and ministerial teams. they’re a commodity. They give you an infinite flow of friends who lead a “normal” life, congratulating you on “truly doing the Lord’s work. “He’s not attached to this neighborhood like the people who attend his church, and he seems to exercise. your ministry in a way that always keeps your other world and your friends informed and prepared for the moment you have to return or move.
A city like Detroit will see many of them — for a few months or years before God — mysteriously redirects their call to the place where their social media followers have always lived, who were their true congregation all the time.
It is easy to criticize this lack of commitment, but there is even more self-out and self-correcting than it seems.
The Apostle Paul offers revolutionary words in 1 Corinthians to each believer, especially to the ministers of the gospel:
It is therefore important for men to consider us ministers of Christ and administrators of God’s mysteries; Now, moreover, what is required of the butlers is that each of them be found faithful; However, I have very little left to judge for you. or by a human court; I don’t judge myself either. Because conscience does not dispute anything; However, that is not why I consider myself justified, because the Lord judges me; therefore, judge nothing beforehand until the Lord comes, which will not only bring to light the hidden from darkness, but will also manifest the purposes. of hearts; and then everyone will receive their praise from God (1 Cor 4:1-5).
Paul knew the impulse of his own heart, and in the heart of every shepherd, to exalt himself or justify himself. Gathering among the poor leads to countless attacks on their identity. The church in the district grows slowly and is plagued by struggles. Church members turn against you and begin to slander you for others. Your church is out of the spotlight (and budget sheet) of some supporters.
Each of these struggles carries an implicit, sometimes explicit, burden on you and your ministry. Are you really the kind of pastor we should support?Are you really faithful to your time and energy?Heard?
But Paul reminds the Corinthians that recognition and exaltation are not put to the vote; there is no human court to determine its value and reward in the ministry; the only verdict that counts will be approved by the Lord Jesus at the appointed time.
In this way, 1 Corinthians 4 offers extraordinary comfort and clarity, comfort, because we know that the Lord Jesus evaluates the heart and will take everything into account in judgment. Clarity, because we have a simple expectation: fidelity. We won’t be compared. other shepherds. We will not be measured by the growth indicators of our network, there will be no popular vote. The Lord will value our faithfulness based on the responsibility He has entrusted to us with the gifts He has entrusted to us.
Many pastors never feel the comfort of this clarity. We confuse human assessments with our Lord’s standard. When people reject us or just stop congratulating us out loud, we panic. When the opponents arrive, we worry. When others succeed, we covet.
We explain the complexities of ministry among the poor and make sure that everyone knows that our struggles are due to our circumstances and not to our limitations or weaknesses. We place the department in difficult places, under a light that protects us from any “investigative decline. “. ” In doing so, we reveal our need for approval from human courts.
Others, perhaps specifically church planters stubborn among the poor, seek their exaltation and reward by approving human judgment, while seeking the approval of a man; that is, on his own. They expend their energies on testing themselves that they truly serve the Lord. It’s as tragic a mistake as asking for the approval of others.
The shepherd will not seek faithfulness unless he entrusts his exaltation and gratitude only to the Lord; the pastor’s heart must be settled in the trust that only Christ gives him; the justification that Christ guarantees with his sacrificial death must be sufficient; the exaltation of the humble, which we have gained with the gloriously resurrected king, must be sufficient (Mt 23:12). The heart that seeks exaltation and recognition elsewhere is in the enemy’s sights.
The pastor who trusts in Jesus for a clear and definitive assessment is free to deal with fluctuations in popular opinion; the pastor who bases his final verdict on Christ is released to treat his reputation as a minor matter; the pastor who knows that the Lord will make him take into account all the facts – including the motivations of the heart – enjoys security in facing accusations and aggressions.
The heart of the shepherd, which is based on Christ’s final assessment, is free to be faithful and to altruistically graze the sheep entrusted to him; the pastor’s heart, which unleashes the insignificant quests for public approval or self-confidence, is protected by Christ’s work from the traps of the platform the enemy wanted to use to attain it is again a platform only for the glory of Jesus Christ.