Pastor

It is very normal to hear a person introducing themselves thus,

‘My name is Pastor A’.

I do not know whether these introducers really know what they are saying as that introduction is as Biblically spurious as it is grammatically confusing. It is akin to saying my name is typist J or businessman K.

Pastor is a function. In other words pastor is what you do. Pastor is not an achievement, a position you occupy or a title you hold. And this explains why there are times I present myself when pastors are called and others I do not. I do not want to walk in the confusion people have made of a plain truth of the Bible.

I will take us to the plain description of pastor in very simple terms, the terms of a shepherd since I was one in my early years.

A pastor takes care of a flock. A pastor takes the punishment of the flock. A pastor takes the sicknesses of the flock. A pastor suffers hunger so that the flock is fed.

Let me give one incident that occurred when I was probably five or six as it is still very clear in my mind.

There were times I herded with my grandfather. He had some arrangement with a school where we would take the animals to graze after school since children do not play everywhere on the school grounds.

On this day our cow’s calf had gone with my grandfather’s herd and I didn’t think it was a big deal.

The next morning the cow realized that her calf was missing. I do not think I had even taken breakfast when the cow bolted. I may have been woken up. And as the shepherd I was the one who was called by my mother.

Incidentally, the previous day or so my heel had been pierced by these thorns that contain enough poison that would almost make someone immobile from pain and swelling (I suspect that if it was today I could have been taken to hospital). I was pierced because at that time our feet were either allergic to shoes or our parents’ pockets were allergic to shoe shops.

As a result, I could only step on my toes due to the pain on that heel.

This was how I bolted after the cow since we had no idea what was happening. And I was racing after a cow in full flight. People said that they were wondering how I could hop on one leg so fast as it appeared as if the wounded leg was not touching the ground.

Two kilometers through all terrain to the school where the cow last was with the calf we ran. Then it went round the school through the areas where it remembered feeding.

At this time either the children were in assembly or the drama was so compelling that they threw discipline through the window because they started cheering the Olympian they saw in me, a hopping one.

She realized that her offspring was not there or the cheering confused her because she left the school and started racing back with me in hot pursuit.

Fortunately we met with my grandfather’s herd before more damage could be done and it was reunited with her calf and calmed down.

I do not even think I took breakfast that day as I simply went to collect the other animals, relieved that the cow had recovered from the panic attack.

That is a pastor according to God’s word; one who ensures that his flock is fine irrespective of whatever is happening to him.

The Bible is even more demanding. Remember the favorite Psalm?

We know that pastors are Christ’s undershepherds. True? This means that they are as close to Christ’s model as possible, meaning that Psalm 23 can and should apply to them.

Do this experiment to gauge your pastor, starting with your favorite one. And this experiment is backed by scripture.

The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master. (Luke 6:40)

Replace The Lord with your pastor’s name (very temporarily) to be able to gauge his closeness to Christ’s image.

X (your pastor) is my Christ’s ordained shepherd, I have everything I need. Continue all the way to verse six. Then tell me whether you have a pastor or not, according to the scriptures.

But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe: (1Thesalonians 2:7 – 10)

Is that your pastor?

Moses was a pastor in the broadest sense. Look at how far he went in meeting the obligations for his pastorate. Remember that he offered his destiny (blot my name from Your book) to plead for forgiveness for Israel? Do you also remember him refusing for God to start afresh with him after trashing the rebellious nation?

Remember Paul wishing he was accursed so that Jews could get saved?

That is what a pastor is supposed to be like.

And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. (2Corinthians 12:15)

The pastor epitomizes sacrifice, giving, labor, love.

Yet look at the majority of those who call themselves so today. They are the closest to the leeches that cry give, give. It is the flock instead of the shepherd that sacrifices, worse still not for the necessities but the comforts of the shepherd.

For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

How close to that is your pastor? And ministering is not just preaching. Preaching is a very small element of ministry. Take it from a minister. Remove preaching and tell me what is left of your pastor’s ministry.

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. (John 10:11)

Does your pastor epitomize sacrifice? Who between you the flock and the pastor sacrifices for the other?

Another element of pastoring that trashes most modern pastors is sin.

Peter was executing his pastoral mandate when he ‘killed’ Ananias and his wife. Paul was doing the same when he delivered the sinner to Satan and exposed Demas and many other opponents. John was a pastor when he exposed Diotrephes. Moses was a pastor when he commanded that sinners be killed and Joshua was pastoring when he condemned Achan and his whole lineage.

In other words, a pastor is concerned for the spiritual wellbeing of his flock. A pastor only concerned with the offerings and what they can do (even church projects) and where they come from does not qualify as one when gauged against scripture. In fact, if he were to know how he is looked at he would break down completely in shame.

As a shepherd, my stomach was of very little consequence when I was with my flock. We never went for lunch because that would have meant that the flock would not have fed enough. Mark you I was a small child then as I stopped herding when I went to school.

The greatest joy for a shepherd is a flock that is well fed at the end of the day. We would survive on wild fruits and berries, even on empty stomachs when there was nothing we could gather. We would sometimes kill a bird and roast it with the tins we carried fire in due to the cold at our place.

Ever wondered why pastoralists can lose most of their herds when a drought hits instead of selling them? They are pastors and not traders. They have an attachment to their herds and flocks and would not wish to lose any of them. I one time was with a pastoralist who was so bitter when he saw a bull being yoked to a plough. How dare one punish a bull like that? He wondered.

To a pastor, a flock is a friend, family if you go deeper.

The only reason a pastor would change flocks is when the owner of the flock transfers him. Greener pastures do not apply to a pastor. A better package can never be reason to desert a flock. Disagreement with denomination bosses can never justify deserting a flock. That is unless one is a hired pastor like Christ said.

David put his life and posterity on the line instead of looking at his people being judged.

How does your pastor fare when you take him through the scriptural test? Does he starve to ensure that those without food in his flock are feeding? Does he downgrade or downsize himself to help people in his congregation who are in dire straits?

I write most of my posts to ministers as that is what God has called me to. But this time I feel the urgency to write directly to the flock (call it congregation) to help them sort out the kind of people they call pastors.

And I write it because I know the antichrist will get to the church mainly through the pastors in his employ, something I can say is so rampant even today. I therefore do not want you to follow your pastor to hell all the time sure that you are on your way to heaven.

Another thing you realize with pastoring is presence. Like Jesus did the primary reason He called His disciples was to be with Him. Yet He could have opened a school and taught by correspondence or any other way as He is the creator of everything. If He could transport Philip instantly from the desert to Azotus after he completed his mission, surely He could have done a similar thing with instruction and information!

But a pastor can never operate from a distance.

It is the height of folly to talk about a TV or radio pastor because that is an impossibility when we look at a shepherd, Christ being our example.

Anyway, let me not hit so hard as I suspect only a few are even open to such a challenge,

But I won’t close without saying that the same applies to other ministers. You can never lead people to worship God by remote control, unless it is witchcraft. Leading, even the word itself means that someone is following the leader to a destination. How can they follow you through internet or TV?

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. (Matthew 24:24, 25)