A faithful pastor and shepherd is going to be obedient to the call of God.
In this episode, Brody continues his conversation on what makes a Biblical pastor, by walking through 1 Peter 5, where Peter offers wisdom to help pastors shepherd well.
Jesus is the Chief Shepherd. Pastors are under-shepherds because the sheep belong to the Lord. Being a pastor requires labor and hard work. Let’s love one another well, pray for our leaders, and serve in our local churches.
10 Distinctives of a Healthy Church:
Resources:
Please leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help improve No Sanity Required and help others grow in their faith.
Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.
A faithful pastor and shepherd is going to be obedient to the call of God.
In this episode, Brody continues his conversation on what makes a Biblical pastor, by walking through 1 Peter 5, where Peter offers wisdom to help pastors shepherd well.
Jesus is the Chief Shepherd. Pastors are under-shepherds because the sheep belong to the Lord. Being a pastor requires labor and hard work. Let’s love one another well, pray for our leaders, and serve in our local churches.
10 Distinctives of a Healthy Church:
Resources:
Please leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help improve No Sanity Required and help others grow in their faith.
Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.
Welcome everybody back to the no sanity required podcast. Well, as we told you last week, we're gonna pick right up, do part two of that episode and we're considering some some things related to church. We've kind of we kind of went all over the place in that last episode Thinking about. We talked a little bit about church leadership, but we didn't get real detailed or personal other than to basically say two things a faithful pastor and shepherd is going to be obedient to the call of God and so he's gonna love the Lord and he's gonna love his people. He's gonna love God and be faithful to him and he's gonna love his people and be faithful to them. And we touched it then a little bit on, you know, big churches, multi-site churches, you know, and how does a lead guy do that? Well, and I know those guys all have really good reasons for why they have Five, six, eight, twelve, whatever campuses and TV screens that show them preaching, versus a Church that has a pastoral team or a single guy in some lay elders or whatever that, that lead a local congregation. Obviously, and much more convinced that that second way is the way of New Testament Church and the book of Acts and what I think is the most effective.
Speaker 1:But we are considering what Peter then says to pastors. Okay, so you can you, let's walk through this, because we start. We started and stopped with verse one of first Peter five last week, where he said he said I exhort you. So he said, as a fellow elder, as a fellow pastor and elder, I exhort the elders among you. So today we're gonna see what it is that Peter would say as an elder to an elder, and for those of you that aren't pastors or elders of churches, it's gonna be a great conversation for you to listen in on. So we're bringing that to you right now. Welcome again to no sanity required.
Speaker 2:Welcome to no sanity required from the ministry of snowbird wilderness outfitters. A podcast about the Bible culture and stories from around the globe.
Speaker 1:Before we get into this, I want to say how thankful I am for Maddie Christmas, aka Mads. She is an amazing young lady who I've had the privilege of watching her grow up, coming to sloe as a student and Then coming on our summer staff and then into our Institute and Internship and now serving in a full-time role here at sloe. And she is she is the the engine behind the NSR podcast. Maddie does all the editing. You'll hear me reference her from time to time, but she is. She is the unsung hero, she's the behind the scenes. No one sees her, no one really hears from her, but this would not happen without her hard work. So I'm grateful to Maddie. I just want to say that Love her and her husband, colt, colt and Maddie Christmas have been a blessing to this ministry. They met, they met at sloe, have served here together. Colt currently is working in our transportation department but also leads. Both of them lead a community group of of young staff and do a phenomenal job of just disciplining and investing in our and our folks. And I'm just grateful for Colt and Maddie. So, anyway, wanted to say that and, and now let's jump into this.
Speaker 1:So Peter has exhorted the elders among us and then he says, as a fellow elder, so he identified. So Peter is speaking to pastors. As a pastor, peter had authority that was unique to the Apostles. We might add he had what we would call apostolic authority. So that just means Jesus had personally called and commissioned Peter like face-to-face, and we looked at that last week when Jesus told him to feed his sheep. But I appreciate so much that that Peter didn't hold that over his hearers and listeners. Instead of saying, hey, listen up, you know I'm. Jesus said this to me, I'm. You guys aren't like me. Jesus cooked me breakfast and made me some fish and then told me what to tell you. No, what he does is he identifies with these leaders as one of these leaders.
Speaker 1:I think it's. It's a. There's a principle in church leadership, pastoral leadership, that the best leaders are servant leaders. Servant leaders Love that. Peter was an apostle, but he was a pastor and he was a shepherd at heart. This is something that cannot be made up and cannot be turned on and off. It's a genuine statement of humility, but also reality, considering this the way we appreciate and Enlisted man in the military who fights among the ranks and eventually receives a commission as an officer.
Speaker 1:When that man walks among the men he leads, there's a certain respect that's granted to him I think of, like a chaplain in the military that you know. If that guy goes to seminary and then and then joins the military as a chaplain, he might have a little more difficulty earning the you know the, the respect of me. And Then a chaplain who was originally an enlisted man, or maybe he was in you know combat unit, and then the latter part of his career, he, he transfers out of a combat role into a chaplaincy because as a believer he wants to invest in younger guys. Because he's he's walked that path, he might have a quicker credibility with him. So Peter's got this credibility because he's he's experienced every facet of leadership and discipleship. And then he says so as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as an eyewitness to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
Speaker 1:Peter had unique authority as an apostle again, we call that apostolic authority as Well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Peter says so. Peter was a witness of and a Partaker in so much of what Jesus had revealed during his ministry. Think about this Peter saw the miracles, he saw the resurrection. He was there and experienced the, the, the transfiguration of Jesus, which was a moment in which the glory of Jesus was revealed in Earthly form in an overwhelming and supernatural way. Peter saw that was with his own eyes. It's one of my favorite Peter stories. He's like that happens in. Peter goes uh, uh, we should build a tent, we should build a tabernacle. It's a funny. You go back and read that. His response is kind of funny. It's like he doesn't know what to say, what he feels like he should say something. But there's even more that Peter knows that we are awaiting, so he looks forward to the second coming of Jesus. He says that. He says I'm, I'm also a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. So he's looking forward to the return of Jesus and then at that time Jesus will usher in his eternal kingdom.
Speaker 1:And I got to tell y'all I've been wanting to do an episode on the end times and kind of what the you know the like the state of affairs on planet Earth right now, but I just have not been able to get up the nerve to do it. I don't, I don't know where to start and I'm not. I haven't studied eschatology and I just I'm not super comfortable talking about the end times and feeling like I bring much to the table, but, man, it seems like the end is drawn here, you know, and but one commentator I don't remember which one, I didn't make a note of this but one commentator said, quote Peter notes that this revelation of God's glory is not a single event but a continuous act. The unfolding of divine glory is an unbroken process. It's an unbroken process. I can't help but think that this process will experience the ultimate culmination when we are physically face to face with the Lord, beholding Him. I think of, when I think about standing before the Lord and beholding Him. You know, feel what Peter's saying right here. As a, he says I'm a partaker, as you know, in the glory that is going to be revealed and I feel that, like I feel what he's saying I think about.
Speaker 1:Have you ever noticed when a gold medalist wins their event? And? And? They've devoted their life to it. They've devoted their entire life to it. They've, they've trained. I watched a video of the guy that must have 2023, he won the strongman contest at the at. I don't know if it's the world's strongest man or the. I don't know if there's multiple of those, but this guy's name is Mitch Shoot. What's?
Speaker 2:his Mitch.
Speaker 1:Hooper, I think was his name. I had never heard of him. I'm familiar with some of those strongman competitors, but Mitch Hooper I know. I know I've followed one dude named Brian Shaw and then the dude I can't think of his name right now he's a British guy and.
Speaker 1:I followed him and when he won it, and so I've kept up with some of that, just cause it's fascinating to me to see those guys do the things they do. But this dude, mitch Hooper, I'd never heard of him and apparently he's a. He's the reigning champ of one of the one of the world's strongman competitions and I watched him, you know, doing a workout and then I watched he's just, you know, he's putting 400 pounds over his head for like his normal workout and just crazy.
Speaker 1:And then it was highlights of him winning the thing. And then when he's receiving the trophy, you know there's emotion, there's intensity, and it's the same thing with these gold medalists, or like when a fighter wins the belt they win the title. You know, you see this emotion just erupt out of a lifetime spent pursuing this goal. Imagine a lifetime pursuing Jesus and faithfulness, and even in your failures and your mess ups because Peter had plenty of them he's looking forward to the emotion of what it's going to be like to behold Jesus and all of his glory, Like I think about that a lot and it motivates me. I just want to behold the face of Jesus and hear him say well done. You imagine Jesus looking at you and saying well done, and you receive the crown of your glory, the crown of his glory and your righteousness that he's bestowed on you. You receive your eternal reward. Think about this. Peter gets this man as a pastor man. I get this. This resonates with me and so he's. He says there's a, there's a future prize in the eternal glory of Jesus. And so now he's going to turn to the exhortation. He says I exhort you as elders. I'm one of you, as a fellow elder, and I want to exhort you that we have a job to do until we see Jesus, and then he's going to get into it.
Speaker 1:Verse two shepherd the flock of God that is among you. That's what he says. That's how the first exhortation is shepherd the flock of God that is among you. The analogy of the shepherd is very heavy in scripture. You read the 23rd Psalm and David wrote you read John 10. Jesus references himself as a good shepherd. This responsibility is a very high calling with an incredible biblical history. The shepherd's so conscientious and aware of the needs of the sheep. It's his great honor and responsibility to serve and protect and lead them. So he says I shepherd the flock of God that is among you, and I think that that phrase that is among you is important. We don't live separate from the people we serve and minister to. I heard one pastor say good shepherds smell like sheep. Oh, I just want to park and and and and speak on this topic for just a minute or this.
Speaker 1:This point go back to something about big churches. I don't have a problem with big churches as long as pastors don't live on an island where they're unreachable and maybe they shepherd and invest just in a small network of people that are in leadership, but you cannot put yourself on an island. I had a pastor buddy of mine named I mentioned him in the last episode named John G Tate. He's a he's a pastor and church planner in Virginia. He's so faithful, he's such a good friend and brother and I've known John G since we were both in our early twenties.
Speaker 1:And, um, sorry, just slid my chair back on this concrete floor. Um, y'all pray. We're trying to put together a studio sometime in 2024. So right now I just kind of record wherever I can set up. So right now I'm in the one of the main buildings at North Campus and she's kind of loud. Um, but anyway, um, john G, he went to Elevation Church.
Speaker 1:I'm just going to go ahead and say names in churches. Maybe I should, maybe I should, but I'm going to do it. The guy's name is Steven Furtick and I've I can't tell you that he's like a hair ticker, a false teacher. I don't know. I could never say that. I've never listened to him enough.
Speaker 1:I listened to a few short clips of him that were, um, I don't know, they were just kind of theatrics, you know. Um, they were very biblically shallow. There was no, it was more like the sermon equivalent of clickbait. You know we've got. You know just getting people riled up and I don't know. I just it. It wasn't like good faithful exposition, it wasn't. It wasn't like a heresy or anything like that, but it was just. It just wasn't good. It wasn't good preaching. It was really poor preaching and but he's like charismatic and dynamic and you know he's got a lot of bells and whistles and people are getting excited about it. So he was kind of doing his thing and people are yelling and then I'm like man, what are people screaming and yelling the whole time?
Speaker 1:Well, buddy, john, you went to a sermon, to a service there he's like I'm going to go check it out and one of the things that stood out to him was that, well, there's a couple of things stood out to him. They had like a cheering section down front, so you got to get into that front section. It's like getting front row seats to the concert and then. But if you're going to be down there, you got to be real vocal, raise your hand, yell, scream. You got to be real interactive for for the camera, you know. And then they're literally like, you know, like in the, you know like in the Shrek, when they're at the wedding and Lord Farquaad's up there trying to marry Fiona, and they've got the guys, the, the, the King's assistants are off to the side holding up like the sign that says applause and then laughter and you know, then the crowd responds. It's kind of like that, that, the elevation church service. And then the thing that stood out to me the most was John G, said the pastor, this verdict, fella comes out of like, like, basically, you know, like this really rock star stage entrance, and then when it's over he disappears and no one ever can get to him. And man, how he. That dude don't smell like sheep. That cat lives in a $11 million house for something crazy. I'm just going to tell you that's some bull crap. That's some bull crap. That is garbage, man, when you live in a $11 million house and people can't come hang out with you. And then my buddy, who's a pastor in the area, was at an event, was a group of pastors were meeting to have a lunch and that dude was on the up and up. This was 10, 15 years ago when he was just getting started and he shows up and his security team tell the other pastors there to refer to him as pastor so and so and to please stand up when he comes into room. That's some bull crap. Peter says shepherd, the flock of God that is among you. We don't live separately from the people we serve and minister to A shepherd smells like sheep. Gosh, man, it makes me mad.
Speaker 1:I shoe horses. Some people know that I don't do it much anymore, but I enjoy doing it, but it's hard work. I did it. There's a YouTube video. If you go in there and look it up, it's from probably six or seven years ago where I was shoeing a horse and I was shoeing my horse, buster, and I used to ride that horse in the old revelation skit that we used to do at Snowbird. I did it for 20 years and I'm doing an object lesson, talking about having your feet shod with a gospel of peace.
Speaker 1:When you shoe a horse man, you're all over that dude and you're trimming his hooves back, you're leaning into him, he's leaning into you. When you're like at the end of a day of shoeing horses, I just smell like a horse. Now I like that smell. A lot of people don't like it. If you spend a day vaccinating cattle, at the end of the day you're going to smell like a cow and I like that smell.
Speaker 1:Some people don't like it. Again, that old dude I talked about in the last episode that said I'm just a country boy. Well, I wonder if he's castrated bullcaves or shoot horses. I wonder if he's ever butchered his own hogs in the fall of the year, made his own, you know. Anyway, a shepherd smells like sheep.
Speaker 1:I'm getting off too far on my illustration tangent here. The point I was going to make is you do farm chores all day. You smell like the farm. You know, a shepherd smells like sheep. All that means. The parallel is this If you're going to shepherd people in a biblical manner, you're going to be interacting with them in their day-to-day lives.
Speaker 1:Now, the primary role in shepherding for a pastor is the teaching ministry and this is where I think a lot of the megachurches they have multi-campus, multi-sites, you know. However, you say that where you know you got one pastor speaking on one campus and then multiple campuses that are streaming it to a movie screen. The primary role is the teaching ministry and that's where the sermon is the most important piece to the pastor's weekly responsibilities. Listen to what MacArthur says about the sermon. This is he says this in the middle of a sermon, so he says now, this isn't part of the sermon. But listen to this. Here are some suggestions for a preacher. So he's talking about specifically the preaching role of the shepherd.
Speaker 1:Bring him into his office, tear the office sign from the door and nail up a sign Quote study exclamation point, end quote. Take him off of the mailing list. Lock him up with his books and his bibles. Slam him down on his knees before texts and broken hearts in the lives of a superficial flock and a holy God. Force him to be the one man in the community who knows about God. Throw him into the ring to box with God until he learns how short his arms are. Teach him to wrestle with God all night long and let him come out only when he's bruised and beaten into being a blessing.
Speaker 1:Shut his mouth forever spouting remarks. Stop his tongue forever tripping lightly over every non-essential. Require him to have something to say before he dares break the silence and bend his knees in the lonesome valley of suffering. Burn his eyes with weary study. Wreck his emotional poise with worry over his life before God. Make him exchange his pious stance for a humble walk with God and man. Make him spend and be spent for the glory of God. Rip out his telephone, amen. Burn up his ecclesiastical success sheets. Put water in his gas tank.
Speaker 1:Give him a Bible Time to the pulpit and make him preach the word of the living God. Test him, quiz him, examine him, humiliate him for his ignorance of things divine. Shame him for his good comprehension of finances, game scores and politics. Laugh at his frustrated effort to play psychiatrist Form a choir and raise a chant and haunt him with it night and day. Sir, we would see Jesus.
Speaker 1:And when, at last, he does enter the pulpit, ask him if he has a word from God. If he doesn't, then dismiss him. Tell him you can read the morning paper. You can digest the television commentaries. You can think through the day's superficial problems. You can manage the community's weary fund drives. You can bless assorted baked potatoes and green beans. Add infinitum Better than he can.
Speaker 1:Command him not to come back until he has read and reread, written and rewritten, until he can stand up, warn and forlorn and say thus says the Lord.
Speaker 1:Break him across the board of his ill-gotten popularity, back him hard with his own prestige, corner him with questions about God, Cover him with demands for celestial wisdom and give him no escape. Until he's back against the wall of the word. Sit down before him and listen to the only word he has left God's word. Let him be totally ignorant of the down street gossip. But give him a chapter and order him to walk around it, camp on it, sup with it and come at last to speak it backward and forward, until all he says rings with the truth of eternity. And when he's burned out by the flaming word, when he's consumed at last by the fiery grace blazing through him, when he's privileged to translate that truth of God to man and finally transferred from earth to heaven. Then bear him away gently and blow a muted trumpet and lay him down softly and place a two-edged sword on his coffin and raise the tomb triumphant, for he was a brave soldier of the word and ere he died he had become a man of God.
Speaker 1:Man that's awesome. A word on the man of God and the responsibility to preaching. The primary role of the shepherd is to preach. We got to remember that. It's the first and foremost in primary role. But in that quote from MacArthur I appreciate it's not just that the man of God gets up and rants and has, you know, opens his mouth and starts yakking, but he's done the hard labor. I tell you this too many guys get up and ramble without preparing and they'll, and they'll spiritualize it by saying well, I've got a word from the Lord, lord gave me a word. This is real prominent in these southern mountain, southern Appalachian mountain churches and I love them. I've got a lot of pastor friends around here, but a lot of dudes don't prepare sermon. They've got just enough Bible knowledge and they and they spiritualize it by implying that the Holy Spirit is going to give them a word and they're just going to walk into the pulpit and just start talking. Guys do this all the time. It's real popular around here.
Speaker 1:The elder, the pastor, the teacher, the shepherd has a responsibility and accountability for the preparation of the word of God, and it should be. It requires labor before he ever enters the pulpit. And so then, what Peter's going to do is he's going to, he's going to give us these contrasts on on how the shepherd shepherds. Okay, he says. In verse two, he says shepherd the flock of God that is among you. And then he's going to go into these contrasts. He says exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples of the flock. So he's going to give us these contrasts. I want to walk through those real quick. It's three contrasts. First, he says that we exercise this oversight, we shepherd. First contrast not under compulsion, but willingly.
Speaker 1:One of the qualifications of a pastor is that he has the desire to be a pastor. So it's not under compulsion, it's willingly. I'm not being forced into this. There's a desire and a willingness. Now, oftentimes there's a fight for joy and ministry, but I can tell you it's worth fighting for. And then this idea of being, of willingly shepherding and pastoring. It denotes humility. So I'm not under compulsion, but I'm doing this willingly, in humility.
Speaker 1:Next, not for shameful gain, but eagerly. The pastor doesn't lead because he's greedy for personal gain. Financial gain can distract and ruin a ministry, and it's done so many times there is a warning to pastors who would pastor simply for financial gain, not for shameful gain, but eagerly. I've known pastors who lost the desire and passion but didn't know how to get another job. So they didn't know what to do for themselves. So he just kept being a pastor because it was an easy way to make a living. He could do it with the, you know, you could do it on autopilot.
Speaker 1:A man in that situation, I'll tell you right now, his days are numbered in ministry. We're just doing it for a paycheck. Your days are numbered and, to be honest, most pastors could go make a whole lot more money. I mean, there's a lot that couldn't, you know, make a church pastors. They might not be able to go lead Fortune 500 companies or whatever, but most guys could make a lot more money doing something else. But you've got guys that this is their only lively and so I don't know what else to do. I think I'm gonna go make a living.
Speaker 1:And then the third one is not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. Say it again not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock across. Follower, follower, and particularly the pastor will use his position to serve others. It'd be a ministry of service. This principle could also be considered by mamas and daddies and employers, teachers, coaches, a business owner, people in public office, that we you know, that we're examples and we serve those that we're entrusted with.
Speaker 1:Thomas Shreiner, professor at Southern Seminary and also a commentator, writes this elders are not to enter the ministry so that they can boss others around, but so that they can exemplify the character of Christ to those under their charge. Humility and a fear of the Lord should be key components to how we are examples to the flock. It's also the source of my wisdom and discernment as a pastor. So, not domineering over those in your charge. You're not going to control and manipulate and domineer, but you're going to live as a humble example.
Speaker 1:And then, in the net versus four and five, peter says and when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. This goes back to what we talked about early. There's going to be a point where the pastor, the shepherd, stands before Jesus, who is the chief shepherd. That phrase isn't used very much, but it's used in this passage. Those you know, the pastors, those who the pastors and elders shepherd are not their sheep, so we would call ourselves under shepherds. Jesus is the chief shepherd. Love that. I love that picture of him as the chief shepherd.
Speaker 1:And then we are those he is commissioned as under shepherds. We answer to him because the sheep belong to him. Sometimes ministry hours can be late, situations can be difficult, miles can be long, days can be long and, unending those times, I try to imagine that the person on the other end who needs me in this moment is one of my own children in a situation where I can't help them. So, in other words, ministry demands are great and there's times where you're just exhausted. You're like I did not. I cannot talk to this guy right now, I cannot meet with this lady right now and I'll just man as much as I can.
Speaker 1:I try to imagine that I got hit by a train or fell off the scaffold and or had a heart attack, you know, and I'm dead and gone and one of my sons or daughters needs shepherding investment from someone. How do I want that person to treat my kid in that moment? That's, that's the way I try to look at it and it's been real. That's been very helpful for me. You better believe if an elder pastor is faithful, he's going to be exhausted, but the reward will be worth more than you ever can imagine earning. It'll be worth more than you can ever imagine. And then the last verse, the last sort of characteristic and will be done with this two part episode is be subject to the elders. Be subject to the elders. Close yourself with humility toward one another.
Speaker 1:I think that's an important like this idea of one of the one of the characteristics of biblical Church is that there's a plurality of leadership. That means there's not one pastor controlling everything. You got multiple people in equal roles of leadership. You'll hear a lot of times the lead pastor, senior pastors referred to as the leader among equals or the head among equals or, you know, first chair among equals, idea being that he doesn't have authority over the other elders but he does have a position of leadership for the church. That is kind of like the first chair leadership, because you do need someone in that lead role. I feel like you know that's that's most churches. You're going to need somebody in that lead role. For us it comes down to we have five lay elders at our church and one lead pastor or elder who's he's a full-time employee, so this is his full-time job, so it you know he's able to lead in a way that we cannot.
Speaker 1:At Red Oak Church, all Christians and believers are to submit to one another. It's a biblical principle. It's a beautiful idea of how the church is. The function is to function in the way we encourage one another, strengthen one another in an orderly manner. Biblical leaders. God's plan is always the best plan. God's plan needs to be the only plan. To be honest, we're called into deep relationships, responsibility and sharing one another's lives, bearing one another's burdens, being willing to say and do hard things Tough love is part of the Christian life, but it's driven by compassion and mercy, not judgmentalism, condescension and arrogance. We've got to be able to speak into each other's lives, and this goes for pastors and lay leaders and folks that aren't in any leadership. We can all take part in fighting the hypocrisy that's made so many people turn away from the church.
Speaker 1:The first episode, first part of this two-part series, we talked about hypocrisy. Let's all take part in doing what we can to fight that hypocrisy. We do this by loving one another well and submitting to one another well. Concluding comments here will be just thinking about how to wrap this up. Let's love one another well, let's show kindness to one another, let's show compassion and humility, let's pray for our leaders. Let's be invested in the local church.
Speaker 1:Just show up on Sunday and then float on out of there. Where can you plug in and be a part of that church that I mentioned, that I'm so thankful for? That helped us. Last week Discipleship pastor told me there are 700 active members in three services. They try to keep the services. The reason they've gone from two to three services trying to keep the services at like two to 250 people in a service. That way it feels more intimate. He said 80% of their church membership are in what they call connect groups, discipleship groups, community groups, small groups. I think that's so important for building community. He said 65% of them are actively serving in the church, parking cars on Sunday, handing out brochures or what you call it, the program for the Sunday, or whatever.
Speaker 1:Or setting up, tearing down, cleaning whatever, their hospitality team serving coffee as people walk in, things like that. I think one of the most beautiful and powerful things we can do to encourage one another and learn to give each is learned within the church to give each other the benefit of the doubt. A healthy church is not a church where the pastor does all the work and everyone is just kind of along for the ride, like consumer Christianity, where church is more like your favorite restaurant or coffee shop you just go in and get served, but it's where everyone serves one another, careful one another, living humility. Tom Schreiner again, we quoted him earlier and we'll kind of wrap this up with a quote from him. He says this smooth relations in the church will be preserved in the entire congregation when that congregation adorns itself with humility. When believers recognize that they are creatures and sinners, they are less apt to be offended by others. Humility is the oil that allows for relationships in the church to run smoothly and lovingly. Pride gets upset when another does not follow our own suggestions. Peter grounds his admonition in this passage that we've just studied with a citation from Proverbs 3.34, which James also quotes. Humility does not try to impress nor intimidate others, but places oneself under God's authority and sovereignty. Let me read that Proverbs 3.34 quote, or where he's quoting it, the Proverbs 3.34 verse that Peter's quoting. There it says this the Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous church, the dwelling of the righteous, or the home, the home of the righteous man. Toward the scorners he is scornful, but toward the humble he gives favors. So there's favor from the Lord in our humility toward one another and toward the Lord. Humility does not try to impress nor intimidate others, but places oneself under God's authority and sovereignty. Believers should heed the injunction to be humble, because God sets his face against the proud but lavishes his grace upon the humble. Those who submit to God's sovereignty and humility will find that he will lift them up and reward them Again.
Speaker 1:I love that. That's a lengthy quote and you might have to go back and listen to it a couple of times to get it. It's a. I have a hard time sometimes listening to quotes that you know. It's kind of like I don't know, you just kind of lose, lose track of what you hear. But I love that one. So qualifications for a pastor. Now you can. You can find that in the pastoral epistles, but from the heart of a pastor to pastors, and exhortation on how to pastor and shepherd. Yeah, I like this. I like the way that that Peter does this. It's so good. It's so good and I hope that's helpful to y'all and beneficial. Even as you think about, as you think about the church, you're a part of how you might plug into a church.
Speaker 1:You know, if you're looking for a church or it's so important the way the church views the pastor and the pastor's role, it's so important. So let's fight hypocrisy together, let's worship together in humility, let's serve one another in love and let's pray for our leaders and our pastors. And if you're a pastor, listen to this. I hope it's an encouragement and exhortation. I know it is for me. I know that was Peter's intention. I'll close with this the 10 distinctives that we teach at our church and kind of getting out of the first Peter passage now and just kind of some closing thoughts, the distinctives of a biblical church that we walk through. And you'll recognize that nine of these are taken from the nine marks ministry. We did split one of the nine and so we have 10. We added a tenth one under missions, which is they don't do that. They kind of incorporate that into evangelism and I think maybe discipleship. But here's the 10 preaching. So as we think about the pastor in today's, in today and last week's episodes, number one, preaching, and the number two, biblical theology those two the pastor carries an enormous load there. So if he's going to teach and preach, it needs to be expository, preaching with faithfulness to biblical theology. We need to be a theologically sound and deep church, but also practical, you know. The third distinctive is the centrality of the gospel. That needs to be central. The fourth one is conversion, the fact that that people like like conversion is when a center is brought into salvation through the work of Jesus. There's something you're not born a Christian, you don't get in by goodness. You know that there's a conversion experience Evangelism the responsibility of the church and its members and pastors to proclaim the gospel and share the gospel with others. Biblical church membership where we covenant with one another to walk in life and fellowship together. Discipline church discipline. That was tricky. Well, I'll probably do an episode on church discipline sometimes. Sometimes we've had to practice that a couple times or not practice it. Exercise it at our church a couple of times and I think that might be helpful. Number eight discipleship. That's the process of growing believers and instructing them and teaching them so that they don't just show up for an hour on Sunday and then move on, but they're being discipled and raised up and equipped. Number nine leadership. So this gets into. It's not just a pastor but it's a team of leaders. Plurality of leadership. So leadership structure in the church. And then number 10 is missions. Those are the distinctives of biblical church.
Speaker 1:If you're looking for a church, don't I think before you think about is it a mega church? Is it a big church, little church, middle sized church? Does it do these 10 things and then you can go from there. Number one preaching. Number two biblical theology. Number three the centrality of the gospel. Number four conversion. Number five evangelism. Number six membership. Number seven discipline. Number eight discipleship. Number nine leadership. Number 10, missions.
Speaker 1:Hope that you have an awesome week. Hope yesterday you worship in a church like the one we've just described. If not, dial it up and get back over there to your church this Sunday. And if you're not part of a biblical church, then would just encourage you to do the work of finding one and plugging in. As always. We were so grateful for your investment in the way that you support and listen and share and promote the no sanity required breakout. I mean a podcast. I looked at the word breakout on the wall right here Youth leader breakout I'm in that room right now but the no sanity required podcast. Please continue to share it and pass it around to folks and let us know the content that you want to hear.
Speaker 1:Today's content was inspired by a message I got. I'm asking about it. It actually was a combination of I got a message a couple weeks ago asking about mega churches and then from there I had this experience with this church that jumped in and helped out with the memorial service, the celebration of life, and his minister into this family and he's kind of that's where this came from. So those suggestions are so important and helpful. So a lot of times it's a quick turnaround you suggest something and we get right on it, and sometimes it's a little later, but we always appreciate hearing from our listeners. We're in the pan. It's crazy what God's doing with this podcast. I'm blown away by it. I'm just grateful and humbled. So simple, you know, straightforward. Let us know what you think, love and appreciate you and we will see you, lord willing, next week right here. No sanity required.
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