02/08/2024
Today we are focusing primarily on what it takes to be a successful pastor by using the description of Caesar, early Rome, and a wicked man from Psalm 10 to make this point for us. But, whether we are pastors with much responsibility, or laypersons, and saints who are dealing with our own smaller worlds, this is a good lesson for us. Are we ready to turn all our thoughts to God?
“The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.” Psalms 10:4 KJV
When we read the attributes of a wicked man in Psalm 10, we can take each of them, and by looking at its opposite, we will see how we should behave. In the scriptural example used today, we see that if a wicked man does not seek wholly after God then we, as faith filled men and women, should seek Him in ALL our thoughts and actions. We are taught this throughout both the Old and New Testaments. Let’s read the following passage from the New Testament book of Matthew, and see how important the idea of seeking God really is, and how by doing this, that ALL our needs will be met.
“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Matthew 6:31-33 KJV
Worrying about our basic needs is something a person who doesn’t believe in God and Jesus Christ does, so as believers we are told to do the opposite and trust in our Father’s provision. If we trust in this, and do not doubt, then we will be relieved of our anxiousness… or in other words, we will receive the peace of God.
So, in just these two passages we have been instructed to avoid being prideful, and to trust in God’s provision. One teaches us how to seek God through prayer and studying His Word, while the other gives us an inner peace by trusting in Him. When we compare this to what it takes to be a successful pastor we find that he is one who changes his congregation from a non-praying, to a prayer-filled people who trusts in the Lord.
Seeking God isn't merely a physical thing like building a city, and if we use Caesar as our unbelieving example because he built Rome from a city of wood into one of marble without believing in God... we will find that just as he succeeded in advancing Rome to the pentacle of worldly ambition, a successful pastor should, by behaving differently, advance the spirituality of his church staff and his congregation to the pentacle of prayer, and God centeredness.
Although this devotional today may be directed at pastors, it also speaks to meeting our own personal goals in faith. Pastor E.M. Bounds wrote that a pastor's "main business is to turn people from being forgetful about God, into people who habitually pray, believe in God, and do His will." These goals should be our individual desires as well...
Even in the absence of a successful pastor we can individually seek God with all our heart, pray without ceasing, believe in Jesus to the depth of our being, and search out and do the Lord’s will always. Great earthly leaders and anointed pastors are similar in that one directs cities, and the other churches, helping them to reach their dissimilar, but larger goals, while individual men and women, filled with the Holy Spirit, can reach their own God directed goals by personally doing the things that scripture speaks of. God’s Word contains the biblical instructions necessary for both the Church and the believer.
So if you are a pastor, you should judge your efforts and success according to how your congregation is performing... Especially in prayer, and obedience to God’s Word. Likewise, if you are an individual believer, you should use these similar principles to determine the success or failure of your personal walk with the Lord... How healthy is the prayer life that you are leading, and is God’s Holy Word central to your life?
“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Philippians 2:12 KJV
God established the church and anointed its pastors, just as He chose the rulers of the world and placed them in power, but despite what He has done on these greater stages, He loves each of His children individually… desiring that none be lost, but all come to repentance. As a pastor your responsibility and accountability is great, so ask yourself if you are ready to abandon the habits of the wicked, and save those who are wandering the world lost. Are you ready to abandon your own anxiousness, and trust the Lord in your prayers, even as you obey Him in His will and your calling?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for every pastor and priest that you have called to gather your flock, and tend to them. Thank you Lord for giving us your Holy Word to guide us as we advance not only our own understanding and belief, but that of our churches as each soul on every pew is engaged in seeking out their own salvation. Thank you Father for your Holy Spirit who inspires us and leads us in prayer, who encourages us in the delivery of your Word, and in understanding how to direct our flocks to green pastures, and the still waters that will provide them with spiritual safety and nourishment. Help us to realize that we are not just meant to serve you, but all those you have given, and entrusted, to our care. Holy, Holy, Holy are you our God who was and is, and is to come. Holy are you who loves each of us, pastor, priest, and layperson, so much that you did send your Son Jesus to live, suffer, die, and be resurrected that we would individually be saved and given eternal life. Even as Jesus said that He had not lost one of those you had given Him, we pray that each soul you give us to shepherd will likewise be delivered back safely and acceptably into your hands. Keep us this day, and keep each soul that has or will come to believe in you safe in their faith and belief. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is truly the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.
Amen
“While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”
John 17:12-16 ESV
Rich Forbes