Remember those who
rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering
the outcome of their conduct. - Hebrews 13:7
God has a definite plan for
His church. He has since He started planting church throughout the middle East,
Asia Minor, and Europe in the first century.
The basic idea is this –
believers need a local assembly where they can assemble and pray and sing and
fellowship. They need a group that can be a part of in order to pray for and help when
they need help. They need teaching and they need leadership.
So God assigned pastors to
care for the church. These men are what we might call under-shepherds, who
serve under the authority of the Great Shepherd.
Many of the pastors give up
jobs to better serve in the ministry. It is a life of giving and sacrifice, or
should be. It is not meant as a place to get rich.
These points and others remind
us that the church needs to honour and respect the pastors. It can be hard to
find the difference between honouring men and elevating them. I’ve seen far too
many pastors take this to the point where they demand absolute obedience and
rule the church with an iron fist.
I’ve also see pastors who don’t take any type of leadership I have churches
flounder.
Pastors have the responsibility
to preach the word of God, to live by faith, and to set a pattern of conduct
for their churches to see.
The churches need to be
careful that they do not take their pastors for granted, but to consider them
and encourage and be there to help them
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