OFFICIATING A marriage ceremony is good, but it is not necessarily doing the work of the ministry or God’s work.
Performing a naming ceremony is good, but it is not necessarily doing the work of the ministry either. And burying the dead may be good, but it is also not doing God’s work. These are important, but they are not the work God has commanded His ministers to do.
But bringing the message of truth, reconciliation, righteousness and faith to people to make them believe in Jesus Christ and teach them to be happy doers of God’s Word for them to grow up spiritually to conform to the image of Christ is doing the work of the ministry; it is doing the work God has given His ministers to do (John 6:28-29, Matt 28:19-20, Eph. 4:11-14 etc.).
A successful pastor or Christian is not who people say he is but who God says he is. A pastor is good not because men praise him but because God praises him and says, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”
No true pastor owns the church shepherds.
Every genuine pastor is used to build Christ’s church. So a pastor should be careful in saying, “My church or our church.” And a faithful pastor will be careful to hand over the leadership of the church to his child, because the church is not a family property but the personal property of Jesus Christ.
Some people sit somewhere and think that Christian pastors fight among themselves.
Oh, no, true servants of Christ do not fight among themselves. They may disagree on some issues, but they actually fight against the devil and his ministers – false prophets and teachers, enemies of the cross whose misbehaviour damages the reputation of the church.
Should a rich pastor receive offerings from a poor person? Any rich pastor who asks and receives offerings from a poor person for his personal use is greedy and selfish.
Such a pastor does not want the poor to prosper but always wallow in poverty (Proverbs 22:16). Do you want to argue with the Elijah-poor window’s story? Well, Elijah asked and received from the poor widow of Zarephath, because Elijah himself was very poor and God had already commanded the woman (1 Kings 17:8-16).
God delights in the prosperity of the poor including poor pastors and also delights in the generosity of the rich including rich pastors. Having money is being rich in the sight of man, but having righteousness, faith, love and all that God wants you to have is being rich in the sight of Christ. A person can be rich in the sight of man, and yet be poor, wretched and pitiable in the sight of God (Rev. 3:17-18).
Jesus Christ will return at a time no one knows. So every believer is required to be ready at all times. A faithful and wise pastor, therefore, prepares himself and the Lord’s flock placed under his care to be ready for Christ’s glorious return. Such a pastor will be greatly rewarded. Christ came to the earth from heaven so that believers may also go to heaven from the earth.
Christ Jesus can build His church without you, but if you want Him to build it with you, then you must be prepared to build on the foundation the first apostles laid by His Word and Spirit, because the church is His precious Body. Christ grows in those who become Christ-conscious.
Jesus is the King of kings and King of peace; He has a Kingdom. And His Kingdom has a message which His faithful servants are called to preach and teach about to save people. Interestingly, the message of the Kingdom is a message about the King because the Kingdom and the King are one.
Anyone who claims to be a servant of the King but does not preach and teach about the King, Jesus Christ, is a scam, fraudster, deceiver and antichrist. Pastors are not called for decoration but dedication, not for bullying but building, not for fashion but function, not for gaining but guiding and not for salutation but salvation.
He who accepts to preach and teach the Word of God must also prepare to accept stricter judgement on the Last Day (James 3: 1). A great portion of the Bible was written for overseers, and it must be preached and taught to them boldly. He who preaches or teaches to others must be willing to be preached and taught to.
Thus, a humble pastor often times sits down for other ministers to preach and teach him. A person is a servant of Christ not because he preaches, prophesies or prays in the name of Jesus Christ, but because Christ called, prepared and sent him to serve. And those called by God should prepare for stricter accountability.
Jesus Christ is the truth. The Holy Spirit is truth. And the Word of God is truth. Who then are followers of Christ? Are we also truth? No, we are not truth, but we are commanded to walk in the truth (2 John 1:4). To walk in the truth is to live by the truth. This means Christians must live by the teaching of the Spirit, the teaching of the Word or the teaching of Christ. And when we live by the teaching of Christ, we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free from the bondage of sin.
By James Quansah
jamesquansah@yahoo.com