The Scourge Of Racism
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Just as the Church on earth is the only divinely commissioned human agency to proclaim the Gospel and witness Christ, so, only its shepherds and teachers have the priority responsibility to teach those that respond to the message and become Christians. If the Church does not or cannot do her proclamation and witnessing job, God will send angels as He will in days shortly to come (Revelation 14:6-11). But if His chosen human shepherds fail to teach in developing and equipping disciples and especially men as the first priority, then there is no divine back up use of heaven sent angels. Also, we have the issues the Lord leads me to raise in this edited 2012 Commentary.
Originally Published November 2012
Having served the Lord in the ministry of shepherding His flock in local churches, I fully understand the joys and triumphs as well as the relentless pressures, difficulties, hardships and painful sorrows that come with the job. Being a pastor that pleases the Lord and does His will is doable for the man who has truly been gifted for and called to the task. Besides leading the flock to do God's will, central aspects of the task are feeding and tending the flock according to the Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ's directive to His apostle, Peter (John 21:15-17). Of paramount importance is developing the men; something many pastors are failing to do for any number of reasons.
While the Lord proclaimed the Gospel, taught God's Word to and healed people from all walks of life and genders as they gathered to Him, He only gathered to Himself twelve men to be His apostles. This was not because He was keeping in step with the social customs of His day or attempting to please anybody but His Father. Men are God’s chosen leaders in the family, the foundation of human social organization and His churches on earth. Therefore, our Lord honored the divine design and order (Genesis 1:26-27, 2:7; 1 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Timothy 2:13) as well as after consulting with His Father, chose precisely which men to bring near to Himself (Luke 6:12-16).1
Even though one--Judas Iscariot--would eventually betray Him and perish, these men began an intensive time of instruction under Christ to learn about Him, His doctrine, God's program and plans so they might do His will as Christ was also doing (John 17:18, 20:19-23). The Lord has called pastors beginning with the apostles to imitate His example of developing men for leadership and Kingdom service (Ephesians 4:7-16). This does not mean women are neglected. Done biblically, though, it is the men as husbands and fathers that instruct their families in the faith and show suitability for leadership in the local church (1 Corinthians 14:34-35; 1 Timothy 2:11-12, 3:1-13).2
The apostle Paul foretold and Peter revealed one of the major reasons many pastors do not "shepherd the church of God" as He intends including purposely developing men: they have corrupt motives (Acts 20:17, 28-30; 1 Peter 5:1-3, NKJV). They also have the wrong idea about the purpose of church members. The flock of God does not exist to support a pastor's selfish ambitions and personal kingdom.3 He exists to build up the members as God also required of Israel's shepherds and was displeased with their failure (Ezekiel 34:1-10). The present hour bears out the devastating result of failed Christian shepherds in that churches have relatively few men and God is not pleased.4
How many men do I know in and beyond my family that are soured on the church and ruined as faithful disciples of Christ because some novice or greedy and corrupt pastor sought to exploit them for personal gain? How many men with a healthy self-concept and sense of dignity will never darken the doors of a church again because some insecure, overbearing and controlling pastor sought to lord it over them contrary to the teaching of Christ (Luke 22:24-27)? Truly, such pastors do not welcome aspiring strong men of God in the image of Christ either! Even fallen, men are amazing creatures in that most will easily follow a man that has earned not demanded their respect (1 Samuel 21:10-22:2; Matthew 9:1-13; Acts 16:1-5).
Pastor, how many men sitting in the pews right now are having their need for your personal instruction in Christ to develop them as leaders in the home and church ignored while you are busy with other endeavors that serve your ambitions? As Christ to His apostles and Paul to Timothy, you, sir, are a spiritual father to the men you serve in the local church and equip them to be likewise (Isaiah 53:10; John 14:18, 16:12-15; 1 Corinthians 4:14-17; 2 Timothy 2:1-2). If indeed, Christ has called you to serve His flock as a shepherd under Him, then He wills that you possess His motives and priorities as well as follow His example in your service to obtain His reward (1 Peter 5:4).
Sadly, as I write in my book, The Strong Of God: Back to Basics, many pastors also do not teach their men because they are weak in sin as professing Christians.5 While perfection is certainly not required by God to serve as a pastor, He does expect that each man has shown recognizable growth in spiritual maturity before his service to a local church and continuing growth thereafter. As such, local churches too must shoulder the blame for men absent from or sitting weak in their assemblies due to pastors not doing their job.6 They ignored God's Word and leading in the selection of their pastor (Titus 1:4-9). The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 See all of this year’s blogs under the category, The Cause, but especially the series, In God’s Revival Men Are Restored, Jesus, Son Of Man and The Value Of Men for
a more thorough treatment of the points in this and the opening of the next paragraph.
2 Lord willing, I will have more to say about this in my next post.
3 Read the September 27, 2015 post, Empire Building On God’s Program, under the category, Call To Repent.
4 Read my July 16, 2017 blog, Pastors In The Two Minute Drill, under the category, The Cause to understand how urgent it is before God for pastors to get their heads back
in the game!
5 The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics is available at all major internet booksellers and in the Strong Man Store.
6 The companion resource to my book, The Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study, is an excellent tool pastors can use to intentionally develop men. Learn more and what
men say about it here.
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