1 Peter 5:3 KJV
[3] “neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.”
This is a great verse because it puts the man of God in his place. As pastors, we must understand what it means to be the leader of a congregation. Many men should resign from their churches, get a good job, and make an honest living.
A man must be called to preach to be a pastor. This means he has a divine calling on his life. I heard a preacher say years ago that he had never been called to preach, but he did it because that is what his dad did. This is not a reason to fill a pulpit. Preaching is not a profession; it is a calling. There has to be a burning from within and touch from without to preach the Word of God. Many men preaching today are not called, and sometimes everyone knows it but them. They have never had a touch on their lives.
A man must be in the will of God when it comes to pastoring a church. It should not have anything to do with the salary they can or cannot pay you. When I went to my church, I did not discuss my salary until after I had agreed with them that it was God’s perfect will for my life. I hear a lot of men talk about what a church can do for them, but I don’t hear a lot of talk about praying and seeking God’s will. Thank God for those who seek God’s will first.
A man must realize that he cannot run the church his way but find out what God wants. I have made decisions to do things in a way that I would not have chosen, but it was what God wanted. We cannot make our church about us! It is not good when a pastor makes it all about him and his family. I’m all for honoring the man of God and being good to him, but something is wrong when the pastor is only concerned about himself. We must remember that the Lord will take care of us. The bottom line is that things will not always go our way.
People are people, and we can’t make them serve God. The man of God is to preach the Truth, hold to the standards, and pray for the church. He is not to compromise and allow sin in the church. He is to set biblical standards for the leadership to follow and keep worldliness out of the church, but he is not to police the people in their daily lives and activities. Now, if someone is bringing reproach on the church, that is a different issue, but he is not to lord over the congregation. They must give an account for what they do.