¶ Pastoral Responsibilities and Humility
Hey George , I'm ever and I'm , and I'm Jake . Oh , my goodness , you really almost messed you up there .
Maybe you did . I was actually doing it on purpose , but okay , I'll do it right next time .
Okay , um , it is episode 30 . So we are on . Yes , we're on . Okay , I just I made a decision . Okay , hold on , let me fix it , and I'm Jake as co-hosts . People are just going to know our mess ups . We're not going to redo anything . Listen , warts and all warts and all that's right . So this is episode number 37 . If I'm correct , any famous number , 37s .
Give me 30 seconds and I can tell you I'll give you 37 seconds actually .
So why you're doing that ?
If you , if this is your first time listening to the GPC and power podcast , we welcome you . Thank you so much for joining us , and what this is is .
This is for members and people Wanting or thinking about joining Georgetown Baptist Church , and we basically talk about topics to provide clarity and also just to help the communication of the church and so that you can always come with or to me and Jake with more questions and all that stuff .
It really this is supposed to enhance our church , so , anyways , was that enough time ? It ?
was All right . So have you ever heard of a NBA basketball player named Ron R test ? Yes , Ron R test never had the number 37 , but for the Lakers meta world peace had 37 . Who was Ron R test later ? On ?
Yeah , yeah , yeah .
In other words , ron R test changes name to meta world peace and the award number 37 for the Lakers , and won a championship .
Yeah , that's right , and so that's super cool . There you go , go Lakers , go Lakers . Not now Go Kobe's Lakers , all right . So , jake , what are we talking about today ?
Well , um , today , if you were at church , I spoke from first Peter , chapter five . Did you know we have been in first Peter for 16 sermons ? Wow .
So we started back in the fall .
We took a little bit of a break for Christmas and then we went back in . So it took us 16 weeks to get through first Peter .
We finished it today and it has an interesting ending because Peter spent so much time encouraging the believers to make it through all the struggles they're facing to submit to the right people and he just lands the plane offering some encouragement . But there's there's some verses in chapter five , and actually we read this at your ordination .
It was the verses that I read when I gave you a charge . You know now that you're a pastor , I know it's kind of crazy . So first Peter , chapter five . It says I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ , as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed .
Shepherd God's flock among you , not overseeing out of compulsion , but willingly , as God would have you , not out of greed for money , but eagerly . Not lording it over those entrusted to you , but being examples to the flock . And when the chief shepherd appears , you will receive the unfading crown of glory .
In the same way , you who are younger be subject to the elders . All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another , because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble . So the first , the first five verses is to the church , but it's mostly to the pastors .
So in the Bible , if you ever read elders , especially in the New Testament , that's talking about the , the spiritual leaders of the church , the pastors . So pastor and elder is an interchangeable word and we could have more discussions about how that works in the Greek , but that's what Peter's talking about .
But he gives four verses that tells pastors , don't mess this up . Yeah , that's not really what he's saying . That's what I don't charge us to you , wasn't it ?
Yeah , don't mess this up . Don't mess up .
No , he's just giving true exact . He's telling the pastors listen , do not take this responsibility lightly . But then the last verse that I just read , he tells the church though , you who are younger and what he's really meaning is you who , you're not an elder , you're a person within the church you need to be subject to your elders .
So he gives a whole lot of explanation to the pastors and he gives one verse to the people that come to the church . So what do you think about that ? What do you think he's trying to do here ?
As a fellow pastor . It's scary . Oh man , seven days pastor . It is scary because we have a role that is very tedious and very God-glorifying if done correctly , and so it's a very what is the Spider-Man ? Or Luke , depending on whatever you want to . With great power comes great responsibility .
Yeah , spider-man or Luke , to me it's like okay , with great expectation or with great responsibilities . And so when Peter's talking to the pastors , I mean you can read this and it's just like man , this is how I'm supposed to lead ministry , this is how I'm supposed to be If we want to be successful .
It's not really how well you preach , it's not really you know who has the best hair . You know , we know it's not Jake . It's not really you know . It's not these things that we want to think . It is . It's not who has the best podcast or anything like that .
It's like no , like I've given you this job to shepherd the flock , to point believers and nonbelievers to the Son , to the Savior . And then this , this , this verse five , and it's like hey , who ? You who are younger , be subject to the pastors . Close yourselves with humility .
It's like hey , we recognize God's call in your life and we're willing to , yes , follow you , but really follow you , because you're following Jesus and because we follow Jesus .
It's good . When you think of the word pastor in Western society , which is , you know where we are , does it seem like the term shepherd is kind of lost ? And when you think of a pastor , do you really ? Do people really posture pastors as shepherds or do ? Is it easier to emphasize like a pastor being a leader or a celebrity , a glorified position ?
Do you think that sometimes we do that in society with pastors ?
Yeah , yeah , I mean , I think shepherd is lost its meaning towards us . We were never shepherds , we're not ever shepherds . But to go on a broader topic that we don't even need to have to dwell into is I think we've lost a lot of the meanings of a leader , or really what is a good leader ?
Yes , I think that everybody probably has their own definition of pastor or a thought that comes to their mind when they think of pastor in an attitude to what he uses the word shepherd and that's a word that I've spent the last couple of years really praying about , because there's really not a lot of glory in being a shepherd it's , honestly the word that I
think of when I think of a shepherd is a shepherd is responsible , like a shepherd has a responsibility , and especially in the church , pastors have an enormous responsibility .
Sure , there will be people that try to glorify their pastor and sometimes what they're actually trying to do is just encourage their pastor , and we got some people in our church that do that very well and I praise God for people that encourage their pastors .
But there's also this place that we can put pastors that no one ever designed for them , especially the scriptures , especially God did not design pastors to be . Because you don't read anywhere in here saying that pastors are to glory in their position .
No , it's saying make sure you take care of the flock around you and don't do this because you have to do it , because you desire to do it , don't be so focused on being greedy for money , but instead be eager to serve people . And then he says don't lord over the people .
You know , and I think about times when I have seen people do that , whether they're a pastor or just a leader in general . But these words we're seeing is that we shepherds are called to be responsible for our people . We gotta be responsible with the word of God .
When we preach , we have to make sure that the word that's being proclaimed is not our words or are just our opinions , even though sometimes our opinions can happen . We're preaching the word of God and we have to be responsible with that . When , given the opportunity to lead people , we're not leading for ourselves , we're leading for the glory of God .
And then to think about , there are people that God has entrusted to men . But at verse four is the best reminder . It says when the chief shepherd appears . So , pastors , yes , we are shepherds and really we're under shepherds to the good shepherd , the main shepherd , jesus Christ .
So while the under shepherds are shepherding the flocks , jesus is shepherding the shepherds and he's also shepherding the flocks . And I think it's so wise for us to realize that there is a spiritual responsibility for a pastor that we will be held accountable to by God and not one that we ever need to take lightly , even though I can tell you I have kept .
I've taken this responsibility lightly in sin before I've been . I've probably lorded over people without realizing it before , but I didn't stay there because there's a humility that seeps into our lives , that reminds us we're not as good as we think we are , we're not as strong as we think we are . In that , and that's not a bad thing .
It's realizing that I depend on Jesus . I depend on him for everything , just like everybody else does . And actually what I said today in my sermon was spiritual responsibility goes both ways . So a pastor is responsible to his people , but what is the church responsible towards their pastors ? What do you think , maverick ?
Well , first I kind of want to go back to something , to your first question you asked , because I thought about this , or really the thought just came into my mind . Is we as Americans , we as Texans whatever you want to call yourself like ?
We don't really understand the true idea of what a shepherd was or or even is , and so oftentimes we were like we try to cope , like what's the word I'm looking for ? I don't know , but we're trying to compare it To these things that we do know . And oftentimes when you hear shepherd and I'm guilty of this we put it to like a coach .
You know we put it to like a teacher . You know I played a lot sports growing up . I always put it to kind of towards a coach and the thought I just had was like it couldn't be further from that . Why ? Why there is good things about a coach . What guess who gets a lot of glory after the win ? Coach , the coach . Guess you know ?
Guess who's gets their meals paid for and all this stuff . You know it's the coach . And in why , there is probably some sort of deal where it does matter . But a shepherd Isn't what we think it is now as Christians . A shepherd was a job no one even recognized it was .
It was , it was given to David and he was the son that his father didn't even want to show him . Show Samuel . You know he was the last choice that he wanted to show Samuel when he was , when God was trying to Anoint the new king . You know , and so like .
It's a job that we probably don't even think of , it's a job that doesn't even even matter to our Ursula eyes , but it's a matter and it's a risk , or it matters , and it's a responsibility that God gives its Pastors , he gives his elders .
It's not for their self-seeking glory , it's not for their opinions , it's for a person who is going to wake up every morning and understand the responsibility , understand the call that they have on Christ and always point them to a green pastor and always point them to waters , not expecting glory , for when they get to the green pastors or the water , they they're
just . They just thank God that they're there . They get the job done , they get the job . Yeah , you just said at my hole . No , you know like they get the job done and again .
It doesn't mean that pastors just put their heads in the sand and never find joy in what they do . It's actually the opposite . It's the joy of Serving God's people . But the moment that you see God come out of alignment in that and it becomes more centered on the shepherd himself , then he's not leading people through God's pastors .
Yes , you know he says yay , though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death , I will fear no evil . You know that's in Psalm 23 . What what David is actually saying is I'm not afraid because I'm with my God . Yeah you know , david's not on his own path , he's not in his own valley , he's . He's exactly where God called him to be .
And so , yes , there is a spiritual responsibility for pastors , but this last verse also emphasizes that there is a spiritual responsibility For a congregation to trust their shepherds Absolutely . And why is that hard ? Why is it hard to trust ? I mean you trust everybody Maverick , so yeah that's so right .
I'm so trusting and I'm so humble . You know , it's hard to be humble when you're perfect , in every way Trusted
¶ Trust and Humility in Church Leadership
. What you just said , man , you you're talking about something that Probably most people struggle with , is trust . We have struggles trusting in our own God when we're going through the shadow of the valley of death . You know , we have struggles trusting our own Savior . Well then , how hard is it to trust it ?
Another human being , you know that that is , that is trying to shepherd you , that is trying to pass to you . When the pastor says , hey , god's , you know , god's giving me this vision of this is where we're going , this is where we're heading .
How many times do we just like , oh , my goodness , we're scared , that means change , or that means this , that means that , and we're just like man . I don't even , I don't even know if I want to go there . You know like it's uncomfortable . You know so . Even when God calls us out of our , calls us out of our comfortable little situation , it's hard .
When another pastor , when another elder does it , it's almost really quick for us to be like , ah no , I'm not doing that . I'm not doing that .
Well , I'm more prone to trust a leader who is self-aware . We spend a lot of time looking at leaders and we don't even realize we're doing it . You know , if you go to our restaurant , we're looking for the manager . If we go to , we get on an airplane . We're looking to look at the pilot .
When we go to sporting events , we're looking at the coach , and pastors are no different . But when I see a leader who's self-aware , that is not trying to pretend that he understands because let's face it y'all , you've never met someone who fully understands , because that means you met a perfect person .
Yeah , but if you meet someone who is aware that they're not perfect and they're aware of their weaknesses , then you've actually met a person who has the ability to carry things much further , because then they can depend on God to carry the parts that they can't carry . Yes , so self-awareness is something to look for in a leader .
But the real word we're looking at because it says it here in this verse is humility . These subject to the elders , not because the elders are always worth being subjected to , but because the elders come to us with a humble spirit and the followers come to the elders with a humble spirit , and when we are both humble , then God can do only what God can do .
But when you have Pastors who are afraid to let people see that they're that , that they're not perfect , then guess what ? You're gonna see a church that's gonna struggle to follow its leader .
But if you see a church that refuses to , you know , submit itself to its eldership , then you're no different than the Israelites sitting in the middle of the desert complaining and making golden calves because they don't know what else to do . And and church family .
When you're listening to this , maybe this was different kind of podcast that you used to hear in us talk about , because really it's , it's semi-raw , because you know , I was preparing the sermon and the Lord just really hit me so hard telling me you know , are you , you want to be a pastor of a good church , but are you being a good pastor to your church ?
You know , and I can't , I can't really . I can't really tell people to submit to me . I can't do that . I mean I can , but I can't expect people to do that . Here's what I can do . I can do my very best in my life to be a , to be after God's heart , that people would look and see that this man loves Jesus and he's a guy worth following .
Okay , and the same's true for you , with our teenagers and the rest of our church in Brett , with , with our children , and you know , ryan gets up and leads us in worship .
I can tell you , friends , just watching our staff and I'm not talking about me , I'm talking about you know , maverick and Brett and Ryan I see a lot of very godly characteristics in the decisions that they make and why they make the decisions that they make .
¶ Importance of Humility in Church Leadership
And I want to encourage you . I get a front row seat of it often and I see a lot of humility , I see a lot of willingness to seek the Lord and do what God wants , ahead of what man is saying . And I know it's sometimes hard To look at a group of people and go , man , are they really , really seeking the Lord ?
But here's what you can do Just watch the fruit , watch the fruit of the decisions they make and say , man , I'm watching these people trying to live according to God's word , because you know he quotes Proverbs , chapter 3 , verse 34 God resists the proud . That word resists , it means sets himself against . Okay , so it's not simply God just turning away .
It says when he sees proud people . God's against proud people . He's against people that puts on a show and trying to make sure everybody knows how great they are . But who does he give grace to ? He gives grace to humble people and you may be wondering , like , how is a church gonna do well if everybody's just walking around humble ? It'll do really well .
It'll do really well . This feels like a weird podcast . I don't know , maybe it's not .
It is Well , it's just , you know we're talking about pastor in and I think we're just trying to preach , and it probably feels weird because it's only me and you in the room .
But hopefully this is , as this is a recap of what the Sunday is or whatever , or maybe it's just your morning devotional , you know , today , Like I hope this is speaking to you because we're really just trying to speak God's word and I have a pretty bold statement Tell me if you agree or disagree . This can be a good thing or a bad thing .
Here's what's bad .
I don't know if you're about to tell a joke or not . No , no , no , no , Serious serious , serious .
Oh okay , what if ? What if ? This is how the church worked . You submit to your elder as much as they submit to God .
I mean , I think that's just what the Bible says , isn't it ?
Well , and that's the deal , that's what we're called to do , and so that's either a really really good thing or a really really bad thing .
What I mean by that is if man , if you're , if your pastors are in this case , because we're speaking specifically to GBC if Jake I'm going to pick on you If Jake is really submitting to the Lord , then it's going to be easy , or easier to live out first , first five .
Absolutely yeah . First Corinthians 11 , one , paul says imitate me as I imitate Christ . And I , just when I read that verse , I go , man , paul , like you are really putting it all out there , because there have been many times in my life where I'm like , please do the opposite of what I'm doing . But Paul's not being cocky here , he's not being like this .
You know , whatever you think of when you think of like a really braggadocious pastor , he's actually just saying listen , guys , like I've been , I've had rocks thrown at me , I've had all these awful things happen to me in my life and Christ is still sustaining me . So just just follow me .
Just follow me and I promise you we're going to get to where God's calling us to go . And I think one of the reasons that the Lord's laid it on my heart to share this to our , to our dozens of listeners , is sorry . The reason I want to share this is because I feel like we've asked a lot out of Georgetown in the last , last year for sure .
There's been a lot of different things that we've had to do to position ourselves to serve our community , and that's not going to change . We're about to embark on a huge , huge shift in our church , you know , moving forward with what we believe God's going to cause to do by building a building , and and again , it just requires humility from everybody .
So hey , look at it this way If we're going to ask you to , to submit to us in humility , we have to be willing to lead with humility .
Absolutely . We can keep you accountable and you can keep us accountable , right Amen .
And there's a lot more of y'all than there is us , so feel free , you can really keep us accountable .
Anyways , guys , thank you so much for listening to this podcast . Jake , you're totally right , this is a little different . You know , usually we talk about topics and we ask questions . Well , today maybe we really just wanted to reopen our Bibles .
If you were there with us this past Sunday , or even if you weren't , if you're listening to this down the road , we just wanted to open up our Bibles and talk about 1 Peter 5 , verse 1 through 5 . And this is what we believe , the meat of the scripture . This is what we think Peter is talking about . And who knows more about this than Peter ?
Guys , peter means rock , because he was the rock that Jesus was going to build the church on . He knows a little bit about pastors , he knows a little bit about elders and he knows a little bit about the congregation . So thank you , guys , so much for listening . We will see you guys soon and we hope you have an amazing and very restful spring break , guys .
Bye .