Do You Know your Pastor’s Job? - by Greg Peterson

Found here. My comments in bold.

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This article is troubling for several reasons. First, let's examine the article's premise, that the pastor has a job to do, and that Paul's letters to Timothy explains what that job is.

But Scripture does not tell us that Timothy was a pastor. Timothy was actually a valued associate of Paul, who labored alongside him, went to various churches on assignments, and generally did his bidding.

Paul and Timothy partnered together:

Ac. 17:15: “The men who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.”

Timothy was sent to various places at Paul’s behest:

1Co. 4:17: “For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.”

In fact, at one point Paul told him to stay in Ephesus and correct some errant believers:

1Ti. 1:3 “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer…"

Some of Paul’s epistles were co-written with Timothy:

Ph. 1:1 “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi…”

Paul commends Timothy to the Philippian church:

Ph. 2:22 “But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.”

Paul tells us why he was writing to Timothy:

1Ti. 3:14-15 “Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.”

Paul was planning to come himself, and the purpose of his instructions was to help Timothy deal with this particular church until Paul arrived. 

1Ti. 4:13: “ Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.”

And lastly, Paul counsels Timothy that Paul has trusted him with the assignment. Paul wants Timothy to keep the church intact and on the right path.

1 Ti. 6:20 “Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care.” 

In sum, there isn’t any indication that Timothy was pastor or head of this particular church. Rather, it is reasonable to conclude that Timothy was on assignment from Paul as a young church planter charged with setting up elders and correcting doctrine in this church, and Paul was advising him how to do it.
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Well, today I am here to give you a pastor’s job description and how to measure their success (and btw, it has nothing to do with their dress, speaking quality, or growth in the church). This is not my own job description that I made up, but rather it comes from 2 Timothy 4.

First, God is His Boss

Before giving Timothy his final charge, Paul reminds young Timothy of the boss of the pastor: “in the presence of God and Christ Jesus.” Literally in the Greek, “of God, even Christ Jesus.” In other words, Jesus is the boss. This make sense because Jesus is the “Head of the church” (Col 1:18), Jesus will be the One appearing in His kingdom (2 Tim 4:1) in order to Judge for reward and punishment (4:8; Matt 16:27).

Now since Jesus is the boss, the authority is His and not the pastor’s. The pastor is an under-shepherd and a preacher of Jesus. The pastor does not make the rules, but follows what the boss has told him to do. And Jesus is a perfect, watchful boss. As the God of the universe and the Judge of the living and the dead, Jesus keeps careful watch over His church and keeps a careful eye on the pastor and how he is leading the flock in order to give judgment upon the pastor when the pastor stands before Jesus’ judgment seat.

According to the Bible, this judgment will be more severe than just a normal Christ-follower because of the task they were given to lead Jesus’ people (see James 3:1; 2 Tim 2:15; Heb 13:17). The point is that a pastor is not allowed to do ministry in any ole way he wants, but the pastor must follow the employee manual given to him and follow it to the letter. For one day every pastor will stand before God to give an account on whether or not he pastored by the Book. (The author seems to be setting us up to believe a dangerous idea, that the pastor answers only to God. There is no mention of team leadership or mutual submission. Elders are not mentioned. This is very concerning.)

The Job is to Preach the Word

2 Timothy 4:2-5 is the commanded job description for every pastor, (As we have seen, Paul was not writing to Timothy as pastor, but as someone Paul sent to put the church in order until he came himself. It was also Paul's intention to instruct Timothy on the way the church should be structured, for Paul reminds Timothy that the elders governed the church:

1Ti. 5:17 “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.”

We must ask, if Timothy was the pastor of this church, why would Paul tell him that the elders are in charge? The author is misleading us.)

summed up in “preach the Word.” Preach is the Greek karusso which means “to proclaim publicly, to announce a message out loud for others to hear.” Furthermore, preaching is different than teaching. Teaching is for any audience, any time, and can taught the same information over and over again. Teaching is aimed only at the mind. Preaching, on the other hand, is a message with the same truth of teaching, but is only for a certain audience at the certain time it is being delivered. Preaching’s aim is not merely the mind, but also the heart, and will. Simply put, when a preacher preaches, they are aiming at changing your thoughts, your actions, and your motivations. (This is incorrect. Preach (κηρύσσω [kérussó] means to proclaim after the manner of a herald, proclaim openly, the public proclamation of the gospel and matters pertaining to it. 

Teach, διδασκαλία [didaskalia], means teaching, i. e. that which is taught, doctrine. Almost every occurrence of the word translated "preach" is related to the proclamation of the gospel, whereas teaching is related to instruction about the deeper things of the faith. This is how we can understand verses like this:

Mt. 4:23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

Here Jesus was doing three things, instructing (kérussó), heralding (didaskalia), and healing.

But the author tries to redefine the word kérussó to conform to his preconceptions.)

Now the message could be about anything and be preaching, but Paul does not give room for “anything.” The only message the pastor, every pastor, is to proclaim is THE WORD, the Bible, God’s truth. (Given what we now know, Paul was instructing Timothy to proclaim, in the manner of a herald, the word. Paul continues by adding to the list: be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction. 

The punctuation is not in the original text, but rather inferred from what is written. It is clear that Paul is giving several things for Timothy to do.)

The pastor (Um, the teacher...)

is not to go on about clothing styles, politics, or bring their own ideas to the pulpit. They are preach the Word of God – exactly how it is presented and exactly how God intended. In other words, the pastor is to be humble by studying the Word so that God speaks in their pulpit.

How often is the pastor supposed to do this? Keep reading vv. 2-5 of 2 Timothy 4.

… be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Simply: all the time; every time he gets a chance; when it is an easy passage of Scripture and when it is hard; when it is convenient and when it is not; when he gets a good response from people and when he doesn’t; when it is popular and when it is not; when the culture likes it and when they don’t; when the church is large and when the church is small; in the main service and in Sunday School; to adults, youth, and children. Every time is the command.

This is why I (and my brothers on this PS23 blog) believe and practice expository preaching because it exposes the truth of God week after week. (It's good to practice expository teaching, but this isn't related to that.)

In this way, we are being obedient to God as pastors and we are giving the Spirit of God the opportunity to grow the flock into the image of Christ (2 Tim 3:16-17; Rom 8:29). If the preaching of the Word is not happening weekly in your church, then you have a disobedient pastor and do you really want to be shepherded by a disobedient pastor? I hope not. I hope you would want to find a church that has the same priority that God has for its pastor in preaching the Word week after week. You can find many faithful pastors by merely looking on The Master’s Seminary Church Finder.

Before I leave this section, let me just make sure you understand that it is the lay church-member’s job to be noble-minded and know if your pastor is fulfilling his job to preach the Word. What you hear week to week may sound like preaching the Word, but you cannot know if you are not examining the Scriptures yourself (Acts 17:10-11; Matt 7:15-20; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1).

The Success is Obedience

The Apostle Paul was arguably the most successful pastor the world has known. Under his shepherding, (I believe that it was Paul's apostleship that grew the church.)

the gospel spread from the nation of Israel to the known end of the world during his time. Yet, at the end of Paul’s life, as expressed in 2 Tim 4:8-18, Paul was imprisoned with only one person left to take care of him. Everyone had abandoned Paul, either to go do the work of ministry (Crescens, Titus, Tychicus) or because they were never saved to begin with (Demas, Alexander). Having no one but Luke with him, Paul still professes that his ministry was a success because “the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation (that’s preaching!) might be FULLY ACCOMPLISHED…” (Indeed, it is "heralding." But that's not teaching. The author is confused.)

Do you see it? Paul saw his ministry as a success because he preached the Word. It didn’t matter how many people followed Paul around. It didn’t matter how many people were at his memorial service. Paul’s ministry was a success because he was obedient to proclaim the Word that God had commanded at his conversion (cf. Acts 9:15, 20; 22:15; 26:15-20).

So, how do you measure the success of your pastor? Simple: he obediently is preaching the Word, that is “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). Is the shepherd whom you call pastor proclaiming Christ with admonishing and teaching and with all wisdom, “so that [they] may present every man complete in Christ” (Col 1:28)? If yes, then it is of no consequence what is going on around him or your church or the size of the church or his popularity (or lack of) or if he is ridiculed by others, even by people in your church or the surrounding churches. If your pastor is preaching the Word, in the pulpit, in his life, and in his shepherding/counseling, then no matter what, your pastor is successful. And that is a man you want to place yourself and your family under. (So far, the author has not managed to correctly describe the pastor. Ep. 4:11: 

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers...

So far, he has confused pastors, apostles, teachers, and evangelists.)

On the other hand, if your pastor is more worried about the numbers of the people in the worship center, more worried about if he looks/talks hip and trendy, more engaged in popular culture than in prayer and the Word, more interested in speaking about clothes/food/etc., then you have a disobedient pastor. And again I ask: do you want to be shepherded by a disobedient pastor? God only blesses those who walk in obedience. (is this really true?)

And you cannot be blessed through a disobedient pastor. (Is this really true?)

So, now you know the pastor’s boss, his job description, and how to measure his success. I pray that you would find a church that has a pastor who is into the Word and into getting the Word into you. Your spiritual growth depends upon it.

If you are at a church where the pastor is faithful to God in proclaiming the Word to you, do him great joy by walking in the truth he proclaims week after week. I guarantee, he will find no greater joy than to know you practice what he preaches (3 John 4).

Oh, my. There is so much wrong with this. Starting with a false premise, which he uses to reinforce his own biases, the author finally ends with telling us to be good little Christians by obeying the pastor. Incredible.)