The Job of a Sincere Pastor

This past Sunday I had the privilege of preaching at my new congregation, Fairview Christian Fellowship. When it was over I was emotionally drained. I struggled to convince myself that it was a solid sermon and beat myself a bit. It was not bad by any stretch but I simply felt that it could have gone better. I could reflect on this for hours and hours but that is not the goal of this post.
After discussing the sermon with Rusty (my pastor) and hearing his testimony I began to reflect on the job of a pastor, how draining it would be to go through that week after week, not to mention the added burden of the emphasis the Presbyterian church puts on preaching. What a daunting task for the full-time preacher.
A pastor prepares all week. He studies a passage over and over, gleaning more information from that passage than can be understood in only a week, let alone taught in a 30-45 minute sermon. It is also the pastor’s duty to understand the needs of his congregation and present the vast amount of information in its most understandable and effective way. Hours in the study translates to a 30-minute opportunity to share the richness of God’s Word that he has been contemplating all week. So much is left unsaid and the pastor must decide what say, how to say it, and unfortunately what not to say. It is no surprise that we hear about the Sunday afternoon blues or in the case of two Sunday services, the Monday morning blues.

A pastor’s heart and soul is poured into the study of a passage and he puts the same effort into organizing his words and trying to understand the needs of his congregation. He believes in the power of the Holy Spirit but also understands his own unworthiness to speak on the inerrant and infallible Word of God. It often feels like you are teetering on the edge of the abyss, asking, “Will these busy people, who didn’t spend all week contemplating this passage, get the point?”

A pastor’s heart is concerned with the growth and development (sanctification) of those whom God has placed under his care. It is with this in mind that these thoughts have come to the forefront of my mind. A pastor cannot write something like this requesting that his congregation understand what he is trying to do, so I have written it. If we understand that a pastor is handling the Word of God, and we appreciate the love and care that is put into preparation, perhaps we will seek more intently to understand what is being taught on Sunday morning or night, whether or not it is entertaining or we feel it was done well enough. See the heart of your pastor and then seek understanding through his teaching. It is God who called the church member to sit under the teaching, God who called the pastor to teach, and man’s responsibility to take seriously the calling of God.