Every member of a Christian Church ought to know who his/her pastor is.   That’s easy.  You can read my name on the sign  or in the bulletin.   You can shake my hand when you leave church this morning.   But what if you were asked: “What is a Christian pastor?”  This is a far more important question than “Who is my pastor?”   

Is a Christian pastor simply a professional, hired by a congregation to conduct worship services, funerals, and weddings?  Is he to serve as social adviser and entertainer in the community?  Is it his job to make people feel good about themselves?  Is he a servant, a judge, or a lord in the Church?  Is “she” a Christian pastor?   
As the apostle Paul prepared to leave the Church he founded in the city of Ephesus, he gave instructions to the “elders” of the Church in that city.   Here, in these words we find the answer to the important question:  

Yet not every Christian man is a “pastor” or “shepherd” in the Church.  The pastor must be called by God.  Paul says in v. 28:   “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.”  Our Lord has given the general ministry of His Gospel to all those who believe in Him.  Christian men, women, and children have been commanded to preach “forgiveness in His name,” to forgive and retain sins, and to administer Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  (Mt. 28:18-20, Jn. 20:20-23) We call this authority given to all Christians, “The Office,” or “Ministry of the Keys.”  

Imagine the confusion we would have in the church if we all baptized and administered the Lord’s Supper?   What if all of us began preaching during the worship service?  Our Lord hates confusion in the churches (I Cor. 14:33).  So, although the Ministry of the Keys belongs to all Christians, not every Christian should exercise this authority as if all were pastors.
 
Similar confusion would result in our state and nation, where the people have the right to govern, to make laws, and decisions for the good of our land.   But if each of us tried to govern publicly as judges, law-makers, governors, and presidents, we would have nothing but confusion and anarchy. That’s why we have a “representative” government, and in a couple of weeks we will elect certain people to represent us in office.  This is also the will of God in the Church, as we state in the “Augsburg Confession of 1530":   “No one should publicly teach in the Church or administer the Sacraments unless he be regularly called.”   (Art. 14, Rom. 10:13-15) 

How is this calling or electing of a pastor done?   A vote was taken by the Church in Jerusalem to replace Judas Iscariot with Matthias (Acts 1:15 ff.).   Paul and Barnabas ordained elders in every church in the name of the congregations.  (Acts. 14:23)   In 2Cor. 8:19 Paul says that Titus was “chosen by the churches to travel with us.”  So it is that a gathering of Christians exercises its authority to minister the gospel by calling or electing a man to be their pastor.

Yet Christian congregations should also be convinced that their called pastors are the men whom God Himself has chosen for them.  For Paul says: “The Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God.”  Before this, Paul had also written to the Church in Thessalonica: “We urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to regard them very highly in love because of their work.”  (IThess. 5:12)   We may or may not “like” our pastor.  Yet because of his work among us “in the Lord” we are able to regard him “very highly in love.”  

taught yourself before you try to teach others.  Be light yourself before you try to give light to others.  Be near to God yourself before you try to bring others near to God.”
 
Next, the Christian pastor is to “be taking heed . . . to all the flock.”  — Not just the strong, but also the weak; not only to those who give much, but also to those who give little.  He is to love the little lambs as well as the sheep of the flock.  If the pastor’s heart is not big enough to embrace all the flock, then it is not give enough to embrace any of the flock!  (Lenski)

As God-appointed “overseer” the pastor is to “shepherd” the flock.  A shepherd leads and feeds his flock.  So the Christian pastor is to lead and feed the Church of God with the Gospel of Christ in the Word and Sacraments.   I am not serving among you as a community worker, or social advisor.  Neither am I called and appointed by our Lord to do all kinds of work in the congregation that can be more easily and better done by others.  Rather, I am called to lead and feed this flock of Christians by following Paul’s example.  And this is an enormous, God-given responsibility for which I need your prayers and support, lest I fail you whom God has “purchased with His own blood.”  

Paul did not “shun” (or refrain) from declaring “the whole counsel of God” to the Ephesians (v. 27).  Think of how difficult this is for every true Christian pastor!   There is much in the doctrine or teachings of God’s Word that is hard to get across to people, much that speaks against the immoral attitudes of our day, much that human reason and self-righteousness denies.  But the whole counsel of God is changeless; every teaching and every truth of God’s Word must be preached without alteration.  

The Law of God must be preached so that we may know our sins and be humbled before the holy God.  But we are all precious souls to our God in heaven — purchased with the blood of God Himself, as Paul says in v. 28.  Therefore your pastor must emphasize the Gospel of Christ in all his preaching and teaching.  He must preach the whole counsel of God’s Word that poor sinners may know their Savior, be nourished and strengthened in that faith, and be led on the path of righteousness.   But that is not all!

The Christian pastor must keep watch over the flock to defend them against “savage wolves.”  In Mt. 7:15, Jesus says that these wolves come in “sheep’s clothing.”  In other words, these wolves are not people who deny the Christian faith completely.  These wolves are teachers or errorists who appear to be very Christian, yet they deny this or that teaching of Christ and His apostles.  These wolves may come at us from outside the congregation, or even from within.  To the degree that a false teaching is “false,” every false teaching rips at one’s faith.  One fang of false doctrine is able to cause the Christian’s faith to slowly bleed to death!

This is the God-given purpose of the pastor among his fellow Christians: to lead and feed and watch.   Behind his efforts for the members of his flock is that each soul is precious to God, having been “purchased with God’s own blood!”

And yet, we also have a God-given inheritance among the saints in heaven.”  Yes, even the pastor can be saved!  How?  Because he works so hard, because he holds faithfully to God’s Word, or because he seems to be such a good person?  Never! Never!  Never!   Thanks be to God, when Paul left those pastor-shepherds in Ephesus, he did not say to them: “I now place you into the hands of God who will give you what you deserve!”  Rather, he says: “I place you into the hands of God and His word of Grace.”   The Word of Grace which assures you and your children that your sins are freely and graciously forgiven for Christ’s sake, also assures me that my sins are forgiven because of the same undeserved grace in Jesus Christ!   The Word of grace that “builds up” your faith, your patience, your joy, and your courage, does the same for me!  That same god and His Word of Grace which ”is able to give you” an “inheritance” with the believing saints in heaven, is able to the same for me!

In all my preaching, teaching, and counseling, I commend you all to our great Savior God and His Word of grace, so that you may finally gain heaven.  May you also, by your prayers, place your pastor in the hands of God and His Word of Grace.  Amen.