3 Reasons Your Pastors Are a Gift
Stop and Consider
When was the last time you thanked God for your pastors? If it’s been awhile, perhaps you underestimate their value. Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”
We tend to be grateful for those who better our lives: doctors who detect illnesses, caregivers who alleviate our sufferings, and emergency personnel who rescue us. Your pastors guard something far more valuable than your physical health. God has entrusted them with the precious task of caring for your soul. This profound mandate belongs to your pastors and only to them.
Consider how they fulfill that mandate.
How Can I Encourage My Pastors?
Camryn Zamora
In this short, practical guide, Camryn Zamora helps believers esteem the role of pastors as commanded in Scripture, recognize their role in supporting church leadership, and follow through with simple, intentional acts of service.
1. Your Pastors Grow You in Maturity
In Ephesians 4:11–14, Paul tells us that the risen Christ gave his church the gift of shepherd-teachers “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” so that the whole church grows into Christlike maturity. Your pastors are Christ’s gift to his church, given to mature your knowledge of Christ, ensure your stability against false doctrines, and enable your unity with fellow believers to promote the gospel. Your spiritual welfare relies on their guidance. By their teaching and through their example, you become more like Christ. Not only is that a weighty responsibility for them, but it’s an incredible gift for you. Pastors who take that mandate seriously are priceless.
2. Your Pastors Preach God’s Word Faithfully
In Jeremiah 3:15 God promised his people: “And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” Faithful pastors are a fulfillment of that promise. Salvation comes through the verbal proclamation of the gospel (1 Cor. 1:21). When we sit under faithful teaching and preaching, we behold Christ and hear his voice and so become more like him (2 Cor. 4:5–6).
In an age of “TED Talk” sermons and celebrity pastors, it’s easy to forget the purpose of our preaching pastor’s sermons. He’s not giving a performance—he’s feeding us God’s word. Speaking of his own ministry, Paul wrote, “This grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things” (Eph. 3:8–9). Your pastors, especially the main teaching pastor in your church, are charged with proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ in order to bring to light God’s eternal plan of salvation. Preaching the eternal truth of God’s word is not part of his job, it’s the crux of it, and our lives are dependent upon it. Your pastors’ commitment to sound preaching is one of the most important factors in your spiritual growth. Feasting on the immeasurable riches of Christ each week is an invaluable gift, made possible by pastors who faithfully respond to this calling.
God has entrusted pastors with the precious task of caring for your soul.
3. Your Pastors Pray for You
Your pastors ardently pray for you. They intercede persistently before the Lord, imploring God to grant you spiritual wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him (Eph. 1:17); they pray that your love would flourish, and that you would grow in knowledge leading to purity and blamelessness (Phil. 1:9–10). Additionally, they desire that you “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, . . . bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:10).
Consider the example of Paul. He yearned for the Philippian church with Christlike affection. If you have faithful pastors then they share this same yearning: “It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel” (Phil 1:7). Are you partakers of grace during your pastors’ trials and gospel proclamation? If so, you can be confident that they yearn for you with the affection of Christ.
Evangelicals sometimes gravitate toward celebrity speakers, authors, and influencers while simultaneously devaluing the humble job of a local church pastor. And yet, celebrity preachers don’t pray for you by name, nor do they address your particular struggles in their sermons. But your pastor does both.
Christian, your closest mentor, your best friend, your Bible professor, and even your spouse have not been charged with keeping watch over your soul. That charge belongs to your pastors. So esteem them highly. “We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work” (1 Thess. 5:12–13).
This article is adapted from How Can I Encourage My Pastors? by Camryn Zamora.
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