![]() The greatest evidence of whether your pastor is called by God will be witnessed in his convictions about the doctrine of the church. The right administration of the sacraments How important are the three marks of a faithful church to your pastor? Our love as pastors should be without hypocrisy, that is without masks. Age denial is one thing, but it’s quite another to live out that denial in an artificial and insincere manner as a pretext of doing ministry in a relevant way. ![]() This strange (what I call) “incarnational hipsterism” has overrun the church with worldliness. I am wearied of seeing forty- to fifty-year-old pastors dress and act like teenagers. How does your pastor look and act? Does his life demonstrate that he is concerned about your soul? Does he strive to push you heavenward as a pilgrim here on earth? Or is he virtually indistinguishable from the world? Pastors are called to set an example of godliness in all aspects of their lives. God gave us books and stories for a reason-it is God’s word that is to be faithfully proclaimed. If your pastor is refusing to preach through the word of God, he is a false shepherd. In this way the pastor thinks he is being relevant to a post-modern culture, when in reality he is only pandering to the wants of assumed seekers. The assumption is being made today that the most Spirit-filled churches are led by pastors who can best determine for the people what they need. Is your pastor committed to preach the Word as it is in truth, the word of God? How central is the Word to what he is doing? Does he confront sin? Is there a proper balance of the law and the gospel in his preaching? Or are you getting sermon series like the following: “Living on Empty?” “Going Off-Roading with God,” “Church Is a Verb,” “Life Is a Marathon,” etc.? If the Word is being used like a giant fortune cookie from which the pastor pulls a few verses to support his topic, that is exactly the kind of ear-tickling the apostle Paul warned against (see 2 Tim. If a pastor has no desire to formally commit himself to some expression of the historic Christian faith, he is making a strong statement that the truth is irrelevant to what he is doing. The Holy Spirit has worked powerfully in Christians who have gone before us. This is why Protestants produced creeds and confessions. So what is your pastor’s doctrine? Since no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation, to which historical and collective expression of what Scripture teaches has he promised to honor? I Timothy 4:16 commands a pastor to take heed to himself and to the doctrine, for in doing this he will save both himself and those who hear him. What your pastor believes is crucial to the well-being of your soul. If the pastor took some classes from some Bible college or other religious university and skirted the hard work of obtaining a Divinitatis Magistrvm (Master of Divinity), why would you expect him to labor faithfully every week in the Word to rightly divide the truth to the glory of God and the profit of your soul? 2. No Creed Have you learned the word of God in the original languages? When were you ordained to the office and hands laid upon you? Which faithful church body confirmed your internal calling? Here are a series of questions you should ask your pastor:įrom which reputable seminary did you receive your Master of Divinity degree? As long as a person feels led, has a big heart, and can motivate the people, he may be given the title of pastor. But in some churches this hasn’t stopped us. I would be negligent at best if I sent my sick loved one to a self-proclaimed medical doctor who said that he felt called but who also skipped the MCAT and an accredited medical school. We wouldn’t, of course, do this in any other calling. It sometimes happens in churches that anyone who says that he feels called to do ministry does it. Some churchgoers avoid asking or even caring whether or not their pastors have been properly trained for pastoral ministry. All Christians need to see the warning signs of a man who has not been truly called by God to the office of pastor.
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