So that God’s Word may be carried out decently, honestly, scripturally, and in order; The New Testament teaches us and God gives us clear direction regarding THE PASTOR, GOD’S UNDER-SHEPHERD.

The following is a Bible Lesson, with supporting scriptures, that teaches us to obey our pastor in spiritual things according to the Word of God. He is God’s leader to us.

I.  The Pastor’s Call

A. HE IS CALLED OF GOD. - God’s man is called to be a pastor through the will of God (I Corinthians 1:1; Romans 1:1). God always calls a MAN to lead His people. He expects that man to do the leading, and he expects His people to do the following! Everything rises and falls on leadership! God has never led His people by boards, or by organizations, or by denominations, but God has always led His people by a man. This is God’s plan; and every time that God’s plan is obeyed, that pastor and that local church will prosper, souls will get saved, saints will grow in the Lord, missionaries will be sent out, finances will all be met, and there will be a minimum of trouble and confusion in that local assembly of believers.

Pastors and servants of God belong to Him and are His by a sacred calling (Psalm 105:15; II Timothy 1:9). Paul the Apostle writing to a young preacher named Timothy. Pastors have a calling that came from God and was given to them before they were born! In Jeremiah 1:5, God said to Jeremiah: "Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee and ordained thee a prophet."

B. HE IS GIVEN TO THE CHURCH AS A GIFT FROM GOD (Ephesians 4:7-12). - Paul here says that the Risen Christ gave pastors as a gift to the people of God in a local church. The pastor is very precious to the Lord Jesus Christ and he is held in high esteem by God (Revelation 1:16, 20). Who are the angels or the messengers of the seven churches? It is believed that they are the pastors of these churches. In Revelation 2:1, the message was given to the angel (messenger) of the church at Ephesus. The man of God is in the right hand of God the Father - the place of power, of privilege, of preciousness.

C. HE IS PLACED AS A BISHOP, ELDER, OVERSEER, PASTOR, AND SHEPHERD BY GOD TO LEAD THE LOCAL CHURCH.

1. The Holy Ghost is the One who does the appointing (Acts 20:17, 28). God will draw that church to that man and that man to that flock. When a church prays for a pastor, God will direct the right man to that church and that church to that man. When he stands in the pulpit, God will give the people wisdom and love to recognize that man and will give that man wisdom and love to recognize that this is the place God wants him to serve Him.

2. The pastor is to lead (I Timothy 3:1-5). He is to lead just as he "ruleth well his own house." He is to rule well the house of God (I Timothy 5:17). The elders and pastors are to rule well, to keep the flock in harmony. The pastor is to feed the flock of God and to tend them as a shepherd (I Peter 5:2). He is not to be a spiritual hireling, nor is he to be a dictator, but he is to be the spiritual leader and the overseer of God’s work!

3. Bishop, Elder and Pastor; these refer to the same individual (Titus 1:5-7). "Elders in every city." Verse 7 states "that a bishop must be blameless." Now he calls him an elder in verse 5 and a bishop in verse 7. This is the same man. The word elder refers to his maturity. The word bishop refers to his overseership, his position. In Acts 20:28, he is the overseer, and he is to feed the flock of God. This means he is to be the "pastor or shepherd." The word pastor refers to his work or ministry. These are all one and the same person.

D. HE IS PROMOTED TO LEADERSHIP; HE IS PREPARED FOR LEADERSHIP; HE IS PROTECTED WHILE IN LEADERSHIP.

God must call the leader; God must prepare that leader. The people have nothing whatsoever to do with that. God also protects His leaders. He calls the signals. He gives the plan and directions. There must be a leader in every field of endeavor, no matter what the field. So God has ordained that the pastor be he leader in the local church.

God protects His leaders and gives a solemn warning to any who would touch or harm them (Psalm 105:15). Touch is the word that God used when He "touched" Jacob’s thigh. This is the word God used when it says, "that God suffered Abimelech not to touch Sarah, Abraham’s wife." The word means to lay hands upon, with the idea of harming. The admonition is, do not harm, afflict, or do evil to God’s anointed or to His prophets. If you do not understand this truth, you might touch, afflict, harm, or do evil to God’s Pastor, or Shepherd, or Servant. If every believer would get straight in his thinking about who that man is behind that pulpit, he would be careful about what he says and how he behaves toward that man - I mean God-called, fundamental, Bible-believing, Christ-honoring, Gospel-preaching men of God. Believers ought to keep their hands off, their critical mouth off, and remember that God put him there.

E. HE IS TO LOVE HIS PEOPLE AND THEY ARE TO LOVE THEIR PASTOR.

Jesus Christ loved people and wept over them. Genuine love for the brethren is one of the great marks of New Testament Christianity. Some of the sweetest relationships in the New Testament are these: Christ and His church, pastor and people. There ought not to be the rift, the standoff, the misunderstanding, the division that exists today between many pastors and their people. Instead, there ought to be mutual love, trust, dedication, understanding, devotion, and sacrifice between a pastor and his people. There ought to be the recognition of the pastor of the of flock. Many times revival, soul-winning and blessings are held back because of the improper relation of pastor and people in a local church.

II. The Pastor’s Command

A. PREACH THE WORD OF GOD (II Timothy 4:1-5)

1. The Gospel message: Romans 1-16; I Corinthians 15:1-4; Acts 20:24.

2. The whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).

3. Feed the flock of God (I Peter 5:2)

B. TEACH THE WORD OF GOD

1. He must be "apt to teach" (I Timothy 3:1-2).

2. All Scripture is given for "instruction in righteousness" (II Timothy 3:16-17).

3. He must teach and train faithful leaders, so that they in turn may teach others (II Timothy 2:1-2).

C. BE AN EXAMPLE OF CHRIST TO THE BELIEVERS

1. He is to follow in the steps of Christ (I Peter 2:21).

2. He is to lead his people to follow his example (Philippians 3:17).

3. He is to have a godly conduct and testimony (I Timothy 4:12).

D. BE THE SPIRITUAL LEADER AND NOT A DICTATOR (I Peter 5:3)

E. WATCH OVER THE SOULS OF HIS FLOCK (Hebrews 13:17) -  He must give account to God for them.

F. GUARD THE FLOCK AGAINST THE DEVIL (I Peter 5:1-11)

Christian, there is a lion out there after your soul. The old devil is after you, your marriage, your children, your testimony, your church. HE’S AFTER YOU! God has given you a shepherd to watch for your soul. Where’s the safest place to be? Straggling out there in the wilderness of this world, out of the local church, away from the flock, away from the shepherd, and away from God? You ought to thank God for the local church and for your pastor, God’s under-shepherd. Believer, get right with God; get into a good, sound, local New Testament church; get under the leadership of a godly pastor. That is the safest place to be and the place of greatest spiritual blessing.

III. The Pastor’s Character

A. RESPECT YOUR PASTOR (Hebrews 13:7)

A true shepherd loves his people. He is concerned about his people. He prays over them constantly. He has a shepherd’s heart and is concerned about the whole flock. He watches for your soul. Therefore, he deserves your respect and your spiritual obedience. There might be someone who says, "I can’t give my pastor that!" There are only two things a person who feels like that toward his pastor can do. Either he must get his heart right with God so that he can do that, or he must get out of that church and find another church that preaches God’s Word where he can.

B. PROTECT YOUR PASTOR (I Timothy 5:19-20).

One of the main ways to protect your pastor is by refusing gossip and slander against him. Even when it is before two or three witnesses. Be a Christian to your pastor. Did you know that your pastor is under constant attach from Satan and the enemies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? What a tragic thing when even church members and professing Christians join in with the devil’s crowd against God’s man, the pastor.

There are some folks to whom a man of God can never be a true pastor. They won’t let him! They stay away from the church. They refuse to grow in the Christian life. They refuse the clear teaching of God’s Word. They have no confidence in the message of the pastor. Sometimes they believe some lie; sometimes they misjudge the pastor in something he said; sometimes they have a grudge. When this happens, they might come to services, they might give, they might sing, they might even give a testimony; but if they do not get this thing out of their hearts and get it straight with God and with the pastor, they will never get a blessing out of his ministry to them. Therefore, guard the character of the pastor of the flock (I Thessalonians 5:12-13). Don’t be guilty of having "garbage can ears." Don’t believe loose talk and slander against God’s man until you can be a Christian and check it out with the man himself. Would you want the pastor to believe something about you until he talked with you about it? We need to realize that the "accuser of the brethren," Satan, just loves to tell lies on God’s servants. Do not ever help him.

C. CONSIDER YOUR PASTOR’S HUMANITY AND HIS FAMILY (I Timothy 3:1-7).

1. Remember that he is just a man. Some people think that when God calls a man to preach, the man ceases to be human. Listen to John 1:6: "There was a man (that’s his humanity), sent from God" (that’s his divine calling and commission). Remember that Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are. He got scared. He ran from Jezebel. Jesus suffered much physically in His human body. Paul had his weakness, his "thorn in the flesh." Your pastor is just a man. He gets scared; he gets discouraged; he gets lonely; he needs prayer; he battles with sin and temptation just as you do.

Remember that before your pastor preaches a message from God’s Word to you, he has first preached that message to himself in his study and sometimes in tears upon his knees before God. Before he preaches about sin to his congregation, he has first had to deal with sin in his own heart and life.

2. Remember that he is the man who has stood by you. A true pastor has led many of his people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. He has lived a Christ-like example before his people. When you needed your pastor, he was there. When you get sick, he prays for your and your family members and ministers gladly to your needs. When you need counseling, he is there. A true and good shepherd looks after his sheep. Remember his ministry to you and your family.

3. Remember that he is a man who has no pastor. Who does he go to when he needs someone to counsel with and to talk to about his problems? There is no pastor for him. Many times, it is a lonely life.

4. Remember your pastor’s wife. She is human. God didn’t call HER to preach. She shares her husband twenty-four hours a day with the flock. Many times he sits down to a mean and the telephone rings; or there is a knock at the door, or someone needs counseling. A true God-called pastor and his wife never complain about this. Don’t pity them; there is no greater calling. They are happy in the ministry God has given them. Your pastor has not only to be her husband, but her pastor, also. Remember that behind every great man of God, there is a great woman of God. She is the unseen force behind a godly pastor. Just as Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ arms and the battle went for God, she hold up the pastor’s arms and supports her husband in his ministry for God. A godly pastor’s wife will follow her husband to the jumping-off place and jump off with him. Honor your pastor’s wife, pray for her, and support her.

5. Remember your pastor’s children. They are just human. Someone once asked a pastor why his kids misbehaved so badly. He is supposed to have replied, "I guess it is because they play with your children!" Sometimes people think that the preacher’s children didn’t come from Adam and that they are supposed to be perfect. Well, they are not and they won’t be. They will need discipline just like other children. They need to be taught just like anybody else’s kids: same needs, same temptations, and same fears. Pray for your pastor’s children. Love them and help them.

IV. The Pastor’s Congregation

A. SUPPORT YOUR PASTOR FINANCIALLY (I Corinthians 9:7-14)

1. The Bible teaches a paid ministry.

Look at God’s Word (II Corinthisans 11:8-12; 12:13). Paul took wages from the churches he founded and that he pastored. In II Corinthians 12:13, he states that because he refused to let the church at Corinth support him due to some false accusations, that church suffered spiritually and was inferior to all he other churches that he founded and pastored! God’s true servant should be well supported by God’s people in the local church. No church ever suffered financially or spiritually by properly taking care of God’s servant. God will always richly bless the church and flock that takes good care of the temporal needs of their pastor and shepherd.

2. He should receive double honor or pay (I Timothy 5:17). No true man of God is going around today with his hand out. God supplies every need that he has. Every true God-called pastor has learned Who does the supplying and Who to go to with their needs. This truth needs to be preached and taught to God’s people so that they will treat any of God’s servants right when it comes to the matter of support and salary. When a church takes care of its pastor’s temporal needs, then he won’t have to be worrying about that and he can concentrate on taking care of their spiritual needs.

3. When God’s true servant is not properly cared for, God’s judgment and curse will fall upon that church and congregation (Malachi 3:8-11; I Corinthians 16:1-2). God’s method of giving is through God’s people giving tithes and offerings through the local church. When God’s people give as the Bible teaches in any local church, every financial need will be met, and that includes the pastor’s salary. Could it be that God’s people, in some churches or individually, are not prospering as they should because they have "robbed God," or are robbing God now in this matter of tithes and offerings?

B. LEARN FROM YOUR PASTOR (Ephesians 4:12)

He is trying to build you up in the faith and to teach you God’s Word. What a responsibility God has given your pastor! How much easier many of God’s people could make the pastor’s job, if they would be faithful, submissive, teachable, and would grown in the Christian life and in their service to God.

You would be surprised how many professing Christians look at a horoscope. Stay away from the occult in any form. Stay in your Bible. Stay close to the shepherd God has given you as a pastor. Learn from him. God will see that you have every answer you need as you stay close to Him, His Word, and His shepherd, the God-called pastor.

C. SEVEN INSTRUCTIONS TO THE SAINTS AND TO THE CHURCH TOWARD THEIR PASTOR

1. Love him.

2. Support him.

3. Defend him.

4. Obey him.

5. Pray for him.

6. Remember him.

7. Honor him.