The Conservative Pastor And Misplaced Priorities

At this season of my life and ministry, where the inevitable but natural end of my calling is nearer than the beginning, I have begun casting my eyes across the religious landscape and trying to formulate what the future holds for my grandchildren and their children. I am not encouraged by what I see. I detest cynicism. Nevertheless, what I see unfolding before me has little to do with a religious system that is conforming to a changing world culture in order to expedite the propagation of the gospel, but rather a truly worldly church that is all too willing to mirror societal modes of behavior and entertainment, while, at the same time, having a pastor who is either blatantly denying basic tenets of the Word of God or else refusing to proclaim those tenets for fear of a carnal congregation's reprisal. The great man of God and scientist, Dr Henry Morris, once told me that the way to discover if a conservative pastor is compromising the faith is rather easy. He said, "Attend his church any given Sunday and you will agree with every thing he says. However, if you attend his church every Sunday for a year, it isn't what he has preached that's wrong, it's  what he's failed to preach that's wrong."

I am not too concerned with the avowed liberal pastor. He wears his intellectual skepticism openly as a badge of honor. My inward angst is for the Bible-pounding conservative pastor who regularly flaunts his belief that the Bible is indeed the Word of God in front of an agreeable congregation who will reward his "bold stand for truth" with loud amens, roaring laughter as he excoriates social sins or sometimes applause. That breaks my heart, and I think also the heart of God. Without question a faithful pastor should denounce sin in the strongest and plainest terms but always with a broken heart for the sinner because Jesus died for him at Calvary. To use that poor sinner's plight to gain points with a complicit congregation is to diminish the depth of God's love for fifteen minutes of grandstanding. 

Reaching people for Christ is a command for all of us....including the pastor. Here are some honest questions a congregant has every right to ponder concerning his pastor. Does your pastor regularly one-on-one go into homes of unsaved people and attempt to lead them to Christ? Does your pastor regularly visit the fatherless and widows? Does your pastor regularly visit nursing homes? Does your pastor regularly visit jails and prisons? All of these are basic to pastors following the model that Jesus established for genuine ministry in His name. If your pastor is doing these things, you would know it by comments from people both inside the church and outside the church who have been blessed by his daily ministry to them. If your pastor is not involved in these commands of ministry by Jesus, you have a pastor who leads by the faulty admonition to "do as I say not do as I do." Think of that the next time you are distressed about the condition of the world. Who is visiting them bearing the good news of God's love? If not your pastor, who?

I love pastors, but I'm concerned about the future. No politician can provide the solution for our national woes. Our only hope is with pastors who not only preach boldly in the pulpit but also lead throughout the week into the highways and byways compelling the unsaved to come in and find the answer to all life's problems in Christ. Let's be honest....really honest. The pastor who makes visitation into homes, hospitals and jails a priority is a dinosaur. The modern pastor can give you plenty of reasons he doesn't have time to do it. In fact, he is so adept at giving reasons, you will probably give him a pass because, after all, he's such a good preacher. Those reasons will stand up in the court of public opinion but will miserably fail in the court of heaven. 

Pastors, Jesus loved us, all of us, enough to die for us. His mandate to us is to take the gospel to all the world, not for the world to come to us. Other than your pulpit on Sunday or your radio/TV broadcasts, are you doing it? After all, you lead better by example than by exhortation.