THAT MAN IN THE PULPIT is at once the 1. ELDER (example) 2. SHEPHERD (pastor/feeder/care giver) and 3. OVERSEER (leader) of the local church.
In 1 Peter 5:1-4, the Apostle uses these three capitalized terms to refer to the very same group of church leaders. All three titles apply to all of them. Peter instructs:
"The ELDERS who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: SHEPHERD (pastor) the flock of God which is among you, serving as OVERSEERS, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away."
A holy, Spirit filled minister, (elder, shepherd and overseer that he is), is an awful weapon in the hand of God. The position is God-ordained, not of human invention. Tozer remarked, "I cannot recall, in any of my reading, a single instance of a prophet who applied for the job. The essence of the minister lies in what God had created him to be rather than in what the church has authorized him to do." Effective pastoring and preaching is the dynamic release of a Divine Word that has gripped the heart and mind of the preacher. "A man cannot really preach until preach he must." Such a pastor longs, in like manner, to see the Word take hold of the hearts on his listeners. But it takes much drawing nigh to the Father, much closeness to the Father, much prayer and much filling of the Holy Sprit for such to be reality. Be clear about this: In the pulpit education is no substiture for unction, as essential as 'learning' is. The Holy Spirit's fullness (or control) is a 'must' for dynamic effectiveness. People hearing such will leave a service, not enamored with the beauty of a sermon delivered, but with the determination to take the God-empowered Word and turn it into the lived-out Word.
- Dick Christen, D.D.
