Who's Your Pastor?

Have you ever known someone who is easily swayed by fads and trends or who believes just about anything and everything they hear?  Yeah, me too!  

They are people who can't seem to make up their minds of what they want to do, what they want to be, how they want to live.  The bible calls this type of person double-minded and it says that a double-minded man is unstable in ALL his ways (James 1:8).  UNSTABLE!

 

In view of our walk with God, this double-mindedness is very dangerous.  A person who believes anything and everything, or does anything and everything simply because the pastor is a nice guy or because "everyone else is doing it" could very possibly be in danger of hell.  Yes, that's right, hell, for who knows when they might believe a lie!

These are people who are carried about by every wind of doctrine.  The bible wouldn't have spoken of them if it wasn't true.

And he gave some, apostles;

and some, prophets;and some, evangelists;

and some, pastors and teachers;

For the perfecting of the saints,

for the work of the ministry,

for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Till we all come in the unity of the faith,

and of the knowledge of the Son of God,

unto a perfect man,unto the measure of the

stature of the fullness of Christ:

That we henceforth be no more children,

tossed to and fro,

and carried about with every wind of doctrine,

by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness,

whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

But speaking the truth in love,

may grow up into him in all things,

which is the head, even Christ

                             Ephesians 4:11-15

I was recently affiliated with some folks who were like this, only I didn't know they were like this until the end of this past year when the former pastor of our church resigned and a new one took his place.  These people seemed to have had it all together.  They believed and followed the former pastors teachings with diligence, but immediately upon his resignation began to do things that he had distinctly preached against simply because the new pastor did not hold the same set of standards as the former pastor held.  At first I didn't understand how they could do this, how they could be so flippant, but later I realized it was because they had not had the "right" pastor all along.  Huh?  Yes, they were simply following the man, the pastor, instead of the God of the man.  Instead of their true pastor being God, they were only being pastored by the man in the pulpit.  Sadly, it is no different with their new pastor.  They are still only following the man, his rules and beliefs instead of Gods.

I do thank God for their sake that the former pastor was a good man who preached the truth directly from the word of God, but what about this new pastor, will he do the same?  I believe he will, but I question, what happens if he should allow the holiness standards to slip as is thought to be happening?  What will happen to the people who are not strong or who are swayed by every trend that comes along?  Will they remain holy?  Will they be saved?  One can only hope but unstable, unrooted people are at risk of falling by the wayside in their spiritual walk. 

I exhort you today to listen to what the Apostle Paul had to say about who you follow.  He said,

Be ye followers of me,

even as I also am of Christ.

                         (1 Corin 11:1) 

Pastor Paul, if you will, said you are only to follow me so long as I follow Christ.  The day I decide that Christ is no longer my pastor, then you are to no longer follow me.  By implication Paul is stating that Christ is ultimately pastor over everyone.  He is the head.  He is the leader...for all of us to follow, or at least He should be.  The problem with people today, including some of the folks in my former church, is that they have not had Christ as their true pastor, but a mortal man such as Paul, instead.  Not a good idea!  Men fail and make mistakes and if we are following a man too closely when or if he trips and falls, we will trip and fall also.  We must be following Christ and Christ alone, for He NEVER fails!

I am not saying that you shouldn't listen to your humanly pastor.  God gave us pastors to lead us and guide us in our spiritual walk.  They are His humanly shepherds to keep watch over His flock but God ultimately is the great shepherd.  We are to listen to Him above all.  As far as our humanly pastor, we are only to listen to him so long as he follows Christ.  Plain and simple.

So today, I ask you...WHO'S YOUR PASTOR?  Are you following Christ or just a mere mortal man?

THINK ABOUT IT...

YOUR FUTURE COULD BE AT STAKE!