The Pastoral Role and the General Life of the Church

 I think many people hear me say that pastors need to be focused on their role in ministry, which, according to the apostles of Jesus Christ, is making themselves "busy with prayer and the diaconate of the Word" (Acts 6:4), and think that means that I don't think that pastors have personal interactions with people of their congregation. That, of course, is absurd. 

All Christians everywhere fellowship. The issue is what one "exhausts" (1 Tim 5:17) himself doing. What is his role in the fellowship of the saints. As Paul argues in 1 Corinthians 12:4-31,

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. 12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts. 

Each have a role to play, and the pastors/elders have their role which is clearly distinguished in Scripture with the fact that they are the instructors of the community. Anyone who speaks against this, speaks against the Word of God because of their personal theories and opinions that are not rooted in Scripture. Imagine someone arguing that those who need to fulfill the role of administrations must also heal or they aren't doing their job well, or those who speak tongues must also work miracles or their ministry is lacking. Imagine if someone said that a pilot must also serve the passengers as a steward or he's a bad pilot. Wouldn't that actually make him a bad pilot if he got up from the controls and served peanuts to hang out with the passengers instead? Isn't his service to them his actually flying the plane and making sure they get to their destination safely? Isn't that what his care for them looks like? The stewardess may seem a lot more friendly and likeable but she has a different role than he does.

The ear does not see, nor the eye hear, nor the foot speak. Pastors don't do what deacons do. Deacons don't do what pastors do. Deacons exhaust themselves finding out and filling physical needs of the church. Pastors find out and fill what God says are the spiritual needs of the church first and foremost, and after that, anything brought to them by the deacons or their personal interactions. 

Pastors counsel as one form of teaching, so they have plenty of interaction with those who seek counsel. But they are not politicians running from house to house in order to make sure their congregation still wants to pay their salary. If you think about it, a pastor isn't just going to your baseball games, banquets, and birthdays. He's going to everyone's baseball games, banquets and birthdays. Baby showers, graduations, dinner parties, etc. A pastor has to choose between exhausting himself, making himself busy, with prayer and teaching or with partying. 

Obviously, all pastors are going to be able to go to some things, but expecting them to go to everything is neither realistic nor even close to the biblical requirements God lays down for their ministry in Scripture. This is a far cry from arguing that pastors never fellowship or visit the sick or oversee the needs of people. Of course they do. But I have seen so many pastors just throw stuff together on Saturday night because they were busy with other things all week. What that does is create a spiritually weak church that has not been prayed for as much as they should have been and has been taught a superficial understanding of the text that will provide no defense of God's people from the demonic attacks they will face through the deception of the world.

Jesus only really hangs out with twelve men out of the thousands in His "congregation." Prophets seem to do the same. The apostles have a close group to them with whom they fellowship, but seem to not know most of the congregations to whom they are writing personally. This is likely the way it should be, as pastors need to mentor a small group of people so that he creates leaders for the next generation. But imagine having to go to every event of every single person in even a 70 member congregation. When exactly would this guy be studying and praying for everyone? And even if he fits it in, as many pastors do, fitting it in is not exhausting oneself or making oneself busy with prayer and Word, it's making oneself busy and exhausting oneself with leisure. 

The priests don't get to do the same things that others do. It would be wonderful to just spend all of our time hanging out with the people of God, but we do a disservice to them by doing so. Our great adversary is crouching down and ready to pounce upon their souls through deception, and it is only the truth of God that can thwart his intentions. We must study to show ourselves approved so that we can thwart him and allow the rest of the congregation the leisure, peace and prosperity that our hard work will bring. 

Again, pastors will always fellowship because fellowship is a part of the church but they will not neglect their duty to give the bulk of their time and energy to other things over prayer and the study and teaching of the Word of God.