Ministry is a difficult calling, and it can be easy to lose sight of the true reason you became a pastor. Maybe you’ve started seeking praise for a good sermon, or started comparing your church to others. Things like this are common, but if left unchecked, they can lead to burnout and prevent you from serving your congregation well. With this 4-day reading plan, you will get verses and prayer prompts to examine your heart and align your heart with God’s.
Focus On The Family
Day 1
Scripture: Matthew 6:1-4
What Motivates You?
It was late one night, and my children were already asleep when I got a call from Damian.[1] He was calling to tell me about how he had been hurt by the pastoral staff at the church where he was a member. More than that, he explained to me why he no longer believed in Jesus or Christianity. As we spoke over the next hour, I heard stories of him being yelled at, sworn at, and generally mistreated by multiple staff pastors of the church. When he brought those concerns to the lay pastors, he was ignored. He was told that because the staff pastors were confronting sin in his life, they were not in the wrong. Rather, he was “spiritually unhealthy” and the fact that Damian was bringing up accusations against those staff pastors only further validated that reality in their minds.
Sadly, Damian’s story is all too common. In an age of celebrity pastor culture, a mentality can develop that a pastor is above being in the wrong when doing “ministry.” Moreover, since so many pastors feel the pressure to maintain a certain image in their role, it can become virtually impossible to admit when they have made a mistake or specifically sinned against a congregant.[2] When these lies take hold of a pastor’s heart, the only option left to him is to blame those that brought concerns against them, sometimes even attributing those concerns to an attack from the Devil himself.
Pastors, governing boards, and congregants must grow in their awareness of this common issue and be prepared to respond to it in a God-honoring manner. Thankfully, scripture speaks to this issue repeatedly and informs pastors about how they should lead.
Seeking Personal Praise-Are You Serving the Wrong Master?
On numerous occasions, the New Testament warns us about the motivations of religious leaders. The Pharisees serve as an example in Jesus’ day of those who were motivated by the praise of man (Matt. 6:1-4). Those motivations would eventually manifest as fasting and praying to be noticed by the people in a community of faith. However, in our day, it can look like seeking to build a platform or chasing pastoral celebrity.
Seeking personal praise is subtle because the work that a pastor can receive praise for is directly linked to serving God and people. One pastor can preach a sermon in front of a large crowd and be motivated to bring glory to God, and another can preach to an equally large crowd while being motivated to bring glory to himself. However, sometimes it is more overt. A pastor who preaches to gain as many laughs as he can through the telling of jokes may very well be evidencing that he is seeking man’s praise more than God’s glory.
While we can’t know the exact condition of a man’s heart, we do have biblical examples of men revealing the state of their hearts by their behavior. As a result, the New Testament authors can conclude that the motivations of their hearts had deviated from a commitment to God’s glory alone.
Application Questions
·Do you find yourself needing to hear affirmation after a sermon?
·Do you feel more defeated on Mondays when you don’t get enough positive feedback?
·Whose opinion is most important to you in the church, so you get anxious when they aren’t happy with you?
·Take a moment to read Matthew 6:1-4 and ask God to reveal and remove any selfish motivation for the ministry work that you do.
[1] The name of this person has been changed for publication.
[2] Lifeway study stating 90% of pastors feel pressure to preserve their image in ministry.
Day 2
Scriptures: Luke 11:39-43, Philippians 3:19, Jude 1:4, 1 Timothy 6:10, Titus 1:12, Jude 1:11-13, Jude 1:17-18
Are You Looking for Fulfillment in the Wrong Things?
Luke also records that greed is a motivation that can take over the heart of a pastoral leader (Luke 11:39, 42-43). Other passages of scripture point to the fact that things like food (Phil. 3:19), sex (Jude 4), money (1 Tim. 6:10), or comfort (Titus 1:12) can become the focus of personal gratification for pastors who have strayed from a walk with Christ, or who never had one to begin with but crept into church leadership under false pretenses.
Like all material things, these things are creations meant to bless us and be used to serve God, but when they become of greater worth to a person than the Creator Himself, idolatry is inevitable at that point. Pastors are not immune to letting created things usurp the Creator’s place in their hearts and must be ever vigilant to guard their hearts. On the contrary, a bad pastor will not set up safeguards against overindulging in these blessings. Gluttony, adultery, financial impropriety, and laziness will eventually materialize in a bad pastor’s life.
Application Questions
·Do you find yourself daydreaming about the things that you wished you had?
·Do you practice transparency in how you handle church finances and pastoral counseling cases with people of the opposite sex?
·Can you say that you look for opportunities to practice denying your selfish desires?
·Take a moment to read Jude 4, 11-13, 17-18, and confess to God any situations where you have used your ministry position for selfish personal gain.
Day 3
Scriptures: Philippians 1:15-17, 1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Are You Playing the Comparison Game?
It’s hard to be excited about another person’s success when you are struggling personally and that is no different for a pastor. In truth, it’s hard for most pastors to be excited about the success of the church next door, especially if the pastor doesn’t have access to the same resources and can’t offer the same ministry programs as the one with a church that seems to be growing numerically. What is more likely, is that jealousy could take hold of his thoughts if he is not actively guarding against that.
Jealousy can begin to work itself into personal conversations with members of his church about why his church is more faithful to the gospel and the one next door isn’t. It can begin to sound like making assumptions about the motivations of the pastoral staff of other churches in town rather than getting to know them and evaluating them on the faithfulness of their teaching of the scriptures.
Paul even points out that some people preached the gospel out of a rivalry with him (Phil. 1:15-17). He states that some people even wanted to cause him suffering as a result. Jealousy has the potential to drive personal attacks from one pastor to another. Furthermore, it has the ability to motivate a pastor to deviate from his biblical responsibilities to the church as he chases after what he does not have.
Application Questions
·Do you ever look around at churches in your city and find yourself critical about them?
·Have you ever been frustrated that another church in your city has grown more quickly than the church that you serve in?
·Do you ever publicly compare or put down other churches in your city?
·Will you take a moment to read 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 and commit to putting off any attitudes, words, or behaviors that reflect jealousy towards other faithful gospel churches in your city?
Day 4
Scriptures: Acts 17:11, Mark 7:9, Matthew 23:1-3
Are You Committed to the Right Things?
In Acts 17:11, Luke records Paul and Silas moving from Thessalonica to Berea and teaching from one synagogue to another. Once in Berea, Luke notes that the Bereans were noble because they did not take Paul’s teaching at face value. Rather, they “received the word with eagerness, examining the scriptures daily” to determine the accuracy of the teaching.
One of the saddest examples of bad pastoring is when a pastor proclaims false doctrine. This can certainly look like teaching a false gospel, but it can also look like teaching his personal traditions or preferences as God-ordained directives for the church body. Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for this very thing in Mark 7:9, and even points out that sometimes traditions can cause a person to violate the clear directives of God.
This can also look like teaching true doctrine but living a hypocritical life that violates one’s own teaching. This is Jesus’ point in Matthew 23:1-3 when He warns the crowd about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. They were teaching accurately the things of God but not practicing what they preached. Whether a pastor teaches false doctrine or teaches accurate doctrine that he ignores in his own life, it is a sign that the pastor is not a faithful man of God and should no longer be followed.
Application Questions
·Even though pastoring is an incredibly busy role, are you faithfully setting time aside each week to study and prepare a message from the Scriptures?
·Looking back at your last 3 sermons, were your main points the points of the passage, or were you drifting into main ideas that reflect your personal views and preferences?
·If someone in your church went home and studied the passage that you preached more in-depth, what concerns would they have? Would they see the same clear teaching that you presented?
·Take time to read Mark 7:9 and Matthew 23:1-3 and commit to preaching the Word of God rather than your personal preferences or sermons that simply make people happy and commit to living in a manner that is consistent with what you preach.