Wake up. There is a world of articles, books, and information out there when it comes to Christianity, but we are mostly stuck with rhetoric and double talk when it comes to our relationship with the Lord, our new identity as believers, and the security and finality of the work of Christ. Are you getting everything you need spiritually from your church? Or do you find yourself feeling hungry for more? Join Lenny as he unpacks what scripture really taught about our Lord Jesus Christ in context and why this matters to you. Wake up, wake up, wake up to grace.

Traditional Protestant churches commonly feature a pastor standing at a pulpit to teach the congregation from the Bible. The sixteenth century Protestant reformers saw this as a large step in the right direction, coming from the Catholic structure, consisting of a priest and an altar. If you've read the Bible, you're well aware of what a priest did at the altar. The Levite priests made animal sacrifices at the altar. This was old covenant temple worship. This should tell us where the mind of the Catholic leadership is at. But today I ask the question, what is a pastor? Though Protestantism, and yes, it's just another ism, has advanced us from the false teaching and outright corrupt structure of the Catholic Church, how much has it advanced us in understanding the church structure that we find in our Bible? If we're going to answer the question, what is a pastor? We need to go right to the source, not to our local church. If you search the internet using Google, Gemini, Start Page, Duck DuckGo, or any other search engine, you'll find all kinds of detailed articles when asking what is a pastor. But have you ever tried to actually look up the word in a Bible study app like Study Light or Blue Letter Bible? These excellent free resources are worth using. If you look up the word pastors in the search on these Bible study tools, you'll find that it appears only once. Modern Bible translations use the word pastor a whopping one time. Yes, this might shock you. We position a man called pastor at a pulpit in nearly every Protestant church today, yet the Bible contains the word only once. We hear so many parodying that Timothy and Titus serve as pastoral letters, but we can barely answer the question what is a pastor using our scripture? Since the ESV translation does not use the word, we must turn to another translation like the NIV to read the passage. In Ephesians 4 7, Paul writes, But each one of us grace has been given, as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says, When he ascended on high he took many captives and gave gifts to his people. What does he ascended mean except that he also descended to the lower earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole universe. So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up. This is what we have on the word or title of pastor in our Bible. What can we glean from this one passage? We see Paul quoting scripture saying when he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people. And then Paul writes, So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up. What are the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers according to this passage? They're spiritual gifts, aren't they? The Age of the Apostles was an age of signs and wonders. This age ended with the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Does this make the gift of pastor something that ended with the miraculous supernatural gifts in AD seventy when redemption came? Well, this could be true in the miraculous sense, but let's say that it's more like teaching and knowledge art today. We don't just pray and through miraculous divine intervention become teachers or understand scripture without studying or learning, but we still have teachers and knowledge, right? Miracles are no longer the norm. If we want to speak a native tongue, someone must teach us that language. But let's say we do have biblical pastors today, and the indwelling spirit of God leads some to fit into this role in a church setting. What does this look like? What does a pastor do? What are the requirements? And what is a pastor? Some translators derive the word pastor from the original Greek word poimain in our Ephesians passage. In every other instance, the word is translated as shepherd. Now who does the Bible identify as the pastors or the shepherds of the church? Does Scripture portray them as the single leader of a congregation standing elevated above others at a pulpit? Do they have authority over others? We know God gave teaching authority to the apostles. Jesus instructed them directly and gave them the supernatural gift of apostleship. If we reject their teaching as authoritative, we cannot trust that the Spirit inspired our Scripture. How could we trust our Bible if others who are not one hundred percent solid in their understanding wrote it? We know that the Spirit of God inspired our Scripture, and we also know that apostles do not exist today. And how do we know we can trust our apostles? Because their writings line up with Jesus and all of Scripture. And how do we trust Jesus? He defeated death and fulfilled all prophecy. He's the living word of God. If we did have apostles today, our Bible would be an open book waiting for them to finish it. We don't have apostolic authority in the church today, though that doesn't mean we don't have shepherds, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc. It just means that God has not miraculously gifted us with these abilities. They work supernaturally within us through our human abilities. This might help explain why our teachers today don't stack up with the apostles very well. In the original language of Scripture, the text refers to pastors as shepherds. Key areas of our New Testament, like first Peter five two and Acts twenty twenty eight use the word shepherd. Let's see what we can learn from these passages. In first Peter five we read So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock, and when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. When we carefully discern this passage, we see something that we don't see in our church institutions today. We see multiple pastors. Peter's exhorting the elders of a congregation. The apostle instructs them to shepherd or pastor the flock and labels them as overseers. This is plural, because the church would not have had one pastor or overseer. Another key takeaway is the structure. Just as Paul describes the church gathering in his letter to the Corinthians, we see a vision of people gathering and participating. We see that the text assigns no authority over others to these pastors or shepherds. They remain sheep among the elders, and the group holds them accountable. The church lacks a single leader, a concept that Peter rebukes in his statement, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. There's no man in charge here. There's no single instructor in a pulpit. The only mention of a single leader is Christ, the chief shepherd. A church congregation is to be led as a group, and no one person is to have authority over the others. This doesn't look like your church, does it? Okay, let's see what Paul had to say on this topic in the book of Acts. This is Paul speaking to the pastors, overseers, and shepherds. In Acts twenty, we read, and now behold, I know that none of you, among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom, will see my face again. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Pay careful attention to yourselves and all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the Church of God which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. The text tells overseers, pastors, and shepherds to pay careful attention to themselves and their flock. Men would come in among them and teach falsely about Christ. How do you think it would go over in your church if someone started teaching something they didn't agree with? I have an idea how it would go down in the churches out here. If a person would dare to challenge the pastor, the leadership would kindly ask them to leave. If that didn't work, ushers would escort them out. Our churches today are more like what we call cancel culture. They don't waste time arguing details or proving themselves. If anyone gets in the way, they just diffuse the situation by all means possible, beginning with the way that appears most peaceful. Once resolved, they would call the challenger a wolf in sheep's clothing. When canceling is the only way one argues truth in an establishment, we must ask, have the wolves taken that church hostage? Well, if they have, there's only one way to fix it. The sheep are going to have to follow the call of the chief shepherd, that is Christ, not the one the institution has appointed us. When the local churches start looking like our corrupt secular governing systems, we have a problem, and they do. The only way the church will ever improve is through the people. We need to hold our leadership accountable for their error, and we need to desire a real church gathering where the pulpit does not suppress the Spirit of God. But getting back to our study, I think we have an idea of what a pastor is and what their roles would be. We also have a list of qualifications made by Paul in his letters to Timothy and Titus. In 1 Timothy 3, 1 through 7 and Titus 1 5 through 9, Paul lays out requirements for the overseers, pastors and shepherds. Some of the requirements may be obvious to us, but Paul needed to state them, such as having one wife, because of their pagan culture. However, we find the purpose of these requirements simple when we understand the context. Those servant among the elders should be mature in the faith. They needed to understand the truth and allow it to guide them. If the truth didn't guide their lives, they shouldn't shepherd the flock among the elders. Anyone the church considered a shepherd among the flock was there to guide others. Shepherds lived among the sheep, who all stand under the chief shepherd, Jesus Christ. In this context, I'd like to look at a passage that I've heard many use to hold back others from challenging today's church institutions. They pull this passage way out of context for dramatic effect. Proverbs six twelve reads A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger, with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord. Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly. In a moment he will be broken beyond healing. There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him, haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. First we should recognize that this passage was about ancient Israel, not the church. We should also consider what this person who sows discord was doing. They were spreading error. Is sharing truth ever considered crooked speech? Using this passage to refer to people attempting to unite the church in truth would be equal to saying Jesus and his apostles were guilty of this terrible sin. A false witness who breathes out lies and one who sows discord among brothers. This passage is talking about false teachers. If we apply this to our times, we must refer to the wolves. Pastors today use this passage against those who challenge the church. They tell you not to break up fellowship. Are we to allow fellowship with error based on this passage? Certainly not. If anyone's guilty of this great sin, it's those who are using it against the church to keep the wheels turning on their false church structure. It's just another means of suppressing truth and causing division in the church. Division from truth. The preacher needs to step down from the pulpit and join the sheet. A church using a pulpit to let the congregation hear the speakers makes sense, but the key here is that speakers is plural. The pulpit is for the congregation, not just guest speakers. That's not how it works in a true church setting. All of the church needs to have a chance to speak if they wish to. What might happen if we dared to go down this path? Might we have more teachers? Might we have Christians with a deeper knowledge of our Lord? An exciting engagement among the sheep? To fear a setting like this would be to fear Christ at work within you. Modern church tradition has caused preachers to become haughty and to despise practices that would lead the sheep to a richer fellowship. They demand structure according to their corporate ways, but your pastor is not in charge of anything in the true church. He has no authority over you or any other Christian. In Matthew's gospel he records Jesus saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do, for they preach but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others, for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others, but you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers, and call no man your father on earth, for you have one father who is in heaven, neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces, for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in. This passage may apply to today's church leaders more than we'd like to think. When we ask the question, what is a pastor under today's standard, we might answer they're a Pharisee. These days we're only getting half of a gospel from the pulpits. Preachers may be getting us out, but they're not getting us in. What I mean is many Christians can say Christ died for my sins. They have at least some understanding that they're out of that bondage. Similarly, Moses led Israel out of their bondage to Egypt, but shockingly, with all his efforts, he never led them into the prost. In Joshua chapter one, Yahweh tells Joshua, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. The Lord basically tells Joshua, Now that Moses is dead, you can enter the promised land. The Lord was teaching Joshua what Moses and all his noble efforts had forgotten along the way, to trust in him for redemption. After forty years of wandering in the desert, in three days Joshua led Israel into the promised land. How? Because he did what the Lord told him. They put their feet in the waters of the Jordan and the ground beneath them became dry so they could enter into the promise. Just as Moses parted the Red Sea by faith, Joshua led the people of Israel into redemption, crossing the Jordan on dry ground. Today our churches give us Moses with no Joshua. Leaders do not teach us about redemption and the saving life of Christ. They do not teach us to let the life giving Spirit of God guide us. They have led us out of bondage, just to wander the desert of self effort. Human instruction leads us to be good, do this, do that, don't drink, don't smoke, plug into a nice church group, but the church never teaches us of the unseen. It doesn't train us to understand our identity in Christ and allow Him to live in and through us. No one teaches us to live a life fully conscious of Christ living in and through our own unique personalities. We continue to ask for what we already have and beg for more forgiveness, because religious traditions teach us that this is holy and good. We place our full focus on self, leaving Christ hanging on the cross instead of entering into his rest. In the first chapter of Paul's first letter to Corinth, he writes The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he's not able to understand them because they're spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. This passage teaches us many things. Among the most important lessons is that the natural man understands nothing of the Spirit. We must discern spiritual things spiritually. When the Spirit guides us, we judge all things. This is about spiritual discernment, not behavior. We judge all teaching in Christ. And if we align with truth, no one can judge us. It's up to us to discern truth from error. We must reject teachings of man in favor of spiritual truth. Jesus doesn't care how popular your error is, he calls you to truth, not popularity and people pleasing. Paul says we have the mind of Christ. What does he mean by this, considering today's church can't agree on anything? I believe he's talking about the corporate church here, the body of true believers in Christ. I also believe the mind of Christ operating in the church is part of what we read in Acts four hundred thirty two about the congregation being of one heart and mind. When true fellowship is happening in the church, we share in the mind of Christ. This cannot take place in traditional settings where we share the mind of Pastor Jim or Pastor John every week. Bad leadership is suppressing the mind of Christ and misdirecting you. We need to share the mind of our chief shepherd, Jesus Christ. Stop following bad leadership today and wake up to grace. Salvation is here. It's now. Stop ignoring this amazing fact and embrace what you've inherited in Christ. That's what I got for today, guys. Look forward to talking to you guys again soon. Grace and peace to you all. The content of this message can be found on my blog post at waking up to grace.com. My writings include linked references and visual aids, which will give even more valuable insight, and it's always free of charge. The comment section below each message is a place where we can share mutual encouragement and insight with one another outside of the social media method. 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