The Blessed Pastor
A Lyrical Interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount Especially for Pastors
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There is a kingdom=s worth of difference between the good pastor and the blessed pastor. The good pastor=s ministry is full of everything he can bring to it. The blessed pastor=s ministry is full of the out pouring of the Spirit. The difference is not in skills pastors possess but in the kind of lives they grow. In the first, pastors grow better and better - better at being good, and better at being pastors and better at being themselves. In the second, pastors become less and Jesus becomes more.
The blessed pastor does not work at being better and better until he achieves blessedness. We don=t grow into being blessed, we fall into it. We stumble downward in ourselves until we reach the bottom of our own good natures and gifts, and then, finally letting go of ourselves we are covered up in Him.
ABlessed are the poor in spirit.@ (Matthew 5:3) A life of ministry ought to open with a service that confesses one’s foolish arrogance, hurtful pride and silly strength. Confession should be followed with a service of surrender. Not just a service in which we surrender to God=s call, but one in which we give up our false strengths, magnificent ideas and need for approval. In some ordination services the candidates lie face down on the floor as others pray for them. It is a fitting posture. Inwardly we should never move from such a position of helplessness and surrender.
But we do move. We rise to our feet, ordination certificate in hand, and walk into ministry with the accolades of loving family and friends filling our ears with words that stroke our pride and inflate our self-importance. We are going to do great things for Jesus! It is not that we are purposefully vain or willingly embrace the sin of self-centeredness. We are humbled by our calling and profoundly grateful for the privilege of spending our lives as pastors. Nevertheless, we still clutch our lives in our own hands, manage ministry to the best of our abilities, and move on stages expecting the spot light to follow us. We fall to the subtle temptation always before a pastor: to believe what good, kind people say about him.
ABlessed are the merciful.@ (Matthew 5:7) Many pastors find it easy to be good to those who are good (we are surrounded by such people), and deeply rewarding to be good to contrite sinners broken by their sin (the recovering alcoholic, the repentant embezzler, the weeping adulterer). It=s all the people in between that give us fits when it comes to showing mercy. Bring me a saint or bring me a sinner, but deliver me from the lukewarm, unhappy church member!
The good pastor learns how to make his way in, around and through such dimly lit lives so the church moves forward and ministry is not derailed. It is all about rotating committee members, refusing to take certain telephone calls, being Aout
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About the Book
A raucous, multi-tongued sound roars in the ears of many pastors. The voices speak in the various dialects of church growth and Biblical scholarship, in the legalese of congregational polity, in the accents of career success, and in the language of spiritual devotion. These sounds are accompanied by carefully designed images of the successful pastor: C.E.O., visionary leader, trusted counselor, presuasive preacher, anointed prophet, selfless missionary.
Many ministers feel compelled to respond to the clashing voices, convinced that if they get the right mix of sounds and images a blessed ministry will follow. In the process pastors often become fractured and restless, spending long years trying to find joy and peace in ministry.
"The Blessed Pastor" invites ministers to meet with Jseus on a quiet hillside and, through Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, discover what the Great Shepherd calls them to truly be and actually do.
About the Author
A devotional writer for more than twenty-five years, Robert Adams' words have encouraged faith in countless readers through books and periodicals. In this book, "The Blessed Pastor", Robert turns his attention to that which, apart from his family, has most captured his heart since his early teens: life as a pastor. Growing up in a pastor's home, called to the life of a pastor as a young person, then educated in that calling, he and his wife, Janice, spend their lives serving Jesus by serving His people. Robert has pastored churches large and small, in the country and in the big city. He now pastors a wonderful congregation in the piney woods of southeast Louisiana.