A couple days ago, I was a part of a pastor’s lunch. Once a month a group of 10 or so local pastor’s get’s together just to relax and try to out “Wisdom” each other:) It truly love those lunches. This last meeting I had the opportunity to lead the discussion. I read the fellas two pages I will never tire of reading from Jared Wilson’s book The Pastor’s Justification. I want to share these two pages of Gospel goodness with you today. If you can, share it with your pastor. If he loves the Gospel he will love this.
“Can we be honest? Some of you are storing up personal glories, selfish claims to fame, and badges of success, as if these will be presentable to Christ when he appears. James 3:1 and Hebrews 13:7 ought to slap us sober about such things. We who teach will be judges with greater strictness. We will have to give and account.
Look around you. Look into your heart. What are you trusting in? What are you clinging to? What are you feeding your people? Is the tone and tenor of your ministry proving that your glory is in Christ alone?
What are you going to do on that last day when Jesus appears and you crawl your sorry self across the finish line of life? Will you present him your accumulation of person accolades, growth charts, Twitter followers, affirmations, and achievements? Are you going to shout “Scoreboard!”?
Judgement begins at the house of God. It begins with the elders. It begins now.
How many times have you boasted or gloried in numbers and dollars?
How many times have you gloried in appearances and assumptions?
How many times have you neglected orphans and widows?
How many times have you failed to lead decisively, avoided conflict, or neglected to discipline someone?
How many times have you botched the text or phones in the sermon?
How many times have you daydreamed during a counseling session?
How many times have you sacrificed you family on the altar of ministry, or you ministry on the altar of family?
How many times have you listened to the same struggling church member recount the same sins over and over and wanted to just say to the “Shut up, get a life, and leave me alone”?
How many times have you seen the weekly pest approaching your office door and thought he wan not worth you time?
How many times have you blown somebody off?
How many times have you thought ministry would be great if it were not for the people?
How many times have you thought ministry would be great if it were not for the people?
How many times have you resented someone’s valid correction of you r hermeneutical mistakes or pastoral missteps, hated them in your heart, and given reign to bitterness again them?
How many times have you brisstled because you consider yourself above critique or challenge.?
How many times have you envied the pastor across the street for his skill in the pulpit or his way with people or his high attendance or bid building or nicer car or better behaved children or hotter wife?
How many times have you been disgruntled in you head over your people for being too lazy or too legalistically radical or too something else in between that make you uncomfortable?
How many times have you frittered working time away of Facebook or Twitter or YouTube?
How many times under stress and exhaustion have you peeked at pornography or lusted after a woman not your wife?
How many times have you failed to confess your sins to another and be held accountable?
How many times have you failed to seek help or seek sharpening or seek counseling?
How many times have you chased countless poisonous idols of approval and validations?
How many times under the weight of the elder’s task have you given into sloth, greed, and pride?
You and I both know that you have transgressed over and over and over again. An you’re going to stand before a holy God to be judged by these things, according to a stricter standard than all others because you are a pastor, and he will ask you to give a account. And looking back over the failures of your life and ministry, you will grasp at straws. What do you think he will say to you?
“JUSTIFIED.”
pg. 111-113
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