20 Dec January 23rd Daily Devotion

A SERIES OF DEVOTIONS BASED ON PAUL’S FIRST LETTER TO THE  CHURCH AT THESSALONICA

A MODEL FOR PASTORS – Part II

1 Thessalonians 2:3-7 “For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness.  We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority. Instead, we were like young children among you.”

There are many possible reasons a pastor does what he does.  He may want people to like him, so he does everything in his ministry to please people, especially the members of his congregation.  Some do what they do in order to gain a good reputation among both pastors and the laity with a personal goal that in doing so he may become the pastor of a much larger congregation or possibly a leader within the denomination in which he serves.

St. Paul wrote in today’s devotional verse he did what he did in his ministry “ . . . not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts.”  What is it that pleases God?  To the young pastor Timothy, St. Paul instructed, “hold on to faith with a good conscience.” (1 Timothy 1:19)  A pastor should be  in prayer, “ . . . petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority. . .” (1 Timothy 2:1-2) A pastor should be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect . . . He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.” (1 Timothy 3:2-7) “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.” (1 Timothy 4:7)  He should “ . . .  labor and strive (putting his) hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.”  He should “ . . . devote (himself) to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. . . (he should) not neglect (his God given) gift, which was given (him when) . . . elders laid their hands on (him.)(1 Timothy 4:13-14) He should “ . . .  pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” ( 1 Timothy 6:11-12)

Pray daily that God will bless your pastor to conduct himself and his ministry so that all he says and does pleases Him.

Prayer:  Dear heavenly father, bless my pastor that he conducts himself and his ministry and life in obedience to Your word and will pleasing You  for Jesus’ sake.  Amen.

How clear is our vocation, Lord, When once we heed Your call:

To live according to Your Word And daily learn, refreshed, restored

That You are lord of all And will not let us fall.

But if, forgetful, we should find Your yoke is hard to bear;

If worldly pressures fray the mind, And love itself cannot unwind

Its tangled skein of care: Our inward life repair.

We marvel how Your saints become In hindrances more sure;

Whose joyful virtues put to shame

The casual way we wear Your name

And by our faults obscure Your pow’r to cleanse and cure.

In what You give us, Lord, to do, Together or alone,

In old routines or ventures new, May we not cease to look to You,

The cross You hung upon – All You endeavored done.

(LSB 853)