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Welcome to the Cross References podcast on the Book of Ezekiel. In this study, you learn how every small piece of the Bible tells one big story- and most importantly, how they all connect to the cross and Christ.
Whether you’re a newbie Christian or a veteran Bible reader, my goal is that God’s Word will make more sense to you after every episode.
Host: Luke Taylor
Good and Bad Pastors
Ezekiel 33:1-10
Ezekiel series, Part 61
Alt Title or Thumbnail: Why Pastors Matter, or “The Lord is My Pastor” with a shepherd & Sheep pic
Introduction
A pastor must be a good public speaker, able to draw large crowds with his authority and charisma.
A pastor must be like a CEO, an expert in management and leadership.
A pastor must be a skilled fundraiser, and know how to execute a building program.
A pastor must be on-call 24/7, even on holidays and vacations.
A pastor must be an expert psychologist and counselor, able to diagnose and treat every mental illness.
A pastor must have a picture-perfect family, a wife who leads the women’s ministry and teaches children’s church and does it all with a smile- and their kids must never misbehave or embarrass their parents.
And by the way, the pastor is supposed to be one of the poorest members of the church, driving an old used vehicle, living in a 1000 square foot house, taking now more of a salary from the church than the absolute minimum needed to survive, as a way to show his true devotion to God.
These are some of the modern expectations of a pastor or ministry leader. This is what many in the modern American church want- or think they want- from their pastors.
But are these expectations biblical? Are these the priorities that God said He expected from a pastor when He gave us the New Testament? Or are some of these things that we’ve added over the years? And if we’re adding human standards to God’s Word for what qualifies a pastor, is it wrong of us to do that?
We’re going to explore that question today by looking at a text from Ezekiel 34 where he shares God’s heart on the qualifications of a spiritual leader. All of that today on the Cross References podcast.
[theme music]
(Continued)
Welcome to the book of Ezekiel: a Cross References Bible study where we learn how every small piece of the Bible tells one big story- and how they all connect to the cross and Christ.
My name is Luke Taylor, and I am excited to announce that we are entering the greatest section of Ezekiel! Scholars refer to these next few chapters as the Gospel According to Ezekiel, and I think that’s an apt description.
Ezekiel 33 was largely transitional, reflecting on what had come before, but chapters 34 through 39 are the highlight of the book of Ezekiel. The first 33 chapters have largely been about the past. Starting in this chapter, Ezekiel talks to us about the present and the future.
In fact, by the time we finish this chapter, we’ll read our first section that’s truly future in its focus so far in the book! But for today, we’re going to read about what makes the difference in a good pastor and a bad pastor.
I am not seeking to target anyone today. For pastors, this can be a self-check-up. For the rest of us non-pastors, we can read what God’s description is of a good pastor vs a bad pastor and this will help us to make accurate, biblical assessments of what a good pastor is in contrast with a bad one.
As I said in the opening, there are all kinds of ways that people judge this nowadays, but I think we should judge this by God’s way.
So this time, we’re actually going to start with some New Testament verses, the kinds of things I usually go over in the application section toward the end of an episode. I’m flipping the script this time; we’re going to start with the application, and then look into today’s Ezekiel verses afterwards.
The Pastor as shepherd
So let’s start with this word “pastor.” And how about a trivia question. How many times does the word “pastor” show up in the Bible? The answer to this question will surprise you. The word “pastor” shows up in the Bible one time.
That’s it. Just one time. The word pastor shows up in Ephesians 4:11 and that’s it.
Now you’re thinking: wait a minute: all this emphasis on churches and pastors and leadership and yet the Bible only uses the word “pastor” one time? Are pastors even that important?
So here’s the flip side of that: the word pastor is all over the New Testament. It only shows up one time, yet it’s all over the New Testament.
If I’ve got you good and confused, great. Let’s solve this riddle.
In your English Bible, the word pastor only shows up in
Ephesians 4:11
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers
So that’s the only place in your English bible that the word “pastor” shows up. But actually, the greek word right there for “pastor” is in the Bible 17 or 18 times. So that’s why I say it’s only comes up one time, yet it’s all over the New Testament.
The Greek word is “poimen” (poy-mane). The other times it comes up, it comes up as this word “shepherd.” And sometimes this means shepherding sheep, but usually it refers to shepherding people. The church of God is sometimes called the flock of God.
So perhaps you’ve read your Bible before and wondered: how come the Bible uses this word “bishop” or “overseer,” but we’ve come to use this word “pastor” as the leader of our church? Where are all the bishops and overseers?
I’m going to explain that today and demonstrate that all these various words are synonyms. So it’s all the same, we just tend to use the word “pastor” at about all of our American churches. It’s the cultural word we’ve latched onto. If you called him a bishop, you wouldn’t be wrong biblically.
I notice that my bishops in my chess sets often have a cross on top of them. I wonder if that’s why?
Anyway, the cultural understanding of a pastor in Paul’s day was probably more akin to a shepherd. But it’s the same word. So there’s nothing wrong with referring to your pastor as a bishop or shepherd in the Biblical sense, just understand that these are all the same word in the Greek.
I Peter 5:2-4
2 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; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
Shepherd there is “poimeno,” the verb form of poimen.
And this, by the way, is a description of a good shepherd. A good pastor provides oversight, enjoys their work as a shepherd, isn’t an authoritarian bully, and lives as an example to the church. So if you’re judging your pastor and whether your pastor is doing a good job, the proof is not in how large the church is. Because you know what, church size does not equate to church health. God is not pleased with the size of our churches simply because of the size.
The way you judge a pastor is not by how happy the people are. Jesus said, “woe unto you when all men speak well of you.” Guess what, if everybody just loves the pastor and leaves feeling good about themselves every Sunday and nobody is ever convicted or warned by his messages, that’s not what God considers a success story.
Here’s how to judge a pastor and whether they’re doing a good job. Use the commands actually given here in scripture. I Peter 5.
A shepherd is supposed to provide oversight. That means he is watching over his flock and knows what’s going on with them. He has a sense of their spiritual health. He can spot when one of his sheep is going in the wrong direction and actually has the boldness to step in and check on them. One thing I love about my pastor is that he’s accessible. I’ve been attending church where I’m going now for a bit over a year now, and I’ve had lunch with the pastor *I think* four times. Regularly, he’s checking in on me, giving me advice, wanting to know about my life, encouraging me, giving me objective advice. That’s part of what I see as “oversight.”
A shepherd is not domineering. That means bossy. That means using the congregation to serve him. That means manipulative. A pastor should be able to lead by influence, not force. You and other members of the congregation should submit yourselves to him out of willingness, not compulsion. You shouldn’t feel bullied.
A shepherd is supposed to be an example. Pastors are not perfect. You should not expect perfection. No pastor is perfect because they’re humans. But their lives should be an example. They should generally be a good person, and when they do mess up or especially when they sin, they should be willing to own it and acknowledge it. If you have a pastor who won’t acknowledge when they’ve done wrong, he is too prideful. That’s not an example. So check your pastor for that. If they mess up, it’s OK, but they should own it. They shouldn’t excuse it.
Let me give an example from my hometown and a political situation we’re dealing with in our county. Our county commissioners are very unpopular. I don’t know the whole story but I know people keep suing each other down at our courthouse. So there was this public forum recently where one of the county commissioners addressed the crowd and makes this little speech about how they need to stop suing each other. He said, “when office holders sue other office holders, guess who foots the bill for that: the taxpayers. So you all are paying these legal fees, and office holders need to quit suing other office holders.” And then someone in the crowd pipes up: but you sued a judge. And the commissioner said: “well that was different. He’s a state judge.” And the whole room erupted into laughter because this commissioner had caught himself in his own words. So that’s a secular example, but I think you can see the church application: a leader should live by example. And I think this goes for anybody who’s a leader in any sphere: a leader should never ask for more from his followers than what he’s willing to do. He should not ask the followers to do anything he or she wouldn’t do. He shouldn’t expect them to work harder or more hours. A leader should be the example.
And finally, I Peter 5 also said that a good pastor is not in it for the money. It says, “not for shameful gain.” That means that they aren’t greedy and money hungry. I don’t care how much money a pastor makes. I don’t set a dollar amount on what a pastor should expect. a matter of the heart. I’ve heard it says, a good pastor is not in it for the income, he’s in it for the outcome.
So I don’t care how nice of a car the pastor drives. I only care about what’s in the pastor’s heart. So many people are hard on pastors if they ever buy anything nice for themselves. They are so critical if a pastor buys something that they consider extravagant or wasteful. And yet, don’t you think we’d find something extravagant or wasteful if we looked at your credit card statement? Plus, maybe a pastor makes just as much as you do, but he’s just better at managing his money so he can afford a little nicer car than you can? You can hold a pastor to a high standard, but don’t hold him to a higher standard than you hold yourself. A pastor is a human being.
A Pastor’s job description: I Timothy 3
So I’d encourage or maybe warn the listeners today not to have an unbiblical standard by which we judge pastors. The Bible has enough rules on its own; we don’t need to add to them. We get a pretty rich job description of a pastor or shepherd in I Timothy 3. Let’s take a look at it and compare this with our modern American expectations and see how they line up.
I Timothy 3, verses 1-6
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.
So there are some stipulations right there. There’s the job description. A good cross reference for this is Titus 1.
The Bible is pretty specific and clear, and when people start also throwing in, “I only want a pastor who does XYZ,” are we not running the risk of adding to God’s Word? I’ve heard some church people have such strict restrictions for the pastorate that even Paul or Jesus wouldn’t make the cut. I’m not kidding.
Some in the Bible Holiness bent will say that you cannot speak in their church unless you’re wearing a tie and have no facial hair. I am not kidding. I am just thinking, “Jesus Himself would not be allowed on their stage.” Isn’t it unbelievable that Jesus Himself could walk into that church and yet wouldn’t be allowed on stage. Because ladies and gentlemen: Jesus didn’t wear ties. Sorry to burst your bubble, but Jesus didn’t wear a tie. And if your church has rules that would exclude Jesus, I think it has too many rules.
I saw a youth pastor listing recently that wanted a husband/wife team to take over the church’s youth ministry. And I heard that a single guy applied for it and was turned down, that they were only considering couples for that position. And I just thought, how weird that Paul the Apostle could not be a youth pastor in this church? How highly must that church think of itself that even Paul himself would not be qualified to be their youth pastor.
To pick on my own denomination for a minute, the Assemblies of God won’t let you be a pastor unless you can speak in tongues. I disagree with that qualification. I do speak in tongues. I think the gifts of the Spirit are for today. So I am not jealous of anyone, I don’t have a personal grievance over this, I just think it’s a shame that we have all these qualifications listed for church leadership in I Timothy and Titus, and tongues are not mentioned, God could have mentioned tongues if He wanted to, yet for some reason we think our bylaws know better than God. I am disappointed by that. Same thing with deacon qualifications; speaking in tongues is not one of the standards for being a deacon in I Timothy 3, yet that’s the standard in some pentecostal churches. So I guess I’m just getting some frustration out right now, but I would encourage all of you to reconsider what you expect from a pastor and ask yourself if it’s biblical. If you have fair expectations.
But I want to mention something right here. The word for overseer right there in I Timothy 3 in the Greek is not poimen. The word used in this section is episkope. So perhaps you’re wondering: what is the difference in poimen and episkope? And the answer is: nothing at all. These are two terms that both refer to the same office as a pastor of the church.
I can demonstrate this by pointing to
Acts 20:28 NIV, where Paul says
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers (episokope). Be shepherds (poimen) of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
Overseers are shepherds which are pastors (which are overseers which are shepherds which are pastors). It’s all the same role.
Ezekiel 34, verses 1-10
So now let’s finally talk about today’s verses in Ezekiel. As I said before, I started with the application today because I wanted to establish that pastors are similar to shepherds in their role, and that’s going to tie in very neatly with today’s chapter.
Ezekiel 34:1-2
The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?
Now, I’m going to give you my interpretation of this section of Ezekiel, which almost all the commentaries would disagree with. I believe this is talking about spiritual leaders. Why? Because it’s going to be the same expectations as what God gives for spiritual leaders in the New Testament, including it’s use of the shepherd and sheep metaphor.
Most commentaries will tell you that this is about the political leaders in Israel. I disagree. Right now, Israel just got wiped out. In the chapter before this, Ezekiel and his audience had just received word that Jerusalem was burned by Babylonians. All these people are captive Babylon. So Israel has no political leadership structure at the present moment. Their king is a slave in Nebuchadnezzar’s and his replacement just had his sons slaughtered in front of him and his eyes poked out.
So I believe this is talking about the spiritual leaders, and just as the New Testament kind of warns, they shouldn’t be in their role for the money. They feed themselves but aren’t concerned about the sheep.
Ezekiel 34:3-4
3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.
Again, we see the same stipulations as what the New Testament has. They don’t take care of the sheep. This is what I Peter 5 was talking about when it said “oversight.” The bad shepherd is not aware of what’s going on with his flock. The sick aren’t getting healed. The weak are not being strengthened. Some sheep are starving.
So if you’re a pastor who doesn’t know what’s going on in the lives of your flock, you’re a bad pastor. You need to be taking their spiritual temperature and addressing their needs. If everyone’s healthy, that’s good, but you ought to be leading them somewhere. Pushing them somewhere.
And while this chapter might be primarily applying to pastors, I hope anyone in any kind of leadership position can take something helpful from this. If you’re a boss, you should know the names of the kids of your employees. Not if you have like 50 employees, but take the 5 or 10 closest people that you interact with. You should take enough notice of their lives that you know a thing or two about them. Because bad shepherds are out of touch with the flock.
Verse 4 also said something that echoed I Peter 5: “with force and harshness you have ruled them.” That’s like what I Peter 5 said about pastors: "not domineering over those in your charge.” So good pastors lead through influence and build credibility with their followers through their lifestyle and sacrifice and competence; bad pastors are bossy and demand respect before they’ve earned it from you.
Ezekiel 34:5-6
5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; 6 they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.
A bad pastor scatters the flock. A bad pastor creates division instead of unity. A bad pastor is not fostering a sense of community within his congregation.
Now listen, you can’t force people to be friends. You can’t force two people who have nothing in common to sit together and talk all day; that’ll just make them both miserable.
But our church communities should at least provide a space for people to do that. To build relationship with one another. Because when everybody is a lone wolf, they become food for the wild beasts. They have no support system. They’re on their own. They’re easy prey for the enemy. So a pastor can’t force everybody to want to spend time together, but what he can do is provide opportunities to foster those relationships. Small groups, church fellowships and dinners, doing service projects together. And doing these things regularly.
As we read this last set of verses for today, I want you to notice this (in case you haven’t already) that God refers to the flock as HIS flock. It doesn’t belong to the shepherd. It belongs to God.
Ezekiel 34:7-10
7 “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 10 Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.
It says there in verse 10 that God can remove a bad pastor. God can put a stop to their feeding the sheep. So God has ways of dealing with it if someone is pastoring in sin. We’ve seen a lot of pastors have public falls in the past year or so. God warns us that things done in secret won’t stay hidden. He loves us too much to let us get away with our sin if we won’t deal with it. God has a way of bringing things out into the light. And God loves His sheep too much to let them starve to death by an unworthy shepherd.
Notice that again and again, this chapter says “my sheep.” That’s God talking. He takes ownership of the flock. He says that they belong to Him. The shepherd does not own the flock. The shepherd is just a steward of the flock.
That is how a good pastor ought to view the church congregation. If you’re a pastor, your congregants are not your congregants. Your sheep are not your sheep. Your congregants are God’s flock, and you have the privilege of stewarding them. They do not belong to you.
There is a difference in a steward and an owner. The difference is spelled out really clearly in a parable from Jesus about the talents. The master left each of his stewards a portion of his estate to manage. One had five talents, one had two, one had one. And each one was judged based on what he did with what was entrusted to him.
Listen, any pastors or spiritual leaders who may be listening: you have a stewardship responsibility over your church. Don’t be looking at someone else’s flock and wishing you had what they had; focus on your flock and what you can do with what God has given you.
Some will have churches of 500, some of 200, some of 100. It’s not your place to be jealous of the bigger churches. If someone has a 5000-member church, God is going to hold them accountable for 5000 people. You might not want to be the one standing at the judgment seat of Christ answering for how you managed 5000 people. You might be a little more comfortable with answering for your one or two hundred. You’ll answer for what was entrusted to you, and they will answer for what is entrusted to them.
What you have to focus on is who The Master is, because they’re His flock, and I Peter 5 said that He is the Chief Shepherd- and that’s what we’re going to talk about as we close down in a minute.
Housekeeping/Mailbag
Next time on this podcast, we’ll continue along in Ezekiel 34, and we may get into some future prophecy next time around. Make sure you’re subscribed so you can get it! In the meantime, I encourage you to go read all of Ezekiel 34 a few times this week. Underline or make a note of anything in the chapter that has stood out to you as we go through it.
I want to thank the guys over at the Two Witnesses Live podcast. They have a video podcast and recently invited me on as a guest. I’ll put a link to that in the show notes if you’d like to go check it out.
Closing Thoughts
Now as we close, I just want to turn our attention back to the Chief Shepherd. Remember: on this podcast, we learn how each piece of the Bible tells one big story, and how they all connect to the cross and Christ. And this chapter connects with Jesus in a big way, where He said in
John 10:11-15
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
As I said earlier, your pastor is not perfect. He is a human. I hope he’s at least a good pastor, and I’ve given you the tools today to be able to determine the difference in a good pastor and a bad pastor. But even if your pastor is a good pastor, He is not THE good pastor.
The Good Pastor is Jesus. That’s what He calls Himself right here: I am the good poimen. The same word that is later translated pastor. The Good Poimen. And The Good Poimen laid down His life for the sheep.
Think about what’s more important: a human shepherd, or his sheep? Well, a human is more important than an animal. In fact, I’d say one human being is more important than hundreds of animals.
And if a human being were to actually lay down his life, literally, for his sheep, we’d say he made a bad trade. That he must have really really really loved his sheep if he was willing to fight to the death for them.
Now, let’s pull back in scope for a minute. What’s more important: God, or people? Well, people are sinful and dirty. People are murderers, liars, adulterers and thieves. If a holy, perfect God were actually to lay down his life for wicked, rebellious man- or even a hundred men, or a thousand men, or all the men who ever lived- I’d say that God must have made a bad deal.
And yet this is what
Isaiah 52:10 in the NKJV says
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
God was pleased to put Jesus to death. Why? Why would it possibly “please” God to have His Son die on the cross? Because God placed a higher value on you and I than He did on Jesus.
God did not make a bad deal. As John Bevere says it, “If we had been worth one penny less to God than the value of Jesus, then this exchange wouldn’t have been made, for God would not make an unprofitable deal.”
God doesn’t make bad deal. God just really really really really loves sheep.
So the most important thing any shepherd can do to be a good shepherd is to point the flock to THE good shepherd.
Thanks for listening to this Cross References Bible Study on the Book of Ezekiel. This has been Luke Taylor, and I hope the Bible makes more sense to you after this episode.