Insight for Living

Announcer: Pastors and their congregations don't always have the serene relationship that many people on the outside might think. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll gets candid about the real struggles ministers face.

In this message, Chuck highlights five concerns that plague every pastor. Whether it's short-term commitments, lingering unresolved conflicts, insufficient time with God, or dangerous theological drifts, there's a lot that can pull a church body apart.

So, Chuck turns to 2 Thessalonians to show us what holds pastors and flocks together. This is message number six in an eight-part series called Steadfast Christianity.

Pastors have been compared to shepherds since the beginning of the church. The Apostle Peter encouraged the church elders to shepherd the flock of God among you. The word pastor itself comes from a Latin word that means herdsman.

Just as shepherds guide and tenderly care for their flocks, so pastors lead and serve and care for the needs of their congregation. However, relationships between pastors and flocks are not always as serene as the pastoral image might imply.

Sheep sometimes stray and sometimes bleat behind the shepherd's back. Pastors sometimes fight with the sheep and sometimes flee altogether. Often fed up with the flock and in search of greener pastures, pastors vacate pulpits on an average of once every three years. Think of that.

One or two sheep with a little goat in them can butt heads often enough with the pastor to make his ministry miserable. The lingering unresolved personality conflicts can drain both his emotions and his energy.

Sometimes, too, the sheep can crowd the shepherd to such an extent that his personal time for study and growth are eaten away. Gradually, his life and teaching begin to lose their cutting edge, growing dull and ultimately ineffective.

Also, out of either insecurity or a desire to set a sterling example, some pastors are reluctant to be real and open and vulnerable. All pastors have needs. Never forget that. Underneath the ministerial garb, they are just sheep like everyone else. They hurt when they're bitten. They fight or run when they're threatened, and they shiver in the cold wind when they're shorn.

Back in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, verses 1 through 5, the Apostle Paul reveals a lot about himself as a pastor, shepherd, and about his relationship to the flock at Thessalonica. In doing so, he indirectly instructs us in strengthening the pastor-flock relationship.

Let's read this passage together from the New Testament. The letter named 2 Thessalonians, chapter 3, the first five verses.

Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you; and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.

We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command. May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.

You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into 2 Thessalonians on your own, be sure to purchase our Searching the Scriptures Bible study workbook by going to insight.org/offer. Chuck titled today's message, Cords That Hold Pastors and Flocks Together.

Chuck Swindoll: Ministry is supposed to be a joyful thing, but often it seems as though it's more of a marathon of misery. It hadn't ought to be, but it often seems like it is.

In recent days, I've had the privilege of being with a body of 60, 70 people in ministry. We were tucked away in a little conference center not too far away from Fullerton, and we spent an overnight together. I had the joy of speaking, and really, I had a greater joy in listening. I never learn anything while I'm talking, but I learned a lot while I'm listening.

I learned a lot. I had a chance to be with people who have been in ministry less than a year and some who have been in ministry 35 and more years. Our ages spanned from the mid to late 20s all the way to the mid to late 60s. It was a great time. I like it when real people come together to talk about real things.

You might wonder what pastors talk about. Well, when pastors aren't around, congregations talk about pastors. And when congregations aren't around, pastors talk about congregations. So we sort of did that.

Mark Twain said a number of years ago, "War talk by men who have been in a war is always interesting, whereas moon talk by a poet who has not been on the moon is likely to be dull." Well, there wasn't any moon talk in our time together. I'm afraid a little of it was war talk.

When I drove back from the conference, I, unusual for me, drove slowly. I just let the cars pass me, and I took my time. I held it down to 55, 60 on the way back. While I was driving along, I did a lot of thinking. I did a lot of thanking also.

I have the privilege of ministering at one of the great spots, if not the great one. In my life, most every other place looks good in a rearview mirror because I can't wait to get back home and to be with the people I love.

I got to thinking about my life and the lives of those men and women I had been with, whom I really do respect. They're folks in the trenches. There wasn't a theoretical mind among us. They're people that are down in the grit and grime of everyday life. Some of them are in tough places. I was thankful I wasn't in some of those places. Some of them are in wonderful spots, and they're encouraged.

I came away with several concerns. I guess I would put it that I have several pastoral concerns for my colleagues in ministry. If I were to list them, there would be three, four, maybe five of them that kind of came to the top of the surface in the car as I was driving home.

First, I'm concerned about short-term commitment. Seems like men in ministry more and more are looking for some place to go to get away from where they are. It's what I call the green grass syndrome. I had the opportunity to tell them that the grass was not greener; in most places, it wasn't even edible. They were probably where God would have them. Except for a few rare exceptions, they just needed to gut it out. They'll get through the hard time, and there'll be a good time. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

One person wrote, "It is generally known that 20% of the American population moves each year. Traditionally, pastors have transferred more often than those in other professions. There are several hundred thousand pastors serving parishes in the United States. A conservative estimate is that 25% move annually, or well over 100 pastors a day. Some religious leaders believe that one-third would be a more accurate figure, or nearly 200 pastors moving every day of every year."

Because our church in Fullerton has had only two pastors in its 31 great years of history, we tend to forget that. But most ministers will not stay four years in the same place. Most youth workers won't stay one year. We're a body of people in ministry on the move, and that concerns me.

Now, some people need to move. In fact, I'm of the opinion some churches need to simply close their doors and give up. Just let the job be done by others more effective in the community. That may sound like heresy, but I really believe that. Not all of them and not most of them, but some need to say, "We've had our day," or "We're never going to get to our day," and we need to simply say it's over. Short-term commitment concerns me.

Another one, and probably more than that, is what I would call lingering unresolved conflict. I don't know how many fellows I talked with who have a running concern or battle with one man or one woman or a few, a little cluster, a power block of people in their church. This lingering unresolved conflict is just siphoning their energy and stealing their joy, and I hurt for them.

There are always people who will oppose ministry, and some of them find their way, for some unrevealed reason, into a church. For a greater unrevealed reason, they won't leave. They just want to stay and make problems for the leadership. Not the kind of constructive criticism that is always needed, not the kind of objective counsel that says, "Let's look at the other side of this," but just the kind of person that says, "No. No."

I've got a friend who has been in a church now about 40 years. Some of the board members were there when his predecessor was there, and they're still on the board. I was with him a year or two ago, and he said to me, "I ran into one of those old guys and he said to me, 'I'm sorry to miss the board meeting the other evening, Pastor. I was looking forward to voting no.' Says he always votes no." Sort of an unresolved, lingering conflict. I found that among some of those guys.

Third was a lack of sufficient time spent in the study. By that, I don't simply mean in the Book of God, which of course is part of that time, but with the Person of God. Too little time just alone with God. It may be better spent outside the official study, perhaps in a quiet place, maybe in the early morning hours at home, or any secluded place where God can break through the din and speak to the man or woman of God concerning His will and His Word.

I found men too busy, and I challenged them to slow down. Making too many meetings and feeling the necessity of being at every one of the committee gatherings and doing all the work of the ministry while the people watched it being done. It's not right. It's not even biblical. My heart aches for men who are no longer spending sufficient time with God.

I think one other I would list would be a reluctance to be real, to show oneself vulnerable. How easy in ministry to build oneself into a castle and to surround it by a moat and to breed alligators that fill that moat so people can't even draw a bridge to get to us. I heard this week from a man who's taken the place of another minister who had been in the church for almost 10 years. He said, "You know, in my predecessor's case, some of the people weren't even sure if he had three or four children." That's after he had been there almost 10 years.

It's just being too closed. People want to know the one who ministers to them. They want to know that his world, like their world, is real and it includes some struggles. It's kind of comforting to know that he, like them, has feet of clay and that he has a deep and abiding need for prayer.

Well, now that we're sufficiently depressed, I probably would mention limited vision and lack of confidence last. Some of the men, for some reason, just have restricted vision and they lack confidence. Confidence in God, confidence in God's Word. The self-image problem is a major battle of men in ministry, in case you wonder what ministers struggle with.

Some of them are just now finding themselves, and they don't like who they're finding. Or they're just discovering the extent of the call to ministry and it frightens them. Some men are terribly intimidated by people who have prestige or have money or speak with authority for the community or have been in the church for years. So their vision is cut in on like you'd cut in on a runner's stride, and some are just ready to quit.

This is a day of tremendous opportunity, and that's not meant to be a cheerleading statement. It's true. This is a day in which there is great spiritual hunger. Amos's words are right. There is a famine in the land, and it's a famine for the Word of God. There's a famine for love and compassion mixed with the teaching of the Word of God. It seems like it's an either-or thing: you either get good teaching or you get a lot of love. You either get an overwhelming sense of compassion in this place while you starve, or you get big doses of food dropped on you like truckloads and you don't feel like anybody cares after the instruction is over.

We need balance. Our Lord promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against His church, and that's true. In fact, Paul writing to Timothy in the last letter he ever wrote, 2 Timothy, said these words in chapter 4, words that have become rather familiar to some of us. Verse 2: "Preach the word; be ready in season and be ready out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with great patience and instruction."

Those are strong words. They come with a staccato exclamation point. Preach it. Be ready. Exhort. Reprove. Why would he say it with such passion? Well, because the world system is so convincing. Congregations drink in, breathe in, and breathe out the system of the world all week long. We get it from our televisions, we get it from our news magazines, we get it from our schools, we get it from our neighborhoods, we get it from our clubs, we get it from our social contacts. We are breathing in and out all the smog of the world system. And then an hour or two a week, we're getting straight scoop from God.

Sometimes it takes a strong exhortation from God's Word just to get our attention. A man who does that is often viewed as crotchety or loud or cranky. No. Don't misread passion and desire for holiness for crankiness. Don't misread that.

Why was he exhorted like he was? Verse 3: "Because the time will come when they," people around the community, people in the church, the populace, the hoi polloi, "when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths."

We don't live in a vacuum. When you say no to the truth, you say yes to myth. When you say, "No, God, I don't want to know what You think about it," then we say yes to the world, "I want to buy into your lies." It's just that simple. It's a black and white thing, very clear contrast.

Look at verse 5. How is Timothy to respond in a world like this? "But you," very strong, emphatic. People will do this, they will want that, all kinds of teachers with ear-tickling tongues will tickle the ears of listening audiences, "but you." He says it in chapter 3, verse 10. He says it in chapter 3, verse 14. He says it in chapter 4, verse 5. "But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

A ministry is not to be endured; it's to be fulfilled. Great word, by the way. This word means to bring to full measure, to discharge all the duties connected with it. Fill your day full of the things that mark your responsibility as a minister of the gospel.

I love the way J.R.W. Stott writes on this passage. "When men and women get intoxicated with heady heresies and sparkling novelties, ministers must keep calm and sane. Even if the people forsake Timothy's ministry in favor of teachers who tickle their fancy, Timothy is to fulfill his ministry. He must persevere until his task is accomplished."

Calvin adds these words: "The more determined men become to despise the teaching of Christ, the more zealous should godly ministers be to assert it." But being men, we tend to back off. We tend to fold our arms and sigh at conferences like I attended, "Oh, what's the use?" Or when our dreams crash and burn, our tendency is to become bitter and think all the world is against the truth, when in fact that isn't real. Many more in the family of God believe it than don't. And the hunger level, if it may not be great where you live, believe me, it's great around the world. There's a starvation setting in upon God's people.

Now, in light of all of that, and that was quite a 75-cent introduction, wasn't it? At this rate, we'll be here an hour and a half. My goodness. Go back to 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. Let's take a look at five verses in 2 Thessalonians 3 that point out four responsibilities of the minister of the gospel, followed by four responses or responsibilities of congregations who are surrounded by the teaching of the gospel. It's a very simple outline. There's some truth here for the pastor in the first three verses, and then there's some truth here for the flock in about the middle of verse 3 down through verse 5. Let's take a look at them.

First of all, let's dissect the pastor. That sounds like normal stuff, doesn't it? Let's do it for a few minutes. "Finally, brethren." Now understand, this is a preacher's finally. He doesn't mean it literally; it just meant to wake you up so that you'll listen a little longer. He's got a whole chapter of things to say, but this is one of those in-between finallys, and he's addressing these words to the Christian. So do I.

If you're a Christian and if you're involved in a congregation and if your growth in Christ is important to you, listen to what God says about the person or the persons who minister to you. "Finally, brethren, pray for us." Let's stop right there. The first thing I would list regarding a good minister is admission of need. He openly says, "I need prayer. Pray for us."

I found that he asked for prayer in Romans 15:30. He asked for prayer among the Ephesian Christians in Ephesians 6:19. He asked for prayer from the Colossian saints in Colossians 4, verse 3. He earlier asked the Thessalonians to pray for him in chapter 5, verse 25 of the first letter. He even said in verse 22 of the letter he wrote to the slave owner, Philemon, to pray for him. Paul is readily admitting his need for prayer.

Why? Because he's merely a man. He's just a human being. And he could easily be intimidated. He could easily get off course. He is no way a self-assured guy who pulls his own strings and opens his own doors. Oh, he could, but he'd learned in the flesh it doesn't work. So pray that God would open just the right doors and I would march through them unafraid.

I love the way Spurgeon put it in one of his fine works out of the Metropolitan Tabernacle pulpit. "Lo, your minister but a stripling from the country, all untrained in academic lore, knowing nothing but just the doctrine of the cross, came forth before the multitude to tell out simply the word. How he felt his nothingness then, and how often he told you so. You cried to God and the child, the lad was helped. What mighty deeds were done in the conversion of hundreds. But now we have a name and there is a great temptation to rest upon our success and for men to think there is something in the preacher that he can gather the crowd and can preach the word and it is sure to be blessed when he preaches it. Brethren, again I say we are nothing."

Never think for a moment that the one who ministers the word to you can pull it off in the flesh or has any interest in doing that when under God's control. I happen to be the one who ministers in the church pulpit, and I readily and on a regular basis admit my great needs.

Announcer: That kind of honesty is rare and it's refreshing. Chuck Swindoll has never claimed to be anything more than a man who needs God and needs your prayers. That's not a weakness in his ministry. According to the Apostle Paul, it's the very foundation of it.

If today's message stirred something in you, we hope you'll make it a permanent part of your library. Chuck's message, Cords That Hold Pastors and Flocks Together, is available in its entirety, and we think it's one that every pastor, elder, and faithful churchgoer needs to hear. To purchase the complete series from Insight for Living, call us at 800-772-8888 or go to insight.org/offer. Chuck's eight-part series is called Steadfast Christianity.

As a companion to this series, we want to tell you about a classic Chuck Swindoll book. Because today's message wasn't just about pastors; it was about leaders. And if you're honest, that includes you, whether you're shepherding a congregation, managing a team at work, or raising children at home. You're leading someone, and the pressures that Chuck described today are pressures you know personally.

Maybe the work is hard right now. The critics are loud, the opposition is relentless, and some days you wonder if it's worth it. Nehemiah felt all of that, and he kept building anyway. Brick by brick, day by day. Chuck's book, Hand Me Another Brick, will show you how Nehemiah led through opposition, silenced his critics without losing his focus, and finished what God called him to build. And it'll remind you that the God who was faithful to Nehemiah is faithful to you.

We'll send you a copy of Hand Me Another Brick when you make a much-appreciated donation to support Insight for Living. Whatever amount you choose to send will be channeled toward reaching more people, folks just like you, with Chuck's Bible teaching. In hearing these programs, others will learn to walk with God just as you have. Call us at 800-772-8888 or go to insight.org/donate. Once again, that's insight.org/donate.

Why do so many pastors leave their churches? I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuck Swindoll provides a surprising answer Friday on Insight for Living.

The preceding message, Cords That Hold Pastors and Flocks Together, was copyrighted in 1986, 1991, 2002, and 2024, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R. Swindoll, Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.