Portrait of a Pastor Rich Nathan May 23-24, 2009 Vision for Life: Seeing the Big Picture (Colossians) Series Colossians 1:24-29

Edited May 27, 2009

One of the odd things about being a pastor is seeing the ways that preachers are portrayed in the movies and on television. I suppose that members of almost every profession shake their heads in disbelief when they see the ways that their particular vocation is portrayed in the movies and on television. I suppose that lawyers and police officers and doctors and teachers must constantly be upset as they watch their professions get kicked around by some Hollywood screenwriter.

As a pastor, I have discovered that there are three basic portrayals in the media of the calling to which I’ve given my life. The first basic portrayal is of the utterly ineffective pastor, who offers inane counsel for life’s real dilemmas. For folks who are my age and grew up watching the television show “MASH.” I think someone like Father Mulcahey, a nice, but completely useless person, who needed to get out of the way when real problems came to the MASH unit. For contemporary audiences, I think of the Reverend Lovejoy in “The Simpsons.” The second basic type is the portrait of the pastor as a fraud, a hypocrite, a person who uses their religion as a cloak for lust, or a cloak for greed. The classic story in this regard is Sinclair Lewis’ Elmer Gantry. We seem Elmer in a bar womanizing and then flamboyantly preaching at a tent revival. And then the third basic type is the preacher who appears to have been weaned on a pickle, or a lemon. It is the preacher who looks out on the world, sees if there is anyone out there having fun, and says: “Stop it! God hates fun!” When I think of this, I think of the Reverend Moore in the movie “Footloose” railing against rock-and- roll.

Now there are other types that aren’t as popular in the media, but popular in churches across America. There are pastors as hirelings, pastors who are completely under the thumb of the congregation. I remember some years ago speaking with a pastor, who was taking a pastorate in a small town outside of Ohio. He told me that the elders in the church insisted that he get permission from the elder board any time he wished to travel more than 25 miles away from the church building. He was expected to be on-call, available, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And his wife had to get permission from the parsonage board made up of older women in the congregation before she was allowed to change any of the colors or curtains in the parsonage.

Can you imagine? You want to take a drive with your family on Memorial Day, you need to get the elder board’s permission. For women, you have to submit your color scheme to a group of elderly women who will vote on whether they like the colors you chose for the guest bathroom.

What is a pastor supposed to be like? Some of you are considering whether God might be calling you to paid ministry of some kind or other. What would you be signing up for? Even if you are not paid, many of you are called to some kind of Christian leadership. Christian leadership proceeds from very different assumptions that are popular in secular society.

I’ve been doing a series from the book of Colossians, a letter written by the apostle Paul to the church at Colossae in about 60-61AD. And I’ve told you that Colossians is fundamentally a worldview book. God is supplying us with lenses with which to look at all of life. The lenses we are putting on today concern how we see leadership, and specifically leadership in the church. I’ve called my talk “Portrait of a Pastor.” Let’s pray.

Colossians 1:24-29 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

The first thing we discover in this text is that:

Pastors are called to be servants

Paul sees himself as a servant of the church. In Colossians 1:24-25 we read:

Colossians 1:24-25 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant

And Paul sees himself as a servant of the gospel in verse 23:

Colossians 1:23 This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Now, pastors are not called to be servile, bowing, scraping, shuffling along like that pastor that I described at the beginning of my talk who had to ask permission

2 before he was allowed to travel more than 25 miles from the church. But a pastor and a Christian leader is called to be a servant – to serve the interests of the gospel, the church, and the Lord, and not just their own interests.

Pastors are called not to serve themselves, but the greater good

I don’t know if you are familiar with the business writer, Jim Collins, but he wrote a fantastic book on business strategy a few years ago called Good to Great in which he describes what he calls “Level 5 Leadership” – the great leader. Here is his definition of the “Level 5 Leader”:

Level 5 leaders are incredibly ambitious, but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution and not for themselves.

In other words, great leaders are absorbed not with themselves, or their own perks. They are caught up in a cause greater than themselves. You see in so many leaders something very different – leaders who are consumed with their own popularity, and their own press clippings.

Lee Iacocca, for example, saved Chrysler from the brink of catastrophe. It is one of the great turn-around stories in American business history. But then his attention turned away from serving the company that he was leading to serving himself and his own press clippings. He began appearing on the Today Show and Larry King Live. He starred in a bunch of commercials. He wrote a book called Iacocca. His personal stock soared, but the company went into the tank.

We, unfortunately, see this some with Christian leaders. The church and its well- being get lost in the glorification of the leader and the expansion of his or her ego. I mean, all you need to do is walk around some churches and you will see a picture of the pastor and, perhaps, his wife everywhere.

Let me tell you about a great leader, who understood that he was called to serve not himself, but the greater good. The person I’m thinking of is Roy Vagelos, who worked for the huge pharmaceutical company Merck and Co. Back in 1988 Merck and Co. discovered a drug that would heal River Blindness, a disease that affected over 20 million people worldwide, almost all of them poor. River Blindness is caused by a water-born parasitic worm. So the Merck chemists discovered a drug that would heal River Blindness.

Roy Vagelos was then presented with a dilemma. Merck had a product that had absolutely no profit potential since the recipients had no ability to pay for the drug. And given the nature of the disease, the drug had to be administered for at least 14 years to completely eradicate the parasite.

So what did Roy Vagelos do? He green-lighted the project and stood up to angry shareholders who said, “Why is Merck spending money to produce a drug that

3 isn’t giving us profits?” Roy Vagelos to me demonstrated leadership at its best; a person who understand his calling to the greater good. Leaders and pastors are not called to serve themselves. In fact, we are not just called to serve the business or the church. Businesses are called to serve the greater good of the community and, as the CEO of the corporation, is called to be a servant of the community.

Now this role of servant immediately subjects the pastor and every Christian leader to suffering.

Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.

The reality of suffering

There is no way to lead without coming under fire. Leadership of all types, including Christian leadership, always comes with a price tag. And if you don’t want to pay the price of suffering, you cannot be a leader; you certainly cannot be a Christian leader, or a Christian pastor. There’s always a price tag.

I wrote an article for a Christian magazine called Leadership Magazine some years ago. The article was titled “The Price of Leadership.” In it I described some of the prices that any leader will have to pay including the price of being a lightening rod for everyone’s upset in the church. If someone doesn’t like a video clip that is shown during the announcements, I often hear about it. If a child is corrected in children’s ministry by one of our unbelievably dedicated and sacrificial children’s workers, a parent writes to me. I often think, “Parent, if you feel you could do a better job, before complaining, why don’t you volunteer to be in the classroom.” But if you are going to be in any type of leadership, you are going to be a lightening rod for criticism. And you are going to be handed bills that are not your own. What I mean by bills that are not your own, as a male leader I am sometimes handed a bill for a person’s negative relationship with their father, or their ex-husband, or their boyfriends. And if you are a female leader, people might respond to you out of their wounded relationships with their mothers, their ex-wives, their former girlfriends, their female bosses they’ve had in the past, who have treated them poorly. You will be handed the bill. Here’s my experience of women and now you must pay for all of it.

People have written to me and said, “Rich, do you know that you are being blogged about? Here are the terrible things others are saying about you, or saying about our church online.”

I always think, “Why would I want to know? How is hearing negative things about me, or about our church, going to serve the purposes of Jesus better in this

4 community? If you dig through the trash, guess what we find? How will we do a better job of sharing the good news about Jesus with more people, or feeding more hungry people, or sending out missionaries, or coming alongside of more broken people, or helping women who are facing unintended pregnancies to choose life for their children – how would reading someone’s critical blog help us to serve the purpose for which our church was created better?”

But you cannot be a leader without being criticized. I’ve had my views caricatured. Someone made a video of me online that mocks me and mocks the church. That is part of the price of leadership and it is inescapable.

I’m reading a new biography about Abraham Lincoln. I think I’ve read about 7-8 biographies of Abraham Lincoln. This great new biography is titled A. Lincoln.

Lincoln was called a baboon, a dictator. He was called a tyrant. I was talking with a dear friend and colleague in the office the other day. I said, “For goodness sakes, why should I not be criticized when talk show hosts criticize General Colin Powell.” I mean, is there any American you can think of in the last 25 years who has served this country with more class, more dignity, more honor than General Colin Powell? And yet, for the sake of ratings on a radio show, and someone’s agenda, he is raked over the coals. He is being criticized, and his views are distorted. He is lied about. It is part of the price of leadership.

They did it to Jesus and they will do it to you.

Jesus said that in John 15:20:

John 15:20 Remember what I told you: ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.

Now, in Colossians 1:24, Paul makes this peculiar statement:

Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.

What does that mean?

The reason for suffering

We don’t’ suffer to add to Christ’s redemptive work

5 Certainly Paul is not adding anything to the redemptive impact of Christ’s suffering and death. Paul is not adding anything to the atoning work of Christ. Christ’s suffering and death on the cross was completely sufficient to pay the price for humankind’s sins. The whole New Testament testifies that Christ finished the work of salvation when he died on the cross. In fact, one of Christ’s last words on the cross was, “It is finished.” God’s wrath against sin was extinguished; the payment for our sin was fully made; redemption was fully accomplished at the cross.

So what does Paul mean when he says in verse 24?

Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.

There are dozens of suggestions from the commentaries regarding the meaning of this peculiar phrase. We can’t add anything to redemption.

We suffer to show that the world continues to be hostile to Christ

People think they are neutral towards God. As I said last week, many folks just say, “Show me the evidence and I will believe.” Of course, they aren’t willing to really spend any time reading the best historians concerning the life of Christ. They aren’t willing to consider the strongest argument. They fight against straw men.

Why do Christians suffer? Why have Christians suffered for the last 2000 years? To hold up a mirror to the world and to show the world how hostile it is towards Christ. Here’s what Jesus said in John 15:18-21:

John 15:18-21 If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.

The world shows its hatred for Christ when in Pakistan teenage Christian girls are beaten; when Christians are martyred for converting to Christ in India or Mauritania; when Christians are jailed just for being Christian in North Korea; an indictment against the world is being written. You are not neutral; you are not as fair-minded as you pretend; you are not considering the evidence and finding it

6 wanting. You’ve got your thumb on the scale. You voted against Christ years ago and that’s why you vote against Christ’s people today.

A lot of Christian pastors, in fact all Christians, suffer to some degree.

We suffer to show that we are identified with Christ

Before Paul’s Damascus road encounter, Paul made Christ suffer in the people he was persecuting. Christ’s first words to Saul made this clear:

Acts 9:4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

Dr. Helen Roseveare was a British medical doctor and served more than 20 years in the Congo. She was the only doctor in an area that contained more than a half million people. In 1964 a revolution overwhelmed the country and she and her coworkers were thrown into 5 ½ months of unbelievable brutality and torture. On one occasion when Dr. Roseveare was on the verge of being executed, a 17- year old student came to her defense. This 17-year old was savagely beaten. He was kicked about like a rag doll and then his attackers left him for dead. Dr. Roseveare, herself, was very sick. She felt like God had forsaken her. But then God stepped in and he overwhelmed Dr. Roseveare with a sense of his own presence. He spoke this message to her spirit:

Twenty years ago you asked for the privilege of being a missionary, the privilege of being identified with me. These are not your sufferings; they are my sufferings.

When we suffer because we are somehow connected to the cause of Christ; we suffer bringing justice to someone whose rights are being crushed; we suffer bringing the gospel to someone who needs to hear about Jesus; whenever you suffers for the sake of Christ, our sufferings are elevated. And Jesus says, “You are not just suffering for me, you are suffering with me.” You are united to Christ.

The short of it is the proof of your servanthood to Christ and any pastor or Christian leader’s servanthood to Christ is found in their suffering.

But there is another portrait on the wall – that of servant, and that of steward.

Pastors are called to be stewards

In Colossians 1:25 we read:

Colossians 1:25

7 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness

The word “commission” is a translation of a Greek word, Oikonomia. It is where we get the word “economy” from. Oikonomia literally means the stewardship. We find the same word in Jesus’ story of the shrewd steward that the TNIV translates as the shrewd manager in Luke 16:1:

Luke 16:1 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.

What is a steward? We read in 1 Corinthians 4:1-2 these words:

1 Corinthians 4:1-2 This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

Again, the TNIV feeling that contemporary readers don’t know what stewards are eliminates the word “steward.” In 1 Corinthians 4:2 says instead:

1 Corinthians 4:2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

A steward is a trustee and a dispenser of another person’s goods. And so the pastor and Christian leader are called to be a steward, a trustee, of God’s self- revelation that we find in scripture. I love the way the apostle Paul says this in Colossians 1.

Colossians 1:25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness

In Acts 20:27 Paul is speaking as a steward, as someone who has been entrusted with the revelation of God on this earth.

Acts 20:27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.

It is the pastor’s job to present to people the Word of God in its fullness. I see my role as being the person here at Vineyard, who is primarily responsible to deliver to you the whole counsel of God. What this means is that pastors cannot simply ride their favorite hobby horse. Well, if you turn to that pastor, he is going to talk about the end times or the nation of Israel every single week, or he is

8 going to beat up on the religious left or the religious right every week, or he is going to talk about the importance of the gift of tongues, or prosperity. A steward, a pastor, is not free to ride their own hobby horse.

People have written to me and asked, “Why do you talk about race relations and economic justice? Why does Vineyard Columbus have a weight loss program? Why get involved in smoking cessation? Why do we have a group here that deals with human trafficking? Why do we have such a large prolife ministry? We’ve come alongside hundreds of women to empower them to choose life for their unborn children. Why don’t we just focus on church stuff like saving people and worship? Can’t we just do that?” The answer is, “Absolutely not!”

Pastors are called upon to preach the whole counsel of God. To preach the Bible is to preach the Kingdom. The message is the message of the Kingdom of God. We proclaim Jesus as Lord of all!

As the famous Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper so eloquently put it a century ago:

There is no square inch of the universe over which Jesus Christ does not say, “Mine!”

Christ wants to revolutionize every aspect of your life and he will not leave any stone unturned. You’re going to have to deal with the grudge you’ve held since childhood against a person who humiliated you. He’s going to deal with your unforgiveness towards your ex. He is going to deal with your shopping habits and your credit card abuse and your smoking, and your selfishness, and your eating habits, and your racial attitudes. He will not stop until you and I and the universe is totally transformed. That’s what Paul is saying here. He summarizes the whole counsel of God.

The whole message: Christ in you, the hope of glory

Colossians 1:26-27 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

What did Paul mean he was given the privilege of revealing what was previously hidden?

What does Christ in you, the hope of glory mean? Most Christians misinterpret this and they think it means Christ in you, the hope of heaven. Because Christ is in you when you die, you are going to go to heaven. That’s true. Paul is not

9 substituting the word heaven for the word glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory is actually a summary statement of declaring the Word of God in its fullness.

Let me break this down for you. What is the glory of God? The glory of God is not heaven, the place that God dwells. The glory of God is God’s presence, his manifest presence, the presence that dwells in the Holy of Holies, in the Temple, before the Temple was destroyed. Then the glory left Israel. There was this promise to the Jewish people that one day the glory of God, the presence of God, would return to Israel. We read in Isaiah 40.4-5,

Isaiah 40:4-5 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

And we read at the closing of the Old Testament in Malachi 3:1:

Malachi 3:1 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

God will return to Israel. The presence of God, the glory of God, will come back to Israel. The glory left when the Temple was destroyed, but the glory is going to return. And when will the glory return? When the Temple is rebuilt on the place where the Dome of the Rock is in Israel?

No, of course not! The glory returned when Jesus came. That’s what we read in John 1:14:

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The glory, the presence of God, dwelt in Jesus. When you received Christ into your heart, you received the glory. The presence of God is put in you by the Holy Spirit. When you look at a Christian neighbor, when you look at a Christian friend, you are not just looking at an ordinary person, a person with problems and lots of brokenness. That’s not what you are looking at. We’re looking at someone in whose life dwells the glory of God. Here is what it says in 2 Corinthians 3:18:

2 Corinthians 3:18

10 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

One day your Christian spouse, your Christian neighbor, your Christian parents or girlfriend, or boyfriend – they are going to shine like the sun. We receive the glory. And the glory is going to be spread to all of creation. That’s what Romans 8 is all about. The glory starts with Christ. He shares the presence of God, the glory, with you and me. We become carriers of the glory infecting the world with this good virus – the glory of God – until the whole universe is transformed by the glory. So we read this old promise prophesied by Habakkuk 2500 years ago:

Habakkuk 2:14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Here is where the universe is going. It is going to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. The universe is going to be filled with God’s presence. There will no dark spots anywhere, no sin, no gossip, no persecuted Christians, or angry blogs.

And finally:

Pastors are called to be fathers and mothers

Colossians 1:28-29 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

Let me parenthetically note that the pastor’s proclamation is Christ. Verse 28:

Colossians 1:28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.

The message is always Christ. It is always centered in Christ. The pastor is not called to proclaim our political opinions, Republican or Democrat, or our economic opinions, free market capitalism, or socialism. We’re not called to proclaim religion or church rituals, or our traditions, or our particular religious hobby horse, our view of the end times. We proclaim him.

The test of Christian teaching is not, “Did I enjoy the message? Was it entertaining? Did it cater to my prejudices? Was it something that I wanted to hear?” The test of Christian teaching is always, “Do I have a clearer view of

11 Christ? Do I understand the person of Christ better? Do I understand the mind of Christ, the heart of Christ, the will of Christ better as a result of this teaching?”

As I said, Paul portrays a pastor as a father or a mother. Why do I say that? Look at the two verbs in verse 28:

Colossians 1:28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.

The pastor’s two tasks: Teaching and admonishing

Now, this role of teaching and admonishing is not just something that is given to Christian pastors, as if it is retained by some spiritual elite in the church. The role of teaching and admonishing is something that every Christian is called upon to do with each other. Colossians 3:16 says:

Colossians 3:16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

But teaching and admonishing are two tasks specifically given to parents.

Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Training is child teaching and instruction is literally admonition. It is the same word. It is corrective warning used here in Colossians 1:28 and in Colossians 3:16. It is the same word. Preaching the positive side of the parental instruction; holding up a positive model; admonition, warning against the consequences of violating God’s will.

Let me work out this parenting role of the Christian leader for you in closing. Perhaps it will be illuminating even as we consider the parenting role we have with our own children, or the parenting role that we as leaders have at our jobs. I don’t mean being parental, standing over someone. But there is a role of being a father or mother, whatever your age, if you are called to be a Christian leader. Let me use just a couple of illustrations here in finishing up.

Let’s say a young adult is attending a local college and they go to the university health clinic to talk with one of the therapists there. The young adult says to the therapist, “You know, I’m thinking of exploring my sexuality.” What kind of counsel would they hear from the therapist at a university health clinic? Would he or she hear this? “You need to be careful depending on what they mean by

12 exploring their sexuality. It may result in disaster for you. Sexuality is a powerful thing. Handled wrongly, it could blow up your life. Handled rightly, your sexuality will bless your life. You see, young adult, sex is a gift from God designed to unite you with your spouse so that your bodies will be joined together in safety and security and love even as your heart and soul are joined together in marriage.”

Do you think they will hear counsel about sex like that from a therapist at a university health clinic? Not in most universities in America. At best, you might hear counsel about making sure that any sex you practice will be safe. No where in the larger society will you be taught about the purpose of sex to join you together with your spouse in marriage. And no where will you be warned about the power and explosive nature of sex when it is used wrongly.

Anyone who suggested they could teach you the purpose of sex, or warn you about its misuse would be accused of being unbelievably arrogant. How dare you suggest what is right or best for another human being. No one has the right to say to another person, “Here’s what’s wrong with your life. Here is how you should live. Act this way sexually and it will bless your life. Act in this other way and it will hurt you.”

This is where Christian pastors and Christian leaders and Christian parents differ from the rest of society’s experts. Because you see, while the rest of society is trying to provide leadership in the midst of a relativistic fog, we Christians have a standard.

The pastor’s standard: Christ

The apostle Paul says in verses 28-29:

We are not clueless concerning the goal. We Christian pastors and Christian parents and Christian leaders have a target on the wall. We know what the bull’s eye of the target is – it is Christ! We know what healthy humanity looks like. We know what it looks like when life works and when it doesn’t work. We are not simply imposing our values on someone else, or dreaming up from our own minds what we think is best. The best has been revealed to us in Christ. We have a standard by which to live.

A few years ago after I got done preaching a woman came up to me terribly distraught. It turned out that she was the mother of a 15-year old daughter. She wept as she said, “Rich, I’m listening to you and I feel so horrible about my parenting because my daughter has been sexually active for the last few years

13 and I haven’t known what to say to her.” That’s where the larger secular society leaves us. What do you say to a sexually active 14-15-16 year old girl or boy? Don’t do it? Why not? We practice safe sex.

But you see, we Christians have been given the target. We know what we’re aiming at in our parenting. We want our children to look more and more like Jesus. It is not enough that you are a great soccer player, daughter; or a great basketball player, son. It is not enough for me that you’ve gotten good grades on your last grade card. I teach you, I warn you and I get in your face, and I get on my knees before God and I beg God to work in your life so that you will be mature in Christ!

That’s what Christian pastors do. We teach, we warn, we correct, we get in your face, and we get on our knees before God and we beg God not only that people would make decisions for Christ, but that they would look like Christ in the end. We plead with Jesus, “Please, God, make the church look like you!” Let’s pray.

14 Portrait of a Pastor Rich Nathan May 23-24, 2009 Vision for Life: Seeing the Big Picture (Colossians) Series Colossians 1:24-29

I. Media portraits of a pastor

II. Pastors are called to be servants (Colossians 1:24-25)

A. Called not to serve themselves, but the greater good

B. The reality of suffering

C. The reasons for suffering

1. We don’t suffer to add to Christ’s redemptive work 2. We suffer to show that the world continues to be hostile to Christ (John 15:18-21) 3. We suffer to show that we are identified with Christ

III. Pastors are called to be stewards (Colossians 1:25-27)

A. We present God’s Word in its fullness

B. The full message: Christ in you, the hope of glory

IV. Pastors are called to be fathers and mothers (Colossians 1:28-29)

A. The pastor’s two tasks: teaching and warning

B. The pastor’s standard: Christ