What Kind of Pastor Do You Want? (Micah 2:6, 11)

Micah 2:6, 11

6 “Do not preach”—thus they preach—

“one should not preach of such things;

disgrace will not overtake us.”

11 If a man should go about and utter wind and lies,

saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,”

he would be the preacher for this people!

            What do you want in a church?  What do you want in a pastor?  What is it that a preacher should be or should do?  Thousands of books have been written on this topic, many of which have vastly different conclusions.  And far too many church goers and pulpit committees gauge the particular fit of a pastor for themselves or their churches based on the answers to those questions. 

            However, this text of Scripture ought to give us a bit of a warning regarding how we select a pastor.  You see, it is human nature to want not to hear the truth if that truth is unpleasant.  It is part of our humanity, of our corruption in sin, to shut down the kind of teaching that convicts us, that challenges us, or that simply bores us.  We have a nature that wants to be entertained, stimulated, and soothed with words that make us feel like we are good, that we have good things coming our way, and that we are not responsible for any negatives in our character.

            So, as we look at the text above, let’s think for a moment.  Is it a good idea for the people of God to instruct his chosen prophet not to tell them the hard truth?  No way.  Is it a good idea for them to demand a person who says what they want to hear in place of what God has to say?  Of course not.  Is it helpful for the pastor to fail to preach the full counsel of God in order to give the crowds what they want?  Not really, even though such preaching might grow the congregation numerically.

            So, Christians, how ought we respond?  To the church member, I would say this:  Put yourself in a position to sit under the faithful teaching of the word of God.  Listen to the word of God when it is hard and when it is easy.  Listen to the word of God when the pastor is interesting and when he is dull.  Listen to the word of God when it pierces your heart and when it seems to be aimed at someone totally different than you.  Listen to the word of God, and ask God to help you to be ready to hear, to understand, to change, to worship, to glorify him in your life.  Make it a point to be in a place, under a pastor, who brings the word of God to the people of God.

            To pastors I would say this:  Preach the word (2 Timothy 4:2a).  Preach the word when it is an easy passage that lends itself to easy points.  Preach the word when it is a hard passage that requires study that eats into your schedule.  Preach the word when it is a passage that will fascinate the people.  Preach the word when it is a passage that will be hard to listen to.  Preach the word when it will make people invite their friends next week.  Preach the word when the word will make people turn away from you just like they turned away from Jesus at the end of John 6.  Preach the word, and trust that  God will use his word and his Holy Spirit to change the lives of the people.