THE POSITION OF A GOD-CALLED PASTOR

The average preacher, today, is only a ''moral officer'' in his church. To him it is not a commission from Heaven to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to dying people; it is just a matter of building up his church, getting along with his folks, marrying the young, burying the dead, collecting his salary, drawing his breath and letting his congregation go to Hell. Now, let's see the position of a God-called pastor, as set forth in God's Word, as he walks before God and before his people and leads them. FIRST, He is instructed to ''Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season, REPROVE, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.'' A God-called pastor is to REPROVE, that is, to lay blame on, to rebuke, to persuade, to convince, to convict, to disclose the hearts of both saints and sinners, to lay bare the guilty hearts. This isn't pleasant. Many times this is embarrassing. SECOND, He is to REBUKE both saint and sinner; rebuke means to reprimand, to give a sudden blow. It means to sharply reprove or censure, so that the individual is checked, and made to think and turn his steps toward the Lord. The God-called man will lay aside all his feelings; he will not court the love or favor of any man, so that he may deliver GGood's message without compromise. Elijah is an example, when he walked into Ahab's court one day and delivered God's message to that wicked king. John Baptist is another example, when he stood and rebuked the Pharisees by calling them a ''GENERATION OF VIPERS,'' and when he stood before Herod and rebuked him sharply for living with his brother's wife. THIRD, a God-called pastor is to EXHORT, that is, he is to urge by appeal or by argument, that the individual may throw himself on the side of truth and Christ, and he is to do this with all longsuffering, patience and doctrine-that is, the teaching of God's Word. In other words, he is to wield the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God with authority. A God-called pastor, according to Titus 1;13, will rebuke SHARPLY; ''Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.'' Then he is to speak with AUTHORITY, according to Titus 2;15-''These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.'' God's messenger stands with a message from Heaven, from the courts of the King, and he is to deliver it regardless of how man may take it. Lastly, he is to rebuke OPENLY. ''Them that sin rebuke before all, that others may fear'' [1 Timothy 5;20]. This is no easy task. THE AVERAGGE PASTOR TODAY, HAS NO VOICE OF AUTHORITY, because he is afraid either of his job, or his salary, or a clique of men in the church, or of a petticoat who controls him, or else, he is afraid of a rotten spot in his life might be exposed.