6 Rules For Church Members To Support Their Pastors
What John Owen can teach us about true Christian fellowship
This content was first delivered as a Charge to the Church in 2023 for the Installation Service of a Ruling Elder becoming a Teaching Elder in the PCA.
On a cold, rainy night, the telephone rang in the home of a doctor. The caller identified himself and said that his wife needed urgent medical attention. The doctor was understanding and said that he was willing to come and attend to her needs. But, he had a problem. His only car was in the shop being repaired and he had no way of getting to them. The doctor then asked the man if he could come pick him up. The man angrily replied, “What! In this bad weather?”
We often ask people to do things for us that we wouldn’t do for them. This is a big theme today in “cancel culture”. We would hate for people to know our deep, dark secrets but we love tattle-telling on others to get them canceled.
Unfortunately, this culture can creep into the church. And in the church this can carry over into the congregation’s relationship with their pastor. This is why we need the gospel of grace. I don’t know if you know this but your pastor is a sinner and you are calling a fellow-sinner to be your minister. He will sin against you and this is why you need the gospel of grace—the same grace that he proclaims to you is the grace that you must give to him.
This does not mean that you should just do whatever he says. Rather, only follow him as he follows Christ and His Word. But, if he is following Christ and His Word, you must follow him!
Rule #1: Support Your Pastor By Supporting His Ministry Of The Word
And this is where the Puritan John Owen is most helpful. In his short work entitled “Duties of Christian Fellowship”, Owen gives 6 principles for what it means to support your pastor. First, supporting your pastor means supporting his ministry of the Word of God. 1 Corinthians 4:1 says, “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” Again, 2 Corinthians 5:18 & 20 says, “Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation…Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
By calling him to this office, you are admitting two things: 1) He has the ability to minister God’s Word to you. And, 2) He is qualified to be called to the office of authority to minister God’s Word to you. The failure to support him in his ministry of the Word to you means that you are choosing to neglect your own soul. Choosing to reject him, after you have called him to be your minister, is as foolish as choosing to buy the car of your choice and then smashing it with a sledgehammer. The Lord Jesus Christ is calling him to minister His gospel to you.
Rule #2: Support Your Pastor By Observing His Life
1 Corinthians 4:16 says, “I urge you, then, be imitators of me.” 1 Corinthians 11:1 says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” Don’t be a critic. A critic is someone who points out how imperfectly other people do what the critic doesn’t even do themselves. You can sit back and go on a sin-hunt or you can observe how Christ is at work in his life. If he keeps his eyes on Jesus, you keep your eyes on him. He is not and will not be sinless but because he is in union with Christ then Christ is at work in him and through him. This is why John Owen says, “A pastor’s life should be vocal: sermons must be lived out as well as preached…God will not accept our tongues when the devil has our hearts.”
Rule #3: Support Your Pastor By Praying For Him
2 Thessalonians 3:1 says, “Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you.” In 2 Corinthians 2, ministers are supposed to be “fragrance from heaven”. This is why Paul says in 2:16, “Who is sufficient for these things?” It’s a rhetorical question: No one is but Jesus. Pray for him because he is in desperate need of Jesus. His gifts won’t sustain his ministry. His godliness won’t happen without Jesus. Pray for him to keep his eyes upon the gospel of grace and the Lord of glory. Don’t give lip service to him like typical Southerners do. Don’t just say you’re praying for him but actually pray for him!
Rule #4: Support Your Pastor By Respecting Him
1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 says, “We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.” As a minister of the gospel of grace, he is God’s ambassador. He is not a TED talk speaker, spiritual guru, or a celebrity Christian—He is an ambassador of heaven sent to proclaim the grace of Christ to you. How can you honor God? By honoring and respecting him! If he is faithful to God’s Word, failing to respect him is failing to respect God’s gracious gift to your soul.
Rule #5: Support Him By Literally Supporting Him
If he feeds your soul then you should do what you can to literally feed him and his family. 1 Timothy 5:17-18 says, “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,’ and, ‘The laborer deserves his wages.’” Some church members treat their pastors as if they’re praying: “God, he can have any of my money if you can just pry it out of my hands.” If you love your children, you wouldn’t give your children just enough to get by. If you love your pastor, do all you can to support him in ways that are worthy of his ministry.
Rule #6: Support Him By Being Loyal To Him
Don’t treat your pastor like he’s a funny video on YouTube—you’re telling everybody about it one week and then you forget about it the next. Listen to what Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:16, “At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them!” In other words, Paul is saying that it was a sin for his congregation to fail to be loyal to him since he was ministering the gospel to them. This is absolutely not a call to hold your pastor up as a celebrity or as some cult leader. Only as he is faithful to God’s Word should you be loyal to his ministry. But, if he is faithful to God’s Word, even if it might be convicting and rebuking, you are called by God to be loyal to his ministry.
You need to realize what you are calling your pastor to do—you are calling him to stand before the Lord on The Last Day to give an account for how he has shepherded the Bride of Christ. If you are calling him to such a fearful matter than you should show your fear of the Lord by supporting his ministry. And if he is faithful to God’s Word, then if you support him in his ministry then you will be able to stand before the Lord on judgment day with a clear conscience.