Rev. Eric Brown
October is (for some reason that is beyond me) now deemed to be Pastor Appreciation Month. Now, at my congregation that means that there was a cake in my honor at the quarterly Voters’ meeting, and I am completely on-board with having some cake to accompany any church meeting. And yes, you should indeed appreciate your pastor because God has sent your pastor to you to do something wondrous: to preach the life giving Word of God.
Really, a pastor is a Word fellow. His job is to revolve around and be utterly enmeshed in the Word of God. When he preaches, he preaches the Word of God and not the whims of the day. When he teaches, he teaches the Word of God and not his own vain ideas. When he corrects and reproofs, he does so with the clear Word of God and not his own thoughts on how things ought to be. When he comforts and forgives, he simply gives again what Christ has proclaimed and given in His Word. Because he deals with the Word, your pastor is rightly to be appreciated!
This is what Paul reminds the young pastor Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-4:2: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” As Timothy goes about his duties, he is doing nothing apart from or without the Word of God. And your pastor knows that this what his focus is to be how he goes about his duties. It’s what all of us who are pastors promised to do when we were ordained.
So I’ll let you in on a little secret. Do you want to show your pastor that you appreciate him? Listen to him preach the Word. Attend Bible studies. Ask him questions about the Word. Let him deal with the Word of God with you. Because while cake is tasty, your pastor knows that man doesn’t live by bread (even wonderfully sweetened bread with a yummy buttercream frosting) alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Eric Brown serves as pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church, Herscher, Illinois.
