Have you ever gone to a boring dull uninteresting service? Since we are required to perform at exceptional levels on our jobs, why is it that the pastor somehow gets to shirk their responsibilities of delivering a less than outstanding message? Let’s answer that question by determining the job responsibilities of the pastor thru God’s Word.

TEACH THE BODY James 3:1 Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

While not everyone should become teachers of God (pastors right?), a simple course of logic would reveal that some should indeed become teachers. So it is their responsibility to teach, and thus the sermons should always contain big chunks of meat rather than milk. While at first glance the course of this logic makes sense, it is important to note that the above verse does not say pastor but teacher. Wouldn’t any one of us be able to be educationally demonstrative of God without much difficulty?

Or take this verse…

BLESS THE BODY 1 Corinthians 12:28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.

What do we find here? Is it an excellent summary of the obligations of a good pastor? Or perhaps, do we find an outlay of how the entire body of Christ should interact with one another? Since we all have talents, why is it that the crucial question we ask is, "why isn’t our pastor doing…"? The very act of pondering such question may be an indication that it’s time for you to take responsibility with this specific aspect of the ministry.

PREPARE THE BODY Ephesians 4:12 To prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

Finally, we have found a specific requirement for a good pastor. However since we are all at varying levels within our walk with Christ shouldn’t that play into this verse? And since that’s the case, shouldn’t at least some of us be exercising the fruit of being built up thru good works that we thus produce?

Above we have seen 3 examples of what a pastor should be about. However, if they alone would be responsible to handle each of these areas with perfection how could they also train up their family, not to mention be a vital part of the community? Have you ever seen the day-timer of your pastor? The truth is that many of the things upon their agenda are really the responsibility of the congregation who somehow is much to busy to accept their responsibility.

So next time you experience frustration because your pastor seems much too lazy, ask yourself instead "how can I increase my service to this body?"