They must know that a true pastor has been among them.
“As for them, whether they listen or not--for they are a rebellious house--they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (Ezekiel 2:5)
The world has become difficult to distinguish between the real and the fake. It's hard to tell which one is real and which one is fake. That's because there are so many counterfeits that are so well made that they look like the real ones. However, it seems that luxury goods are not just money or goods that make it difficult to distinguish the real from the fake. We are in a world where it is very difficult to tell who is a real Christian and who is a fake Christian. The late Pastor Han-heum Ok said that it is very difficult to distinguish a real Christian from a fake Christian, just as it is very difficult to distinguish a male from a female insect. We are living in a world where there are many counterfeit Christians who are very similar to real Christians. But I think this fact does not apply only to lay Christians. This also applies to pastors like us. In other words, it is very difficult to distinguish who is a true pastor and who is a false pastor. Since there are many false pastors in the world, it seems that we are questioning whether there is really a true pastor in God's eyes.
This was also the case in the days when the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel prophesied the word of God to the people of Judah. It was a world where it was difficult to distinguish who was a true prophet and who was a false prophet. To be more precise, there were many false prophets in those days, and most people listened to and followed the false prophets. That was why the people of Judah seemed like they regarded the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who were true prophets, as fakes. Therefore, the people of Judah didn’t listen to the two prophets (Jere. 11:10, 13:10). And they rejected God's law (6:19). They forsook God's ordinances and didn’t follow His ordinances (Ezek. 5:7). Rather, they defiled the sanctuary of God with all their abominations (v. 11). They had committed all their abominations to God by turning away from God with their adulterous hearts and played the harlot after their idols by their adulterous eyes (6:9). They sinned against God like their fathers (2:3). The sons of Israel were a rebellious people who had rebelled against God (v. 3). And they were stubborn and obstinate children (v. 4). God sent the prophet Ezekiel to them and commanded him to preach the word of God (v. 4). Then God said that the rebellious people of Israel, whether they listen or not, “they will know that a prophet has been among them” (v. 5).
As I meditated on these words, I came to think that just as there was a true prophet in the days of Ezekiel, we should know that there are true pastors among us in this age as well. How do we know this? How can we tell who is the true pastor? I want to think of it in three ways:
First, the true pastor is someone who preaches the word of God as it is, whether people listen or not.
Look at Ezekiel 2:7 – “But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.” God told the prophet Ezekiel to go to the sons of Israel and preach the word of God whether they listen or not (2:5, 7; 3:11). The prophet Ezekiel obeyed this word of God. Even though he knew that the people of Judah would not listen to the word of God spoken through him (3:7), he spoke the word of God to them. Then, what was the word of God that the prophet Ezekiel proclaimed to them? It was the words of lamentations, mourning, and woe (v. 10). Who would love to hear such a word? In particular, the people of Judah, who were committing sins, not only didn’t like to hear the word of such woe, but also hated it so much that they turned their backs on it (23:25). To such people, the prophet Ezekiel delivered the word of God as it was. Whether they listened or not, he delivered His word of woe to them.
The true pastor preaches the word of God as it is. He preaches as it is whether people listen or not. Whether the word of God is the word of groaning and sorrow that people hate to listen, or the word of calamity, he delivers the word of God as it is. He never adds or subtracts from the word of God (Deut. 4:2; 12:32). Rather, he faithfully preaches the word of God as it is (Jere. 23:28). The reason why we don’t recognize such a true pastor is because we don’t like to listen to God's word of sound teaching as it is (2 Tim. 2:3). Rather, we love to hear sermons that scratch our itching ears according to our desires (v. 3). So who would like to listen to the word of God from the true pastor that rebukes our sins? We not only hate the true pastor who preaches the truth to us, but also even hate him. But we like pastors with sermons that scratch our itching ears. Even if the pastor's personality is flawed, if his sermon is pleasing to our greed, we listen to his sermon. And while we hear such sermons, we cry out, “Amen, Amen.” We even say that we have been blessed by that sermon. We who receive grace from the pastor's sermons who add or subtract the word of God without preaching it as it is, in our lives now, there is only degeneration rather than transformation. Now, we are turning our backs on God and His word, going into the world, and sinning against God. What should we do? We must repent and return to God. And we must listen to what God is saying to us through the true pastor. Whether it is the word of blessing or the word of calamity, if it is God's word, we must listen. Even if we say that the pastor who preaches the word of God is a hypocrite, if the content of what he preaches is biblical and the sound doctrine (2 Tim. 2:3), then we must listen to the word of God he preaches carefully without imitating the pastor's actions (Mt. 23:3).
Second, the true pastor is not afraid of people.
Look at Ezekiel 2:6 – “And you, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions; neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, for they are a rebellious house.” The prophet Ezekiel obeyed this word of God. He received all the words that God had spoken to him with his heart and heard with his ears (3:10), and told the people of Judah without being afraid of them, whether they would listen or not (vv. 11, 27). Even though they were a rebellious people, the reason Ezekiel wasn’t afraid was because God made the prophet Ezekiel's face as hard as their faces and his forehead as hard as their foreheads (vv. 8-9).
The true pastor isn’t afraid of people. He isn’t afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul (Mt. 10:28). Rather, he fears God, who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell (v. 28). The reason he isn’t afraid of people is not only because he fears God, but also he believes that God is with him and will save him and deliver him from their hand (Jere. 42:11). In other words, the true pastor believes that a great and fearful God is with him (Deut. 7:21). So he isn’t afraid of people. He holds on to the word of Isaiah 41:10 with faith: “'Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord (Ps. 112:7), not afraid of people, but rather says, “What can man do to me?” (56:11). Since the Lord came near to him and told him, “Do not fear” (Lam. 3:57), he believes that word (Mk. 5:36) and obeys it. So he isn’t afraid of people. The reason we don’t recognize such a true pastor is because we fear people more than God. And because we depend on people more than God and because we are afraid of people more than Him, we don’t know the true pastor who isn’t afraid of people. What should we do? We must fear God more than people and depend on God more than people. And while we are steadfast in the faith, with the assurance of God's salvation, we should not afraid of people in the midst of hardship and adversity, but rather we should fear God more and more.
Third and last, the true pastor is not rebellious like the rebellious people.
Look at Ezekiel 2:8 – “Now you, son of man, listen to what I am speaking to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.” The prophet Ezekiel obeyed this word of God. He was not rebellious like the rebellious house of Israel. Although the house of Israel rebelled against God by not changing their ways, continuing not to listen to God's word and disobeying His word, Ezekiel didn’t act like them. Rather, he listened to God's word and obeyed it, and was faithful to Him.
The true pastor is faithful to God. Because it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful (1 Cor. 4:2), he is faithful even to the point of death (Rev. 2:10). He obeys the word of God, whether God's voice is pleasant or unpleasant (Jere. 42:6). Like Jesus, the Son of God, he learns obedience through suffering (Heb. 5:8). And in the process of learning his obedience, he lay down his will like Jesus and prayed that only the Lord's will would be done (Lk. 22:42). A true pastor not only prays for the Lord's will to be done, but also obeys the His will to death with humble heart like Jesus (Phil. 2:8). The reason we don’t recognize such a true pastor is because we want our will to be done rather than the Lord's will. Now because we are imitating this generation that should not be imitated, we don’t even know what the Lord's good, pleasing, and perfect will is (Rom. 12:2). In the midst of this, our hearts are not humble and proud, so we insist on our will. As a result, now we are walking in sinful ways, hard-hearted and stubborn, not correcting our own ways and continuing to disobey God's word. A truly serious sinful phenomenon is that we pastors are rebelling against God, not correcting our own sinful ways, continuing not to listen to God's word, rather disobeying His word. What should we do? We must repent of our sins, seeking God's mercy and grace. And we must no longer imitate this rebellious generation. Rather, we must imitate Jesus. We must imitate Jesus, who was obedient to the will of God the Father even to death on the cross. We must never oppose and rebel against God. Rather, we must obey His word.
These days, the pastors are upset and sad because of other pastor(s). Even among the same co-workers, we are disappointed with each other. And we are even ashamed of each other. The reason is because the sin of a small number of pastors is quickly and widely known through the media. So, even after the members of the church heard the news, they don't think very well about those pastors who have sinned against God. I am sure they cannot think well about them. And even church members criticize and condemn those pastors. At the same time, the foolish church members prefer pastors who scratch our itching ears with sermons rather than pastors who preach the word of God rightly. And they like a pastor who fears the church members more than a pastor who fears God. That is why they like pastors who imitate this generation like themselves, disobeying God's word, and pursuing their own will rather than God's will. Even in this circumstance, the wise believers know that there is a true pastor among them. They believe that the true pastor is he who preaches the word of God as it is, who isn’t afraid of people, and who isn’t rebellious. We have come to an era where we miss such a true pastor.