I want to be such a pastor.
“'But the priests, who are Levites and descendants of Zadok and who faithfully carried out the duties of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, are to come near to minister before me; they are to stand before me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood, declares the Sovereign LORD.” (Ezekiel 44:15)
First of all, I don't want to be such a pastor.
First, I don’t want to become a pastor who goes astray and wander from God.
Look at Ezekiel 44:10 – “'The Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray and who wandered from me after their idols must bear the consequences of their sin.” The sin that the Israelites committed was going astray and wandering from God. At that time, the Levites, who held the office of priests, should have proclaimed a message calling for the people of Israel to repent and return to God from their sinful ways. However, the Levites followed the erring house of Israel and went astray and wandered from God.
One of the strange phenomena that can be seen in the church these days is that the pastor follows the believers who are going astray. There is no distinction between who is the leader and who is the follower. The pastor has the responsibility to lead God's people as a leader anointed by the Lord in the organization called the church. But rather, the church members are leading the pastor, showing the opposite phenomenon. This opposite phenomenon seems to occur especially when the church members are going astray. When most of the church members choose the wrong path and try to move forward, the pastor is also swept away by that wrong wave. This happens because the pastor refuses to lead as a leader. Just as when the serpent tempted Eve, Adam should have led Eve as the head of the family, but rejected it and committed the sin together with his wife, even within the church right now, the pastor seems to be refusing to lead the church members. As a result, not only the church members but also the pastor go astray, and the church has no choice but to drift. The ultimate responsibility lies with the pastor. Because the pastor is wander away from God, he is swept away by the wave of erring believers and goes astray too. I don't want to be such a pastor.
Second, I don’t want to become a pastor who forgets the grace of God.
Look at Ezekiel 44:11, 14: “They may serve in my sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the temple and serving in it; they may slaughter the burnt offerings and sacrifices for the people and stand before the people and serve them. … Yet I will put them in charge of the duties of the temple and all the work that is to be done in it.” Although the Levites must bear the consequences of their sin because they had gone astray like the house of Israel and wandered from God after their idols (vv. 10, 12), yet God continued to put them in charge of the duties of the temple (vv. 11, 14). If this is not God's grace, what is it? Of course, God caused them to bear the consequences of their sin (vv. 10, 12) and thus removed them from their glorious positions before then sinned. But God had compassion on them and gave them even lower levels of duty than they had before (before they sinned) (Park). Therefore, the Levitical priests who went astray and wandered from God were deprived of their office, and were assigned to be in charge of the gates of the temple and serving in it, and slaughtering the burnt offerings and sacrifices for the people (vv. 11, 14) (Park). If this is not God's grace, what is it?
Another strange phenomenon that can be seen in churches these days is that the pastors continue to minister even after committing the sin of adultery. They are ministering while committing adultery with a woman or women. Now, it seems that the wrong climate of cheating among the church members is spreading like an epidemic among pastors too. But even more frightening, I think that the epidemic that spreads among the pastors is a disease of spiritual dementia that forgets God's grace. As they serve the Lord's church while suffering from this kind of spiritual dementia, they have no choice but to do a ministry without humility, gratitude, and strength. I don't want to be such a pastor.
I want to be such a pastor.
First, I want to become a pastor who keeps the holy office that God has given me.
Look at Ezekiel 44:15 – “But the priests, who are Levites and descendants of Zadok and who faithfully carried out the duties of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, are to come near to minister before me; they are to stand before me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood, declares the Sovereign LORD.” In this verse, the Bible says that even when the house of Israel went astray from God, the priests of the Levites, the descendants of Zadok, faithfully carried out the duties of God’s sanctuary. The Levites, the descendants of Zadok, kept the office of God's sanctuary even when the house of Israel and all the Levites, who were supposed to be their spiritual leaders, went astray and wandered from God. The house of Israel defiled the sanctuary of God by bringing the Gentiles into the sanctuary of God (v. 7). The Levites also took lightly the holy office God had given them, so they let the Gentiles hold their office in their place (v. 8). But the Levite priests, the sons of Zadok, kept the office of God's sanctuary. These Zadok descendants of the Levite priests were servants of the Lord who faithfully fulfilled their God-given office.
One of the sad things we see in the church these days is that we take our office too lightly. That is why, rather than using the given position for the glory of God and building the church, some of us are using our offices to receive our own glory and establish our own names. It is a holy office given by God, and now we take it lightly. Furthermore, now we are abusing that office. Especially, some of the pastors are abusing the office of “pastor.” In particular, those pastors who have lost the authority and power of the word of God are abusing their office recklessly. As a result, even the members of the congregation take the office of pastor lightly. Even in the midst of this, there are clearly some pastors like Elijah and the 7,000 prophets left behind by God who don’t compromise with sin and keep the holy office God has given them. Even if everyone erroneously takes the God-given office lightly and turns away from God and sins, there are certainly pastors in this world who keep the holy office God has given them, like the Levites, the descendants of Zadok. I want to be one of those pastors. I want to become a pastor who keeps the holy office God has given me.
Second, I want to become a pastor who comes closer to God and serves Him.
Look at Ezekiel 44:15 again: “But the priests, who are Levites and descendants of Zadok and who faithfully carried out the duties of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, are to come near to minister before me; they are to stand before me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood, declares the Sovereign LORD.” The Bible says that the Levites, the descendants of Zadok, kept the office of God's sanctuary, so they drew near to God and ministered before God. They were to stand before God to offer sacrifices of fat and blood. This verse contrasts with verse 11. According to Ezekiel 44:11, the Levites, “who wandered from me after their idols” (v. 10), were by God’s grace to serve in God’s sanctuary by slaughtering the burnt offerings and sacrifices for the people. On the other hand, God said, the Levite priests, the descendants of Zadok, who faithfully kept the office of God's sanctuary, would not stand before the people but rather stand before God to minister (v. 15). What a privilege of grace it is to become a servant of the Lord who comes close to God and minister before Him rather than standing before the Israelites and serve them.
One of the foolish phenomena we see in churches these days is that the pastor is going too close to the church members rather than to God. It is foolish for the pastor to draw closer to people than to God. First, we must stand before God and serve Him. But since we, the pastors, are standing in front of people and ministering to them, the church, first, how can the church become a Lord-centered church? It has no choice but to become a people-centered church that smells like people. I don't want to do that. First of all, I want to become a pastor who draws closer to God. And I want to become a pastor who stands before Him and serves the Lord.
Third and last, I want to become a pastor who teaches God's people the difference between the holy and the profane by life.
Look at Ezekiel 44:23 – “Moreover, they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.” God entrusted His people to the priests of the Levites, descendants of Zadok, who were faithfully fulfilling their duties in God's sanctuary even though they all went astray and wandered from Him. God told these Levites, who were faithfully in office, to teach His people the distinction between the holy and the profane. The reason for this is because the Levites, who went astray because even themselves could not distinguish between the holy and the profane, could not develop in God's people the discernment to distinguish between the holy and the profane. How could God entrust His people to priests who have lost such power? That is why God entrusted this work to the Levites, the descendants of Zadok. He entrusted another ministry to the priests who were keeping the office of God's sanctuary. This is very natural.
One of the sinful phenomena that can be seen in the church these days is that the wall has collapsed and the waves of sin are overflowing in the church. One of those sinful waves is humanism. The church is becoming more people-centered even though the church should be the Lord-centered. Besides this humanism, the sinful wave that overflows in the church is syncretism. It has become difficult to distinguish what pure faith is. It looks like it's all mixed up. Now, it seems that we are living a life of faith by mixing Confucianism, Buddhist thought, New Age thought, humanistic love, etc. in addition to the truth of God. We are now in a time where it is very difficult to distinguish between believers and unbelievers. The number of saints setting a holy example seems to be diminishing. In the midst of this, the number of pastors who are becoming secularized seems to be increasing (at least superficially). It is becoming so secular that it seems that the ability to distinguish between the holy and the profane has been lost. And it seem that the church is continue to produce church members who have lost that ability. This is our responsibility who are becoming secularized. We, the pastor, must repent. And we should increase that power through the Holy word by praying to God for the ability to distinguish between the holy and the profane. And by that power, we should pursue a holy life. And we must show the saints a holy life not only with our lips but also with our lives. In this way, we all will be able to distinguish between the profane and the profane. And we will have the ability to throw away the profane things. I want to become a pastor who teaches the difference between the holy and the profane by living like this.
At the early Morning Prayer meeting on this Saturday, the Holy Spirit gave me a heart to fear God when I prayed after proclaiming God's word centering on Ezekiel 44:9-15. As I prayed with that fearful heart and meditated on the preached word again, I got the title of prayer, “I want to become such a pastor.” And in order to give the subject of this prayer more concretely, I meditated on these verses again, focusing on verse 15. In the midst of that, I have divided the grace of God into two categories: (1) I don't want to be such a pastor, and (2) I want to be such a pastor. I don’t want to become a pastor who go astray and wander from God far away and a pastor who forgets God's grace. Rather, I want to become a pastor who keeps the holy office that God has given me. And I want to become a pastor who comes close to God and minister before Him. In the midst of this, I want to become a pastor who teaches the saints the difference between the holy and the profane by life. Lord, raise me up to be such a pastor!