How would you answer that question?
Some would say that the most important quality for a pastor is that he is faithful in preaching God’s Word. This means that he stands before the congregation and faithfully declares to them what the Lord says to us through His Word. We want men that accurately teach and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Others might use a little different word. Occasionally, I’ll have younger guys asking me if I know of any churches that are hiring pastors. Since I have access to a few ministry placement sites I’ll scan through some of the ads for them. When I do, one word is almost always present: DYNAMIC. Churches today want dynamic pastors. I think that means energetic, winsome, passionate, and a host of other things–like spiky hair.
I wonder what your word is? Give it some thought…
Samuel Davies’ answer
The one word that Samuel Davies used was “piety”. He defined it as “having a firm belief of that gospel he is called to preach, and a lively sense of religion upon his own heart.”
Davies was not alone in this. I would venture to say that almost every Puritan would give a similar answer, as would Calvin and Luther. But more significantly I believe you could make a case that this would also be the answer given by the God in His Word. Note that in Acts 20:28 Paul urges the elders to “pay careful attention to yourselves” before he says anything about caring for the flock. This is what Davies and others meant by piety.
Davies noted:
It is an easy thing to make a noise in the world, to flourish and harangue, to dazzle the crowd and set them all agape; but deeply to imbibe the Spirit of Christianity, to maintain a secret walk with God, to be holy, as he is holy—this is the labor, this is the work
This passion for piety would be a filter by which every minister would work. Piety will direct a man in what to study and drive him in how he studies. Furthermore, it will “give unspeakable force to what a minister says”.
If you want a “dynamic pastor” I think what you are really saying is that you want a man that is set on fire by the living God. What you really need is a man that stands before a congregation and boldly proclaims an unadulterated gospel. What you need is a pious pastor.
If you are looking for a man that faithfully preaches God’s Word I hope that you are looking for more than a man that can faithfully exposit. I hope that what you really mean by that is a man that not only is striving to master the Word of God but a man that is mastered by the Living Word. Demons could give you a theologically accurate sermon and stand before you saying, “Thus says Yahweh”. But demons don’t tremble. You want a pastor that trembles.
Pastor’s let us pursue piety. Congregation’s let us pursue and encourage pious pastors.
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Those Samuel Davies quotes comes from Iain Murray’s phenomenal biography Revival and Revivalism.
Mark Driscoll teaches a triperspective method of church leadership. You need Kings who get things done, prophets who communicate truth through teaching and admonition, and priests who are pastoral in nature and want to nurture people’s relationship with Christ.
I think there’s value to what he says. Piety seems to fit with the office of priest. So I look through 1 Timothy quickly and get an overview to what it emphasizes. Each of these three seem to be evident:
Warriors against false doctrine (1 Tim 1:8) Kings, Prophets
Prayers (1 Tim 2:1) Priests
Above reproach (1 Tim 3:2) Priests
General instructions (1 Tim 5) Kings
Teach godliness and pursue righteousness (1 Tim 6) Prophets, Priests
So each seem to be like Prego: they’re in there. But the verse that stood out to me as I skimmed through this:
“Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” (1 Tim 4:7b,8)
It looks like Paul means to emphasize that all things are to be done through the lens of piety.