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Jeremiah 3:15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
Ephesians 4:7-8 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.' Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
Ephesians 4:11-16 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Please notice that Ephesians 4:7-8 says that 'Christ' gave gifts unto men'.' Our spiritual gifts come from Christ.' Also, those verses say 'according to the measure of the gift of Christ'.' God measures how much we let 'the gift of Christ' into our life to control our life.' God then uses that 'measure' to determine how much 'grace' we receive since we are 'given grace according to the measure'.
You determine how much of God's 'grace' you want in your life by how much you obey 'Christ' in your personal life.' Based upon this truth, our epistle goes on and tells us about people that 'Christ' gave to the church to help the church.' Therefore, 'Christ' is looking at how you respond to these people that he gave to tell you how to follow 'Christ'.' The more you treat them as 'Christ' wants, the more of God's 'grace' you receive.' The more you refuse to treat them right, the less of God's :grace' that you will receive.
With that truth in mind we will look at what our section tells us about how to treat our pastor.
1. Are chosen by God (Jer 3:15) ' accept the pastor that God chose.
2. Have a main job to 'feed you with knowledge and understanding' (Jer 3:15) '' Learn from your pastor and don't fight what he is trying to teach.
3. Are a 'gift' from God (Eph 4:8) ' thank God for your pastor.
4. The pastor is only one of several people that God gave jobs to ('And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers') ' Don't dump all of the work on the pastor.
5. 'For the perfecting of the saints' ' His job is to 'perfect'.' That means he must find where you 'come short of the glory of God', tell you about your flaw and tell you how to correct it.' Don't get mad at him for doing his job and don't reject his corrections.
6. 'for the work of the ministry' ' Support his leadership in the ministry.' Don't fight against what he is trying to do because you are lazy or covetous of the money it will cost or are prideful and don't want to submit or for any other reason.' Support his leadership in the ministry.
7. 'for the edifying of the body of Christ' ' The pastor was given to build up the 'body of Christ' and to make it better by getting the people to obey God's righteousness.' Fighting against the pastor makes you look poor and ugly to God.
8. 'Till we all come in the unity of the faith' ' The only way there can be 'unity of the faith' is if we all accept the 'faith' that comes from the Bible.' Any time our belief disagrees with what the Bible literally says we are to change our faith to match the Bible.' The pastor is to teach the 'faith' of the Bible.' If you disagree with what he preaches you must find at least two places where the Bible says he is wrong.' If you can't find those two places then you must change your belief to match what the pastor preaches or lose God's 'grace'.
9. 'Till we all come'(to) the knowledge of the Son of God' ' The Son of God shows us the character of God.' The job of the pastor is to give people the knowledge of the character of God so that they can mature and be perfect.' When the pastor is preaching about God's character and how we should worship and praise and thank God, we are to support that teaching and think of God in those terms every morning as we seek God's help for the day.
10. 'Till we all come'unto a perfect man' ' Grow up spiritually.'
11. 'Till we all come' unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ' ' Others need to see all of 'the stature of the fulness of Christ' in you.' When the pastor corrects your failure then thank him.
12. 'Till we all ' be no more children' '
13. 'Till we all ' be no more tossed to and fro' (become faithfup and consistent in doctrine) '
14. 'Till we all ' be no more carried about with every wind of doctrine' '
15. 'Till we all ' be no more carried about by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness' '
16. 'Till we all ' are speaking the truth in love' '
17. 'Till we all ' do grow up into him (Christ) in all things' '
18. 'Till'the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth' ' we must each do our part as commanded by Christ even though our part is different from the part of others.' This will only be when the entire church is working and all together are doing what Christ wants.
19. 'Till we all ' are effectually working in the measure of every part' ' Each of us is being as effectual as we can be doing our job in the church.
20. 'Till we all ' are maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love' ' Everybody puts the edification and love of all church members right below their personal relationship with God.
The pastor is like the neck in the body of Christ with Christ being the head and Christ passes instructions to the rest of the body through the pastor.' Not doing all that you can to obey and follow your pastor, especially in the ministry of showing love, sanctification and spiritual growth to the church and salvation to the lost world, is rejecting the leading of Christ through the church.