The Call to Pastor (pt.4) Exalting the Savior

EXALTING THE SAVIOR

The last part of the vision of the pastor should include exalting the Savior. Indeed, all parts of the pastor’s ministry to his flock should include ultimately bring glory to the Lord since that is what we are created for. Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:31 states: “…whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (NKJV). “God’s most fundamental allegiance is to His own glory. He is committed to being God before He is committed to being anything else.”[1] If bringing glory to God is important the most important aspect of life, how much more so should it be for us, his creation? The answer to this question is that bringing glory to God should be our main goal in ministry, as well as in our lives.

Besides being a doer of God’s word with respect to 1 Corinthians 10:31 there are also several practical and intentional ways a church can bring glory to God. A pastor’s vision should include bring glory to God through worship and the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Worship

<>Exalting the Savior should come about through every aspect of our lives. MacArthur states that “the ultimate purpose of mankind is to worship God and to enjoy His creation.”[2] Piper states that God “is committed with all His infinite and eternal might to display (His) glory and to present the honor of his name…let us declare boldly and powerfully what God loves most – the glory of God.”[3] What is worship then? Worship is “the honor and adoration directed to God.”[4] Ralph Martin defines worship as “the dramatic celebration of God in His supreme worth in such a manner that his ‘worthiness’ becomes the norm and inspiration of human living.”[5] Furthermore, it is up to the pastor to practice worship and ensure that his flock does the same. He must “teach the church to worship, lead them in worship, and join them in worship.”[6]Therefore, in our worship services, everything should be directed to the glory of God. We should preach, pray, sing, celebrate, and even give to the glory of God.[7] After all, we are in the ministry not to glorify ourselves, but instead to glorify God.

Lord’s Supper and Baptism

We can also exalt the Savior by worshipping Him through the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism, taken from the Greek word “baptizo” means to “plunge, dip, immerse” something in water.[8] There are many views of what is the meaning of Baptism and even the significance. MacArthur believes that this “failure to take baptism seriously is at the root of the most serious problems in today’s church because it betrays an unfaithfulness to the simple and direct commands of the Lord.”[9] What is the purpose of baptism? When a believer is baptized by immersion into water, he or she is “demonstrating not just the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ but also his union with Christ in that death, burial, and resurrection.”[10] We must practice baptism in our churches because it shows the public profession of the believer’s faith and underscores what exactly Jesus did for us on the cross at Calvary. Also, by becoming a believer in Christ, through baptism, we are announcing to the world our intentions of living a life worthy of the calling of God.

<>The Lord’s Supper, also called communion, is the other ordinance that the pastor’s vision of his church should include. The Lord’s Supper should be understood as a remembrance of what Jesus has done for us, much like baptism. Grudem presents seven symbols affirmed in the ceremony: Christ’s death, our participation in the benefits of Christ’s death, spiritual nourishment, the unity of believers, Christ affirming His love for us, Christ affirming that all the blessings of salvation are reserved for us, and the believer affirming his faith in Christ.[11] However, the Lord’s Supper is also a time to present ourselves clean before God. 1 Corinthians states that each participant should “examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup” and those who did not do this beforehand, “eats and drinks judgment to himself.”[12]

Corporate Prayer

The final part of the pastor’s vision for the local church should include exalting the savior through corporate prayer. Prayer is “personal communication with God.”[13] All pastors should have a consistent personal prayer relationship with God. However, praying with others, especially with the church, should be a consistent practice as well. Jesus teaches in Matthew 18:19-20 that “I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am with them” (NIV). Also, when we pray publicly, “care is required in our language in a way that does not apply when we pray privately.”[14] This practice will help us bring clarity to our petitions.

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CONCLUSION <> The purpose of the church should be to equip the saints, evangelize the world, and exalt the Savior, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Through these three intentional acts to which all Christians are called, the pastor can faithfully model to his flock, that Christ has entrusted him to take care, how we are called to live. We are not called to ungodliness but we are called to holiness. It is the obligation of the pastor to ensure that he leads the flock the best he can through the guidance of the Holy Spirit and Holy Scripture.

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[1] John Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, (Broadman and Holman: Nashville, 2002), 9.

[2] MacArthur, 69.

[3] John Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, 8-9.

[4] MacArthur., 69.

[5] Ibid., 69.

[6] Ibid., 71.

<> <>[7] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 1005.
[8] Grudem, 967.
[9] MacArthur, 359.
[10] Ibid., 363.

<>[11] Grudem, 991.
[12] MacArthur., 358.
[13] Grudem, 376.
<>[14] Prime and Begg, 82.