You both have good points, one I can feel and the other I hear.
I will confess I can't understand every pastor because I'm going by my own experiences as a pastor which is incorrect. I cannot be a lone pastor relying solely on my experience. This is why it is so important for the "pastor's need to breed with pastors" so they can offer a listening ear, or when a seasoned pastor mentors a young pastor, and when pastors can gather, pray and encourage all pastors.
Years ago I followed the advice of an elder, that it's good to connect with a group of pastors (3 or 5) who have had their "hard knocks" and will all hold me accountable. It's not fair to always unload on my wife. I'll meet with one pastor for a cup of coffee, meet with another in a phone call, do a ministry project with another and so on. We're friends, brothers in Christ and each uplift one another in their noble calling, but we hold each other accountable.
As Major shared after all his years (since the stone age) he is long retired but holds the honorary pastor emeritus. I'm now being voted by our church as an emeritus and will remain retired with our home church. I can still officiate weddings, funerals, christianings, baptisms and evangelism. But my duties are not the overtime duties of a lead or senior pastor each day of the week.
What forgiven shared, I have to agree with him. A pastor is a servant, first, and what he described I can relate to. The job can get dirty. When noone is around to help, the pastor has to roll up his sleeves. When the pastor ministers to someone or a family then later is blamed. Or when the pastor has to sacrifice his pay because the offerings are low. Or when the pastor has to serve overtime because there just isn't enough help. I can relate on and on. But I also have to confess that people who have been with forgiven for years hold him in high esteem because of his office as the church and community pastor. It's the way of the flock and their shepherd.
Musicmaster makes a very good point when a pastor holds a distinctive office, the servant has to constantly watch himself and seek God's guidance. Burnout and workaholic attacks every pastor and it can affect his thinking and decision making. The pastor has to continuously stay watchful of his walk because it can lead to temptation of relief, taking shortcuts and sin. MM's outline are priorities that must remain consistent and I also agree. Whether we like it or not, the pastor is always being watched by his examples and how he leads God's church.
In this topic of religion I feel our brother's hone in more on the everyday life of blessings and challenges of the True church.
Bob, blessings to you and your lovely wife and family.
A dear former 'pastor' friend of mine (his name is Frank) once said to me that if I ever meet another 'pastor' who dared claim that there is no measure of ego involved with being the one standing behind that pulpit, he would call such a man a liar to his face. You're right, Bob. A 'pastor' must guard ever more powerfully against the tendency to see himself as elevated above others in his so-called 'office,' above the others to whom he preaches and teaches. Too many 'pastors' allow themselves to be dumped on by church counsels and elders who have no desire to become and remain servants. Such groups aren't worth working for as a paid employee, even if given the title 'pastor.' Titles don't make being cast down into the pit of the outhouse a worthwhile position. It's one thing when the Lord gives such a man the labors that glorify the Lord and bring reward, but quite another when one is dumped on by a bunch of lazy good-for-nothings who turn a blind eye toward the one man they claim to love and cherish. They should roll up their sleeves and labor along with that man, not put him on the receiving end of every labor needed within that membership body.
So, yes, my cross-hairs on on all those lazy members who think it ok to dump all their burdens and labors on that one man, thinking that by his wallet strings being held in their hands is license to turn him into a slave, always reassuring him of the Lord's blessings for being such a dutiful slave to them. Yes, we are slaves to Christ, but being a slave to indifferent idiots who will not lift a finger to share the burdens among the membership, no. A spade is a spade. Members and elders who go out there to the outhouse and use it, knowing full well their 'pastor' is in that pit where they put him, no! Absotively not! I have no respect for those elected elders, and none for the congregants. Growing in spiritual maturity means that men in the faith are showing they are in the faith, not vagabonds who prefer to dump on the one man they pay. Remember Paul's words in 1 Timothy 5:8 above...most members consider their (c)hurch to be like a home, and when they won't see to the needs of those of their own 'house,' they are the scum who are 'christians' in name only.
Please forgive me if this seems harsh. It's just that churchianity, in how its practiced in some sectors, is just plain wrong, and actually is anti-biblical in its inherent features in how it is lived out by some. I'm the one standing out in the public right of way on the sidewalk, pointing a righteous finger of accusation against those groups, and calling upon them the woes that Christ leveled against the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes. Daring to call themselves "christians" is an open identity for denial of the very Lord they claim to follow.
This isn't about casting out the proverbial 'baby with the bath water' syndrome. It's just that, sometimes, the bulldozer is needed to push the garbage into a heap to make it easier to to burn away into the atmosphere, so that a new construct may be erected in the place of what was so plainly inferior.
I love you all, and will continue to stand watch on the wall for doctrinal purity and biblical integrity against cultural and social corruptions that are always pressing to get into the fabric of modern thinking. I bear the double-edged sword for a reason.
MM