QUESTION 5:

Will pastoral ministry be primarily prophetic or merely visionary? 

Will the eternal or the temporal define pastoral ministry?

Students of Scripture and world history are not surprised by challenges like COVID. We may not have foreseen this particular test, but neither are we surprised by it. 

The Bible tells us that we live in a fallen world, one where epidemics shake nations and sickness strikes individuals. Whatever wonderful advances medical science makes in eradicating disease, this will not change until Jesus returns to establish His kingdom at the end of the age.

Jesus told us that we are living in the last days and that His return is at hand. He said that during the last of the last days, world-shaking events of all kinds would increase in their frequency and intensify in their effect. He told us that our response to these challenges should be to live ready and steady, eyes on the skies, and hearts fixed on the prize of meeting Him face-to-face – How my heart yearns within me! (Job 19.25-27)

In effect, He said that we are to live and minister prophetically – in light of prophecy. We are to live preparing ourselves and the people we pastor for the coming of the Lord and for our shared life in the new heavens and earth that are to follow. 

Though this fundamental truth is pervasive throughout the Old and New Testaments, the theme of the coming of the Lord is strangely missing from much of the church’s preaching ministry today.  

There’s a lot of preaching on an individual pastor’s vision for his local church, but not a lot on Jesus’ vision for His “Big C” universal church. Prophetic preacher Dietrich Bonhoeffer said of this pastor, “He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community as if his dream binds men together.”

There’s a lot of teaching on enjoying our best life NOW, but not a lot on enjoying the life that is to come. Prophetic preacher Leonard Ravenhill had a word for this kind of living and preaching: “We are so earthly minded we are of no heavenly use.”  

It may be challenging to do so, but I invite you to go through your sermons of the past year and see how many times you preached on your vision for your church and how many times you preached Jesus’ prophetic vision for His church, this cardinal doctrine of Scripture. Look at just how much and how strongly you preached on now versus how much and how strongly you preached on eternity.  

If you doubt that the coming of the Lord and that which follows is a cardinal doctrine of Scripture, the teaching notes of Professors Major and Minor Prophets are available in the Old Testament, as are the teaching notes of Professors Peter and Paul in the New. And, yes, there’s always the published class notes of Dr. Jesus.

A review of church websites and other online sources seems to say there’s not a great emphasis today on preaching the prophecies of Peter, Paul, and Jesus for God’s Church. But, the same sources reveal there’s a lot of preaching on the vision that Pastor X has for his church. There’s a lot of preparing his people not so much to transition into the eternal kingdom of God but to live well in this world as he sees it, and with little thought to the eternal tomorrow. 

COVIDs and their kind will come and go. They will continue to rock the worlds of those pastors who neglect the preaching of prophecy, focused instead on their vision for their church. Such short-sighted visions do not include or sometimes even allow for the sufferings of living in this world, even though the Bible has much to say about this most difficult subject. Sadly, because a pastor’s vision for his church didn’t include preparing people for trials, tribulations, and suffering – for COVID-19s and their kind – the faith of the many can be greatly shaken, and some will even fall away. Jesus said so. 

But consider the impact inherent in prophetic preaching, i.e., the clear proclamation of Biblical prophecy . . .

It reveals Jesus in all of His glory to His people; it sets Him in the midst of His church (I Tim.1.1);

It encourages believers and give them hope as they live in a fallen world (I Thess. 4.13-18);

It strengthens believers’ faith, preparing them for whatever comes their way. It can even gives meaning and purpose to their suffering (II Thess. 1.4-12);

It helps believers purify themselves in preparation for meeting Jesus (I John 3.2-3);

It impacts the present, calling us to make disciples of all nations until He comes again (Matt.28.18-20; Acts 1.5-8);

It inspires believers to fight the good fight, finish the course, and keep the faith, strengthened in the certainty that there is laid up for them a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to them on that day, and all who have loved His appearing (II Tim.4.7-8);

It liberates us from what some have called a spiritual Stockholm Syndrome, a deadly condition in which we so empathize with this world that we identify with it and desire it more than we do with the world to come (I John 2.15).

It gives believers more than the visions of mortal men; it gives them the vision of the eternal God. It gives believers a divine perspective on this present world, both earthly trials and heavenly glories. (Romans 8.18; I Cor.15.20-28)

The clear teaching of the Word of God on end-time events and what follows will set people’s faith where it belongs – not in us and our “little k” kingdoms, but in Jesus and His eternal, “Big K” Kingdom (Rev.19.11)

What’s it going to be, Pastor?  Knowing that more COVIDs and their kind await in the future, will you be satisfied to preach only your vision for your church? Or will you preach His prophetic Word about this world and the world that is to come?

P.S. Maranatha! 

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NOTE: Journey Pastoral Coaching exists to provide pastoral coaching to Millennial ministers.

Saddled with large student debt, just beginning to set up homes and start families, and serving in low paying first and second positions, Millennials are those who most desire but can least afford to pay for pastoral coaching.

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“In the early years when I was becoming a pastor, I needed a pastor.” 

 Eugene H. Peterson, The Pastor: A Memoir