Here is the standard for elders: ‘Feed [Shepherd] the flock of God.’ A shepherd, of course, leads his flock to pasture, so that the flock may physically feed.
We divide the work of preaching into four. You are to preach the gospel, the saving grace of God, earnestly and persuasively. There must be a regular portion of your ministry that is always evangelising. Then you have to teach the doctrines of the faith systematically, and clearly; teach about God and his being and his character, his ways, how he saves, how he sanctifies, and future things. Then he has to exhort. You can't just teach. If you teach without exhorting, it's a waste. It ranges from words of comfort, to words of correction. It's the whole scope of application of the word to the heart, to conduct, to duty. The fourth is to glorify, to lift up the hearts of the people, to help them to see what it means, to move and to see the glory and the wonder of it, so that saved people will feel their indebtedness to God and all that they owe, and their love will be increased.
What are the pressures today? The persecution today is mainly intellectual and now increasingly political, rather than physical violence. There are great problems. There is all the worldliness coming into the churches. The devil now isn’t sending people against us, armed to take our lives, but he is infiltrating the churches with worldliness everywhere. Are we going to take a stand? It has to be said that many pastors take the easy way out. They say, ‘Well, we must allow some of this or we will be unpopular; people will oppose us. These are the modern trends. We can do little to stop them, so let the contemporary music scene come in and take us over.’ But the call to faithful pastors is to resist things which are wrong and to teach clearly what is right and what is wrong, and to take a stand. It may make them unpopular; it may bring them under heavy criticism in their circle, their group of churches, but that is their calling.
How much should pastors be paid? You hear of some who are paid a fortune, and if anybody comments, a host of voices will say, ‘Oh, but he’s such a clever chap. If he were earning his living in the world he’d be CEO of a big company, so he’s worth it; we shouldn’t question this.’ But it isn't the standard of Scripture. The implication is there that they will go on the make, and further, they will get wrongful gain. We should take care of the servant of God; we should make sure that they are free to minister and not troubled with great financial concerns and worries or living in privation. But on the other hand, they shouldn't be greatly better off than all the people. If you overpay pastors, what do you achieve? You remove them from their privileged position. Remember Christ. He said the servant is not greater than his Lord, and he went about as an ordinary man. He even had not where to lay his head. What about the apostle Paul? No different. If a pastor is paid like a big company CEO, you may make very proud, and he will no longer be an ensample, as he is commanded to be. It is the leaders and the pastors who have got to constantly encourage the people to adopt biblical standards and resist excess.