God calls us to engage in various and varied duties which include pastors, prophets, evangelists, teachers, counselors and in our respective professions, vocations, duties and engagements. Whatever our calling, we are to perform our duties as if it is for the Lord, Colossians 3:17.
Pastors are God’s appointed shepherds whilst prophets speak hidden things of God to mankind. Upon failing to discharge their duties, God held them accountable for the sins of Israel in the days of Jeremiah, Jeremiah 23.
Their primary duties
Duties of pastors and prophets broadly include feeding God’s people spiritually and materially; to gather and not scatter or drive away God’s flock, Jeremiah 23:2. They are to allay the fears of God’s flock; heal their dismay; and ensure that they lack nothing. In effect they are to prosper God’s people and execute judgment and justice under God’s directions, Jeremiah 23:4-5. They are to save God’s people and to ensure they dwell safely so God shall be called THE LORD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Evil breaks God’s heart
Instances of what breaks God’s heart are listed in Jeremiah 23. They include adulterous life; swearing; profanity; wickedness; being folly; prophesying to Baal (rivaling God); leading God’s people to err; walking in lies; supporting evil doers; failing to repent; and engaging in sexual immorality and promiscuity as was pervasive in Sodom and Gomorrah. Pastors and prophets are charged by God to help his people from breaking his heart.
Other instances include speaking of one’s own imagination as vision of God; prophesying not out of the Lord’s mouth yet attributing it to God; aligning with those who despise God; supporting people to walk in the imagination of their own hearts; contradicting God’s word; being prophets of deceit of their own hearts; and prophesying false dreams.
In effect making one’s own prediction as God’s prophecy; presenting one’s own imagination as God’s vision or dream; or teaching one’s own precepts as God’s doctrine is a sin. Pastors and prophets must prayerfully avoid such challenges because they come with consequences. They should therefore be alert and confront temptations for they have a higher responsibility. Christians must likewise support them in prayers because pastors and prophets are the first line of the devil’s attack on the gospel.
God’s anger
In Jeremiah 23:12-15 God has indicated his reaction to rebellion. Upon God’s anger, rebels shall walk on slippery ways in darkness (be unstable in life without direction); and they shall be driven on and will fall (motivated towards failure). They shall be fed with wormwood and will be drunken with gall (bitterness, grief, pain and troubled times); evil shall befall them (taste of everything unpleasant); and they shall be engulfed in a whirlwind in fury (overwhelmed by disaster and disappointment). This is what happens when pastors and prophets fail in their divine duties.
God’s grace
God sees and knows everything everywhere at all times, Jeremiah 23:23-24. Jeremiah describes failures of mankind as evil in God’s sight. Jeremiah says further that God will visit equal punishment upon evil doers as well as on those who cause others to sin. Denying God’s knowledge or capacity does not change or diminish the narrative. God remains God as omnipotent and omniscient. However, Romans 6:1 says, shall we continue to sin, that grace may abound? We can only escape punishment by grace through the blood of Jesus Christ who is the Lamb of God.
What is your aspiration?
Being a pastor or a prophet is not a profession but a divine calling to do God’s work. It is a very selfless and sacrificial job full of trials and temptations. The road map is prayer, obedience to God, faithfulness, truth, humility and total waiting on God for his direction. Have you been called by God? If not, do not mock or deceive God or yourself because you have a higher account to render to God just as what happened in the days of Prophet Jeremiah.
Today, some pastors and prophets perceive the ministry as business venture with the ultimate objective of making money or acquiring wealth rather than doing God’s will or being a channel of God’s message and direction or a blessing to mankind. It is a noble calling that requires spiritual strength and divine boldness to confront the wrong. Are you ready? Be prayerful for the consequences of failure are grave and frightening.
Prayer
Dear Lord, in responding to your call please prepare us and help us to be careful to obey your instructions. Wash us from our sins in your precious blood and clothe us with your grace to wait upon you always. Amen!!
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