This has been one of the most difficult seasons I can recall in my twenty years of pastoral ministry. How quickly things can fall apart. I groaned after hearing of the shooting of little ones at the Catholic school, only to watch, on video, two people bleed out before me. The last put me over the top. To see Charlie Kirk’s life taken, a sheep, doing no harm, and who was devoted to help young adults answer the tough questions of life against the wicked ideologies of the godless that are ruinous to the health of our nation—it crushed me.
Pastors take in moments like this in ways most don’t appreciate. We preach the powerful kingdom of God. We herald a gospel that delivers from darkness to light. We believe sin’s dominion can be broken. We believe the world is overcome. Then, events like this seem to undo everything. The longing for righteousness and its seeming absence punches us in the face. How are our people, “our joy and crown,” handling this? How are we to help them now? What can we say to make it better? The weight of bringing the right words makes for many a sleepless night. The sheep look to us for answers. We gather ourselves, go to the Lord in prayer, and seek to provide words that will help them.
The pressure is immense. Then, we open social media and see absolutely no uniformity of agreement on how this should be done. There is pastoral disarray, it seems. Some of the most popular social media pastors are calling us to war, yes, war. “If your pastor has not declared open war on the left by now, it’s time to find a new church,” one pastor says. If your pastor is not taking the moment to tell people to ‘be a Charlie Kirk,’ he is weak and compromised” says another. “If your pastor is not teaching the people to hate their enemies and rise-up, he was probably a mask wearing, church-closing coward during COVID,” says a leading podcast pundit. What is this really all about? Control? Power? Or helping people?
Pastors certainly want to recognize the death of faithful saints and expose heinous evil against them, giving people perspective, helping through confusion, and comforting the weary. Yet, calls now abound that summon our people to leave our church—the people we have loved, prayed over, cried with at death beds, and preached our hearts out to—if we are not taking up arms as they do. “We are at the beach of Normandy,” we are told. “Now is the watershed moment, the entire West is at stake, the battle lines are drawn, America will be lost, do something!”
That the best work of pastors will be seen in the children of grandchildren is the long view that most refuse to take. But what exactly is that best work? And how does that matter for the moment? Many in Christian ministry, like those of our immediate gratification culture, think that a radical moment requires a radical solution to solve what is before us. I suppose that's true, but what exactly is that radical solution? We forget that the “old paths” that we champion witnessed the Lord deliver his people through a giant sea. The stones that were set up bracketed the Angel’s presence in leading his people through the Jordan. The “old rugged cross” was carried by the one who opened to us the gates of righteousness. And the path that was walked by every generation before us was a path of faith. Yes, faith. Faith in the mighty work of the Lord for our deliverance throughout times of testing. “Standing still” to see the Lord’s deliverance (Ex. 14:13), when the Egyptians are coming at you, however, has never seemed an attractive answer.
What any faithful pastor must appreciate in distressing moments as ours is that same victor we preached yesterday, is the same victor we preach today, and tomorrow. “He himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5).” Jesus' call never changes, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (Jn. 16:33).” As the Heidelberg Catechism reminds us, “his ever-present power still upholds us in whatever adversity he sends [did you catch that?] upon us in this vale of tears,” both in “fruitful and lean years (HC, LD 9-10).” Maybe the greatest problem is that we have forgotten the one who “always leads us in triumph (2 Cor. 2:14).” Our distressing circumstances don’t change that. Maybe we are being tested as to who and where we are truly turning at moments like these.
Pastors who labor faithfully, preaching the power of God’s Word, the resurrection of Christ, week in and week out, have nourished their sheep in full preparation for whatever periods of testing the Lord sends. The best course of action is to remain steady, consistent, and unwavering to give the people that plain truths you’ve always heralded, and to remained centered on the deliverance of Christ. There is real power here, the same power that raised Christ from the dead.
That resolute confidence in Christ, not being "easily shaken or alarmed" is also a message, in and of itself, even as we attempt to give confused sheep direction from God's Word in the face of evil. Indeed, he has promised to execute justice, and he will crush all our enemies in his timing. Until then, we are called to a faithful testimony among his people and in the world, as we “wait on the Lord and be of good courage,” especially when the foundations are destroyed (Ps. 11:3).
Speaking to current events and giving perspective is good and right but don’t forget the foundation you’ve already laid. Faithful sheep are as stable and grounded as the ministry they’ve already received. They don’t walk out on their church, on the people they are called to love, or on a faithful pastor based on the demands of what everyone else is doing in a sad cultural moment.
Dear faithful pastor, to those telling you to do something, I say: you are! You are bringing to people the most powerful message in all the world for those who need salvation. You do it every Sunday beyond what was is accomplished in the open square, because it is the done in the "demonstration of the Spirit and power" as an ordained means of grace. "Preach the Word in season and out of season," in good and in adverse times. God is faithful.
Kingdoms will come and go, but the Word of God endures forever. Don’t be discouraged by the many voices pulling you away from the answer you’ve always given. Soon he will come, and every eye will see him, he will come with his reward. “Your labors are not in vain in the Lord,” he loves you, and he will preserve you, as his sent pastor, from all evil, just as he promised.
Abounding Grace Radio