“pastor mike, pastor mike…” – two

ok.  so back to the pastor issue…

i want to state this from the very beginning:  i love what i do.  being a pastor in a church is an honor that is higher than i ever dreamed of achieving and one that i will never come close to deserving.  to spend my days…all of my days…every day…serving the church, the people who are the body of christ…there is no greater gift i could be given.

no matter what else i say in the following days, remember it!

with that said, i want to spend some time considering the role of the pastor.  before we can do that, though, we need to go back in history.  in the life and times of god’s people, the jews, they had “holy men”.  they were the priests.  special men from the tribe of levi.  they were the intermediaries between people and god.  they led worship and taught from the scripture.  they wore special clothing that signified their calling and specialness.  they, alone, were allowed to touch the holy things and go in holy places.  they were indispensable because they interceded.  without them, forgiveness was impossible.  they were undeniable spiritual leaders and the people of god were totally dependent on them for spiritual things…by god’s design.

then jesus came.  there was a new priest in town.  a high priest who, by one other-worldly blow to death and all it stood for, declared the old priestly system useless and installed a new and perfect one in it’s place.  the new high priest came and made the final sacrifice on behalf of god’s people…death on the cross.

think about it.  there is no longer a need for priests.  this is our starting point.

#forgiveness #pastor #priest