(Huntley Sermon, 8/9/2026)
I’ve never felt awkward standing in front of you folks, but back on Tuesday night after the Search Committee meeting, I did sense a potential awkwardness in what I would talk about today.
So, it’s no secret that you – Huntley Community Covenant Church – and I are talking about me being your pastor, but nothing has been finalized yet. We’re going to have a meet-and-greet in two weeks, followed by you voting, and whatever happens as a result of that vote is between you and the Holy Spirit. If you decide to call me as your pastor, HALLELUJAH! If you want to just keep going with Dan Jones once a month, I’m good with that. And, if you’ve had enough of me and you’d like some other option, let the Lord’s will be done.
There is one thing I would like to make clear though, and I told the Search Committee this: I asked God to make me a missionary – and He miraculously did so. HALLELUJAH!
But, I did not ask God to make me a pastor.
He asked me. It was His idea.
All of where we are at right now arose out of the relationship that has grown out of you asking me to come in here once a month and talk about dancing with snakes, hose washers, cheeseburgers, or whatever the Holy Spirit puts on my heart to share with you about how great and awesome and amazing the LORD God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit are.
And, since I am absolutely convinced that God is God and I am not, and in point of fact have found that there is an enormous amount of joy in being obedient to God, I said, “Okay, God.”
That’s why I said HALLELUJAH when I talked about you calling me as your pastor. If it’s God’s will, I’m enthusiastically for it. If it’s not, I am confident that whatever the LORD has in store for me next is good and glorious and wonderful!
The other thing is that it has taken me a long, long time to learn that if there’s an elephant in the room, I should not run and hide from it. I mean, I serve a God who is the most amazing, glorious, powerful being in the universe, so what have I got to be afraid of?
Okay, now that we have all that out of the way, the message today is not a campaign speech. I’ve never done that before and I’m not going to start now. That would be weird and creepy.
Speaking of things I’ve never done before… I’ve never been a pastor. And, as I also told the Search Committee, I would not even be considering this if you were an unhealthy church looking for yours truly to “rescue” it. No, you and I are talking because you are a healthy church, doing the things a healthy church should be doing. You do not need fixing because you are not broken.
I’d take a “HALLELUJAH” at this point, church. Thank you.
So, back when I worked as the donated car at MVAC, I was a one-man department. Then we hired a guy to drive a truck and go pick up donated cars, and I ended up being that guy’s boss – which is when I realized that the only things I knew of about how to be a boss came from Mr. Slate from the Flintstones, Mr. Spacely from the Jetsons, and the pointy-haired boss from the Dilbert comic strip.
Luckily, no providentially, we have a book that is a much, much better instruction manual on how to be a pastor than the examples I mentioned on being a boss. Which is a good thing because, as we shall soon discover, a pastor is not the boss of you.
The first thing we need to know is that the term “pastor” as we use it today, did not exist in Jesus’ day.
They had Rabbis back then but, a rabbi was not a formal office or a paid synagogue administrator, it was an informal title of respect given to trusted teachers and sages who interpreted the Torah, debated Jewish law, and gathered devoted followers called disciples to live out their specific teachings
Those visiting traveling rabbis, along with Scribes, Pharisees, and observant Jewish men were invited to teach in the synagogues. Local synagogues were run and maintained by a small group of community leaders rather than a single individual. The primary leadership structure consisted of the ruler of the synagogue (archisynagogos or rosh ha-keneset), a council of elders, and a physical attendant or minister known as the hazzan.
The word “pastor” when it appears in the Bible is always the word “shepherd” in the Greek or Hebrew. “Pastor" is an English word derived from the Latin word poimen which means “shepherd” and the word “pastor” wasn’t commonly used in English until the 16th century. The dictionary definition of “pastor” is “...a Christian religious leader who guides, teaches, and cares for a local church congregation. His role is to protect, feed, and lead a spiritual "flock"”.
Jeremiah 3:15 says,
“And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will guide you with knowledge and understanding. “
So, the shepherd is a gift given by God who has His own heart and guides the flock with knowledge and understanding.
Moses was a shepherd. He stood before Pharoah, the king of Egypt who was regarded as a god and, in God’s name, demanded, “Let my people go, so they can worship the LORD!”
David was a shepherd who killed lions and bears and a giant named Goliath with nothing more than a sling and a stone.
Psalm 23:4 is:
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” (KJV, yes King James Version)
The most famous Psalm in the Bible is about the LORD being our shepherd. I could do a whole sermon on Psalm 23, but for today, our takeaway is verse four. The rod was a club. It was a weapon but it was never meant to be used on the sheep. The rod was meant for beating the snot out of and killing (if necessary) wolves, lions, bears and whatever else threatened the sheep. It was worn on the shepherd's belt where it was handy. It was occasionally used for counting the sheep. (Presumably so the shepherd would know when the one had wandered off and he had to go looking for it while he left the 99 by themselves, but that’s a whole ‘nother sermon in itself.)
The staff is the long, classic shepherd’s crook that was used to gently guide the sheep and keep them on the path. The hook on the end could be used to pull them out of holes or crevices they’d fallen into. The staff was also used as a walking stick, which tells us the sheep and their shepherd often navigated rough terrain.
Acts 20:28 says,
“So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—his church, purchased with his own blood—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders.”
That’s Paul, talking to the elders of the church in Ephesus and we see in this the responsibility of guarding the flock, feeding them, and fighting off the wolves that come among them because the people of the church were bought with Christ’s own blood and the Holy Spirit Himself has called them to serve.
Here’s Ephesians 4:11-13:
"Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ." (NLT)
Again, the pastor is one of the gifts given to the church, with the responsibility to equip and build up the church creating unity, the knowledge of Jesus, and Christian maturity until we all “measure up to the full and complete standard of Christ.”
Boys and girls, that’s a tall order. Wow!
1 Peter 5:1-4 (written by the guy who is called the first Pope of the church) reads:
"And now, a word to you who are elders in the churches. I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ. And I, too, will share in his glory when he is revealed to the whole world. As a fellow elder, I appeal to you: Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example. And when the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honor."
Care for the flock, it is entrusted to you by God. Do it with a good heart because you are eager to serve God – and don’t be a jerk about it. The pastor is not a king, an emperor, or a dictator. Lead by example. Then there’s some words about a crown after you die.
There’s also a sobering admonition in James 3:1
“Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.”
Ouch. That’s a pretty serious warning, folks. It’s why I spend days writing a sermon, then give it a day to rest, then go back and change things that need to be changed.
Then we have Paul instructing the young pastor Timothy in 1 Timothy 3:1-4:
"This is a trustworthy saying: “If someone aspires to be a church leader, he desires an honorable position.” So a church leader must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife. He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach. He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent. He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money. He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and obey him.”
Okay, so all of that is pretty much self-explanatory. Got it, Paul.
Then we have 2 Timothy 4:2
“Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.”
Patience. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage with good teaching. It doesn’t say nag, cajole, manipulate, enforce, dictate, or be a pain in any way, but encourage with good teaching.
Okay, so there’s no direct mention of preaching about dancing with snakes or cheeseburgers there, but I think it’s implied. Got it. Thanks again, Paul.
Oh, and on the subject of sermon topics, as I was doing my daily walking on Thursday I was thinking of John the Baptist. He wasn’t a pastor (Keep in mind that the term didn’t exist at the time.) but he did preach and the Bible says he had disciples and, in Mark 1:5, the Bible says that all of Jerusalem and Judea came out to listen to him preach.
So, I looked up how many people lived in “all of Jerusalem and Judea” in the time of John the Baptist. During the time of John the Baptist and Jesus modern historians and archeologists estimate that the total population of the region of Judea was roughly 400,000 to 500,000 people, while Jerusalem itself held a resident population of about 30,000 to 60,000 people.
Okay, just roughly, somewhere around half-a-million people walked across 25 miles of open desert to go hear this bug-eating, camel-hair-wearing weirdo preach! AND, it’s clear he wasn’t very careful about not offending the local religious big shots because he called them a “brood of vipers” in Mark 1:5 – to their faces! He also was blatantly political as he openly condemned the lifestyle choices of a leader who had the power to throw him in prison and chop his head off.
So, what was John the Baptist preaching that would cause half-a-million people to take several days' journey walking across a hot, barren, nasty desert? We know he was calling them to repentance and baptism because that’s in Mark, Luke, and Acts, but why? As a preacher, I want to know what this guy was saying that would cause so many people to come so far in such horrible conditions to come and hear what he had to say.
It’s in Acts 19:4:
Paul said, “John’s baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.”
John the Baptist was preaching Jesus. The Jewish people had been praying a prayer called the Amidah three times a day for five hundred years, which has within it numerous requests that God would quickly bring Moshiach (the Messiah). Orthodox Jews still pray that same prayer today, two thousand years later.
What John was preaching was that you had better get your life right and repent now! Get down in this river and be baptized right now because the Messiah you have been praying for for 500 years is right here, right now!
If the message from all of this is, “Preach that the Messiah, King Jesus, is right here, right now, so y’all should come to Jesus and get yourselves baptized."
Giddy-up! I’ll preach that!
And, as long as I’ve got my head wrapped around John the Baptist, my prayer is going to be that anything I speak from any pulpit anywhere would be one-hundredth as effective as what John the Baptist was preaching…because one percent of half a million is 5,000 people!
(Oh, and the other reason to ask for being only one-one hundredth as effective as John the Baptist is that I figure maybe that would result just in regular haircuts, rather than loss of the whole head. But I digress!)
There are also several verses that talk about the congregation's relationship with the pastor.
Hebrews 13:17 says:
“Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.” (NLT)
Here’s 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13
“Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work. And live peacefully with each other.” (NLT)
And then, there’s 1 Timothy 5:17:
“Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. ” (ESV)
And, of course, the greatest example of a shepherd in Scripture is Jesus.
Jesus said it Himself in John 10. In verses 11-13 He says,
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep.” (NLT)
His flock was His disciples and, when I read through the Bible, I see Him leading, guiding, preaching, teaching, protecting, healing, blessing, praying for, restoring, and loving His disciples.
He led by example, They were with Him almost anywhere He went. They watched Him heal, preach, teach, and love on a daily basis. He sent them (And at one point 60 others!) out to preach the Good News and heal and cast out demons on a short-term mission trip when they didn’t think they were ready for it. He explained things over and over, even when they were the kings of not getting it. He restored them and blessed them even when they had messed up big time. He did miracles and always pointed to the glory of the Father. He spoke to them with patience and mercy and compassion, but He’d toss a self-righteous holier-than-thou Pharisee under the bus in a heartbeat. (Okay, okay, they didn’t have buses back then.)
And, if I’m being totally honest, I notice that Scripture records that Jesus spent a considerable amount of time at the lake, often in a boat.
Just sayin’ :)
Ultimately, the good shepherd, the Greatest Shepherd of all, poured out His life on the cross in an act of love so great it saved the whole world and changed that world more than any other act in all the history of the world – and He is not done yet.
LORD, I’m not worthy, but you are. I will go wherever you send me, follow wherever you lead, do whatever you would have me do. I am yours and yours alone, King Jesus! .
Whatever happens, let it be ALL to YOUR glory!
AMEN!
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