“The Pastor’s Justification: Applying The Work Of Christ In Your Life And Ministry” (INTRODUCTION)

My plan is to blog and discuss each chapter of Jared Wilson’s new book, “The Pastor’s Justification.” The reason that I am taking the time to do this is because it will help me to process the message of the book (a message I desperately need) and I hope it will spur you on to think about the many ways you need to apply the gospel to your own life. I am not going to attempt to outline each chapter. Instead, I am going to cherry pick the parts that stood out to me and add some color commentary to it.

INTRODUCTION (Pages 15-19)

Pastors And Insecurity

“The pastoral fraternity is an interesting one. We are a motley bunch of fools. Different personalities and tribes, different methodologies and styles, not to mention denominations and traditions and, of course, theologies. But there is something both lay elders and career elders have in common, something I’ve seen in the the thirty-year senior pastor of a southern megachurch as well as the bivocational shepherd of a little, rural parish, the laid-back fauxhawked church planter and the fancy mousse-haired charismatic, and in nearly every pastor in between: a profound sense of insecurity for which the gospel is the only antidote.” (p. 17)

I knew after reading this section that I would like the book and was going to be deeply challenged by it. I have spent many hours talking with other pastors and insecurity is definitely something we all deal with. Culture is changing so fast, conferences and books are nonstop, fewer and fewer people are interested in organized religion, seminary did not equip us like we thought it would, and the list goes on and on. There are many days we just don’t feel up to the challenge. So what do I need?

“The right response…of this wearying battlefield is not timidity or a pity party, but clinging more desperately to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The justification for the sin-prone pastor-by which I mean simply the pastor-is the same it is for every sinner. There is no Justification 2.0 for ministers of the gospel. There is only the gospel itself-the life, death, resurrection of Jesus Christ. Fusing this reality-the reality of eternal life-to the ordinary life of pastoral ministry is what this book is all about.” (p. 19)

Next up is Part 1-The Pastor’s Heart and Chapter 1, The Free Pastor.