If God Pastors Me, Why Do I Need Pastors?

Ask Pastor John

Desiring God

John Piper, Unknown, 163859, Pastor, Ask, Theology, Desiring God, Religion & Spirituality/christianity, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Questions

4.8 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 27 January 2025

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

God could have designed the world so that all the help we need comes from him directly. Instead, he often ministers to us indirectly through other people. Why?

Transcript

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0:00.0	We're reading the Navigator's Bible Reading Plan together again this year, and we just
0:09.6	wrapped up our first month of the new year with readings that included Psalm 23, verses 1 to 3,
0:15.9	and Matthew 936, and Matthew 10, 6. David, a listener, is putting those three texts together and asking you this
0:22.5	question. Pastor John, hello, and thank you for this podcast. There seems to be a divine, sovereign
0:27.6	shepherd who can supply all our needs, and yet we still have need of a human shepherd. So how do
0:35.6	these two tiers of shepherds work together? The sort of a, the Lord is my
0:39.6	shepherd, I shall not want, but I still want. I still need a human shepherd too. God is a sufficient
0:45.9	all-sovereign shepherd who is enough for me, and yet he is not enough for me. And of course,
0:51.7	I'm thinking here of the important role my pastor plays in my life.
0:54.3	So how do you put those two tiers of shepherds together? How many ways can the diamond of God's
1:02.4	glory be turned so that facet after facet of the diamond reflects more and more of his varied wisdom and strength and goodness.
1:13.7	How many ways can you turn that diamond? In Ephesians 310, Paul says, through the church,
1:21.3	the manifold, the many-sided wisdom of God is made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
1:29.9	So the way God has set up the church, its people, its structure, its leaders, its gospel,
1:36.3	its mission is designed to turn the diamond of God's glory and reveal side after side after side of the wisdom of God.
1:49.0	Christ was made the head of the church, and the head is the great guide and the great supplier,
1:55.0	provider, the great protector. And so Christ could have ruled his church, his saints, directly, right? Directly.
2:04.8	With no intervening influences, human or otherwise, he could communicate directly to every
2:11.5	individual Christian and not have any leaders and not have any of those saints minister to each
2:17.4	other in any way,
2:18.8	lest they intrude upon the prerogative of the head. He could have done it that way,
2:24.7	so that the church would be made up of little individual points of light, isolated, godward,
	...

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