Hebrews 7:23-28
I attended one church for the first 18 years of my life. In 18 years, we had nine different pastors. Our denomination at that time had a weakness of switching pastors much too often. Some pastors used small churches as steppingstones to larger. I remember one pastor as being arrogant self-righteous and legalistic. He hurt many people, and then took some members to build a new church a few blocks away as part of a new denomination. One pastor baptized me in a local creek, and I consider him a wonderful example of a good pastor.

I respect the role of the pastor. Their calling is to both a mission and a vocation. Most are godly men doing the best they can in difficult situations. They seek to lead their flocks with Biblical preaching and care for their people with compassion and kindness. At the same time I give thanks for godly pastors, I am extra thankful that pastors are not high priests. The best pastors I have ever known are not qualified to be my only access to God. The early Jewish Christians were recognizing that even the best high priests were not good enough. They all died, none was sinless, and all were very far from perfect.

Christ made the role of earthly high priest obsolete. We no longer had to worry about who our next intercessor was going to be. That does not mean that he made the role of pastor or priest obsolete. Congregations will always need leaders and teachers. They will always need someone to be there with them in their times of difficulties. They need someone to guide them, to love them and teach them how to grow more Christ- like. God calls people to leadership. He does not call anyone to be a savior; Christ is the only savior the world needs. It is not the church’s responsibility to save people; it is our responsibility to lead people to Jesus. When we meet Jesus, we meet the perfect high priest.