The Job of the Pastor

Paul Washer in his interview entitled “The Preeminent Christ” Transcript excerpt from the 30:44 mark (slightly edited):

In Job 28, there’s a story about the miner who goes down into these dangerous pits and swings on a rope in darkness. He turns over mountains, he dams up rivers, everything he does to get this precious jewel and bring it to the surface. That’s the pastor’s study.

You see, one of the reasons I wrote this book, I write for the mechanic and the homeschool mom.

Why?

Whenever I don’t want to go to my study because I’m tired. I’m not just studying for me, I’m studying for that mechanic who works 12 hours a day and doesn’t have the library and doesn’t have the time. So I can go into that mine, I can study and study and study to bring out this jewel and hand it to him, the mechanic, hand it to the housewife. Do you see?

So that’s why pastors need to stop running around so much.


And they need to go into their study, but they go in there to find jewels, to find gold, to find things that that people who love Jesus very much, but they’re having to work all day in the world. He needs to go in there and bring that out for them.

You can call it food, you can bring, you can, you can call it another bracelet on the arm. When the servant was bringing back the wife for Isaac, you know, every, I believe that probably every time as they were going day after day, making that journey, he looked back and see the doubt in her eyes. He put another bracelet on her arms, says, no, no, no, He’s gonna be worth it, or maybe they stop at a well, and all of a sudden she looks over and there’s a young man drawing water and he’s a very attractive young man. And that servant brings out another bracelet and says, no, no, no, no, no, wait. He’s worth it. That to me is the job of the pastor. And that’s why I write the way I do in this book – it’s going into that well and bringing out this and say, look at Him. Look at Him. Mechanic housewife, homeschool mom, look at Him. Keep going. He’s worth it. He’s worth it.