“Did he actually say that?”

I can imagine one of the Ephesian elders turning to a fellow elder to say those words after hearing the apostle Paul say, “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29–30). Every pastor can readily grasp the first part of Paul’s warning, but the second part is another story.

As pastors, we train to be watchful and alert. Inherent to our calling as shepherds is the task of looking out for the flock of God and protecting it from savage wolves and false shepherds. However, Paul emphasizes here that one of the greatest threats to the church can emerge from within its own leadership ranks, making self-awareness a critical aspect of pastoral leadership. A pastor who does not know the temptations of his own heart cannot guard his heart from what might cause him to become a source of spiritual danger to his congregation.

The question then arises: What danger signs can pastors watch for to guard against diseased leadership? Let me suggest six warning signs for pastors to pay attention to in themselves.

1. Pride

The Bible is clear about the destructive nature of pride: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Pride deceives, turning a leader’s focus inward and corrupting his care of God’s people. For pastors, pride can be a subtle temptation, fostering an inflated sense of self-worth.

The pastor’s office comes with authority, and a pastor can easily forget that his authority is derived from Christ himself. Intoxicated by his own perception of self-importance, a pastor may develop a “Diotrephes” complex: loving to be first and not willing to be corrected (3 John 9). Both signal spiritual decay. If not dealt with, he will cut himself off from constructive feedback and accountability — essential guardrails for a pastor’s protection.

The fallen pastors’ landfill is littered with men who began to believe their press clippings, which led to them thinking more highly of themselves than they ought to think. Pastors must be on guard and never forget that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).

2. Negligence

One of the early signs of spiritual decay in a pastor’s heart is a diminishing personal spiritual life. It is common for pastors to become so consumed with the external demands of ministry — preaching, teaching, counseling, administration — that they neglect their walk with the Lord Jesus. Prayer becomes perfunctory, preaching becomes mechanical, counseling becomes shallow, and the man morphs into a carnal shell of his spiritual self. At that point, he becomes an easy target to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life, and God’s people reap the rotten fruit of the pastor’s withering soul.

Paul’s admonition to “keep a close watch on yourself” (1 Timothy 4:16) serves as a powerful reminder to pastors that we cannot lead others where we ourselves are not going. Preaching about the joys of sweet communion with Christ while personally neglecting the means of grace will make a pastor a perfect hypocrite. The gap between his public ministry and private life will inevitably become a place where the devil sets his devouring traps.

In guarding his heart, a pastor will do well to heed Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s words: “It is not great talents that God blesses as much as great likeness to Christ. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God” (Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M‘Cheyne, 243). And holiness comes through consistent holy discipline (1 Timothy 4:7).

3. Compromise

A slow drip from a leaky pipe can erode the foundation of a massive building, and small compromises can undermine a pastor’s ministry. Whether it is sexual immorality, financial impropriety, or another lapse of integrity, patterns of cutting moral corners can cause enormous damage to a pastor’s own spiritual life and infect the influence he wields on his congregation.

“One of the early signs of spiritual decay in a pastor’s heart is a diminishing personal spiritual life.”

When a pastor finds himself avoiding the company of others, operating in isolation from other leaders in the church, or pushing back against accountability, heed the warning signs of compromise. If not addressed, a pastor will drift away from the biblical standards he once held and start living and leading in the questionable realm of “gray-area” ambiguities. Slowly, convictions are jettisoned, standards are lowered, and the once-principled leader transforms into a walking contradiction and a stumbling block to his congregation.

Pastor, if this is you, the Lord of the church “who searches mind and heart” (Revelation 2:23) calls you to “be zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:19) before it is too late — before you shipwreck your faith, “destroy God’s temple,” and in turn have God destroy you (1 Corinthians 3:17).

4. Control

Some pastors fall into the trap of trying to control their congregation. Drunk with authority and power, rather than governed by gentleness and love, they use fear, guilt, or intimidation to exert power over the people they are supposed to serve.

Coercive tactics have no place in the church. Such tactics include micromanaging, insisting on making decisions without collaboration, refusing to listen to differing perspectives, or even manipulating and threatening others with church discipline to get them to do what you want them to do. Each of these indicates destructive leadership, which breeds fear and division. This approach to spiritual leadership creates a toxic church culture that betrays the heart of Christ, meek and humble (Matthew 11:29).

Pastor, if you desire complete and unquestioned control over the congregation, you stray from biblical leadership. Christ is the chief Shepherd to whom all loyalty and obedience is owed, and you compete with him to your demise if you exercise leadership over his flock in a domineering way rather than as an example worthy of imitation (1 Peter 5:3–4).

5. Jealousy

Jealousy is a potent danger for a pastor, a toxin that poisons both his heart and his congregation. Jealousy blinds a man to the needs of others and causes him to view fellow leaders as rivals rather than as co-laborers in Christ. Like King Saul, who allowed jealousy of David’s success to consume him (1 Samuel 18:6–9), pastors can become ensnared by comparison and envy.

Left unchecked, this sin distorts a leader’s vision, shifting his focus from faithfully shepherding God’s flock to competing for status, recognition, or influence. James warns that “where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice” (James 3:16), a reminder that the ripple effects of jealousy extend far beyond the individual pastor to cause harm to the body of Christ.

Pastoral leadership is not a competition but a shared labor of love for Christ and his bride. When pastors root their identity in Christ and his finished work rather than in their own success or public platform, they can lead with joy and contentment, nurturing their congregations with a healthy, Christ-centered vision.

6. Burnout

Burnout is a slow-growing but deadly danger for pastors. The weight of shepherding the flock and constant ministry demands can easily lead to exhaustion and spiritual dryness in a pastor’s heart, especially when he neglects proper rhythms of rest and renewal. Burnout erodes compassion, patience, and joy, often resulting in a harsh, irritable, and ineffective leader who alienates a congregation.

Even Moses needed to be reminded by Jethro of the danger of burnout: “You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone” (Exodus 18:18). When pastors fail to heed this wisdom, they risk overworking themselves, which can lead to discouragement, emotional numbness, and even moral failure. The spiritual vitality of the pastor is closely tied to the health of his congregation. The loss of pastoral joy and energy can create an environment devoid of the life-giving presence of Christ.

The antidote to burnout is cultivating a life of dependence on Christ and recognizing that the church belongs to him and not to any other leader. By trusting in God’s sustaining grace, prioritizing time with God, and practicing rest and refreshment with family, pastors can avoid burnout and lead with the energy and joy that flows from communion with Christ.

Guard Your Heart

The warnings in Acts 20:29–30 are just as relevant today as when Paul addressed the Ephesian elders. Pastors are called to a high standard of personal and spiritual integrity. To guard against diseased leadership, we must be vigilant in examining our hearts, considering the scriptural call to “pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).

By paying close attention to these danger signs of pride, negligence, compromise, control, jealousy, and burnout, pastors can fight to lead their congregations with the heart of a true shepherd — one who cares for the sheep, protects them from harm, and leads them faithfully in the ways of God that honor and glorify Jesus Christ.

My charge to you, Brian Tabb, as the third president of Bethlehem College and Seminary, may be spoken in a rhyming couplet with iambic tetrameter. It goes like this:

Hold fast the word, unchanged and true;Let insight, joy, and song be new.

Hold Fast the Word

Hold fast the word, unchanged and true. Be like those who received the word in good soil: “Hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15).

Hold fast the word, unchanged and true. Be a firm and steadfast lover of the gospel: “I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word” (1 Corinthians 15:1–2).

Hold fast the word, unchanged and true. Be a guardian of the apostolic traditions: “Stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter” (2 Thessalonians 2:15).

Hold fast the word, unchanged and true. Be dogged in holding our confession: “Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession” (Hebrews 4:14).

Hold fast the word, unchanged and true. And be obedient to the risen Jesus when he says in Revelation 2:25, “Only hold fast what you have until I come.”

Hold fast the word, unchanged and true. You are our leader, our pacesetter, our example, our ethos builder, our inspiration, and our truth protector. Hold fast to the inerrant word, for “the words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times” (Psalm 12:6). And Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35). “More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10). Hold fast to the inerrant word.

Hold fast to Reformed soteriology — that is, the unchanged truth that our great salvation is a decisive work of God, start to finish. He chose, he predestined, he died, he rose, he bore our sin, he took condemnation, he calls, he causes new birth, he gives saving faith, he forgives, he adopts, he guards and sustains and keeps, he sanctifies, he perfects and brings us to God where there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. And whatever contributions we make in the obedience of faith, it is not we but the grace of God working in us what is pleasing in his sight, so that our salvation — from eternity to eternity, from start to finish — redounds to the glory of his sovereign grace. Hold fast to the infinitely precious Reformed, biblical soteriology.

“Hold fast the word, unchanged and true; let insight, joy, and song be new.”

Hold fast to the fullest glorification of God through the joy of God’s people in God. Hold fast to Christian Hedonism — by whatever name. Hold fast to the serious joy that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him — or as Paul expressed it: “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Hold fast to the truth that gladness in Christ in weakness magnifies the glory of Christ.

Hold fast to the beauty of biblical manhood and womanhood as God created them and orders them in complementary relationships. Hold fast to marriage as a lifelong covenant union between a man and a woman, with the man taking his cues from Christ as the head of his wife, and the woman taking her cues from the faithful, submissive, loved body of Christ, the church. Hold fast to the burden that men must bear as those responsible for the pastoral leadership of the church. Hold fast to the truth that God has spoken in Scripture and in nature that men are men all the way down and women are women all the way down, and this is a godly, glad, and glorious thing.

Hold fast to them all, Brian Tabb — all the precious realities of our Affirmation of Faith.

Hold fast the word, unchanged and true.

Let Song Be New

And in all your steady, solid, stable, unflinching, unchanging holding fast to what is true, let insight, joy, and song be new.

Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the Lord, and greatly [freshly, newly!] to be praised. (Psalm 96:1–4)

When the psalmist said, “Sing to the Lord a new song,” he did not mean, “Write a new Bible, find some new doctrine, bow to a new Lord, bless a new name, tell of a different salvation, praise a novel glory, or be amazed at a greatness that never existed before.” That’s not what he meant.

He meant, “Hold fast the word, unchanged and true, but by all means, let insight, joy, and song be new.”

You have a great faculty in the school. And they have amazingly gifted eyes to seek and find treasures in the Bible — “the word, unchanged and true.” The word of God — and the world of God — is like an ocean of insight without bottom and without shore. Inspire these teachers. Challenge them, equip them, and pay them to see what is really there — insights they may never have seen before — so that they may train the students to do the same. “Every scribe [and these are worthy scribes] who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure [his bottomless ocean] what is new and what is old” (Matthew 13:52). Old truth, new insight.

Let insight, joy, and song be new. Let joy be new. “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5). Yes, there is a serious joy that endures through the night of weeping: “Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10). But dawn is not darkness. Dancing is not weeping. Birth is not death. And the joy of the bridegroom coming out of his chamber at sunrise is not the same joy as the joy of the old man thankful for sixty years of marriage, standing by his wife’s grave. They’re all different. Every joy is different. The mercies are new every morning; the joys are new every morning — and every night.

Brian, know this, savor this, live this, and pray this until education in serious joy in this school is new every morning.

Let insight, joy, and song be new. If our president, our faculty, and our students are finding new insights in the ocean of God’s unchanging truth, and if we are tasting new joys every morning, we will sing new songs. And we will sing old songs like we’ve never sung them before.

So, I wrote a new song for you, Brian, which I would like our congregation to sing over you. (It’s to the tune of “All People That on Earth Do Dwell.”)

God’s Truth stands like his holy Name,     No origin, nor e’er became,Eternal, absolute, the same,     Forever one in sum and aim.

Yet oh how new and fresh the taste!     Linger with him and make no haste.Through every line the sweet is traced;     May we forever so be graced.

Come every scholar, poet too;     Keep ancient truth and bliss in view.Hold fast the word, unchanged and true;     Let insight, joy, and song be new.

Amen.

Are you happy? Are you satisfied?

You tour the zoo with your daughter and peer into the glass with the gorilla. You stare at the gorilla; he stares back. Are your lives all that different? He lives one outdoor-time to the next, one feeding to the next — what is a jungle? You live one entertainment to the next, one bite of sin to the next — what is true happiness? It’s as though you live outside of your joy’s natural habitat.

Yet you are a man and not an ape; you can consider your cage, the prison of your own choices. But when you stop to think about life, you sink — is this really it? Perhaps life was brighter when you were younger. Perhaps you and the future-you were once best friends, but now you talk with less and less pleasure. He doesn’t know what you’re searching for either, and you both are running out of guesses.

Are you happy? Are you satisfied? No? Then why continue to search in vain?

Why?

This is not my question but God’s:

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,      and your labor for that which does not satisfy? (Isaiah 55:2)

God translates your sighs: You are spending money for what is not bread, laboring for what does not satisfy. You chew on gravel; you reap the wind. So much energy, so much time, so much dedication to what isn’t working. You are making bad purchases, eating the undigestible. The God of heaven and earth asks you: Why?

Why do you insist on digging the desert for water? Why enter into the cave for light? Why the mindless living, the endless scrolling, the watching until your eyes hurt — have these ever flooded your soul with happiness? What are you getting from this life you’ve chosen for yourself?

Your decisions leave behind dry lips, a thirst preparing you for God’s invitation:

Come, everyone who thirsts,     come to the waters;and he who has no money,     come, buy and eat!Come, buy wine and milk     without money and without price. (Isaiah 55:1)

Come, be satisfied. Come, be made happy. Come, God summons you. Simply come.

Wanted

The God of heaven hears your life of little whimpers and responds, Stop filling your mouth with sand; come to the waters. Stop intoxicating your heart with the world; come gladden it with my wine. Why labor for what leaves you hungrier? Will you not have real bread and water, wine and milk for free? Joy, life, substance, purpose — do these not interest you?

“Why will men not be happy?” we can almost hear one angel ask another. Why does the branch run from the tree, the egg from the nest, the fish from the water? You can answer from experience: you did not want this happiness if it is only found in God. Read the terms carefully:

Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,     and delight yourselves in rich food.Incline your ear, and come to me;     hear, that your soul may live. . . .Seek the Lord while he may be found. (Isaiah 55:2–3, 6)

God can be your Uber driver and deliver the meal, but if it requires eating with him, well, you will see what you have in the back of the fridge. Pride speaks, Better king over your own unhappiness than a happy servant of your Creator. You will not “enter into the Master’s joy” because you cannot abide that word — “Master.” You will find another way back to Eden. You leave no cheap pleasure untried, and yet, a heaven stands open before you and you will not enter because the entrance is as low as a bow and as heavy as a cross.

In other words, We are sinners. God’s offer is not simply to the unsatisfied; it’s to the unrighteous.

Seek the Lord while he may be found;     call upon him while he is near;let the wicked forsake his way,     and the unrighteous man his thoughts;let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,     and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6–7)

We do not just need better pleasures; we need abundant pardon. Justice, not just your heart, needs satisfaction. The gospel addresses not merely your discontent in happiness apart from God, but your disobedience in seeking happiness apart from God. The Lord Jesus does not just extend forever ecstasies; he stays final executions. We are creatures not just wanting but wanted.

Genius

What does your past (or present) life of fornication, lying, gossip, anger, or drunkenness have to do with your search for happiness? Everything. Alone, you have no right to this blessedness. Justice disallows sinners from the inheritance of the righteous. Should you who have sown hell reap heaven? Should God be mocked? How can God make you happy? His mercy, not his wrath, begs for explanation in the next verses.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,     neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.For as the heavens are higher than the earth,     so are my ways higher than your ways     and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8–9)

Your thoughts of grace and mercy inch upon the forest floor; God’s thoughts of grace dwell far above the heads of the seraphim. His gospel ways of pity and pardon hang above us from crossbeams of rugged wood upon a hill. In other words, the gospel is not man’s genius but God’s. We had no clue how justice and mercy could kiss. Man couldn’t fathom a way for his own forgiveness; he couldn’t dream how to be adopted into God’s family. The happiness in God we never sought was given to us through a plan we couldn’t have imagined.

Joy

God’s plan features God’s Son. He would send his only Son to take on human flesh, live the perfect life you didn’t, die your death, and rise from your grave. He suffered the wrath you deserved so you could have the heaven Christ deserved.

God welcomed back a banished people through covenant, foretelling, “I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David” (Isaiah 55:3). And amid the promise, he turns to another and says,

Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,     and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,     for he has glorified you. (Isaiah 55:5)

Hundreds of years later, one man rises to his feet to reissue God’s invitation to the thirsty:

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:37–38)

Jesus invites all who will to come to him. He is the Lamb who was slain for the sins of the world. He is the man who, when lifted up by his Father, draws sinners to himself.

Whether you accept Christ’s happy terms of surrender, the promised bliss for God’s people will arrive. His word will not return to him empty (Isaiah 55:11). The consummation of this everlasting covenant will spill over creation. Mountains and hills shall sing for his saints; the forest and the trees applaud us. The curse of thorn and thistle shall be overturned, displaced by the fertile green of blessing (Isaiah 55:12). And the happiness of his people in a new heaven and a new earth will “make a name for the Lord” as an “everlasting sign that shall not be cut off” (Isaiah 55:13).

Do you thirst? Come to the waters. He promises to forgive you, satisfy you, adopt you as his own treasured possession. Leave behind the pornography, the living for your own name, your unsatisfying affair with the world, and let the Lord usher you into fullness of pleasures forevermore in his presence. Your joy, to his glory, forever.