2021 will not be a pastoral vacation. Much as we might like it to be, after the challenges of 2020! This last year has required a heightened level of vigilance and teaching and patience and endurance. All of us feel the burden of caring for God's flock as we've faced challenges unique in our lifetime. But January 1st will not magically remove the pastoral challenges that we have been facing this year. Members will still need care for their own fears, help to understand the role of conscience in the Christian life, exhortations to love others who disagree with them in secondary matters, encouragements to prioritize the gathering of the church and the calling of evangelism as the Covid season continues. And these will simply be added to the normal list of ordinary Christian struggles and growth.
Wisdom from above will certainly be needed. How good to pastor on behalf of the One who gives generously to all without finding fault! In the midst of our myriad of pastoral obligations, I'd like to remind us of one we easily forget: pastoral affection. If we take our pastoral guide from the ministry of Christ and the epistles of the New Testament, then we must certainly be affectionate pastors! Below I've listed just a quick search of the English word beloved, in the ESV. Consider how often the pastors and apostles of the New Testament communicated their love for their readers in the churches. And as we absorb these passages, let's ask the question: How often are we saying to our congregation, "We love you."
If we are fatigued from 2020, then surely our dear members are as well. Let us encourage them by letting the affection of Christ flow through us to them. Pastoral affection is not unmanly, it is not superficial, it is not archaic, it is not secondary. It is essential. Christ loves his sheep, and to shepherd for him means we must communicate affection on a regular basis.
Let's allow these examples to motivate our affection in 2021.
Acts 15:25 - it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
Romans 12:19 - Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
Romans 16:5 -Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia.
Romans 16:8 - Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.
Romans 16:9 - Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys.
Romans 16:12 - Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 4:14 - I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
1 Corinthians 4:17 - That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.
1 Corinthians 10:14 - Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
1 Corinthians 15:58 - Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
2 Corinthians 7:1 - Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
2 Corinthians 12:19 - It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved.
Ephesians 6:21 - So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything.
Philippians 2:12 - Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
Philippians 4:1 - Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
Colossians 1:7 - just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf
Colossians 4:7 - Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.
Colossians 4:9 - and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here.
Colossians 4:14 - Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas
2 Timothy 1:2 - To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Philemon 1 -To Philemon our beloved fellow worker
Hebrews 6:9 - Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation.
James 1:16 - Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.
James 1:19 - Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;
James 2:5 - Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?
1 Peter 2:11 - Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
1 Peter 4:12 - Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
2 Peter 3:1 - This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder,
2 Peter 3:8 - But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2 Peter 3:14 - Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
2 Peter 3:15 - And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
2 Peter 3:17 - You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
1 John 2:7 - Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
1 John 3:2 - Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
1 John 3:21 - Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
1 John 4:1 - Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1 John 4:7 - Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
1 John 4:11 - Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
3 John 1 - The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.
3 John 2 - Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
3 John 5 - Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are,
3 John 11 - Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.
Jude 3 - Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Jude 17 - But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jude 20 - But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,
