A pastor is a disciple and his highest purpose is to serve Yeshua and his sheep. This can be corrupted into:

· Servitude to Self: Building a personal kingdom, wealth, or reputation. Using the flock rather than serving it.

· Servitude to a System: Serving the denomination, the budget, the building campaign, or the growth metrics more than Christ.

· Servitude to Approval: Being a "publicist" rather than a disciple, telling people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear from God's Word (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

When servitude is corrupted, the pastor is no longer a servant of Christ, but a hireling (John 10:12-13).

The metrics of earthly success in ministry—crowd size, buildings, book sales, political influence—are not the metrics of heaven.

Heaven's metric is fidelity.

· Fidelity to the whole counsel of God's Word (Acts 20:27).

· Fidelity to a life of personal holiness and repentance (1 Timothy 4:16).

· Fidelity to the person of Jesus Christ, known in the secret place, not just proclaimed from the public stage.

A pastor who loses this fidelity, even while successfully "sowing seeds" in public, is like a skilled captain navigating a grand ship to every port except the only one that matters.