How does God view pastors who serve themselves instead of their people?

Ezekiel 34:1-10Then this message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep? You drink the milk, wear the wool, and butcher the best animals, but you let your flocks starve. You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. . . . though you were my shepherds, you didn’t search for my sheep when they were lost. You took care of yourselves and left the sheep to starve.”

Self-serving pastors are a contradiction in terms and an abomination to the Lord. God rebukes the selfishness and corruption of Israel’s spiritual leaders in the sternest terms possible, even as parents would be incensed with a teacher who led their child astray.

Matthew 23:13-15“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either. What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!”

Matthew 23:25-26“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.”

James 3:1Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.

The Lord looks for integrity in his spiritual leaders. This means congruence between what they teach and how they live. It means consistency in their beliefs and behavior. And it means they never exempt themselves from their own teaching. Pastors and other leaders will ultimately be held accountable by God for their role in the church.