Expectations are everything when it comes to evaluating a person's performance. False expectations often lead to disappointment and resentment when those expectations are not met. Such is the case of the modern American church's expectations of their pastors.
I remember sitting in the office of one of my friends who was a pastor when someone from the congregation came in and busied him with the task of calling around to find a tech to fix the air conditioner. When I first took the position of a pastor, my youth minister would argue with me that ministry was all about relationships. Having devoted my life to the teaching of the Word of God, and having seen what God does when I get out of the way, I vehemently disagreed and asked him whether he could apply his philosophy of ministry to Jesus, the prophets, or the apostles and still think that they were good pastors. I never got a response. In many ways, I'm still waiting for a response from those who think like he did. He went away to serve in a megachurch to do relational ministry and soon quit after that because of the trainwreck that such ideas create in the church. But more on that for another time.
The word "pastor" means "shepherd" and the analogy Scripture gives to us is that between a shepherd and a flock of sheep. Countless expansions of this analogy have led to all sorts of distortions of what the Scripture is actually saying with this analogy, mainly because many people don't know how analogies work. I have heard that sheep are stupid and so are the people of God, shepherds have to know all of their sheep (a sentiment that is not necessarily true depending upon the size of the flock), shepherds nurse their sheep back to health one by one, etc. I always wanted to add that shepherds also fleece their sheep and often eat them as well. None of these are the point of the analogy being made in Scripture. The shepherd cares for the sheep by leading them through the Word of God, feeding them the Word of God, and protecting them with the Word of God. This can be done individually or collectively in a larger group. It can be done in person or by letter (as most of the shepherding of the entirety of the church throughout history has been by the Word of God through the writings of the apostles and prophets), which means it can be done in person or via any means that the Word can travel to the ears of God's people. Today, we utilize various forms of media: podcasts, books, Youtube, etc. as well as various forms of in person communication: preaching from the pulpit, teaching in small groups, fellowships, etc.
It is not through a pastor petting the sheep that they grow, but through his continual commitment to study and teach the Word of God and pray for the flock. The Scripture knows all things common to man, so that even though Paul, for instance, may not know each individual personally, the Word is completely and without hindrance effective to equip the man of God for every good work with nothing lacking.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:16-17).
Hence, a man who shows himself to be approved by God is a man who studies the Scriptures diligently.
Make every effort to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Tim 2:15).
We notice here that one who is an unashamed worker is one who handles the Word of Truth accurately in contrast to the context of speculations and word-wranglers that are merely attempting to justify their own opinions. Instead, the work of ministry is the work of studying the Word of God in order to teach it accurately.
This is why Paul charges Timothy with the sum of his ministry as follows:
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: proclaim the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into false narratives (2 Tim 4:1–4).
In 1 Timothy 5:17 states:
Οἱ καλῶς προεστῶτες πρεσβύτεροι διπλῆς τιμῆς ἀξιούσθωσαν,* μάλιστα οἱ κοπιῶντες ἐν λόγῳ καὶ διδασκαλίᾳ.
It is the well-ruling elders who are worthy of double honor, specifically speaking, those who exhaust themselves in Word and teaching.
Notice that the elders who are ruling well are the elders οἱ κοπιῶντες "who exhaust" their time and energy with the Word and teaching it.
In fact, the only difference between a deacon and an elder is that the elder is to "be able to teach" (1 Tim 3:3). He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to refute those who contradict it (Titus 1:9).
This difference is vital for understanding the role of the shepherd versus the role of the deacon.
In Acts 6, the widows of the Hellenized Jews are not being attended to properly. The apostles, i.e., those functioning as elders, state that "it is not appropriate for us to leave behind the Word of God in order to serve tables" (v. 4). So they choose seven men to be deacons, i.e., "servers" of the widows, to make sure the widows are attended to without the apostolic neglect of their own ministry. They conclude that the ministry of the apostles/elders is summed up as follows: ἡμεῖς δὲ ⸆ τῇ προσευχῇ καὶ τῇ διακονίᾳ τοῦ λόγου ⸀προσκαρτερήσομεν "But we will busy ourselves with the service of the Word and prayer (v. 4). The word service there is also the word for "service" but their service is one of the Word and prayer not the physically attending and relational ministry to widows. That is the job of the deacons who are tasked by the elders to make sure the congregation in physical need is supplied with what they need. The ministry/service of the apostles/elders is the service of spiritual needs that are met with the constant exhaustion and busying of the elders with the Word and prayer.
In other words, relational ministry is the job of the deacon, not the elder. If the elder is busying himself with going around from house to house or attending every birthday party or baseball game then he isn't busying himself with the spiritual nourishment and protection of studying and teaching God's Word and prayer. The elder has a spiritual battle to fight against the forces of darkness in the lives of his flock and he, therefore, must engage the flock differently than the deacons.
This is why relational ideas of ministry could never be applied to Moses who is placed over 2 million people. It could never be true of any of the prophets who were commanded to engage Israel, Judah, Nineveh, Egypt, etc. through the proclamation of God's Word. It could never be applied to the apostles who were over a congregation in Jerusalem of many thousands and were mainly absent from most subsequently established churches and yet shepherded them as a fellow elder (2 John 1:1; 1 Pet 5:1) through the medium of writing and ambassadors. Above all else, it cannot be said of Jesus who did not just have a flock of 12 apostles, but a congregation of up to 10,000. If your philosophy of ministry would make Jesus a bad shepherd, you have an unbiblical view of pastoral ministry.
But all of them had a ministry of the Word to the flock of God that was not restricted to personal relationships. In fact, the elders are never told to go have personal relationships with everyone. Instead, they are told to shepherd the flock of God among them by ἐπισκοποῦντες "supervising" "exercising oversight" (1 Pet 5:2). In other words, he is an overseer, a supervisor, one who stands on the hill and looks over the sheep so he can see where the green pastures are as well as the cliffs and wolves ahead. He directs the sheep with the Word of God, he fights wolves with the Word of God, he fights the Lion with the Word and prayer for the flock. This is the duty of the elder. This is the duty of the shepherd. He has no other. Let me say that again, HE HAS NO OTHER. His task is clear. He must devote his life to the service of God's people by exhausting his time and energy with prayer and the study and teaching of God's Word. It is the sword of the Spirit, and by it, he fights an invisible battle for the minds and souls of Christ's people.
He doesn't have time to neglect the diaconate of the Word and prayer to go to a graduation party, to hang out and drink all day, to attend every occasion so that he makes you feel good about him, that he cares and is present in order to punch in his time card and make you feel like you're getting your money's worth. He will answer to Christ as to whether he worked his butt off to understand the Word of God, to handle it accurately in order to show himself approved.
The ministry of the deacon is the ministry of relationships. They, as ambassadors of the shepherds, must care for the flock on a more personal level. Hence, they do not need to spend all of their time studying and teaching the full counsel of the Word of God, but they do need to be men of wisdom who understand the gospel and are able to communicate it.
There has been a clear confusion of these roles in the American church today. Deacons are viewed as elders in many congregations, e.g., some Baptist congregations, and pastors are viewed as both deacons and elders rolled into one. It is no wonder that the typical pastor in America can't handle the Word of God in context half the time and instead preaches a message of the gospel over and over and over and over and over again. It's because they're deacons in shepherd's clothing. They're great at relational ministry. Because they're deacons.
The church in America is largely being led by deacons. This is why I sometimes get the remark that I should go back and teach in a seminary instead of the church. It's because the pastor isn't viewed as a Bible scholar by the American church. He's viewed as a deacon and a Bible scholar is just some weird animal that belongs in another zoo. Bible scholars are those puffed-up arrogant people who just think they know everything. They're not my friendly neighborhood pastor who comes over for dinner and hugs my kids. Yet, the difference between a deacon and an elder is the fact that the elder is to be a Bible scholar and theologian, specifically, because his role is different than the deacon's role. His fight is different. He wages a spiritual war on your behalf so that you can rest in the peace of your own ministry to your family. His weapons are different. His ministry is different. "Word and prayer" is what he exhausts himself doing. This ensures that the sheep of God's flock will get more than just basic Christianity over and over again. It ensures that he will know what good green grass looks like and what is poisonous to consume. It ensures that Christians will grow into the depths of the Word of God because the foundation of the gospel that has been laid is now being built upon with solid teaching into a monumental temple of God.
When Paul is leaving the Ephesian church he exhorts the elders to mimic his ministry. That ministry is described as follows:
Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. And when they came to him, he said to them: “You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from church gathering to church gathering, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 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. 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. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” (Acts 20:17–32).
Paul is innocent of their blood because he did the ministry of the overseer/elder that was given to him, i.e., to proclaim the whole counsel of God. His whole ministry is summed up by this.
Understood rightly, the ministry of the Word can come through any means that can carry speech. In the ancient world, that meant that public speeches, private teachings, books, letters, ambassadors, etc. were all fair game (and, indeed, they were all used by the apostles to teach the church). In the modern day, that means all of these mediums plus blogs, Youtube, radio, the telephone, texting, podcasts, television, etc. are fair game. The way is open for shepherds to shepherd the flock in both old ways and in new ways because it is God through His Word that feeds and protects His people and what is necessary is simply for a medium to carry that Word to the ears of God's people in order for Him to make it effectual in their lives.
The false expectation placed upon pastors to be deacons as well is just that, a false expectation. It isn't biblical. And the American church needs to start following the Bible in all things rather than just saying that they do. Right now, ministry roles are seen as so fluid that you would think that church leaders took their ques from a genderless, nonbinary professor. It's as though God wasn't clear about what the roles are between elders and deacons and so people feel free to do what they want with them and attend churches regardless of the consideration of its leadership structure. There is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof are the ways of death. A pastor who neglects the diligent study of the Word of God to hang with the people may be a greatly loved politician but a horrible shepherd.
We must always remember the One true Shepherd's pastoral/priestly prayer to God the Father before He became physically absent from the world and present only through Spirit and truth: "Sanctify them in the truth. Your Word is truth" (John 17:17). We cannot add nor take away from this ministry of the Word, not even to serve widows.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.