Mandate to the Church, Part Two - Love Your Pastor

Previously I talked about appreciating your pastor. I mentioned that we should recognize the heavy burden upon him as he sits under the charge to care for our souls. This recognition leads to an unwillingness to slander or speak ill of our pastor. It leads to a deep appreciation for and a graciousness toward him.

As Paul continues his plea to the church, he takes our treatment of those who have charge over us to a higher level. It is not enough that we appreciate our pastor. Paul says, “We request of you brethren…that you esteem them highly in love because of their work.” Three things must be addressed here. One, what we are to do. Two, how we are to do it. Three, why we are to do it.

What we are to do is esteem our pastor. The word esteem communicates the idea that we are to view our pastor as one who is above us as our leader, governor, or prince. In other words, our actions toward our pastor must be akin to those of a follower to his leader, a citizen to his governor, or a subject to his prince. This is how you are to think of and treat your pastor.

Now, if we were to leave it there, we would miss something very important. Many people are fine with the concept that a follower can disrespect a leader, a citizen can criticize and ridicule a governor and a subject can subvert and even plot against a prince, but not if he loves him. That is how we are to esteem our pastor: with love. It is more than just appreciating him. It is loving him as one who has charge or authority over us. We are to look at our pastors as men whose rule over us is a joy to our hearts.

Some might say, they love their pastor by keeping him humble, but that is not your job. You esteem him with love. Submit to him, even in joy, desiring and praying for his success as God’s under-shepherd. God will humble the man, if humbling is necessary. You esteem with love.

Why must we esteem our pastor with love? Because of his work. Now this word ‘work’ may speak of the things that he does, the output of his life, or it may speak of employment, that with which he is occupied. I tend to think it refers here to the latter. The reason we esteem our pastor in love is because of where God has placed him. He is not your pastor because you choose him. He is not your pastor because he was the best candidate for the job. He is your pastor because God, in his care for you, gave him that office. In recognition of this fact, we should esteem him as one who has authority over us, because God has given him that authority. We should do so in love, because it was in love that God placed him over us.

This is the beginning of the path to unity for God’s people.

Part One

Mandate to the Church, Part One - Appreciate Your Pastor

Over the next few posts I intend to talk about some things that we as Christians are taught to do in scripture as it relates to the body of Christ, the Church. One of the most life changing concepts to ever grasp my heart was the idea that I am a member of a body, accountable to that body and impactful on that body. In other words, when I learned that my character, the health of my soul, has a direct impact on the health of the church, my concern for my own soul became even stronger.

I am grateful for those who teach me how to be a better Christian and how to have a closer walk with Jesus. However, I fear that too often we stop in our thinking at the point of our individual relationship with God and rarely transfer the concept of spiritual growth to the realm of the corporate body. As a result, we “go to church” as individuals, we worship as individuals and we later wonder why we don’t feel more loved by others in the church or have more love for them. We have removed the concept of the body of Christ from Christianity and the Church is suffering the consequences.

For this reason, I address these messages to the church. In fact they were first addressed to the church in Thessalonica by Paul – 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22. Here Paul gives a list of things that the church is to do. They are not suggestions to consider and adopt if you agree. They are imperatives – “do this”. As I read them they seem to be aiming toward the idea that the church is a body and must conduct itself in a unified way, “having the same mind”.

Paul’s first imperative is this: “But we request of you, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction.” 1 Thessalonians 5:12. Here Paul starts with a plea. It is not technically an imperative, but it is followed by a string of imperatives which show that while Paul is pleading for us to do this, he really does expect us to do so.

What Paul wants and expects of the Church first is that we appreciate our pastor. Our pastor is the one who labors for the gospel among us. He has been given charge over us. This means that our pastor has both authority over and responsibility for us. He is told that he will give an account for those under his charge. The spiritual weight upon him is great, and he is yet a man. Therefore, Paul says, appreciate him. The Amplified version helps by telling us to recognize him for what he is, namely one who cares for and is responsible for your soul, one who has the weight of your eternity on his shoulders.

I believe that if we, as the church, look at our pastor in this light, we will be more gracious and even appreciative of him. We will not speak ill of him, rather, we will seek to encourage him with words of affirmation and prayers of intercession. It only makes sense that a church who cares for her pastor in this way is a unified church, one that has put aside all envy, malice and strife.

Recognize and appreciate your Pastor for his burden is great!

Authority & Church Leadership

I've been thinking a lot about authority this week. In particular, I've been thinking about Church leadership and authority. Mark Dever has a little book about Church leadership in which he shows that Christ, as the head of the Church and thereby the ultimate authority over the Church gave a certain degree of Authority to the overseers of the church. I have been wondering about what this means and the first thought is that it seems that it means that Church leaders have a very high degree of responsibility.

We talked some about this in a meeting at church this morning and we were reminded of Hebrews 13 where the Church is told "Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account." This verse tells me three things: there are people in the church who have authority to rule over others, those who are under their authority have an obligation to be obedient and submissive to their leaders, and those who have been given the responsibility for leadership actually have the responsibility for the souls of others and must give an account to God one day for those souls under their care.

My conclusion then for myself and any other leader in the church (and I think this is particular for elders - including pastors - and deacons) is that we need to understand the position of authority that God has placed us in and start acting with that authority because even if we don't realize our responsibility I don't think we will be allowed to plead ignorance before our heavenly Father.

A final note: Authority does not just entail telling others what to do. Authority in it's large detail entails making disciples, training, teaching, shepherding, and a host of other things that affect the soul of the person you lead. In short, leadership is influence infected with love and compassion or a desire for the welfare of the one you lead.

What a weighty responsibility!