Question #1:
I have always been taught that a man called of God is to not be put on a pedestal, but to be shown proper respect. Our church seems to have many younger people who have no respect for the youth pastor and his role as a man "called of God". There seems to be a campaign to "see him go" and many of us older folks are not in agreement with them. I am having trouble finding the proper scriptures to support any discussions with the younger members on this point. Further, I feel they are not showing proper support for our head pastor, or they would not be causing all this trouble even after he has tried to solve the problems. Thanks for your help!
Response #1:
I think you have framed the issue well by stating the two extremes
here of unquestioning allegiance on the one hand and lack of proper
respect for authority on the other – both of which are to be avoided.
It seems to me that there are really two issues here, namely, 1)
"calling" and 2) the authority of the pastor(s)/elder(s) and the respect
they are due. As far as "calling" is concerned, while this is not
unrelated to the second issue in one sense, in the more technical
theological sense we are all "called of God", that is, all believers are
said to be "called" (e.g., Matt.20:16; Rom.1:6-7; 8:28; 1Cor.1:2; 1:26;
1:24; 7:15; Gal.5:8; 5:18; Eph.1:3; 18; Phil.3:14; Col.3:15; 1Thes.2:12;
4:7; 5:24; Heb.3:1; 1Pet.1:15; 2:21; 3:9; Jude 1:1; Rev.17:14). This is
because the doctrine of God's "calling" us as it actually occurs in
scripture is almost exclusively focused upon His drawing of us to
Himself in order to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ (Rom.8:30;
1Cor.7:14-24; Gal.1:6; Eph.4:1-2; 4:4; 2Thes.2:14; 2Tim.1:9; 1Pet.2:9;
2Pet.1:10), rather than to some specific "call to the ministry"
(although one hears that phrase all the time outside of the Bible). It
is true that there are a few places where Paul refers to his "calling"
as an apostle (Rom.1:1; 1Cor.1:1; Gal.1:15), but it will be remembered
that the Lord literally “called” him to the work of his unique apostolic
ministry through a rare and unforgettable personal epiphany. So when
someone says they have been "called" to a particular ministry, we have
to understand that all this can mean from a biblical point of view is
that in their own personal spiritual development, they came to realize
that they had particular spiritual gifts, and have since set themselves
to develop those gifts and prepare for ministry, having in addition
striven to put themselves into the work of the ministry. Thus their
"call" is no more or no less than the guidance of the Spirit empowered
through personal spiritual growth, Bible study, and prayer. Of course
implementing our spiritual gifts in a manner that will build up Christ's
Body is what we all as Christians have been called to do, and the
distinction between "professional clergy" and "non-professional laity"
in this respect is to some degree an unfortunate, non-biblical
development. Now it is true that to be a pastor requires much more
preparation than some other ministries for obvious reasons. No pastor
can feed his sheep very effectively unless he knows the Bible well, the
history of the Church, systematic theology, Greek and Hebrew, and a host
of other things (not to mention the development of a certain amount of
character and expertise through life experience: Jn.21:15-17;
1Tim.3:1-13; 5:1; Tit.1:5-9; 1Pet.5:1-4). But we have all been "called"
to follow Jesus, and in every case to do this most effectively requires
that we use our God given spiritual gifts to serve His Body in some way.
Rather than finding the principle of authority in the calling of the
individual (for we will never be able to judge whether or not a person
has definitively been called of God for a particular ministry except by
humble evaluation of that person and his/her effectiveness in said
ministry), scripture finds authority in the office a
person may occupy, and this authority in the Church today rests
exclusively with pastors/elders (and to a lesser extent with the lesser
administrative officials, the "deacons"). And beyond all question, what
you say is correct: the authority of a pastor/elder is not to be
despised. The Bible has relatively little to say about Church governance
(see the links below), but it does make quite a point about this issue
of pastoral authority. That is why it is so important to exercise great
care in selecting and installing such a person in the first place:
"Don't place your hands upon anyone quickly (i.e., to install them in an office), don't [by so doing] share in the sins of others. Keep yourself holy."
1st Timothy 5:22
Likewise, once a person is installed in an office of authority, the
procedures for censuring them are delineated in scripture, even though,
as I say, there is otherwise little said about the procedures for
managing the affairs of the local church:
"Do not accept an accusation against a pastor/elder unless in the case of two or three witnesses. Those who have sinned in the presence of all [the congregation] rebuke in order that the rest may [also] have fear."
1st Timothy 5:19-20
Note that even in this case the "sin" has been a public one, and it is for that reason that open rebuke is required (n.b., most English translations have the word order wrong here).
We remember what happened to Aaron and Miriam when they opposed Moses
(Num.12), or to the young hooligans who made fun of Elisha
(2Ki.2:23-24), and we see everywhere throughout the New Testament the
special care and support our Lord deploys on behalf of the apostles who
are suffering so much for His Name. So beyond all question it does not
take a very deep or detailed consideration of the scripture to
understand that if a person is truly a man or woman of God, doing God's
will and carrying out God's particular mission for their lives, that God
will be with them:
Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to stand him up!
Romans 14:4
This principle is especially true of those who have dedicated their
lives to studying and teaching God's Word, and to building up and
guiding the flock of God thereby. For this very reason and for this very
purpose, the gift of pastor-teacher is the highest one still functioning
in the Church today:
And as to those whom God has appointed [as officers] in the Church, [He appointed] apostles first [in rank], second prophets, third teachers (i.e., the only currently functioned authoritative gift) . . .
1st Corinthians 12:28a
Christ Himself appointed some of us apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers in order to prepare all of His holy people for their own ministry work, that the entire body of Christ might thus be built up, until we all reach that unifying goal of believing what is right and of giving our complete allegiance to the Son of God, that each of us might be a perfect person, that is, that we might attain to that standard of maturity whose "attainment" is defined by Christ; that we may no longer be immature, swept off-course and carried headlong by every breeze of so-called teaching that emanates from the trickery of men in their readiness to do anything to cunningly work their deceit, but rather that we may, by embracing the truth in love, grow up in all respects, with Christ who is the head of the Church as our model. In this way, the entire body of the Church, fitted and joined together by Him through the sinews He powerfully supplies to each and every part, works out its own growth for the building up of itself in love.
Ephesians 4:11-16
This critical purpose and goal of building up the Church discussed in
the passages above is why the gift and office of teaching is so highly
regarded and so highly encouraged in scripture:
Until I (i.e., Paul) come, devote yourself to [public] reading [of the scriptures], to encouragement [through preaching], to teaching [the Word].
1st Timothy 4:13
Let those elders who lead well be held worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the Word and in teaching.
1st Timothy 5:17
Be zealous to present yourself to God [as one] approved [in what you do], a workman who does not need to be ashamed, [like a skillful carpenter] "cutting straight" the Word of truth.
2nd Timothy 2:15
Proclaim the Word! Keep at it, whether circumstances are favorable or not! Reprove, rebuke, [and] encourage with all patience [in your] teaching!
2nd Timothy 4:2
This is a reliable saying: "If anyone desires the office of overseer (i.e., pastor-teacher), he is seeking [to do] an honorable work".
1st Timothy 3:1
Let no one despise [you on account of] your youth, but make yourself a good example to those who are faithful through your speaking, your behavior, your love, your faith, your holiness.
1st Timothy 4:11
In short, I fully agree with the premise of your question.
Pastors/teachers/elders (really one and the same gift in scripture even
if the offices occupied by these individuals occasionally have
differences) are all a "highly protected class" in God's eyes. This does
not mean, as you have pointed out, that they are automatically to be
given unquestioning obedience. Rather, their conduct and production
should be of such a high standard and so clearly of God that any
movement against them will quickly be seen for what it is, spawned by
jealousy or some other unholy motivation. If a person in such a position
is not really there by God's will and is not really doing a service to
the Church of Jesus Christ, that too will be readily apparent. As the
scripture quoted above, 1st Timothy 5:19-20, makes clear, however, once
such a person is given a position of responsibility by virtue of the
office itself one would be well-advised to move with care: the phrase
"two or three witnesses" suggests to me that not only is specific proof
of wrong-doing required in order to bring an elder etc. up for public
rebuke, but also that the quality of the evidence needs to be very solid
(i.e., not any "two" but have "three" just in case one of the two proves
to be of questionable veracity).
Ultimately, when talking about specific cases, one has to exercise sound
judgment informed by scripture and the guidance of the Holy Spirit
through that scripture empowered by prayer. So I commend you for seeking
out the biblical perspectives on such things as the place to begin. Here
are some other treatments of this and related issues which may prove
helpful to you:
Some Questions on Church Polity
Church
Polity
Tent Making
How important is education for a pastor?
Pay
the pastor
How much should we pay the pastor?
Pastoral Support
The
Local Church
In our Lord, the Chief Shepherd to whom we all must answer on that great
day of days.
Bob Luginbill
Question #2:
In studying the book of revelation, I have read many interpretations that state the Pope & the catholic church are the religious force behind the antichrist. Is this true?
Response #2:
This is a very popular interpretation of Revelation. I have much to
say on this topic in general at the following link:
"The Causes of the Great Apostasy". As I understand scripture on
this score, during the Tribulation antichrist will be successful in
amalgamating virtually all of the world's religions with himself at the
head (see part
3B of Coming Tribulation: "Antichrist and his kingdom"). That will
entail first and foremost the acceptance of antichrist as the "true
Messiah" by Christian organizations generally. Indeed, we may certainly
expect that the Roman catholic church will be heavily involved – but
most Protestant and other Christian organizations will also become
convinced of the beast's divine status. Only those who are determined to
stay loyal to Jesus Christ regardless of the cost will avoid the
deception and avoid becoming casualties of the Great Apostasy. So while
as a life-long Protestant I am no supporter of the Roman catholic
church, I find interpretations which seek to cast the pope in the role
of antichrist and his organization itself in the role of Babylon as not
only wrong-headed, but also potentially dangerous to the extent that
they may tend to lull believers into a false sense of security, teaching
that unless the pope and his church are in the lead, then there is
nothing to fear (and such will certainly not be the case when it comes
to the beast's tribulational religion).
See also the following link:
“The Beast's Prophet and the Worldwide anti-Christian Religion”
In the One who is the only way, the only truth, and the only light, our
dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Bob Luginbill
Question #3:
Pat Robertson has been in the news for his comments on assassination.
I emailed the article to my family, reminding them that Jesus said we
would know them by their fruits and Pat Robertson is included in that
statement. I also mentioned how Christians need to help the hurting,
feed the hungry spiritually and physically and I told my family I just
didn't see much of that nowadays. Instead I see people who claim to be
Christians talking about whom we should "take out" next. I got an email
back from a family member saying that I shouldn't judge him and if I
haven't sinned, then I can cast the first stone. I then sent them the
email where Mr. Robertson apologized but in the article it seem as tho
he was just trying to cover up his words. I mentioned that and my family
member then told me that I'd better be careful. I don't know where Mr.
Robertson will go in the end, that's not for me to decide. I am just
saying that we have to watch out to whom we listen. But if I mention
anything against anyone this person thinks I am judging him. This hurts
my heart as I don't condemn anyone to hell. I don't want anyone to go
there. But shouldn't we be careful about whom we listen to? Isn't it
right for me to warn them when I think I see danger? This person got
awfully defensive with me. Also even tho I listed in the New Testament
all the verses that say we shouldn't kill, or that we should treat
others the way we'd like to be treated (does Pat Robertson want to be
"taken out" by covert ops?) or that what a man says comes out of his
heart. I used all these verses to show that a Christian shouldn't be
talking like that. The reply was that in the Old Testament God wanted
some like David, to kill and that it was right. I am sure there was a
reason for that. But if its okay for Pat, then it should be okay for me
to say that, and I just don't think it is.
James 1:27 tells us - "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the
Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction,
and to keep himself unspotted from the world."
Response #3:
I try to make it a point to keep politics and any political opinions
I might have as completely separate from my Christianity as I can. In
the past, more so in the present, and very much so in the future, the
devil, who is very adept at using politics and political concerns to
distract and ensnare Christians, is going to use politics in a major and
unprecedented way to further his goal of world conquest through
antichrist. To my way of thinking, we who profess to teach the Word of
God have our hands full doing just that. At best, politics is a terrible
distraction. At worst, it is an invitation to hand over to Satan control
of everything you are trying to accomplish for God. This applies to the
entire political spectrum, left, right, center, what have you. We are
responsible individually as Christians for what we do individually. We
are not responsible for getting involved in mass movements over which by
definition we have zero control. It is impossible for any mass movement,
political party, pressure group, or the like to act in a truly Christian
way, no matter how well intentioned its originators might have been at
the start. And this is true even when the Christian leader in question
makes political comments which may be true or even courageous (maybe
even more so in such cases, because this only gets the “band-wagon”
rolling faster).
As far as covert operations and the like are concerned, I think you have
hit the nail on the head. Namely, whether or not governments should
utilize deadly force is a different question from whether or not
Christian leaders should be involved in advocating it. That is a
political action, in my view, pure and simple. I am not judging anybody,
but I think it is pretty clear that the event you describe and the
course it has taken shows just how fraught with potential danger mixing
Christianity with politics can be. As I try to show in "Coming
Tribulation: Part 3B: Antichrist", the beast will mix the two to a
greater degree than anyone has ever attempted to do before – which is
saying quite a lot. Pseudo-Christianity, that is. But it really does beg
the question of, whether once a person crosses the line into politics
and continues to wave the Bible, to what degree such "Christianity" can
be considered genuine.
Don't get me wrong. We all have political opinions. We may choose to
participate in political activities. We may even feel the need to run
for office. We live in a democracy, and those are legitimate activities.
What I am wary of is vociferously draping one's politics with the mantle
of Christianity, or, alternatively, of vociferously draping one's
Christianity with a mantle of politics. To me they are oil and water.
One can do both, but that is very different from combining both. We all
have to work in secular jobs, and we should all be pursuing spiritual
growth. But we would never take to reading our Bibles at our desks
instead of doing our work, nor working on our job (cell phone, computer,
paper work) while we are sitting in church listening to the teaching of
the Word.
I would certainly be very careful of voting for a politician who wanted
to read the book of Philippians to me instead of explaining his or her
positions on foreign policy. For the same reason, I would be very leery
of giving my attention to a teacher of the Word who is more concerned
about political issues than the exegesis of Hebrews. There are certainly
exceptions to all these general principles, and there is certainly a
range of acceptability to consider. I wouldn't demand that a politician
never speak about his or her spiritual preferences, nor would I
automatically forevermore discount a Bible teacher who made an
occasional passing reference to contemporary politics (although I would
feel better if I never heard either from either).
There does come a point where one has to decide whether such a person
has gone too far in being seduced into concentrating on one instead of
the other, or, worse to tell, of deliberately using the one to support
the other. It may be the case that a politician is very deeply
influenced by his or her religious beliefs, and may come to put too much
public stress on these, or that a pastor-teacher may be so concerned
about political events that he "preaches" about them overly much. But it
is often also the case that some politicians use religion to get more
votes and some pastors use politics to get a bigger audience. I leave it
to each Christian to make such evaluations on their own.
You are very right to be concerned about this issue when you choose whom
to listen to and whom to believe. We are all responsible for determining
whose authority we accept in area of Bible teaching. After all, we have
the Bible, we have the Holy Spirit, and we have the common sense that
God gave us. Eve was deceived in the garden and Adam let himself be
unduly influenced. My guess is that if we allow ourselves to be
hoodwinked or persuaded when we should not, as an excuse this will carry
very little weight with God, and that on that great day He will have no
problem showing us where we should have known and should have turned
away. This problem or one very similar to it will be responsible in no
small measure for the Great Apostasy during the Tribulation's first half
(see the link:
The Great Apostasy), as many Christians will be so upset with the
political situation in the world at that time that they will be willing
to believe that the beast is really the Christ, and there is no worse
decision that any one will ever be able to make than this!
It is one thing to be judgmental. It is quite another to have the
spiritual common sense necessary to avoid the shipwreck of your faith
(1Tim.1:19; cf. Heb.2:1).
As far as Pat Robertson is concerned, I have certainly said some things
in my life that I regret. If he took back this comment, I guess that
means that he thinks he made a mistake. I don't look to Mr. Robertson
for spiritual guidance or enlightenment. If I were planning on doing so,
I would certainly want to take everything he said/says into account, his
Bible teaching as well as his expression of political opinions. It
doesn't offend God for us to carefully check, like the Bereans did,
whether or not what we are being told has a basis in scripture. And,
like all applications of scripture, political opinions are individual
judgment calls. One would hope that very soon after salvation we would
all have enough basic knowledge of what the Bible says to see what is
right and what is wrong for us individually, and to appreciate that what
goes on in the world at large is out of our control to effect: God wants
us to grow spiritually and help other Christians individually, not
change the world politically (see the link:
"The Integrated Satanic World System").
If I recall correctly, Mr. Robertson was one of the few Christian
leaders who, after 9/11, was willing to state publicly that the disaster
just could be divine judgment for our sorry spiritual state. I am not
signing on here for his entire analysis, but it did take guts to say
that. If memory serves, he was lambasted for the remark and backed off
of it in that case as well. This does not mean that I applaud him for
making it, even to the extent that I may agree with it. In fact, I think
that it proves my point about political involvement undermining
ministry.
Yours in Him who is the true Ruler of the universe, who knows the end
from the beginning and the beginning from the end, and who is in control
of all the currents of history, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Bob L.
Question #4:
I am now studying in
'Hamartiology: The
Study of Sin' in the section '4. The so-called "imputation of Adam's
sin”. You say “Without an understanding of the history of this issue, it
may very well appear odd to the reader that such an erroneous teaching
ever gained credence at all. Time and space do not allow a detailed
revisiting of the story behind it, but suffice it to say that "the
imputation of Adam's sin" was a theory developed to combat a
particularly pernicious heresy (Pelagianism),” I would very much like to
have a better understanding of the history of this issue. Could you
please recommend some books or web pages?
Response #4:
The Wikipedia
article on Pelagianism is a good place to start. In a nutshell,
Pelagius believed that every human being had to sin in a manner similar
to Adam in order for the flesh to become corrupt. He believed that he
himself was still pure and without sin (which to my mind shows just how
divorced from reality he was). As my old seminary professor Dr.
Christian remarked, “Pelagius felt he had not sinned as he understood
sin”. That really is no doubt the key – Pelagius had never, we suppose,
committed overt sexual sin (or murder, etc.). But it is hard for me to
see how he could have spent much time in scripture and not have
appreciated that sin infects nearly everything we think, say and do (cf.
Ex.20-23; Lev.18-20; Prov.6:16-19; Rom.1:18-32; Gal.5:19-21; Eph.5:3-5;
1Tim.1:8-10; 2Tim.3:1-5; cf. 2Thess.2:8-12).
For there is no man on earth who is [so] righteous that he [always] does what is good and [never] sins. Ecclesiastes 7:20
For all sin and fall short of God's glory. Romans 3:23
Here is some other bibliography:
The Imputation of Adam's Sin, by John Murray (Eerdmans
1959)
The History of Christian Doctrines by Louis Berkhof
(Baker 1937)
The History of Doctrines by Reinhold Seeberg (Baker
1977)
A History of the Christian Church by Williston Walker
(Scribners 1970)
Also there's a good article about Pelagianism in The Oxford
Dictionary of the Christian Church. The Murray book is the best,
most comprehensive treatment of the issue overall and has a lot on the
history of the related issues. It's pretty cerebral and I enjoy Murray,
though I have come to quite different conclusions as you see. Any
systematic theology would address the issue as well – possibly also most
good Bible dictionaries or encyclopediae.
In our Lord.
Bob L.