Pastoral Position Paper – Jeffrey Moss

            “…for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account…” (Hebrews 13:17)

If God is the Lord of the world, if Christ is the Savior of the world, if the Holy Spirit is the life of the world, if the Church is the hope of the world—and yes, all these things are really true!—then godly pastors are the great need of the world today.  Pastors, teachers, ministers of the Word of God are the Lord’s messengers on earth.  They are their congregation’s representatives before God.  They are commissioned to proclaim God’s truth to the leaders of nations and of families, to the heads of businesses and schools, charities and armies.  They are tools in the Lord’s hands to bring people and nations to Him.  If they are faithful in this task, they will be honored, and if they break faith, they will be condemned.

For every Christian, words are a very serious business.  Christ taught that a person’s words reveal his heart just as a tree’s fruit reveals the nature of the tree.  Every idle word will be called into account on Judgment Day, and men will be justified or condemned by the words they have spoken (Matthew 12:33-37).  But for a pastor, the importance of his words is multiplied a hundredfold.  James warns that not many people should become teachers, since those who teach will face a greater judgment (James 3:1).  Pastors will be judged not just on the basis of what their words reveal about themselves, or even how their words affect a small circle of their friends.  They in fact bear the responsibility for leading many others by their words.  If their words turn out to be untrustworthy, they have the power to do great harm.

Yet at the same time, of course, pastors are able to do great good with their words.  For all the Bible’s cautions about the power of words to harm, there are also joyful exhortations about the power of words for good.  “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones” (Proverbs 16:24).  “Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise…for it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you” (Proverbs 22:17-18).  “Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard rather than the shout of a ruler of fools” (Ecclesiastes 9:17).  Those who speak wisely and well are following the example of God Himself, who says, “Is not My word like a fire…and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29).

And as powerful as ordinary words can be, the words of pastors are able to have an even greater effect.  Here too, pastors are pictures of the Lord Himself.  Jesus is the Rock that decides the destiny of whoever comes in contact with Him: “whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder” (Matthew 21:44).  Like Him, then, pastors who are positioned in the middle of human society as His living representatives mark the turning point in others’ destiny.  It is for this reason that the Apostle Paul can say to Timothy, “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you” (1 Timothy 4:16, emphasis added).  By God’s grace, the teachings of a faithful pastor (again, like those of Jesus Himself!) are more than mere words—they are “spirit and life” (John 6:63), “seasoned with salt” (Colossians 4:6), bringing “edification…[and] grace to the hearers” (Ephesians 4:29).  On the other hand, people in positions of influence who speak destructive words—like Hymenaeus, Alexander, and Philetus—not only shipwreck themselves in relation to the Faith, but also have the power to “overthrow the faith” of others (1 Timothy 1:20; 2 Timothy 2:17).  Under the sovereign God, the words of a minister of the Gospel can be the means either to bring a person to salvation in Christ, or to drive him away from God.  Like Ezekiel’s watchman, the minister who betrays his calling when he ought to speak out has blood on his hands (Ezekiel 3:16-21).

Of course, a Christian pastor carries great responsibility not only for his words, but also for his actions.  When any Christian sins, his act of disobedience affects both him and those around him; but a pastor’s sins are of even greater consequence.  As the letter to the Hebrews reminds us, leaders of churches are called to watch out for Christians’ souls.  If the pastor corrupts his own soul through persistent unfaithfulness, even in small things, he endangers the souls of many who look to him for spiritual guidance.

            People do not live in the world as isolated individuals.  Others who are connected to us are affected by our actions in ten thousand secret ways, so profoundly that the outworkings of these connections are sometimes anything but secret.  In the time of Joshua, Achan of the tribe of Judah seemed to conceal his rebellion against the Lord’s commands quite successfully, and yet his sins of greed and theft brought harm to the entire nation of Israel (Joshua 7).  How much more do the sins of leaders harm their people, and their acts of faithfulness bless them!  This connectedness is clearly seen throughout the Old Testament history of the kings of Judah .  The reign of a wicked king, like Rehoboam, could signal the rise of idolatry and perversion in the nation (1 Kings 14:21-24); on the other hand, the rise of a righteous king such as Josiah could bring a renewal of the people’s devotion to the Lord (2 Kings 23:1-3).

            Among the Lord’s people, spiritual leaders can have an even greater effect than political leaders in setting a direction for the people whom they serve.  The Old Testament saying was “Like people, like priest” (Hosea 4:9), and in the New Testament it is the elders of the Church who are in position to be “an example to the believers” (1 Timothy 4:12), and “examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:3).  The Apostle Paul went so far as to say, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).  Paul does not stand alone as a living model for believers; the letter to the Hebrews exhorts, “Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct” (13:7).  It is clear that pastors have a special responsibility to set an example by their godly lives, and particularly by the steadfastness of their faith.

These considerations raise the question of the pastor’s authority in the congregation.  Many Christians, and even some pastors, argue that the pastor’s authority in the church consists of nothing but preaching the Word of God and living a godly life as a good moral example to the congregation.  Should the pastor be limited to these two responsibilities—and also, perhaps, enforcing his own Biblical preaching through disciplinary action in extreme cases—or does he have authority beyond these things?  Specifically, are pastors called to set a direction for a church or an entire nation, to lead congregational involvement in particular projects, and so on?  The examples of Scripture show that they are.

Many illustrations from the Bible could be quoted to prove that pastors have specific authority that goes beyond simply preaching and setting a good personal example.  In Exodus 18, the priest Jethro actually advises a change in Israel ’s constitution (by assigning the task of judgment to a network of higher and lower officials), and Moses, another spiritual leader, puts this new system into practice.  In Deuteronomy 17, the priests themselves are given the task of judging the people’s legal cases; even in our modern society, echoes of this church-centered court system are found in cases of spiritual discipline and also in pastoral counseling.  During the conquest of Jericho (Joshua 6), the priests were at the center of the military effort, providing spiritual leadership to the Israelite army on the field of battle.  The godly King Jehoshaphat followed a similar course when he sent out the Levites as sacred musicians ahead of the army of Judah—and the Lord gave them victory against seemingly impossible odds (2 Chronicles 20).  In 1 Kings 1, two spiritual leaders—Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet—even played vital roles in the coronation of Solomon as the new political head of Israel .  The priest Jehoiada set up and administered a large-scale financial system devoted to repairing the Lord’s temple under King Joash (2 Kings 12:1-14).  Much later after the return from Babylonian exile, the high priest had a key part in directing the people to rebuild the Temple (Haggai 1:12-2:9).

Of course, it was not only in the Old Testament that the spiritual leaders of God’s people could lead them in practical endeavors following Biblical principles.  Acts 15 records how the apostles and elders met to set guidelines for Gentile Christians that would allow them to live in holiness and keep the peace with their Jewish Christian brothers, while still not being bound by the Law of Moses.  Many times in the New Testament we see the Apostle Paul exhorting Gentile believers to contribute to charitable funds for the needy, and especially for the suffering Christians of Judea.  In the Pastoral Epistles, Paul tells the young pastors Timothy and Titus to stop certain people in the Church from saying harmful and destructive things, and to direct the behavior of Christians in several other ways that have spiritual significance.  However, the letter to Philemon illustrates that pastoral authority is limited.  Paul says he could be bold in Christ to command Philemon to free his former slave, but instead he “appeals” to him to go beyond the law’s requirements in this way, so that Philemon’s action would “not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary” (Philemon 14).    In summary, the Bible’s examples of spiritual authority prompt pastors to apply Scriptural principles practically to the areas of worship, finances, social relations, and politics, while still staying within their bounds and not encroaching on the specific functions of civil and family governments.

The office of a pastor in the church is one that has great potential either for good or for evil.  If the pastor’s words are untrustworthy, his life corrupt, or his authority abused, the consequences for the Church and for entire societies will be devastating.  However, if he is righteous in each of these areas, he will be a faithful fellow-worker of Christ Himself in building up the Church (1 Corinthians 3:9-15).  Then the fruits of his work will honor God and bless His people for all eternity.