A Response
A man named David left a comment on an old post of mine (here). This is my response.
David,
You are lucky. I typically do not respond to comments with a post. However, your comment actually hit on something I am passionate about for many reasons. Here is your comment:
I think all Pastors should have a regular job like the rest of the members do. Besides, there is no need for a Pastor to have to study 10 hours a day for a sermon, come on, if a Pastor is called by God then the sermons will come to him from the Holy Spirit. Show me in the Bible where being a Pastor is a full time job. All of the Apostles & even Jesus had a regular occupation, but still found time to preach. Man created the occupation of Pastor not God. The only folks in the Bible who had full time Pastori jobs were the Pharisees & you know how we all feel about them. I know this is going to piss off a lot of so called Men of God, but search deep into your heart & you’ll find it to be true. How can you tithe with money you did not sweat to earn. You’re just tithing from the collection of the congregation, not from what you worked to earn. It should be a privilege to serve God not a job to serve God. Jesus didn’t live off of what was collected, he was a Carpenter by trade. That is the spirit of mammon that makes you say Pastors should be paid. Be an example to the working man & get a real job, then folks might take you more serious in church. I’m not a Pastor, but I do my fair share of preaching the gospel in my workplace & elsewhere outside the church. I don’t consider it work because I don’t charge people to hear God’s word. To me, this is where the churches are failing because most of the money collected in them are catering to the Pastors & others getting paid in the church. If all the Elders & Pastors of the world would hold down real jobs & tithe their 10%, then you would see a huge growth in all the churches. Sorry if I offended anybody, but the truth hurts don’t it?
I would normally take each of your points and respond to them in paragraph form. Instead, I am going to counter them with bullet points and wrap this up with a simple conclusion. Here are my “counters” if you will:
- I, like you, believe it is beneficial for a pastor to spend some time working a “regular” job. It keeps them connected with the world.
- The Holy Spirit works through people who are well prepared to preach as well as those who study. Ten hours a day seems a little too much for me.
- Your “fact” Jesus and his Apostles had a full time job while doing full time ministry is not proven in Scripture. It is not said that Jesus or His twelve had full time jobs. Paul said a man should profit from his work, and we should not “muzzle the ox” meaning, we should pay those who teach over us (1 Tim 5:18). Working for the Gospel is a blessed work, but still a hard work. (Side Note: There was one point where Paul did not wish to be a burden to a poor church so he made his own income by making tents. Another point in Paul’s ministry he refused pay while with the Corinthians. He did not want them to feel they could dictate what he preached because they were paying him.)
- There is no such thing as a “spirit of mammon.”
- Does the “source” of tithe money count that much? I would imagine it was our obedience to Jesus that mattered, not where our money came from.
- You are ignorant of our circumstances. I am bi-vocational. I have a “real” job and at this point receive no pay from the church. What’s important is, the GOSPEL does the work and that is what I preach. Our church does not rely on the power of man and his speaking ability, but on the power of the Gospel alone.
- If someone came to our church to preach and did not devote at least ten hours of study and another 10-15 (or more, a lot more) in prayer, I would not allow him near a pulpit or a microphone.
- I know some churches have some bad financial guidelines. It is our prayer that God guides our income and outflow of all money earned and collected.
Here is what I am worried about most.
David, we could argue for hours on end about this. You could quote Barna and Viola and I could quote the Bible. We could fight until we were blue in the face. This is the internet, after-all. I am only going to spend time on this today, and today only. The half hour I have spent formulating and writing this, as well as any responses to any comments left today will be the end of my time covering this.
Pride is the main issue here. I am assuming you are of the male gender by your name, so I will use a bit of a harsher hand to admonish you. Your comment seeks only to divide the church and to suck up valuable time which could be used to further the Gospel. You left a comment on here which sought to show off your knowledge and to degrade others who have been called by God to be full time pastors. You used harsh language in your critique and left a rather smug parting shot (“truth hurts…”) which only shows you are guilty of the sin that haunts us all, pride.
I pray God works in your life and sanctifies you through His power. If He has not saved you yet, I pray He will. He sent His son to die a glorious, yet excruciating death on a cross so our sins, even those of pride, could be forgiven and we could be given the right to be called sons and daughters of God. He rose again to conquer death and to usher in His kingdom. He was our propitiation which took God’s wrath in our place.
He did not do this so we could show how knowledgeable we are or so we could argue about full time pay as pastors. He did this so he could “call all men unto himself” that His elect might be saved.
I pray this becomes your mission; to preach the Gospel at all opportunities. To disciple men who would do God’s will in our broken and cursed world. While the truth hurts, it is also the means by which we find true freedom.
In His peace and by His mercy,
-Don-
