| Psalm 18:27
"You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty."
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| Accusations and Anger can give the devil a foothold. |
Recently, James MacDonald replied to my comment on his blog, in which he declared that congregational government was from Satan. The comment is as follows:
“Congregational government was developed to protect a church from bad elders, but in reality there is no protection from that. …... creating an unbiblical system to guard against that may comfort the fears of the laity but it grieves the heart of God. Scripture provides no antidote for the blessing of God upon prideful selfish shepherds."
The more and more we look at scripture as a whole, the closer we come to real wisdom and truth. I will do my best with this short article. Let us begin today with McDonald's last sentence, which states that there is no antidote for the blessings of God upon a prideful, selfish shepherd. If that shepherd is a preaching pastor, then a passage from Philippians would seem to support his statement.
It is found in Philippians 1:15-18
“It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.” NIV
While Brother James might have be accurate if he had declared that there is no “organizational biblical system” to deal with prideful shepherds, there is a God-designed system. A friend of mine recently reminded me of that God-designed “relational system,” which is for all people, including pastors and elders. It is found in Matthew 7: 3-5.
"Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye." ESV
When members of the body of Christ think that their pastor's prideful selfishness has become damaging to the church, they are to first examine themselves, and then challenge their pastor and/or other leaders. Since the pastor is an elder, they are to affirm their accusation by bringing 2 or 3 witnesses (I Timothy 5:19). Pastors and elders that are challenged in this way need to listen and respond accordingly. This includes submitting, not to a human leadership hierarchy, but to scripture and Christ.
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| Matthew 7 provides a peaceful system for working out problems. |
Challenges to the Matthew 7 System
The problem becomes more and more difficult as the church grows because some pastors have a strong preaching gift. As the pastor becomes prominent in his home region, then even famous regionally and nationally, the Philippians passage begins to overcome the instruction in Matthew. What member in their right mind would want to emotionally damage a famous pastor? Who wants to live with that “stain”?
Ahh, but can we now use a congregational form of government to hold back the prideful, selfish pastor and elders, so no one individual will have to “take the blame”? (Sarcasm included). I have been in congregational meetings where bands of people have shouted names at the pastor in front of everyone. Hearing of those kinds of meetings probably has brought James to declare “the format” as of the devil himself.
Snares of the Devil
Snares of the Devil
In reality, the devil is fanning the flames of everyone’s sinful nature. He is working on of us all. He is working on selfish pastors who think God only speaks to them and who refuse to repent of their pride. He is working on members and elders who are afraid of following Matthew 7. He finds the most success in unregenerate minds, who, through the absence of Christ in their lives, want a moment of self gratification when they publicly lash out against their pastors in congregational meetings.
Friends, here is the bottom line. What we need are mature pastors and leaders, who through their study of the life of Christ, become “volunteers to servanthood"; they are not pushed into servanthood by a congregational system, but of their own decision to submit to the needs and visions of those they lead. When the lead pastor submits to the needs of his elders, then the elders will submit to the needs of the congregation. When this becomes a reality and not just a principle, then no one will worry about the congregational meeting.
Finally, exhort the people to act on Matthew 7, not just to know it. Show them how through experience.
Ron,
ReplyDeleteThis topic almost made me feel as if I was back in my first "church" experience. There was a strong sense that the people where the church, not the building. There were no organizational structures in place other than the local representation of Christ's body referred to as "the assembly". There were no pastors, elders, or other titles of leadership. All decisions were made with the "approval of the assembly", which in some way ratified the decisions that "the brothers" made.
I can remember many a late evening discussing church discipline matters, and deciding with whom we were going to fellowship.
Ultimately, whether you have a congregational form of government, or "elder rule", or hierarchical, there is no perfect system short of total surrender to the headship of Christ.
Many times in the past I found myself frustrated by things that were happening at "Bethel". In part, that was because of the lack of control that I could have on the Elder-led, congregational affirmation model that Bethel has. I felt this way until I finally began to realize what it means to be under authority. The centurion in Jesus day recognized Jesus' authority to heal even without being physically present. The centurion understood both being under authority, and being in authority over others. All too often it is sin that clouds our ability to see the authorities that are in place over us as from God, because we want "to be like God." Then, as if we could control everything, and that we are right, and everyone else is wrong... we seek to align the universe, or at least our small part of it to the way we think.
"What is man that you are mindful of him? Or, the son of man that you visit him?" Walking humbly is the very elusive key. Perhaps sharing this will help others come to a realization that we need to do a better job of leading by recognizing that we are all under authority.