While we are waiting anxiously to find out if our home will sell and the house we like in Medicine Hat will still be available, I’ll take my mind off things to tell you about how my church history class went last night.
We’re into week 10 of my series on Church History as part of our discipleship track at Community of Hope. Last night we were dealing with Pietism, Deism, and Methodism. In talking about Pietism, and how it was a movement that once again reflected a general turn towards individuals taking up their Bibles and applying it to their lives personally, it resulted in the same things that it always has – people seeking God, turning from worldly lifestyles, following God’s commands, and being persecuted for it. But at the same time, great blessing always follows.
As I turned the conversation towards personal ownership of faith and seeking after God, I wound up talking about an issue dear to my heart, though I don’t really know why. The concept of the “Priesthood of All Believers”, though I didn’t name it as such, came to the forefront. I invariably react negatively to situations where people hold priests, reverends, or pastors in a higher spiritual regard than the average layperson. I believe it is wrong to assume that the prayers of the ordained have a greater efficacy than the prayers of anyone else redeemed. I base this on a number of passages:
- Romans 3:23 – “…for all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God…”
- 1 Peter 2:9 – “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
- Rev 1:5b-6 - “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.”
There are many more. Hebrews 7 teaches us that Jesus is our high priest who is the only intermediary between us and the Father. Hence, we have direct access to the Father through Jesus Christ and this is true for all who love Him.
I talked about this tendency even within our own church that people seek out pastors to pray for them or things that are important to them – like their prayers are going to be heard and responded to by God quicker, or more thoroughly than if they pray themselves. People remember James 5:16b, “The prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective” and see their pastor as a righteous man – more righteous perhaps than they are. But they too quickly forget the beginning of that verse: “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” The context is that of everyone, not of specific righteous people. What makes the man righteous is the act of confession of sin to man and to God, and subsequent repentance (I wrote about this once before). What makes the man righteous is being washed by the blood of Jesus, by faith and trust and claiming Jesus’ sufficient sacrifice to render the man righteous and white as snow before the Father.
Therefore, while it is true that pastors are held to a higher moral standard by men and God because of the authority they have been entrusted to, they remain sinners like everyone else and need to be made righteous, like everyone else, through confession and repentance. Hence, when I see people seek out a pastor and ask him to pray for them, or speak a special blessing over their family or house or something else important to them, I can accept that in view of one Christian seeking out another to pray with them in the principle of Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” However, I know that in most cases, the pastor is sought out because the person feels that the pastor’s prayer works better than their own. This I believe is wrong and flies in the face of the unity and the equality that the Bible teaches us that there is no Jew or Greek, no slave nor free, no man nor woman who receives more or less status or forgiveness or holiness from Jesus Christ.
I think it is important to have a right view of pastors. I think the body of Christ is made up of all different parts – pastors generally have gifts to offer the body in terms of leadership, shepherding, care, often exhortation and discernment as well. There are probably others, and each pastor is uniquely gifted, just like each Christian is. The giftset that is recognized by a congregation as a pastor does not render that person above anyone else in God’s eyes. That person is not by virtue of their gifts closer to God, nor will God listen to them more. It is why in my opinion a family can move to a new house and dedicate it to the Lord as well as a pastor could. It is why a baptism need not be conducted by a pastor – a parent, or even a friend could conduct a baptism just as effectively as a pastor (in some ways I think it is more meaningful when the person who led you to Christ is the one that baptizes you!) In our church, communion is conducted in our community groups, so no pastor is directly involved in it.
Yes, it is true that we have standards for leaders in our church, but never forget that leaders struggle with the same sins, the same temptations that are common to all. We should pray for them as much as they pray for us. Pastors can be examples to us, they are often wise, offer good counsel, and often have more space and time or educational background that is a gift to the church for our benefit. Pastors are wonderful gifts, but they are still human beings made of the same stuff as all of us and redeemed by a blessed saviour just like us.
