We ask you, fellow Christians, to appreciate the men who work with you and lead you in the Lord and warn you. Love them and think very highly of them on account of the work they’re doing. Live at peace with one another (I Thess. 5:12, 13).
Our text tells us about the proper attitude Christians should have toward their pastor. When we observe what is happening to the ministry today and the attitude many have toward pastors, it is well that we consider this theme.
Pastor Firings and Burnout: A Growing Problem
Newsweek (March 23, 1981) reported on the increasing problems between many congregations and their pastors in an article titled “Why Pastors Are Fired.” “Many Churches Are Beginning to Recognize Clergy Burnout is an Occupational Hazard” was the headline Religious News Service gave to a weekly feature last June (June 12, 1981). RNS said in part:
Clergy, although still considered to be called by God, are being fired from the job more than ever before or else abandoning it for other careers.
According to a number of recent surveys of the ministry, the level of job dissatisfaction and low morale are increasing among the clergy.
Ministry observers have come to recognize this trend as a particular psychological condition, popularly called “burnout,” which is an emotional deterioration that occurs in most high–pressure profess ions. Among clergy it often results in a loss of motivation and enthusiasm for ministry. As the condition worsens, it is compounded by doubts about the validity of the call to the ministry and about the very faith that the minister has been called to preach . . . .
These stresses are by no means confined to the individual minister. In recent years, the National Institute of Mental Health has found the highest rates of nervous breakdown among the wives of male clergy and doctors, (clinical psychologist) Dr. Brian Hall, said . . .
Although difficult to tell whether “burnout” is a result or a cause of marital instability, several researchers have begun to address the problem of the growing number of clergy marriages which are having a harder time lasting “until death do us part” . . . .
From Divine Calling to Secular Profession
Earlier this year RNS (Feb. 10, CN, Feb. 22, 1982) in a story titled “Southern Baptist Clergy Firings at an All–Time High Across the United States” reported:
A nationwide trend toward clergy firings and forced resignations has alarmed officials of the Southern Baptist Convention, with 13 million members the nation’s largest denomination.
Pastor firings are at an all-time high , according to Brooks Faulkner, supervisor of the denomination’s career guidance section in Nashville, Tenn. He said 29 of 35 state Baptist newspapers carried editorials concerning the problem in the last year . . . .
Reasons for clergy firings are varied. They include sagging church financial and attendance statistics, for which a pastor is blamed; general unstable conditions in the country; resulting in frustration among congregations and clergy; personality clashes; breakdowns in communication between pastor and congregation; and power struggles between pastor and a faction within the congregation.
RNS quotes one Southern Baptist editor: “In the past churches were reluctant to dismiss a pastor. Historically, we have held that the church and the pastor were led to each other by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we assumed that when the termination came that also would be the influence of the Holy Spirit. But now we find that methods used by the secular business world are more commonly being used by the church.
For example, if the church doesn’t show growth, then—like General Motors—the top man bas to go” (C N, Feb. 22, 1982) . . . .
The Biblical Correction
What is the answer to “clergy burnout,” “clergy firings,” and most of the other difficulties that arise between pastors and their congregations? Our text gives us the answer. Paul writes to the Thessalonians: “We ask you, fellow Christians , to appreciate the men who work with you and lead you in the Lord and warn you. Love them and think very highly of them on account of the work they’re doing. Live at peace with one another.”
A True Pastor
The “men who work with you and lead you in the Lord and warn you” are the pastors . Who is a pastor and what makes a man a pastor?
A pastor is not just anyone who pretends to preach. There have always been many vain talkers who pretend to be pastors. “I didn’t send the prophets, and yet they ran. I didn’t talk to them and yet they prophesied. If they had stood by My council, then they would have told My people what I say and would turn from the evil they live in and the evil they do . . . . I’ve heard what the prophets say. Those who tell lies in My name say, ‘I had a dream!’ . . . . How long will the hearts of these prophets tell lies and invent dishonest prophesies? . . . I’m against the prophets, says the LORD, who use their tongues and say, ‘God said it.’ I’m against those who prophesy false dreams, says the LORD. They tell and make My people go wrong by their lies and wild talk. I didn’t send them or order them to go, and they can’t help these people at all, says the LORD” (Jer. 23:21–32).
(1) “Men”
While it was Christianity which highly esteemed women and motherhood and noted that in the eyes of God men and women are equal, the women preachers among the sectarian and liberal churches are against God’s will. Paul says under the inspiration of God, the Holy Spirit: “As in all the churches of the holy people, the women should be silent in church because they are not allowed to speak. They should submit, as the Law says. If there is something they want to know, they should ask their husbands at home. It is a disgrace for a woman to speak in church” (1 Cor. 14:33b–35).
(2) “Called” by God
A pastor is a fellow Christian, called by the Shepherd and Bishop of our soul, through a Christian congregation . . . . According to God’s will the Christian congregation chooses and calls men as ministers, who in the name of Christ and in the name of the congregation publicly perform the functions of the Office of the Keys. (The) call to serve as pastor here is a call from God and not some business contract, as far too many congregations consider their “call.” Paul tells the pastors at Ephesus: “Take care of yourselves and the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to be shepherds of God’s church that He bought with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). He wrote to the Ephesians: “He who went down also ‘went up’ above all the heavens to fill everything. And He gave us some men to be apostles, some to speak the Word, some to tell the good news, some to be pastors and teachers, in order to get His holy people ready to serve as workers and build the body of Christ” (Eph.4:10–12) . . . .
(3) Their Work
(Ours), unlike most denominations, has always emphasized the importance of its pastors being able to study the Holy Scriptures in the original languages and knowing Christian doctrine and church history. Our pastors can’t be authorities on every subject . . . but they should be able to tell us what God’s Word says.
What is the pastor’s work? A pastor is to “work” among his flock in the Word and doctrine as a good manager of God’s hidden truths . . . . The pastor is to be a . . . steward, of God’s word and it is God who is his real and final judge . . . .
The pastor is an ambassador for Christ . . . . He has a commission from the throne of the Creator and Ruler of the world, the declaration of royal pardon for lost sinners who are destined to eternal Hell without it . . . . He prepares men not primarily to be good citizens for a temporal state, but He prepares them for citizenship in heaven . . . .
A pastor is to “lead” as our text says “you in the Lord” . . . . A pastor . . . is to oversee the flock in the name, in behalf, of the Lord by teaching, instructing, guiding and looking after its spiritual welfare.
Congregational Love and Respect
What is the God-pleasing attitude of Christians toward their pastor? Paul says, “Love them and think very highly of them on account of the work they’re doing. Live in peace with one another.” Love him for his earnest endeavors to bring you to a daily realization of your sin, for helping you to increase your trust in Jesus as your all-sufficient Savior from sin . . . for warning you about the dangers which threaten your soul . . . . Pray daily for your pastor’s success . . . .
Not every pastor is worthy of the esteem of his congregation. If a pastor preaches contrary to God’s Word or if he is unfaithful , of course, a congregation must act in accordance with God’s Word and take appropriate action. But, thank God, you have a pastor who is faithful to God’s Word. Love and esteem him highly for that.
Oh, may Thy people faithful be. And in Thy pastors honor Thee And with them work and for them pray and gladly Thee in them obey, Receive the prophet of the Lord and gain the prophet’s own reward. So may we when our work is done Together stand before Thy throne and joyful hearts and voices raise in one united song of praise, With all the bright celestial host, To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Editor’s Note: Excerpts from a sermon printed in the July 12, 1982 Christian News , preached by its editor at a 25th anniversary celebration service on June 27 honoring Pastor William Bischoff at Bridgeton, Missouri. Pastor Herman Otten through his Christian News is credited with being a major influence in the remarkable return of the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church to confessional orthodoxy. Although he has for some two decades been the pastor of its church at New Haven, Missouri, he is still not properly accredited as one of its ministers because the seminary whose Liberalism he exposed would not give him the required recommendation!