Editor’s Note: This week we welcome guest blogger, Emily Marks. Emily is an adult & community educator. She and her husband Sean live in Lancaster, PA, with their dog Corvus. Emily grew up as a pastor’s kid, and therefore she brings a wealth of experience and a unique perspective to this week’s passage.
When we start to lose sight of the calling that has been placed on pastors to DISCIPLE, and we start distorting that calling with other business-like responsibilities as I mentioned in the previous post, we can stop holding the pastor in high regard because we’ve taken our eyes off of the calling. We start holding that person to misaligned expectations.
So really what we should be asking ourselves is not “What is the pastor wearing?” or “How much money did the pastor bring in to the church last year?” but “Am I being discipled?” “When I show up on Sunday morning, am I being challenged to live a more Christ-like life? Am I being offered resources to better understand Scripture? Am I being encouraged in my faith? Am I being given tools to grow in my faith and continue my walk with the Lord? Does my pastor’s life imperfectly but still mirror the life of Christ?”
If the answer to those questions is “Yes,” then I would argue it doesn’t matter how old that person is, it doesn’t matter if they wear a suit or not, it doesn’t matter that they have that one personality trait that you don’t love in your pastor.
Those are personal preferences, not the standard that we see Paul setting.
I’ve seen pastors dismissed for less.
I know a pastor who was dismissed because of his age. When he asked “Am I doing something doctrinally wrong?” his church responded, “No, we just wish you were younger.” That does not align with what Paul is teaching in 1 Thessalonians 5:12–13.
I’ve seen pastors not dismissed when they commit moral, ethical, or doctrinal sins. We as the church need to realign our expectation for pastors to what Christ has called them to.
And see when we begin to distort the calling on pastors to make ourselves look more attractive to the world or to hit the business-like quotas we have set for ourselves, we are not holding our pastors and leaders to standards that are appropriate, and therefore we inherently do not hold our pastors in the highest regard because our standards are not aligning with the calling God has placed on them.
Will there be one-off situations that are not covered in what I’ve talked about today? Of course. There will be odd situations with a lot more context and history, and individual churches and persons have different personalities and needs. I’m not dismissing that. There are places in Scripture that address behavior of pastors and leaders and teachers, but this passage is not one of them.
Because Paul is talking to us. The people that live life and work under the loving guidance and discernment of these pastors and leaders. So we would do well to think more about our behavior in this moment.
So let’s self-reflect.
When are times you’ve disrespected your pastor or their families or other pastors you’ve known or been shepherded by?
What do you need to apologize for?
What do you need to repent of?
Or maybe it’s not that serious, but you realize you need to change your thinking about something.
Maybe you need discernment regarding what is doctrinal differences and what is personal preference.
Pastors have a high and difficult calling.
Many of us in this room work with people and we know that people can be the worst.
And even if we’re generally not the worst: think of when you need your pastor. In those moments and others, we are not always our best selves.
Pastoral ministry is a tough job. It is a job and a calling living in the same space, which complicates it more.
With the calling comes a high responsibility as well. I’m not giving pastors a free pass here. And Paul doesn’t either. He says to love them for their work; if you have a pastor not doing the work, this is a moot point. I’m not giving them a pass; they have a lot of responsibility to live up to and should be held accountable when they don’t.
But right now, Paul is addressing the behavior, the attitude, the posture of the persons who are under these leaders.
And he calls for us to hold them in the highest regard in radical love because of the good and hard work that they do for us.
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
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