Priesthood

Am I Doing it All Wrong?

/ pastorlynnmalone / 2 Comments

I haven’t written for a couple of weeks. I’ve either been busy or lazy (or a bit of both), so the words getting on the page have been slow to come. The respite from writing has given me time to think, though, and that can be a dangerous thing.

What have I been thinking about? I’ve been thinking about my role as a “pastor.” Actually, not my particular role as pastor, but the “pastor” model of the church of church leadership.

I was a “pastor” vocationally for 28 years. I’ve been a “pastor” bi-vocationally off and on since 2019. That gives me a total of 34 years experience, so maybe I have some insight into the role. Then again, maybe not.

Let me preface this blog with the statement that I think most pastors do a fantastic job and fill their role with integrity, character, diligence and faithfulness. The question I’m about to posit isn’t a reflection on anyone’s service in ministry, nor is it a reflection on God’s calling on anyone’s life. After all, ministry has been my calling since the age of 27 (perhaps longer, but I was deaf to the call), so the question has shaken me to my core.

Pastor vs. Pastor-Model

What is it that has shaken me to my core? Drum roll, please! Is the “pastor” model of leadership as we know it even a biblical concept?

What has prompted the question in this season of my life? Well, I “pastor” a small local church. They call me pastor and I call myself their pastor, but what I really am is their Sunday preacher. I don’t mind being their Sunday preacher. They need a Sunday preacher and I like to preach, so it seems to be a good fit. The folks are wonderful, faithful people who love Jesus, and I’m blessed to be their Sunday preacher, but, they need a pastor, too (or someone who fills the role that is traditionally called the “pastor”)

Perhaps they don’t need a “pastor” as traditionally defined. What they need is leadership. And, here might be a good place to clarify that I’m not really talking about the “pastor,” but more the “pastor model” that the Church has developed through the years. Yes, the “pastor” is a biblical calling:

11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the PASTORS (emphasis mine) and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-12 NLT)

As certain as I am that “pastor” is biblical, I’m not equally certain that the “pastor model” of church leadership is biblical. The Apostle Paul, in writing to the Ephesians, certainly seems to indicate that there is some sort of plurality of leadership in the body of Christ (the local church), not one person who is the “pastor,” or the “senior pastor,” or the “founding pastor” who makes all the decisions in the church, or does most of the leadership work in the congregation.

Actually, Paul makes the case that the local church is to be led by “overseers” and “deacons” who would shepherd (pastor?) the church:

3 Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task…, and

8 In the same way, deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain…

(1 Timothy 3: 1, 8 NIV)

Likewise, in Titus 1, Paul instructed Titus to appoint “elders” who would serve as “overseers” of the local congregation:

5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. 6 An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7 Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. (Titus 1:5-7 NIV)

I think the Bible is relatively clear that there is to be a plurality of leadership in the local congregation, with each one fulfilling the gifts given to the Church by Christ Himself. It is Jesus Christ who is the head of the Church/church. The plurality of leaders sit under His headship/Lordship. He is the One to whom we look for guidance. He is the One whom we follow.

Priesthood of All Believers

I also don’t see any biblical evidence for the distinction between clergy and laity in that plurality of leadership. Actually, I don’t see any distinction between clergy and laity at all. Sure, there were priests in the Old Testament, but I distinctly recall the passage in Matthew’s Gospel when Jesus breathed his last breath on the cross and “the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matthew 27: 51 NIV). Since the death of Jesus, anyone (I repeat-anyone!) could enter the holiest of places. The separation no longer exists.

Likewise, the Apostle Peter affirms that fact:

4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2: 4-5 NIV)

This would be an excellent place to talk about men and women in leadership, and qualifications for elders, overseers and deacons, but I’m not perplexed by those questions, so I won’t chase those rabbits. I’m perplexed by the whole “pastor model” of church leadership, and I just wonder (as one who tries to live biblically) if I’ve been doing it wrong all these years?

I may not have been doing it wrong, but I certainly don’t believe I’ve been doing it biblically. I’ve been doing it the way I’ve been trained to do it, so it’s not necessarily the “wrong” way, it’s just not the biblical way. There’s nothing sinful about the way the pastor model has been/is being done, it’s just got me wondering if the pastor model has run its course and it’s time to get back to doing it the biblical way.

Perhaps all I’m doing is trying to justify my own inability to lead the congregation in a healthy, effective way these days. That, or the Lord is prompting me to dig more deeply into His calling upon my life and how He wants me to live that out. I pray it’s the latter. I fear it’s the former.

I suppose time will tell, but today is Sunday, and the folks need a Sunday preacher. So, until the Lord (or the congregation) tells me different, I’ll go be a Sunday preacher. That’s all I know to do right now. If you’ve got any clarity for me, please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear it.

Until next time, keep looking up…

This Ain’t That…

/ pastorlynnmalone / Leave a comment

Okay, so by now you’re aware that there was an assassination attempt on the life of Donald Trump on July 13, 2024. You’ve probably seen the soon-to-be iconic photograph taken that day at the fairgrounds rally in Butler, PA.

I’ll say with a fair degree of certainty that photograph sealed Joe Biden’s fate as far as the Presidential election is concerned. Regardless of what one thinks of Donald Trump, one must admit it is a compelling picture.

I continue to be amazed how some in the Christian community can try to make something out of current events that there is simply no evidence to support. Donald J. Trump may be a character of biblical proportions, and he may, in fact, be God’s man for God’s time (that remains to be seen), but please, let’s stop trying to tie biblical images to the man. We might just be opening a can of worms that we don’t need to open when we do that.

What do I mean?

Not too long after the assassination attempt, Donald Trump was tied to an obscure passage of scripture in Leviticus noting that Trump was somehow being anointed for God’s service (click here for an example).

The photo on the right also started hitting my Facebook feed shortly after the assassination attempt, and one prosperity preacher, Rev. Jentezen Franklin, made the connection while making remarks before the Faith & Freedom Coalition breakfast during the Republican National Convention. I searched the internet for the video, but it has apparently has been taken down.

Let me just say: This ain’t that!

Here’s the passage in question:

 23 Moses slaughtered the ram and took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. 24 Moses also brought Aaron’s sons forward and put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. Then he splashed blood against the sides of the altar.  Leviticus 8:23 – 24 NIV

In its context, Leviticus 8 is clearly Moses’ anointing of Aaron and his sons to the Old Testament Aaronic priesthood. It was a consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests for the nation of Israel. We must read it and understand it as we seek to understand what God was doing with His people in that time. To attempt to make a contemporary application is to open ourselves to several problems.

The Problems

Exegesis

Exegesis simply means the critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially of scripture. To take out of the text that there is a connection between the Aaronic priesthood of the Old Testament and Donald Trump is blatantly false. To suggest that the assassination attempt on Donald Trump is God’s anointing of him as some sort of priest or prophet for the United States of America is to have a completely wrong understanding of the Old Testament.

Connecting this passage of scripture, even as allegorical or metaphorical, is to make a very crass interpretation of scripture. We must be careful doing this…or tying any American President (or any person for that matter) to events in the Bible. We must be careful because two can play that game.

Here’s what I mean:

3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast.  Revelation 13: 3 NIV

Could Donald Trump be the beast of Revelation? I don’t know! I guess it depends on your interpretation of scripture (or your political party!).

Devil in the Details

Honestly, there are just too many details missing for Leviticus 8 to be in any way associated with Donald Trump. First, the blood applied to Aaron and his sons came from a sacrificial ram. That means something else had to die to provide the blood for the ceremony (think New Testament…think Jesus here). The blood applied to Aaron’s ear (and thumb and toe) was not his own.

Second, the Levitical instructions are specific in what was to be done with the fat and the entrails of the sacrificial animal. As best I recall, there was no fat or entrails (blood and guts) involved in the assassination attempt of former President Trump.

Third, as far as we know, none of the blood made its way to Trump’s big toe. We do know that he lost his shoes when he was tackled by the Secret Service, and he had the presence of mind to want to retrieve his shoes before departing the platform.

I’m going to say, as an aside, that wanting to get your shoes while someone is shooting at you is either the most narcissistic thing in the world, or the bravest thing in the world. There’s probably an element of both involved, but I’ll let you be the judge of it. Maybe they were just expensive shoes!

Lessons Learned

Let me be the first to say that I also think my Christian brothers and sisters who dispute God’s providence in the protection of Donald Trump through that attempt might also be hasty in their response. There is nothing wrong in acknowledging that God could very well have been provident in those circumstances, the fact that someone else was killed notwithstanding. One lesson in all of this is for us not to become extreme either way.

Another lesson to be learned is that the Bible is not a political prop and we shouldn’t seek to use it for political gain. It is the revelation of God the Father designed and given to lead us to repentance in Jesus Christ, the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit. Shame on us for using it any other way.

One final lesson we can learn is that Jesus Christ is our hope and the Savior of the world. We have so much hope and truth in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we have no need of taking an obscure passage of scripture and misapplying it to our current situation to find hope. Jesus is the Savior who forgives sinners, saves them by His grace, invites them into His Kingdom and will one day come again in glory to reign eternally. That’s enough!

I’m telling you…this thing with Donald Trump…it ain’t that!

Until next time, keep looking up…