What Really Is The Preachers' Job?

At the Shepherds' Conference that just concluded last week, Al Mohler gave a fantastic explanation from Scripture of what the job of the preacher really is. In my opinion, it is very much worth your time to watch.

Marketing Can't Overcome Truth

The King James Only movement used to be a much bigger deal than it has been lately. Well, it seems that at least one King James Only proponent is ready to try to recapture some lost market share with a series of slick videos.

The website for this effort, What's the Big Deal about the KJV?, says that there will be 8 to 10 videos in the series. Episodes 2 and 3 are, we are told, due out sometime in June.

But episode 1 is out now: Let's watch...

Well, there is is; glossy, well produced, full of good-natured sincerity... and enough error that it's hard to even know where to begin!

Luckily, as textual criticism is not at all my area of expertise, I don't have to know where to begin. James White, who is very well versed on the history of the text of the New Testament knows exactly where to begin, and has produced a 5-part, information-packed, video response to What's the Big Deal about the KJV? episode 1.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

For more information about this topic, I highly recommend Dr. White's book The King James Only Controversy, now it it's second edition. If you are more of an audio-visual learner, Dr. White gave a lecture on the reliability of the New Testament text about a year ago. It is 1 1/2 hours long, but it is just jam-packed full of interesting and useful information!

Qualification Number 1: Character

Just this past Sunday, the popular pastor of a large church in a nearby town resigned in shame. He stepped down after it was discovered that he had plagiarized sermons – A lot of sermons. It is reported that he preached sermons taken from the websites of other churches and ministers word for word and joke for joke. Even, I have been told, to the point of copying facial expressions and gestures from videos.

There is no doubt that he did these things. The evidence is overwhelming, as recordings of his sermons have been compared to the recordings and transcripts of the sermons that he copied. Faced with this evidence and asked to resign, he did so. He admitted what he had done, apologized to the church, and resigned.

The wake of his resignation, and the reasons for it, left a wash of disillusionment and a swath of sad, hurt, angry, and resentful people. Some are angry with him, others are angry with those who requested his resignation. A church now lies crippled, damaged, rudderless, and without any course or direction. I pray for this church’s future and for those who now struggle to lead it. I fear that they have rough seas ahead of them.

Then I read statements like this, left on the pastor’s Facebook page after the service in which he resigned, “I disagree completely with the proceedings today. You are a man of integrity, worthy of our trust.” – I read that, and all I can think is that its author either doesn’t know the facts, doesn’t want to know the facts, or has a definition of “integrity” that is at odds with every dictionary I’ve ever used to reference that word.

This article could be about this specific situation. It is not. This situation is painful enough as it is. I talked to the pastor in question the day before he resigned, and he admitted to me what he had done. I have no doubt that he is a man humbled, broken, and in pain. He doesn’t need me “piling on” – and I won’t.

I could be writing about the growing problem of pastors plagiarizing sermons. I am not. No doubt, the internet makes it both easier to copy other’s work, and easier to catch those who resort to such copying. This problem with plagiarism will likely only get worse, as time goes on. But others have written on this subject, and I don’t know that I have anything to add.

No, what I want to write about is the care with which church leaders are to be chosen in the first place.

When you look at the qualifications that God laid out for the leadership of the church, listed for us in the third chapter of 1 Timothy and in the first chapter of Titus, it is readily apparent that ability and giftedness are not the focus. Only one skill or ability is listed, the pastor must be “able to teach.” That’s it. He has to be able to teach.

All of the rest of the qualifications for church leadership are character issues. As Paul writes, “For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach.” (Titus 1:7a) Paul then, inspired by the Holy Spirit, explains what being “above reproach” means; “He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” (Titus 1:7b-9)

But one thing about all of the qualifications that Paul lists as being requirements for positions of leadership within the church is clear; they take time to manifest themselves. In other words, a man has to be observed over a lengthy period of time to see if he really possesses these qualities.

The plagiarizing pastor I referenced above was, like most pastors, hired from outside of the community. There was some sort of search committee that advertised for, collected, and looked over resumes and applications. Then there were a series of interviews, reference checks, visits, etc. Finally, a job offer was made and accepted, a family moved, and then and only then did the church start getting to know their new pastor.

That is not at all the New Testament pattern. In the early church, according to the directives contained in the epistles, the leaders were raised up from within the church, where they were known before they became leaders. If a man had issues with womanizing, or alcoholism, or dishonesty, or any other moral or ethical failing, it was likely already known, and the man would never be considered for a pastoral role in the first place.

Following the directives contained in the Word of God helps to protect the church from ignorantly elevating to leadership men who are really morally unqualified. Men who might look good on paper, but whom the church truly does not know well enough to really evaluate.

Even when these safeguards are followed, moral failures will take place. But not following these safeguards greatly increases the odds of such failures.

Church: guard your pulpit.

Pastor: guard your integrity.

Pearl Harbor + 70

Today is the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which drew the United States into World War II.

On the one hand, 70 years seems like a very long time. 70 years is a lifetime, "The days of our years are threescore years and ten," wrote Moses (Psalm 90:10.) The generation that fought World War II is dwindling; the youngest still living are in their late 80s, and, all too soon, they will be no more. There were some 84,000 American servicemen on Oahu when Japan attacked, but, today, the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association only lists 2,700 members still living, and only 120 are expected to attend today's memorial service in Hawaii. 2011 saw the passing of the last World War I veterans, and there was only 20 years between World War I and World War II.

But, on an historical scale, 70 years is a very brief time. World War II is still very recent history that had a great deal to do with shaping the modern world in which we live. Ripples from those events still push driftwood up onto the shore of today. A knowledge and understanding of the events of 70 years ago are important in understanding modern times.

We also need to keep in mind a providential view of history. History is not a chronology of meaningless, however intricately interconnected, events. History has a purpose and an end that has been determined and decreed by the God who created the world and all that is in it. God decreed the wars of the 20th Century, as well as the wars of today, for His purposes and for His glory. Certainly, we are usually unable to understand what His purposes always are, but we know that He has a purpose. Nothing that occurs, however monumental or minor it may seem to us, occurs outside of God's will. His hand guides history.

Sometime today, I plan on watching Tora! Tora! Tora!, in my opinion, the best film about the attack on Pearl Harbor ever made.

Remember Pearl Harbor.