John 10:11-16:
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
Ezekiel 34:10 reads:
Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.
Who exactly is the hireling? One definition is a person who works purely for material reward. Another definition says one who works solely for compensation, especially a person willing to perform for a fee tasks considered menial or offensive. We can see by looking at much of the institutional/visible church system today, many are working or performing for personal rewards and gains. When we weigh the things we see now against the Holy scriptures, when did we ever see Jesus taking a "love offering" for His Words? Was there an honorarium for Him or any of the Apostles? Was He salaried?
When we listen to the words of the Apostle Paul in Acts 20:34, he states "Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me." The Apostle Paul was a tent maker. He was self-sufficient when it came to his basic human needs. It has been said that leaders in the early church were able to accept gifts, but to live totally reliant on the contents of the pockets of the saints...not so. The church wasn't financially able to support their leaders back then. Many are yet unable to do so today. The monies raised were intended for the hungry, widows, orphans, etc. It was for those who weren't able to provide adequately for themselves. Also, these weren't professions. These were God given callings. Should one be compensated for something one had nothing to do with. God gives the gifts and equips His people to do His work.....but not so we can reap carnal, worldly gains from them! In Watchman Nee's book, The Normal Christian Church Life, he states:
It is not necessary that elders resign their ordinary professions and devote themselves exclusively to their duties in connection with the church. They are simply local men, following their usual pursuits and at the same time bearing special responsibilities in the church. Should local affairs increase, they may devote themselves entirely to spiritual work, but the characteristic of an elder is not that he is a "full-time Christian worker." It is merely that, as a local brother, he bears responsibility in the local church.
Where am I going with all of this? Well, when I was in prayer the other day, I was asking the Lord, "Why do these men not care about us? Why do they tell us these lies? Why do they manipulate us but tell us THEY are our assigned shepherds? Why do they sit back and allow false teachers and crooked preachers to come in and "teach" heresies and sell their books and materials over the pulpit? Why is there so much promotion of men rather than uplifting of Jesus?! Why do they say nothing about the rampant sin in the church, but if someone disobeys their orders, they publicly shame them?! Why do we keep hearing this self-centered, man-centered gospel? Why?" The Lord quietly spoke to me and directed me to read John 10. The thing is, many of these men were never even called of God to begin with. I've heard that said for years, but it was as though a light bulb went off in my head. Why would God call a man who is going to preach anything other than His Word? Why would He appoint a shepherd over His flock who will not only abandon them when wolves come, but also claim them as his own and misuse them? When do we see any of the Apostles preach anything other than Jesus, the Word? We don't. Many and I mean MANY of the men (women too) that are allegedly anointed of God to "preach", are nothing more than hirelings. They are play actors and performers. They are giving the people what they want...a feel-good show. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll laugh some more. They couldn't care less about the safety of the sheep. They couldn't care less about the sheep being fed proper spiritual food that will help them grow strong in the Lord. They feed them waste and processed junk that makes them sick, weak, and tired. God is not mocked.
If there are people in your local assembly who are going hungry, have no transportation, can't pay their bills, are unemployed, are sick, have been abandoned and they still feel that they MUST not miss a tithe or that they haven't given enough to the Pastoral anniversary fund and fear they will be cursed or publicly shamed...you may be following a hireling. If the "shepherd" of your flock allows wolves to come in and do a money line, teach erroneous, extra-biblical teachings bordering on witchcraft and new-age mysticism, sorry but you may be following a hireling. If your "shepherd" is almost one of the untouchables and lives a lavish lifestyle, far above the other brothers and sisters and has a group of man-servants with him wherever he goes...he may be a hireling.
Jesus HIMSELF had NO place to lay His head. He did not take up a love offering after He spoke. He didn't tolerate the wolves of His day. He cast the thieves out of the temple. He never made it about himself, but the Father. He healed the sick, gave to the poor and raised the dead. There were no performances and no selfish gain. He showed the world what LOVE truly looks like. The Apostles were servants of the Most-High God! It was never about them. It was all for the work of the Gospel and caring for the flock of God.
I will touch on this subject further and go further in depth, but I didn't want this post to get too lengthy. I just couldn't fit this all into one post. This is a wonderful passage of scripture, especially when read in conjunction with Ezekiel 34. I leave you with The Apostle Paul's word to the Thessalonians:
(1 Thessalonians 2:9)
So u dont think Pastors should b salaried or get $ from the Church to make a living?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the question! Biblically speaking I look at the Apostle Paul as one example. He didn't readily accept money from the brethren because he didn't want it to get in the way of his presentation of the gospel, be a cause of offense or cause people to question his authenticity and authority. If one's ministry was given to them by God, that seems questionable to put a market-value on it and then profit from it. Not all Pastors are out for greedy gain, however whenever one is paid to provide a service, it will affect the purity of the work. The Apostle Paul was able bodied and had a profession. Jesus never took a salary. We honestly don't see this in scripture except when there was a priesthood and the people were still keeping the law. From my studies, salaries and clergy didn't come into play until the government around the time of Constantine began dabbling in the affairs of the "church".
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