Call No Man Father, Part 1

In my work-in-progress on living with divine affirmation, I want to address how the “good-enough-for-God” life impacts our desire to have others follow us and how we treat and look at those we follow. Nate Larkin helped shape my thoughts on this matter, but we won’t get to his quotes until next week.

---

“Make known his deeds among the peoples; make them remember that his name is exalted.”

Isaiah 12:4

If there’s one thing the church doesn’t do well, it’s humility. At various times in church history, Christian worship defined “pomp and circumstance.” Church based worship of Christ involved awe-inspiring cathedrals, ostentatious costumes, and elaborate rituals with utensils that cost more than many people’s houses. I’m not suggesting cathedrals were wrong, just that no one would call such places “humble abodes.”

The humility the good enough for God life calls us to is more about individual posture and position. Walking into a four-century-old cathedral can humble me and remind me of God’s power and presence. Getting a new title or promotion? Not so much. It makes me feel good about…myself.

I was invited to attend an ordination meeting at a large church, and one of the prospective pastors presented a paper on church government. The young man kept saying, “the Bible’s view of leadership is this,” or “the Bible presents government like that,” until I raised my hand and asked, “Where in the Bible do you see a senior pastor?”

Many of the young men went “ooooohhhhhh….” and the presenter was stumped. My question irritated one of the leaders in the room who said, “Give him the right answer Gary”—which was fair. You can’t just drop a bomb-like question like that without giving further explanation.

Let me stress that I think some form of a senior pastor is still probably the best model for a local church but I can’t, in good conscience, call it the “biblical” model for the simple reason there isn’t a senior pastor mentioned in the New Testament. In fact, Jesus seems to warn against a senior pastor’s worst tendencies when he says, “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah” (Matthew 23:8-10).