By some ill-luck, I was stuck having my pastor teach my Sunday school class one time. It was kind of weird. He didn't seem as confident as he should have been and the way he dealt with it was kind of weird too. I think he ended up saying something to the effect that he worked just for the big bucks. Perhaps the exact words were, "that's what I get paid the big bucks for," in response to someone admiring his erudition. Though intended as a joke, what he said couldn't be closer to the truth.The church has evolved from the body of believers that Christ established to an industry. (I do understand that the body of believers makes up Christ's church. I'm simply referring to church as we know it.)
Pastors are paid, some more than others, to fulfill what they profess to be their calling in life. I think they are missing something. They are servants of Christ, right? They are commanded to be Christ-like in all their behavior. As people who are supposed to be spiritual leaders, pastors especially should be setting an example for the rest of us. But what do they do? They turn teaching God's word and serving Him into a job. What's more, they accept payment for doing this and in some cases a lot of payment.
Christ's example of living a sinless live is impossible to follow, but his example of not being a paid preacher is not. He didn't live a sinless, abstemious life so that pastors hundreds of years later could grow rich preaching about Him. If He was thrown into a rage because he found "those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves and the moneychangers seated" in the temple, then I think he would be upset about pastors leeching off their congregations for a living (John 2).
The Catholic church is an especially good example of the church or the pastor benefiting from the people in an unbiblical way. The Catholic church sells indulgences so that people can have their sins forgiven. Everything about this is wrong. God is the only one who can forgive sins. Period. The Catholic church is using indulgences as yet another way of leeching off the people.
Of course, not all churches are that bad. At my church, there are offering boxes for people to put there money. We don't do the plate thing (thank God!). And our former pastor has even preached a sermon about how we should not "give grudgingly or of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver." So, people know they don't HAVE to give. But they still give plenty so that the pastor can be supported. But the pastor should be serving without having to be paid. It's not a sacrifice to be paid to preach. Or at least, it's not a monetary sacrifice.
Preaching has become a normal job, a job intended to entertain audiences. You'll notice that the big, entertaining churches are the ones that attract huge audiences. The reason for this is fairly obvious. People enjoy being entertained. Pastors in turn are forced to pick what they wish to be: crowd pleasers and well-paid or persons who are honest about he what they believe and consistent in their refusal of pay for a ministry that they are called by God to perform.
In this respect, the church has become like any other industry. I really don't think this is what Christ intended when he established his church.
Pastors are paid, some more than others, to fulfill what they profess to be their calling in life. I think they are missing something. They are servants of Christ, right? They are commanded to be Christ-like in all their behavior. As people who are supposed to be spiritual leaders, pastors especially should be setting an example for the rest of us. But what do they do? They turn teaching God's word and serving Him into a job. What's more, they accept payment for doing this and in some cases a lot of payment.
Christ's example of living a sinless live is impossible to follow, but his example of not being a paid preacher is not. He didn't live a sinless, abstemious life so that pastors hundreds of years later could grow rich preaching about Him. If He was thrown into a rage because he found "those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves and the moneychangers seated" in the temple, then I think he would be upset about pastors leeching off their congregations for a living (John 2).
The Catholic church is an especially good example of the church or the pastor benefiting from the people in an unbiblical way. The Catholic church sells indulgences so that people can have their sins forgiven. Everything about this is wrong. God is the only one who can forgive sins. Period. The Catholic church is using indulgences as yet another way of leeching off the people.
Of course, not all churches are that bad. At my church, there are offering boxes for people to put there money. We don't do the plate thing (thank God!). And our former pastor has even preached a sermon about how we should not "give grudgingly or of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver." So, people know they don't HAVE to give. But they still give plenty so that the pastor can be supported. But the pastor should be serving without having to be paid. It's not a sacrifice to be paid to preach. Or at least, it's not a monetary sacrifice.
Preaching has become a normal job, a job intended to entertain audiences. You'll notice that the big, entertaining churches are the ones that attract huge audiences. The reason for this is fairly obvious. People enjoy being entertained. Pastors in turn are forced to pick what they wish to be: crowd pleasers and well-paid or persons who are honest about he what they believe and consistent in their refusal of pay for a ministry that they are called by God to perform.
In this respect, the church has become like any other industry. I really don't think this is what Christ intended when he established his church.
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