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God Uses Human Intervention

Take a moment with me to participate in a thought experiment. Paul stood against Peter to the face. Why would Paul stand against Peter if God predetermined or just determined everything in life? As a free agent, Peter chose not to eat with Gentiles, with whom before he had eaten. He chose wrong because he could. Paul wanted him to change course on that action. The Apostle Paul expressed limitation, temperance of Peter’s actions. God uses men to do this.

Scripture shows direct human-to-human interaction necessary for particular God-ordained change. God intervenes using human intervention. According to the plan of God, He uses men to change men. Galatians 2 is a tale of God’s authority to intervene. Someone goes his own sweet way and someone else stands against him to stop that path of harm. It’s not a violent interchange. It is peaceful. Paul uses truth in arguments to persuade. Peter changes. Happy ending.

Grace Dominated Obedience

God Gets the Credit

God doesn’t force anyone to do everything just like He wants. Pastors can try, but it won’t work that way. If they imitate God, they don’t force it. Grace dominates the believer’s life. This allows for effective pastoral authority. Regenerate men can obey because of God’s grace and true pastors function within that grace for those men to conform to Christ’s image. God of course then gets the credit for it, like the Apostle Paul mentions at the end of 1 Corinthians 1.

Christ the Master

Go back to Romans 14. Paul makes this point in Romans 14:4:

Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth.

Paul uses an illustration. Another man has a servant or slave in that day. Would you get away with holding his slave accountable to you? You expect him to obey you, when his Master is his judge. John Gill writes concerning these words:

[O]ne man has nothing to do with another man’s servant; he has no power over him, nor any right to call him to an account for his actions; nor has he any business to censure or condemn him for them, or concern himself about them. . . . [H]e is another’s servant, he is the servant of God: he is chosen by God the Father for his service, as well as unto salvation; he is bought with the price of Christ’s blood, and therefore not his own, nor another’s, but Christ’s.

About the second part of the above quote from Romans 14:4, Gill writes:

[T]he meaning of which is, either if he “stands”, that is, if he serves his Lord and master, of which “standing” is expressive; and continues in the service of him, whose servant he professes to be; this is to his master’s advantage and profit, and not to another’s: and if he “falls”, that is, from his obedience to him, as such who profess to be the servants of God may.

We Live Unto the Lord

Paul expands on this truth in verse 8:

For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.

We live unto the Lord, not unto any man. Whether we live, a positive outcome, or we die, a negative one, either way, we are the Lord’s, not someone else’s. This also relates to judgment and even the judgment seat, which is after this lifetime.

The Judgment Seat of Christ

Paul writes in verse 10:

But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

The slave or servant will stand before His Master, Christ, for judgment by Him. A pastor should want not to impede or prevent a direct rapport of the Lord Jesus Christ with His servants. He can do this though by inserting himself in life matters in a judgmental manner. By judgmental, I mean in condemnatory treatment, which is manipulative.

Servants of Christ Serving Christ

Of course, pastors must step in. They must feed and protect. However, a pastor can make it more difficult for servants of Christ to serve Christ, because they inject themselves into judgment so extensively and vehemently. They don’t stand behind scripture as much as they stand behind force of personality and methodology. I’m not saying they won’t use the Bible, but their authority becomes the indispensable force of change.

I’ve been under a leader (in this case not a pastor) so severe that it seemed impossible to serve the Lord, because he made it so palpable that I was serving him. Someone doesn’t have to act in an identical way as him to operate in his manner. He blew his top. He threatened. It also meant hearing that he talked to others in a form of divide and conquer. I wasn’t his enemy — I supported him — but my popularity seemed a threat to him, so he tried to undermine it. In doing so, he really was hurting himself. I knew I could never stay under him as a leader because I wanted to serve Jesus Christ, not him.

Be assured, a church member might use some scheming tactic on a pastor too, to rule him from the below or under side. I fully acknowledge that. I’ve had that happen too. Scripture, including from the Apostle Paul, addresses both good and bad treatment of a pastor. Hebrews 13:17 says these members might cause a pastor to fulfill his office with grief, not with joy.

Treating Men with Respect

Especially Men of Good Will

I’ve read others use the terminology “good will” to describe a trait of a man who overall wants to do right. This man showed a long-time pattern of pursuing a right direction. He followed and continues in a favorable trajectory. He maintained good behavior toward God and others with some exceptions.

A basic human need God created in men is respect. Treating a man like a man means respecting him. One man in authority should approach another man with respect if he wants respect in return. This especially acknowledges past good will, not starting without good will in the exercise of authority. For a man of good will in need of course correction, a pastor should demonstrate respect of him while doing so.

Honor Due to All Men

If you are in authority, and you don’t think a man deserves your respect, you can still give it. You have a much better opportunity to restore someone if you go ahead and exhibit it. You can argue for showing respect. The Apostle Paul in Romans 13:7 says, “honour to whom honour.” Gill says about this:

[T]here is an honour due to all men, according to their respective rank and station, and the relation they stand in to each other.

Here is a common scenario. A pastor starts a confrontation of a man in a disrespectful manner. He renders dishonor to him. How do you think that’s going to turn out? The man responds poorly, maybe with some obvious irritation or worse. The reaction yields more disrespect from the leader. Everything goes down from there, because now both men feel disrespected. From there, interactions turn acerbic. It didn’t have to be that way.

Such a sequence of events one might call a cycle. These types of cycles do occur between people all the time. For the cycle to stop, both parties must admit at least the cycle occurred. It can’t be one or both sides assigning all the blame to the other. The cycle includes alternating wrongdoing that increases in intensity, until it comes to an abrupt ending.

When one retraces the steps, where did the decline begin? Someone may say, “When a man did something wrong, that necessitated confrontation from a pastor. If he never did anything wrong, it would have stopped right there.” Maybe. Everyone does things wrong. However, a genuine trial of wrongdoing follows due process. Without it, genuine God-ordained authority did not occur.

Why We’re Here

As a pastor, many times people didn’t and don’t do what I want. These people are not there to facilitate a successful career for me. The things they didn’t do might relate to their submission to Jesus Christ. What do I do? Do I blow a gasket at them, do I insult them, condemn them, say harsh things to them, or do I threaten them? I hope not. I should try to help them. That’s why I’m there. It’s not about me. They are servants of Christ for which He died.

Paul Stands Against Peter and the Subject of Authority (Part Two)

July 17, 2023 / Leave a comment

Part One

The Point of Peter and Paul’s Authority

According to Galatians 2, the gospel was the point of Peter and Paul’s authority, not authority the point of their authority. Paul used his authority with Peter, when the gospel was at stake. He stood against him “before them all,” when Peter, Barnabas, and others “walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel” (Gal 2:14). Their undermining of the gospel was in action. It was a situation for “rebuke before all, that others may fear” (1 Tim 5:20), words written by Paul later. The Apostle Paul used the authority of his apostleship “that the truth of the gospel might continue” (Gal 2:5).

The corruption of gospel in Peter’s walk needed correcting before them all. It was not, let me show everyone who is boss. Peter didn’t lose anything from what Paul did with him. The truth and work of the gospel gained from it. Authority was a means to an end, not the end. After Paul wrote the narrative of this confrontation in chapter two, it kept on giving to the Galatian churches and others since then.

Pastoral Authority

You should say Paul and Peter possessed unique authority as apostles. On the other hand, God still ordained Titus with pastoral authority. Paul commanded Titus in Titus 2:15:

These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

He is telling Titus, pastors should use all authority to execute this doctrine and practice in their churches. “Authority” translates epitage, which means, “the right or authority to command.” Pastors have the authority to speak, exhort, and rebuke someone when he won’t believe or do these things. Paul doesn’t tell Titus, speak, exhort, and even rebuke church members over the matter of authority.

A lot of scriptural belief and practice clashes with the culture. It would in Crete. Cretans didn’t live like the expectations of Titus 2. Pastors in Crete could tell people what they needed in order to live like God wanted them. Pastors had the authority to do this. The goal of course was these Cretans living like God wanted, not telling everyone that pastors were in charge.

The Goal to Help and Change

Space to Repent

As a pastor, helping people to live right requires patience and understanding. Even the Jezebel of the church at Thyatira Jesus gave space to repent of her wickedness before bringing the hammer down (Rev 2:21). The goal was the change, the sanctification, or even true conversion. The idea here is not, “I’m cutting you off because you won’t do what I say.” Or, “Here’s the box, go clean out your desk and leave the building.”

Meekness

Later in Galatians 6:1-2 Paul writes to those churches he planted in that region:

1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Truly saved people, which are spiritual, want restoration. Getting there requires meekness. Meekness isn’t weakness. People used the Greek word in describing the constraining and usefulness of a powerful horse. Paul includes bearing the burden of the person, understanding the pain, hardship, and difficulty. It isn’t an inquisition, where men sit before their victim and harangue and pummel with harsh countenances.

Different Categories of People

Unruly, Feebleminded, and Weak

People in a church will break down into various categories. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15:

14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. 15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.

Paul reserves warning for the unruly. Others get comfort and support. Everyone gets patience. Render to no one evil for evil. Offering evil to evil does not solve evil. Pastors are not the prison wardens, who treat church members like criminals. They want to help them. Pastors don’t start with accusations and warnings. They investigate and find what could bring everyone to the best spot.

Older and Younger Men

Using his apostolic authority, Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:1:

Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren.

Pastors might feel intimidated by an older man and what he might do. You may notice especially today differences in older men. Many of them don’t talk with an effeminate voice. That voice may seem like it needs rebuke. Paul says, intreat. How does someone intreat? We get rebuke, but what is intreat?

Rebuke provides a contrast. Rebuke reprimands someone, calls him out on the carpet, dresses him down. Smokes him. Paul says never do that with an older man.

Showing Men Respect

Pastors, you will lose your men when you won’t show them respect. You may not think they deserve your respect. You may think that only you deserve respect, because you’re pastor. Men do, because they’re made in the image of God. God gave men a role that requires respect. Paul told the wives of the church at Ephesus to reverence their husbands (Eph 5:33).

“Intreat” in 1 Timothy 5:1 translates parakaleo. BDAG says this exact usage in 1 Timothy 5:1 means:

treat someone in an inviting or congenial manner, someth. like our ‘be open to the other, have an open door’: invite in, conciliate, be friendly to or speak to in a friendly manner

“Intreat” does not mean, sit hard faced with a monotone voice that espouses edicts. It is not the following:

sternly tell them to behave well, to demand good behavior and warn them of dire consequences if they do not stop what they are doing

That falls under the definition of “reading the riot act.” Some pastors are among the biggest professionals at this behavior.

Considering Thyself

Consistency and Inconsistency

In Galatians 6:1, Paul mentions a factor encouraging meekness in restoration: “considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” A person might sometimes violate the very belief and practice he confronts in another person. No one is completely consistent in belief and practice. Someone can try, but he’ll fail at perfect consistency.

When the proudest person you know confronts you harshly over pride, it’s tough to take that from him. You should still listen to him. Pride is bad. Proud people expect great humility from the ones they confront. If a proud man won’t save his lecture to someone else over pride, he might think of using meekness, considering his own history of pride.

Pride and Insecurity

Pride relates to self. It manifests itself in dramatically different ways. An insecure person focuses on his self. A pastor might overcompensate for that insecurity by blowing other people away. He doesn’t want others to see weakness. Paul anticipated this possibility from both Timothy and Titus. He commanded Titus, “Let no man despise thee” (Titus 2:15). He meant, “Don’t let anyone ignore what you’re telling them to do; you’ve got the authority to expect this from them.”

Someone confident through focus on Christ does not need to compensate for weakness. He exhibits real strength, finding security from God. He knows his job is not about himself, but pleasing His Master.

Right Use of Authority

The Apostle Paul wanted to help Peter and Barnabas, the Antioch and Jerusalem churches, the Galatian churches, and everyone who needed a true gospel then and into the future. His ministry didn’t destroy Peter. He writes his second epistle (2 Peter) over twenty years after this event. His leadership wasn’t stopped by Paul’s confrontation, but when the Romans crucified him upside down. He continued an effective servant of God all the way to his martyrdom.

As a pastor, you don’t want your wrong use of authority to end relationships. You might have your favorites, and you especially determine that by how they treat you. Like a Rehoboam, you like the way they respond to you and your ideas. That means they’re a good church member. They treat you nice; you treat them nice. It should matter to you when you lose someone who wasn’t lockstep with your authority. You are not the pillar and ground for the truth. The church is.

Perhaps every pastor will step over the line in his use of pastoral authority. I like to say, “There are no dress rehearsals.” It’s good to admit when you’ve done this. I’m sure those you’ve violated would appreciate hearing you at least wonder whether you did this to them.

More to Come

WHAT IS TRUTH