SERIES: Christ is the Answer When the Church Is in Crisis
Pastoral Evaluation
Introduction: When I was in college a generation or two ago, students had the privilege of filling out teacher evaluations at the end of each semester. I really enjoyed that. When I taught in college a few years later I didn’t enjoy it as much. The fact is, it is human nature to want to offer criticism and it is also human nature to resist it when it comes our way. In 1 Cor. 4 the apostle Paul gives us some advice about how church members should evaluate their pastors, and how pastors should handle that evaluation. He also talks about how pastors should evaluate themselves. Please stand as we read 1 Cor. 4:1-7:
“This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. 4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.
I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. 7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (ESV)
If you have been worshiping with us for the past month as we have been studying the book of 1 Corinthians, you are aware that one theme common to almost every paragraph so far is that of conflict and division in the local church at Corinth, particularly over their spiritual leaders. Some members were boycotting church when Pastor Paul preached, but they never missed when Apollos was in the pulpit. Others were boasting because they had been baptized by Pastor So‑and‑so. In dealing with this ridiculous politicking in the church, Paul has pressed home a number of points:
He expressed relief that he had personally baptized almost no one so people
couldn’t make a big deal of it.
He emphasized to the proud that God doesn’t call many wise, mighty or
noble into His family, but rather the foolish, the weak, and the lowly.
He pointed out that divisiveness is a sign of spiritual childishness.
He taught that those who build God’s church with inferior workmanship and
materials will suffer loss at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
And he told them they must reject human wisdom, either their own, or even
their favorite teacher’s, if it conflicts with God’s wisdom.
In our text for today Paul turns his attention to the issue of how church members evaluate their pastors. Let’s face it, everyone does this. But it makes a huge difference how we do it and on what basis we do it. Paul wants us to understand ministers better so we will avoid premature and presumptuous judgments–either pro or con. I’m going to give you my sermon in a sentence right here at the beginning: Pastors must be faithful to the Gospel, more than to their congregation or even their own conscience. (4:1-5)
Christian leaders often find themselves in one of two unhealthy situations. They either receive more credit than they have earned or more blame than they deserve. They are either placed on a pedestal, from which falls are inevitable, or they are judged so severely that they become discouraged and ineffective. I’ve experienced both. The pedestal is, of course, a lot more pleasant, but probably more dangerous. On the other hand, I can think of times when I have gone way out of my way to please someone (or to avoid offending them), and I’ve received nothing but grief for it. I am not alone in experiencing these feelings. Each of you has undoubtedly had the same experience.
Please don’t misunderstand me. The two churches I have served over the past 40 years have been extremely gracious, more than I deserve. It’s just that criticism seems to be an occupational hazard for anyone in a position of leadership, including the ministry. In fact, the apostle Paul was experiencing just that when he wrote this letter. Here he was—the founder of the Church at Corinth—and as their spiritual father, he had labored faithfully to establish them in the Lord. And what thanks did he get? Not much.
A large number of the Corinthian Christians, perhaps even a majority, were on his case for one reason or another. Some were expressing preference for other leaders. Some were perpetrating false accusations against him. For example, in 4:18 he is actually accused of lying because he promised to return but hadn’t yet been able to. And later in the letter, in 9:1‑14, he is accused of greed and the wrong use of his Christian liberty.
I can empathize with Paul, and so can you. But what should pastors do about it when they are misjudged? And what should they do to prevent misjudging others, for that happens, too, you know? I believe this passage provides some excellent counsel to all of us.
We need a balanced perspective on the pastor’s importance. (1)
Chapter four begins with the words, “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” We don’t have to wonder who the antecedent of the term “us” is, because Paul tells us in verse 6: he’s talking about himself and Apollos. But while the immediate context addresses the original leaders of the church at Corinth, there is nothing in this passage that isn’t true of all ministers, even lay ministers.
Pastors like himself or Apollos should not be treated as superstars, nor as the scum of the earth, but rather as “servants” and “stewards.” Both of these words are very picturesque. The word “servant” used here in verse 1 is not the usual Greek word for a slave or a household servant, which he used in the previous chapter, verse 5. This is a rare nautical term, found only here in the Greek New Testament. It means literally, “an under‑rower.” In a large ship of ancient times there were usually two banks of oars. The upper bank was normally for crewmen, and it was used only in emergency. The lower bank was for slaves, who were chained in the black stench of the hold and forced to row for hours on end. Oddly, this is the analogy Paul uses for Christian ministers. In relationship to Christ, the pastor is just an under‑rower, so don’t make a superstar out of him.
On the other hand, says Paul, don’t overly depreciate his importance either, for he is also a steward or a trustee of the mysteries of God. We use the term steward of those who are entrusted with the lives of passengers on an airplane. In Paul’s day a steward was an overseer of an estate. Rich landowners gave considerable responsibility and authority to the steward to act on their behalf.
Pastors and ministers are stewards of the mysteries of God, i.e., the truths unknown until God revealed them through His prophets and apostles. I think Paul is talking here about not only the great theological truths we find so difficult to sort through, but also the practical questions that challenge God’s people: how to heal a hurting marriage, how to be a loving father, mother, son or daughter, how to live morally in a society that is on a fast train to hell, how to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself.
Ministers of the Gospel are responsible to dispense the remarkable truths of the Scriptures to those we teach so their minds can be enlightened and so their lives can be changed. And frankly, that is why I believe pastors should generally preach through the Scriptures, week after week. It is not ourjob to decide what God’s people need to hear (though we need to be conscious of what is going on in their lives and what their needs are). It is not our job to come up with something clever or trendy to say on Sundays. Apart from God’s Word we have nothing to say at all; we’re no different from the talking heads that fill the airways with their silly opinions. God has revealed what His people need to know, and it is our job to teach the whole counsel of God in a clear and logical way so that people can live lives of beauty and grace and obedience.
In relation to the Lord, then, the minister is an under‑rower not a superstar; but in relation to the church he is a steward, not a common slave. So, let’s not think either too highly of our pastors, or too lowly.
We need a solemn recognition of the pastor’s ultimate obligation. (2)
Verse 2 reads, “It is required of stewards that they be found faithful.” Friends, please hear this if you don’t hear anything else today. Your pastor’s job is not to please you, or meet all your needs, or preach brilliantly, or grow the church, or line up with the right political party. His job is to be faithful to God’s call on his life and to God’s Word. One pastor writes cogently,
“A popular game played by many Christians is that of evaluating pastors. All kinds of criteria are used to determine who are the most successful, the most influential, the most gifted, the most effective. Some magazines periodically make surveys and write up extensive reports, carefully ranking the pastors by church membership, attendance at worship services, sizes of church staff and Sunday school, academic and honorary degrees, books and articles written, numbers of messages given at conferences and conventions, and so on. As popular as that practice may be, it is exceedingly offensive to God.” [i]
The reason it is offensive to Him is that faithfulness to the gifts, talents and tasks God has given each of us cannot be measured by numbers or results or any other human standard. It can only be measured by God’s standards.
Please note, too, that the pastor’s faithfulness is required, not merely suggested. It does not say, “It is suggested that stewards be found faithful,” or “It is expected, unless some extenuating circumstances interfere, that they be faithful.” No, it says, “It is required….” We have an absolute obligation to be faithful to one person (and one only), the Boss. That’s what the term “Lord” means, by the way.
We need a proper evaluation of the pastor’s three judgments. (3‑5)
In verses 3‑5 the apostle tells us that he, and I assume any Christian leader, is subject to three judgments–the judgment of his fellow man, the judgment of himself, and the judgment of God. The human tendency is to exaggerate the first two and minimize the third, while exactly the opposite should be the case.
The judgment of his fellowman is insignificant. When any of us are judged negatively by someone, it is our tendency to do one of two things. Either we take it too hard and become depressed, maybe even paranoid. Or we become bitter and lash out at the one who judged us. Pastors are no exception; in fact, they may have a greater tendency than most in that direction, because those who go into people-helping professions, like the ministry, tend to be more insecure than the average person.
But in the final analysis, says Paul, human opinion on the way he is performing his task is insignificant. “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court.” The NIV translates it, “I care very little if I am judged by you.” Now I don’t think we should conclude from this that Paul was the Donald Trump of the early church. After all, he doesn’t say, “I don’t care at all….” but rather “I care very little.” But this is still a rather startling statement! Paul essentially says that if someone doesn’t like the job he’s doing, so what? If he’s being faithful to His calling and faithful to God’s Word, no man’s disapproval is going to change God’s approval.
Now let me offer a word of caution. It’s easy to take this too far and to develop an absolute disdain for anyone else’s opinions or feelings. I know a pastor who literally thumbed his nose at everyone inside and outside of his church. He ran his own life and if the elders didn’t like it, tough. Several witnesses came forward with a report of immorality in this pastor’s life, so the elders called a meeting and asked him to respond to the charges. He refused to respond and told them if they didn’t like it, they could leave. All but two of them did just that, but he continued to run that church like his own personal fiefdom until his premature death.
That attitude is not what Paul is advocating when he says, “It is a very small thing that I should be judged by you.” When it comes to sin in the pastor’s life, he’d better care what others are saying about it! Furthermore, Paul at times showed remarkable sensitivity to other people’s feelings. He is the one who wrote, for example, in 1 Cor. 8, “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak…. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.”
Paul was willing to become a vegetarian, to deny himself the incalculable pleasure of prime rib, medium rare, with horseradish, if doing so would avoid offense to weaker brothers in Christ or if it would enhance the reception of his message by unbelievers. But he adamantly refused to allow someone else to be his conscience, taking the Holy Spirit’s place as his guide in life. The point seems to be this: Don’t let other people play God in your life.
Of course, I freely admit there are times in life when it is quite difficult to determine whether a particular action is genuinely offensive to a weaker brother, or whether that person is just a harping critic. But if we’ve made a decision which is (to the best of our knowledge) in accord with God’s revealed will and is (again, to the best of our knowledge) not likely to cause someone else to stumble, then we must live with that decision and let the judgments of others roll off our backs. In a sense, each of us must be able to say on occasion, even to our brothers and sisters in the Church, “I did what I believe was right,” or “I taught what I believe is the truth,” and “I’m sorry you didn’t like it.” We can say it in love, but we must say it.
The judgment of his own conscience is fallible. In verse 3, just after asserting that “it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you,” Paul adds, “In fact, I do not even judge myself.” Frankly, that doesn’t sound like the Paul of 1 Cor. 11:28, who says, “A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup,” and just three verses later, “But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.” Nor does it sound like the Paul of 2 Cor. 13:5: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.”
Clearly there is a place for self‑examination and self‑judgment in the Christian life. But what our text today is saying is that self‑examination and self‑judgment are never final and never absolute. It is tremendously difficult to come to an accurate assessment of one’s own character and achievement. Chronic introspection can easily lead to undue depression, or it can lead to unmerited exaltation. Paul renounces any attempt to pass final judgment on himself.
He continues, “For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.” I think the NIV captures the meaning even better: “My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent.” Let’s stop and think about the conscience for a moment. I believe it is a gift from God to enable us to perceive right from wrong without carrying around a rule book the size of the Congressional Record. It is a painful gift, but sometimes it is the only thing that prevents us from destroying ourselves. So important is a Christian’s conscience that in Rom. 14:22-23 Paul says that a Christian should never violate his conscience. Consciences sometimes need education, but they never need violation.
On the other hand, consciences are not always reliable, for we have an incredible ability to rationalize our behavior, i.e., to find plausible reasons for doing wrong. Furthermore, it is possible for a person to sear his conscience if he violates it often enough.
Friends, the bottom line is that there is a higher court than the human conscience. A defendant’s own estimate of his innocence is never the determining factor in a courtroom. The judge decides on the basis of evidence. And the Judge in the case of the believer is the Lord, who happens to be omniscient and understands the evidence perfectly.
The judgment of God is completely thorough. Verse 5 says, “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.” There are times when certain types of judgment are put into our hands. In fact, in the very next chapter the apostle will rebuke this very church for not judging a member who was living in open immorality. But his point here seems to be that we are not to render ultimate judgment on another person’s stewardship before God. The reason judgment is reserved by God is threefold:
Only God knows all the facts. In any given situation there are many facts we do not know. We do not know the pressures another person may have been under. We do not know what he might have seen that we did not see. We do not know what he might have been told that we did not hear. We are ill‑equipped to be his judge.
Only God knows all the motives. Human motives are extremely complex and rarely pure. We can never know for sure what someone else’s real purposes are. The following true story was shared by a friend of mine:
“A group of men decided to play a practical joke on a co-worker who was a young, single executive in an insurance firm in Dallas. It was customary for the president of the firm to give free turkeys to all the employees at Thanksgiving. This co-worker had scorned the idea, since he was single and didn’t have any desire to cook a turkey.
His friends confiscated his turkey and replaced it with one made out of papier-mache. The only parts of the real turkey they left were the neck and tail sticking out at either end. The day before the holiday the turkeys were handed out in a ceremony, and this man took his bogus bird and got on the bus to go home.
As he was sitting there, feeling a little self-conscious, a man got on the bus and sat next to him. They struck up a conversation, and it transpired that this man had been out of work for quite some time and things were pretty tight. His hopes for a Thanksgiving feast were slim. In fact, all he had was a few pounds of hamburger meat that he was taking home for his family.
The young executive had an idea. “I will give him my turkey,” he said to himself. Then he thought, “No, this might hurt his pride. I’ll sell it to him.” So he asked the man if he would like to buy the turkey for whatever change he had in his pocket. The man of course was delighted and appreciative of such generosity.
Feeling a great sense of gratitude, they both went their separate ways. You can imagine the poor man’s thoughts when he unwrapped the turkey he had purchased. And the young executive, when he found out what his friends had done, rode that same bus home each day for several days looking for the man in order to make amends, but he never found him. To this day this defrauded individual probably looks back to this incident as a classic example of man’s inhumanity to man. Yet the young executive’s motives were pure.” [ii]
That is the point Paul is making. Our judgments are always premature and presumptuous because we cannot discern accurately what is going on in other people’s minds and hearts. But the Lord, the final judge, can sift motives.
Only God can render meaningful commendation. “Then each one will receive his commendation from God.” Isn’t that a refreshingly positive note, especially coming after the warning back in chapter 3 regarding the coming Judgment Seat of Christ when the quality of each man’s work will be tested by fire? Here Paul emphasizes that there will be praise coming to the faithful pastor, in fact to all faithful believers.
Now in the last two verses Paul leaves us in no doubt regarding the application of what he has taught us so far. Look at verse 6 again: “I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.”
Let me paraphrase this if I may: “If you have any doubt about whom I have been speaking, I have been talking about Apollos and myself. We are the first two leaders God gave you. I was the church planter and Apollos followed me as the first full-time pastor. I want to use our difficult experience here at Corinth to help you get to the very heart of the problem in your church, which is PRIDE.”
Paul offers two principles by way of application that are critical in order to prevent pride from doing a number on the Church.
Application Principle #1: If we pattern our lives after God’s Word and refrain from exceeding Scriptural limits, we will avoid taking pride in one leader over another. (6)
When Paul urges them not to go beyond what is written, he uses a Greek term that we have borrowed in English. It’s the term graphe or graphic. In the early Church it was a term for the sacred writings. What he means is, “Do not go beyond Scripture.” Well, how were the Corinthians violating this principle? I think in two ways. First, the Scriptures clearly teach that a spiritual leader is to be respected, honored, and obeyed. When some of the Israelites challenged Moses’ authority, God caused the earth to open up and swallow them. When some young punks made fun of Elisha the prophet of God by calling him “Old Baldie,” some bears came out of the woods and killed them. Nor is this just an OT concept. In Hebrews 13:17 we read, “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority.” Had the Corinthians been giving proper respect, honor and obedience to their leaders? No.
On the other hand, the Scriptures also teach that the spiritual leader is not a little god. Pastors, elders, and church leaders put their pants on one leg at a time, just like everyone else. In fact, if you look at how the great spiritual leaders of Scripture viewed themselves, you can readily see that elevating one over another makes no sense at all. Moses said, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Ex. 3:11). Gideon responded to God’s call to deliver His people from Midian: “But Lord, how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” (Judg. 6:15). John the Baptizer could not conceive of baptizing Christ: “I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” (Matt. 3:14). Even self-confident Peter fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8). And Paul said of himself, “I am less than the least of all God’s people” (Eph. 3:8). God’s choice servants have always been humble, knowing that all they have and all they are is due only to the grace of God.
Friends, if the church will stick with the teaching and the attitudes of Scripture, then the problem of either elevating pastors to pedestals or depreciating their very worth as servants of God, will disappear. In fact, that’s how Paul concludes his point at the end of verse 6: “Then you will not take pride in one man over against another.”
Application Principle #2: If we recognize that all our assets are purely a result of God’s grace, we will be grateful and humble, rather than proud. (7)
This point is made by means of three rhetorical questions in verse 7: “For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” The first question really means, “Who makes you superior to anyone else?” Or, “Who appointed you ‘big cheese’ around here?” The only kind of leadership taught in the Scripture is servant leadership.
The second question asked is, “What do you have that you did not receive?” Some of the Corinthian leaders prided themselves on their communication gifts, as we shall see later in the book. Where did these gifts come from, Paul asks? They came from God, of course. Others looked with pride at their giving and considered how important their financial resources were to the ongoing ministry of the church. But where did their personal wealth come from? Still others were proud of their position in the church. Maybe they were on the elder board or the deacon board and liked to flaunt their authority before the congregation. But who gave them their leadership ability?
President Obama famously said to the business owners of our country, “You didn’t build that!” Actually, in a sense he was right, but not for the reason he intended. He meant that it took the government for you to succeed. Paul gave the correct reason: he says it took God’s grace. Where did you get the physical ability to work? Where did you get the mind that enables you to earn a decent living? Did you order your own I.Q? Where did you get that special gift for music or math or public speaking that enhances your life and enables you to make a special contribution to society or to the church? You know where you got it all–from God! You may have worked hard to develop it (and if so, you deserve some credit for not wasting your gift), but if God hadn’t created you with the innate capacity for that gift, all the hard work in the world wouldn’t have made you what you are today.
The third question challenges the logic of personal pride: “And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” If indeed all that the Corinthians have is due ultimately to the grace of God, what basis is there for pride and conceit and division among brothers? If we are all charity cases, (i.e., products of God’s grace), which we are, then obviously there is no basis for arrogance and pride. No one has the right to boast about a gift.
Conclusion: Pastors are people, and most of them long to be treated as such. The Church does neither itself nor the professional minister a favor when it sets him up on a pedestal or when it judges him too severely.
Allow me to make a couple of suggestions concerning what to do about this sermon. If you have been unduly judgmental of a pastor, or even of a fellow lay minister, if you have jumped to conclusions without proper evidence, then perhaps it’s time to go and seek that person’s forgiveness. On the other hand, if you have given a pastor too much credence and loyalty, failing to allow the Scripture to be your ultimate authority, then perhaps you should confess that to the Lord and seek to become a true Berean, searching the Scriptures daily to see if the things he is teaching are really true.
Finally, I want to share the good news that it is possible for any person to withstand God’s scrutiny and to receive commendation at the Judgment Seat of Christ, but only because the Judge Himself has taken our place. At Calvary we view a sight never seen before or since in human history. The Judge of the Courtroom, knowing that the defendants before Him are guilty, refuses to pronounce them guilty but instead steps down from the bench and surrenders Himself to pay the penalty of the defendant’s crimes. Since the crimes were worthy of capital punishment, He surrenders to the death of a common criminal. And then, because the crimes have been paid for, He offers a verdict of “not guilty” to anyone willing to come over to His side.
It doesn’t get any better than that!
DATE: September 20, 2015
Tags:
Pastors
Faithfulness
Judgment
Pride
Humility
[i] John MacArthur, 1 Corinthians, 95.
[ii] Gary Vanderet, “Evaluating a Minister,” Discovery Papers, Catalog # 784, 3b, 4.