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Pastoral Authority
- Authority– 1. a. Power or right to enforce obedience; moral or legal supremacy; the right to command, or give an ultimate decision.
- The derivation of pastoral authority.
- All authority originates from God, and is given by God (Rom 13:1-2).
- Power – II. As a person, body, or thing. a. One who or that which is possessed of or exercises power, influence, or government; an influential or governing person, body, or thing; in early use, one in authority, a ruler, governor.
- God gave Jesus authority to execute judgment when He came in the flesh (Joh 5:27).
- This was evident to the people whom Jesus taught by the manner in which He taught (Mar 1:22).
- When Jesus was resurrected and assumed the throne of David, ALL power and authority was given unto Him (Mat 28:18).
- Because all power and authority was given to Christ, He gave delegated some of His authority to His ministers whom He ordained (Mat 28:19; Joh 15:16).
- Jesus spoke of the giving of this authority to His ministers by way of a parable (Mar 13:34).
- The authority that Jesus’ ministers were given was demonstrated by the fact that they taught like He did (Act 4:13).
- Paul affirmed that it was the Lord that had given him and his fellow ministers that authority (2Co 10:8).
- Paul enjoined the men which he ordained to exercise the authority which they had been given (Tit 2:15).
- Therefore those who resist the God-given authority of a man set over them resist the authority of God (Rom 13:2; Luk 10:16).
- Despise 1. trans. To look down upon; to view with contempt; to think scornfully or slightingly of.
- Contempt 1. The action of contemning or despising; the holding or treating as of little account, or as vile and worthless; the mental attitude in which a thing is so considered. (At first applied to the action, in modern use almost exclusively to the mental attitude or feeling.)
III. The office of the pastor.
- There are many names given for the office of a pastor, which include:
- A pastor (Eph 4:11).
- Pastor – Etymology pastor-em shepherd, lit. ‘feeder, giver of pasture’, 1. A herdsman or shepherd. 2. A shepherd of souls; one who has the spiritual oversight over a company or body of Christians, as bishop, priest, minister, etc.; spec. the minister in charge of a church or congregation, with particular reference to the spiritual care of his ‘flock’.
- Peter was one such man (Joh 21:15-17 c/w 1Pe 5:1-2).
iii. The elders of the church at Ephesus were likewise (Act 20:17 c/w Act 20:28).
- As a pastor, the pastor spiritually feeds the church.
- An elder (Tit 1:5; Act 14:23; Act 20:17 c/w 28; 1Ti 5:17; 1Pe 5:1-2).
- Elder – B. n. An elder person, lit. and fig. 1. a. A parent [cf. mod.G. eltern pl.]; an ancestor, forefather; hence, in wider sense, a predecessor, one who lived in former days. 4. a. In ecclesiastical use. …the title given to a certain order or class of office-bearers in the early Christian Church….
- As the elder, the pastor is to be viewed as the patriarch of the church.
- A bishop (1Ti 3:1-2; Tit 1:7; Php 1:1).
- Bishop – 1. A spiritual superintendent or overseer in the Christian Church.
- Superintendent – 1. a. An officer or official who has the chief charge, oversight, control, or direction of some business, institution, or works; an overseer.
iii. Oversight – 1. a. Supervision, superintendence, inspection; charge, care, management, control.
- Control – 1. a. The fact of controlling, or of checking and directing action; the function or power of directing and regulating; domination, command, sway.
- As the bishop, the pastor is a spiritual supervisor of the church who checks and directs its action.
- An overseer (Act 20:28).
- Overseer – 1. a. One who oversees or superintends, a supervisor; esp. one whose business it is to superintend a piece of work, or a body of workmen; a superintendent (of workmen, slaves, convicts, etc.).
- As the overseer, the pastor oversees and superintends the membership of the church.
- A steward (Tit 1:7; Luk 12:42; 1Co 4:1-2).
- Steward – 1. a. An official who controls the domestic affairs of a household, supervising the service of his master’s table, directing the domestics, and regulating household expenditure; a major-domo.
- As the steward, the pastor has the control of the domestic affairs of the church, including a final say concerning its finances.
- A minister (1Co 4:1; Act 26:16; Rom 15:16; Eph 3:7; Col 1:23; 1Th 3:2; 1Ti 4:6).
- Minister – 1. A servant, attendant. 2. a. One who acts under the authority of another; one who carries out executive duties as the agent or representative of a superior.
- As the minister, the pastor is a servant of the church and a representative of Jesus Christ who carries out the executive duties which Christ gives him in His word.
- Notice how all these are titles for the same office and are used interchangeably in the Bible.
- A pastor:
- A pastor is an overseer (Act 20:28).
- A pastor is an elder (Act 20:17 c/w Act 20:28; 1Pe 5:1-2).
- An elder:
- An elder is an overseer (Act 20:17 c/w Act 20:28).
- An elder is a bishop (Tit 1:5-7).
iii. An elder is a pastor (1Pe 5:1-2).
- A bishop:
- A bishop is an elder (Tit 1:5-7).
- A bishop is an overseer and a steward (see definitions).
- An overseer:
- An overseer is an elder (1Pe 5:1-2).
- An overseer is a pastor (Act 20:28).
iii. An overseer is a bishop and steward (see definitions).
- A steward:
- A steward is a bishop (Tit 1:7).
- A steward is an elder (Tit 1:5-7).
iii. A steward is a minister (1Co 4:1).
- A steward is a bishop and an overseer (see definitions).
- A minister is a steward (1Co 4:1).
- Therefore the man given the charge of a church is its pastor, elder, bishop, overseer, steward, and minister.
- Church members are commanded by God to submit to the authority of the man whom God has made their overseer.
- Pastors have the rule over their congregations (Heb 13:7).
- Rule – I. 1. a. A principle, regulation, or maxim governing individual conduct.
- Those who have the rule over the church are those who have spoken unto them the word of God (the pastor) (Heb 13:7).
- Their faith is supposed to be an example to be followed (Heb 13:7 c/w 1Ti 4:12).
- Church members are to consider the conversation of their pastor and follow it (Heb 13:7).
- Consider – 1. To view or contemplate attentively, to survey, examine, inspect, scrutinize.
- Conversation – 1. The action of living or having one’s being in a place or among persons. Also fig. of one’s spiritual being.
- This is a grave responsibility for a pastor. To whom much is given, much is required (Luk 12:48).
- Pastors are to be obeyed and submitted to (Heb 13:17).
- Obey – 1. trans. a. To comply with, or perform, the bidding of; to do what one is commanded by (a person); to submit to the rule or authority of, to be obedient to.
- Submit – I. 1. refl. and intr. To place oneself under the control of a person in authority or power; to become subject, surrender oneself, or yield to a person or his rule, etc.
- A fundamental reason for obeying and submitting to a pastor is because he watches for your souls (Heb 13:17).
- Watch – II. 9. a. To keep under surveillance (a prisoner, a besieged army) in order to prevent escape or rescue; to set an armed watch upon (a place, road, passage). b. To guard (a dead body, goods). 13. a. To exercise protecting vigilance over; to tend (a flock). 1526 Tindale Luke ii. 8 There were…shepherds… watching their flocke by nyght.
- A pastor (A herdsman or shepherd) is supposed to know the state of his flock (Pro 27:23).
iii. God gave his prophets of old the same charge (Eze 3:17).
- The pastor watches for the souls of his flock because he must give an account of them to God (Heb 13:17 c/w Luk 16:1-2).
- A true pastor will watch for his flock and will instruct and rebuke as necessary to ensure that the sheep are not going astray; therefore it is in the best interest of the sheep to obey and submit to his authority.
- An hireling will not watch for the sheep, but will rather flee when he sees trouble coming (Joh 10:12-13).
- A position of authority and oversight is a difficult and lonely position.
- You’ve heard it said, “It’s lonely at the top.”
- The pastor who is not a lonely man is a fool.