Do you know about - The Pastor And The D-Word
Marriage Counseling Atlanta! Again, for I know. Ready to share new things that are useful. You and your friends.Can a pastor be divorced? Yes, a pastor can be divorced. Many pastors are currently in the process or have been. Before we conclude on whether or not that makes it "right," let's take a look at a deeper issue: The word "Pastor" itself.
What I said. It isn't outcome that the real about Marriage Counseling Atlanta. You check out this article for information on a person need to know is Marriage Counseling Atlanta.How is The Pastor And The D-Word
Yes, the word does appear in the Bible in Ephesians 4:11: "And he gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as Pastors and teachers."
This is the only place in Scripture where the word is no ifs ands or buts used. Imagine! A particular verse has come to define one incredibly significant, manmade office in every institutional church for 1700 years. Consideration that the word used is the plural "Pastors" - Not the particular "Pastor." Whoever these "Pastors" were, there were apparently more than one in The Church (I'm not referring to a building here). About this, author Richard Hanson says, "For the citizen who first used them, the titles of these offices can have meant dinky more than inspectors, older men and helpers ...it was when unsuitable theological point began to be attached to them that the distortion of the notion of Christian ministry began."
The Greek word for"Pastors" is "poimen," meaning "shepherds" ("Pastor" is Latin for shepherd). "Pastor" no ifs ands or buts describes the Function of an individual in The Church (again, I'm not referring to a building), Not an office or a professional title. As the word implies, Shepherds contribute look after and care for God's sheep, loving them into maturity. Nowhere do we find their role defined in any way similar to that which describes the Catholic priests at the time of the Reformation: preaching, administering sacraments, praying for the flock, living a godly life, handling church discipline, church rites, caring for the poor, and visiting the sick. Protestant ministers can add to that list the praying over civic and community events like luncheons and 10K runs.
I've excerpted the following from Frank Viola's book "Pagan Christianity: The Origins of Our contemporary Church Practices." Viola writes:
"The contemporary Pastorate rivals the functional Headship of Christ in His church. It illegitimately holds the unique place of centrality and headship among God's people. A place that is only reserved for one Person--the Lord Jesus. Jesus Christ is the only Head over a church and the final word to it. By his office, the Pastor displaces and supplants Christ's Headship by setting himself up as the church's human head.
"For this reason, nothing so hinders the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose as does the contemporary pastoral role. Why? Because that purpose is centered on making Christ's Headship visibly manifested in the church straight through the free, open, every-member functioning of the Body. As long as the pastoral office is present, you will never peruse such a thing.
"It is "lonely at the top" because God never intended for whatever to be at the top--except His Son! In effect, the contemporary Pastor tries to shoulder the 58 Nt "one another" exhortations all by himself. It is no wonder that most of them get crushed under the weight...The contemporary Pastor is the most unquestioned element in contemporary Christianity. Yet he does not have a seacoast of Scripture to retain his existence nor a fig leaf to cover it!
"Rather, the contemporary Pastor was born out of the single-bishop-rule first spawned by Ignatius and Cyprian. The bishop evolved into the local presbyter. In the Middle Ages, the presbyter grew into the Catholic priest. During the Reformation, he was transformed into the "Preacher," "the Minister," and ultimately "the Pastor"--the man upon whom all of Protestantism hangs. To juice it all down to one sentence: The Protestant Pastor is nothing more than a slightly reformed Catholic priest..."
Viola adds, "At best, this text [Eph 4:11] is oblique. It offers no ifs ands or buts no definition or description of who Pastors are. It naturally mentions them. Regrettably, we have filled this word with our own Western notion of what a Pastor is. We have read the contemporary idea of the contemporary Pastor back into the New Testament. Never in the imagination of a hallucinating man would any first-century Christian conceive of the contemporary pastoral office! Catholics have made the same error with the word "priest." You can find the word "priest" used in the New Testament to refer to a Christian three times..."
Expectations Of A contemporary Pastor
Because the paid, full-time, vocational position of "pastor" in an organized custom cannot be found in Scripture, how can we apply Scripture to it...er...uh...I mean, him? Those gutsy individuals who willingly submit to the strain of the office are forced to undergo unfair scrutiny and an inappropriate suitable of someone else's definition of righteousness. Their marriages and families, too, suffer terribly. The statistical evidence of the lives of Pastors and their families is dismal across denominational lines.
Sexual sin, marital breakdown, spousal neglect, spousal abuse, alcoholism, pornography, marital infidelity, misappropriation of funds, a lack of integrity, unbalanced ambitions, poor allocation of time and concentration to responsibilities...Satan directs his relentless attacks at these Church leaders because, for those bent on destroying the most amount of lives, like Samson of old, knock down the pillars first.
That is to say, those whom we have Made into pillars.
Many in the Institutional Church ask if a divorced someone should be permitted to serve as a pastor. The details of every situation are all the time critically important. In seeing for a blanket answer, the danger exists of additional mishandling Scripture and, subsequently, mistreating individuals. Frankly, how do we apply Scripture to an individual retention an unscriptural position in an unscriptural religious organization, something The Church was never intended to be?
That's ludicrous!
We Do have biblical grounds for divorce: adultery (Matt 19:9) and abandonment (1 Cor. 7:15) and they apply to All of us. This does not conclude the quiz, for many about pastors and divorce, but it does chronicle that Any Christian can be the innocent victim of a spouse's covenant-breaking sin. The biblical standards for the office of elder - which includes pastors (shepherds, overseers) - comprise advice about marriage. 1 Timothy 3:2-7 says "an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife." Titus 1:6 cites this same qualification.
Does this mean an overseer must never have been divorced? What if he was divorced before he became a Christian? What if he and his wife are emotionally divorced but physically living in the same home? Is the mere appearance of good in a bad situation any more gigantic than the reality of perceived evil? Is that all we no ifs ands or buts care about in the first place?
Did Paul's earlier persecution of The Church disqualify him from planting churches? The Bible does not say that an elder can never have been divorced, but that, if married, he must be careful to that one wife. A long-past separation should not bar a faithful, fruitful someone from serving The Church in any context.
Relationship Before Function
Should a someone be "above reproach"? If a man committed adultery and abandoned his family, will any amount of time make him above reproach in the ministry? Is any man beyond redemption from God? Aren't we All worthy of restoration? Cannot every human be transformed by the renewing of their minds?
This is why "Relationship before Function" is so important. Too often, a man is asked to serve in a customary church office as deacon or elder, naturally because he looks good, smells good, has a pretty wife and writes big checks. I sat in a congregation for over a year before I would even accept a position of connect Minister. I Chose to do that, knowing that the immaturity of current, recognized leadership Wanted me to serve as an elder. When they did, I gave them references they never asked for and informed them of my own separation many years earlier. I wanted to make sure it was God prominent both parties to that decision, not merely their perception of my spirituality. I had served as a "layman" for over a year and assisted them in every way but Not as an connect Minister. When I did accept the position, we had a very productive, very fruitful, life-changing ministry. If a man was the innocent party of a long-ago divorce, as was my case, and has gained the respect of Christians and non-believers by his subsequent conduct, his separation should not render him less than "above reproach."
In addition, 1 Timothy 3:4-5 says, "He must administrate his own household well... For if someone does not know how to administrate his own household, how will he care for God's church?" It takes time and relationship to demonstrate marital and house management. How can we interview a man of God and get to know him based upon a resume?
Where does it say in God's Word that separation disqualifies whatever from God's service? We're not talking about infidelity or adultery. We are talking about two citizen whose marital difficulties have reached the point where, for one of them at least, staying married is no longer seen as an option.
Paul's directions to Timothy are clear that an overseer must be the husband of one wife. But when my wife divorced me, how had I violated Paul's directives?
In Malachi, God said, "I hate divorce." Me, too! Marriage is like two pieces of paper glued together and pressed. separation is like trying to neatly peel those two pages apart. It's a mess. It rips and tears citizen asunder, even innocent bystanders.
I'll Never counsel for divorce. I believe God is well able and quite willing to restore those who are struggling in that most holy of relationships. But it takes faith. It takes two. It takes obedience and unconditional love. I Will counsel for separation If the purpose is for reconciliation with an agreed-upon program of counseling, with homework, church attendance, etc. Quite often, when a woman separates from her husband, it gets his attention, especially when kids are involved. Sadly, too many who are separating tend to start dating again. That's nothing but a lack of faith in action.
Jesus On Divorce
Jesus was confronted one day by the Pharisees about the quiz, of separation and remarriage. The context of the passage, Matthew 19:3-9, the think they prolonged to quiz, Him, was Not to learn whether or not a married couple could divorce. They already knew from God's declaration in Deuteronomy 24, the duct to which Jesus appealed, that they could. What the Pharisees were after was to trap Jesus on the quiz, of whether or not divorced couples could, agreeing to Scripture, remarry.
Jesus essentially said, "God's customary plan never included divorce, but because your hearts are hard, he permitted it on the grounds of adultery. If the marriage is dissolved because of adultery, the innocent party may remarry without jeopardy."
God initially said a husband and wife should not get a divorce. But who initially allowed a husband and wife to get a divorce?
God.
Is there a contradiction there? Yes, but the contradiction is within us, Not with God.
Is separation wrong?
Of course, unless Jesus lied.
Does it disqualify an individual from God's blessings or aid to the Kingdom?
No, because Jesus said, "Whoever comes to me in faith, I will never cast out.
Scripture does not say that a divorced someone is disqualified from ministry. If there's any disqualification at all for pastoral ministry, it seems to come from remarriage which appears to contradict the Bible's directives. But even if that's true...for how long? What if the remarriage takes place after twenty years? Five years? Five months? I was remarried after 10 years. My wife had been divorced for ten, too. Long enough? It seems to have been, at least where God is concerned.
Anna Stanley, wife of Charles Stanley, Pastor of the 13,000 member First Baptist Church in Atlanta and In-Touch Ministries, divorced him after 3 years of living apart. They tried to reconcile but their efforts failed. He had initially stated that he would resign from being Pastor, based on his own comprehension of Scripture. In time, he prayerfully reconsidered. He now believes that, only if he remarried, would he disqualify himself from pastoring. I hope he's hearing from God on that and not basing such a decision upon the traditions of men.
Imagine if Stanley Did step down. Would he stop speaking about Christ? Would others stop Listening and consuming him to speak? Would citizen cease to seek him out for counsel? Would he stop writing books? Would he start a blog? Though he would not be overseeing an assembly of 13,000 Christians, whose to say his work on would not far exceed that, as has my own? Though he would not be able to put "Pastor" on his business card, who cares? His gifts would make room for him (Prov 18:16).
Yes, God hates divorce, but He Loves those who Get divorced. He's seeing for whatever who is willing to side with Him, serve the cause of Christ and develop the Kingdom. If it's an army of wounded healers, so be it. Man may look only at the outside, but God, thankfully, is seeing at the heart (1 Sam 16:7).
The Father forgives us. He knows we don't know what we're doing. But He knows we love Him, just a like any child who misbehaves and takes their parents for granted on occasion.
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