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Why Do CEC
Churches Call Their Pastor Father?
The Bible says call no man father!!!!
Or does it?
An Excerpt From A Sunday Sermon
by Father Kevin Baker
I’ll close with a word about
something that I think needs to be addressed, THE ISSUE OF CALLING A
MINISTER FATHER. Some of us have liked to use this passage as a
case against some Christians calling their pastor "father so and
so." Let’s look at this as we close—is it that title that is wrong,
or does it in some way do violence to God?
Matt 23:7-11
7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi,
Rabbi.
8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even
Christ; and all ye are brethren.
9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your
Father, which is in heaven.
10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even
Christ.
11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
(KJV)
Matt 23:7-10
7 they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men
call them 'Rabbi.'
8 "But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one
Master and you are all brothers.
9 And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one
Father, and he is in heaven.
10 Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher,
the Christ.
(NIV)
If we are not to call anyone on earth
"father" than just about everyone in here is in sin because we all
do that with our natural fathers! Why do we have Father's Day?
AH!!!! Such sin! Sarcasm aside, if we follow the logic of those
who say "call no man father" here means that calling a spiritual
father in the family of God by the formal title "father" is a sin,
then we also must conclude that fathers in the home should also
never be called "father." After all, Paul says a man who is to
serve in church office must rule his own house and children well.
That means you have to be a spiritual husband and father in the home
before you can qualify for heading a spiritual house (church) as a
father.
What about calling someone a
"spiritual father?" This is common practice in many evangelical and
charismatic churches. Let's start by noticing something in the
text. Not only does Jesus say call no man father, but also
rabbi/master and teacher/leader—so if you are called that or call
others by those titles then you must be in sin, right? Or not ?
Which is it?
As Archbishop Adler of the CEC
says, it seems odd that the same churches that offer the "call no
man father" argument against pastors being referred to with a family
title will in a church service honor "teachers" by calling forth
Mr.(master) Smith to be honored as a Sunday school teacher!
At the center of the debate about
this subject is something very simple. In churches like ours, we
view the church as a spiritual family. In our culture, the family
as a covenant creation of God is disintegrating. As it does,
children have lost repsect for their parents many other forms of
authority. We believe the Church must labor to keep proper
authority and repsect for authority in place as part of teaching the
fifth commandment. Respect for authority in church is part of the
larger antidote to our society's ills.
Also, the head of the Church is
Jesus Christ. On earth, the man representing the head of the church
family can rightly be called a spiritual "father:"
1 Cor 4:15
15 For if you were to have
countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers; for
in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
1 Tim 1:1-2
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus
according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus,
who is our hope;
2 to Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace
from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Calling a spiritual leader "father"
was nothing new to the Jews of the NT, because it was a practice in
the OT! Here we see a King calling a prophet father:
II Ki 13:14
14 When Elisha became sick with the
illness of which he was to die, Joash the king of Israel came down
to him and wept over him and said, "My father, my father, the
chariots of Israel and its horsemen!"
Of course, it is not only the title
father Jesus says should not be used on earth, but also teacher and
leader—so if we are to be consistent, there can be no teacher and
leader titles either. But in Ephesians 4, it says one of the
ministries Jesus sent as a gift to the church when he ascended was
"pastor-teacher." So what gives? There is a heaven and earth
distinction here—in the final analysis, there is only one Father,
Teacher, and Leader in heaven whose authority is final and with out
error and that is God. That is what the Pharisees were
usurping--they were claiming final authority in pride--rather than
temporal authority in humility.
No one in the Pharisees’ day or our
day has the authority to make us do anything that is out of harmony
with Father God's leading, feeding, guiding, nurturing, teaching,
and disciplining us as revelaed in Scripture. That is precisely
what the Pharisees were doing in their power, as well as their
intellectual, moral, and spiritual pride!
Just because the Pharisees of Jesus
day were usurping the authority of God out of a pride motive does
not mean men cannot be appointed by God under His Father, Teacher,
and Leader anointing to be lower case "fathers," "teachers," and
"leaders." The father in the home leads, feeds, guides, protects,
teaches, and disciplines modeling their love after that of our
HeavenlyFather (may He be forever praised! Thanks be to God for the
Fatherhood of God!) The title father is given to him in the Bible
by God precisely because is a mirror of the Fatherhood of God in the
covenant unit we call a family.
The same holds true for those
spiritual leaders in the church who carry out this father, teacher,
leader function in the family of God. One thing my kids noticed
before I became a priest in the CEC and was pastoring a Vineyard
fellowshop is when they spent the weekend with my mother and went to
the Roman Catholic Church, they came home and said to me, "Dad, in
Gramma’s church they call their pastor 'father' and they show him a
lot more respect than what you get when people call you Kevin."
Out of the mouths of babes.
I am not inordinately desiring a
title this morning for some emotional deficiency leaving me in need
of inordinate recognition. I passed by that mile marker in my life
a long time ago. But that is at the heart of the meaning of this
passage.
The Pharisees in their pride had an
inordinate desire for the recognition of men as given them in the
titles by which they were publicly recognized. The titles were not
the problem as we have already noted that Goid has ordained fathers
in the family and church home to image His Fatherhood on earth. The
problem with the Pharisees was their pride and usurping the
authority of God as THE FINAL AUTHORITATIVE MASTER, FATHER, AND
TEACHER by making themselves the final authority in the lives of the
people they taught and led.
I do
want to point out, though, for the higher good of our kind of
churches, that in churches that call their pastors father or some
other title with respect, there seems to be more of a sense of
family and order and fewer splits and arguments with the pastor by
the children of God who think hey know better than their leaders.
Here’s the point I want you to
hear—rebellion against your earthly fathers, teachers, or leaders is
dishonoring to the heavenly Father, Teacher, and Leader in heaven!
Thus the fifth commandment says to honor your father and mother.
Here is how Jesus sums up the
pride of the Pharisee which is the opposite or antithesis of
love--
11 "But the greatest among you shall be your servant.
12 "And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles
himself shall be exalted.
Here is the conclusion of the
matter: If you have pride like the Pharisees—that disease of:
Inordinate self esteem;
a high opinion of one’s own importance or worth; an undo sense of
superiority, and you try to exalt
yourself at church, at work, in the community, etc…with positions,
titles, and public recognition that only belongs to God, God will
humble you—that is bring you to a low estimate of yourself; modest;
meek; submissive; lowly in heart.
But if you learn to love as a
servant as we have talked about this fall, God will exalt you. If
you have been being knocked down over and over—stay down and God
will lift you.
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