Should we Pay Pastors?
This isn't an extensive treatment of the subject... in fact, it's technically not even a blog post. This is what I preached last week from 1 Cor 9 reworked to make a bit more sense in this blog context...
The Corinthians thought they had a “right” to a lot of things- and Paul is trying to move their thinking in another direction: To put the community as a whole and other people in our lives first. How we live and the choices we make don’t just impact us.
Chapter 8 may deal with a specific issue (meat sacrificed to idols), but the overall encouragement is this: Our job is to care for each other- to do our best to know where each other is at, to be sensitive to what people are dealing with. Specifically, not causing other followers of Jesus to do things that we may not see as a problem but which would violate their consciences. The whole context for these last couple of chapters has been this: In community, we care for each other.
Paul has been dealing with strong personalities that asserted their "rights" even when that harmed others. “All things are lawful for me” was kind of their catchphrase- as long as it’s not illegal. But that’s a pretty low ethical bar. Talking about “rights” can be a way of standing up for the oppressed. It can also be a way of justifying whatever someone would like to do- including arrogance, selfishness, greed... Paul tells them in chapter 8, no one should assert their freedom to other people's detriment. Knowledge, or logic, or your beliefs may tell you something is right or okay, but it's love that helps you discern in context whether something is appropriate.
There are times when the right thing to do is NOT to exercise your rights.
Paul illustrates this in 1 Cor 9, and in the context of illustrating that, clarifies his position on something that all small church communities eventually have to deal with- whether to pay some of those who are doing ministry in the community.
He's ended the last section, chpt 8 with the warning not to let the exercise of your freedom rebound to someone else’s detriment. Basically, to give up your rights for those around you. And he goes about making the argument in a wild way. By establishing his rights as an apostle, as someone who started the church at Corinth, as the one who told them about Jesus in the first place. Verses 1 and 2 say this...
An apostle means “someone who is sent.” Paul wasn’t from Corinth- he travelled hundreds and even thousands of miles to plant churches- because he felt sent to do so. So, in a very real way, the Christians in Corinth were proof of his sent-ness.
But even though Paul had started the church and eventually moved on to begin other churches in other places, even though he was recognized throughout all the churches as someone who had seen the resurrected Jesus, been sent by Jesus, been given authority by Jesus... some in Corinth, mainly traveling teachers who had worked their way in and were talking smack about Paul, trying to get the Corinthian church in their corner, and were questioning his authority. So Paul says:
This is my answer to those who question my authority. Don’t we have the right to live in your homes and share your meals? Don’t we have the right to bring a Christian wife with us as the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers do, and as Peter does? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have to work to support ourselves?
I want us to be able to recognize what Paul is doing. He’s making a point within a point. The first point, but not the main point is this: Those who work hard for the community need to be taken care of by the community.
What soldier has to pay his own expenses? What farmer plants a vineyard and doesn’t have the right to eat some of its fruit? What shepherd cares for a flock of sheep and isn’t allowed to drink some of the milk? Am I expressing merely a human opinion, or does the law say the same thing? For the law of Moses says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.” Was God thinking only about oxen when he said this? Wasn’t he actually speaking to us? Yes, it was written for us, so that the one who plows and the one who threshes the grain might both expect a share of the harvest.
He uses three word pictures here- a soldier, a farmer and a shepherd. A soldier doesn’t pay to be in the army. He gets paid to serve. And when a farmer plants a vineyard, even if it’s not a vineyard he owns, when he works it, he’s entitled to either pay or a share of what is grown. The same thing with a shepherd. He even appeals back to the OT- don’t muzzle an ox while it’s threshing grain- let it eat as it works. And he says that the real point of this saying about oxen dropped into the middle of a passage in the Law about human relationships isn’t really about animals- it’s about just compensation when someone is working hard for you. So what does that have to do with church?
Since we have planted spiritual seed among you, aren’t we entitled to a harvest of physical food and drink? If you support others who preach to you, shouldn’t we have an even greater right to be supported? But we have never used this right. We would rather put up with anything than be an obstacle to the Good News about Christ.
Paul says: You pay others who teach you. You take care of the needs, probably of people like Apollos, and possibly of a number of roaming teachers that were in residence there... If they saw that as their responsibility, how much more should they have felt some responsibility to the one who first introduced them to Jesus and helped form their community?
“But we have never used this right.” And here Paul gives us a hint as to what he is really saying with this discussion- it’s something bigger than those who take care of the community need to be taken care of by the community...
Don’t you realize that those who work in the temple get their meals from the offerings brought to the temple? And those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrificial offerings. In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it.
There are a few things I want to say about this. First some practical things and then some philosophical things.
Practically speaking, I recognize that this is a difficult issue for some who’ve seen it abused, and it’s a difficult issue for others who’ve seen their pastors abused, or been pastors who were taken advantage of with questions like “What’s the minimum you can live on?” which is a question it seems only those working in the church world ever get asked... And I know there can be a perception of conflict of interest- preaching about paying those who work hard at... preaching.
But that being said- let me tell you how we do it at evergreen.
First, I don’t set my salary, and don’t have any input into it- the elders do that. Right now we have 3 elders that get paid something for what they do for our community and 4 who don’t. Why do we do it that way, and what are our considerations as we do?
One, we know from passages all through the NT that the work of the community is the responsibility of the whole community. I don't want anyone who’s a part of evergreen to ever assume that they have no role, no part to play in the community. And one of my personal goals for what I do in this community as a pastor is to never do for others the work of ministry that they should be doing for themselves.
But, we also know that as in any community, leadership plays a role. We try to have as flat a leadership structure as possible, but there will always be some who have the responsibility of making sure certain things get taken care of in the community. And in certain cases, some of those people end up taking on responsibilities that would be hard to handle while also holding down full-time employment outside the community. There are two ways to look at it: You could say the work they do for the church becomes their vocation- their job. Or, if you hate to think of ministry as a job, you could say that we pay certain people in the community so that they are free to devote time and energy to the community.
Here’s a simple reality: Those elders who get paid by the community are free to work harder for the community. Their time and their hearts are able to be given to their families first and to work within the community second. Chris, our associate pastor, has worked hard for evergreen since we started- but for a good two years or so when we first began, he also worked in a warehouse. And we just didn’t get as much of Chris and his gifts and talents as when we were able to bring him on full-time.
Now- I know some people have a problem with paying pastors at all. I don’t really know that anyone here does- I doubt you’d belong to a community that pays some of its pastors/elders if you did- but the argument is- why can’t they all just do what Paul did and work a regular job AND do ministry?
I don’t want to take anything away from where Paul is going with all this, but... It was a lot easier for Paul to say “I’ll accept some money from some of the churches as support, but when I can, I’ll work making tents to support myself.” We’ve already established that Paul wasn’t married, wasn’t raising a family. When he worked hard at ministry AND then worked hard at making tents, who paid the price? He did. And only he did. And it was a choice he could freely make.
When you have a family, it’s a bit different: Working hard at a full time job and then trying to also work hard at ministry means you probably won’t have much left over in terms of working hard for your family. So who pays the price there? Your family. And chances are, that’s not a price they will pay willingly.
So, Paul says- this is the principle. In the same way that the priests and Levites, those who worked in the temple got their living from the offerings that were brought, so in the Church, those who take care of the community, those the community recognizes as gifted for ministry (as in Eph 4), qualified for ministry (as in 1 Tim 3), and who work hard at the tasks of an elder, particularly those who are responsible for teaching the community need to be paid. He says in 1 Tim 5:17-18:
Elders who do their work well should be respected and paid well,especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.” And in another place, “Those who work deserve their pay!”
Now what does that mean? That’s kind of up to the community to decide, but within the guidelines of love and concern, not just for the one who is working but for his or her family. Paul says earlier in chp 9 that this “right” included bringing a spouse along- that it’s not like we can figure out what it takes to feed Bob and pay him exactly that and hope Amy, Jack and Jane can somehow fend for themselves.
So it probably doesn’t mean having a pastor whose family is in poverty and is perpetually in financial crisis, whose spouse is constantly worried that this ministry thing is going to wreck their family and leave them destitute and who eventually begins to wish they’d never gotten into ministry and even begins to resent Jesus.
Does that mean pastors should be getting rich off the church? Absolutely not. If you see a pastor with a Rolex or roll up in a Hummer (which is most of the Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, health and wealth crowd)... run. They are sheisters who want to do nothing more than take advantage of what Paul says here and shear the sheep, not care for them.
Overpaid pastors and underpaid pastor both get in the way of the Gospel- Pastors who make too much bring shame on the church because everyone outside the community can see what these con-artists are doing and it makes us look dumb, frankly. And who wants to join that group?!?
Underpaid pastors - because they are working two jobs or expending all their energies on worrying about financial ruin, don’t last and can’t do what it is God has gifted and called them to do in the community. And again- not everything gets done by pastors and elders. But sometimes, people decide they love God, love people, want to work in ministry, get training and specialized knowledge for ministry and move into it as a vocation- and take on certain aspects of ministry in a community that would be hard to do without all of that.
I’ll give a chance to ask questions about all that- whether in general or specifically about how we do it in this community in a bit- but I want to move on because pay isn’t Paul’s main concern here... what is? He establishes that he has a “right” to ask for support from the Corinthians and then says:
Yet I have never used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that I want to start now. In fact, I would rather die than lose my right to boast about preaching without charge. Yet preaching the Good News is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn’t preach the Good News!
Paul tells them in 2 Corinthians that while he was there in Corinth, teaching them about Jesus, helping start this church community, he not only worked a job making tents, but he was also supported by other churches. So, why wouldn’t he take money from the Corinthians?
A couple of reasons- in the Greek culture there were a lot of traveling teachers who would come to town, go to the town square, set out a bag for donations and then begin teaching, expecting people to throw them some money. Others would set up patronage relationships where they would teach for a season... for money. Everyone understood- this is a job to them. They aren’t doing it for altruistic reasons- they want and need to get paid. But Paul wanted and needed to do something different. Those teachers who received patronage needed to watch what they said- try to teach something the crowd or your patrons didn’t like and you’d be out of a job. If you’ve been listening carefully these past few weeks, you’ll notice Paul had more than a few things to say that the Corinthians probably didn’t want to hear. He needed to be free to say them.
And as a church planter- Paul didn’t want to go into a new area and ask the people there to do anything other than listen and consider and believe the Good News about Jesus- that He was God in human flesh come to rescue and renew creation through His death and resurrection. So his goal was to be able to preach the Gospel for free.
But in the context of the last few chapters, this isn’t about pay. It’s about giving up our rights. Giving up our rights for the good of others and the sake of people hearing about Jesus.
If I were doing this on my own initiative, I would deserve payment. But I have no choice, for God has given me this sacred trust. What then is my pay? It is the opportunity to preach the Good News without charging anyone. That’s why I never demand my rights when I preach the Good News.
Paul uses this whole thing to give the Corinthians a picture of what it was he wanted them to catch- a desire to put others first, to lay down individual rights for the good of others. This was a selfish group of people. Most of the problems Paul was addressing with them through this letter could be summed up under the category of me first. Me first in my relationship with my spouse, me first in my relationship to friends, family, community. And me first will ruin anything- marriages, churches, countries, whatever it gets a foothold in. Paul wants them- and us, to see a better way. The way of Jesus, the one who, though He created everything, and had a respected role of rabbi/teacher, would wrap himself in a towel, bend down and do the work of a slave- washing His disciples feet. And he told them- as I’ve done for you- do for each other.
Let me say a couple things in conclusion here- 1st of all, thank you. Thank you evergreen. You have taken good, good care of Amy and I, of Jack and Jane. When we started this church we had just bought a house, had gotten pregnant, it seemed like a huge risk. Others cautioned us that we could be getting into big trouble- we knew we could potentially lose a lot. But God has taken good care of us, primarily through your love and care and support. I’m absolutely honored and privileged to be one of your pastors, one of your elders, and even more privileged that you allow me to do what I love to do- take care of this community, teach and lead in this community and do so without worrying that the time I give to you is time I should be out earning food for my wife and kids. Thank you.
Second, why do I do this? Because I want people to meet Jesus. And more than that, I want you to want people to meet Jesus.
Paul preached out of a sense of indebtedness and gratitude. He knew what it was Jesus had saved him from. He knew who he was before Jesus changed him. And it was the gratitude that came from reflecting on that which made him feel like he couldn’t do anything other than tell people about Jesus. I want us all to feel that same gratitude and let it work in us the same way...
