WHO IS THE BOSS?

A Biblical Perspective On "Today's Pastoring"

I recently got this email in my inbox,

"I am in a valley of decision. My Pastor announced that in October of this year, he was resigning from the Church. I need some direction as to what direction the Lord wants me to go in. I do not even know if the Church will stay together or fold, but I know that I need to serve Jesus regardless. This is a real trying time for me. I do not know what to do in Jesus. Do I stay, go into the evangelistic field, start a church, take this one over as Pastor, or what? My heart is full of hurt right now. I know that as a minister, I should be strong, but I know the pain in my heart is real as well. Please, pray for me, and the church, as time comes for our Pastor to step down and enter into the Evangelistic field."

This could be a typical domino effect of a hierarchal or passive domineering leadership. Our churches have become a parlor for everything the world has to offer in government, administration, leadership and accountability. So much so, that many leaders confess that the church is like a business. Church is not a business and the Pastor is not your boss! In the world, you work for a boss, but in this kingdom the real boss is Jesus and you cannot work as you should except you abide in him (1 Cor 15). This 'boss and business' mentality needs to stop. Not that we don't have natural urges, because Paul himself confessed to wanting to boast or overly use his authority, but he would rather not, knowing better.

We have failed to realize that they are two kingdoms on earth, one that is run by satan and the other run by the Lord. These two kingdoms are strikingly opposite and the subjects in one kingdom are sharply peculiar to the other. If for any reason the peculiarities have ceased, then compromise has fostered and the two kingdoms have merged.

However, according to the bible, this is impossible and should never happen, if so, then apart of one of the kingdoms have compromise their landmark. Unfortunately, some of the subjects in the greater kingdom (of Jesus Christ) have fallen to this trap and mountains of untold problems have festered.

The Lord clearly told us that in this kingdom, the first shall be the last. Yet, like the other kingdom, the first is first in many church leadership. In this kingdom, the Lord also told us that the greatest is to serve the others, but instead, the members go hungry while the leaders drive fancy cars, have private jets, live in large houses and eat well. In this kingdom, the Lord clearly commands the pastors and all leaders not to be Lord over his heritage, but rather to be an example to the flock. Yet still most pastors want to own and run God's show and hide under the pretense of false humility.

Who really is the boss, is it the Pastor or Jesus. When did God assign an under Shepard to wave a big stick of forced tithing with an obedience to every word from his or her mouth, regardless of it's biblical authority or spiritual guidance. Who's the boss anyway? Paul did tell us to obey them that have the rule over us, not one man but them. Not physical emperors, but humble servants who lead by doing rather than by constant commanding. The days of Moses Leadership are over, it was prophesied and now received; "It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God"

(John 6:45) In others words, your direct commandment come from the Lord and the pastor is just a confirmer or help.  When David went to go give his brothers food, around the time the philistines was at war with Israel, he left the fold to a number of servants. In other words, he is the shepherd, but he left to assist his brothers and his servants took over the shepherding while he was gone. The servants are not the shepherd, but together they oversee the sheep while David is out.

"It should also be noted that the elders were instructed to shepherd the flock of God, as we see in Acts 20:28-30:

'Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.'

Not once in the New Testament do we see just one person being called "the pastor." It seems obvious that this was always intended to be a team effort - No one man can be everything to the flock of God that shepherding requires. Those who are under a single person who tries to be all things to everyone are inevitably poorly cared for sheep.

Nevertheless, pastors are constantly bombarded by such foolish notions as "my life, (my children or my ministry...) would not be in such bad shape if we had a better pastor!" The unrealistic expectations put on pastors can be not only unrealistic, but sadistic and cruel. Even the greatest pastor is not God, and no pastor is here to take God's place in our life.

Even though the Moses type leadership is gone, many fail to even exemplify Moses, who the bible said, in his time, was the meekest man in all the earth. My God do you know how low you have to 'seem' to be called the meekest man. This man didn't even retaliate when accused, every time God had to step in for him. Today the pastor's office is so magnified that all other offices or gifts of the spirit seem subordinate to it.

Over twenty people in the New Testament who are referred to as apostles, only a couple who are referred to as prophets, and only one who is called an evangelist-Philip. We do not have a single person in the New Testament who is called a pastor. This verse, Ephesians 4:11, is the only place in the New Testament where this ministry is even mentioned. This leads us to a very important question. How did this ministry, which is only listed one time with no definition, and not a single New Testament example of it given, come to so dominate the ministry of the church?

First, we should not immediately conclude that this is least entirely wrong, because we do not have an explicit example of this ministry in the New Testament, we have an implicit one in the Lord Himself, just as we do all of the ministries. Leading and guiding the flock is basic to how the Lord shepherds His flock, which He does primarily through those He has given this ministry to.

The Greek word translated "pastor" here is "poimen," which is defined as "a shepherd, one who tends herds or flocks," not merely one who feeds them. Tending speaks of protecting them from predators, keeping them healthy, examining their pastures for any noxious vegetation, as well as providing them with pure water to drink. All of these are likewise the responsibility of this ministry in the church.

WHO IS YOUR COVERING?

Your covering is Jesus Christ and not your pastor and might I add you have the right to disobey your Pastor if he is out of line with the 'word' in any capacity. Peter stood boldly and said, we ought rather to obey God rather than men. What importance on God's direction than man's ideology. The

Hebrew boys that were capture told old Nebuchadnezzar, "we are not mindful of your..." In other words, we don't care what you have to say, we are following Jehovah. Nevertheless, these guys knew God and his word. The only time you can disobey leadership is to obey God; in this case you are disobeying to obey, as my pastor told me.

Someone had this to add,

"Most of us have heard the question "Who is your covering?" at some point. This is a lot like the saying, "God helps those who help themselves," meaning it is a common term but it's not actually in the word and not necessarily true.

For years I have cringed when I heard people say things like "so and so is coming under our authority" or "I'm submitting my ministry to 'so and so's' authority." In the same way that the Babylonian value system enumerated in Revelation 18:12-13 is a upside-down version of God's value system, the world's understanding of authority is an upside-down view of God's authority.

World system authority is the right to manage people. Spiritual authority is the right to serve people. In the world we get more authority through faithful management. In the kingdom we get more authority through faithful service.

This sounds good and is not controversial in the least, but when it comes to practical implementation, we have a tendency to rely more on our 'born and raised in the world system' experience than on our spiritual understanding."

I'm not trying to incite rebellion, but our Pastors today need to fall in the role of administrating with the Holy Spirit to the flocks they are given, rather than be control oriented; whether easily seen or psychologically.

On another note, many preachers and advocates to this domineering type ungodly leadership usually use the Elijah and Elisha scenario. They claim one should follow the pastor or a particular minister to get their anointing, similar to how Elisha followed Elijah. Not so. Because of this many have missed the true meaning of this beautiful scenario.

Like most of the Old Testament stories, this Elijah and Elisha scenario was unequivocally pointing to Jesus Christ alone. In this we see the resurrection and what it means to every believer. Similar to Elijah, when Jesus ascended he passed the mantle (life and resurrection power) of his spirit to every believer who wholly follows him. Then and only then the believers can do double of what Jesus did. That's the reason he said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do" (John 14:12). Remember also that Elijah had to pass through the water, which represents water baptism in Jesus name. Therefore, the Elijah and Elisha scenario was unequivocally pointing to salvation and its dynamo promises.

Also, when Paul said to follow me as I follow Christ, he wasn't pointing to following a man; because if we follow Paul as he follows Christ, it would be Christ we're following and not Paul. The same can be said about obeying leadership. Obey as the leader give directives from God.

EPHOD

In the Old Testament, one main method used to communicate with the Lord was through what is called an 'Ephod' or commonly known as the 'breastplate of righteousness.' This is a square plate mounted on the priest's breast and was covered with 12 precious stones, which represents the 12 tribes of Israel. What would happen is that the Lord's glory would reflect off the stones and spell out what he had to say.

Usually the priests have the privilege of communicating with God, as they were the only ones who could wear the ephod; though they were certain exceptions, like King David. It is from these dialogues, via the ephod, that a godly leader would know what to do in a particular situation and how to instruct Israel or give godly directive.

For instance, David use the ephod before going into battle, "And David knew that Saul secretly practiced mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring hither the ephod. Then said David, O LORD God of Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake. Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O LORD God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the LORD said, He will come down. Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the LORD said, They will deliver [thee] up" (I Sam 23:9-12).

We see this recorded in 1 Samuel 30:7-8 also, and it reads, "And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David. And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake [them], and without fail recover [all]."

Every time David or any godly Israelite leader would make a decision, they would consult the Lord first. So much so, that Saul went as far as to consult a witch to bring up the 'Man of God' for some godly directives before war. Why? They knew that the word of God is the final authority in any situation. So if they have the word, they have the end from the beginning or a sure way to pursue.

That's not the reason for mentioning the ephod. This is it; what Jesus has done was to make each and every born again believer a priest (1 Pet 2:9). Therefore, each and every born again believer have their own ephod. The old breast plate of righteousness have been abolish and Christ has clothes us in his righteousness (Heb 10:14); and we always have "boldness to come to the throne of grace."

What has taken place then, is that the middleman has been completely cut out. We (born again believers only) can each come to God and receive instructions; and 'church' leadership under this new way would be conformation from the spirit of God through a general consensus.

GOING TO CHURCH...

One doesn't go to church to worship God, as most people exclaim, "I just go to church to worship God and I don't care who is who or what is what;" that's one of the reason he tore down the temple worship, represented by his body. Now, we worship, whenever and wherever. Worship is a personal thing, between you and God. When we come together to worship we come to fulfill the scripture that says, "iron sharpeneth iron:" not to personally 'get your praise on.'

Surprisingly, I thought I had the ephod teaching quite covered until I started coming to church less and less and would make myself busy on the evangelical field. Then one Monday night back in prayer meeting I was shocked to see that the ephod in us is far more powerful together.

We were all singing and clapping hands until the moderator instructed us to hold a partner and pray/worship for/with them. I was kind of 'feeling dry' or out of it and my mind was on a problem at hand. All of a sudden, while the person was praying/worshiping, I began to break out in tongues, singing and felt rejuvenated; then the Lord began to speak to me, comforting me on the problem that I was thinking on and giving me added assurance that it was taken care of.

It was then he also revealed to me the resourcefulness of the ephod together. Back in the Old Testament the priest would wait for the glory of God, which would then reflect off the stones and communication would begin with the priest. In this case while the other person was worshipping/praying the glory reflected off her and shone on my ephod and God ministered to me; even when I didn't ask. Truly, "iron sharpeneth iron."

Also, the ephod can then be seen as the Holy Spirit today; though the Holy Spirit is much more unique and powerful than the ephod ever was and can ever be, so it's hard to make a comparison.

God is healing the Local Church.  Time comes to reform the Local Church. I believe there should be Local Church Reformation in the following area of the Local Church setup.

The Purpose of the Local Church:

1. The Local Church is a place of gathering. Heb. 10:25.
2. The Local Church is the place of spiritual feeding. Jn. 21:15-19.
3. The Local Church is the place of discipleship. Matt. 28:19-20.
4. The Local Church is the place of equipping. Eph. 4:12 5. The
5.  Local Church is the place of sending anointing. Acts. 13:1-3.
6. The Local Church is the place of Corporate Prayer. Matt. 21:13.
7. The Local Church is the place for edification. 1 Cor. 14:26

WOMEN AND LEADERSHIP/HEADSHIP

Seeing that this article is so controversial already, let me stir up some other facts as it relates to headship. Women should not usurp authority over a man in any capacity (<<click it).

From creation until now, God has been teaching us this lesson. If women are to Men as Men are to Christ (Eph 5:24), then they shouldn't break the spiritual system of overriding divine law and men should take the role of Jesus more seriously in all humility, though he was God. The day we as Christians get that privilege to override Jesus Christ (who is God), then women will get the right to override men. I know this is touchy topic, because we have eaten into the "me, myself and I trilogy" of the New Age and the "we don't want to offend women" saga.

Many preachers have gone as far as to use this as gauge to gain popularity and enhance their sermons. These preachers know the woman's place, but because of the devil's plot, called feminism, they also know godly women are now feeling insecure in their rightful place, so a quick fix to their sermons would be a little feminist praise statement with a show of deep concern. This usually gives an explosive response from the congregation, which is usually a 60% more woman than men. Bishop Eddie long calls this "sound good theology;" it usually sounds good and it gets the crowd going, but it ain't necessarily true, based on the "word". The untold damages that have been done by this crude practice have left many congregations out of the will of God.

I know they were women leaders in the bible and I'm not disputing that. Here is what I am trying to say, a woman should never be the head of anything, but they can lead. Women can have leadership, but not headship. They lead in the house, but not the head of it. They lead in finances, but not the head of it.

A person might say, “Well look at all the women leaders we have now in the church, God couldn’t be stupid. Their ministries are being confirmed by signs and wonders.” In coming years and even present, we see many homosexuals preachers and prelates, does that make it right? Numbers doesn’t justify in God’s book. They are millions of persons in prison, does that make what they did right? Neither does sign and wonders alone justify in God’s book, only his word and principles stand; which are equal. Even the devil can use signs and wonders, as it was prophesied that many of those would rise up in the last days. I’m not anti-woman, but the proper perspective must be given. The homosexual preachers are not going to decrease; in fact the numbers will go up. And I don’t think this will stop women from usurping authority over the men on a general scale, but the proper perspective must be preached whether accepted or rejected, in the light that someone who fears God will run with godly principles.

While in an Anglican school in my youth, the principal had to terminate his office because of fraud or alleged embezzlement of funds and there was no available principal to replace him. So the Vice Principal became the acting principal. All through my stay at that school, a couple of years, the Vice Principal was always the acting the principal. So I decided to enquire why he wasn't made principal, seeing that he is available, able, qualified and posses many years of service to the school; starting out as a student. I got to understand that in an 'Anglican run school', only a priest or ordain minister can be the principal. The furthest a secular person can excel to is vice principal, regardless of how qualified he or she is. But though he or she might not be called Principal, if there is none, they still do the work as a principal (acting-principal).

Likewise, when a man of God opt-out of duty for whatever reason and God chooses to use a woman, as in the case with Deborah, it is usually to our shame. And even though God mightily uses her, she cannot have headship, but rather lead in whatever capacity she is given; she's an "acting-man"

The secular staff at my former school might deem the case with the Vice Principal unfair; however, these are principles to abide under if you choose to work there. When a priest started the school, he knew why he laid down this principle; he was the one who founded it. Likewise, God is the one who made the earth and he knows why he set this rule into place after the fall of man; and if women choose to live here, under God, they have to abide by his principles.  After all, he is the boss.

Here are three books that compliment what you've just read: -

1. "Rethinking the wine skin"  Found at:
   http://www.injesus.com/Books/Details.cfm?ProdId=FA000LH7
   
   
2. "Whose your covering?" Found at:
   http://www.injesus.com/Books/Details.cfm?ProdId=JA000LH9
   
   
3. "The Glorious Church!" The third book is free online, found at:
   http://www.gloriouschurch.com/.
   
   

   These might also interest you: Is your church apart of the New World Order?    Catholic sex scandal