20: Holding Pastors Accountable

Welcome to the Ready for Eternity podcast. I'm Eddie Lawrence. Pastors have a very difficult and a very important job to do, yet they're human just like the rest of us.

They have the same failings and weaknesses and flaws as everyone else. Therefore, they need accountability.

That's what we're going to be talking about today, holding pastors accountable. The church often seems to have reluctance for holding pastors accountable, yet in 1st

Timothy 5, 19 through 21, we have a very clear command to rebuke pastors who persist in sin.

Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear.

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.

1st Timothy 5, 19 through 21. This is perhaps one of the most neglected and disobeyed commands in the

New Testament. There's many reasons why a congregation may be slow to rebuke a pastor.

For one, rebuking anyone is a very unpleasant task. We kind of hope that someone else in the church will take responsibility for it, but often no one will.

We just hope the problem will resolve on its own. Another issue that arises is the reluctance of lay people to hold overseers, elders, or pastors accountable for their sins.

This unwillingness to rebuke sinning church leaders stems from the perception that the clergy hold a special status within the church.

Many people think the pastor has a connection to God that lay people lack. In reality, the categories of clergy and laity are not a

New Testament concept. We talked about this a little bit back in podcast episode 8.

Despite the difficulty, holding pastors accountable is not optional.

When we fail to hold church leaders accountable, we allow damage to the church.

When we fail to hold them accountable, we permit leaders who have a sense of entitlement to persist in their sin.

Their public rebuke is meant to not only bring them to repentance, but also to serve as an example to everyone else as to what happens when sins are biblically dealt with.

Of course, such rebuke must follow Jesus's instructions in Matthew 18 verses 15 through 20.

Like any other Christian in sin, we must confront an unrepentant pastor.

Along with Jesus's instructions in Matthew 18, 1 Timothy 5 19 tells us that there is a process to follow when it concerns pastors.

We'll talk about that process in next week's podcast episode. If a pastor still fails to repent, the problem must go before the entire congregation where they must rebuke him in the presence of all, as 1

Timothy 5 20 says. This obligation is not an option. If we are going to be obedient to the

Lord, we cannot decide to not rebuke a man for his sins just because he is the pastor.

If we fail at our obligation of holding pastors accountable, then we too are guilty of sinning.

We can't miss the point in 1 Timothy 5 21 that there can be no partiality.

Pastors do not get a pass because they are pastors. They must be held accountable when they sin and refuse to repent.

Being a pastor does not exempt a man from accountability. According to James 3 1, it makes them even more accountable.

This verse also reminds us that our hearing of the matter must be fair. We must not carry out church discipline based on assumptions and biases.

A man is not guilty just because he's accused. We also must not assume he's innocent just because he is a pastor.

William Mounce in the Word Biblical Commentary said something that I am in complete agreement with.

The abuse of discipline has often led to a harsh and intolerant spirit, but neglect of it has proved a danger almost as great.

When faced with sinning elders, a spineless attitude is deplorable. As strange as it may seem, a sin that seems to be prevalent among a number of pastors nowadays is that of being a bully.

Bully pastors are frequently allowed to be abusive, autocratic tyrants because of a mistaken impression that, as Christians, it's our duty to submit to them.

The New Testament is clear that we are indeed to submit to our leaders, but only those who meet the

New Testament's qualifications. We have no obligations to submit to a man who does not meet the biblical criteria for the role of pastor.

In fact, 1st Timothy 5 19 through 21 tells us our obligation is to rebuke such a man.

Spinelessness, in the form of doing nothing, is a sure way of allowing a sinning pastor to destroy a congregation.

To do nothing is to risk damaging or destroying people's faith. People often remain silent because they fear that holding the pastor accountable will split the church.

It may or it may not. We can't know the future, so we can't know for certain what may happen when we hold a pastor accountable, but if the church splits, it splits.

A church split is not the desired outcome, and we must do everything we can to ensure unity.

What we cannot do is preserve unity at the expense of disobeying a clear command of Scripture.

We cannot disobey God in order to please men. If it's a certainty that the pastor is unrepentant, the church must rebuke him regardless of the outcome.

We must trust God's instructions. He knows better than we do.

Christian men and women who witness a pastor repeatedly sinning and do nothing about it are spineless, and they're acting in a cowardly manner.

The reason for our reluctance to hold a pastor accountable is irrelevant. To stand by and do nothing while a pastor continues in sin reveals, at best, that we are ignorant of our biblical obligations.

At worst, it shows we have a yellow streak a mile wide. Holding pastors accountable requires intestinal fortitude.

Disciplining anyone who refuses to repent is unpleasant in the extreme.

It takes courage to step up and obey the New Testament's commands in this regard. Regardless, it should be done sooner rather than later.

Sin should not be allowed to fester in a congregation. Besides, correcting a problem while it's still small is easier than waiting until it's a huge problem that will be difficult to deal with.

One thing is certain. If more churches obeyed 1 Timothy 5 19 through 21, we'd see a lot fewer news headlines about sinning pastors and church scandals.

Thanks for listening to the podcast. We hope this episode has deepened your understanding of Scripture.

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That's all for now. Keep studying your Bible, growing closer to God, and getting ready for eternity.