“Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry”
—I Corinthians 10:14
- The pastor should not be in love with degrees on his wall or titles before his name
The love for such has caused unworthy schools to rise up and award hasty degrees for little or no learning and a lot of money. In the days of our Lord, it was greetings in the marketplace which the religious leaders loved. These days, it’s Apostle, Eminence, Doctor and Bishop and the like. Let us be careful here.
- A wise pastor will not love his study more than he should
True, most pastors need to spend more time in the study with the open Bible than they do. But here and there, we find ministers who would rather study than minister, rather exegete Romans than call on the elderly at the nursing home, and prefer their commentaries and study of the original languages than sitting down with the children to tell them of Jesus.
- A pastor should not overly love his denomination
Denominations are simply assemblages of churches agreeing on certain doctrines or ways of doing ministry. They are not found in Holy Writ as such, and should never be equated with orthodoxy or made the standard of anything. The pastor who lives for the denomination may be putting a bureaucracy in place of the Lord.
- The pastor should not love privacy too much
Now, I’m all in favor of privacy, of solitude so a person can be quiet, meditate, or be creative. But the danger is in overloving our privacy. My experience is that the preacher who becomes almost paranoid in protecting his privacy may be trying to hide some secret sin. Best to open the doors and love people and have nothing to hide. It’s a wonderful feeling.
- The pastor must not love his drinks too much
Lots of today’s pastors are good friends of anything in bottle, thereby becoming drunkards, drug-dependent and drug-addict. Loving drinks has led to shame, regret and severe loss of godly respect.
- The pastor should beware of loving sleep too much
The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about this, you sluggard. Too much sleep leads to indolence, laziness and ungodly consequences.
- The pastor should be careful of loving power too much
Too much love for power and positions engenders politics in the church and Shortchanged people. Too much love for power makes pastors to rule over people, trample upon them and become one with oppressors of the Lord’s people.
- The pastor should take care not to love his position too much. He will be leaving it sooner or later, and should be careful to leave it in better shape than when he found it. No position is permanent, sooner or later, you will have to hand it over to others. But if you idolize position, you will lose your Lord.
- The pastor who loves the internet too much may be asking for trouble
Through the Internet, lots of ministers have become addicted to pornograpy. And porno have a way of wrecking you spiritually and destroy your moral fabric, until you will start doing stupid and foolish things in ministry.
- The pastor should be careful about loving beautiful women (and they’re all beautiful!) too much.
Women are almost always the majority in most churches and loving them too much has become a disease of our churches. Rape, sexual pervasion said, flings, affairs, premarital and extramarital affairs has become an epidemic of modern churches. Immorality is sitting as king in the life of many pastors and churches. The more reason God has withdrawn His hallowed presence from many altars
- When you love your football team too much
When your football or soccer team becomes your addiction and you can do whatever whenever they are playing, then you are into deep idolatry. You can waste time, resources and curse, swear and abuse because of simple game, it’s dangerous ground you are treading.
- When you love your one line of truth too much
Pastors that are one sided and imbalanced in their preaching, emphasis and doctrines will do a poor job of taking people to heaven. Even when they know they should balance it, yet their addiction to their one line of truth will turn them to erroneous preachers and will ruin the lives of many.
Anything you love too much is your idol and God and an idol cannot dwell in the same heart and place.
Dr. Francis Akin-John
Church Growth Consultant,
Growth Centre,
6/8, Mukadaq Close,
Off Palace Way,
Iyana-Odo, B/Stop,
Isheri-LASU, Road,Lagos.
08023000714.
akingrow@yahoo.com
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