Fast Food and Church

My mom likes to take us out to lunch frequently. Now, my children behave just fine in a nice restaurant, but with this many people, fast food is just faster, easier, and cheaper. So we go to fast food most of the time.

Our favorite is Wendy’s. They have the dollar menu, which makes it even cheaper, we like the food, and the people at our branch on the north side of town are very good at getting our order right.

But every once in a while, we decide to go to Carl’s Jr., Del Taco (only place in town with Cherry Coke:-), Round Table Pizza’s lunch buffet, Jack in the Box, Arbys, or Subway. We like the variety and every place has something different to offer. Do we feel guilty because we aren’t loyal to Wendy’s? No, of course not. That is what fast food is. We are the consumer and have the right to go where we want. Other than paying for our food and not destroying the premises, we don’t owe any one franchise anything.

There is something that has happened to American churches I don’t like, but just figured out last night (at 1:00 am- blaaahhh:-P). It has taken me several years to figure it out.

We American Christians treat our churches like they were fast food restaurants. We might go to one for a while, most of the time, but church B puts on better holiday programs, and the Internet has great councilors, and books are cheap so we buy several a month to tell us what we should think and believe. We may pay our tithes wherever we go the most often (or not), but we don’t feel we owe the church anything else. Pastors of churches and owners of fast food are the same thing; they are just supposed to be there when we want them and not take offence if we go to many different places for our spiritual food.

Is this biblical?

Short answer is “no,” but whenever have you heard me give a short answer?

Hebrews 13:17 “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”

I usually quote this verse in regard to government, but that is not really what it is talking about. It is talking about those who have the rule of your church; the pastor you choose to set under. We have a direct command from the Bible, here, to SUBMIT to our pastors because they “watch out for our souls.”

James 3:1 “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.”

Don’t have many different “pastors” (spiritual leaders) because we pastors are responsible for YOUR souls and will be held to a higher standard than anyone else. We pastors are answerable to God for not only our own souls, but those of all who come through the doors of our church. So James tells us to have very few spiritual bosses because it is not fair to put a pastor under this condemnation and then not give him the chance to care for you. Besides, he can’t do his job if you aren’t THERE.

The biblical requirements for a pastor (1 Timothy 3) are that he is not a drunk or polygamist, not a fighter, he is able to teach, blameless, vigilant, sober (not silly), of good behavior, hospitable, not greedy, patient, not envious, and have well behaved children …(“For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?”). The Bible says quite plainly that ruling a church is just like ruling a family and a man must be good at the family before he is to be given rule over the church. This means that parishioners are equal to a man’s children! They are NOT just customers!

(By the way, you won’t find the requirement to even BE a preacher, much less a good one, on that list.)

Pastors are human. They do make mistakes sometimes. But I can guarantee that those mistakes are made with the best intentions in mind. Many people are more tolerant of a fast food restaurant giving them the wrong hamburger than of their pastor caring enough to be involved in their life.

“But isn’t it ‘Just You and Me Jesus?’ “

NO. There is nowhere in the Bible that tells us that. We are supposed to be part of a community of believers, a family, and that community is in ONE LOCAL ASSEMBLY.

Let me spell that out a little better:
q Children are to submit to and obey their parents.
q Wives are to submit to and obey their hubbies.
q The man is the head of the house and will be held directly responsible by God for the spiritual condition of his household.

BUT

The man is to find a pastor and sit under his authority and teaching in order to grow (this is part of “caring for his own”). Sometimes this does take some shopping around. That is not what I am talking about. I am also not saying you should have your ultimate loyalty to the pastor or the church. That belongs to God.

What I am saying is that just as a child needs parents in order to grow up right, Christians need pastors. A baby Christian who doesn’t place himself under the authority of a pastor is the same as a daycare baby (daycare.homeschoolwwh.com). He is in extreme danger of “growing up” unbonded to anyone. He becomes a church hopper (equivalent of Reactive Attachment Disorder.) He can’t learn all that his potential would otherwise let him (Learning Disorder). He can’t settle in enough to be of any good to the body of Christ as a whole (ADHD).

James 5:14 “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”

This does not say “Go to the Internet and find a spiritual warrior to say a prayer for you.” Or “send some money to a TV preacher or missionary so he will put you on his prayer list.” It says to call the elders of THE CHURCH- the church you have submitted yourself to- and they are to pray and anoint with oil. This anointing is not some magic ceremony that is to be preformed. I have looked it up. This “oil” was Olive Oil, which is highly medicinal. The word “anoint” here is not the one used for sacred events but for ACTS OF APPLYING MEDICINE! James is telling the parishioners to call the leaders of their church so the leaders can not only pray for them but can physically minister to their needs. Internet and TV preachers CAN’T DO THIS! Only your local pastor CAN. But you have to CALL him. You have to tell the leadership of your church you have a problem.

Yes, I know. Many pastors today think they have the same role as the owner of a fast food restaurant; make sure the place is ready just in case any one cares to show up. But if you look, you WILL find a pastor that understands his role as your shepherd, your (I hate to use the term, but no other one fits) spiritual father. No, he doesn’t replace our Father God, but leads you closer to Him just as a child’s father is supposed to do.

(Fast Food is not nearly as accurate of a term as Prostitute is to describe the feeling we pastors have. We stand on the corner all gussied up with a repartee of activities to offer. We will give you what you want and smile and nod when you tell us you are going to see someone else this week, but what we really want is your love.)

The fact is that you DO owe your pastors more than just tithes. When a pastor (and by “pastor” I mean the senior pastor, teachers, musicians, etc.- the leadership of a church) “does” a service, it empties him. It is very exhausting. We get this tired no matter how few people there are in the congregation. How does a pastor get “filled up?” By the people being there to hear him. The more people, the more refreshed and “fed” a pastor will be after the service. I know this because I have watched my parents pastor for my whole life and now my hubby and I are assistant pastors and experiencing the same thing. I have seen the exhaustion and discouragement on their faces when no one is there. I have felt the depression that comes when yet another family simply quits for no apparent reason. I have felt the hurt when someone who is supposed to be coming to us for their spiritual food excitedly tells us about some new prayer quake in the neighborhood who is “helping” them. (“Oh, Wendy’s, Burger King offers French fries! Isn’t that cool! I am going there tomorrow to get some.” What? We offer French fries. Always have. You never told us you wanted any.)

When you go from church to church, when you don’t submit, you are stealing from the pastors. You are not giving to them but just going to enjoy the show. They “feed” you and you aren’t paying them back with your presence, emotional and spiritual support. You are using them.

You DO owe us more than your tithes. In fact, keep the money. We don’t even want your money. God will supply without you. He always has.

You owe us to BE IN CHURCH where your very presence feeds US. You owe us the chance to teach you about serving God, something we CAN’T DO if you are not HERE. We will have to stand before God Himself and give answer for YOUR SOUL. The least you could do is give us a chance to help you.