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Christian Living

Jesus Is the Way, Not the Destination

The Father Is the Destination and the Savior Provides the Path

Jesus tells Thomas, “I am the way.” The only way to get to the Father is through the Savior (John 14:5-6). He’s not a way. He’s the only way.

Though many people uphold the Christ as the primacy of the Trinity, we must remember that Jesus is the way. He is not the destination. The Father is the destination.

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

John preaches a message of repentance. He baptizes those who confess their sins. This is to prepare the way for the Lord (Matthew 3:1-12).

Though many people assume John is the one foretold by the prophets, he plainly confirms he is not. In fact, he is so insignificant in comparison that he is not even worthy to untie the Savior’s sandals (Acts 13:24-25).

John’s father pronounced this truth that John will prepare the way at John’s birth (Luke 1:76). And this is exactly what John does (John 1:23).

Jesus Is the Way

John prepares the way for Jesus. Jesus is the way. The Savior provides the way to the Father.

Our sin separates us from God, from being in the Father’s presence. But Jesus redeems us from the wrong things we have done and restores us into right relationship with his Father—with our Heavenly Father.

Not only is Jesus the way, but he is also truth and life (John 14:6). He shows us the way to the Father. He teaches us the truth about the Father. And he gives us life with the Father. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

This all comes through our Messiah, and he is the way to the Father.

The Church Shows the Way

The book of Acts refers to Jesus’s followers as the Way (Acts 9:1-2).

This doesn’t mean they replace Jesus as the way to the Father. Instead, they function more like John and show the way to the Father through Christ. He remains the only way to the Father.

As Jesus’s followers we should point the way to Jesus so that through him they can be brought into fellowship with the Father.

Jesus is the way, and the Father is the destination.

Our Role Today

The people we know may not know Jesus, but we can show them to him and he will provide the way to the Father. All they need to do is follow him.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Christian Living

Consider Moses’s Triennial Tithe

Help Feed Those Who Are in Need

The Old Testament law of Moses commands multiple tithes, not just one. The one in today’s passage is a triennial tithe—every third year. The purpose of this one is to help feed the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless, and the widows.

Giving this tithe to the Levites suggest it may also include priests since they all descend from Levite.

The priests, however, are covered elsewhere, so we can understand the meaning of Levites in this passage to include all the rest of the Levites who are not priests.

Their job supports the work of the priests in worshiping God. They deserve to eat, and this tithe helps.

The other three groups of people covered by this triennial tithe are foreigners, orphans, and widows. They all face a disadvantage in life.

First, foreigners are outsiders and not included in God’s promises to his chosen people. Yet the Lord wants his children to provide for their daily nutrition.

The orphans and widows struggle to take care of themselves, which presents a challenge in the male-focused culture of their day. God wants his people to likewise help feed them.

In addition to this triennial tithe, God has other provisions to help care for the needy. He permits gleaning and commands that the harvesters facilitate the effort.

There’s also the year of jubilee, which occurs every fifty years. This provides for debt relief and property restoration. He also prohibits charging excessive interest. These provisions all serve to help the poor and needy.

Do we need to follow this example today and give a triennial tithe to help the staff at church, foreigners in our land, and orphans and widows? We can, but we don’t have to.

Remember that Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament law and the prophets (Matthew 5:17).

Therefore, our Savior offers us a better way. Instead of a tithe, Jesus tells us to give generously to the poor (Luke 11:41).

We should do that. And generously may mean giving more than ten percent, that is, going beyond Moses’s triennial tithe.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Deuteronomy 25-27 and today’s post is on Deuteronomy 26:12.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

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Christian Living

It’s Ten Commandments Not Ten Suggestions

Let the Bible—Not Society—Guide Our Behavior

God gives Moses Ten Commandments, which he passes on to the people. We find these listed twice in the Old Testament (Exodus 20:3-23 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21).

They provide the foundation for the rest of the laws in the Old Testament, which Bible scholars tell us number 613 commands. That’s a lot to keep straight, so boiling it down to ten main ones is helpful.

The Ten Commandments

  1. Do not have any other gods.
  2. Do not worship idols (“other gods”).
  3. Do not use God’s name wrongly.
  4. Keep the Sabbath day holy.
  5. Honor your parents (which carries a blessing).
  6. Do not murder.
  7. Do not commit adultery.
  8. Do not steal.
  9. Do not lie (give false testimony).
  10. Do not covet.

The first four relate to our relationship with God, while the last six relate to our relationship with other people.

The fifth one, which is the only one with a blessing attached to it, serves as a transition between the four God-honoring commands and the six people-focused commands.

Though these were once affirmed by most people—including those who didn’t believe in God—this is no longer true.

The first four have slipped away from society’s consciousness, especially number four, which is something many Christians now disregard.

Of the remaining six commands, most are falling away from our culture’s moral perspective, with people having little concern about adultery, lying, and coveting.

The prohibitions against murder and stealing are now gray areas, and too many people fail to honor their parents.

Of these Ten Commandments, people tend to at best consider them as ten suggestions and at worse to disregard them completely.

Jesus Fulfills the Old Testament Law

Yet some people are quick to point out that these Old Testament laws, even the Ten Commandments, no longer apply. This is because Jesus says he came to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).

Yet within the same verse he says he didn’t come to abolish them. And he says it twice. While he did fulfill—and thereby negate—the ceremonial commands in the Old Testament with his sacrificial death and resurrection, he built upon and clarified the rest.

Sometimes Jesus confirmed them, but most times he extended them.

Consider his expanded teachings about murder and adultery. He extended murder to include anger (Matthew 5:21-22). And he extended adultery to include merely thinking about it, that is, lust (Matthew 5:28).

Jesus’s Top Two Commands

Jesus’s chief teaching, however, comes when he summarizes the Ten Commandments, along with the expanded list of 613, down to just two.

He says we’re to love God and love others. It’s that simple.

Jesus teaches that the most important command is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. And he says the second greatest command is to love other people as much as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39).

Realize, however, he doesn’t tell us to love them more than we love ourselves, but we shouldn’t love them any less.

And we shouldn’t treat Jesus’s commands as suggestions, either—even though the world does. We should take them quite seriously and do everything possible to obey them fully.

To do anything less is unacceptable.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

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Christian Living

WORLD News Group

A News Source Grounded in Biblical Truth

I stopped listening to the news on June 15, 2020. I had to. The negativity and biased rhetoric wore me down. It permeated my life and threatened my ability to function.

Though I didn’t like being out of touch, when I stopped listening to the news a weight lifted off me right away. I became happier and less agitated. It was a smart move on my part and overdue.

But after a two-and-a-half-year break, I started listening to the news again. It comes in the form of a podcast each weekday morning: “The World and Everything in It.”

It’s from WORLD News Group, which “produces sound journalism, grounded in facts and biblical truth.” This is exactly the news source I need.

It’s so counter to other news sources, that it took me a couple weeks to get used to it and embrace it, but I now so look forward to it every day.

They also have a biweekly magazine, which I subscribe to.

If you want to hear news that won’t confront your faith and challenge your beliefs, check out wng.org. It’s a news source you can trust.

My friend, Thomas Umstattd, recommended it to me. Now I’m recommending it to you. Please check it out.

Then you can recommend it to your friends.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

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Christian Living

Do You Worship the Cross?

We Must Guard Against Turning the Symbol of Jesus’s Death into a Modern-Day Idol

Do you worship the cross? The cross is the instrument of Jesus’s death when he died in our place for the wrong things we did—our sins. As such, it rises as a powerful symbol of our faith.

Yet some well-meaning people place too high of emphasis on this image. In effect, they worship the cross.

Don’t Point to the Cross

When people worship the cross, they end up making it a modern-day idol. They place crosses prominently in their homes and on their cars. They wear them on their body, be it in the form of jewelry, clothes, or tattoos.

Yes, this symbol of Jesus can serve as a means for us to talk to others about him. But how often do we do that? To make this work, we must live our life like Jesus.

Yet too often when we fall short and don’t exemplify him well, the cross we adorn—and adore—leads other people to confuse our failings with Jesus and who he is. And that’s exactly the kind of witness we want to avoid.

I’ve also heard people who refuse to attend a church that doesn’t prominently display the cross of Jesus on the building and have it on the inside. But they’re missing the point.

Point to Jesus

Jesus is what matters. The cross is secondary. It’s a symbol of the savior, not the savior.

Have you ever seen people bow down before a cross? I have. When they do this, they appear to worship the cross. Though we can’t know their motives, and they may be worshipping Jesus in their minds, this isn’t how it appears.

You may wonder if a crucifix (a cross with the suffering savior upon it) solves this problem. Though it visually lessens the disconnect between the savior and the instrument of his death, it can also become an image of worship.

A crucifix can serve as an idol just as much as a cross.

It would be an overreaction, however, to remove these iconic symbols from our lives. They serve as important representations of our faith, pointing to the savior we worship.

But we must be careful to not worship the cross.

Instead, we should worship Jesus who died on the cross and then rose from the dead to save us.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Christian Living

How to Deal with Poverty

We Should Continue to Remember the Poor

The Bible talks about the poor and teaches how to deal with poverty. Poverty shows up 21 times in the Bible, most in the practical advice-giving book of Proverbs. The word poor appears much more often at 176 times.

Combined, these passages give us much insight in how to deal with poverty and those who are poor.

Here are some key verses to consider:

Jesus tells us to be generous to those who are poor (Luke 11:41). This is the only verse we need. Jesus says it. We should do it. And don’t just give a little, be generous about it.

In addition, Peter, James, and John encourage Paul to continue to remember the poor, which he had been eagerly doing all along (Galatians 2:9-11).

We should follow their advice and example in how to deal with poverty, both that which is around us and throughout the world.

Jesus, however, says that we will always have the poor among us (Mark 14:7). This means we’ll never eliminate poverty—as some people hope to do. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

We should do whatever we can to help those who go without. And as we do so, we should do so in love (1 Corinthians 13:3).

These all address the problem of poverty. It reacts to what already exists. But what if we could be proactive and help people avoid poverty in the first place?

Consider this excerpt from my book Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide:

Many have cited the following three steps to avoid poverty. The source is unclear but may have originated with Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution.

Young people can avoid poverty if they follow three essential rules for success:

1. Complete at least a high school education

2. Work full-time

3. Wait until age twenty-one to marry, and get married before having a baby

People who follow all three rules have a 98 percent chance of not living in poverty. Furthermore, they have a 72 percent chance of joining the middle class.

Many people criticize this claim, some citing all manner of hate-filled motivations or ignorance. Yet if we look at this list, we know in our hearts that it’s correct. It’s common sense.

We can also logically see how someone who ignores these three essentials places themselves on a path that will likely lead them to needing government assistance and living a life of poverty.

What can we do to encourage teenagers to embrace these three essential rules?

Beyond that, what can we do to help those who didn’t or couldn’t follow them and find themselves in need? I’m thinking especially of the teenage mom left to care for her children on her own.

These are big questions without clear answers, but a good place to start is to find an organization already addressing one of these areas and working with them to make a difference.

Peter DeHaan from Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide

Quite simply, one response in how to deal with poverty is to encourage young people to make wise decisions and not rush into adulthood.

To do this, we can encourage them to complete high school, find the full-time job, and wait until their 21 to get married and have children.

For each person we encourage to do this, we help them avoid poverty. This may be the best way in how we can deal with poverty.

And for those who find themselves impoverished, we should do what Jesus says and give generously.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Christian Living

Celebrate the Family

We Must Stand Firm Against Society’s Attacks on Marriage and Children

As followers of Jesus, we need to reclaim what the Bible teaches about family. This is because the biblical ideal of family has taken a hit in today’s culture. Therefore, we must counter this and celebrate the family.

Today’s secular society views marriage as optional, divorce as inevitable, and children as a burden. They decry the nuclear family as old fashioned and irrelevant, even draconian.

The popular notion of traditional marriage is that it represses women, shackles men, and may not even be in the children’s best interest.

This perspective is wrong, and we know it. We must stand against this twisted perception of God’s intention for us.

The Path Forward

We must encourage one another to listen to what the Almighty says and ignore what our culture says, even when they attack us for it—especially when they attack us.

As we do so, we can turn to our faith communities and churches. They must take a lead in championing this cause, to reclaim and celebrate the family as God’s preferred plan for his creation.

He made us male and female in his image, with a holy mandate to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:27-28). The safety and security of family is his provision to accomplish this.

Yet too many churches today fall short of meeting this desperate need to elevate and celebrate the family.

Instead, they push aside what Scripture says and what Jesus teaches to embrace a non-biblical understanding in the areas of marriage, families, and sexuality.

Instead, our spiritual teachers must remind us of God’s way and counter the world’s perversion of it.

Sex is reserved for marriage, children are our delight, and divorce isn’t an option except in cases of unfaithfulness. Our spiritual leaders need to elevate and celebrate the family.

Yet too many of our faith communities are reluctant to celebrate the family for fear of alienating those who fall outside it. They’ve been criticized for gearing their programming to the needs of families, but this doesn’t mean they should stop doing it.

Instead, they should also provide support for those without families—regardless of their situation or reason. This includes single parents and single adults, be it not-yet-married, widow and widower, divorced, and celibate.

Everyone has a place in God’s family, and we need to acknowledge and support them. We need to make room for all of God’s children in our faith communities.

The Truth about Family

As we celebrate the family, we acknowledge that no family is perfect—just as none of us are perfect.

Each family has an element of dysfunction in it, but only in a few cases is this extreme. In most all families its function far outweighs its dysfunction.

We need to acknowledge the good that families offer when they do it God’s way.

We need to celebrate the family, offering support, encouragement, and a safe place from a world that criticizes and wants to stop it.

The Next Steps

We can start by celebrating our own family.

Then encourage others with their families too.

Next, we should seek a faith community that supports our efforts to honor God through our family.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

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Celebrating the Passion of Jesus

Embrace the Season of Lent in a Fresh Way

Many Christians and churches celebrate the season of Lent to remember Jesus and his passion for coming to earth to die for us and our sins.

This is a gift to us and not something we need to earn. When we accept Jesus’s present, he makes us right with Father God and reconciles us to him.

In this devotional, we’ll remember the season of Lent, building up to Jesus’s greatest gift to us: his death as the ultimate sin sacrifice.

Traditionally, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and continues through to Maundy Thursday (the day before Good Friday and Jesus’s death).

Some church calendars, however, end Lent on Good Friday and others on Holy Saturday. (Resurrection Sunday begins the Easter season.)

Because the passion of Jesus culminates with his sacrificial death, we’ll use that to conclude our devotional. This is a matter of convenience and not a theological statement or alignment with one Lenten calendar over another.

We think of Lent as lasting forty days. This parallels the forty days Jesus spends in the desert being tempted by Satan (Mark 1:12–13). This time of testing prepares Jesus for his public ministry, which culminates with his death and subsequent resurrection.

In truth, Lent spans longer than forty days. Though some church calendars tweak the details to make Lent cover forty days, let’s not worry if it’s longer.

Regardless of the details, the purpose of Lent stays the same. During Lent we focus on Jesus and his sacrifice for us.

Depending on the year, Ash Wednesday can start as early as February 4 or as late as March 10. This is because Ash Wednesday always occurs forty-four days before Good Friday, which falls on a different date each year.

Given this, we’ll treat the days of Lent as building up to Good Friday, starting with Day 1 on Ash Wednesday.

We’ll begin our story with Jesus’s prediction that he will die—and then rise again. Following that, we’ll focus on what occurs during Holy Week, starting just prior to Palm Sunday (the week before Easter).

This means we’ll expand the events of Jesus’s last few days before his crucifixion to span most of this devotional’s Lenten readings.

As a result, we’ll cover events prior to their appearance on the church calendar. For example, we’ll cover Palm Sunday on Day 6, several weeks before its actual date on the calendar.

As we move forward, we’ll give primary attention to the account in Matthew, weaving in passages from Mark, Luke, and John. This will give us a holistic perspective of the sacrificial death of our Savior.

We’ll also incorporate Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah to expand our appreciation. Along the way, we’ll tap into our imagination to better see things from the perspective of Jesus, his disciples, and the people he meets.

Throughout this, the goal is to consider Jesus’s passion and sacrifice for us from several vantages to offer a comprehensive Lenten devotional.

The result is an inclusive meditation to remember Jesus’s resolute aim to die on the cross as the ultimate sacrifice to end all sacrifices and save humanity. May God speak to you during this Lenten season.

Join us this lent in Celebrating the passion of Jesus.

Discover more about celebrating Jesus and his passion to save us in Peter’s new book, The Passion of Jesus. It is part of the Holiday Celebration Bible Study Series.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

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Christian Living

What Should Our Pastors Expect from Us?

We Must Give Our Spiritual Leaders Our Support

The post “What Should We Expect from Our Pastors?” looks at the wrong expectations too many parishioners place on their ministers. Now let’s look at the ways we should support our spiritual leaders, the things our ministers deserve to receive from us.

Pray for Them

We should first support our pastors with our prayers. In many of his letters Paul asks his recipients to “pray for us” (Colossians 4:3, 1 Thessalonians 5:25, and 2 Thessalonians 3:1). So do the writers of Hebrews (Hebrews 13:18).

Another time, Paul confirms that the prayers of the people helped protect him and his team (2 Corinthians 1:10-11).

Paul says we’re to pray for our government officials (1 Timothy 2:1-2). Even more so we should pray for our spiritual leaders.

Though the first group primarily impacts the physical parts of our lives, the second group addresses the spiritual aspects. While our physical nature will end, our spiritual nature will continue forever. It matters most.

Encourage Them

We can support our pastors by encouraging them. We should encourage them just as we want to be encouraged (Matthew 7:12).

Scripture repeatedly instructs us to encourage one another (2 Corinthians 13:11, 1 Thessalonians 4:18, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, and Hebrews 3:13). This includes our ministers and those who guide us spiritually.

And not only should we encourage our ministers, but we should also extend this same support to their families. The command to encourage one another covers them too.

Praise Them

We may not think of praising our ministers, but the work they do to advance the Kingdom of God is praiseworthy.

Though we should guard against assuming they can do no wrong and placing them on a lofty pedestal no one deserves, we must avoid the opposite. But this is what happens when we criticize them.

Yet too often we view everything our pastors do with a critical eye, scrutinizing all they say and do, as well as whatever they don’t say and don’t do. We criticize them. This is the opposite of praising them.

If we share our criticism with others, this is akin to gossip. Many Christians excel in gossip. They claim sharing this information helps others to better pray.

In truth, they’re simply gossiping, something Paul decries (Romans 1:29 and 2 Corinthians 12:20).

Our ministers deserve a double honor (1 Timothy 5:17). We should, therefore, support our pastors by rightly praising them and withholding criticism and gossip.

Offer Them Grace

Next, we support our pastors when we offer them grace. And this extends to their spouses and their children—especially their spouses and their children.

In his great love for us, God extends us his grace (1 Corinthians 1:3-4). We should offer this same grace to others, especially our spiritual leaders.

Pay Them

Last, we also support our pastors in a tangible way when we pay them. Paul writes that a worker deserves his wages (1 Timothy 5:18). Though this is a good principle to apply to all workers, the context pertains to our spiritual leaders.

Too often I’ve heard of people who consciously withhold their tithes and offerings to show their displeasure over something their minister did or didn’t do, said or didn’t say. This shouldn’t be.

Yes, some pastors do fall short, just as we all do. But we shouldn’t use money as a punishment-and-reward system to manipulate our pastor’s behavior. Instead, we should trust them to follow God’s leading in how they lead us.

Support Our Pastors

We support our spiritual leaders when we pray for them, encourage them, praise them, offer them grace, and pay them. They deserve nothing less. They deserve all this and more.

Consider what changes you should make to better support your spiritual leaders.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

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What Should We Expect from Our Pastors?

People Too Often Make Unreasonable Demands of Their Church Leaders

Surveys confirm that many ministers are overwhelmed, burnt out, and unhappy with their work. Many of them think about leaving the ministry, and some do.

They reason that there are better ways to earn a living, and they’re probably right. A big reason for this is that parishioners expect too much from their spiritual leaders.

Here are some things we expect from our pastors, even though we should not:

Always Available

When we call, we expect our pastors to answer, and to do so with a smile. It doesn’t matter when. When we email, we expect them to reply. And when we text them, we expect a response.

When we request to meet with them over a “concern,” we assume they’ll schedule an appointment—and soon. When we have a crisis, we insist they be there to support us. They must always have time for us. And if they don’t, they must make time.

In short, when we say jump, we expect them to jump. We presume they’re our on-demand support person for any situation at any time.

Give Flawless Sermons

We also expect our pastors to deliver impeccable messages. Their sermons must be engaging, easy to follow, and make us feel good about ourselves, without confronting what we do or think. If they make us squirm, they’re to blame.

They must be articulate, never misspeak, and evoke appropriate emotion without being too passionate or too dry. Their delivery must be textbook perfect.

Agree with Our Views

We also assume our pastors will agree with us. This goes beyond biblical interpretation and theology. It extends into politics, finances, and family.

If they preach a sermon that doesn’t align with our understanding of Scripture or expresses a view we disagree with, we’re quick to take offense. The disconnect is their problem and not ours.

We forget there’s value in other perspectives aside from our own. We’ve lost the art of hearing what others say with an open mind. And we can no longer embrace counter opinions as having value.

Be Present at Every Event

We, of course, expect our ministers to officiate every wedding and every funeral. And we anticipate they will do their part flawlessly. Any deviation from perfection justifies us taking offense at their conduct.

Beyond that they must be present every time the church doors are open.

They must accept every invitation to our parties and celebrations. Once there, they must be ready to offer a public prayer at any moment.

And at each one of these events, we scrutinize everything they say and do. Even worse is when they don’t say or do what we expect them to.

Have Perfect Families

Not only do we scrutinize our ministers over every word and action, we do the same for their families.

Their spouses must be beyond reproach, conducting themselves with precision, exemplifying excellence in every way and situation.

Likewise, their children must be well behaved at all times. They must never act up, rebel, or fail to be a positive example for our children.

Though we’re quick to offer our own offspring grace when they fall short, we hold our pastors’ kids to a higher standard.

Final Thoughts about What We Expect from Our Pastors

Though these expectations exist at all churches, they may be more pronounced at smaller ones, especially when the minister is the only staff person. Even so, parishioners at larger congregations also carry unwarranted expectations for their ministers.

We should remember that our spiritual leaders are people just like us. The things we expect from our pastors should be no more than what we expect from ourselves and are willing to do for others.

We should offer our ministers the same grace that God offers us. We should love them as Jesus loves us.

Anything less is unacceptable.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

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