The
Hireling by Hiram E. Sutton
What type of shepherd would put the sheep in
harms way
According to John
10:12-13 it
is one who is a hireling. Who himself is a wolf
in sheep's clothing. In John
10:12 John
uses the Greek word for "hired hand misthotos /mis·tho·tos
(one who is hired for pay).
It must be understood it is not wrong to
compensate as a reciprocation to those who rule
well and work hard at preaching and teaching or
handling the affairs of the church (1Tim
5:17-18). It is obvious that they are
deserving of wages earned. Their motive is to, "
shepherd the flock of God among you,
exercising oversight not under compulsion, but
voluntarily, according to the will of God; and
not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor
yet as lording it over those allotted to your
charge, but proving to be examples to the
flock. (1
Pet 5:2)" Therefore simply paying a pastor
doesn't automatically make him a hireling.
The true pastors motive is diametrically opposed
to the hireling who only seeks their self
interest. In (2
Cor 2:17b) Paul says the hireling peddles
the word of God, the Greek word for peddling (kapeleuo
/kap·ale·yoo·o) which means to engage in retail
business, with the implication of deceptiveness
and greedy motives—‘to peddle for profit, to
huckster, such is the motives of the hireling.
While the good pastor 1. handles the word of God
with sincerity (2
Cor 2:17c) 2. feeds the flock ().
The hireling has no desire to deny self when he
should be executing the tasks of shepherd to the
flock. (Matt
16:24, Luke
14:33). Their preference is to live off of
the "fat of the Lamb" and cloth themselves in
the luxury of their wool for a life of ease. The
hireling seeks to make merchandise of God's
people for personal material gain. The apostle
Peter says that "in their greed (greek pleonexia
/pleh•on•ex•ee•ah ) their desire to have more,
they "exploit you with false words" (2Pet
2:3). Peter goes on further to say they
"exploit" (emporeuomai /em·por·yoo·om·ahee )
i.e. to commercialize; make merchandise of, to
use others for personal gain. These hirelings
are artificial, not genuine in any sense. They
are not interested in the will of God but only
their self interest even at the expense of the
flock.
Note the following article of how the word of
God is prostituted for person gain.
According to an
article posted 06/24/2009 by Dionne Walker an
Associated Press Writer Creflo Dollar is
being sued by a California business man, Devone
Lawson, who claims Dollar stole his idea for
charging donors a monthly fee for receiving
devotional text messages. Looks like these guys
got one up on the temple money changers, they
have gone high tech!.
"Attorneys for Lawson estimate the $4.99 per
month subscription service generates more than
$50 million a year in revenue.
James Evangelista, of Page Perry, LLC, stated,
“This lawsuit exposes the absolutely worst kind
of greed and malfeasance — that which is
conducted under the cloak of a religious
enterprise. Apparently, Rev. Dollar and the
Dollar Ministries do not practice what they
preach, unless the ‘prosperity gospel’ they
preach justifies fraud and theft in the
attainment of material wealth.”
Creflo Dollar is not alone in turning the church
into a place of business , there are others
making outlandish promises of wealth to those
who send them money, claiming that God has told
them to tell the people to send a "seed of
faith."
Pastors are now being called CEO's, they have
adopted all the persona of the business world
even its practice of profit making, their speech
is that of the secular business world."
Our Lord Jesus said thus, ..."“Take these things
away; stop making My Father’s house a place
of business.” (John
2:16)
The Hireling sees the wolf coming, and leaves
the sheep and flees
From what does the hireling flee from. He flees
from what should be his normal duties when the
wolf approaches, which should be pursing the
will of God for his station in life. These
duties should always: (1) have the concerns of
the chief Shepherd (Christ) in mind. (1Pet
5:1-4) 2. Protects the Flocks as a Watchman
(Acts
20:28-29). 3 Feeds the flock and builds them
up (John 21:15-17; Eph
4:11-12) 4. Gathers the scattered,
strengthen believers (Acts
14:21-22, Acts
15:32, Acts15:41, Acts16:5, Acts
18:23, Heb
12:12). This is the pattern that God has
laid out for those who shepherd the flock of
God. These duties are to be carried out in the
context of self sacrifice. (Mark
10:28)
The hireling flees from the labor of his office;
He flees from the sacrifices of his office; He
flees from the self denial of his office; He
flees from the reproaches of his office; He
flees from the the responsibilities of his
office; He runs from the cares and anxieties of
his office.
Because the hireling has no interest in
executing the duties of his office he will never
sacrificially give himself to the flock, because
he his a hireling, a wolf in sheep's clothing
himself. As a result the wolf - his pack
members, both male and female - are able to
bring destructive heresies and false teachings
practically unchallenged into the church,
seeking to draw disciples after themselves, they
savagely go through the flock of the hireling
and ravish it (Acts
20:29-30). Once a hireling is in place you
can be assured that the wolves will dine often
where he is, bringing in false teaching after
false teaching, poisoning and infecting the
flock every chance they get. Making them
dependant on the intoxication of false teaching,
so they may continually eat of the fat of the
lambs.
The hireling fears having sound doctrine taught
to the congregation, because to do so exposes
him and the pack he runs with and deprives him
of the hireling benefits. The hireling nor the
wolf will never exegete scripture according to
sound hermeneutics nor will they ever teach the
whole counsel of God (Acts
20:26-27) so as to warn the wicked person of
their way and to protect the sheep. The
hireling will never test a wolf to see if he is
approved by God (1John
4:1) or to see if his message aligns with
the word of God, such as the believers did at
Berea (Acts
17:11).
Because they compare one another to each other,
rather than the word of God the wolf will always
find an open door to walk in and brutalize the
sheep, for there is no shepherd serving as the
door and representing the concerns of the Chief
Shepherd
The hireling exploits the sheep by means of
false words literally, “fabricated words” (greek
plastois) and teachings (2
Pet 2:3) in pursuing their selfish ambition.
They are good at mixing the concoction of truth
and error to produce spiritual sickness and
ultimately spiritual death. The most
heartbreaking thing about the exploitation by
the hireling is the fact they are able to blend
in with the sheep themselves because there is a
lack of discernment and Biblical knowledge
within the Church. This has allowed the
hirelings to flourish like weeds in an unkept
lawn, to the extent the grass__ true shepherds__
are barely recognizable. One day the Lord Jesus
will strip the sheep's costume off of the wolf
exposing them for what they are (Matt
7:22-23).
I want to quote from a message given by Dr
David Ryser call "The Prostitute in the Pulpit"
as found on blog True
Discernment.
“… I stand by my statement that most American
Christians do not know God–much less love Him.
The root of this condition originates in how we
came to God. Most of us came to Him because of
what we were told He would do for us. We were
promised that He would bless us in life and take
us to heaven after death. We married Him for His
money, and we don’t care if He lives or dies as
long as we can get His stuff. We have made the
Kingdom of God into a business, merchandising
His anointing. This should not be. We are
commanded to love God, and are called to be the
Bride of Christ–that’s pretty intimate stuff. We
are supposed to be His lovers. How can we love
someone we don’t even know? And even if we do
know someone, is that a guarantee that we truly
love them? Are we lovers or prostitutes?"
The hireling would have you be and remain a
prostitute by hiding the truth about the one who
loves you so much that he gave his life for you.
In some cases material gain is not the goal of
the Hireling but a pursuit of recognition,
distinction, fame and power
Even though the application of the Greek term
for hireling is 'misthotos', which implies
money, yet there are other unworthy motives
which influence worldly- minded ministers. The
hireling may have a desire to live at ease, to
provide against want, to be distinguished from
the crowd, etc. The hireling minister may pursue
distinction, fame or power, etc., while money
may be no consideration. The man who is ruled by
any one of these desires, displays a worldliness
that is oppose to the will of God.
I was told of a pastor in Birmingham, Alabama
who made the statement that he wanted people to
know that "he" had been the Pastor of his
particular church. He wanted to do this by
leaving a legacy of things "he" had
accomplished, so folks would know "he" had been
there. This is typical of the hireling, they are
only concern about their own interest and not
that of Christ.
In their self absorption they "commend
themselves" thinking they are approved of God.
In commending themselves, they set themselves up
as the standard (2
Cor 10:11-12) thus failing to realize it is
God who commends (2
Cor 10:18) not man.
The hireling takes pride in outward appearance
and image (2
Cor 5:12b). They appear as ministers of
righteousness but they are in reality agents of
Satan (2
Cor 11:14-15). In projecting their images of
righteousness they forge alliances and
friendships with those in the world who are of
like mind, to accomplish what they believe are
works of righteousness without following the
truth of God's word. They tend to be pragmatic
in their approach and ignore God's method of
doing things.
The hireling is incapable of echoing the words
of Peter, "...“Behold, we have left everything
and followed You.” (Mark
10:28) nor the words of Paul, " Not seeking
mine own profit," says Paul, " but the profit of
many, that they may be saved." (1
Cor 10:33)
Read what God says in Ezekiel
34:1-10 about
the hireling shepherds:
|
1
Then the word of the LORD came to me
saying,
2 "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel Prophesy and say
to those shepherds, 'Thus says the
Lord GOD, "Woe, shepherds of Israel who
have been feeding themselves! Should
not the shepherds feed the flock?
3 "You eat the fat and clothe
yourselves with the wool, you
slaughter the fat sheep without
feeding the flock.
4 "Those who are sickly you have not
strengthened, the diseased you have
not healed, the broken you have not
bound up, the scattered you have not
brought back, nor have you sought
for the lost; but with force and
with severity you have dominated
them.
5 "They were scattered for
lack of a shepherd, and they became
food for every beast of the field
and were scattered.
6 "My flock wandered through all the
mountains and on every high hill; My
flock was scattered over all the
surface of the earth, and there was
no one to search or seek for
them."'"
7 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the
word of the LORD:
8 "As I live," declares the Lord
GOD, "surely because My flock has
become a prey, My flock has even
become food for all the beasts of
the field for lack of a shepherd,
and My shepherds did not search for
My flock, but rather the shepherds
fed themselves and did not feed My
flock;
9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the
word of the LORD:
10 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold,
I am against the shepherds, and I
will demand My sheep from them and
make them cease from feeding sheep
So the shepherds will not feed
themselves anymore, but I will
deliver My flock from their mouth,
so that they will not be food for
them."'"
|
|
|
|
Ezekiel gives us vivid
characteristics of the shepherd that
is a hireling in contrast to the
characteristics of a Godly shepherd:
|
|
|
|
Hireling Shepherd
|
Godly Shepherd
|
|
Feeds themselves (v1-2)
|
Feeds the flock and builds them up
|
|
Starves the flock (v3)
|
Protects the Flocks as a Watchman
|
|
Abuses the flock (v4)
|
Cares for the Flock
|
|
Puts the flock at risk (v5)
|
A Godly Shepherd always has the
concerns of the chief Shepherd
(Christ) in mind.
|
|
Neglects the Flock (v6)
|
Gathers the scatter, strengthen the
sickly
|
Those entering the ministry should ask
themselves these basic questions and have them
settle in their hearts.
1. Why do you want to enter the
ministry and does it align with
God's word?
2. Has God truly called you, what
validation do you have in your life
to let you know God is calling you?
3. Do you have a passion to reach
the spiritually lost for Christ and
strengthen believers through the
teaching of the word of God? 4. Do
you have a strong desire to obey and
pursue the will of God as found in
the word of God?
5. Are you willing to deny self and
lift Jesus up to perform the task at
hand?
6. Have you been
born again? (Number 1)
7. Have you or are you preparing
yourself in the study of God's word
so that you are a workman that need
not be ashamed?
If you cannot, answer these basic
questions, with an absolute "YES".
God has not called you to the
ministry. For you to enter the
ministry for any other reason makes
you a "Hireling". By the way this
applies to you if you are a Pastor,
‘Sunday School’ teacher, leading the
youth ministry, choir ministry or
any position where you are providing
a ministry of any sorts to the body
of Christ. |
|
|