AP

The Vows of Office – Motivation

This is a further instalment in a series on the vows of Presbyterian Church of Australia ministers and elders. For the earlier articles see https://ap.org.au/category/ministry/

Copies of those vows are available at: https://presbyterian.org.au/gaa-code-book. See rule 6.1.

The first two vows for Presbyterian officeholders focussed on what a minister believes. These vows flowed naturally into the key areas of church life in its worship and government (vows iii and iv).

The fifth vow moves into a different direction. What are worthy motivations for Christian ministry?

(v) Are zeal for the glory of God, love to the Lord Jesus Christ, and a desire to save souls, and not worldly interests or expectations (so far as you know your own heart), your great motives and chief inducements to the work of the Holy Ministry?

Some background is needed for this.

In past decades, to be a Presbyterian minister was socially prestigious. Clergy were afforded a level of public respect both within the church and in wider society. The title ‘Reverend’ on a calling card secured entrance to the best parlours, invitations to the mayor’s table at public events, along with free treatment from fellow professionals. The clergyman’s income was modest by professional standards, but, when paired with a free manse and gifts in kind, it could provide a comfortable living.

All this could lead to undesirable motives for people entering ministry. Simon shows how love of money can produce an unworthy aspiration to ministry (Acts 8:18-20). Diotrephes is a biblical example of ego-centric motives (3 John 9).

Here is another past undesirable motive. During the 1965-1972 period of national service in Australia, 19-year-old men went into a lottery to decide whether they would be conscripted to military service and sent to the unpopular war in Vietnam. Men who were accepted ministry candidates were exempt from national service. Ministry thus became an escape from civil duties as it was for some in the period after Constantine.

That past era of prestige is no more.

To be a pastor nowadays is to enter of world of suspicion, misunderstanding and poor regard. To identify as a pastor at a non-church social gathering or meeting is often to draw raised eyebrows. As for worldly inducements, to become a pastor means four years of self-funded study with the aftertaste of debt to the government before a salary that falls short of the graduate status and salary expectations that most pastors would otherwise have.

There may be other undesirable motives for ministry. Dark and unknown desires for control and influence over others may lead people into ministry with outcomes of bullying and manipulation. Fear and cowardice may lead people from the challenges of everyday employment into what they think is a safe and comfortable environment of ministry.  Laziness may lead people into ministry positions where there is little accountability and a pastor can ‘get by’ with minimal effort, for example, by using AI-generated sermons.

All these undesirable motivations may be consciously or unconsciously present as a man enters ministry or they may develop over time.

The words of the ordination vow challenge undesirable motives. They give a check list for ministry candidates and those assessing them. They help self-evaluation by serving ministers and those mentoring them.

The vow points away from the minister and gives a carefully ordered focus on God before a focus on people. Is it God’s glory, or the minister’s glory? Is it love of Jesus or love of self? Is it a gospel-focussed zeal to help save souls, or a benign welfare or therapeutic interest?

The vow makes no reference to the church. ‘Church’ makes its way into other vows but not this one. This is a healthy reminder that ministry is chiefly about God and his people. Of course, church is the God-appointed place and means by which much ministry is done. However, worded as it is, the vow helps safeguard pastors from slipping into an idolatry of church such that it becomes the focus. The pastor’s end goal should not be to build up the church where they serve, but rather to bring glory to God and to bring his salvation to people.

The words in brackets are important: (so far as you know your own heart). Scripture warns us about both the importance of its heart and its default sinfulness (Pvb 4:23 & Jer 17:9). The problem is that we have a capacity for self-deception and skilful deception of others as to what is really going in in the heart. Pastors, would-be pastors and those assessing and helping them do well to heed the call to “examine yourself” and “test the spirits” 2 Cor 13:5, 1 Jn 4:1). As the vow warns, we can only know our own heart in part – which is why examination by others and counsel from others is so important. 1 Timothy 4:16 is therefore very apt.

A bad heart invariably shows in bad actions over time (1 Tim 5:24). By then it may be too late as a poorly-motivated pastor destroys both himself and his hearers. All this makes it important and timely to exercise care in approving ministry candidates (1 Tim 5:22). Likewise for pastors to engage in regular self-evaluation. A suitable  mentor can help with this.

None do anything from purely pure motives. If we only did things when motives are pure, we would do nothing. This is not an excuse to ignore or indulge undesirable motives. Nor is it an excuse to do nothing.  However, it is a reason to know that we are frail instruments in the Lord’s hands (2 Cor 4:7), and to watch ourselves, and always to be amazed at the grace that uses people such as us for gospel good.

– David Burke