Is It Possible to Pay a Pastor Too Much?

The past few weeks we have been discussing The Church and our responsibility to plan for the future. Toward the end of Bible study this past week I may have said something that sounded a bit odd. So I thought I would clarify my statement in this newsletter article.

I posed the question, ‘is it possible to pay a pastor too much?’ The context of the discussion was, of course, what does 1 Timothy 5:17 mean when it says that elders who work hard at preaching and teaching are, ‘worthy of double honor’? I think we all agree, in light of Paul’s word to Timothy, that the church ought to honor widows who are ‘widows indeed’ (1 Tim. 5:3). Paul furthermore reminds Timothy that the church must not be burdened by widows who were not truly needy - in other words there are some widows that have other means of support and therefore do not need the churches support. The point I made here was that this ‘honor’ was not merely words or an attitude that we should have toward ‘widows indeed’ but rather some sort of support so that they might continue to live (food, clothing, shelter).  

So as we continue into the next paragraph of this letter, the Apostle Paul writes, ‘The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching’ I think we clearly see that Paul was talking about support (food, clothing, shelter) and not simply telling Timothy that the church needs to speak honorably about the pastor.

Also, I do not think ‘double honor’ merely means twice the amount we might give to support a qualified widow. But what does it mean? How much support should a church provide to the man that they have called to devote himself  constantly to the service of Christ?¹

When the words came out of my mouth, ‘is it possible to pay a pastor too much?’ I knew that I had not given you enough background to understand what I was thinking. I regret my haste in speaking.

But here is what was going through my mind: first, we all agree that there are limits to the funds available to the church. Yes, our Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills (a poetic metaphor to help us but we actually know that He owns everything) so that there is no limit to the support that He may grant to the church. But in His wisdom he allows us to be a part of what He is doing (we are the ‘means’ that He uses) here on earth. So He graciously gives us opportunities to support the work of the church through our tithes and offerings. The Law of the Harvest also means that our giving will reflect our priorities - if we invest little we can expect a small harvest, if we invest generously, we can expect a generous harvest. Where we invest our time and money often indicates our priorities. I believe that our priority at Trinity is investing in the sound biblical teaching and preaching.

So, because of our desire to invest in the greater blessing of sound teaching and preaching, we acknowledge the importance of fully supporting a man in order that he will not have to worry about ’secular affairs’ (2 Tim. 2:4). Whoever this man may be, we must accept that he also has a Christian responsibility to ‘provide for his’ family (1 Tim. 5:8).

Ok, so far I think we all agree. But what in the world did I mean by asking, ’is it possible to pay a pastor too much?’

The prophet Malachi, speaking for the Lord, chastised the nation of Israel because of their failure to bring their tithes and offerings to the temple.

“Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. “You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.” (Malachi 3:8-10).

These are strong words of condemnation and of hope - I think this is another example of the Law of the Harvest. Yes, I know that the ‘health and wealth’ heresy uses these kind of verses to extort money out of biblically ignorant people but the wickedness of false teachers does not invalidate the truth of scripture.   

So when the Lord spoke through the prophet Malachi was God telling the people He was short of cash? Was the Lord of Glory in need of some BBQ ribs? The sacrifices were symbolic of the future Messiah’s shed blood and a picture of the redemption to be accomplished when the time was right. But our God does not need food or anything men might give! Leviticus 7 tells us that after the symbolic ceremony of sacrifice was completed, the tithes and offerings were eaten by the priests and temple workers. Why? so that they would be able to attend to the service of the temple without concern for supporting themselves. Because of the people’s offerings the priests were free to devote their time to the Lord’s service without having to worry about how they might eat or how they might feed their families.

So the condemnation that Malachi was preaching was this: the people were ‘robbing’ God by their ‘stinginess’ about their offerings. (The priests were also condemned because they willingly accepted those stingy offerings in violation of the commands for proper sacrifices.) Because they were either failing to present any tithes and offerings or they were giving sick or defiled offerings they were dishonoring God (Malachi 1:6-14). By their actions the people were showing their lack of interest in the maintenance of Temple worship and the proper proclamation of the Word of God.

So if we contrast paying the pastor too little with the possibility of paying him too much, I have to ask you, which of these two extremes do we see the scripture condemning? I am not suggesting that we give whoever we call as the full-time pastor enough money to have a summer home in the Hamptons, etc., but I am asking the question, ‘should we really be worried about paying the pastor too much or should the greater concern be the possibility that we might be paying the pastor too little?’ I think that in the interest of obeying the command to both honor God and to grant the ‘elder who works hard at preaching and teaching’ a ‘double honor’ we should be more concerned that we might not be paying him enough!

So I hope you understand now what I was trying to say. Clearly, we all agree that our ability as a church to support a man is limited by our own resources. We have bills to pay and we should be saving some money to pay for repairs and future maintenance. On the other hand, if we manage the issue of pastor’s support out of a fear that we may be overcompensating him then I believe we are being shortsighted and may be revealing a lack of  interest in the value of having a man spend his time on study in preparation for this great calling of preaching and teaching.

In conclusion, the deacons are tasked with providing for the pastor among other things. The elders are tasked with teaching the Bible and leading the church. At this point it seems clear to me that the Bible is teaching us that those who are ‘taught the Word (are) to share all good things with the one who teaches ...’ (Gal. 6:6). One of the things the rest of us may do is encourage those who teach (elders) and encourage those who manage the finances (deacons). As always, I am willing to have further discussions about what the scriptures say about this particular issue.

¹1689LBC Chapter 26, Of the Church, paragraph 10.____ The work of pastors being constantly to attend the service of Christ, in his churches, in the ministry of the word and prayer, with watching for their souls, as they that must give an account to Him; it is incumbent on the churches to whom they minister, not only to give them all due respect, but also to communicate to them of all their good things according to their ability, so as they may have a comfortable supply, without being themselves entangled in secular affairs; and may also be capable of exercising hospitality towards others; and this is required by the law of nature, and by the express order of our Lord Jesus, who hath ordained that they that preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel.
(Acts 6:4; Hebrews 13:17; 1 Timothy 5:17, 18; Galatians 6:6, 7; 2 Timothy 2:4; 1 Timothy 3:2; 1 Corinthians 9:6-14)