Very well said, Isaac! Jesus came to serve, yet He was called Master. True humility is not the measure of how one regard themselves, but rather how they are are regarded by others; they regard. I have no regard for the opinions of those I don't regard, this may sound arrogant, but it is not. Our Lord came to serve, not win favor of fools. The most unequal thing we can do is treat all equally, and neither did Jesus, as he called some to serve with Him, and called others fools, and took a whip to others. Yet He still came and served all, equally, so that even a fool like myself can be saved because of His sacrificial service, and spared the whip. His love is equal for all, but His reward won't be. Those who reject, will be rejected, those who accept will be accepted.
An important point to make, Isaac. You reminded me of the way the Apostle Paul talked about spiritual gifts -- that the community is made up of diverse talents and abilities but one Spirit. I find it a relief to know that I do not have to be an expert in everything, that I can rely on others to know more than I do. Hopefully they will use their expertise humbly for the greater good as you rightly suggest.
Isaac — this is good, and you name something important. Equal dignity is not equal credibility. Let me press one rung further.
I think there are four things stacked here rather than two: dignity, gifting, competence, and office. All four are real; none automatically generates the next. You've shown well why dignity shouldn't be conflated with competence — a person's worth doesn't rise or fall with what they know. I'd slot gifting in as its own rung, since a gift can be genuine and still unformed. But the seam your piece doesn't reach is the one at the top: competence is not the same as office, or God-ordained authority.
Notice which rungs we produce ourselves. Dignity is given. Gifting is given. Office is given. Competence is the only one we climb — and it's the one we most reliably mistake for a warrant to stand on the next.
Expertise is earned; authority is conferred. They travel together often enough that we stop noticing the difference, but Scripture pulls them apart constantly. David was the least likely son in the room and was anointed anyway. Moses protested that he couldn't speak. And Saul, long past any defensible competence, was still "the LORD's anointed" in David's mouth.
Your own model makes the point better than my examples do. Hebrews states it as a rule before it gives an example: no one takes this honor upon himself, but receives it when called by God — and then applies the rule at the highest possible point. Even Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest. If the Son does not hand himself that office, the office is not the sort of thing anyone hands himself. The self-emptying of Philippians 2 isn't modesty about status; it's the acknowledgment that this authority was the Father's to give, and was given.
So the failure at that seam is not merely immodesty. It's taking what wasn't ours to take. Uzziah was a capable king with a long record behind him, and when he carried the censer into the temple none of it counted. The question was never whether he could, but whether it had been given him.
Talent, knowledge, education, even good character can be necessary without being sufficient. And the mirror image is a failure you've watched at closer range than I have: assuming that because the office was given, the competence came with it. Appointment no more manufactures expertise than expertise manufactures appointment.
Which may be worth saying to weary pastors who feel inadequate. Being an undershepherd under the Chief Shepherd doesn't finally rest on their competence. It rests on God's call — and that's where their credibility comes from, and where their people should see it coming from.
"Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care... not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be... not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away." — 1 Peter 5:2–4
Very well said, Isaac! Jesus came to serve, yet He was called Master. True humility is not the measure of how one regard themselves, but rather how they are are regarded by others; they regard. I have no regard for the opinions of those I don't regard, this may sound arrogant, but it is not. Our Lord came to serve, not win favor of fools. The most unequal thing we can do is treat all equally, and neither did Jesus, as he called some to serve with Him, and called others fools, and took a whip to others. Yet He still came and served all, equally, so that even a fool like myself can be saved because of His sacrificial service, and spared the whip. His love is equal for all, but His reward won't be. Those who reject, will be rejected, those who accept will be accepted.
An important point to make, Isaac. You reminded me of the way the Apostle Paul talked about spiritual gifts -- that the community is made up of diverse talents and abilities but one Spirit. I find it a relief to know that I do not have to be an expert in everything, that I can rely on others to know more than I do. Hopefully they will use their expertise humbly for the greater good as you rightly suggest.
Isaac — this is good, and you name something important. Equal dignity is not equal credibility. Let me press one rung further.
I think there are four things stacked here rather than two: dignity, gifting, competence, and office. All four are real; none automatically generates the next. You've shown well why dignity shouldn't be conflated with competence — a person's worth doesn't rise or fall with what they know. I'd slot gifting in as its own rung, since a gift can be genuine and still unformed. But the seam your piece doesn't reach is the one at the top: competence is not the same as office, or God-ordained authority.
Notice which rungs we produce ourselves. Dignity is given. Gifting is given. Office is given. Competence is the only one we climb — and it's the one we most reliably mistake for a warrant to stand on the next.
Expertise is earned; authority is conferred. They travel together often enough that we stop noticing the difference, but Scripture pulls them apart constantly. David was the least likely son in the room and was anointed anyway. Moses protested that he couldn't speak. And Saul, long past any defensible competence, was still "the LORD's anointed" in David's mouth.
Your own model makes the point better than my examples do. Hebrews states it as a rule before it gives an example: no one takes this honor upon himself, but receives it when called by God — and then applies the rule at the highest possible point. Even Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest. If the Son does not hand himself that office, the office is not the sort of thing anyone hands himself. The self-emptying of Philippians 2 isn't modesty about status; it's the acknowledgment that this authority was the Father's to give, and was given.
So the failure at that seam is not merely immodesty. It's taking what wasn't ours to take. Uzziah was a capable king with a long record behind him, and when he carried the censer into the temple none of it counted. The question was never whether he could, but whether it had been given him.
Talent, knowledge, education, even good character can be necessary without being sufficient. And the mirror image is a failure you've watched at closer range than I have: assuming that because the office was given, the competence came with it. Appointment no more manufactures expertise than expertise manufactures appointment.
Which may be worth saying to weary pastors who feel inadequate. Being an undershepherd under the Chief Shepherd doesn't finally rest on their competence. It rests on God's call — and that's where their credibility comes from, and where their people should see it coming from.
"Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care... not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be... not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away." — 1 Peter 5:2–4
Grateful for the piece, and for you.