The Love of Titles

Why do we disregard the words of Jesus? He said, “But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” (Matt 23:8-11 KJV)

It is the pride of life (1 John 2:16) that appeals to having a title. Everyone loves being recognized as some kind of authority or significance. Is this desire inherently wrong? I don’t believe so. Everything about sin is rooted first in God given attributes. Sexual procreation is God given, lust is sin. Significance is God given, but the seeking self exaltation is sin. It is amazing how rife the ministry is filled with self exaltation. So many in professional ministry love having titles - pastor, reverend, bishop, priest and even, brother can become a title.

And titles are convenient for everyone. A title says automatically an expert in that arena. It undermines individual responsibility to discover if some one actually is an expert. There are many men who call themselves “Pastor” who, in truth are not pastors in gifting. Hearing the title, the tendency is not to question if that person is a pastor in truth or not. God wants us to seek these things out (Prov. 25:2).

We are called to humble ourselves and to let the Lord exalt us.

Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. (Ps 37:34 KJV)

This sinful tendency to exalt ourselves even affect the way we interpret the Bible. Consider the story of Adam before Eve was formed.

Gen 2:18-20
18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. (KJV)

Most say that Adam was given the job of naming the animals. That is applying labels or titles to the creatures that God had created. However, that is not the context of the verse. It is sandwiched between “It is not good for man to be alone…” (v.18) and “…but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.” (v.20). God was testing Adam to see if he could discern the nature of the animals. So when the scripture says “brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them:” [God’s testing of Adam] and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof” [Adam’s passing of the test] (v.19), Adam was discerning the nature of the creatures and calling them what they already were. In other words, Adam was repeating the Word God spoke to create the creatures. Adam recognized that these creatures were not suitable mates for him, for they were different from him.

Likewise, we label people either in the discriminatory way or the laudation of leaders. There are pastors and evangelists and prophets and so on, but that is a part of their character. Jesus is not discouraging us from recognizing the gifts within people, he is discouraging us from exalting the gift by elevating it to a title. We are to exalt the giver of the gifts, not the possesors of the gifts. Their are people who are fathers and mothers and elders of the faith, but we are to exalt only the Father of the Faith. The Master of the Life.

As believers, we are not to take on titles. I don’t think we should even call ourselves “Brother Bob”. We are simply our name, Bob if that is your name. And in eliminating our titles, we should exercise our discernment to recognize the gifts in people so we may know those who really are pastors, prophets, evangelists and so on.