I remember a man telling me once – and he was the secretary of a church in Scotland – that they were seeking a new pastor. They had interviewed a number of people, and they had, they thought, just the man for them. All was going so well, and he held the right views, and he was a fine communicator, but then he began to give his terms. He didn’t like the manse they had. He wanted a manse with more rooms in a much better location in the town, and he wanted ideally to be situated at the end of the town, right up near the railway station, the transport hub, because among his other requests was that wanted to quite a lot of time out. He wanted to be able to preach here and there and everywhere. Perhaps he planned to make a name for himself. The more they heard his terms, the less than liked him, and they said to themselves, this is not a man who is going arrange his life for the work of the Saviour, for this church and its fellowship and its outreach.
I think of somebody who went to see a missionary, and he went to the missionaries’ home, and it was quite a large compound, and he found almost every room in the house occupied by items that were necessary for the cause. It was a place of hardship, place of shortage. This room was stocked up with provisions to cover this need; that room was stocked up with provisions for another need, and the whole missionary family was virtually in one room. They arranged their lives for the service of the saints, and took all disadvantages and committed most of their living space to the cause.
We shouldn't give too much respect to those pastors who live well, least of all the phony prosperity preachers. But even the sound men who live so well and make so much and people foolishly say, ‘Well they should be well paid; they deserve it.’ The standard of Scripture is, listen to those who have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints. They live reasonably, simply, they are not a great burden; they are dedicated to the cause.