TITLES

“ But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. 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.” (Matthew 23:5-11)

A couple of days ago I had the Howie Carr show on as I drove home. Howie told the humorous story that when he was a young kid and had heard that Sargent Shriver was the director of the Peace Corps, he asked his father, “How come they’ve got a Sergeant in charge of the Peace Corps?”

“That’s his first name, stupid!” was his father’s abrupt response!

Yes, we can all understand why that confused little Howie! It’s kind of like a woman I know who’s first name is “Princess”. I’m sure a lot of people wonder what country honors her as nobility! The above verses include what Jesus thinks of titles, and it doesn’t appear to be much!

“Reverend” is frankly a very controversial title in evangelical Protestant circles. In the Assemblies of God, Licensed and Ordained ministers are given that title. (In many denominations, it’s only given to Ordained ministers. Please don’t ask me to explain the difference between “Licensed” and “Ordained” because you’ll fall asleep!) A lot of guys who have been given the title are embarrassed by it and never use it. GROUP Publishing’s magazine for ministers is called “Rev”. They’re constantly getting complaints about the title! The argument is that “only God is all holy and therefore truly ‘reverend’”, and I think that’s true.

I know, I know. I use Rev. in my AOL screen name. I frankly wish I DIDN’T. When I chose my screen name in 1996, at that time it could not have more than 9 characters. I felt it needed to be unique and that it would help if it identified me as a minister, so I chose RevRBaril which is now commonly written as revrbaril@aol.com I know there IS a BobBaril screen name on AOL, but I now wish I HADN’T chosen “Rev” in my screen name. I think it may make me come across as prideful of my title or “holier than thou”, but now SO many people know my screen name that I’m reluctant to change it.

The “call no man ‘father’” thing is also awkward for evangelicals. Many times we end up talking to Catholic priests and saying something like, “So JOE how are you doing?” We feel kind of rude, but we don’t like saying “Father”. I USED to avoid using the “Father” title, but I’ve decided that since Catholics and Episcopalians and others like to use it, I just go with it and use it in the spirit of I Corinthians 9:19-23 (you’ll have to look that up!).

This business of titles gets really weird when you’ve got pastors and others who get Doctorates from degree factories and diploma mills. Every once in awhile, I’ll get a brochure from one of these “institutions”. All you have to do is, say, read 5 books on the history of the Pentecostal movement and write a 20 page paper on the importance of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, mail in $500., and you get a Doctorate of Theology degree! (That assignment would be a typical assignment for a Junior at any accredited Bible College taking a Systematic Theology course. For a DOCTORATE?! It’s a JOKE?!) Such “doctorates” would never be accepted by any real academic institution, but guys do that to get a title and in many cases to earn more money. Similarly, there are outfits catering to egotistical laypeople which give you a written test in Bible and “Pastoral Studies” that anybody who has gone to Sunday School in a Bible-believing church for 6 or 7 years could pass, and then have you send in your $300. with the completed test and you’re a legally Ordained minister! In the profession, that’s called “M.O.O.” (“mail order ordination”). It really gets awkward when a friend gets, say, a mail order doctorate, and THEN insists on getting a new screen name with “Dr.” in it. Technically, when you e-mail him you’re just enabling his pride and pseudo success by using that screen name. Do you TELL him that? Do you just go along with it? What do you do? I usually just go along with it and don’t want to hurt th e person’s feelings, but it can all get very dicey!

Titles!

Back in Bible College, one of my Professors was Charles Harris. He held a Doctorate from the University of Oklahoma, but he would NEVER allow himself to be called “Doctor”. Students were to call him “Brother Harris” and faculty were to call him “Charles” or “Charles Harris”. One time he was asked about this in class. He said he’d taken a class many years earlier at Drury University and that the highly educated and esteemed Professor who taught the class never allowed himself to be called anything but “Gus”. Brother Harris was so impressed by his humility that he adopted a similar practice.

Titles!

Good? Bad? I don’t know. I will admit that when I was a lot younger I loved having the title “Reverend”. Now, I find it cumbersome and almost embarrassing.
At the other extreme is a new movement where kids do NOT even call their parents Dad and Mom. They just call their parents by their first names! Somehow I don’t care for that. But maybe it comes from taking the above Scripture passage VERY literally...or not...?