Betrayals. Disappointments. Constant conflict. Second-guessing everything you say. Griping.
This week a pastor texted to say while he was out of town the deacons met to revise the bylaws and make the preacher answerable to them. They conspired not to tell the pastor about this until he returned home. But someone thought he ought to know, called him, and now it’s all hit the fan. The chairman of deacons is saying if the pastor pushes his opposition to this it will split the church and will be his fault.
You feel like banging your head against the wall. How crazy is this!
It wears preachers down.
Most church members have no clue that the constant murmuring (the KJV’s favorite word for it) among the flock is offensive to the Heavenly Father, upsetting to the good people in the congregation, and burdensome to the minister.
Moses is a great case study for us. For forty years–think of it!–he gave faithful leadership to the people of God who, far from appreciating him, were relentless in their eroding, grinding, burdening undermining, questioning, and outright opposition. Scripture gives a reason for this: Throughout the flock was a group of strangers, aliens to the faith.
These people were the root of the problem.
Scripture says when they left Egypt’s slavery, a mixed multitude went up with them (Exodus 12:38). Some translations call them “rabble.” Since the Hebrews were not the only slaves of Pharaoh, when God threw off the shackles it must have been like a massive jailbreak. All who wanted to leave Egypt joined the Exodus. And since this Moses fellow seemed to have a glorious destination in mind, with no other place to go, the “mixed multitude” decided to accompany the Hebrews.
This bunch became the source of a thousand headaches for Moses.
We read, Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving, so the children of Israel also wept again…. (Numbers 11:4).
Don’t miss that. The rabble started complaining and the good people followed their lead. It was like a mob scene where a few malcontents gripe and soon everyone else is caught up in it. A couple of loud-mouths decide to lynch the guy in the jail and soon a mob forms and marches on the jailhouse. Nay-saying is infectious.
Imagine the task given Moses: You are to administer lessons in living by faith in an unseen God to a congregation of two million souls. But you must do it with the added burden of many among those people not believing in your God, accepting your leadership, or having a clue what you’re talking about. Good luck.
It’s bad enough that these people don’t get it, but they also belly-ache and complain and criticize until they end up undermining the confidence of the true people of God.
The wheat and the tares grow together. The challenge is to teach the things of God to the wheat without culling the tares. (The imagery is from Matthew 13:24-30,36-43. Jesus said, “Let both grow together until the harvest…” vs. 30)
You see it happening with our Lord.
In the New Testament, when the Lord Jesus laid out His kingdom principles, He was heard by people of faith and those of no faith. Some “were waiting for the consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25) while others can only be described in the words of Philippians 3:19, “whose god was their belly and whose goal was their pleasure.”
Teaching spiritual things and encouraging a congregation to live by faith is the work of every pastor and all the church leaders. But when the people you’re trying to teach are without saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, this is not going to happen. “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Pity the pastor who has to work with leaders of no faith. It’s bad enough that they are members of the church and have a vote in how things are done, but for them to be leaders who make key decisions is a burden no pastor can bear.
I’ve heard them: “What do you mean ‘step out on faith’?” “No, pastor, this faith business is not going to impress my bank.” “As soon as the money is in the bank we will go forward. But not until.” “I know you think God sent you to this church, but some of us think otherwise.”
The remedy?
–First, be real careful–slow and prayerful–about selecting leaders for the church. Look for proven qualities of maturity and godliness.
–Second, everyone presenting themselves for membership should be vetted. We should make certain every member is born again and thus teachable, leadable, spiritual.
–Third, when the “outsiders” begin griping and undermining the spiritual, God-appointed leadership, the godly and mature leaders should step up and deal with them. The spiritually mature must support the embattled pastors. They must not allow the Lord’s work to be taken hostage by those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ.
Many a church has been destroyed by the faithless having their way over the fearful. When God’s people passively sit back and allow bullies to control and ultimately destroy their church, the devil gains a great victory.
A person without faith can no more understand spiritual realities or produce spiritual fruit than a farmer can grow soybeans on a Walmart parking lot. Our text for this is First Corinthians 2:14. The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God…
Not going to happen.
True, no pastor gets to choose his members. We have to deal with those who are in place when we arrive.
Godly members must learn to look for evidence of God’s presence and His working in those being considered for places of service. That evidence would include humility, teachableness, a hunger for righteousness, sorrow for sins of the past, and the big one: love for the brethren. (John 13:34-35). .
Throughout my six pastorates, I prayed this little three-pronged prayer which I recommend to you:
Lord, please send only the people to this church you want here. Keep away anyone who should not be here. And if there is anyone here who needs to leave, please lead them away.
It’s a prayer He answered time and again.