The Church has a Few Lackeys

For some time I’ve been getting some mental pictures on the church and recently I saw a few people gathering together for Sunday worship services, Bible studies and mid-week home group meetings.  And sadly, within these pictures there was a great lack of true joy, peace and liberty within the people. The leader talks about these and is doing his best to project such from within but the reality is it’s forced … it’s not real.  At the same time the people sense something is not right about this but they don’t dwell on it too long for fear of being judgmental.

In one group I see a pastor.  He’s a tall man, big smile, strong handshake, big arms and hands, deep voice that resonates with his every, “bless the Lord, good to see you,” but the people on the end of that greeting sense that it’s not really “good” at all.  In another group I see a pastor and whilst his physical characteristics are the opposite of the first man, not so his speech nor the senses and feelings coming from his people.  They’re precisely the same in fact.  Oftentimes, in each case, it is not uncommon for their people to not really know where they stand with him … nor with God, as a result.

Lets take a look at the preaching of these men.  When they stand in their pulpits and preach on faith one can be forgiven for thinking they are walking epistles of faith.  How skilled they are for example, at developing a six to eight-week series of  sermons on Old Testament people from New Testament Hebrews 11:1-40.  The faith of Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Rahab, etc; plus those who subdued kingdoms, quenched the violence of fire, those who were stoned and sawn in two … all can be made to come alive in their preaching.  The people think, “Wow! What a preacher this man is.”

They can’t wait for next week to come so they can get to hear more.  One of the reasons the sermons do come alive for them is because they are told that this is the exact same faith God wants to impart to them … which of course is very true.  No better way can a Christian’s faith develop than by learning of the exploits of faithful men and women as revealed from the Scriptures.  That’s why God saw to it that these people are in the Bible.  They are there for our example.  So, for a season faith becomes the topic of Bible studies and home-group meetings.

Somewhere down the track these pastors may extend the topic of faith to include, for example, divine healing.  So another series of sermons will come forth on the need for the people to express the faith they’ve been learning about and extend it to believe for healing for self and families just as Jesus and the apostles healed the people “back then.”  Many are ready to hear and receive such messages and God does a wonderful work of grace upon them as they go forward for prayer after the service or during the mid-week meetings.  Some get healed at home as a result of praying on their own.

A few weeks and months later testimonies galore come in from people in these churches.  The unemployed find employment, home-ownership replaces home-renting, new cars replace old cars, job and career prospects have never looked better for many … not to speak of lots of aches and pains, sicknesses and chronic diseases becoming a thing of the past.  Truly, God has manifested His presence among them and everyone knows this without one shadow of doubt.  Not only that but Christian outsiders are hearing about all this and as a result soon want to become insiders.

Later though, as a visitor to these churches, a mature Christian quickly senses that all is not what it should be.  He/she hears lots of glory being given to the pastor for his, “great anointing of the Holy Spirit” but hears little to no glory being given to the Lord Himself.  Yes, he/she hears that, “Jesus is Lord” but gets the feeling that the pastor is a lord too … “a mighty man of God.”  Not only that, but in conversation with the pastor it appears that he’s done very little to quell this adulation.  The mature Christian is left with no other thought than perhaps soon the mighty man of God is going to be tested – by God.

In the meantime the pastors continue to participate in daily prayer and devotions to God but they find their thoughts becoming increasingly distracted these days by all that’s going on in their respective churches.  Rather than truly wait to hear the voice of God, they now all too readily allow themselves to dwell on the voice of church members who continually compliment and praise them for their tireless efforts in, “extending the kingdom of God in this place.”  In other words, they’re not really seeking God like they used to but rather, they’re going through the motions.

God, in His patience allows this practice to go on for a long while, but because of His love for the church, He begins to bring some situations into play whereby He can grab the attention of these men.  He allows one of them to spend some period of time in a sickbed.  With the other one He allows some sort of family crisis to take place.  As a result of this, each church is asked to pray for their pastor and to, “rebuke the devil in Jesus’ name for what he’s doing to this holy man of God.”  The church doesn’t stop to seek God in this … if such a request has come in, “then that must be God’s will on the matter.”

In fact, this is one of the reasons God has allowed these situations to happen.  For too long the people have been hanging on to their pastor’s every word and have not bothered to seek God for themselves on anything.  Truth is the people have set their pastors as idols in their hearts.  God intends to deal with them too, but first He wants to deal with the idols in these pastor’s hearts.  The suffering endured by the men is starting to take effect – they’re earnestly seeking God in prayer and His answers have not been backward in coming forward.  Both men are disturbed by what God has revealed to them.

For years they have taught their people that they can take the very worst they know about themselves to God and that they’ll receive the very best from Him in return … mercy, grace, forgiveness etc Isaiah 1:18-19.  But here they are, pastors having spent years in Bible College or Seminary learning the Scriptures so as to be skilled teachers of the same – neither of them taking their own sound advice.  And instead of reaping the benefits of those verses they are now reaping some fruits from Isaiah 1:20 for failing to do so … even if they don’t literally experience “the sword.”

Years ago I learned some sound advice from a favorite American Bible teacher, “There is one thing much worse than not getting your own way with God, and that is when He gives you your own way.”  In other words, in spite of what one thinks, sooner or later God eventually draws in the leash, which is precisely what’s happening to these men.  Time has moved on.  Sufficient physical healing came to the first man and the family crisis came to an end for the second man.  Was this as a result of an answer to prayer?  In some sense perhaps yes.  God allowed each situation so as to draw their attention to the seriousness of each man’s sin but instead of getting real, they’re getting religious!

Increased vigor for preaching the gospel to the lost is now the main emphasis of these pastors.  And in addition, condemnation is coming from the pulpit for the church to lift its game in this area.  The same thing is going on in the home-group meetings.  The home-group leaders are all parroting the pastor  … “God is mightily blessing us in this place but what are you doing about the lost?  Are you praying for them?Are you fasting for them?  Are you witnessing to them?”  And, because the people have not discerned this voice as distinct from God’s voice, they think it is God speaking.

Someone in the group, however, talks to the pastor privately about this increasing ungodly behavior.  He/she is not a man-seeker/man-pleaser only a God-seeker/ pleaser, who knows the voice of God.  The pastor gives his time to the person but not his ear, heart nor mind … other than to give him/her a piece of his mind, along with Christian-speak, something like, “I am specially anointed by the Spirit, you can ask anyone and they will tell you that.”  In reality that’s very sad.  This is the mark of a man hiding behind by some kind of sin, and it’s breeding the sins pride and arrogance along with it.

Faith continues to get plenty of mention in the 4-point PowerPoints, but it’s increasingly becoming a sham and the pastor knows it.  Although he’s continually smiling and uttering “bless the Lord, hallelujah,” his divine faith mentality is ever-so subtly being replaced by a religious, works mentality.  Instead of speaking of God as One who must help (enable, empower) us, he now speaks as though it’s up to him and the church as ones who must help God.  Prayer meetings continue to be part of the deal, but they’re increasingly becoming a sham too, for the reality is he already knows which “evangelistic program” he’s going to run with next.

So what’s all this about?  Answer:  For pastors/leaders it is about their failure to give to God ALL the glory for what He’s done/doing in and through them and their church. When God fails to get ALL it means the pastor has kept some back for himself.  In his head he knows this is wrong, but he dare not listen to his heart because there’s something in it he doesn’t want to look at.  That’s why he gets busy!  A leader who will not allow God to fully expose his heart to the sin principle within can never give God ALL the glory owed Him … not possible.  That’s why throughout the world today among too many church leaders, religion is much-loved and reality not so much-loved.

For the church person: If he/she fails to pursue a healthy relationship with the Lord Jesus at ALL costs, but at the same time hangs on every word the pastor says, sooner or later will become that pastor’s lackey.  And sadly, the church has a few lackeys … who often don’t know where they stand with their leaders, and sometimes as a result, don’t know where they stand with God.  And how this is grieving the Holy Spirit of God!

The very reason God wants to impart to us His divine faith plus His spiritual, mental, moral and physical healing and all that these imply, is so that we can become the people the Lord Jesus says we can be and wants us to be in Him … people of true joy, peace and liberty etc – and then pass it on. The church has a few lackeys; don’t be one of them. “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might……But let him who glories glory in this, that He understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.  For in these I delight,” says the Lord.”Jeremiah 9:24.