When Pastors Get Facebook Bombed

Suggested Reading:Proverbs 18:12-20

On Facebook, a while ago, I read a post that disturbed me. Someone had posted an opinion piece about a particular prominent pastor who was supposedly trying to blend Islam and Christianity. I clicked on the article to discover that the author didn't cite any sources or link to any articles but proclaimed this pastor the Spawn of Satan for mixing up his theology so badly. The comments on the article were even worse, decrying how this pastor was a false-prophet and the anti-Christ for pushing such an evil idea. The problem was, none of it was true. So I linked to an article which contained an actual interview with the pastor in question, an article in which he not only denied the accusations in the first article but gave compelling reasons why he would never hold those views. Once I linked to the article, suddenly the hateful comments stopped and no one had anything else to say. The experience reinforced a proverb I have read for years: The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross- examines him (Proverbs 18:17, HCSB).

We quite easily fall into the trap of believing the first thing anyone tells us, especially if we are told something that reinforces a negative feeling we already have about someone. Because we already have negative feelings we are much more likely to simply say, "Well, that wouldn't surprise me," and then quickly accept the claim as fact.  Sometimes, we are shocked that such an accusation could be true but swallow it anyway. At other times, we hear something from a source we trust and, even though the accusation doesn't make sense, we believe it because we trust that person. The problem is that nasty accusations always have some kind of emotional baggage attached to them and every single one of us has blind spots when it comes to certain groups or people. There is always another side to the story.

If someone were to make a nasty accusation against me, I would want them to investigate the claim before accepting it.  I would want them to verify the truth before passing it on to other people. So the least we can do is verify such claims when we hear them. If we can't verify nasty accusations or we don't have the time to check it out ourselves, we ought to let the accusations drop.  Most of the time, the first person we hear is going to sound right until we hear the other side of the story.

Don't just believe nasty accusations or pass them on without verification. You would be pretty upset if you were the one being accused.

Over-Reaching Tyrants and Bold Requests

Suggested Reading: Mark 10:35-45

When I started reading Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time fantasy series, I didn’t realize what I was getting into at the time. Twelve books and 13,000 pages later I still had two books to go before I finished the series. In one particular adventure, a tyrant was brought down by her own ambition for power. She had come to the place where she believed that she was the law rather than one who upheld the law. Soon, she was abusing her power and violating centuries of law in order to have her own will carried out, people punished for speaking their minds, and retribution exacted when people disagreed with her. As far as being a leader goes, this woman was horrible. She had forgotten that her position existed to serve and to guide those under her rule, not to dictate and demand.

In Mark 10, James and John came to Jesus with an odd request. They boldly announced, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask” (Mark 10:35, NIV). Now, if I were Jesus, I would have rebuked them for coming to the master and saying, “Give us whatever we ask you for.” But Jesus simply asked them what they wanted and they answered that they wanted the two most prominent places in his kingdom.  Jesus turned them down, telling them those places weren’t his to give away, but the situation naturally caused a stir among the other disciples. After all, what made James and John think that they could rule over the rest of the disciples? Wasn’t Peter a bolder leader? Wasn’t Judas a better administrator? Why would these two think they could rule over the others?

So Jesus called them all together and told them that their concept of leadership, their concept of being important and prominent, must be different than the way the rest of the world viewed those things. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:43-45, NIV).  Jesus wanted the disciples to get away from the idea that positions and titles and the power to command people were important and to begin realizing that the highest places of honor among his followers would belong to servants, to those who focused on helping people, on meeting needs, and on remaining humble.

Too often today, we still get those values mixed up in our churches. People want to be deacons and pastors and serve on church committees because they get to make decisions and have influence, not because they want to serve.  With astounding frequency, we focus on influence and power and forget that Jesus is not pleased with people who dictate or command, but with people who lead through acts of service and selflessness. We get caught up in the idea of “moving up” when we should be focused on stooping down to do whatever tasks need to be done for the sake of the Kingdom and for the good of the people around us. We get our feelings hurt when people don’t want us to make decisions but we aren’t willing to get our hands dirty and get down in the trenches. We get worked up over someone else being awarded a position of influence because we fail to value servants more than decision makers.

When we find ourselves in that position, Jesus says to us, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” If Jesus allowed others to serve in whatever ways were necessary, even to the point of his death, can’t we let go of the idea of being important and latch onto a desire to serve? 

Fake ID's And Fake Pastors

Suggested Reading: James 3:1-12

I was excited when my daughter recently discovered re-runs of the 90’s classic series Saved by the Bell, a show about six high school kids as they hilariously navigate school, relationships, and growing up. One episode I watched with her featured a situation where the guys decided it would be fun to sneak into an over-age dance club. They created fake ID’s and waltzed through the doors like they owned the place. While there, they discovered Kelli’s boyfriend was cheating on her and hatched a plan to catch him in the act. By the end of the episode, Kelli had discovered her scumbag boyfriend’s cheating ways and Zack (the ringleader of the group) was found out by his mother who confiscated all of the fake ID’s and took them home, costing Zack a date with a college girl and a grounding. The episode was full of people pretending to be something they were not. Kelli’s boyfriend was pretending to be a faithful, nice guy. The gang was pretending to be much older than they were. And in the end it worked out badly for all of them.

I have also noticed a trend recently of Christian people pretending to be something they are not. Men and women who think that because they have been educated they can call themselves “pastors” when no church has called them as their shepherd. Know-it-all’s who aren’t allowed into teaching positions and so they pretend they are teachers, trying to force their “knowledge” down the throats of anyone who pauses too long in their vicinity or on their Facebook page. And while it may even be possible that these people feel called to ministry, they try to jump the gun, parading themselves around as something they have no claim to until a church agrees and actually calls them.

James 3:1 reads, Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly (NLT). With positions of authority and responsibility come a higher level of accountability. We are judged more strictly. Notice there is no qualifying statement there. We are judged more strictly. The passage goes on to talk about how words can change the courses of lives and spark destructive fires. But the statement about being judged strictly isn’t limited to our words. It isn’t limited at all! Those who are teachers will be judged more strictly. Period. We will be judged more strictly based on our words, our deeds, and perhaps even the places we allow our minds to dwell. We will be judged more strictly. And James warns his readers, Not many of you should become teachers because of this strictness. So why, knowing we will be judged more strictly, would anyone take on those responsibilities and pretend to hold positions of authority before God actually places us in those positions?

Pretending to be something we are not never works out well. For Zack and the gang, it meant being grounded. For Kelli’s boyfriend, it meant losing out on a wonderful girl. For people who pretend to hold positions of authority God has not yet given them, it might mean needlessly looking like a fool or even harming the very Kingdom work with which you want to help. Making a claim people can easily verify is inaccurate harms your reputation and your ministry. Trust God’s plan and only make claims to the positions God has actually placed you in. If God has truly called you to a particular ministry, God will eventually make it happen. Don’t bring stricter judgment on yourself until the appropriate time. Don’t pretend to be something you’re not. The consequences are never pleasant when you are found out. 

Hiring Out Your Quiet Time

Suggested Reading: Ezekiel 44:6-14

My wife and I share a dream, a dream that one day we will be able to walk in the door and our entire house will be clean, a dream that it will happen every day, a dream that we won't actually have to be the ones to clean the house, a dream that we will be able to afford a maid. We don't mind cleaning the house, but we could do without having to wash the dishes every night and it would be nice to have someone wash, fold, and iron the laundry for us. If only we had the money to pay someone to do it for us.

While many of us probably share that dream when it comes to housework, there are other areas of life where paying someone to do the job for you simply doesn't work. One of those areas is in our relationship with God. In Ezekiel 44:8, God was listing a number of complaints about Israel's faithfulness and he specified this one: "You have not kept charge of My holy things but have appointed others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you" (HCSB). The people had decided that it was too much of a hassle to do the things God had asked them to do, so they hired out people to do what they must have considered the mundane tasks. Somehow, they missed the point that doing the tasks of worship was just as important as the tasks being done.

Just as no one can exercise for you or shower on your behalf, no one can live a life of worship for you. Yet churches act like they can all the time by hiring staff to do the work of the ministry for them. They bring in a pastor who can reach the lost for them or visit their neighbors for them. But the task of a pastor is to "set an example" (1 Timothy 4:12) to be followed by the church, to equip believers to do these things for themselves.  Far too often, we want to hire someone to do the ministry that God has strategically placed us to do. No one else has the relationship with your co-workers that you have; no one else lives closer to your next-door neighbor than you. No one else encounters the exact same people that you do every day. God has given you your life story and then strategicaly placed you to encounter people with whom that story will connect. God has allowed you to see that family's need because you can do something about it.

We might be able to hire out our house-cleaning, but it is impossible to hire someone to live the life of service and ministry into which God has created and placed you. No one else can do it for you.