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[rgrh...@skybest.com]

All of my life I have set in small churches in the mountains of North Carolina and listend to the gospel being preached. As I have grown older and more involved in the word and the churches I have come to realize that not everyone in the pulpit abides by the rules clearly set out for the preaching of the word. In the book of Peter it says:

 

1Pe 5:1  The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

1Pe 5:2  Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

1Pe 5:3  Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.

1Pe 5:4  And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

1Pe 5:5  Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

1Pe 5:6  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

1Pe 5:7  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

1Pe 5:9  Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

1Pe 5:11  To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

 

In the second verse it explains that the leadership must be taken of your own free will, not by anything other than your desire to serve. You must have a ready mind, you must be able to use that mind in Gods service. How many of us have heard preaching where the preaching strayed from the text into a subject that it was plain that the speaker had no idea of what he was talking about, yet they continued and cast a shadow over the rest of the message ? second Timothy 2: 15 says   “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” If we have strayed into a subject we are ignorant about and proceed to preach about it from the pulpit it is obvious that the instructions in the Bible have been abandoned .

In the third verse we are to lead by example, we are not masters but servants and those who lead are servants to the flock, not their betters or overlords. The idea that “ we need preachers to tell us what to do “ puts them in a position of control, it comes from a shallow church not willing to take responsibility for their own behavior.  Study to show thyself approved does not only apply to the ministers and leadership, but to the  church as a whole.

 

Luk 9:49  And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us.

Luk 9:50  And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.

Luk 9:51  And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,

Luk 9:52  And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.

Luk 9:53  And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.

Luk 9:54  And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?

Luk 9:55  But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.

Luk 9:56  For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.

 

In Luke the disciples have somehow come to believe that they are the only ones that God has in mind in the kingdom . I have seen this in the isolation and clannish behavior of some of the ministers I have witnessed preach. There is opposition to being present at other churches or denominations. There is opposition to working with other people outside the denominations or local association. This has to stop. When we are the only game in town , we deny the truth of what Jesus  said in the 50th verse.

The hateful and mean response from the pulpit to others we don’t agree with or those we see as sinners simply is not how Christ behaved. If we are Christians it is Christ we must pattern our behavior from, not the head man in the church, not the person in the pulpit or on the television. ( See 55 and 56 )    James 1: 19-20 says “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:  For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. “ If your preacher is mad , mean and hateful from the pulpit and in the spirit it is likely that  “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.”

 

 

 

 

Gal 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

Gal 5:20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

Gal 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

 

 

I hear often that “ the world is moving into the church “ . If you define the “world” as the works of the flesh mentioned in verses 19-21 it is obvious that the world has been in the church for sometime. If Church leadership is better defined by the characteristics of verses 19-21, than the characteristics of 22-25, it is time to confront it or leave it behind. That is the choice that confronts the church now.

The time has come to confront the uncomfortable idea that some of our leadership is not behaving biblically. It is time to draw attention to it, expose it for what it is and either change it or leave it. The only other choice is to let it remain unchallenged and watch it continue to destroy and tear down more than it ever built.