It's a Bird...It's a Plane...No, It's Superman!
Subtitled: Pitfalls
of the Ministry
I am frightened by some of what goes on among us these
days. I am ashamed when I see what being a "strong Christian" does
to some people. I often feel like our narrowness and rigidity engender a peculiar
set of besetting sins that ought to be recognized and dealt with.
My view of the unfolding history of true Christianity remains essentially unchanged. Just about my favorite books on the subject are, "The Reformers and Their Stepchildren" and "The Anatomy of a Hybrid", by Leonard Verduin. They are scholarly works which set forth the concepts that separated the Anabaptists from Rome, and subsequently from the Reformers themselves. Those basic tensions still exist between Rome with her Protestant cousins and those of us who refuse to be identified even as Protestants. Our forefathers were on the scene long before the Reformers broke (and not all that cleanly) from Rome.
However, our conviction regarding our heritage and doctrinal position seems to lead us to an elitist attitude. We become unduly isolated because we isolate ourselves. It is difficult to maintain strong convictions while at the same time being at least respectful toward believers outside of our immediate fold. A clannish attitude develops around our idiosyncrasies and leads to cronyism: "this guy can't be all that good because we don't know him."
With isolation comes arrogance. If we are not careful, truth and reality can become distorted. Surrounding ourselves with people that always agree with us, we do not allow ourselves to be challenged. We become so right and the rest so wrong. It is easier to write off those who are different rather than attempt to be respectful and Christ-like towards others who, for whatever reason, do not see things our way.
After these years on the mission field, I am occasionally distressed by a conference or church service in the States where the 'Amens' shake the rafters over the Baptist flag-waving message. It is easy to preach to a sympathetic audience just the message that will inflate egos. Meanwhile, some of God's chosen people walk away spiritually undernourished. It is grievous to sit through this kind of service when you know there are people present who are suffering severe trials, discouragement, physically or mentally on the edge, overtaken in a fault, or offended. There are so many wounded souls that might be saved by having Jesus sweetly revealed to them; so many discouraged hearts that might be calmed and uplifted by humble, sincere exposition; so many filled with self-doubt and rebellion that could be helped by an honest attempt to make the Scriptures come alive for them.
The general malady resulting from misapplied pride tends toward an attitude of self-assurance, which signals the beginning of the end for the man of God. My, how careful we ought to be! While we condemn the unscriptural division between clergy and laity so prevalent in most religions, watch the same tendency among us. Not many churches expect their next pastor to be a man from among their own ranks. He must come from somewhere else, be somebody extra special, with meticulous preparation, somebody more spiritual than all the rest. Not to sound too fanatical, but even the platforms we preach from often seem unnecessarily high.
The self-imposed isolation and the admiration from the people to whom we preach combine to form undue confidence in our own opinions. The next slide downward is to criticism and gossip. We are so right all of the time about most everything that somehow there is now a special license to be talking about others. There is usually a double standard here. The ordinary church member best not be caught talking ugly about his pastor. Nevertheless, discretion and confidentiality are often thrown to the wind when pastors are alone together. I just read somewhere that you cannot help small men by tearing down big men. And yet, how often is a fellow pastor charged, tried and convicted by a tribunal of his peers; sometimes, even without first-hand information; and with no opportunity for the gentleman to defend himself; A popular song entitled, "Gossip" goes, in part, like this: "It's white and black like industrial waste/Pollution of the highest degree/You wonder why I don't hang out much/I wonder how you can see!"
Self-assurance about what we believe tends to spill over into self-reliance regarding what we do. An independent missionary today has to like preaching, teaching, linguistics, languages, traveling, pioneering a work, adapting to a new culture, counseling, construction, auto mechanics, computers, being a loner, being a socializer, discipling, business administration, training preachers, running a seminary,... and he had better be proficient at all of that!
