“You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.”
-Deuteronomy 25:4

One of my biggest fears about going into ministry is people, but it’s the group of people I fear that I feel is a telling example of their collective state.  It Christians.  Not unbelievers, but Christians.  Why?  Brother Yun, author of The Heavenly Man states it well when he notes that in China Christians were persecuted by the government, but in the West they are persecuted by other Christians.

We are our biggest critics, and it makes me sick.  A long time ago I realized that we critique a pastor and/or sermon as we would forms of entertainment.  Our commentary of a worship service is often a music review, evaluated on the basis of the pleasure it brought us rather than God.  I’m sick of coming out of a sermon and hearing how deficient it was.  I’m tired of hearing put-downs.

I’ve decided to start calling people out on this.  Early on in my walk with Christ, one of the first books I read was I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris.  It presented to me a perception of romance I had never known before, and it made so much sense to me both practically and spiritually.  Most people I talk to sort of groan or cringe when I mention Harris.  One time I was talking with a group of people and some guy mentioned how Harris and his wife didn’t kiss until their wedding.  Another girl exclaimed “That’s crazy!”  Why?  Why is that crazy?  I love Elisabeth Elliot’s response to the question of how you know you want to marry someone if you’ve never kissed them: how can you know you want to marry them BECAUSE you’ve kissed them?  What role does being a good kisser have in the decision to say “I will pledge myself to you for the rest of my life and love you for better or worse”?

I’m not going to get into this question except to say that whether you kiss beforehand or whether you wait until the wedding altar is an issue of personal faith, so abide by conscience and don’t listen to those who would legislate this issue (see Romans 14).  The reason I bring up Harris is because he’s a great example of what I’m talking about.  The criticism I hear of this man is grounded in worldly philosophy and cultural expectations, the very things we’re told not to be taken captive by (Colossians 2:8).  My challenge to Harris-haters is this: show me IN SCRIPTURE where he is wrong.  Is he culturally wrong or scripturally wrong?  He’s advocating purity, like that guy Jesus did.  Why do you critique that?  Are we to interpret scripture on the basis that we can’t keep our pants on?  Who are American Christians (who have a 50% divorce rate) to say how relationships should work?

I get the same thing about John Piper.  Some people love to hate this guy, and for most people its for no other reason than that he’s popular.  Once you get famous, Christians love to find your flaws.  But is he damaging the Body of Christ?  Where is he wrong Scripturally in what he preaches and WHY?  Show me!  To renounce a preacher is a very serious thing, people.  If they are Scripturally correct in what they preach, then LAY OFF!  Paul will twice quote Deuteronomy 25:4 in his letters, once to the Corinthians and then to Timothy.  Don’t muzzle the ox.  Don’t deprive the preacher what is due him.  In 1 Corinthians he’s talking about providing materially for the minister.  Do you give money to your church?  In 1 Timothy, he quotes this verse again in the context of providing spiritually what is owed the preacher.  Then he quotes Luke 10:7 by saying that the laborer is worthy of his wages.  Do you encourage your minister?

Pastors faithful to the word of God don’t need you to be in the parking lot after the service talking about how you didn’t “like” the message.  What does that mean?  Was he wrong?  Did he fumble truth?  Or did it just not change your life enough?  The fact is, the number of sermons that change your life are going to be very few.  By the end of your life, you will have forgotten the vast majority of sermons you’ve heard.  Does that make them unnecessary?  Of course not.  I have forgotten the vast majority of meals I’ve ever eaten.  But I am alive today because of those meals.  Some sermons will affect you for a week.  Some years.  And some sermons are designed by God to affect one encounter you’ll make later that day.  We are alive spiritually because of many things that are now forgotten.

Did a sermon not meet your expectations?  Did you think he’d go this way with the material and instead he did something totally different?  Get over it.  Say just that.  But don’t criticize a preacher based on your expectations.

Is a preacher boring?  Then focus on the content, and if he’s still putting you to sleep then just find another church that has a Biblical pastor who keeps you interested.  But don’t put him down.  While he may not be reaching you personally, others are being fed by him.  To put down a pastor is to put down his flock as well.  Bear that in mind.

What is there to critique if a preacher’s flaws are anything but Scriptural?  Nothing worth starting a fight over.  There’s a million things preachers could do better.  They could sometimes use better illustrations.  Some could use illustrations, period.  Some might learn how to better captivate their congregation.  Some shouldn’t put their hands in their pockets while they publicly speak.  If this stuff bothers you, then give them a suggestion but don’t throw it under the umbrella of “You’re a Bad Preacher.”  Guys, these men have TOUGH jobs.  Hebrews says “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.  Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you” (13:17).  What do you profit from attacking that which gives you life?  Regardless of their presentation, preachers are speaking beautiful truth in your life.  They are going to give an account to God of how they shepherded you.  James 3:1 says that they will be judged with greater strictness.  Pastors need all the encouragement that is due to them.

As someone wanting to pastor, I’m already noticing this.  Leadership is not glamorous.  Its rewarding, but there’s a lot of pressure.  It’s a scary thing when all eyes are looking at YOU, waiting for YOU to make a decision that will determine what everyone else will do.  Its also lonely.  Its also scary in the sense that leaders bear the brunt of retaliation by those who oppose their decisions.  From experience I can tell you that this is tough stuff, and nothing lifts me up like affirmation and encouragement from godly people.  A leader receives assurance that he is following God in large part by the support of men and women who love Jesus.

If you are in a church with a pastor who loves God and faithfully adheres to Scripture as his final word, then support him both financially and spiritually.  Otherwise you’re a leech.  We already have too many consumers in our pews throughout this land, and that’s not what the Church is called to be.  “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it” (Proverbs 3:27).

Do not deprive the preacher of resources and encouragement when he is preaching the Word of God.