Dear Friends,
“Are you so dull? Jesus asked.” Mark 7:18
“Jesus who was no milquetoast, namby- pamby leader. He was
exasperated with his disciples and let them know about it in no uncertain
terms. In today's language he said, will you guys wake up? Aren't you ever
going to get it? How many times do I have to explain it to you?” More
Leadership Lessons of Jesus, Bob Briner and Ray Pritchard, p. 17
Those you lead will sometimes need to know you are not happy with
them. The authors point out the importance of biblical rebuke, a response that
in often avoided in today’s age of tolerance and acceptance where people will
do anything to avoid offending someone.
Yesterday at one of our services, one of our pastors had to rebuke
a worshipper who has had a history of spreading heretical views within the
fellowship. The individual happens to be a good and moral person, but some of
his thinking and beliefs are contrary to biblical teaching, and while we have
always welcomed him in our worship, we had to draw the line yesterday when he
began indoctrinating others with his false teaching.
I was blessed by the way my colleague rebuked the man. He did so
gently, but firmly, and in a spirit of love. He made it clear that he loved the
individual, but that we would not tolerate the spreading of his personal views
of scripture which we considered harmful to the body.
I thought of the words of a pastor I knew who said, “A real friend
is someone who stabs us in the front.” That is what my friend did yesterday in
confronting this individual.
Proverbs 27:6 reminds us that “Faithful are the wounds of a
friend; profuse are the kisses of the enemy.” A faithful friend will
wound if he must, but the wound will always stem from truth imbedded in love.
In offering rebuke, it is important to remember that it must be
offered in the spirit of gentleness. We must always be reminded that we also
have our own list of offenses and shortcomings. Doing so will always keep us
humble in spirit, and correction always is much easier to receive when it comes
from the lips of one who possesses a humble heart.
Charles H. Spurgeon had a preacher friend, Dr. Newman Hall,
who wrote a book entitled, Come to Jesus. Another preacher published an
article in which he ridiculed Hall, who bore it patiently for a while. But when
the article gained popularity, Hall sat down and wrote a letter of protest. His
answer was full of retaliatory invectives that out did anything in the article
which attacked him. Before mailing the letter, Hall took it to Spurgeon for his
opinion.
Spurgeon read it carefully, and then, handing it back, asserted
that it was excellent, and that the writer of the article deserved it all. But
he added, it just lacks one thing. After a pause Spurgeon continued,
“Underneath your signature you ought to write the words, ‘author of Come to
Jesus.’ You Don't Have to Go It Alone, Leslie Flynn, P. 117
J. C Penney wrote a book titled What an Executive Should Know
About Himself. In it he asks the question, “Can you take criticism?” And
then he quotes Chicago department store magnet Marshall Field who said “Those
who enter to by, support me. Those who come to flatter, please me. Those who
complain, teach me how I am to please others so that more will come. Only those
hurt me who are displeased but do not complain. ……Praise is a wonderful pick me
up, but it’s only through criticism that we are enabled to know what we have
been doing wrong and thereby correct our failures and shortcomings.” (From a
sermon by John Huffman)
I will never forget what Bishop Stephen Neal, and Anglican Bishop
who once said, “Criticism is the manure in which the Lord's servants grow
best.”
Let's always direct but gentle in our criticism and rebuke like my
pastor friend was. Our goal should always be to seek to restore the one
rebuked, so he will love you and be wiser still.
Solomon wisely writes, “Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate
you; Reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man,
and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man and he will increase in
learning. (Proverbs 9:8-9)
Yes, manure stinks, but when rightly used don’t forget what it so
wonderfully produces.
Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom
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