THE PREACHER AND BIBLICAL SEPARATION

 There is a type of separation from the world that is unbiblical. It is isolation, as we seek to remove ourselves wholly from the world. Yet, Jesus has sent us into the world to seek the lost. We cannot cloister with a monastery mentality and carry out our mission. Yet, there is Biblical separation. While Jesus has sent us into the world, we are not to be of the world. That is sanctification, and we cannot make a difference in the world unless we are different from the world.

In Revelation 18, we see in Babylon a description of the world system—ecclesiastical Babylon marked by false religion and economic Babylon characterized by financial gain. That Babylon is doomed to destruction. Hence the urgent warning, “And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.” (v.4‬). 

In this context, we will weigh the role of the preacher and Biblical separation. 

Consider then, THE CALL TO SEPARATION, “Come out of her, my people.”  The voice comes from heaven, and it is with that voice that the preacher speaks, as he proclaims the Word of God from the pulpit.  Our message must be clear and compelling. All through the week , the church members have been living in this world that is seeking to shape their thinking and conduct according to its call to compromise and conform. They hear the siren song of deception and dollars, and we must warn them to resist!  Preach on eternity, so that the people will consecrate their lives upon the altar, holy and acceptable to God, being transformed by the truth as it renews their mind.  They will either be transformed by the Word or conformed to the world (cf. Rom.12:1-2).

Importantly there is THE COMMITMENT TO SEPARATION.  The warning is, “lest you share in her sins.”  The preacher’s model must support his message. The congregation needs to see it in the man of God if they are to be convinced as we speak of it.  Compromise with Babylon is a peril for the pastor as well as the people. How many men have diluted and deviated in doctrine and devotion, craving prestige and possessions?  We begin by avoiding uncomfortable truths. We claim to believe them in private, but do not proclaim them in public. This begins the path into the abyss of compromise.

Further count THE COST OF SEPARATION. Babylon is judged, “And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints…” as the final verse of Revelation 18 (verse 24) relates.  The pressure to compromise for religious prestige and material possessions is but one dimension—the flip side is the peril of resisting the forces of evil. On the one hand we are enticed with gain and on the other the threat of loss.  Ultimately, the world system is willing to eradicate those who expose their deception and expound their crimes. Prophets are not popular. Sadly, it has been said that the church today is a non-prophet organization!

The cost of conviction is great, but the cost of compromise is greater. In the former, one may suffer earthly pain, but will have everlasting reward. In the latter, one may have earthly gain, but will have eternal retribution. The warning is to come out of Babylon, “lest you receive of her plagues.”  Carnal, compromising preachers will find the fires of hell exceedingly hot, for they have not only gone astray, but have caused many others to stumble into the pit.  Their own agony will be accompanied by the screams of many of their past congregants!

I read the obituary of what I fear was such a preacher last evening. His church was near the one I served. The times I was around him, I can say he was more noted for what he did not believe than what he did. Here is what he wrote about his legacy:

“I seek no Heaven, nor Hell to shun                                                                                                            When this my earthly life is done.”

Although the final disposition of his soul is not mine to decide, I am concerned the heaven he did not seek has not been gained, and hell he did not care to shun, he has now begun to experience.  There is no joy in saying this. May God give us grace to pay the price of conviction, rather than the cost of compromise!

[The pictures portray Christian and Faithful from John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, in Vanity Fair, resisting the allure, and are placed on trial, with Faithful being condemned to death—a fitting illustration of the truths of this post].

THE PERIL OF PEOPLE-PLEASING

 

And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?”  (Exodus 32:21)

It is such a subtle thing, and therefore the more sinister.  Doubtless, there are men who enter ministry motivated by a desire to milk the congregation for all they can get from them.  They are pursuing position and possessions and find the church a goldmine of opportunity.  Such charlatans tell people what they want to hear—a quid pro quo arrangement.

That is not likely the case with those who read these words.  Rather you are in ministry to serve God by serving people.  We begin with a conviction that what people need most is not always what they want.  They need to be confronted compassionately with truth.  Yet, if we are not careful—because this brings difficulty and resistance—we compromise and begin to move into a people-pleasing mode.  Our motivations are not necessarily mercenary at the first.  We make excuses—I want to accommodate people so that I can build a bridge to them—to reach them.  The issue with such a bridge, however, is that a bridge goes both ways—and rather than bringing the church out of the world, we take the world into the church!  Compassion that abandons conviction becomes compromise and ceases to be true compassion—for sin is the gravest danger for the church, and we become a willing host when open minds and open arms are spread so wide as to tolerate evil and error.  It is possible to be popular and build a crowd that way—all in the name of God!  You may use Bible terminology and still move away from Biblical truth.

Aaron is the model of such compromise.  When the people demanded a god they could see, and wanted to worship as the rest of the world was doing, then he surrendered to the crowd.  He still used the right vocabulary and tried to dress it up with attaching God’s name and worship to it, but that did not sanctify the compromise, it only compromised the sacred.

Moses’ response is instructive.  There was indignation.  God’s honor was more important to him than pleasing people.  His action was forceful, but not without love—it was just that love for God was foremost, and out of that flowed a love for people.  Like Jesus, he balanced grace and truth—which is the supreme standard for every leader.  Moses not only expressed indignation, but offered intercession.  He was willing to have his name blotted out of God’s Book of Life, if it would be possible to spare the people from the wrath of God in blotting their name out!  Such conviction and compassion! 

The bar is set very high in spiritual leadership.  Still, that is what we should strive by the grace of God to attain.  May God deliver us from the people-pleasing spirit of Aaron, and cause us to delight in pleasing our Master above all as Moses sought to do.  To please God will often cause people to be displeased.  Children selfishly cry when they cannot have their way and do not understand correction.  Loving parents do it anyway.  Conviction and compassion is a tightrope we must walk.  May God give us the sound sense and strong spine for a steady stride forward.  If we fall, we will drag down others.