The Scourge Of Racism
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In last week’s post that was originally a 2012 Commentary, the Lord led me to write about the need for American church pastors that are guilty to be more intentional about developing the men in their churches as leaders. The absence of men in the churches today and their weakness in the pews when they are there is major evidence pastors are failing in their biblically mandated responsibility to reach men for and develop them in Christ. I also present a number of reasons for the failure of pastors in this matter, but reserved discussing an important one this and elaborating on another next week. In this week’s edited 2012 blog repost, it is the equality trap.
Originally Posted November 4, 2012
Writing about equality causes a powerful mix of emotions in me as a black American that has lived all of my life with the painful sting of racism fed inequality. I have endured being treated unequally in both the secular world where without connection to Christ it would be expected and among many white professing Christians, their churches and related entities where I have refused to accept such behavior as representative of biblical Christianity, but frankly, have also come to expect it from experience. Even so, more and more professing white Christians are following the world’s lead in not displaying some of the more openly discriminatory practices of racial inequality.
However, the evil practice of treating a man unequally because of the color of his skin is not the supposed immoral equivalent of a God honoring society treating same sex relations as wrong and forbidding its practice. My skin color was genetically programmed whereas same sex relations are a choice even if the demonically instigated and deceitful allure is over powering. All men are not to be marginalized as a group due to the racism of many white men either. Mysteriously and wickedly, God’s ancient instruction on males and females is being lumped together with racism. By divine assignment men are leaders in the home, church and wider society as it has been from creation.
The world’s clamor for equality is not moral or righteous, but hypocritically rebellious!1 The righteous demands for a more equal and fair society made historically by blacks and other racial minorities has been co-opted and used as a pretext by the mostly white “children of the sixties” to press their own immoral agenda and rebellion against God’s ancient morality for and order of human society (Psalm 2:1-3). This is not just my opinion offered from afar. I experienced the attempted brain washing that has come with this rebellion while in secular colleges in the mid-seventies and early eighties through particularly all of my social science courses.2
And now, the world’s clamor for equality has fully made its way into the churches where worldly anything is not to be tolerated as opposition to God’s program which is already perfectly equal and fair since He is the Author! Thus, the God of the Bible has never condoned or sanctioned racism or its related practices including segregated anything much less churches. This has all been done by those that are guilty in willful defiance of and disobedience to God’s Word. Similarly, those professing Christians that would think God’s male and female roles, responsibilities and order are not equal and fair are rebels and carry a worldly agenda into His house. They are of prospectively three types in their rebellion.
First, they are false disciples and impostors that have never met Jesus Christ personally (Galatians 2:1-5; 2 Timothy 3:13). Second, they are carnal, willfully weak and untaught babes in Christ who foolishly believe the church should look like the world rather than the peculiar people God called us out of it to be (1 Peter 2:9-10).3 Finally, they are self-willed and led, fearful of the world and ultimately ashamed of Christ and the Word of God (Matthew 10:24-33; Mark 8:34-38). Out of this latter group come many of the pastors today who feel pressure to make the world be fond of their churches for the sake of building them bigger and fear of persecution.
Too, their mostly female filled churches demand that women be treated equally and fairly as in the world and have positions of authority God has reserved for men. A special effort to develop men as leaders is a big no-no. Pastors who truly know and love the Lord must resist the temptation to compromise God’s Word and corrupt His program in being caught in Satan’s equality trap. In the first place, your assignment, pastor, is not to build a big congregation. It is to preach the Gospel, baptize and teach those who believe in making disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). Any legitimate increase in congregation size will come from the Lord not your efforts (Acts 2:47b; 1 Corinthians 3:5-7).
Furthermore, in the example of Christ, you must teach and develop men first as leaders in the home who will then prove themselves worthy to serve as leaders in God’s house. This approach in turn will lead to spiritually healthy homes and churches that are blessed of God even if they are despised by the world.4 Who are you to please in this, brother pastor: God or the world? If you have already compromised and corrupted yourself, repent! Our God rich in mercy through Christ will forgive you. However, you are right to consider the sobering possibility of natural consequences as you attempt to undo the damage you have done. I salute and encourage all faithful pastors to stay on the battlefield--it only gets tougher from here.
1 Read the May 15, 2016 blog post, God Unfair?, under the category, God’s Creatures for more on the world’s brand of equality and fairness.
2 Recent films such as God’s Not Dead 1&2 while fictional, nevertheless, capture how brain washing has morphed into open hostility and contempt now on many campuses toward especially a biblical worldview that challenges all of the rebellious tenets of a secular worldview including evolution to explain origins and science as the final authority on all.
3 Read my May 22, 2016 blog post, The Peculiar People, under the category, Instruction.
4 The Leader Kit for The Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study is a great starting place for pastors to consider using this excellent resource in their efforts to teach and de- velop men. It is available exclusively in the Strong Man Store.
Just as the Church on earth is the only divinely commissioned human agency to proclaim the Gospel and witness Christ, so, only its shepherds and teachers have the priority responsibility to teach those that respond to the message and become Christians. If the Church does not or cannot do her proclamation and witnessing job, God will send angels as He will in days shortly to come (Revelation 14:6-11). But if His chosen human shepherds fail to teach in developing and equipping disciples and especially men as the first priority, then there is no divine back up use of heaven sent angels. Also, we have the issues the Lord leads me to raise in this edited 2012 Commentary.
Originally Published November 2012
Having served the Lord in the ministry of shepherding His flock in local churches, I fully understand the joys and triumphs as well as the relentless pressures, difficulties, hardships and painful sorrows that come with the job. Being a pastor that pleases the Lord and does His will is doable for the man who has truly been gifted for and called to the task. Besides leading the flock to do God's will, central aspects of the task are feeding and tending the flock according to the Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ's directive to His apostle, Peter (John 21:15-17). Of paramount importance is developing the men; something many pastors are failing to do for any number of reasons.
While the Lord proclaimed the Gospel, taught God's Word to and healed people from all walks of life and genders as they gathered to Him, He only gathered to Himself twelve men to be His apostles. This was not because He was keeping in step with the social customs of His day or attempting to please anybody but His Father. Men are God’s chosen leaders in the family, the foundation of human social organization and His churches on earth. Therefore, our Lord honored the divine design and order (Genesis 1:26-27, 2:7; 1 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Timothy 2:13) as well as after consulting with His Father, chose precisely which men to bring near to Himself (Luke 6:12-16).1
Even though one--Judas Iscariot--would eventually betray Him and perish, these men began an intensive time of instruction under Christ to learn about Him, His doctrine, God's program and plans so they might do His will as Christ was also doing (John 17:18, 20:19-23). The Lord has called pastors beginning with the apostles to imitate His example of developing men for leadership and Kingdom service (Ephesians 4:7-16). This does not mean women are neglected. Done biblically, though, it is the men as husbands and fathers that instruct their families in the faith and show suitability for leadership in the local church (1 Corinthians 14:34-35; 1 Timothy 2:11-12, 3:1-13).2
The apostle Paul foretold and Peter revealed one of the major reasons many pastors do not "shepherd the church of God" as He intends including purposely developing men: they have corrupt motives (Acts 20:17, 28-30; 1 Peter 5:1-3, NKJV). They also have the wrong idea about the purpose of church members. The flock of God does not exist to support a pastor's selfish ambitions and personal kingdom.3 He exists to build up the members as God also required of Israel's shepherds and was displeased with their failure (Ezekiel 34:1-10). The present hour bears out the devastating result of failed Christian shepherds in that churches have relatively few men and God is not pleased.4
How many men do I know in and beyond my family that are soured on the church and ruined as faithful disciples of Christ because some novice or greedy and corrupt pastor sought to exploit them for personal gain? How many men with a healthy self-concept and sense of dignity will never darken the doors of a church again because some insecure, overbearing and controlling pastor sought to lord it over them contrary to the teaching of Christ (Luke 22:24-27)? Truly, such pastors do not welcome aspiring strong men of God in the image of Christ either! Even fallen, men are amazing creatures in that most will easily follow a man that has earned not demanded their respect (1 Samuel 21:10-22:2; Matthew 9:1-13; Acts 16:1-5).
Pastor, how many men sitting in the pews right now are having their need for your personal instruction in Christ to develop them as leaders in the home and church ignored while you are busy with other endeavors that serve your ambitions? As Christ to His apostles and Paul to Timothy, you, sir, are a spiritual father to the men you serve in the local church and equip them to be likewise (Isaiah 53:10; John 14:18, 16:12-15; 1 Corinthians 4:14-17; 2 Timothy 2:1-2). If indeed, Christ has called you to serve His flock as a shepherd under Him, then He wills that you possess His motives and priorities as well as follow His example in your service to obtain His reward (1 Peter 5:4).
Sadly, as I write in my book, The Strong Of God: Back to Basics, many pastors also do not teach their men because they are weak in sin as professing Christians.5 While perfection is certainly not required by God to serve as a pastor, He does expect that each man has shown recognizable growth in spiritual maturity before his service to a local church and continuing growth thereafter. As such, local churches too must shoulder the blame for men absent from or sitting weak in their assemblies due to pastors not doing their job.6 They ignored God's Word and leading in the selection of their pastor (Titus 1:4-9). The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 See all of this year’s blogs under the category, The Cause, but especially the series, In God’s Revival Men Are Restored, Jesus, Son Of Man and The Value Of Men for
a more thorough treatment of the points in this and the opening of the next paragraph.
2 Lord willing, I will have more to say about this in my next post.
3 Read the September 27, 2015 post, Empire Building On God’s Program, under the category, Call To Repent.
4 Read my July 16, 2017 blog, Pastors In The Two Minute Drill, under the category, The Cause to understand how urgent it is before God for pastors to get their heads back
in the game!
5 The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics is available at all major internet booksellers and in the Strong Man Store.
6 The companion resource to my book, The Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study, is an excellent tool pastors can use to intentionally develop men. Learn more and what
men say about it here.
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