PASTORS AND THE FEAR OF MEN
(Encouragement for Pastors)
By Ward Fenley
PASTORS AND THE FEAR OF MEN
Of course, as a Christian, I cannot help but dedicate these articles
to the glory and honor of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: the immutable,
omnipotent God. However, I must emphasize those to whom I direct these
articles: certainly all those who sincerely desire truth in the inward
parts (Psalms 51:6). Primarily, though, I direct this book to pastors and
teachers of the word of God, for it is these men who are to be delivering
the sword of the Spirit to the people of God.
It is my prayer that these articles would remind pastors throughout
the world of their call to preach the truth. Preaching the truth first
begins with a severe scrutiny of the heart pertaining to motives. As preachers,
we must be honest. If we are to be honest preachers, we must be honest
with the word of God.
The fear of God must be our compelling objective in being honest with
the word of God and preaching the word of God. More often than not, it
means preaching those things that the world hates. Therefore, if the world
hates the word of God, they will hate us. It is usually the case that in
churches where the truth is preached, the congregations are small. Pastors
are frequently confronted with the temptation to conform their preaching
to the desires of the congregation. This stems from a worldly theory that
the number of members in a congregation determines fruit. Reliance upon
this theory results in the fear of men. Because the fear of men is so powerful,
it often can lead to doing whatever is necessary to conform and wrest the
word of God to the congregation rather than doing whatever is necessary
to conform and wrest the congregation to the word. This was a constant
temptation that confronted the apostles and prophets. Beside the Lord Jesus,
Jeremiah is perhaps most well-known for his controversy with the rebellious
responses of his contemporaries to the word of God. God prepared Jeremiah
for the opposition he would experience from the rebellious Jews of his
day:
Jeremiah 1:4-10,17-19 Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest
forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet
unto the nations. 6 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak:
for I am a child. 7 But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for
thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee
thou shalt speak. 8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to
deliver thee, saith the LORD. 9 Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched
my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy
mouth. 10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms,
to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build,
and to plant... 17 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak
unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest
I confound thee before them. 18 For, behold, I have made thee this day
a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole
land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against
the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. 19 And they shall
fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with
thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.
God gave the words to Jeremiah to give to the people regardless of their
hardness against the truth. God essentially spoke the same thing to Ezekiel,
i.e. to preach the truth regardless of the response of the congregation:
Ezekiel 2:3-8 And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the
children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me:
they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very
day. 4 For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee
unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD. 5 And
they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are
a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among
them. 6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid
of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell
among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their
looks, though they be a rebellious house. 7 And thou shalt speak my words
unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they
are most rebellious. 8 But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee;
Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and
eat that I give thee.
Those who were the most rebellious were the prophets and priests. God did
not hesitate to describe their sin:
Jeremiah 10:21 For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought
the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall
be scattered.
Their chief sin was not seeking the Lord. These pastors and prophets claimed
the name of the Lord yet refused to preach His word:
Jeremiah 14:13-16 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets
say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine;
but I will give you assured peace in this place. 14 Then the LORD said
unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither
have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you
a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of
their heart. 15 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that
prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine
shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be
consumed. 16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in
the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they
shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their
daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.
Not seeking the word of God is not seeking God. Rather, it is leaning on
our own understanding. God's pronouncement of evil upon the wicked pastors
of Jeremiah's day was primarily because of their idolatry in not seeking
God and His word. To seek anything else is idolatry. To not study His word
is, simply, idolatry. Jeremiah brought the truth to these wicked men, and
they responded with mocking and deriding.
Jeremiah, however, remained faithful to his calling because he was ordained
to this calling (1:5). Therefore, with certainty, he could declare his
devotion to God and His word with a pure conscience:
Jeremiah 17:16-18 As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor
to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that
which came out of my lips was right before thee. 17 Be not a terror unto
me: thou art my hope in the day of evil. 18 Let them be confounded that
persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let
not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with
double destruction.
At first it may seem that the problem of the priests and prophets was that
they did not accept the call to their offices. Jeremiah, however, exposed
the real problem. They considered themselves pastors and prophets, but
in practice they hastened from their calling (17:16). Jeremiah was not
concerned with men being a terror unto him; he was concerned with God being
a terror unto him (verse 17). The greatest Pastor of all taught this precept:
Luke 12:4-5 And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that
kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5 But I will
forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath
power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
Jeremiah did have his battle, however. His battle was not prophesying lies
to the people, which, sadly, is the chief problem in today's pulpits. Rather,
his battle was discouragement over rejection of the truth. At one time,
he fell to this discouragement and ceased preaching altogether:
Jeremiah 20:7-9 O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived:
thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every
one mocketh me. 8 For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and
spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a
derision, daily. 9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak
any more in his name...
Ultimately, this conflict resulted in the fear of men. Jeremiah was weary
of being derided and mocked. The burden of the reproach of the false teachers
was heavy upon him. He succumbed to the fear of men and quit preaching...but
not finally. Because he was truly called of God to preach, his fear of
God and His word prevailed against his fear of men:
Jeremiah 20:9 ... But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire
shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
The New King James Version states Jeremiah's rekindled obsession more clearly:
Jeremiah 20:9 ...But His word was in my heart like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not.
The pastor who is truly called by God cannot and will not hold back the
truth. Paul, with a pure conscience, could tell the Ephesian elders he
was faithful in preaching the word of God:
Acts 20:26-27 "Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent
of the blood of all men. 27 "For I have not shunned to declare to you the
whole counsel of God."
Earlier, he testified how he had kept back nothing from them:
Acts 20:20 And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you,
but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house,
Paul did not fear men. He taught them the whole counsel of God. He suffered
for his adherence to preach the truth. This truth which he preached brought
persecution from the enemies of Christ. Therefore, the question we must
ask is: what truth was he preaching that created such contention? Why were
his contemporaries so provoked against him? Paul speaks of the message
he preached that caused contention. He declares his infirmities as well
as the danger the Ephesian elders would experience as they, too, preached
the truth:
Acts 20:18-32 And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye
know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have
been with you at all seasons, 19 Serving the Lord with all humility of
mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying
in wait of the Jews: 20 And how I kept back nothing that was profitable
unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house
to house, 21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance
toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 And now, behold,
I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall
befall me there: 23 Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city,
saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. 24 But none of these things
move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish
my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord
Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. 25 And now, behold, I
know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God,
shall see my face no more. 26 Wherefore I take you to record this day,
that I am pure from the blood of all men. 27 For I have not shunned to
declare unto you all the counsel of God. 28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves,
and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers,
to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter
in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men
arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31
Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased
not to warn every one night and day with tears. 32 And now, brethren, I
commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build
you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
Paul taught true repentance from sin and unbelief as well as faith toward
Jesus Christ (vs.21). He further testified of the grace of God (verses
24 and 32). Finally, he preached the kingdom of God. It was the preaching
of true repentance, salvation by grace alone, and the preaching of the
unseen kingdom of God that brought rage from the gainsayers. Paul had experienced
this. He knew that as long as the Ephesian elders truly taught these things,
they, too, would have to endure the fury of men.
Today it is the same. In the eyes of the world, the churches seem to
be growing bigger and better than ever. From the perspective of Scripture,
however, it seems that many churches are falling short in the area of the
preaching of the kingdom and grace of God. Pastors have feared the faces
of men rather than the face of Almighty God in the same manner as profane
priests and prophets of old. As God promised Jeremiah, so He promises today:
Jeremiah 1:17 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak
unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest
I confound thee before them.
As preachers, if we do not repent of our fear of men, God will confound
us before them. Is this not already evident? Many wonder why liberalism
has permeated the church. They wonder why atheism is so widespread. It
is because the pastors and priests have gone astray. The same was true
in Jeremiah's time:
Jeremiah 23:11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my
house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.
Their profanity is not even necessarily overt sin as much as it is subtle
indoctrination with heretical principles. Peter spoke of these subtle heresies:
2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even
as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in
damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon
themselves swift destruction.
The prophets of the Old Testament and the prophets of Peter's time had
gone a-whoring after other gods. It is still true today. These gods are
not only the self-will but also the faces of other men. To fear men is
to worship men. We have become consumed with how men view us as speakers
and intelligent philosophers rather than being consumed with how God views
us as preachers of His grace and kingdom. For this cause, the visible church
is practically withered and emaciated. We cannot expect change until God
sovereignly works in the hearts of pastors to fear Him and preach His word.
Revival will come when true men of God come forth with boldness and preach
the holy word of God, but it must begin with pastors being honest with
the word of God in their own studies. We must not cater our interpretation
according to the desires of the congregation, for not all the congregation
is holy. As Moses said:
Numbers 16:5 ...the LORD will show who are his, and who is holy; and
will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will
he cause to come near unto him.
Preaching the truth will inevitably bring the destruction of those who
are not holy unto the Lord, sometimes resulting in a drop of attendance;
yet Paul encouraged the true preacher of God's word:
2 Corinthians 2:14-17 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth
us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge
by us in every place. 15 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ,
in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 16 To the one we are the
savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.
And who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not as many, which
corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight
of God speak we in Christ.
God does not consider numbers. That which is sweet-smelling in the sight
of God is His word not returning void but, rather, being the savor of death
to death and life to life. In either case, the true preacher of God is
being caused to triumph by God...in the sight of God.
The true preacher of God's word must not corrupt the word of God but
preach the word of God with sincerity, i.e. preaching what we know to be
the truth, not what men want to hear. In doing so, we, as preachers, will
be blessed with what church attendance could never accomplish-a clear conscience.
Much love in Christ,
Ward Fenley
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