Imagine what it would be like for a pastor/teacher to have a congregation or assembly of (400) believers made up of people that post on this site. Think of it for a minute. The pastor is preaching and the crowd is made up of people with all these different beliefs and convictions that are contrary to one another. The pastor/teacher's job is to bring them to the unity of the faith by building them up in the truth. After the message people would be going home and talking with others about the things they did and did not agree with. This goes one week after week. There would be those in the congregation that would pull people aside and criticize the preacher for teaching false doctrine and others would be gossiping about his wife and what she wears to church. Some would be nice on the outside but on the inside they just don't like the preaching because it is not social enough. Some would be checking out his background and finding that he was an unruly teenager that got into trouble and drugs and say that he is disqualified to be a pastor. If the pastor was a young man, there would those questioning his authority, his knowledge and his experience and some would even try to seduce him. Some would be thinking that a woman could do a better job in the pulpit and in running the church. Even if he teaches the unadulterated word of God without compromise and with perfection, he would be accused of heresy, preaching man-made doctrine, giving people a license to live in sin, hating and judging homosexuals and the big one would be that he promotes following a man instead of God.
Think of all the attitudes that he would have to deal with. You have marriage relationships in the church ready to go into the tank and the pastor teaches about reconciliation and that is like, you know what, hitting the fan. That preacher is going to get an earful from someone the next time they see him. Then you have those on the outside that criticize his teaching and judge his motives all in the name correction but never go to him alone because they are trouble makers and not peacemakers. Is anyone surprised when there is a church split or the pastor withdraws through discouragement or picks up and leaves to go to another location after (6) months of all that stuff. If the pastor stayed, don't you think he would favor those that agree with his teaching and who are active participants in the ministry? If that pastor really preached the truth with the conviction of the cross and being focused on Christ, he would probably lose half the people within the first year. That pastor's task to bring them into the unity of the faith can only be accomplished through the grace of God, through the preaching the cross and to be unwaivering concerning his walk by faith in the promises of God. Think of how much light and wisdom he has to walk in all the time. Do we dare raise our tongue against such a man who has been called by grace. Only those that do not understand grace and the nature of God's calling would allow their tongue to be used in such a way for such things.
Think of all the attitudes that he would have to deal with. You have marriage relationships in the church ready to go into the tank and the pastor teaches about reconciliation and that is like, you know what, hitting the fan. That preacher is going to get an earful from someone the next time they see him. Then you have those on the outside that criticize his teaching and judge his motives all in the name correction but never go to him alone because they are trouble makers and not peacemakers. Is anyone surprised when there is a church split or the pastor withdraws through discouragement or picks up and leaves to go to another location after (6) months of all that stuff. If the pastor stayed, don't you think he would favor those that agree with his teaching and who are active participants in the ministry? If that pastor really preached the truth with the conviction of the cross and being focused on Christ, he would probably lose half the people within the first year. That pastor's task to bring them into the unity of the faith can only be accomplished through the grace of God, through the preaching the cross and to be unwaivering concerning his walk by faith in the promises of God. Think of how much light and wisdom he has to walk in all the time. Do we dare raise our tongue against such a man who has been called by grace. Only those that do not understand grace and the nature of God's calling would allow their tongue to be used in such a way for such things.
