There are some books which when reading them hit a root which is a bit too deep for the present time. One book that has done that on more than one occasion for me is Ed Welch’s book When People Are Big and God Is Small. I finally picked it up again the other day and I’m trying to work my way through it again. Perhaps I’m ready.
There was one little statement I read the other day which really opened up something in my heart. Speaking of Jesus, Welch says, “His teaching was not done by first taking a poll of what was popular; instead he spoke truth that was often unpopular but could penetrate the heart.” (40-41)
I’m not sure why I connected these dots but I started thinking about how Baptist polity can be hi-jacked by the cowardly among us. I’m not intending to speak on the way we do things in Baptist churches, that’s not my point. My point here is to look at my heart and to challenge other leaders to look in their own hearts and see if this coy cowardice might be present.
I’m convinced that if I’m merely giving the people what they want I’m not being a very good leader. That’s a soda machine. Put in a little money, push the right buttons, and get what you had hoped for.
But there are days when it’d be nice to be a soda machine. After all, if pastors are soda machines, then when you stand before Almighty God you can’t expected to be held responsible for dispensing what the folks asked you to dispense. They pushed the watery-teaching button. You just gave them what they wanted. They pushed the “let’s not really bother reaching the broken in our community” button, and so as a good machine you acquiesced and gave them what they wanted.
And lets be honest, if your people have a soda machine theology of pastoral ministry things are going to be a bit rough. You know what its like when you put in your hard earned quarters in the hopes of getting a Coke only to be disappointed by an abominable Fresca. You start kicking and cursing the machine for dispensing the wrong thing. Well, guess what that means for you pastor?
Biblical shepherds aren’t driven by opinion polls. Don’t get me wrong we care about what the people want—because it reveals something about the hearts. But at the end of the day we are responsible for preaching the Word of God in season and out of season. We are responsible for leading the church and equipping the saints for the work of ministry. We’ll stand before God and be judged not by whether or not we did what they wanted but by whether or not we are faithful to what God wanted. Thankfully, there are many sweet times when those two things are not in opposition.
A majority of church folk really do love God and want to hear His Word. They want to be led and equipped for the work of ministry. They don’t want a soda machine, they want a living and breathing pastor who makes mistakes but really truly loves God and them.
So even though this is true I don’t think we Baptists can hide behind, “we the people”. If they want something that is going to kill them it would be cowardice to hide behind polity and let them eat poison. There is a fine line between being a people-pleaser and being a good Southern Baptist. I think the apostle Paul is also a great model for us. I’ll let Ed Welch close us out:
Paul was not a people-pleaser. He was a people-lover, and because of that he did not change his message according to what others might think. Only people-lovers are able to confront. Only people-lovers are not controlled by other people. (41)
But please, truly love your people. Lovingly tell them the truth with grace and patience. You can be a loud coward just as easily as a quiet one.
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