Smelling a Rat
Smelling a Rat
A while ago, I wrote about my battle with a local tribe of water rats...vile little savages, one and all. Recently one broke through my bait-and-trap line of defence, to croak slowly (and painfully I hope!) in our kitchen ceiling. My discerning nose (1 Corinthians 12.10) sniffed out this rotting carcase. It has now (I trust) gone to the big rat-hole below.
But while playing my part in this small drama, certain thoughts arose. Back on 20/2/09, I wrote an essay, "The Thrush and the Rat", in which I suggested that "the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ appears all too often to be in the hands of 'the rats', and not 'the thrushes' ".
I spoke then of "all the innocent Believers (especially servant-leaders) I've known personally who have been ground to fine dust by the insatiable, brutal jaws of religious power-politics.
"How come, time-and-again, 'the thrushes' are killed, and 'the rats' slip away to plot their next upwardly-mobile move in their campaign to create 'church' in their own image?"
In my most recent encounter with these symbols of ecclesiastical buccaneering and squalor, John 10.11-13 came to mind,
"I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hireling, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, beholds the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf snatches them, and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling, and is not concerned about the sheep."
Now, according to Job and Isaiah, a hireling is engrossed in two things; getting his pay and working to his own timetable,
"As a slave who pants for the shade, and as a hired man who eagerly waits for his wages." (Job 7.2)
"For thus the Lord said to me, 'In a year, as a hired man would count it.' " (Isaiah 21.16)
Like my four-legged intruder, the ecclesiastical hireling always makes a bee-line for the Church's food supply, to both steal and pollute "the children's bread". (Matthew 15.26) He or she steals "the children's bread" in a way which may not be instantly apparent. They systematically set their own selfish ambitions and lusts ("my ministry, my vision, my destiny, my church..!) ahead of heart-felt, sacrificial care for all of God's People. Thus they stymie and thwart the free flow of the "precious and pleasant riches" of God's Word (Proverbs 24.4) to His People.
(It was the Eldership of the Church in Ephesus that Paul reminded, "Feed the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood." Acts 20.28)
Thus it was in the days of Israel's judge and high priest, Eli. His sons stole "the children's bread" right from underneath the Lord's nose, so to speak. (1 Samuel 2.12-17)
Today's hirelings also contaminate the food they do not manage to steal, by strewing through the pure Word of God (Psalm 12.6), the droppings of their self-worship, and the idolising of their own ministerial achievements. This self-approbation may well be disguised with the language of mealy-mouthed religiosity...but the lurking stink of self-interest is unmistakable.
Some are actually beyond help, and so go on without apparent qualm or twinge of conscience, to "corrupt the word of God (preach for personal gain)"; and continue "handling the word of God deceitfully (falsifying and dishonestly manipulating Scripture)". (2 Corinthians 2.17 and 4.l2)
Thus today, self proclaimed "apostles" and "prophets" will trumpet loudly a job description of those sacred appointments, not according to Holy Writ, but in line with what he or she sees while preening in front of the mirror. And others, are not content with the prescriptions of the Bible, and so have invented their own titles, which cannot be discovered in either the Old or the New Testaments, nor at any time in the Church's history!
It is chilling to reflect that ancient Eli's sons went from theft of God's food, to stealing His People. Those "dirty rats", having filled their own bellies, then violated and took possession of the women who laboured as the Lord's servants at the entrance to the Tent-Tabernacle. (1 Samuel 2.22)
The pathway from self-love to self-aggrandisement to patronising the People of God, and thence onto contempt for God Himself...is short and slippery,
"For I was envious of the arrogant, as I saw the prosperity of the wicked...pride is their necklace...they speak from on high...their tongue parades through the earth...Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment. They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors." (Psalm 73.1-19)
"If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it." (Matthew 16.24-25)
From time-to-time, this kind of trenchant writing draws down onto my head the criticism that I do not love the Church. I write thus, precisely because I do love the whole of the Body of Christ, and believe that it absolutely deserves, at every level of its life and work, servant-leaders who are committed first and foremost to becoming more and more (no matter how high or crippling the cost) Christ-like!
God Himself must be the goal of every Christian leader...not success, or fame, or wealth, or power. Anything less that the Lord is something other and something else. Behind every idol (especially those carefully crafted to adorn religious culture) lurks a demon, whose goal is possession for destruction.
Being Christ-like is not necessarily considered a modern, Western Christian value or virtue. But the heart of the Gospel insists that God became like unto us, so that we might become like unto God. (2 Corinthians 5.21, Romans 8.29, 1 Corinthians 15.49) That's the deal. Anything else, is something else...no matter how many may flock to your meetings, no matter how huge your offerings, no matter how vast and ornate may be your gaudy tabernacles!
The days are speeding by, and one day history, and the Church with it, will hit the impenetrable brick-wall called the Last Day. After that day, change and alteration will be beyond us. We must then forever live with the choices and decisions we have made in this life. Let us change while we may.
"For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ, we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God." (2 Corinthians 2.15-17)
"The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here." (Romans 13.11-12)
A while ago, I wrote about my battle with a local tribe of water rats...vile little savages, one and all. Recently one broke through my bait-and-trap line of defence, to croak slowly (and painfully I hope!) in our kitchen ceiling. My discerning nose (1 Corinthians 12.10) sniffed out this rotting carcase. It has now (I trust) gone to the big rat-hole below.
But while playing my part in this small drama, certain thoughts arose. Back on 20/2/09, I wrote an essay, "The Thrush and the Rat", in which I suggested that "the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ appears all too often to be in the hands of 'the rats', and not 'the thrushes' ".
I spoke then of "all the innocent Believers (especially servant-leaders) I've known personally who have been ground to fine dust by the insatiable, brutal jaws of religious power-politics.
"How come, time-and-again, 'the thrushes' are killed, and 'the rats' slip away to plot their next upwardly-mobile move in their campaign to create 'church' in their own image?"
In my most recent encounter with these symbols of ecclesiastical buccaneering and squalor, John 10.11-13 came to mind,
"I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hireling, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, beholds the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf snatches them, and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling, and is not concerned about the sheep."
Now, according to Job and Isaiah, a hireling is engrossed in two things; getting his pay and working to his own timetable,
"As a slave who pants for the shade, and as a hired man who eagerly waits for his wages." (Job 7.2)
"For thus the Lord said to me, 'In a year, as a hired man would count it.' " (Isaiah 21.16)
Like my four-legged intruder, the ecclesiastical hireling always makes a bee-line for the Church's food supply, to both steal and pollute "the children's bread". (Matthew 15.26) He or she steals "the children's bread" in a way which may not be instantly apparent. They systematically set their own selfish ambitions and lusts ("my ministry, my vision, my destiny, my church..!) ahead of heart-felt, sacrificial care for all of God's People. Thus they stymie and thwart the free flow of the "precious and pleasant riches" of God's Word (Proverbs 24.4) to His People.
(It was the Eldership of the Church in Ephesus that Paul reminded, "Feed the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood." Acts 20.28)
Thus it was in the days of Israel's judge and high priest, Eli. His sons stole "the children's bread" right from underneath the Lord's nose, so to speak. (1 Samuel 2.12-17)
Today's hirelings also contaminate the food they do not manage to steal, by strewing through the pure Word of God (Psalm 12.6), the droppings of their self-worship, and the idolising of their own ministerial achievements. This self-approbation may well be disguised with the language of mealy-mouthed religiosity...but the lurking stink of self-interest is unmistakable.
Some are actually beyond help, and so go on without apparent qualm or twinge of conscience, to "corrupt the word of God (preach for personal gain)"; and continue "handling the word of God deceitfully (falsifying and dishonestly manipulating Scripture)". (2 Corinthians 2.17 and 4.l2)
Thus today, self proclaimed "apostles" and "prophets" will trumpet loudly a job description of those sacred appointments, not according to Holy Writ, but in line with what he or she sees while preening in front of the mirror. And others, are not content with the prescriptions of the Bible, and so have invented their own titles, which cannot be discovered in either the Old or the New Testaments, nor at any time in the Church's history!
It is chilling to reflect that ancient Eli's sons went from theft of God's food, to stealing His People. Those "dirty rats", having filled their own bellies, then violated and took possession of the women who laboured as the Lord's servants at the entrance to the Tent-Tabernacle. (1 Samuel 2.22)
The pathway from self-love to self-aggrandisement to patronising the People of God, and thence onto contempt for God Himself...is short and slippery,
"For I was envious of the arrogant, as I saw the prosperity of the wicked...pride is their necklace...they speak from on high...their tongue parades through the earth...Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment. They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors." (Psalm 73.1-19)
"If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it." (Matthew 16.24-25)
From time-to-time, this kind of trenchant writing draws down onto my head the criticism that I do not love the Church. I write thus, precisely because I do love the whole of the Body of Christ, and believe that it absolutely deserves, at every level of its life and work, servant-leaders who are committed first and foremost to becoming more and more (no matter how high or crippling the cost) Christ-like!
God Himself must be the goal of every Christian leader...not success, or fame, or wealth, or power. Anything less that the Lord is something other and something else. Behind every idol (especially those carefully crafted to adorn religious culture) lurks a demon, whose goal is possession for destruction.
Being Christ-like is not necessarily considered a modern, Western Christian value or virtue. But the heart of the Gospel insists that God became like unto us, so that we might become like unto God. (2 Corinthians 5.21, Romans 8.29, 1 Corinthians 15.49) That's the deal. Anything else, is something else...no matter how many may flock to your meetings, no matter how huge your offerings, no matter how vast and ornate may be your gaudy tabernacles!
The days are speeding by, and one day history, and the Church with it, will hit the impenetrable brick-wall called the Last Day. After that day, change and alteration will be beyond us. We must then forever live with the choices and decisions we have made in this life. Let us change while we may.
"For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ, we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God." (2 Corinthians 2.15-17)
"The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here." (Romans 13.11-12)
