The story is told of a young preacher, fresh out of Bible school, who wanted to impress his little Kentucky church about how strongly he stood against sin. His first Sunday he preached against the evils of smoking. After the sermon an elderly deacon came over and whispered, "You'd better look out, son. One third of these folks are tobacco farmers."
Strike one.
The next Sunday the young man spoke out against the evils of drinking. The deacon, looking quite irritated, took him aside again. "Young feller, don't you know one third of us here are in the bourbon business?"
Strike two.
The third Sunday the young man condemned with conviction the evils of gambling. You guessed it the remnant of his audience raised thoroughbred horses for the racetracks.
Strike three.
The irate board members called an emergency meeting to rid themselves of their tormentor, the one who dared to disturb business as usual. The desperate young man realized that his convictions were getting him nowhere but out the door. He begged the church to give him one more chance.
The next Sunday he preached his most powerful sermon yet to that Kentucky congregation. Waving his arms with authority, he damned the evils of deep-sea fishing outside the boundaries of international waters!
From then on he had smooth sailing. Everybody loved him. Finally the young preacher had learned the lesson of political survival: Don't let your convictions get you in trouble. You can speak out against sin, but not the sins your audience is guilty of. Go with the flow. Wait to see which way the elephants are headed be fore jumping in front to lead the parade.
Most of us find ourselves tempted at times to play people-pleasing politics, sacrificing conviction on the altar of career ambition or survival instinct. Young pastors eager to escape Raccoon Hollow and get promoted to Pleasant Valley of ten jump through the hoops of powerful extremists. So do elderly pastors more interested in sustentation than rejuvenation. They cave in to liberals who want the church to stray off Christ's straight and narrow path and wander in the spacious but barren desert of secularism. But God warns: "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15).*
Many fundamentalists with more zeal than discernment have their own agenda. They try to bind the pastor to legalistic tradition, not realizing that their firm foundation is nothing but quicksand.
Paul the apostle refused to surrender to either brand of extremists. In the book of Galatians he described a bruising battle with Judaizers in the church who threatened the gospel freedom of new converts.
He said the crisis arose "because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you" (Gal. 2:4, 5).
The apostle Peter, unfortunately, succumbed to political pressure "because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray" (verses 12, 13).
Like quietly crawling chameleons, Peter and Barnabas temporarily adapted themselves to the legalistic environment. Paul, however, remained true to the faith despite enormous political risk. Leaders of integrity today will do likewise.
Jesus said: "The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep... When [the hired hand] sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it" (John 10:11, 12).
How many times the sheep have been scattered—new members and youth chased away from our churches because a hireling pastor didn't defend them against ruthless extremists. I'm convinced that one of the most important pastoral duties is to battle with the wolves who ravage the sheep. We dare not take a low profile when it's time to take a stand. And if we perish, we perish.
In those dark days at the beginning of World War II, Hitler bullied his way across the border into Austria and the Sudetenland. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sought to appease him with a policy of peace at any price. Winston Churchill condemned Chamberlain's courtly cowardice, willing even to wage war in defending freedom. The world still owes him a debt.
The Chamberlains try to keep peace in the church, but actually they do great harm by pandering to legalistic zealots whose tactics amount to terrorism. May God help us go to war whenever necessary to rescue innocent hostages '(not to save our reputation). We must do it kindly and tenderly—but let's do it!
* All Bible texts in this article are from the New International Version.
