Serving in the Church is Awesome 04 Serving Brings Freedom

Psalm 116.16 says:

O Lord, I am your servant;
    yes, I am your servant, born into your household;
    you have freed me from my chains.

It wasn’t until David started serving God that He found true freedom. We have a strange view of freedom in the modern age. Recently, several people have told me they will not be at church on Sunday because “it is their birthday”. I find that crazy that your birthday present to yourself is to skip church and skip serving and assembling with the people of God. I know people who skip church to meet family, to tile their bathroom, and if you ever speak to them about it, the answer normally includes the word “free” or “freedom” – “I’m free to do whatever I want”. That’s not freedom. Paul taught the Galatian church about grace, and they became a church full of grace, but they then began to use their freedom to serve the flesh. Paul had to write to them and say that is not freedom! Galatians 5.13 says “Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another”.

In one sense, yes you are free to skip church and go and have some birthday cake. You are free to skip church and wash your car, you are free to skip serving and go and watch the football. You are free to get offended at the pastor and not go to church and stay at home and sulk. You are even free to text people how much you hate church. You are free to go on YouTube and make a silly video telling silly lies about the church! You are in one sense very free. But here is the issue that most people do not realize until it is too late – that kind of freedom will always lead to being trapped.

Once, one of my sons fell down the stairs and bite his lips so severely he bit all the way through it. My wonderful wife, Amanda, and myself laid hands on him and prayed in tongues for 45 minutes until his lips was totally and completely healed by God. Why was I free to do that? Because I have used my “free” time for many years to pray in tongues and develop faith in the Word.

Maybe that illustration is too spiritual for you. Ok, here is a natural illustration. After this blog post, I am going to go to my local gym, I am going to put 120kg on the bar and I am going to bench 120kg. Why am I free to do that? Most people cannot do that. Because I have used my freedom to do it over and over and over and over and over and over until I am strong enough to do it with heavy weights.

You are supposed to use your freedom to discipine yourself. Let’s say you skipped church for your birthday, and God wanted to speak to you during the worship to pray a little more in the week, you missed it, so you didn’t pray more, so your heart wasn’t sensitive for a situation and you lost your temper and ruined your witness. You were not free to keep your cool in a tough time because you did not use your freedom to go to church and hear God, you did not use your free time to pray, rather you were playing computer games and watching rubbish in TV, so you get chained up. You wake up sick and cannot rebuke the sickness because you did not use your freedom to serve and be in the Word and love.

True freedom is found in discipline. It is found in obedience. It is found in serving. The more we serve others, the more our heart blossoms, the more we find freedom, the more we win in life.

I do not have a more powerful way of saying this than Paul did in Galatians 5.13, so here it is again, in several versions:

For you, brethren, were [indeed] called to freedom; only [do not let your] freedom be an incentive to your flesh and an opportunity or excuse [for selfishness], but through love you should serve one another. (AMPC)

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows.  (MSG)

For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. (NLT)

For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. (NRSV)

Brothers and sisters, God has called you to freedom! Hear the call, and do not spoil this gift by using your liberty to engage in what your flesh desires; instead, use it to serve each other as Jesus taught through love. (VOICE)

Serving is indeed awesome, it is the path to freedom. True freedom!

Serving in the Church is Awesome 03 It Makes You Different!

Most people know Malachi is the prophet who told us how important tithing is, but he also has something equally important to say about serving! Let’s read Malachi 3.17 and 18 in the New Living Translation:

17 “They will be my people,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child. 18 Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

Malachi is very clear here: there is a difference between those who serve God and those who do not serve God. Over a period of time, that difference becomes obvious. God sees it first, then spiritual leaders see it, then the whole church sees it.

The people who tidy up after church, who arrive early to help set up, who usher, who drive others around, open their houses, all of it… Those people develop a character, a sweetness, a kindness to them. Those people who don’t serve, turn up late for church week after week, are not on a rota, those people over time develop a coldness, an indifference, an arrogance about them.

Jesus told us a story about a man with two sons. One son went out and served his father, helping him bring in the harvest, and the other son didn’t bother. You have a choice every day, especially when church services are on. You can choose what side of the line you are on. You can grab a broom and sweep the floor, you could arrive at 8.30am and learn how to use the sound equipment, you could usher, help with teas, you could offer someone who you don’t know that well a lift to church, if your pastor has two churches in two different towns you could offer to drive him. Doing that will put you on the right side of the line, and in a few weeks, months, years, you will be on the serving side. You will find listening to the Word easier. You will be more prosperous. You will have a softer heart. You will appreciate church more. You will be a better Christian.

Isaiah 65 says this:

But because the rest of you have forsaken the Lord and have forgotten his Temple,and because you have prepared feasts to honor the god of Fate and have offered mixed wine to the god of Destiny,12 now I will ‘destine’ you for the sword. All of you will bow down before the executioner.For when I called, you did not answer. When I spoke, you did not listen.You deliberately sinned—before my very eyes— and chose to do what you know I despise.”13 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:“My servants will eat, but you will starve.My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty.My servants will rejoice, but you will be sad and ashamed.14 My servants will sing for joy, but you will cry in sorrow and despair.

I don’t know about you, but it sounds to me that it is better being a servant. And when you serve, don’t just do what you want. If you are going to serve in the sound, be humble, learn how to use the equipment, learn how to treat it with respect. If you are tidying up after church, find out where things go. If you are serving as an usher or in children’s ministry because you are too immature to appreciate listening to the Word, serve in a place which means you are always in the service and sort that out.

The prodigal son was starving to death while those serving in His Father’s house had more than enough to eat. This is not just a pastor saying serve to get more people helping, but because I love you all and desire fruit to your account. #Selah.

Serving in the Church is Awesome 02 Wages

John 4.36 says that “He that reaps receives wages”. A wage is money that you are given because you have done work! When we work at harvesting at the kingdom of God, we get wages.

There is no such thing as a volunteer in church, just people who do not know the Word. Probably the pastor is not paying you for your ushering, your arriving early to set up the sound desk, your making teas and coffees, you running a Living Church, you writing postcards, planning rotas, teaching children, or whatever else you do. But God will. And God pays good!

I told the Lord once I need daily wages for my service at the moment because things are so tight, and He was such a good employer there was money coming my way almost every day! Just today the concierge at the hotel just walked up to me and pressed some buttons on the parking machine and wavered my parking charge for parking at the hotel overnight. There was someone before and someone after me, but he only did it for me. When he did it, I said that’s the favour of God.

We are in Heathrow right now, and a night’s parking is a good hourly wage for me! Thanks God for some wages. God will always pay you for the work you do for Him! God doesn’t mind if you work hard at church Sunday and then your boss gives you a pay rise Monday. These things could be related – and if you are serving and listening to the Lord, you will find out!

People who serve at local church get better investments on the stock market, they get better passive income, things just work out for them. I was reading about a doctor this week who felt the call of God to be a pastor, and was concerned about finances, and somehow got a pay-off when he left that was over two years salary! That’s the favour of God!

Ever gone to visit a sick person? You didn’t do it for payment, but you can ask God for wages. He who harvests gets a wage! Think of when you have prayed for people, loved people, endured persecution, working for God, evangelising on the streets. Angels are following you around right now ensuring money is coming your way. God will never be your debtor.

Sometimes wages don’t come in the form of cash, it can be people just giving you gifts: a new car, a new house, a new suitcase. Anything really. Just expect good things to come your way because you are serving the Lord.

When I travel and speak, I get the most ridiculous honorariums, just huge amounts. One church was told by God to give me 3% of their annual income! That’s ridiculous! I believe that is God paying me for all the hard work I do for Him and His kingdom.

He that reaps receives wages. You will not just have the joy of serving, form new friends that will be true kingdom friends when you serve your local church, but you will get wages! Selah!

Serving in the Church is Awesome 01 Addition

Did you know in every church God calls everyone there to be a servant? Not just the pastor and elders? All of us are supposed to be servants of the Most High God. And serving is absolutely an awesome thing. I am seeing so many people fail to enter into their destiny because they don’t realize serving is awesome. I want everyone reading this blog to say outloud: SERVING IS AWESOME! It really is. For the next few weeks, I am going to give you some of the BIBLICAL REASONS why it is true that serving is awesome.

And you know it really is not just pastors who serve, taxi-drivers can serve, doctors can serve, bankers can serve, even I heard from the Bible that tax collectors can serve in their local church!

Now what are the elements of serving? Serving is doing something someone else has asked you to do. So there are three elements: the doing, the doing what was asked, and the doing it in the way that person would appreciate it. Some people lead worship but they don’t listen to the pastor about how the worship should be, so they are not serving, not really. A servant gives up their own interests to serve. That’s why your flesh doesn’t think it is awesome, but it truly is.

God called Job “his servant”, and Job was a businessman, not a pastor, so you can be a businessman and still serve. I am trying to inspire you to serve because it is awesome.

Here is the first reason serving is awesome – it always brings addition and increase to your life. Matthew 6.33 says Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and ALL THESE THINGS will be ADDED TO YOU.

When you put God’s kingdom first, things will be added to you. Do you want addition in your life? Serve! Why was Job the richest business of his day? Because he was a servant!

To seek God’s kingdom you have to stop seeking your own kingdom. You have to put God’s will first, you have to become a servant. Again, this is not just for pastors, it is for all of us.

To serve God is to seek what God’s kingdom is about before your kingdom. To serve a church is to help the church in its vision before you think about your own!

To serve someone else is to make them bigger and promote them and their name. That is putting the kingdom of God first in your life. And if you do it, things will be added. To serve someone is to be useful to them. To serve someone is to do it their way, not your way.

It is important that our highest service is to God, that we seek to do things God’s way, and put His kingdom first. Seeking God and His kingdom is the most profitable thing you can do, above every job and business deal. Things will be added to you. Things that other people are weeping about not having will be handed to you if you serve!

Seek God’s kingdom. Do not seek your own kingdom. Do not self-promote. If you are seeking your kingdom and promoting yourself, if you are bringing your book to a conference you are not speaking at, you are not serving. If you are telling people about you all the time, you are not serving. If you cannot be in church if you are not playing guitar in the band, you are not serving. If you are putting your kingdom first, you are not serving. You will not get things added to you!

It’s a very simple verse Matthew 6.33 but the principle upholding it will change your life one way or the other, either work with it or against it, but you will be defined by it. You will seek God’s kingdom and have things added to you, or you will seek your own kingdom and not have things added to you.

Learn to serve, a house will be added to you. A car will be added to you. Some great clothes will be added to you. Food will be added to you. And a kitchen to cook the food in will be added to you. A car to go to the shops to buy the food will be added to you.

God can clothe you better than you can clothe you. God can feed you better than you can feed you. It’s that simple.

Make a choice today which side of this verse you want to be on!

How to Handle Accusations 09: Guilt By Association

Whether you believe in it or not, guilt by association is a real thing, and if you want to understand how accusations and accusers work you have to understand this! It is essential, so please read carefully.

This is the principle expressed, and you cannot break this principle, and you will injure your relationships by trying: people who accuse someone will also accuse the people who associate with that person.

Now, what does this mean for you if you are part of a church or ministry, especially if you are in leadership? It means this: if you are not prepared to be collectively accused, you are not really on the team in your heart. Sometimes a pastor in a family of churches, or an elder in a church, hears accusation about their pastor or leader, and they want to be the not-accused, they don’t want the accuser to accuse them, so they act like they are not on the team. They do a Peter and deny their connection with someone who has discipled them, loved them, increased them, inspired them and challenged them!

I rejoiced when as a youth pastor I was finally accused alongside my senior pastor. It made me feel like I was part of the team, that I was closer to the leader than I was before. No one is greater than Jesus, so everyone who is like Jesus, doing things for Jesus, will be accused. And they accused Peter with Jesus, so they will accuse you alongside your lead pastor! It should be considered an honour – it is a sign of how close you are to the leader, how much you have learned, how much you are part of the family. You should thank God He has brought you to a leader, and developed your loyalty to the part you are accused too!

What was the accusation thrown at Peter? It’s in Luke 22.58: After a while someone else looked at him and said, “You must be one of them!” “No, man, I’m not!” Peter retorted.

Peter sounded like Jesus, looked like Jesus, had caught the DNA of Jesus, and was therefore accused of being one of them. That should have been a moment that made Peter proud – they noticed I look like Jesus! They know I am part of something!

But sadly Peter replied “I AM NOT!” – to avoid being accused Peter denied being part of the team. I know people who pretend they don’t listen to Kenneth Copeland to avoid accusations. I know people who pretend they don’t listen to Andrew Wommack to avoid accusations. I am sure some people have failed to defend me or pretend they don’t know what I am about to avoid accusations. And all of those things are totally forgivable by the grace of God.

However, what I admire is the man of God who keeps on living even under a smear campaign, who gets on with getting the Word out. Who does not fall about because of the accusation of a young, tiny, little maid – or a disgruntled person who doesn’t go to church anymore – or a negative person who cannot see anything good and has no fruit in their life – or anyone.

You have to have a spine to be in the team, to be one of them. And part of that is dealing with any accusations. It should be that if they accuse one of the team, they accuse the entire team.

Talking personally about Tree of Life Family, we are not running a cult. We don’t shun people, we don’t cut people off. Some people have said otherwise, but they are not telling the truth. However, having said that, I am not comfortable in the presence of someone who is accusing one of the team, and it surprises me when other people on the team are.

I once got a phone call from one of my elders, and he told me a lady who was leaving the church offended had called him and spent two hours on the telephone accusing me. He wrote the accusations down and wanted to see me to go over them.

I refused. I said, did you know before she called you today to accuse me, she called me to accuse you. But that conversation never lasted two hours, it barely lasted two seconds because we are team and I won’t receive accusations like that. If they are accusing you, they are accusing me. I actually hung up on her because she wouldn’t stop accusing this elder, then he listened to her run me down for two hours. It wasn’t a few weeks later he left the church, because of borrowed offense based on lies. Why – because he didn’t have the backbone to be in the team.

Part of the motivation of an accuser is to bring shame. If they cannot make the person they are offended at and accusing feel ashamed, they will try and make others feel ashamed just by being with them. They are doing the work of satan, and part of satan’s goal is to break godly, divine relationships that are going to propel people forward into ministry and life, so they go for the Peters and what brings them the greatest joy is when the Peters go “I AM NOT!” and deny their place on the team!

The good news is if you have failed, there is a way back onto the team, you have repent and make your allegiance to the team clear and apparent. Peter was eventually crucified for being on Team Jesus – and he was happy to do it. That’s the way to overcome guilt by association, to embrace it – to celebrate your association.

Selah!

How to Handle Accusations 08: The Desperation Stage

Another principle I have found over the years dealing with accusers is that if their accusations do not work, because they simply don’t hold water, is that accusers can dish it out but not take it. They can say anything they like to disgrace you, they will lie to disgrace you, they will tell a story from one perspective to disgrace you, they will tell people who they barely know but are your friends to try and disgrace you. Now, because often these accusations will fail, the accuser is now at risk of being disgraced.

Your accuser is happy for you to be disgraced, but generally the people who make accusations cannot handle being disgraced. The idea that people look down on them and see them as an accuser of the brethren, that people would now be careful around them, think less of them is too much for them, so what happens then is that the accusations and the accuser get desperate. It’s like when the plan A of accusing you to make you feel bad, to bring you down, to disrupt your life doesn’t work, and they realize that, they often switch to plan B, but plan B is fuelled by rage and nastiness and has no plan. It’s just insanity.

I am writing this to help you realize that if this happens to you, it’s not personal, it’s that your accuser has a hatred in their heart for you because they never guarded their heart, they never kept short accounts with God, and that is behind the craziness. It’s not personal to you, it’s not even unique to you – everyone has had to deal with it and it is just a principle of accusations.

When they tried to falsely accused Jesus, and He kept his mouth quiet and acted in a godly manner, they then spat on Him, they then blindfolded Him and punched Him and slapped Him! (it’s in Mark 14.65 if you want to look it up). Why spit on Jesus? That’s absolutely disgusting behaviour! Because they wanted to make Him unclean. They are unclean and are spitting on Him to make Him unclean. That’s the essence of accusation, but now the accusation hasn’t worked they got violent. I’ve seen accusers when their accusations do not work raise their fists at me, threaten to invade church services – it’s the same rage and the same spirit.

To prove Jesus was a false prophet, they blindfolded Him and punched Him in the face! That’s insane. That’s desperate. If you didn’t read that in the Bible, and someone told you that their accusers did that to them after the accusations didn’t stick, you would shake your head in shock at that behaviour. Accusers get desperate when the accusations don’t stick. They hate you and want to destroy you and if their clever words (or should I say words they think are clever), if their snide comments, if their little texts to your friends don’t work – it is entirely possible they will go crazy.

The scribes and Pharisees deliberately tried to provoke Jesus to speak on things so they could listen to Him speak and find “something out of his mouth, that they might accuse Him” (Luke 11.54). I have had people download my sermons and listen to them, not to grow, not to be inspired, not to learn the Word, but purely for the purpose of catching me out. I asked someone recently if they had ever listened to any of my sermons, and their answer was yes to accuse you. That’s crazy behaviour. That’s not the spirit of Christ.

My other thought about this is a warning to anyone who is accusing others – you might one day slip into this kind of insanity. It’s a downhill journey when you accuse others, it’s best to stop now, repent and go back to the Jesus side! Don’t let the devil employ you, he may suddenly change the job description and you might be so filled with hate, you end up punching Jesus in the face to prove a point! Don’t be that person.

Selah.

How to Handle Accusations 07: The Word is Always Missing!

I have found over the years that when someone wants to accuse you, the Word is always missing. Now obviously, when someone in the world wants to accuse you they probably don’t have any Word or care about the Word, But if you watch carefully accusers who are even Christians (yes, sometimes Christians are your worse accusers) will not go near the Word. They will talk about Jesus, they will talk about love, they will talk about worldly sayings and proverbs, but they will not talk about the Word.

You might be accused of unloving but if you are truly loving, then there is no way your accuser will actually be able to show from the Word of God that you have done something unloving. You might be accused of being a cult, but there will be no Scripture explaining why you are a cult. It’s just ranting and raving dressed up. If you look carefully, there will be no Word!

Most accusations are made by people who don’t want to bend to the Word, they don’t want to feed on the Word, so when they accuse their accusations are exceptionally empty of the Word.

If we are people of the Word and love the Word, and love to talk about the Word and love to read the Word, and love to listen to sermons packed full of the Word, then when we hear an accusation from a Christian, and there is no Word at all in it, then it resonates with you: hey, why when you are trying to correct a brother in the Lord you are not using the Word? Oh, because you are not trying to correct, you are not trying to help, you are not trying to be loving and kind, you are accusing! You are in the employee of satan trying to pull people down and destroy their lives and reputation.

I have found this often when I have put someone under church discipline – when someone is not living the standards of the Word so they can no longer be a leader, I take the time to explain from the Word what the standards are and why. It’s awesome when someone sees the error of their ways and repents and lifts their life to a higher standard, but sometimes someone gets upset at being asked to step up and stand on the Word, and they then accuse. But watch carefully, those accusations will have no Word in them.

To me as a pastor, this is one of the easiest ways to spot accusations apart from godly correction or godly concern – the total lack of Word, and often the Word is replaced with silly proverbs that have nothing to do with the Bible, or vague appeals to love, without defining from the Word what love is.

Selah.

How to Handle Accusations 06: What Are They Thinking?

Recently, someone emailed a pastor friend of mine accusing me of doing things I had never done, the email had at least half a dozen lies in it, and it was penned to insult me and rip me apart. When things like that happen, the first thing I think is glory to God I am worthy of persecution, but my thoughts then wander to: what is going on in someone’s mind that they would do that, I mean, what is wrong with them? It’s often vain to speculate about specific reasons, but there are some general things we can learn and understand to help us deal with accusations.

I have been looking at Luke 6 on our Wednesday Night Lives, and it is there we find an interesting truth about those who accuse:

7 The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees watched Jesus closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath…11 At this, the enemies of Jesus were wild with rage and began to discuss what to do with him.

Notice the same people who went to accuse Jesus were filled with rage. Wild with rage! The King James says “filled with madness”, the Amplified says “senseless rage” and many other translations say furious. The Greek word is “anoia”. When you put “a-” in front of a Greek word, it is the same as putting “un-” in front of an English word, it means the opposite. Noia is the way we think. The Greek word for repent is “metanoia”, which means to change the way you think. So, when you ask what is an accuser thinking, you cannot get an answer to that question, because Luke tells us they are un-thinking. The Greek used the word to mean someone so absolutely furious they are beyond thinking or someone who was mentally ill.

They were sitting there in the room listening to Christ for one reason – to find something to accuse him, and within four verses they were filled with madness. Someone recently told me they only listened to my sermons to find things to accuse me on, and within a few verses of them telling me that, they were acting like a mindman!

This is why you must keep your heart free from joining satan’s accusing team. You must keep fear, hatred and accusing far from your heart. You must guard your heart, because when you start accusing, you are a short step away from going crazy. People full of accusations cannot use their mind. Keep accusations away from you!

One thing I find when people are accusing me over and over is that they actually start to believe their lies. They start to believe things that are not real and did not even happen. That is medically a form of madness, though medical doctors in the 21st century use words like schizophrenia and paranoia. When someone is medically diagnosed with paranoia, they are convinced that things that are lies actually happened or are happening, and the root of it is fear.

You think that attitudes cannot affect your mental health, you are wrong. We have to have an attitude of love, peace, joy, kindness and patience! Accusations in your heart, meditated on, fed, expressed will drive you to poor mental health. A rage that means you are not thinking. You will end up believing things that never happened. You will give your account of a meeting that you were in, and anyone else in the meeting will not have a clue what you are talking about because it did not even happen!

The Pharisees after watching Jesus to accuse Him, in four verses were filled with lunacy. In a few short months, they were nailing Him to a cross and believed they were serving God to do so! That’s insane! That’s not mentally healthy! They actually paid Judas their money to betray Jesus. They went crazy and murdered the kindest man who ever lived.

So when you ask what is your accuser thinking? The answer is they are not thinking. A few years ago, someone stabbed me in the back, and the thing that hurt the most was actually my ego! I was shocked that someone I thought was a friend had betrayed me in a way that was very calculating and very spiteful. I went to see a mentor of mine, and he said to me that when we are in our right mind and love God, we cannot see certain behaviours or understand them because we cannot imagine

My mentor explained to me that the Bible talks about the mystery of iniquity. In other words, people whose heart is not involved in iniquity will always be surprised when those who are show their true colours. That is the truth.

I am writing all this to help you with three things:

  1. Don’t join the accusing club. You will end up going crazy if you let offense grow in your heart, and it will happen quicker than you think.
  2. Don’t try and work out why someone is accusing you, they are not thinking. You will have to go to some dark places in your mind to work it out. So don’t. Just love, forgive, bless and get on with kingdom work.
  3. Don’t try and have a rational discussion with someone who has lost their mind. It won’t produce fruit.

How to Handle Accusations 05: The Purpose of an Accusation

Moses was accused, and we looked at that in a previous post in this series, and eventually after that accusation Moses acted in a way to avoid accusations and ended up making a big mistake in his ministry and life.

This is the satanic purpose of accusations – to bring you to a place where you disobey God. To push you and nag you until you feel so bad about the accusations you either back off from obeying God or you change course.

Let’s say you are the pastor of a local church and one of your team – an elder, a worship leader, an associate pastor – starts accusing you of being too controlling, for example. They accuse you again and again. It starts to filter through the carnal people in the church, the people who love listening to gossip and slander. And it starts to get under your skin! It starts to bother you – the constant drip, drip, drip. Whether you are giving them time to repent and they are still in your team, or you have asked them to step down and they are still (kindly) communicating with everyone in the church they no longer go to, the constant drip of accusations will bother even the strongest pastor.

So, there is two ways you can now act inappropriately. You can step down to the accusers level – you can get down in the mud with them, and start accusing them back. This is wrong. You do not have the time or energy to battle in the mud. Battles should be in the spirit. You should be praying for the grace to respond – not react – in the spirit – not the flesh – in love, grace and kindness – not reply with accusing back! The accuser will not derail your church, pastor, but you accusing back will. You telling the secrets you know will. You taking time to respond to the accusations will.

But the other way is this: the accusations get under your skin, so in the next instance where obeying God could lead to the same or similar accusations you hang back. Maybe new small group leader suggests a study that you know will not bless the people, but if you change the study programme, you know you are vulnerable to and likely to be falsely accused of being too controlling, so you just let it run. That programme is going to cause problems for your church down the road, and rather than be the good shepherd and ensure that your sheep are led to green pastures, you let them be led to wonky pastures and food that will make them sick, because you are scared of the accusations! That will stop your ministry and church being fruitful.

From the start of his ministry, Moses was accused and accused and lied about more and more. At the conclusion of his ministry, he was just about to complete his assignment from the Lord and lead God’s people into the promised land. But he was accused again, and it got under his skin. Read through Numbers 20 here in the NLT, and see how it finally got Moses to not enter his promised land:

20 In the first month of the year, the whole community of Israel arrived in the wilderness of Zin and camped at Kadesh. While they were there, Miriam died and was buried.

2 There was no water for the people to drink at that place, so they rebelled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The people blamed Moses and said, “If only we had died in the Lord’s presence with our brothers! 4 Why have you brought the congregation of the Lord’s people into this wilderness to die, along with all our livestock? 5 Why did you make us leave Egypt and bring us here to this terrible place? This land has no grain, no figs, no grapes, no pomegranates, and no water to drink!”

6 Moses and Aaron turned away from the people and went to the entrance of the Tabernacle, where they fell face down on the ground. Then the glorious presence of the Lord appeared to them, 7 and the Lord said to Moses, 8 “You and Aaron must take the staff and assemble the entire community. As the people watch, speak to the rock over there, and it will pour out its water. You will provide enough water from the rock to satisfy the whole community and their livestock.”

9 So Moses did as he was told. He took the staff from the place where it was kept before the Lord. 10 Then he and Aaron summoned the people to come and gather at the rock. “Listen, you rebels!” he shouted. “Must we bring you water from this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with the staff, and water gushed out. So the entire community and their livestock drank their fill.

12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land I am giving them!” 13 This place was known as the waters of Meribah (which means “arguing”) because there the people of Israel argued with the Lord, and there he demonstrated his holiness among them.

The people accused Moses of being unloving and not doing enough to help them, and rather than speak to the Rock, Moses struck it. I have seen people accuse pastors of being unloving because they cannot get their own way over and over. That’s not going to stop a church, even if the accusers made a video about it and put it on TV! What will stop the church, stop the ministry, stop the minister, stop the leader is if they change their actions out of fear or frustration at the accusations and accusers.

Here is the way to handle accusations – just keep doing what the Lord says. The Lord is the God of Heaven and Earth, Our Great Redeemer and Shepherd. Your accuser is just a lost little sheep who has forgotten or refused to live for God and live in the Spirit, and has become vulnerable to their flesh and is now working for satan, a disembodied defeated spirit. To listen to an accuser and change what you are doing in your ministry is as dumb as ignoring the Lord and listening to a talking snake! Don’t be that dumb – keep doing what the Lord has told you to do.

Recently, I was accused of travelling too much. The temptation has been to cut back to honour my accusers. But then I would no longer be Spirit-led but accusation-led! That is no way to walk with Jesus. John Wesley had people in his church who told him to travel less, to not travel as far for a small number of people. I’m being accused with the same accusations as Wesley, and it didn’t stop his ministry because it didn’t stop him doing what God called him to do. Wesley actually said in the midst of his accusations: “I see no reason why I should change the course or tenor of my life”. That’s what I am talking about!

Listen very carefully indeed: God did not have an ounce of pity for Moses because of the accusers. God fully expected Moses to ignore the voice of the accusers and do what He was told by the Lord. It’s the same for all of us – God is not going to say, “well I know I told you to plant a church in Scotland, but someone who doesn’t even go to church anymore yelled at you that it’s too far and too expensive to plant that church, so I understand why you quit.” No, He expects you to obey Him over talking snakes!

Do what the Lord has told you no matter what the critics say – do not be accuser led! It sounds so simple, but at times, it takes boldness, courage, a thick skin, and if you are blessed, a few people around you who are encouraging you to obey Jesus!

Next week, we will look at what is going on inside an accuser’s mind!

How to Handle Accusations 04: Proximity and Accusation

I sometimes get a nasty letter or email from someone who has seen part of one episode of one of my TV shows (if you don’t watch me on TV, you should, go to www.tree.church/tv and find out when we are on near you) and let me tell you, I never even think about that accusation for a second because there is no proximity between me and the accuser. It is easy to dismiss that accuser because they are ignorant of what I do and why I do it.

Satan is aware of this principle that proximity makes accusations more powerful and more hurtful. He would much rather accuse you through a member of the church than someone outside of the church. He would much rather use someone on your team to accuse you. He would much rather accuse you through someone you thought was a good and godly friend who had your back.

When satan wanted to raise his hand up against Jesus, He did not choose some random villager or someone who was healed in one meeting and never went to another meeting. No – that is not what happened. What happened was spoken of in the Psalms:

Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me (Psalm 41.9)

That’s satan’s favourite kind of accuser to use. If someone close to you lets down their guard and forgets to walk with the Lord and keep their heart pure and free from offense, and starts accusing you, then satan knows that increased proximity will make the accusation so much more powerful and hurtful.

Another aspect to this is that the closer someone is to you – the more credible other people think the accusation is. People would have listened to Judas’ negative and hate-filled and satanic inspired rhetoric because they would reason that as a disciple of Jesus who walked closely with Jesus, he would know the real truth! When someone who is very close to a pastor or leader starts accusing them, many in the church can be deceived!

To protect yourself from that, you need to stay away from accusing voices. In Africa there is a proverb that says if a fish tells you that there is a crocodile in the water, you should believe the fish – because fish know the water. Imagine that a pastor gives someone credibility and then that person uses their credibility to make accusations!

What does this mean for us? All of us who are close to a pastor – elders, friends, associate pastors, husbands, wives, childrens, siblings – you need to know you are on satan’s hitlist. He wants to drive you into offense so you end up being an accuser with proximity. If God has given you the honour of that position, make sure you submit to God and resist the devil. Make sure to treat your honoured position with honour. Make sure to work extra hard to keep your heart pure and clean and walk in faith and unity.

The word needs more comforters and less accusers. Make sure you are in the right camp!