Matthew 11:1-19
A friend of mine works as a church consultant to help churches and their leaders become what God has called them to be. A few years back he told me about a fascinating conversation he was involved in with a group of pastors. All of these men believed the Bible, had good and successful ministries and had served the Lord for a number of years.
But on this occasion they were talking about something you rarely, if ever, hear pastors talk about. What they were discussing were their doubts: their questions about Christianity, about their own faith, and about their ministries.
- One man said: “The story of Job really ticks me off. Yeah, in the end Job gets back his wealth and a new family but once you lose a child, you can never replace that child. That story, if you really think about, makes me mad.”
- The second man said: “When I read the story of Jeremiah it gets me depressed. Here’s a man who faithfully served God for years and yet, from a human perspective, there was almost no demonstration of success.”
- A third man chimed in: “I was in a church for over ten years and things were going well. But then a small group of deacons decided that they wanted me out and eventually I resigned. After I did so, the chair of the board came to me and said, ‘I’ll give you credit. You’re a man of integrity. You could’ve split the church but you didn’t.’ And now I’ve been out of a job for six months because I’m a man of integrity.”
- Then a fourth guy said, “Well, doesn’t it make a difference to know that when we go through hardship that somehow God thinks of us as a special person, and that we can be that individual?” Another guy responded: “That used to work, but it doesn’t anymore. I’m tired of being that special person. I’m tired of going through all that.”
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Some of you might be thinking, “Well, if I had been there, we could have settled those issues and moved on to more important things.” Others might be thinking, “Well, no wonder the church is such a mess, if that’s the way pastors are.” But for some of you — especially if you’ve ever gone through some kind of suffering — those men were expressing verbally and publicly what you’ve thought about for years, thoughts you were afraid to share lest someone think you were unspiritual or ungodly.
You’ve even prayed, “Lord, I’ve tried to faithfully serve you. I’ve been committed to you and gone to church and done some ministry and given my money and tried to care for my family but now my health is fading or one of my kids has gone off the deep end or my job is being terminated or I just got word that a member of my family is dying of cancer. Lord, if you’re there, why don’t you help me?”