Did You Really Hear from God?

Today we’re in Jeremiah 23:

²¹ I did not send these prophets,
yet they have run with their message;
I did not speak to them,
yet they have prophesied.  (NIV)

²¹ I didn’t send the prophets,
yet they ran anyway.
I didn’t speak to them,
yet they prophesied anyway. (CEB)

²¹ I did not send those prophets.
Yet they were in a hurry to give their message.
I did not tell them anything.
Yet they prophesied anyway.  (NET)

²¹ “I have not sent these prophets,
yet they run around claiming to speak for me.
I have given them no message,
yet they go on prophesying.  (NLT)

The force of this verse is clear, but the second line is nuanced differently in each of the above translations. The CEB brings out the idea that the prophets went out regardless of having not heard; the NET Bible suggests that they were in a big rush to speak, and the NLT suggests what we sometimes call a “beehive of activity.”

Each one of these three alternatives to the NIV offers a different potential application.

To me, the CEB suggests someone who, like the characters in the comedy The Blues Brothers goes forth saying to themselves, “We’re on a mission from God,” when in fact God didn’t authorize that particular mission. Blogger Johnny B. writes that this really turns a true prophet into a false prophet:

How many times do we follow false gods or do things against God, yet try to give God the credit?  Beware false prophets as you venture out and open yourselves to the world today.  Constantly, throughout the day, be in tune to God and what He wants you to do.  Be not a false prophet, but a man (woman) who follows God and displays Jesus in his (her) daily walk and actions. 

In an article about problems in the church in Africa, someone recently wrote:

They prophesy lies in God’s name, but God did not send them, command them nor speak to them.  They prophesy lying vision, worthless divination and the deceit of their own minds.  Jeremiah 14:14.  They are all over the place and they spring up every day like mushrooms.  They claim to be “men of God,”  “apostles,”  “pastors,” “prophets,” “bishops,” “archbishops,” and what-nots, but they lie!  They are ordinary criminals parading as “men of God” and deceiving the gullible who don’t know their Bible and have no discernment.

With the NET Bible, we think of the times we think first and speak later. This is even more important when we presume to speak for God. I’ve already covered the idea that each of should be “slow to speak” in this article and this article.

However, we can’t assume that if a pastor feels he hasn’t heard from God this week he should simply move directly to the closing hymn and dismiss the service early. But it does suggest that there are indeed such times. Could the pastor phone up a church member and offer him or her the pulpit? In conversation with hurting people do we open our mouths when perhaps just our presence — even in silence — or an offer to pray is what is called for?  Do we know someone who needs encouragement, but we pick up the phone or send the email before we’ve really been given something of substance to say?

In ministry this is sometimes called burnout; though the term would have been somewhat foreign to Jeremiah or this context. In a review of the book Leading on Empty by Wayne Cordiero, a reader defined it:

Burnout happens when you keep pushing yourself and don’t know when to slow down… As a leader you give and give, but you can’t give what you don’t have…

Singer Jackson Browne called this Running on Empty,

Running on-running on empty
Running on-running blind
Running on-running into the sun
But I’m running behind

Can it be that in so doing you cross the line from true prophet to false prophet?

The Voice Bible echoes this with the addition of an extra phrase:

²¹ Eternal One: I did not send these so-called prophets,
        but they have run to you with their empty words.
    I did not speak to them,
        but they claim to speak for Me.

With the NLT, I see the breadth of ministry defined. God gave us a word to give to person “A”, and we then scurry out thinking that “B,” “C,” and “D” need to hear it as well.  Probably entire churches have been founded on what was a single word that was meant for a particular individual, location or situation.

In the NLT rendering there is a picture of running around, ‘to and fro’ as some say; a picture of busy church people busy doing church things.  A great deal of energy is expended, but the result is heat when what’s needed is light.

Sometimes this flurry of activity is about the building of someone’s personal empire, either a pastor or a ministry organization. The Reformation Study Bible says the verse reflects ” a picture of zeal in their self-serving propagation of falsehood.”

This doesn’t mean that all overburdened, overtaxed pastors are necessarily spreading false doctrine, but certainly it can be a variable that increases the propensity to error.  The phrase “yet they go on” suggests an individual in desperate need of an “off” switch or even a “pause.” We need to take time to refresh and dare I say reload in the sense of hearing from God afresh.

That’s the message in the very next verse:

²² But if they had stood in my council,
    they would have proclaimed my words to my people
and would have turned them from their evil ways
    and from their evil deeds.

Hearing from God is key.

Tomorrow: In preparing today’s message I uncovered an article that really deserves to be featured here on its own. If you thought today’s coverage of this topic was too light, take a deep breath and come back tomorrow for in-depth exposition of today’s key verse.

What’s Your Payoff for Church Leadership?

There are only a handful of bloggers who fit the paradigm for what we do here at C201 as well as Blake Coffee at Church Whisperer. (This is his fourth time here!)  While some of his pieces — like the one we chose today — are aimed more at vocational pastors, all are very scripture-based and applicable to a broad readership. Blake allows his material to be freely used, but does insist that there be a link to his own blog. We do that anyway, but hope you’ll click through, then look around, and consider bookmarking his site if you find, like we do, that his writing resonates with you.  Click here for today’s reading.

I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me —the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace…I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’  Acts 20:23-24, 33-35

There are surely thousands and thousands of possible reasons people choose to be a church leader.  Money is probably not one of them.  Oh, I know there are those few high profile ministers (particularly in evangelical circles) who have profited tremendously, but let’s be real, that is by far the exception, not the expectation.  Rather, there are other kinds of “payoffs” which I believe attract some people into leadership positions in ministry.  Some of us just like to be in charge.  We like the power which comes with being the leader.  We like to chart the course and then expect those who are following to, well, follow.  For others, it is just the attention alone which draws them in.  They are otherwise lonely people and the “payoff” for them is the “friends” who gather around them as leaders.  Still others choose leadership by default, because they just cannot handle following.  They ascribe to the philosophy: “He who refuses to lead is doomed to be led by someone lesser than himself.”

As I read Paul’s farewell comments to the Ephesian church elders (Acts 20), I am struck by the total lack of payoff for him.  I mean, there was no sense of entitlement on his part, no attitude of having earned anything at all by his leadership.  Paul’s model for leadership is really very simple…you give and you give and you give until you cannot give any more…and then you give some more.  In Paul’s mind, leadership is about using yourself up for the benefit of others.  It means burning the candle at both ends all day long and going to bed exhausted and then getting up and doing it all over again.  I cannot help but wonder if this is why young John Mark didn’t last long through their first missionary journey.  Leading with Paul was just exhausting!

Searching through his letters, there really is no evidence of any other “payoff” for him except for God’s pleasure.  There is nothing there to indicate some twisted emotional return for him.  Though his leadership was strong, even assertive, there is nothing in scripture to indicate any over-aggression or power plays on his part.  Paul seems to have been driven purely by a profound desire to know Christ better and to rely more and more on the Lord for direction and strength and vision and courage.  Paul never seems to have complained that he was not being paid enough or that he was not treated well enough.  He neither whined nor complained that people owed him more respect than he was getting.  He just gave of himself, day in and day out.  Paul was just the “Eveready Bunny” of leadership…he just kept giving and giving and giving.

I know a few pastors and church leaders like that.  I am grateful for their generous giving of themselves for the benefit of others.  I am happy to say that my pastor leads this way.  I love him for that.  Do you know any church leaders like that?  More importantly, do the people you lead know any church leaders like that?

© Blake Coffee    Website: churchwhisperer.com