“You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face. To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that! Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about.” (2 Corinthians 11:19 -21NIV)
A pastor once threw a mug at one of his church office staff because he was angry with her. Thankfully, the mug did not hit her. So, she lived to tell the story. But did she resign and stop working with the man? No, she did not. Instead, she continued to work with him and to put up with his excesses and abuses, even publicly adoring and praising him.
Why? Was it because she was acting on the word of God that commands us to hold our church leaders in the highest regard? Yes, in her mind, that was exactly what she was doing. But the truth is that she was simply being foolish, as we are clearly shown in the word of God.
Also, a sister once told me how she ended up sleeping with her pastor a couple of times. And how did she end up doing that? Well, she ended up doing so because the man told her that part of her ministry duties was to satisfy him sexually. And did she believe that? No, she did not! But did she leave the assembly or stay away from the man? No! Instead, she continued to submit to him as her church leader until he began to have his way with her.
Now, from what she also told me, she was not the only one being treated by the man in that manner. There were some others like her. Yet none of them had the liver to expose his wickedness to other leaders in the church or to run away from him. Instead, they all continued to put up with his nonsense, hoping that he would be transferred to another chapter soon, so that their misery could end. Why would they do that? The reason was that they all were foolish.
Why did I say that they were all foolish? I said so because, as we see in our opening bible text, it is foolishness that makes God’s people put up with things like that. See, it is not the will of God for His children to be abused by their leaders or to be subjected by their leaders to any kind of inhumane treatment.
Unfortunately, even when Paul was writing these things to the people of God, there were church leaders that were abusive and overbearing. Yes, at the time, there were church leaders that were enslaving, exploiting and taking advantage of their brethren. Also, there church leaders at the time that were arrogant enough to slap their brethren in the face.
Now one would naturally expect that brethren who were being treated in that manner would resist such leaders firmly and refuse to be enslaved or cheated or abused by them. But as Paul equally shows us in that text, that wasn’t the case at all. On the contrary, those brethren put up with all the inhumane treatment they were receiving from their leaders. And that shocked this apostle to the bones, for he knew that he and his ministry companions could never ever think of treating anybody in that manner.
Interestingly, these same brethren, especially the ones in Corinth, that Paul would dare not maltreat, abuse or cheat would not respect him or see to his welfare. Instead, it was those who were exploiting, abusing, cheating and maltreating them that they were giving all their respect to and also supporting with their resources. How ironic!
In like manner, even today, many of God’s people hardly treat with utmost respect church leaders that treat them as Christ would treat them, that is, with love and respect. They hardly give them their support. And that is largely because they unconsciously see them as weak. But these same brethren may be willing to give up their eyes for those that maltreat, abuse, enslave and exploit them. How ironic!
Wel, the wisdom of the Spirit of God is telling us in our opening text through Apostle Paul that it is not humility at all to put up with enslavement, exploitation or any form of abuse of authority in the church. Rather, it is stupidity. Those who do so, then, are simply promoting bad leadership and wickedness in the church of God. And they will be first among those who will reap and eat the fruit of what they are sowing.
Therefore, don’t put up with any form of leadership enslavement or exploitation in the church or wherever you are. Instead, stand up against it with the word of God and with prayer. And you don’t have to be abusive or disrespectful in order to do so. You just need to let those involved know that God has not permitted you to be a slave of anybody or to be treated like an animal. And if getting out of that environment is what will make you live to enjoy the freedom that is yours in Christ Jesus, please do so.
May God keep your life and soul safe all the time from the activities of wicked, corrupt and unreasonable people, even in the church. Amen.
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