by Francis Chan
“Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Luke 18:8
WHERE THE SPIRIT LEADS
I’m sure you have a ton of unanswered questions at this point. That might be a good thing. You are welcome to dig around our website (wearechurch.com) to get more info, but that might be the worst thing you could do. It is usually easier to copy others than to seek God. As I have been insisting, I’m not offering this chapter as a prescription of what I believe every church needs to follow. It just didn’t seem right to lay out everything I’ve written in this book and then refuse to share some of what we have been doing in San Francisco. This may be the very thing God wants to do in your setting. But you won’t discover that without diligent prayer.
My hope is that you will refuse to take the easy route. You need to care about His Church enough to fast and pray. You must believe you play a necessary role in the Church. Seek wisdom and direction from God. He has given you His Spirit so you can know and follow His will. There is no substitute for undistracted prayer. Our country needs to encounter churches that cannot be explained by strategic planning. And I believe everything inside you wants the Holy Spirit to move through you and do more than you can currently imagine. Start praying for this now.
FINAL THOUGHTS
You are going to see God soon. There’s no way I can exaggerate how overwhelmed you will be. The most tragic mistake you can make on this earth is to underestimate how vulnerable you will feel when you see His face. And the wisest decisions you will make in life will be the ones you make with that final moment in mind.
All my life, I have battled a desire to be respected by others. Because of this, there have been many times I cowered out of a fear of rejection. I took my eyes off the future and did what was easiest in the moment. I deeply regret these moments. The Bible tells countless stories of godly men and women who stood for what was right, even when it meant suffering pain and rejection. I often pray for God’s grace, that He would bless me with the courage to follow their examples. I have prayed this for you as well. I really have.
“For, ‘Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.’ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.”
Hebrews 10:37–39
Jesus is coming. I meet very few people in America who live as if they believe this. He gave the strongest warning ever written. It’s called the book of Revelation. No one has ever given a stronger warning because no one else is capable of carrying out the threats He promised. Out of His love, He gave terrifying warnings to the Church of His day. Over and over, His message was repent or else. He then spent the rest of the book explaining what His “or else” looks like. He did this so no one will ignore His commands, yet we still do. Somehow we have become immune to warnings from almighty God.
What scares me most about His letters to the churches is the fact that some of those churches sound healthier than many I have visited in America, yet He gave them terrifying warnings. I wonder what He would say to us, considering what He said to them:
“Repent or else …”
“I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place” (Rev. 2:5).
“I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth” (v. 16).
“I will throw [them] into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works” (vv. 22–23).
“I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you” (3:3).
“I will spit you out of my mouth” (v. 16).
These churches Jesus addressed would blend right in with the churches you find in your city. Some of them would even be lifted up as examples of church growth. This is why you can’t afford to blindly follow or copy those who are “successful.” You must come under the leadership of truly godly leaders or become one yourself.
Don’t blindly follow the things I have written either. Study the Scriptures. Get alone with the Bible and the Holy Spirit. Seek Him with all your heart and surrender everything to Him. There cannot be anything you hold with a clenched fist, not even family. He is worth it.
Serve His Bride. Jesus is returning soon. We can’t afford to be doing our own thing while His Bride lies unhealthy. We all want to be found at her bedside, broken over her condition, willing to sacrifice anything for her well-being.
Father, thank You for choosing us to be part of something so sacred. Forgive us for the times when our laziness weakened the Church or our pride divided her. Give us childlike faith to have an impact on the Church with Holy Spirit power.
May Your Bride become attractive, devoted, and powerful beyond earthly explanation.
May we each become consumed with her, all for Your glory. Keep our minds fixed on the battle, courageous and humble. Stir our affections daily so we can be found serving Your Bride faithfully when You return to judge. Amen.
Afterword
SURVIVING ARROGANCE
I wrestled the whole time I was writing this book because I knew that in the wrong hands, this book would hurt the Church rather than help. It’s hard to speak directly about problems in the church because there are people who gravitate toward anything critical. Rather than using this book for self-evaluation, they will use it as ammunition against others. Pride runs rampant in the church, and knowledge has a way of increasing it (1 Cor. 8:1). Even now, I can picture arrogant people marching into their pastors’ offices and confronting them with all of the shortcomings of their church. “Read this book by Francis Chan! He agrees with me that our church needs to change!” This attitude is the last thing the Church needs.
Many of you are filled with great excitement and passion to see reform. Your desire is to see the Church flourish. You want God to use you to bring change. But for some of you, He won’t. You will fail miserably for one reason: you’re not humble. He promises to oppose your efforts (James 4:6). Rather than being used by God to bring life to the Church, the Enemy will use you to destroy.
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
James 4:6
With the last few pages of this book, I felt a need to address the arrogant in hopes of sparing the Church of further division. As I started to write, however, I realized that this rarely works. Have you ever tried to convince a proud person of his or her pride? Some of you reading this are extremely proud, but you can’t see it because you’re extremely proud. You read this paragraph and nod your head as though I am speaking about someone else. It felt a bit hopeless, so I decided to switch gears. Rather than trying to convict the proud, I decided to write some words to encourage those who have to live with the proud. I guess you can call it a leader’s guide to loving the arrogant.
There have been times when I have gotten so angry or discouraged by critics. Neither is good for the Church. It feels like I meet pastors every week who are ready to quit under the barrage of criticism. The Church can’t afford to lose any more servants. If you have ever felt this way, I’m writing to encourage you to not only persevere but thrive as you minister to the proud. Some of you have stopped leading, and I hope to convince you to come back. Some of you have run from your calling because you don’t want to face the attacks. It’s much easier to hide in your basement and start a blog or podcast in order to criticize others, but I want to challenge you to build. It’s a lot easier to tear down a building than it is to build one. It’s grueling, but the Church is worth it. The Church does not have enough leaders who are willing to be on the receiving end of criticism and blame. If we can humble ourselves and learn to absorb rants graciously, our best days can be ahead of us.
God wants the Church to be the one institution that loves authority. He wants us to be
different, a strange group of people who actually love having a King and are grateful for His commands. His desire is for us to view church leaders as God’s gifts to the Church since He sees them that way.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.
Ephesians 4:11–12
God “gave” these leaders to the Church in order to bring her to maturity. When’s the last time you heard someone refer to leaders as gifts?
Recently, I heard someone in the church say, “I love being under the leadership of the elders.” That was so weird to hear! Someone is grateful for authority? I loved hearing it, but it was weird. Uplifting speech toward authority is rarely heard in our world, but this gives us the opportunity to stand out.
After all, we follow a King who is unlike any other in history. He is a King who gladly submitted to His Father. In fact, Jesus claimed He would only say and do what the Father told Him to say and do.
“So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.’”
John 5:19
“For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”
John 12:49–50
This kind of submission is often viewed as weak and degrading in our culture, yet this is the example of almighty Jesus. He submitted to leadership. Jesus had nothing but praise for His Father. This is unusual, but this is our example. He was a humble leader and a humble follower. There was nothing weak about His humility. The Church would become so attractive if His humility could be seen in all of us.
As I share these following principles, in no way am I saying I have mastered any of them. I am still prone to become angry, defensive, or frustrated, but these are the biblical principles that restore my mind. They have led to some growth in my character, and I hope they prove useful in your life as well. There is a way to minister to negative people in humility and grace. This won’t ensure growth in their lives, but it will in your life.
COUNT IT ALL JOY
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
James 1:2–4
You can’t fully mature without being attacked. I know it doesn’t feel right when the attacks come from within the Church. Nonetheless, God uses these situations to sanctify us. We all need a Judas in order to become like Jesus. When everyone around you loves you, it’s nearly impossible to develop the character God wants for His children. Reasonable people do not aid your growth in the same way arrogant people do. We don’t display Christian love when we love those who love us. It is when we love those who slander us that we demonstrate the love of Christ (Matt. 5:44–45). Find joy in sanctification. Challenge yourself to grow to the point where you become thankful for difficult people.
HUMBLY LISTEN
Just because something is said with the wrong attitude doesn’t mean it’s wrong information. A mistake I have made too often is to respond to pride with pride. There have been too many times when my goal was to bite my tongue and remain calm. Listening to find truth in their statements required another level of humility I didn’t have.
I’m always amused and impressed when I read this story about David:
Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head.” But the king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the LORD has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjaminite! Leave him alone, and let him curse, for the LORD has told him to. It may be that the LORD will look on the wrong done to me, and that the LORD will repay me with good for his cursing today.” So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and flung dust.
2 Samuel 16:9–13
Picture King David marching with his army. A fool comes along, throwing rocks at him and cursing him. When David’s soldier asks if he can chop off the guy’s head, David says to leave him alone. His reasoning? David was open to the possibility this man was sent from God! So he patiently endured the cursing, just in case it really was a message from God.
To be honest, I am rarely able to listen to proud people. I typically get defensive, combative, or sarcastic. However, there have been a few times recently, when by the grace of God, I have been able to listen for truth while being disrespected. There have even been a couple times when I have thanked an unreasonable critic for showing me my sin. It’s amazing how quickly humility can diffuse a tense situation. This is not to say that we should condone angry criticism. But as leaders, we need to set an example of humility and avoid the trap of becoming hypocritical. That will only add fuel to their fire.
FORGIVE THEM, THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO
In Romans 11, God warned the Gentiles not to get proud because they understood God in a way many Jews did not. Paul reminded them that it was by the grace of God their eyes were opened. Meanwhile, he said regarding some of the Jews, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day” (v. 8). Paul’s point was that any spiritual awareness was gifted from God, so it made no sense to boast.
Think of it this way: if I bought my son a new Ferrari (which would never happen), and he judged his friends who rode their bikes to school, it would be absurd. He should have the wisdom to see that he was a spoiled kid who did nothing to earn his car. It was handed to him. He has nothing to brag about. In the same way, if you have even an ounce of humility, it is only by of the grace of God. He blessed you with it. If we truly believe this, then it makes no sense to be angry at others for not having received the same grace. Thank God for any insight, wisdom, or humility He has graced you with. Quickly forgive anyone who has hurt you and pray God, by His mercy, would open their eyes.
PARTY WITH PROUD PEOPLE
“We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.’”
Romans 15:1–3
I spent many years writing people off. In my immaturity, I didn’t know how to love people who annoyed me. It was so much easier to just avoid them. I found ways to justify my actions, but ultimately it was displeasing to God. He commands us to “bear with the failings of the weak” (v. 1). He calls this our obligation. All of us tend to avoid arrogant people because they annoy us. God’s response is that we can’t make this about us. He tells us “not to please ourselves” (v. 1). It may be true that people have hurt our feelings, but we must learn to value God’s Church more than our feelings. We can cause real damage to our churches when we want our feelings validated more than we want His Bride elevated.
I’m sure you can think of people in your life you wish would just disappear. Maybe there have even been times when you have prayed for God to remove certain individuals from the church. Proud people can be hard to live with, but avoiding them is not an option. We have an obligation to love and to suffer “reproach” as Christ did for us.
“Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.”
Isaiah 30:18
Despite every time the Israelites failed and rebelled and essentia
lly spit on God’s kindness toward them, He loved them enough to wait to be gracious to them. Unlike us, God is a perfectly holy King who never makes mistakes. How much more should we humans be willing to endure and show compassion for other people’s weaknesses?
DON’T TOLERATE DIVISIVENESS
We are called to love proud people, but there is a time to put your foot down. Once they start to gossip, or speak negatively of leadership or church members, the rules change.
“As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.”
Titus 3:10–11
Rarely do I see churches take this command seriously. The Church would be much healthier if we did. Proud people are prone to gossip, and that’s when they have crossed the line that was drawn by God. It’s crazy how quickly a divisive person can split a church. Many churches have been destroyed because leaders were unwilling to confront and remove divisive people. Scripture clearly states that after a couple of warnings, we should “have nothing more to do with him” (v. 10). It’s not that we are condemning him. The passage states that “he is self-condemned,” meaning he has done this to himself. If we refuse to remove these people, we become guilty of disobeying Scripture.