Boars in God's Vineyard, Part 1

Given the opportunity to speak to an audience of seminary students preparing for full-time vocational ministry, what might you choose to say? What kind of wisdom would you share with seminarians getting ready to invest their life in a local church? Today on Insight for Living, you'll hear Chuck Swindoll address the students at Dallas Theological Seminary, where he studied more than 60 years ago. His topic might surprise you because he exposes some of the gut-wrenching issues a church leader will face.

Chuck titled his message, Bores in God's Vineyard. I always want to speak on things that will help you in the ministry. You will hear other speakers in this chapel that will talk about other subjects that will relate often to your studies or your world of academia.

I will rarely address that. I will always go toward the practical side of ministry because that is where you will spend your life in the days ahead, in whatever capacity the Lord leads you. This academic year, I've chosen to speak on the pros and the cons of ministry. In the fall semester, right now, I want to talk on what is it that makes the ministry difficult? And I want to cover three areas.

The first one I'll cover today, and the next one in early this next month, and then the third one in toward the middle of November. I will talk on another subject related to the difficulties in ministry. What makes it tough?

What makes it hard to deal with? And then in the fall, in the spring semester, I want to talk on the things that make it so rewarding, so fulfilling. We'll end on a really upbeat, positive note, for there are far more of those than there are of these that I'll be addressing during the fall semester. In answering the first question, I plan to cover three of the most notable areas that are often challenging in ministry. Today, I will address the subject of dealing with difficult people.

Yeah, mmm. There will always be individuals who will take the fun out of your day, or take the joy out of your career, if you let that happen. Difficult people. Next time we're together in October, I'll talk about how we bring our own humanity into the scene of ministry, and how that works against us and makes ministry difficult. Our temperament, our tendencies, frankly our old sin nature, our habits that we have not broken that work against relationships. Often we are the cause for the difficulty that we face in ministry. And then the third time when we come together in November, I want to talk about the things that happened to us that we never expected.

The most recent one I can think of that we'll deal with when we're together in November would be of course the pandemic. We didn't see it coming, we didn't realize how extensive lengthy it would be, or what a what a toll it would take on the way we do ministry. I don't know of a church today that wouldn't have to say, you know, it required us to alter a number of things we've been doing for years, and to rearrange things and do them differently. We'll talk about that and, for example, things that happened in your family that you didn't see coming. Even with your partner in life who may become disillusioned or go on a long drift spiritually, and that takes a toll on you and the church or the ministry that you're serving.

Things that happened to us that we didn't see coming. Today we're going to talk about the difficult people. Difficult sheep in the church. Sometimes they're difficult staff that serve people that are working alongside you closely. Occasionally they are officers in the church, people that were elected to be a part of the church leadership, and they become difficult. In the classroom, we'll just say it straight, some of your students are a pain in the butt. You're difficult for the profs to deal with, and you started out that way and you're getting only worse as time passes.

So don't think this is about someone else. You can be the one who is the problem. Anyone called into ministry must be both tender and tough.

Both and not either or. We must be full of grace and truth. We must be devoted and determined. We as balanced ministers must be people of merciful compassion and insightful discernment, willing to serve the flock and yet unwilling to be controlled by or manipulated by those within the flock. Hear these words carefully. Today they may not apply.

One day they will. We must be patient and sensitive with newborn lambs as they are getting their their sea legs and learning to walk in the spirit. At the same time, we must be firm and strong with legalistic sheep, ornery church people, and for sure treacherous wolves. Former Pastor Stuart Briscoe, who ministered for years in the Milwaukee area, suggests there are three qualifications for a pastor.

Must have the mind of a scholar, the heart of a child, and the hide of a rhinoceros. I couldn't agree more. Being a faithful minister of integrity has nothing to do with being a people pleaser. Some of you are already forming that habit, thinking that's what a good minister is called to do.

Not so. You are not called to cultivate a popularity cult through flattery of others, or softening the truth, or compromising the message as you tell people what they want to hear rather than shaping your message based on the scriptures and delivering what they need to hear. There's a great difference between the two. You must learn not to adapt your words to what is politically correct, though there will be those in your congregation who guide their lives according to that standard. You must not keep in step with those who urge you to keep in mind what they want or urge you to keep everything relevant. You'll hear that a lot these days. If you're committed to preach the word, you'll need to be determined not to pay attention to anyone who tries to pull you away from becoming a faithful and consistent expositor of the scriptures. You determine that in your years at seminary, believe it or not, you don't suddenly turn there once you've graduated. Hear this warning.

Hear this warning. There are still many wolves in sheep's clothing. They lurk in most churches. In the days of Martin Luther, he had his problems with Pope Leo X. In fact, he was considered such a maverick that Leo gave him the name of a wild boar in God's vineyard. Luther turned those words on the pope himself and saw him as the wild boar.

The fact is you will encounter wild boars in God's vineyard. Dr. Richard Suomi, in his heyday at the school in teaching the Timothy letters, used to refer to these individuals without mensing words. He called them savages.

Maybe that's too strong for you to hear today, but you'll live to see the day when you realize they fit that description. You will meet them in the scriptures when Saul was ravaging the church. Study that word and you'll realize it means exactly what it says in Acts 8 3. Elders from Ephesus are warned about the wolves that were among them. Acts 20 verse 29. Legalists, according to Paul's writing to the Galatians in 2, 4, and 5, sneaked in and spied out our liberty. They're still doing that, and you will really earn your right to be called a shepherd of the sheep. When you encounter and deal directly with legalists, they are among the most difficult in the church. The list goes on and on. In fact, I brought with me—I won't have the time to read it—two, eight and a half by eleven pages, single spaced, of people in the scriptures who dealt with difficult people in their lives. There's hardly a major individual you could name who didn't have an enemy or several enemies.

This is time for me to make a disclaimer. I'm not saying any of this to make you suspicious or to frighten you or to make you jaded as you step into the work of ministry when you leave the school. I'm not even suggesting that most churches are filled with difficult people. That's not true. They are not. Some are. Most are not. But there are always difficult people in whatever church you serve. They don't set out to be that. They just, over the years, have become that. I'll add that most churches are not difficult places to serve. But some are.

While most are loving and thoughtful and understanding and kind, I would even add encouraging and generous, there are some that are caustic, independent, argumentative. They have a reputation for resisting whatever shepherd is called to lead that flock. Remember that when you step into ministry. Go with your eyes open. Just as you would tell one of your growing teenagers when they get to college or when they get into the military or go into business, go into those things with your eyes open.

Realize there are people who do not have your good at heart. Take off your rose-colored glasses when you step into ministry and wear glasses that are filled with realism. Now then, let's look together at a somewhat obscure section in Paul's letter to the Romans. It's toward the end of that letter as he zeroes in on some of the difficult people in the church at Rome. I'll take just a small section of these verses, Romans 16, 17 through 20, where Paul points out some of the bores in the Romans. Paul points out some of the bores in the Roman vineyard. Romans 16, 17 to 20 reveals that there were those, to begin with, who were causing dissensions.

You'll see that named in the very middle of the letter itself. The original term donates, actually means divisiveness, polarization by casting doubt. Cynthia and I often refer to people like this as those who stir the pot. There are those who take delight by subtle questions and accusations and innuendo. They find delight in spreading false information, and often it will be about you, the leader. Things you did not say or even imply, they will spread as though you did both.

William Barkley refers to this individual as a man or woman who speaks well but acts ill. The kind of person who, behind a facade of pious words, is a bad influence, who leads sheep astray, not by direct attack but by subtlety, who pretends to serve Christ but in reality they are destroying the faith of others, close quote. Be aware, be aware. As a shepherd keep your eyes open. Pay attention to those, especially those who are influencing others in the church.

Not out of jealousy. You'll find delight in those that teach the Scriptures well. They are part of the team, but those who do so with wrong motive will soon reveal themselves as among those boars in the vineyard. Second, along with spreading dissension, they cause hindrances. You'll see here in this passage.

The Greek word is skandalah, obviously scandal from that word. I found that such people create drama as they stir the pot among those they influence. Now, why do they do this? Why are the dissensions? Why are the hindrances? What reason do they have for doing that? Paul takes off the gloves as he identifies the reason.

He shoots straight in verse 18. Such people are not serving Christ our Lord, he states. They are serving their own personal interests. Make no mistake, such people are self-serving.

John R. W. Stott states that this description, self-serving, is a graphic metaphor of self-indulgence. It's all about them. They're the star of the show.

They're the ones who are getting the attention. Then Paul says it like it is at the end of verse 18, by smooth talk and glowing words. Your Bible may read flattering words. They deceive innocent people. Therein lies the tragedy. Every church has both mature and immature saints. Those who are less mature, I call innocent. They don't know that they're around people that can't be trusted. They don't realize how innocent they are, how gullible.

How gullible. They are like defenseless sheep seduced and led astray. That's why they need you. That's why they need a strong shepherd, a faithful shepherd. What happens is that harmony is disrupted. You'll find as you minister in whatever capacity that when harmony is disrupted, there is a disunity that replaces it.

That's tough to deal with. It proliferates. It doesn't become less. It becomes greater, which explains the whole idea of the word picture bores in God's vineyard.

They make a dreadful, dreadful scene. Now, how's the problem to be handled? What do you do about it? Now, if you're like most reluctant shepherds, you will put up with it too long.

I did that for the first number of years in ministry. I looked the other way. I acted like it wasn't happening. I ignored the warning signs.

I thought maybe it would get better on its own. In fact, I didn't even want to think it was going on, which makes me appreciate the very first word that Paul uses when he deals with how it's handled is watch out. There needs to be close observation. Faithful shepherds watch out for their flocks.

They care about them. Not, again, not out of jealousy, but out of diligence. Then you will notice at the end of verse 17, the strongest of the terms, stay away from them.

Not only observation, but there must ultimately, if there isn't change, there must be separation. Turn away from them. You've not earned your right to be called a shepherd until you have done your work in this realm. It is not pleasant. It is not easy.

And it certainly is not popular. Realize individuals who have gained the mastery over a few people often have a following. And those followers are loyal. They don't see the danger in the one they're following.

You do. And so that's the reason it's unpleasant and unpopular. You'll be misunderstood by some by dealing with it. And you will be maligned by others because you have taken it on privately, personally, and directly. This is especially true when you confront those who have gained that group of followers and they have become popular in the place where you minister.

You will deal with various carnal, angry, stubborn Christians who will disrespect you and resist your counsel and resent your confrontation. In a former church, we had a person who was a very gifted individual. She had taught classes not only in our church, but in the communities around our church. She was well known and, by many, well respected. She was, however, a gossip. She was difficult to deal with. She stirred the pot regularly. She worked against the direction I was taking the church and our elders were trying to take it.

There was always something wrong with our plan, according to her evaluation. And would you believe, out of those many years I was at that church, I put up with it for 16 years. I say that deliberately not because I'm proud of it, but I'm ashamed of it. Now, it wasn't planned that I would wait that long. It's just you keep putting it off. It isn't pleasant.

As I said earlier, it isn't popular. And when you want to be liked more than you want to be right, you'll let it go on and on and on. Finally, it fell my lot to deal with it. I brought in my closest associate and, along with that, I brought in the chair of our elders. They were in the room. When I asked her to come in, I confronted her with the wrong and she looked at me like a calf looking at a new gate. Oh, me? You're talking about me. And then I began to name evidence after evidence, example after example, one issue after another after another. Her husband was not with her, perhaps a fault on my part, but that was the last I ever heard from either one of them. Whether you're the pastor of a church or a leader in the business world, maybe you can identify with this illustration from our teacher.

Confronting gossip is never easy. For this reason and more, Chuck Swindoll titled his message, Bores in God's Vineyard. It's the second sermon in a special six-part miniseries here on Insight for Living. It was originally delivered to students enrolled in seminary. For more information and to access Chuck's study notes, look for the series called The Pros and Cons of Ministry at insightworld.org slash studies. Gratefully, God has used Insight for Living to inspire young leaders to pursue full-time vocational ministry, and Chuck's teaching on this program has encouraged pastors to remain true to God's calling on their lives as well. So as you financially support this daily Bible teaching program, rest assured you're making an impact on local churches around the world. I saw this note that was left on our website that said, Chuck, I'm a pastor and I've served the church for the past 28 years. Your teaching and preaching has been an anchor in my life. You truly are an encouragement to me. Well, this pastor has been uplifted in part because of your gifts to Insight for Living, so please keep up the good work.

To give a donation today, visit insight.org. If you're a pastor in training or if you're looking to learn more about God's model for church leaders, let me recommend you purchase Chuck Swindoll's Living Insights commentary on 1 and 2 Timothy, including Titus as well. It's chock full of timeless wisdom from the apostle Paul. Plus, the commentary is laid out in an easy-to-reach way, and it's a great way to read out in an easy-to-read format and in the refreshing style you've come to expect from Chuck.

It includes helpful context about the first century church as well. To purchase Chuck Swindoll's Living Insights commentary, call us. If you're listening in the United States, call 800-772-8888 or go online to insight.org slash store. I'm Bill Meyer. Chuck Swindoll continues his surprising message to seminary students called, Boars in God's Vineyard. That's next time on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Boars in God's Vineyard, was copyrighted in 2021 and 2023, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2023 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.