September 27, 2002

How do you handle criticism? How does one protect himself from the "scourge of the tongue" (Job 5:21)? Where is the shelter of the Most High that protects us from the sting of false accusation? Yes, if you are going to be successful in the Lord's work, you must find God's hiding place from one of the most painful weapons in Satan's arsenal: the critical tongue.

The fact is, for better or for worse, people are going to talk about you. You cannot do the will of God without creating change, and change will always cause some to stumble. In fact, Jesus said we were to beware when all men speak well of us. He said we cannot serve two masters; if we are to truly please Him, we cannot be distracted by trying to please everyone else.

At the same time, there is a demonic strategy that is set against those who teach God's word and minister to His people. The enemy's campaign is not only aimed at destroying the shepherd; he also seeks to scatter the sheep. If Satan's attack is successful, everyone involved will come out of the battle with less love and a hardened heart.

I find it amazing that individuals can react so differently to the same teaching. One will be uplifted and encouraged while another may not only miss the Lord's blessing but actually be offended by an isolated statement.

It seems that for every person who takes the hammer and chisel to make an idol of a preacher, there is someone else with a hammer and spikes ready to crucify him. And unless that man is sustained by the Lord, the pressures against him can be overwhelming.

Most people fail to remember that a minister is just like any other Christian. He is not a superman; bullets (and words) do not bounce off his chest. He is not invulnerable to cruel and malicious talk. He is an imperfect person called to serve the living God in the body of Christ, but just a person, nonetheless.

For most, church is a place people go to express their worship of God, to be taught and to have fellowship. But to the man or woman of God, the church is God's garden. Most of the real work a pastor does is not in the pulpit but in the unheralded service of cultivating love and trust in personal relationships.

In God's eyes, the church is much more than a meeting place of casual acquaintances or doctrinally united believers. To the Father, the church is a living temple, a human house for the Spirit of His Son. The Bible says that when He placed us in our particular church, it actually gave Him pleasure (1 Cor. 12:18). Together with the Holy Spirit, the pastor and elders work to bring the church into a right relationship with God's love and then spread that love throughout the entire citywide church.

God has provided honorable ways for people to transfer from one church to another. If someone wants to leave a church to start their own, there are proper ways to receive God's anointing and be sent (see Acts 13:1 3). It is not necessary to find fault and cause a church split. When things are done correctly and in order, people are edified.

But when relationships are severed and destroyed through malicious gossip, or when a developing trust is turned into mistrust through backbiting and criticism, God Himself is angered (Prov. 6:16 19). And if God is offended, how much more difficult is it for His servant to remain aloof from the conflict that sin causes.

The Answer!

So, how does a man or woman of God find the balance between his basic need to survive and his responsibility to please God? The answer, in a word, is to put on Christ's love.

A number of years ago, I went through a difficult time in which a handful of people made me the target of ongoing criticism. There is a type of constructive criticism coming through people who love you that teaches and helps you to prosper, and there is a type of criticism that comes through an embittered spirit that is not meant to correct you but to destroy you. It was the latter relationship that I had with these people.

To be honest, I am sure that there were areas in my life that were imbalanced; some of their complaints were justified. However, much of what they had to say was said to others behind my back. Our congregation was being destabilized by these individuals. Try as I did, nothing I could say or repent of would silence them.

For three years I sought the Lord, yet He would not vindicate me of their accusations. Instead, He dealt with me. He reached deep into the very substructure of my soul and began to touch hidden areas of my life.

At issue with the Lord was not my sin, but my "self." The Bible says that our sins are ever before us (Ps 51:3); these I could see. But I had no perspective on my own soul. The Lord allowed this criticism to continue until it unearthed something deeper and more fundamentally wrong than any of my doctrinal interpretations or sins. It unearthed me.

The Holy Spirit began to show me how easily I was manipulated by people's criticisms and especially how much my sense of peace was governed by the acceptance or rejection of man. As much as I prayed, God would not deliver me from my enemy. He saved me by killing that part of me that was vulnerable to the devil, and He did it with the accusations themselves.

I will never forget the day it dawned on me that both God and the devil wanted me to die, but for different reasons. Satan wanted to destroy me through slander and then drain me with the unceasing activity of explaining "my side" to people. At the same time, God wanted to crucify that part of my soul that was so easily exploited by the devil in the first place!

It was a pivotal day when I realized that this battle was not going to be over until I died to what people said about me. It was probably at this point that I finally and truly became a servant of God.

Today, I stand in awe of what the Lord did during those terrible, yet wonderful, months. He knew a time would come when the things I wrote would touch the lives of millions of people. To inoculate me from the praise of man, He baptized me in the criticism of man until I died to the control of man.

Do not misunderstand me: I still honestly pray about things submitted to me by others, and I am accountable to other leaders. I even have staff people whose assignment is to give me a critical analysis of my life and work. But I am no longer ruled by man. I live for God's pleasure, and if I happen to please man, that is His business, not mine.

The Shelter of His Cross

There is something utterly marvelous about the Lord's redemptive powers. No matter what hardship, devilish plot or accusation is hurled our way, everything Satan would use to destroy is redeemed by God's love and then used to perfect us. If we faithfully seek the Lord, adversity becomes like gasoline upon our heart's fire for God. Just to survive, we are driven deeper into the blaze of His Presence.

Thus, as much as I hated it when people slandered me, this was the very thing God used to compel me nearer to His heart. As important as Bible study and church attendance is, it was adversity which worked the deepest death of self and brought me closest to God! I have come to sincerely love and appreciate my enemies--I could not have come to this place of blessedness without them!

I can see why Jesus said, "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:10). Certainly, He does not mean that outwardly we experience "heaven" when we are persecuted or suffer mental or physical abuse. No, but inwardly God deals mightily with our soul, breaking its addiction to man's approval and liberating us to truly live for Christ.

In His wisdom, God gives us two gifts: a new nature and a cross uniquely designed to kill our old nature. The moment we begin to pick up the cross, we enter the stronghold of God.

We must learn this truth: God does not want our old nature to survive. He does not want us to reform that which actually needs to be crucified; He wants it to die. Not only was our old nature corrupt and indefensible against the enemy, but the flesh is akin to the devil and most easily inhabited by him.

The character of the "new nature," however, is Christ Himself. With the living Christ within me, how shall I bring a charge against my neighbor, for Christ commands me to love? If I issue a complaint, shall I raise my old nature from the dead to be my witness? Shall I silence Christ to hear the voice of the accuser? You see, if I am to be the Lord's servant, when offended I must repeat Christ's prayer of the cross, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34).

So, regardless of man's opinions about us, whether we are exalted or abased, let us determine to carry Christ's cross through the conflict. For these momentary light afflictions are producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.

My personal attitude is this: I will stand for revival, unity and prayer; I will labor to restore healing and reconciliation between God's people. Yet, if all God truly wanted was to raise up one fully yielded son--a son who would refuse to be offended, refuse to react, refuse to harbor unforgiveness regardless of those who slander and persecute--I have determined to be that person. My primary goal in all things is not revival, but to bring pleasure to Christ.

None of us are there yet, but if we each have this attitude, we will put to death our reactions to criticisms and offenses. And though we may still stumble, we will learn that carrying the cross is not merely dying to self; it is embracing the love of Christ that forgives the very ones who have crucified us.

Lord, help me to hear with humility the criticisms of those who accuse me. Grant me peace to spiritually prosper when others find fault. Yet, even more than this, help me to die to all I was and live to all You are. I desperately want to be found in Your nature and to be changed into Your image. Amen.

This message is adapted from the Stronghold of God.

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God bless you!