But when Herod the tetrarch was reprimanded by him because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and because of all the wicked things which Herod had done, Herod also added this to them all: he locked John up in prison.
(Luke 3:19-20)
It seems as though Herod had a pretty complete list of sins. But Luke makes the point that he added one last thing to his list of wickedness to top it off. He threw John the Baptist in jail. It was a bad thing to mistreat spiritual authority then and it’s a bad thing to mistreat them now. I was a pastor at a local church for five years and I was amazed at how poorly I was treated. It was almost as though I was the punching bag for all the frustrations that had accumulated over the last week. I heard more whining and complaining about the most trivial things. In fact, as a result of those days, I decide that if I wasn’t part of the solution, I would never approach the pastor or chaplain with the complaint.
Let me encourage you to encourage your pastor. The next time he preaches a sermon with an application, write it down and then do it. Come back next week and let him know that you did what he told you to do. He might have a heart attack so have those defibrillating paddles handy. Treat them the way you want to be treated. Add encouragement rather than disrespect to the top of your list. It will go a lot better for you. (Heb 13.7,27) FJ32
For questions or comments drop me a line at charleswood1@gmail.com
