Jealous Preachers

Whilst
reading Rick Phillips’ ‘Masculine Mandate‘ (which  by the way has the
greatest study question I’ve ever seen on page 158 ‘Why can’t dogs
really be man’s best friend?’) I found a very helpful illustration from
the life of the Baptist FB Meyer:

”God
called him to serve in London at the same time as Charles Haddon
Spurgeon, arguably the greatest preacher who ever lived. So, despite his
ability and hard work, Meyer would stand outside his church and watch
the carriages flow by to Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle. Later in
his life, it happened again, as G. Campbell Morgan eclipsed Meyer’s
success. When they spoke together at conferences, vast crowds listened
to Morgan, then left when Meyer was to preach. Convicted over his bitter
spirit, Meyer committed himself to pray for Morgan, reasoning that the
Holy Spirit would not allow him to envy a man for whom he prayed. He was
right. God enabled Meyer to rejoice in Morgan’s preaching. People heard
him saying: ”Have you heard Campbell Morgan preach? Did you hear that
message this morning? My, God is upon that man!”

I
tried to check the source of this and it seems to have come from one of
Meyer’s obituaries. WY Fullerton in his Hagiographical biography
mentions it in passing, how the writers of those obituaries should have
‘brushed this incident aside as the foible of a heart delicately
poised’. However, I disagree and think it’s an insight into the
preacher’s heart.

In
our honest moments I expect nearly all of us would be willing to admit
we struggle with jealousy. It is a huge issue particularly amongst us
preachers and yet it’s rarely talked about. So much of the decrying of
others ministries and us splitting into camps has jealousy at its root. 
It is very difficult to handle others’ great success while we are
plodding along and not seeing much visible fruit for our labours.

There
are false teaching monsters out there, and they, like Hymenaeus and
Philetus should be publicly named and shamed. There are those that
preach a ‘this worldly’ gospel and we need to warn folk about them.
There are those who are slightly off beam that need an arm around the
shoulder and a kick in the shins.  Correcting, rebuking and admonishing
is part of ministry life but the difficulty comes with our hearts being
so deceptive that we think we are standing for the truth, when in
reality we just don’t like the other person and are slightly peeved
they’ve been more ”successful” than we have.

It
can happen in a local congregation too. Mark Ashton
wrote about employing and appointing  people more gifted than we are,
allowing the gifts of others to flourish. This demands humility and
generosity of spirit and I think the only way we can get there is by
praying for these brothers. I am more and more convinced that the
writers of the Westminster Catechism were right in saying that prayer is
a means of grace – we receive grace and mercy as we come to the throne
of grace (Hebrews 4:14-16)

If
we’re struggling with jealousy, and I suspect most of us in ministry
are in some form, whether it’s in our own congregation or the church
that is thriving down the road, first of all we need to admit it and
then pray for the people we’re jealous of.