Plastic Men

What the Bible Says
Then, with the crowds listening, he turned to his disciples and said, “Beware of these teachers of religious law! For they like to parade around in flowing robes and love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces. And how they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the head table at banquets. Yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, they will be severely punished.” Luke 20:45-47

What My Mind Thinks
It’s interesting that Jesus unmasked the fake preachers in public and not in a private chat to his disciples. Jesus wanted the rank and file to overhear the private discussions of management because in Jesus’ mind there is no separation between clergy and the people. Jesus then and now wants to create dissatisfaction in followers of insincere spiritual leadership. He wants the average pew sitter to be able to distinguish between leaders who gather followers and shepherds who set sheep free to follow to the Good Shepherd. This passage is Jesus’ vaccination against spiritual abuse. If sheep take this warning to heart they will never be kidnapped by sheep rustlers.

Jesus says to sheep, “Beware of these teachers”. In other words, the relationship between Jesus and a Christian must never be tampered with. It can be coached, revived, corrected, encouraged, but no human being can slip in between the Shepherd and his sheep and interfere with that relationship. It is up to the sheep to beware of phonies and to protect their free access to hear Christ and follow him. Jesus isn’t suggesting that sheep should become cynical of all shepherds. Cynicism can sound wise but it is not the voice of God. Sheep need shepherds; that’s a given. They are not to be afraid o following them. Instead, like the Bereans checked their Bibles to be sure that Paul’s voice was God’s word, so too sheep need to turn to Jesus to be sure that they are being led well.

Of course this is not just a message to sheep, it is also a message to shepherds. What was so obvious in a Pharisees can be subtle in us. To put it in modern terms the Pharisees loved their suits and ties, the title of “Pastor”, and the front row seats. They acted like middlemen between givers and God taking a little commission for themselves. They felt hard done by for the hardships of ministry and motherly widows opened their nest eggs to give them the lifestyle they deserved as men of God. Ministry doesn’t offer much money, but there are perks that are even more toxic to the soul. On one hand there are needy people and on the other there are leaders with the time and ability to help. Sometimes the sheep can be too grateful and the shepherds can enjoy the nuzzling of the flock too much.

If a shepherd is to be useful to Christ he must put to death the feeling of being hard done by. Instead he should accept that he is a servant, that life is difficult and sometimes unfair, but he is a servant and that is his duty. He gives without thought of gain and nothing should pollute that purity of service.

Then suitcoats can be removed, sleeves rolled up so work can be done;

then the title of “Pastor” or “Reverend” can remind a leader to serve the people and not himself;

then the seats of honor can be surrendered to those in the back row who need them more than he does.

How My Heart Changes
Sincerity in ministry really matters to Jesus. He says he will “severely punish” frauds. So the challenge to the plastic pastor is not a passing comment. This really matters to Jesus.

It is time to melt down plastic toy leaders into something useful for the kingdom. If they could be molded into a cup or a basin that would be helpful. That must begin in me.

Every pastor needs to look in the mirror while he straightens his tie and ask himself, “Am I serving myself today or am I working with the Shepherd?” There are times I feel hard done by in ministry. That I must dispose of.

How My Spirit Prays
Father, today unwrap the plastic that can surround me. Let my ministry not mask my insincerity but flow from a pure heart. And help me to help other pastors step out of the cellophane of ministry so that they can move from plastic to warm flesh and blood with plenty of heart. Can you help me to help pastors find their way out of the display case and into the lives of their people. Amen.

One of my “necktie” moments…when I was best man for both of my foster sons Jon and Nelson.

Scripture

This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it on, but do not wash it.” So I bought the loincloth as the Lord directed me, and I put it on. Then the Lord gave me another message: “Take the linen loincloth you are wearing, and go to the Euphrates River. Hide it there in a hole in the rocks.” So I went and hid it by the Euphrates as the Lord had instructed me. A long time afterward the Lord said to me, “Go back to the Euphrates and get the loincloth I told you to hide there.” So I went to the Euphrates and dug it out of the hole where I had hidden it. But now it was rotting and falling apart. The loincloth was good for nothing. Then I received this message from the Lord: “This is what the Lord says: This shows how I will rot away the pride of Judah and Jerusalem. As a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I created Judah and Israel to cling to me, says the Lord. They were to be my people, my pride, my glory—an honor to my name. But they would not listen to me.

Observation

Jeremiah took a 1,320 mile round trip journey to the Euphrates River to bury a neck tie in the mud and then to return to find it rotten. That was nearly 3 months of travel just to learn that things left beside the riverbank rot. But like most mysteries in the Bible, if we ponder them long enough there is usually a deeper reason.

Okay, first of all, why did I call the strip of fabric a neck tie when the Bible calls it a belt? Because in Jeremiah’s day a man spent as much time picking out his belt in the morning as a man today does choosing which tie to wear. Belts were made of brightly colored fabric imported from distant places to make a power statement about a man’s place in the world. Just like the psychology of the silk tie, so too men were selective in how wide and how bright their belt would be for that day. The men of Jeremiah’s day were a dressing for success. Their world was a rotten heap, but they were scrambling for the top anyway.

Okay, that explains the belt, but why this trekking to the Euphrates? That was a 330 mile trip from Jerusalem where Jeremiah lived. Three hundred miles in his day was like a transoceanic flight in our time. Jeremiah made the trip not just once but twice. Why would God ask such a thing?

I think of it something like the test trials in a modern factory. Machines wear out car seats, blue jeans and blenders to test how long the product will last. Within a week a test machine can simulate years of use. Jeremiah’s trips were like time lapse photography of a man’s life. Within a few years what was once store window display became back alley garbage can refuse. Such is a man’s pride in life. What a man thinks of himself and what others think of him will one day be worn out like rotten fabric.

Okay, that explains the trip, but why the Euphrates? Simple: that was the direction the armies of Babylon would march from. What seemed so secure today would be gone tomorrow. Babylon would accelerate the process of the disintegration of pride. There is no place in life so secure that a man cannot fall. What seems bright today may be gone tomorrow.

So what’s the point of the passage? We are to cling to the Lord like a belt around the waist or a tie around the neck. Our only pride comes not from whom we are but who the Lord is. Our glory endures only so long as it is connected with his. Once we are out of his hand our glory will rot away.

Application

So what’s the point of the passage for me? There is only one glory I can have, and that is my attachment to Jesus. There are so many ways we try to impress others, especially when we meet strangers. In unfamiliar ground in business out come the neckties. With a strip of $50 cloth a man tries to make a statement about himself. But what matters most is what that cloth is bound to. If it is just to the man himself, it is a noose. But if it is to the Lord it is a conduit of spiritual authority.

Prayer

Father, there are times I need a time lapse view of my days. What seems so important today will be insignificant tomorrow. I was taken to the back corridors of a cathedral in Australia where ragged, rotted flags were hanging. I was told that these were the retired battle standards of battalions. According to tradition they would hang in the cathedral in the presence of the Lord until they disintegrated. Perhaps that is a symbol of my own life. My glory means nothing, only your presence. And if my life is left out to dry, let it be in your presence where at least your glory can cover over the decay of my existence. Amen