On Being A Troublemaker
Introduction
In 1 Kings 18, we read this: “When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, ‘Is that you, you troubler of Israel?’ And he answered, ‘I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals’” (V 17-18).
This is a great passage that shows the church that when a Christian is faithful to the Lord and His law; he promotes it faithfully; he does not shrink back from its implementation; he does not say sorry; and he does not blush; he will inevitably be called a troublemaker. Why? Because his actions and words necessarily disrupt the flow of evil coming from evil, and the church is often an unwitting pawn in the devil’s schemes (Ephesians 6:11; 2 Corinthians 2:11).
Making Trouble
The nature of those with a prophetic office (pastors, elders, shepherds, etc) is that they must speak, well, prophetically. This should not be confused with foretelling, which is the ability to see into the future and predict what will occur. It should be understood more so as forthtelling: the faithful declaration of God’s word to a particular people, at a particular time, for a particular purpose. To be prophetic, then, in this sense, requires one to speak as a representative of the divine message of God Almighty, calling people to faithfulness to their God. Most often, this looks like addressing societal issues with a voice for justice and proclaiming a message from God to call people to a righteous life by revealing God’s will to them. More broadly, it refers to speaking boldly on important issues in the culture and politics, revealing a divine message to ensure that the culture obeys the Lord, and having insight into where the evil and disobedience of a people will eventually lead.
When we consider Elijah, we must understand that this was his role. He spoke out against the rampant idolatry of Baal worship (1 Kings 18:21, 26), the political and religious corruption led by King Ahab and Queen Jezebel (1 Kings 18, 19, 21), and the moral and spiritual compromise of the people of Israel (1 Kings 18:21). He did not use kind or gentle words when condemning the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:27) but instead he was vicious, insulting, and satirical. Then, after he mocked them, he prepared the altar, doused it with gallons of water, and prayed that the Lord would engulf it in flame, which the Lord gladly did (1 Kings 18:33-38). Following this display of power, Elijah slaughtered all the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:40).
The question to ask is this: Was Elijah causing trouble in the culture and covenant, or was he fixing the trouble caused by the wayward people of God? Was he the troublemaker or was he responding to the trouble caused by unfaithfulness? If most Christians today are consistent in their view of Christian character, they would agree with Ahab in calling Elijah a troublemaker. We can know this by how often these sensitive Christians call people endowed with the spirit of Elijah unkind, harsh, mean, racist, hateful, bigots, instigators, and so on. However, they would be wrong in their assessment, because this is exactly the kind of man the Lord wants leading his people. The Lord does not want those with double standards, inconsistency, hypocrisy, or unequal weights and measures leading anyone, let alone those in his covenant. Those who might be courageous over an issue that costs them nothing, but become Ahab when other ministers act as Elijah over very culturally sensitive issues, are hypocrites. These men do not deserve to be followed.
The way the faithful are viewed
Oddly enough, those who obey the Lord are committed to his ways and imitate Christ not only in his love, gentleness, and compassion, but also in his anger, hate, zeal, passion, biting tongue, etc., and are very often viewed as being the actual problem. For instance, after Elijah does what is righteous and pleasing in the sight of God, slaughtering the false prophets of Baal, his own life is threatened. Jezebel responds to his righteousness by saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not let your life be as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow” (1 Kings 19:2). Meaning, she was going to kill him the same way he killed the Prophets of Baal. No doubt some misinformed, or culturally trained covenant members would be standing by saying, “Well, this wouldn’t be happening if you had just not made a big deal about this. And things would probably go better for you if you just spoke a little softer, kinder, and didn’t use short, pithy statements, but explained yourself fully.” In this odd turnabout, the one doing the Lord’s will is blamed for the unrighteous retaliation against him rather than defended for doing what pleased the Lord.
We know this is the case because this is precisely what happened with our Lord. Jesus was teaching the way of the Kingdom of God, showing people how to live faithfully, exercising incredible wisdom and performing mighty works (Matthew 13:53-54). But what happened? The crowds took offense at him because he was a man of low estate. But notice what Jesus says: “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household” (Matthew 13:57). It is those who are closest to you, those in your own family, your own church, your own denomination, who will take the biggest issue with a minister’s faithfulness. Those who you would expect to be the most supportive seem to always find the most superficial and insignificant reasons to belittle and spurn the faithfulness of their prophets. These things should not be.
The Christian Way Forward
Pastors ought not get upset and attack other pastors or Christians when they see them speaking against Christian and cultural idols in a way that they do not—to do so is sinful. Instead, pastors should receive and submit to the lesson given us from our Lord:
“John said to [Jesus], ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.’ But Jesus said, ‘Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us if for us. For truly I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.”
—Mark 9:38-41
This is the principle currently called “No Enemies To The Right” or NETTR. Jesus clearly says here that those who are not against you are for you. Currently, Western culture is in a fight for its life, and destroying Christians or those who are Christian adjacent, trying to defeat the idols of communism, Marxism, wokeism, Judaism, and Islam, because of some misguided sense of purity will only result in ruin. Jesus pinpoints the problem exactly: those who condemn others on the right are really only upset because those people aren’t doing things their way, or following them. Jesus said to John, “Do not stop [them],” but this is exactly what so many Gospel ministers are attempting to do—in direct rebellion against their Lord. Therefore, if they are for you, and you condemn, belittle, berate, minimize, or scandalize them, then you are in grave sin, and you must repent.
The Christian way forward is to acknowledge the attitude of all the prophets in the bible—they were all hard men, who cared not for peoples feelings when fidelity was on the line, who did whatever was necessary to see that God was honored, who never blushed for what scripture said, who never apologized for anything scripture teaches, and who condemned all those who opposed God and his law, even Jesus himself—imitate that attitude and join the ranks of the faithful who have gone before you.
Conclusion
When a pastor does what a pastor is called to do—namely, take ownership of his prophetic office—he is not making trouble; he is making righteousness. As his people hear his words and heed his guidance, he is able to lead with joy, and they are safe; as they hear his words and chafe rather than rejoice, he will lead with much groaning, and it will be of no advantage to them (Hebrews 13:17). This is a sad state.
In our current culture, there are idols that pastors must be aware of and speak against—they don’t have the liberty to ignore them. Some of the issues happening in our time are immigration, ethnicity, race, pluralism generally, and the Jews and Islam, particularly. Pastors must get these issues right so that they may lead their congregations toward righteousness in Christ; they must wash their people with the word so that they may be clean and spotless. Pastors cannot be controlled by their age, tradition, personal preferences or proclivities, or cultural pressure when speaking on these issues, but must, at all times, bring the scriptures to bear upon them all. Pastors don’t have the liberty to be quiet; they must speak just as all the prophets before them have spoken. Pastors must take upon themselves the spirit of Elijah and mock the evil ruthlessly and have full confidence in God that he will completely embarrass their enemies.
