Amen.
Alright, well thank you very much for being here and I appreciate Pastor Thompson inviting
me and that was a great sermon last night by Pastor McMurtry and I'm looking forward
to the sermon tonight.
If you're wondering what I'm doing, I forgot to print my notes for the sermon, so I've
got my notes on my laptop here and my laptop has a tablet setting, so I'm going to be preaching
from this, if I can get it to work, is exactly what I thought would happen.
I've got my mouse here, let me see if I can get this to work.
I'm going to see if I can get this thing to work.
So I'm preaching from a tablet, I'm wearing jeans, I've got no tie on.
It's all downhill from here.
But I appreciate your patience, give me one second, let me get this going.
Alright, we're going to see how this goes, okay?
So I appreciate you and thank you for the anniversary, singing anniversary, happy anniversary
to us.
The Thompson's, they gave us for our anniversary just a little small gift.
They gave me a cool container full of glass bottle cokes, which is great because my wife
doesn't drink soda, so whenever somebody gives you a gift that your wife doesn't like, then
you get to have it all for yourself.
That's always good.
You're there in Second Samuel 3, I'd like you to keep your place there.
Go with me to First Chronicles chapter 11.
I'm going to try to preach using this thing, we'll see how it goes.
Excuse me, I've got to check my email real quick.
Just kidding.
But let me see if I can prop this thing up a little bit.
Alright.
Pastor McMurtry told me he preaches with a screen, so I'm just kidding.
Just kidding.
Alright, First Chronicles chapter 11.
This morning what I'd like to do is I want to, the title of the sermon this morning is
How to Not Be a Pain in the Neck Church Member.
I'm hoping that'll help you, and I'm really hoping it'll help your pastor.
It'll make his life a little easier.
But it's interesting because I want to do a little study this morning on the life of
Joab.
Joab is a really interesting character in the Bible.
I remember when I was 16 years old and I decided to read the Bible for the first time cover
to cover.
I was in a Christian home and I read a lot of the Bible, but I never really tracked it
and decided to read through it.
I decided I wanted to track it and chart it and whatever.
As I was going through 1 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, I remember learning about Joab
and I remember thinking to myself, why don't you hear a lot more preaching about Joab?
When you first learn about Joab and when you first begin to learn and read the stories
of Joab, he sounds like a great character.
He sounds like just this awesome warrior that's doing these great things for God.
I used to think to myself, man, I wonder why you don't hear more preaching about Joab.
I thought to myself, I wonder why you don't meet more young Christian children named Joab,
right?
I mean, you're a great character.
But you know, as I read the Bible more, as I read the Bible more, as I studied the Bible
more, I realized that Joab was an awesome soldier.
He was a great warrior, but he was not a very good follower.
In fact, he was a good soldier, but he was a bad soldier at the same time.
And he's what I would call the best of the worst soldiers.
And in many ways today in our churches, you know, we are engaged in spiritual warfare
and we have a lot of people that I would categorize as the best of the worst church members.
And here's the thing.
If you're in the category of the worst church member, even when you're the best, it's still
not good.
You know what I mean?
I don't know if that makes sense and I'll try to help you understand that.
You're there on 1 Chronicles 11.
And here's the idea.
When I was a kid growing up, we were in Little League.
And when I was in Little League, my brother and I, who played baseball, my brother was
always on the best team.
He was a pretty good player on the best team.
And I was always, and this might sound odd and I hope you understand it, I was always
the best player on the worst team.
And you say, is that a thing?
That is a thing.
And you say, well, how do you know you're the best player on the worst team?
Here's how you know.
Because they would pick the best player from every team to have the all-star team at the
end of the year.
So when you're the best player on the worst team, you don't have to be that great and
you can be part of the all-star team.
But you know, you're still on the worst team.
You still lost every game, right?
It still wasn't fun.
And being the best of the worst is not really where you want to be.
Now I want you to notice there in 1 Chronicles 11, look at verse 4.
1 Chronicles 11 and verse 4 says this,
And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus, where the Jebusites were the
inhabitants of the land.
And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither, nevertheless David
took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David, and David said,
I want you to notice, this is early on in the time of David.
David is starting to build his kingdom.
He's not yet even taking Jerusalem as his capital.
This is the story of him taking Jerusalem, which was known as Jebus before that.
And the inhabitants of Jebus, when David shows up to take Jerusalem, they say,
Whosoever smiteth, he says to his people in verse 6,
Whosoever smiteth the Jebus besides first, notice what he says,
shall be chief and captain.
So Joab, the son of Zechariah, went first and was chief.
So I want you to notice what David, he puts out this challenge.
He says, anybody who takes this stronghold for us, which is a difficult city to take,
if you can take it, I will make you the general.
I will make you the captain.
I will put you in charge.
And this man Joab steps up, and he takes this difficult city.
And here's what I want you to understand.
As far as soldiering, and as far as being a warrior and fighting, Joab was a go-getter.
He was someone that had a lot of potential.
He was great at what he did, and he ended up being in charge.
And he actually is the general of the army under King David.
Go to 1 Chronicles 27. Look at verse 34. 1 Chronicles 27 verse 34.
And if you read 1 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, you'll read a lot of stories about Joab fighting great battles,
doing great things, leading the army against great odds and winning.
The man was a good soldier. 1 Chronicles 27 verse 34. Notice what the Bible says.
And after Ahithophel, this verse is giving us David's cabinet in the same way that the president will have a cabinet,
or he will have a secretary of state or a secretary of defense.
This is kind of that verse for David. It's telling us all of his different leaders that were with him.
It says, and after Ahithophel was Jehoi, another son of Benaiah, and Abiathar.
And notice what it says. And the general of the king's army was Joab.
So I want you to notice that Joab was not only a great, he was a great soldier.
He ended up having rank and being in charge. He was actually the general for the army.
It's true that Joab was a highly accomplished and productive soldier.
Yet, while he was highly productive, he did things that hurt David's leadership.
And he was what I would call the best of the worst soldiers in David's army.
And what I'd like to do today is I'd like to just kind of use Joab as an example because here's what we find in churches today.
And there's a big confusion among churches or within churches that if I'm a church member who goes to all three services every week,
if I tithe, if I'm a soul winner, if I go to all the activities and I go to the camps and I do those things,
well then I must be a pretty good church member.
And here's the thing. Those things definitely help make you a good church member,
but that's not the only thing that makes you a good church member because you could be a good soldier and have a lousy attitude
and be the best of the worst, but you're still the worst.
And you could be a good church member who's faithful, who serves, who volunteers, who goes soul winning, who gives,
but yet have a lousy attitude and you may be the best of the worst church members, but you know what?
You're still a lousy church member. And I want to just give you some characteristics.
I'd like us to look at Joab and help you identify some of the characteristics of what I call the best of the worst church members
because here's the thing. You can be highly productive and yet highly problematic.
You can accomplish a lot and get a lot done and yet still cause a lot of problems and be a pain in the neck for your pastor.
So notice how Joab was a pain in the neck for David. First of all, if you go back to 2 Samuel chapter 3, look at verse 22.
I'd like you to notice what the best of the worst church members do.
I'd like you to notice what the best of the worst soldiers did here for David.
Number one, they will question and criticize the leader.
Do you know that you can be a three to driver?
Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, soul winner, tithing, events, volunteering, helping with all things, and still question and criticize leadership?
You know what? You can be a pretty good soldier, in fact even be the general of the army, and still question and criticize the king.
Notice 2 Samuel 3 and verse 22, the Bible says this,
And behold, the servants of David.
And notice how the Bible, here's what Jesus is saying, when we read these narratives in the Bible, the Holy Spirit is the one who is actually the narrator.
He is the one who is speaking. And notice how the Holy Spirit narrates these words.
It says, and behold, the servants of David, notice what it says, and Joab.
Notice how Joab is not necessarily considered a servant of David.
You say, why is that? Because Joab was in it for himself.
Because Joab was doing what Joab wanted to do.
It says, and behold, the servants of David and Joab came from pursuing a troop and brought in a great spoil with them, notice what it says, but Abner.
Now here's what you need to understand, and we don't have time to develop the whole story, I'll tell you a little bit about it and you can study it out on your own, but here's what you need to know.
Abner was the general for King Saul.
If you remember, David was the king, Joab became his general.
Abner was the general for King Saul.
When Saul died, Abner became the general for King Saul's son who took over Ishmael.
And this was basically Joab's contemporary, his peer, on the other side.
And now David has met with Abner.
Abner has came to David.
Basically, Abner had fallen out with his leader.
He's realized that David is going to win, that David is the man that God has anointed.
So Abner comes to David and basically decides he wants to make peace, he wants to get on David's side.
And David sends him away and Abner goes away saying, hey, I'm going to gather everyone that I can and bring them to you because you should be the king.
Notice what it says, notice verse 22 again.
The people, the sermons David and Joab, came from pursuing a troop and brought in a great spoil with them, but Abner was not with David in Hebron for he had sent him away.
So this is after their meeting, they've already met, they've already had a peace agreement.
Notice what it says at the end of verse 22, and he was gone in peace.
Abner was gone in peace.
Verse 23, when Joab and all the hosts that was with him were come, they told Joab saying, so Joab's gone running errands, he shows up and the people there, they tell Joab,
Abner the son of Nur came to the king and he had sent him away and he is gone in peace.
And Joab came to the king and said, notice what Joab says to King David, what has thou done?
Behold Abner came unto thee, why is it that thou has sent them away and he is quite gone?
Thou knowest Abner the son of Nur and that he came to deceive thee and to know thy goings out and thy comings in and to know all that thou doest.
Now I want you to notice that here we have this soldier, highly productive, highly effective in what he does.
In fact, he's even the general of the army, but yet he's questioning and he's criticizing leadership.
And you say, well, what's the big deal? I mean, can't the general tell the king when he disagrees with him?
And here's the thing, you're absolutely right, there's nothing wrong with you communicating concerns and thoughts with your leadership.
In fact, we're not a cult. Look, if you've got questions and if you've got some concerns about something, you should go to your pastor's life and ask questions.
And you know what the Bible tells us? We ought to do that respectfully. The Bible says rebuke not an elder, but treat him as a father.
And you say, well, is there anything wrong with asking a question? Nothing wrong with asking a question.
Anything wrong with having a concern? Nothing wrong with having a concern.
But here's where you know that a follower is a bad follower when they have to go out of their way to make sure everyone knows that you disagree with what the leader did.
You say, well, show me that in the story. Well, look at verse 26. Now keep in mind, Abner just came and met with David.
They had a peace agreement. They left in peace. Everyone knew it. When Joab shows up, the people are telling him, hey, David and Abner, they met and he's gone in peace.
So what does Abner go and do? Verse 26. Excuse me. What does Joab go and do to Abner? Verse 26.
And when Joab was come out from David, he, talking about Joab, sent messengers after Abner, which brought him again from the well of Cyra, but David knew it not.
By the way, whenever you're doing something that leadership doesn't know about, you're probably doing something that's wrong. Verse 27.
And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly and smote him there under the fifth rape that he died for the blood of Asahel, his brother.
And here's what I'll tell you. What do you think was the message that Abner was sending when everybody knew that David met with Abner, when everybody knew that Abner had left in peace,
when everybody knew that they'd had an agreement, and then Joab calls Abner and kills Abner, what do you think's the message that Joab's trying to send?
Here's the message. I don't agree with what David did. I don't like what David did. I'm going to make it clear to everybody that I think that David was wrong and that David shouldn't have done that,
he shouldn't have met with Abner, he shouldn't have had an agreement, and here's all I'm telling you. You say, man, I'm a rock star church member. Oh, really?
Yeah, I mean, I show up to all the services. Great. I tithe. Great. I give special offerings. Great. I go soul-winding. Great. I volunteer. Great.
But you know what? If you question and criticize the leadership and you make sure everyone knows it, you suck. Excuse my French. You stink. You say, I'm a pretty good church member.
Well, you're the best of the worst, but you're still the worst. Today, the best of the worst church members will often test the waters first.
See, they're not going to walk up to you and just start criticizing Pastor Thompson or Ms. Sherry. You know what they're going to do? They're going to test the waters first.
What did you think about that Tyler Baker situation? What did you think about Pastor's soul-winding methods?
What are your thoughts about how that whole Adam Bannon thing was dealt with? What do you think about Pastor's stand-on music?
Listen to me. When somebody's asking you, what do you think about Pastor's stand-on whatever, the right response is, let's go ask Pastor.
When somebody's asking you, what do you think about how the pastor's wife does, you know the proper response is, let's go have a conversation with the pastor's wife.
Because they're the leaders. They're in charge. And you know what the best of the worst church members do? They show up to the services. They go soul-winding. They volunteer. They give. They fight the battles. They're productive. They're effective.
And then they question you and criticize you and make sure everybody knows it in the background. And then they fool themselves and think, well, I'm a pretty good church member. You know what? Joab was a pretty good soldier and he stunk at it.
Because it's more than just doing what you've been asked to do. It's about your heart as well. What are the best of the worst church members do? They will question and criticize the leader.
But secondly, go to 2 Samuel 19. Look at verse 13. Why don't you notice what Joab did? The best of the worst church members will not only question and criticize the leadership, they will attack those they perceive as their competition. Notice verse 13.
Now we're fast-forwarding in the story. Now you've got the story of Absalom. Absalom has risen against David. Absalom has a general as well. His name is Amasa.
Absalom has died and David is trying to bring peace to the kingdom and he extends an olive branch of peace to Amasa. Look at verse 13. This is David getting a message to Amasa.
And saying to Amasa, art thou not of my bone and of my flesh? Because Amasa came from the same tribe that David did. He said, look, aren't we family? Go do so to me.
And more also, notice what David says to Amasa because David, at this point, he's just kind of sick and tired of Abner. He says, if thou be not captain of the host before me, continually, notice what he says, in the room of Joab.
So basically David says to Amasa, hey, aren't we family? Why are we fighting? Come and I'm going to make you the general. I'm going to retire Joab. I'm sick and tired of Joab and I'm going to make you the captain of the host before me continually in the room of Joab.
So how do you think Joab responds? Well, look at verse, second Samuel 20 and verse 9. And Joab said to Amasa, art thou in hell? That's quite a question to ask somebody or you're about to kill.
Art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him, just like Judas kissed Jesus. But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand.
So he smote him therewith, does this sound familiar, in the fifth rib and shed out his bowels to the ground and struck him not again and he died.
So Joab and Abishai, his brother, pursued after Sheba, the son of Bichrai. And here's what I want you to notice. Here we have Joab who is going against Amasa. You say, why? Because he sees Amasa as his competition.
This guy is going to show me up. This guy is going to replace me. This guy is going to take my job. And listen to me, you say Joab was an asset to the team.
Yes, Joab was a great warrior, a great military leader, a great strategist. But you know why he stunk as a follower? Because you can't have a team that's made up of one person.
You can't have an army that's made up of one person. You say, what are the best of the worst soldiers do? What are the best of the worst church members do? Here's what they do.
They're great at what they do, but then they attack everybody else. Look, it doesn't matter how great of a worker or volunteer you are at church if you're constantly attacking and criticizing and tearing down everyone else in church.
I mean, look, when you're like, man, I'm a great volunteer. I show up to all the work days and I help with this and I help with that and I volunteer in this section and I do this and I organize that. Great!
But when you take that same person and you say, well, I do all those things and I talk crap about everyone else. I'm the best worker and everybody else is lazy. I'm the greatest worker and nobody else gets anything done.
I'm the best worker, but I'm going to attack the pastor. I'm going to attack the staff. I'm going to attack fellow church members. You know what? You're the best of the worst and you stink and you're no help.
Because Joab was an asset, but Joab was also attacking others on the team. You say, well, what should Joab have done? You know what? He should have had a good attitude and he could have had a dream team.
Joab, Abner, Amasa, they could have had a dream team. King David, by the way, they had a dream team and they called David's mighty man. But you know what? Joab wasn't a part of it.
Because Joab was the best of the worst and he questioned and criticized the leaders and he attacked those that he perceived as competition.
Let me give you a third one. Go to 2 Samuel 20. You're there, look at verse 11. I said, number one, they will question and criticize the leader. I said, number two, they will attack those that they perceive as competition.
Number three, they will push people to be loyal to themselves and not the leader. Notice what the Bible says in verse 11. This is after he kills Amasa in cold blood.
And one of Joab's men, again, notice the wording, not David's men, Joab's men, stood by him and said, he, notice the wording, he that favorites Joab and he that is for David, let him go after Joab.
Because they just killed Amasa. Amasa was actually the one who was running the campaign at this time and Joab shows up and kills him. So all of the people are like, well, what are we supposed to do now?
And then one of Joab's men stands up and he says, he that favorites Joab and he that is for David, let him go after Joab. Now listen to me, it is really important the words that come out of people's mouths.
You ought to pay close attention to the things that people say. You say why? Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth is speaking.
And it's interesting to me that the followers of Joab, they don't say he that favorites David and that is for Joab, let him go after Joab. Isn't that what they should have said?
Wasn't David the leader? Wasn't David the king? But yet what do they say? He that favorites Joab. Why? Because in the heart, in the minds of Joab's followers, he pushed them to be loyal to himself, not the leader.
You say, well, prove that from another passage. Okay, go to 2 Samuel 12. Remember out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth is speaking. Notice a threat that Joab gives to David.
And it's interesting that he gives this threat and again, it just shows you where Joab's heart is in the matter. 2 Samuel 12, verse 27.
2 Samuel 12, verse 27 says this, and Joab sent messengers to David and said, now this is after a battle that Joab won because Joab knows what he's doing when it comes to fighting battles.
But notice what he says to David, I have fought against Reba and have taken the city of waters. Now therefore, gather the rest of the people together and encamp against the city and take it, notice what he says, lest I take the city and it be called after my name.
Now why would Joab say that? I'll tell you exactly why Joab would say that, because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth is speaking. Because this is what was in Joab's heart.
What was in Joab's heart? That I am the one who's actually in charge and I'm going to push people to be loyal towards me and look, this is often done through subtle criticism, this is often done through subtle questioning.
People will often, look, because people can't figure out, look, it's way too much work. It's a lot of work to have people have respect for you and to have people follow you and for people to allow you to have influence over them.
It's too much work for that to happen through you just being faithful and a hard worker and just sticking with it. That's a lot of work, I don't know if you know that.
And if you don't believe me, ask Pastor McPherson, ask Pastor Thompson, how do you get people to give you their hearts? How do you get people to allow you to influence them?
How do you get people to want to listen to your preaching, to want to listen to your advice? How do you get to the point where people will say, hey, you know what, I'm going to tune into this guy.
I'm going to listen to this guy. I'm going to go to this guy's event. I'm going to take notes while he's preaching. I'm going to apply what he's doing, what he's saying and try to apply it to my life.
How do you get to that place? Here's how you get to that place. You don't just start a YouTube channel and then you're just some YouTube sensation.
That's not how it works. Oh, I know. I'm just going to start a Facebook account and a Twitter account and an Instagram account and a YouTube account.
And I'm just going to become a rock star, a newsflash for you. That's not how it works. How do you get people to listen to your sermons?
You're faithful at preaching for a long time? You try to preach really good sermons to a group of five people in your living room for years and years and years and years.
And eventually those five people turn to 10 people. Eventually those 10 people turn into 20 people. Eventually those 20 people turn to 40 people. Eventually those 40 people turn to 80 people.
Eventually those 80 people turn into 180 people. That's how it's done. It takes time. It takes work. It takes study.
You preach your sermons. You get up there with your little tablet and preach your sermons. I could do that. You know what? It takes work and time and energy and effort.
Well, if they let me preach at the Make America Straight Again conference. You know, you preach a lot of sermons that very few people listen to before you get to preach at conferences like that.
But you know what lazy people do? They don't want to put the time and energy and effort. They don't want to go, you know, just start some work somewhere in some corner somewhere where nobody's watching them, where nobody's paying attention and just be faithful and love people and pray for people and visit people in the hospital and write notes and pray and love on them when no one's paying attention.
They don't want to do that until you say, what do they do? Well, here's the easiest thing to do. The easiest way to build yourself up with no work is to just tear others down.
So instead of just being a faithful wife like Ms. Sherry has been, raising godly children, loving the Lord, being faithful and serving the Lord with my husband.
Instead of just being a godly lady like my wife has been, just being there, just through the trials, just loving ladies, just helping ladies. You know, what's easier? Let me just tear them down.
You know, instead of just being a faithful man who's just served the Lord like Pastor Thompson, who was just a faithful church member under another pastor, was just a blessing to that pastor, raised godly kids.
Instead of just being faithful with Pastor McMurtry, instead of just putting in the time, studying the Bible, reading, you know what, let me just go around and ask everybody about what do you think about his music ministry?
What do you think about his soul-winning methods? Because the easiest way to build yourself up is by tearing other people down, but that is a way that it has no character, no integrity.
You know what, I don't want to build my ministry based on me tearing other people down. If people are blessed by the ministry of Mary Baptist Church, I want it to be because we've earned that right and that respect and because there's value there.
I want people to tune in, not because they want to, because they're going to listen to, well let's just see who Pastor Jimenez is going to tear down today.
You know what, I want them to tune in because they want to be edified because we've earned the respect to say, you know what, every time I listen to that guy, I learn something.
And you know what, if you want to have influence and you want to be a leader, work hard at it. But when you sit there and you criticize everyone and you tear people down, you're just a Joe Apple.
I'm pretty good! Yeah, you're right, you're the best of the worst. But you stink. What do the best of the worst soldiers do? What do the best of the worst church members do?
Well, they'll question and criticize the leadership. They'll attack those they perceive as competition. They'll push people to be loyal to themselves and not the leader.
Let me give you a fourth one. Go to 2 Samuel 18, look at verse 5.
2 Samuel 18 and verse 5. Notice what the Bible says. Let me give you the point. The best of the worst church members, look, while being highly productive, by being faithful to church and giving and soul winning and volunteering and working and showing up, at the end of the day, they will do what they want and not what the leader wants.
Notice 2 Samuel 18 verse 5. We're back in the story here where David is fighting his own son, Absalom.
And the king, that's David, notice what it says, commanded Joab. They're getting ready to go out into a battle. They've got three different companies being led by three different men.
One of them is Joab, one of them is Abishai, one of them is Etai. And David gives a very clear command to those leaders. He commanded Joab and Abishai and Etai, saying, notice what it says, deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom.
Now you say, well that was the wrong choice to make. You know what, it may have been the wrong choice, but it was David's choice to make.
Well he shouldn't have told him to deal gently with Absalom. Maybe he shouldn't have. But you know what, David was the one who was faithful. David was the one who had been there. David was the one who had been anointed. David was the rightful leader and it was his decision to make.
And you know what, if the leader makes a bad choice, it's the leader's choice to make. You say, well what do you do? Should they have just respected him when he was making the wrong choice?
Well you know what, David respected Saul when Saul was persecuting him unjustly. He said, I'm not going to touch the Lord's anointed. And you say, well, but he was making the wrong choice. David was saying, I know! But he's the leader. He's in charge.
So David says, deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom. Notice what it says.
And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom. Notice verse 9. You get into the battle.
And Absalom met the servants of David and Absalom rode upon a mule and the mule went under the thick bows of a great oak.
Notice what it says. And his head caught hold of the oak. And he was taken up between the heaven and the earth. And the mule that was under him went away, verse 10.
And a certain man saw it and told Joab. So somebody walks up to Joab and says, hey, Absalom is hanging from a tree over there. And said, behold, I saw Absalom hang in an oak.
And Joab said unto the man that told him, and behold, thou sawest him? And why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? And I would have given thee ten shekels of silver and a girdle.
And the man said unto Joab, though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in mine hand, yet would I not put forth mine hand against the king's son.
Notice what he says. For in our hearing the king charged thee, and Abishai, and Intai, saying, beware, none touch the young man Absalom.
Otherwise I should have wrought faucet against mine own life, for there is no matter hid from the king.
And you know what I have found? God has an interesting way of making sure that the leadership always find out.
And thou thyself wouldest have set thyself against me. Verse 14. Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee.
And he, notice Joab, took three darts in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.
Notice verse 15. Notice again, Joab's followers are more loyal to Joab than they are to David.
Because what do his followers do? Verse 15. And ten young men that bare Joab's armor, compass about and smote Absalom and slew him.
And you say, well Absalom was a bad guy. He should have died. You know what? You're probably right.
But it wasn't Joab's decision to make. It wasn't these young men's decision to make.
Well, he was making a mistake. Then it was David's mistake to make. And look, we need to just realize that you say, whoa, my husband doesn't know what he's doing.
Wives, you know what? You are to submit to your husband whether he knows what he's doing or not. You just submit and you follow and God will bless you for it.
You say, whoa, my king is trying to kill me. You know what, David? You just honor your king and let God deal with him.
Well, my parents, they don't know what you're doing. You just honor your parents. You love your parents. You obey your parents.
Look, the Bible says that we ought to obey God rather than men. As soon as your parents start telling you to do something that goes against what God says to do, then you disobey your parents and you obey God.
Ladies, as soon as your husband starts trying to tell you to do something that God does not want you to do, then you disobey your husband and you follow God.
But until then, you just follow your rightful authority, whether they're right, whether they're wrong, whether they're making the right choice or the wrong choice. It's their choice to make.
I don't think you should have made that. I don't think pastors should have made that decision. It's like nobody asked you.
The interesting thing about our churches is that they're pastor-led churches. I don't think you guys made the right decision then.
I remember putting a survey out. I don't remember. I told our church people because I know how people are. People like to complain about everything.
Whenever we change things at church, whether I know if somebody has or has a complaint, I always just get up and say the same thing.
We've got a little three-by-five card for you. You can write your complaint on there, and we've got a container just for you to deposit your complaint.
If you go out the back door in the back side of the building, there's a big container there. It's marked trash. Just deposit your complaint in there, and that's where we have your designated complaint for you.
You say, why do you do that? Because you know what? Nobody asked your opinion. And if we want your opinion, we'll ask your opinion.
I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just telling you, there is a point when leadership needs to take accountability and responsibility for their actions.
Look, the Bible says that as a pastor, I will stand before the Lord and give an account for what was done in the church. So you know what? Let me deal with it.
Because what I've learned is that oftentimes people will criticize the leadership based on their scope of information.
And when I do sometimes confront people, like, hey, why are you saying this? And they'll explain to me, they're like, well, because of this, and because of this, and because of this.
And then I'll say, yeah, well, you know what you don't know? You don't know X, Y, and Z in this situation. And they're like, oh, wow. Yeah, I didn't know that.
Yeah, it's because you're not the pastor. It's because you're not the pastor's wife. So you say, what do I do when I think the leader is making the wrong decision?
You let him make the wrong decision. And if it's a big deal, then you go to him privately. You rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father.
But listen to me, because this is where they get squirmy. Well, I went to the pastor and I treated him as a father.
Yeah, but when he still disagreed with you, then you put all these posts on Facebook. You're the best of the worst.
Yeah. I'm a good soldier. Yeah, but you suck as a follower. Man, what are the best of the worst do?
And look, listen, it doesn't matter how great of a worker you are, how great of a volunteer you are, how much you do and how much you accomplish.
You show up to the church camp and you do everything. If you are not following the pastor's instructions and you're doing what you want, you are the best, yes, of the worst.
What are the best of the worst do? Go to 2 Samuel 23. 2 Samuel 23. The best of the worst will question and criticize the leader.
It does not matter how great of a worker you are, how faithful you are, how much you give, how much you do, how great of a soldier you are.
When you're constantly questioning and criticizing the leadership and make sure everybody knows it, you stink.
The best of the worst will attack those they perceive as competition. It doesn't matter how much you do, doesn't matter how faithful you are, doesn't matter how much you give,
doesn't matter how much if you're just constantly attacking and criticizing and just no one else does as much as I do.
You know what? I'd rather just do it without you then. Nobody else. You know what's funny to me is that people will often, they'll try to use their church membership as like a threat.
Or if you don't do it, then I'm going to leave. You know, people leave and we seem to be fine.
It's really funny, one time we had a situation with a family and they were big donors to the church.
I mean, this family made a lot of money and they tithed and they made a lot of money and I kind of felt like they were trying to hold that over my head.
And we had some issue with them. I'm like, you know, don't let the doorknob hit you on the way out.
And you know what's funny is that they left and I thought to myself, you know what, whatever, it's God's church, it's God's house, God's going to deal with it.
You know what's funny? It's like two weeks later, we had a family come to our church, the exact same make up.
Exact same monthly tithe, we just kept going like nothing happened. You know what God taught me is that it's his church.
I'm not trying to build some sort of, well, I've got to make it happen and I've got to make sure, you know what, God will take care of it.
They'll attack those they perceive as competition. They'll push people towards loyalty to themselves and not the leader.
They'll do what they want, not what the leader wants. Here's what's interesting about Joab.
The reason that he was the best of the worst is because he wanted what Joab desired the most was recognition.
He wanted people to know, I'm Joab. I'm the general. I fight the battles. I get things done. I'm productive.
You know what's interesting is that the last thing that Joab got was recognition.
In fact, the only thing Joab didn't get from David was recognition. Here's what's interesting.
I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but in 2 Samuel 23, you've got that famous passage of David's mighty men.
We've all heard of David's mighty men, right? These are one of the greatest fighting forces in the world, definitely in the Bible.
These men that David took and trained them and in 2 Samuel 23, he gives us a list of these mighty men.
And he tells us of their great exploits and the things they did and all these great accomplishments.
Here's what's interesting. In 2 Samuel 23, the Bible says this,
And then he begins to list the names and to give us stories.
Look at verse 18.
Joab had three brothers, or it was three brothers, I should say, Joab and two other siblings.
One of them, Abishai, is mentioned in verse 18 as one of David's mighty men.
So notice you've got one of Joab's brothers. He's given as a mighty man in David's army.
This would be like what we would call special forces, the navy seals or the army rangers, the mighty men.
They were just above the regular soldier and Abishai, the brother of Joab, was one of them.
Here's what's interesting, verse 24.
So here's what's interesting. In verse 18, you've got one of Joab's brothers as one of the mighty men.
In verse 24, you've got the other of Joab's brother as one of the mighty men.
Are you starting to see where I'm going with this?
Look, just to make sure that David gets his point across, I mean, just to add insult to injury, look at verse 37.
You know what an armor bearer is? An armor bearer is a guy that carries your weapons into battle for the warrior.
An armor bearer is a guy that carries the tools for the soldier going into battle.
Here's what's interesting. David gives us a list of the greatest soldiers fighting force yet, the mighty men.
He mentions Abishai, the brother of Joab. He mentions Asahel, the brother of Joab.
He even mentions Nahari, the armor bearer of Joab.
But you know who you will not find in this list? Joab, the general of the army.
He's not one of David's mighty men. You know who else is on this list? Uriah the Hittite.
The man who David killed to steal his wife. He made the list!
And Joab didn't. You say why? Because Joab sucked.
He was the great warrior. He was the best of the worst. But he questioned and criticized his leader.
He was the best of the worst. But he attacked those who he perceived as competition.
He was the best of the worst! But he pushed people towards loyalty to himself and not to the leader.
He was the best of the worst! But he did what he wanted, not what the leader wanted.
He was the best, yeah, of the worst. And he never got recognition. I mean, his armor bearer made the list.
And Joab did. So here's the question I have for you. Are you the best of the worst?
I'm a pretty good church member. What makes you think that? Why show up to all the services?
Okay, good. Good start. I go soul winning. Good. Praise the Lord. I give. Amen.
I think you got to do those things to be a pretty good church member. If you want to be David's mighty men.
If you want to be Pastor Thompson's mighty men, you probably need to go to all the services.
You probably need to tithe. You probably need to be a soul winner. You probably need to show up and volunteer and serve and help.
But you know what? It's more than that. What about your heart? Do you question and criticize the leader?
Do you try to make sure people know, if I was the pastor, you know, the worship would be a little different?
Well, you're not the pastor. Nobody made you a pastor. Nobody deemed you faithful enough to lay their hands on you and ordain you a pastor.
So why don't you just shut your mouth and follow your pastor?
Do you attack those that you perceive as competition? Do you push people towards loyalty to yourself?
Or to your pastor? Or to your pastor's way? Or to the rightful leadership?
At the end of the day, do you do what the pastor has asked you to do? Or do you just do what you want because you know better?
And here's what I'm telling you. Here's what I'm telling you. You can be the best or the worst if you want, but you're not making the list.
At the end of the day, the thing you desire and you want the most recognition you so desire, Joelle, is the one thing you're not going to get.
Because to a leader, we need more than you being able to fight a battle. We need your heart. We need your heart to be right.
We need you to help us build a team. We don't want you to be the best or the worst. We'd rather you just be good.
Let's bow our heads and have a little prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your Word.
Thank you for the Bible. And Lord, thank you for these stories that we can learn and apply truths from.
And Lord, I pray you'd help all of us. We apply these truths to church life, but really they apply in every area of life.
Whether it's work, whether it's the home, and of course definitely in church. Lord, I just pray you'd help us to be good followers.
In whatever area we find ourselves in, Lord, help us to just be faithful, to just be loyal, to not be trying to tear down the leadership, to not be trying to build our own kingdoms.
Help us, Lord, to realize that you've got an authority structure and you've placed certain men in certain situations and certain ladies in certain situations.
And Lord, help us not to be the best or the worst. Help us just to be good.
And Lord, I pray for Sure Foundation Baptist Church. I pray for Pastor Thompson and Sherry.
I know how much pressure and burden there is on pastors' families and having to deal with issues and minister to people.