Numbers 11:1
“And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and
the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD
burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of
the camp.”
One of the things that every pastor has to watch for are the
destructive groups that would destroy God’s church. Every church has
those groups of people who seem to have their own agenda and would
rather destroy the church than to move on to a church with which they
agree. Many Christians have been destroyed because of these destructive
groups.
Moses faced the same problems that many pastors face. You would
think that Israel would never cause any problems after all that the LORD
did through Moses and the miracles they experienced when being
delivered from Egypt. Yet, when you look through the journeyings of
Israel, you see four destructive groups that nearly kept them from
entering the Promised Land. These same four destructive groups will
destroy a church if not quickly dissolved. Let me show you these four
groups and how to guard against them.
The first destructive group are the complainers. In the verse
above, nothing was ever good enough for these people. There is always
that group of people to whom it doesn't matter how much the LORD works
or how good something is, it is never good enough for them. This group
of people will kill the spirit of any church. Don't ever become part of a
group that has a complaining spirit.
The second destructive group is the mixt multitude. This is the
crowd who constantly compared everything to Egypt. Be careful that you
are not so in love with the world that you think you are missing out.
Worldliness has destroyed many churches. Don't become that group of
people who are constantly complaining to the pastor because the church
standards are too tight.
The third destructive group are those jealous of leadership. Aaron
and Miriam were jealous of Moses and felt that he took too much power
upon himself. This group of people will constantly challenge the
authority of the pastor. Always remember that if God wanted you to have
the leadership position, He would have placed you in that role.
The fourth destructive group is the faithless group. When Moses
sent the twelve spies into Canaan, ten of them came back with a report
that showed their lack of faith in God. The potential of many churches
is squelched by faithless Christians who don't believe the set goals can
be met. All it takes for goals to be missed is for a few people to not
have enough faith to get busy and work hard enough for God to prove He
is still in the church-building business.
The distinguishing characteristic of these destructive groups is
that they do their work in secret and will only run in crowds. The best
way to keep this from happening in your church is to avoid secret
meetings. A glaring alarm should be whenever someone tells you to not
tell the pastor what they are about ready to do. If what is about to be
done is good, they will never have a problem with the pastor knowing. Be
careful not to get caught up in these groups. It will hurt you, your
children and many others, and it ultimately hurts the name of Christ in
your community. Stay away from the destructive groups and sincerely pray
for God to keep these groups from having any part in your church.