Haddon Robinson: Preaching Into the Wind - National Ministry Conference

0:05 I have been preaching for about 65 years. Six and a half decades. That's a long time. I can tell it's a long time because enough people ask me, what was it like when you began? Like saying, was the earth dry by the time you got up? And it's hard to answer that question. Hard to think back to what it was then, what it is now.

0:45 What I have been able to determine is that authority has shifted. When I began to preach, people in the community looked up to preachers. In the south, in many of those towns, they were in complete control. But in the north, in New York City, the sermons of New York ministers were published in the New York Times. People admired the church, and even though they would say, I can't live up to its teaching, on the whole, they thought that the church was a positive influence. That was 65 years ago. Today, that has changed.

1:35 Today, the preacher has lost the respect of the people. Church has lost its authority. We live in a day in which the wind is against us. As Chris Dolson likes to say, all of our games are away games. we don't have the support of the home crowd. If you do an away game, there's some folks in the crowd that is for you, but for the most part, you're talking to a negative group of people.

2:13 All the games are away games. We're to change the imagery, the wind is against us. What do we need? What does it take to minister in a time like ours, when comedians laugh, moving pictures dismisses, when we're considered a voting bloc by the political parties? I think one of the things that's needed to minister at a time like this is moral courage.

2:51 I talk about moral courage, I'm not talking about the courage of the soldier on the battlefield who stands up against the enemy. I'm not talking about the courage of the athlete who plays in the last quarter of an important game even though he plays hurt. Both of those are admirable.

3:14 By moral courage, I'm talking about what it takes to stand up against the pressures of our time. Hard to define, hard to explain. It's easier to illustrate. To give you an example of moral courage, I'd like you to look at 1 Kings 22. It's the story of a prophet by the name of Micaiah.

3:45 It's the only place the story of Micaiah appears in the Bible, but it's an important episode. Micaiah appeared at a time in history when the atmosphere was cold and dark and icy. On the throne of Israel, the northern kingdom, was Ahab. a toad of a man, sat on the throne, and next to him, coiled is his wife, was a woman by the name of Jezebel. Ahab is a wicked man and a weak man. Dangerous combination. In fact, the historian in chapter 21 says that he was alone in his evil.

4:43 Verse 23 of 21 says, there was never a man like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel, his wife. He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites, the Lord drove out before Israel. When the prophet appeared on the sea, there was a man of wickedness sitting on the throne. Ahab was a bit discouraged because it had been at least three years since they had a war. Ahab did not like peace. So he decided that what they could do is to go up against Ramish and Gilead and take the city.

5:47 He knew, what dictators have known for centuries, that when you keep people involved in a war, you keep them loyal to the king. He had some trumped up excuse for doing it. On the throne of Judah in the south, there was another king by the name of Jehoshaphat.

6:16 Jehoshaphat was a bit new at this king business. And when Ahab approached him about having a summit up in Samaria, he gladly agreed. He put the proposition before. Why don't we go against Ramish Gilead? Joseph, that was all for it. He said, my troops are your troops. My forces are your forces. My men are your men.

6:44 But it's just one thing I ask. Could we inquire of the Lord as to whether he is in this? Ahab knew his man. And so he had assembled the national council of the prophets of God in Israel. 400 strong. He went to the prophets with Jehoshaphat by his side.

7:15 He said, shall I go against Ramoth Gilead or shall I not? And they met 400 strong unanimously. They agreed, go and God will prosper you. And somehow, Jehoshaphat wasn't satisfied.

7:35 So he said, they have, that's good, but is there not another prophet that we could talk to? And you would think that Ahab would have been furious. It was an insult. You would think he would have said, look, if you can't believe 400 prophets, What makes you think you're going to believe 401? But Jehoshaphat said, it's got to be somebody else. And Ahab said, well, there is one. His name is Micaiah, but I don't invite him to state functions. He never prophesies anything good for me, only evil. But Micaiah was invited anyhow. Ahab sent a messenger to bring him. The messenger seems to have been a friend of the prophet.

8:31 He said to him, look, King's already decided to go against Ramish. He's got the endorsement of the council of prophets. He's going to go, anyhow. So look, I pray you, don't stir the waters. Do what Ahab wants you to do. And to that request, Micaiah makes a statement of moral courage. He says, what the Lord tells me to speak, that I will speak. Words can be cheap, but Micaiah backed those words by his actions. He was fully prepared when he went before the kings to tell them what God had said. And there were pressures on him to keep his mouth shut.

9:31 It was political pressure. Ahab wanted to have his own way. In chapter 21, there was a man by the name of Naboth. He had a vineyard next to the palace. But Ahab wanted that vineyard. He'd like it for a vegetable garden. He was willing to pay for it, but Naboth would not take the money. He was willing to trade for it. Naboth knew that land had been in his family for generations. He did not want to give it away.

10:12 And so Ahab goes home, gets into bed, turns his face to the wall and pouts. Jezebel sees her husband is distressed, finds out what's wrong, and then she decides to get the land. She has charges brought against Nathan.

10:38 In a kangaroo court, he is found guilty of blasphemy. and he stoned to death. I mean, Jezebel took the law, which was designed to bring righteousness to the nation, and used it to kill a good man.

10:59 But when Ahab got his vegetable garden, he asked no questions. When Ahab wanted something, He got it. Didn't bother him. Whom he had to kill to get it. So when the messenger came and said to the prophet, look, tell the king what he wants.

11:32 You're on his hate list. Don't get on his hit list. But Micaiah said, as the Lord lives, what the Lord tells me to speak, that will I speak. You see, Ahab had the idea that the prophet not only spoke the prophecy, but he made the prophecy. That he was in control of it. So if he could get him to say something else, then everything would change. People believed that for centuries.

12:07 500 years ago, Galileo took his telescope and looked up into the sky and came to the conclusion that Copernicus was right. That the Earth was not the center of the solar system. It was, or the sun was not the center of the solar system. as Earth was.

12:35 But Galileo realized that was wrong. The Earth was not the center of the system. And he went up against the opinion of his time. He went against the philosophers of his day who believed that Aristotle taught that the Earth was the center of things. He went up against the theologians of his day who studied the Bible and came to the conclusion since the Bible was all about the earth that this must be the center of the solar system. He went up against the popular opinion of his day. I don't know this, but I'm sure the pollsters went out and asked the people in the street what they thought about the issue. They responded, of course the earth is the center of the solar system. Everybody knows that. It's interesting isn't it?

13:30 It's interesting how people believe that the prophet is in charge of the prophecy. Get him to change his words, get him to change the reality. All of us have a way of laughing at that mother who went to the parade and came away and said that everybody was out of step but her, Tommy. But there are times, there are times, when Tommy is the only one who's in step. David Thoreau, the naturalist, the philosopher, didn't associate much with the leaders of his day.

14:29 Somebody asked them how he could be so out of step with his times. Thoreau responded, I'm not out of step with the times, I just march to the beat of a different trump. Prophets, preachers often do that. And Micaiah do the pressure that came from political leaders. He also knew the pressure that came from the prophets. I mean, the whole religious establishment had decided that if the king went, the king would win. They had their motto, I mean, the king is always right. The king is always right, even when the king is wrong, he's right.

15:29 400 strong. The cat had to go against his peers. That's a tough assignment. If you've been in the academy very often, you know that one of the reasons that Christian colleges and seminaries get off the path and go wrong is because the professors are part of the academy. And so you want to be respected by your peers. You want the approval of what they are doing. When they hear what you're teaching, and that you believe the Bible, and you believe the It's tough to take. So when Micaiah went up against the prophets of his time, that was tough. You got to have something psychologically wrong with you not to feel that pressure.

16:34 So Micaiah says, as the Lord speaks, so I'll speak. So he goes to the conclave. The kings are there and all their finery. The prophets are there and all of their deliberations, shouting, yelling, singing.

17:06 If you've ever been in something like that, that's fearsome. I mean, the pageantry is great. The noise is great. The power is great. Chuck Colson, who died a couple of weeks ago, was in the Nixon administration. He said that one of the things they did was to bring in leaders, especially preachers, two or three at a time, and they would be there in the White House, in the power center of the world. And he said it was very hard for any minister to go in there and tell Nixon he was wrong. when you're there with all that pageantry,

17:52 hard for you to stand up for the truth. And so Ahab says, all right, okay, you're here. Should we go to Ramoth Gilead or should we not? And apparently the prophet with sarcasm said, yeah, go, you're with, you can, God's with you. Same words that the prophets had used, he uses, but obviously in a sarcastic way because Ahab said, how many times have I told you, speak the truth when you're before me? Okay, this is always the truth you want. I saw the people scattered like sheep on the hillside.

18:47 We went back to Numbers chapter 17, verse 27, where the leader was considered a shepherd. And when the shepherd was gone, the sheep would be dispersed. So Ahab was right. He said, I told you. That's why I don't invite him to these affairs. He never prophesies good to me. He's always evil. Then Micaiah went on, told another story. he said, there was a great conclave in heaven.

19:30 All the spirits were gathered. And the only item on the agenda was how can we destroy Ahab? Got a lot of good suggestions. Those spirits are pretty sharp. But one man stood up and said, one spirit stood up and said, I'll be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets.

19:56 God said, that's it. That'll destroy him. He said that to them. He says that to us. Be careful of the preachers that you follow. Be careful of the books you read. Be careful of the experts you embrace. What he was saying is that King Ahab would not die from some earthquake or some flash from heaven. He would die because he followed the advice of his prophets. Be careful of who you listen to. Don't choose people that you like.

20:52 Choose people that you think won't lie to you. It's like choosing a physician. If you have cancer, don't choose a physician who will always tell you you're healthy. Makes you feel good, but you'll die of his advice. A lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets would destroy it. He was right. You're not invited a man like that to the functions. I'll not tell you what you need to hear. He'll tell you everything that God says that you ought to hear. And so they went to battle.

21:54 Ahab decided to follow the advice of the prophet in this respect. He would disguise himself. He would tell Jehoshaphat, dress up in your royal garments and lead the charge. But he becomes just a common soldier. Nobody knew who the king was, except the text says, a man shot an arrow into the air and where it fell he did not know. But it got beyond the chinks of the armor of Ahab, buried itself in his body. The king died. rich royal blood poured out on the seat of his chariot.

22:50 And they took him into Samaria at the pool where the prostitutes made, a fitting place for a king who had prostituted his responsibility. And he died. And the people were dispersed like sheep on the hillside. That was moral courage. To say that in the face of the kings, the face of the prophets, the face of friends. So tremendous. courage. We did that today. I think that because we are Christian leaders and we are in ministry, there is a tendency in us to be more like wimps in the face of power.

23:52 I mean, you get into ministry. You got there because you wanted the comfort of dying, strengthen the weak, be a support to those who were lacking. We don't take criticism that well. We don't take opposition that strongly. We can be ruined by it. Ruined by people who could, if they wanted to, get us out of the church. Ruined by people who could cut our salary. ruined by people who could take away our pensions. To speak moral courage in the face of that kind of power. It takes a determination, it's hard to come by. Where does it come from?

24:53 Those moments when you have to stand and speak a word that the people don't want to hear. Where does moral courage? come from? And the answer is by doing an analysis of the audience. When I was at the University of Illinois, I had a professor who used to like to say, if you ask an amateur to speak, first question is, what do I talk about?

25:27 Ask a professional to speak, his first question is, who's my audience? A good speaker has an idea of who his audience is. The prophets of Ahab, 400 strong, they did an audience analysis. They narrowed it down to two. It was Ahab, Jehoshaphat. Whatever they thought the kings wanted to hear, that's what they told them. But Micaiah did an audience analysis. He had an audience of one. He was speaking before the kings, he was speaking before the prophets, but he had an audience of one.

26:21 It was God himself. And whatever he said, he wanted to be sure he was speaking on behalf of God. That is tough to do today. Tough to do out in secular society. Tough to do because we instinctively want to be approved.

26:48 Tough to do because sometimes we lack moral courage. It comes from speaking before an audience of one. In my office at the seminary, I have a picture of Hugh Latimer speaking before the boy king, Edward VI. Edward VI liked to hear Hugh Latimer because he told stories. he made the king laugh. But it was through his speaking to that king he was able to change the nature of England in the Reformation. He thought about sweeping reforms because the king would respond to what Latimer said.

27:48 But there came a time when Latimer had to speak before Henry VIII. Henry VIII was the Ahab of his day. One historian said there is not a woman that he lusted for that he did not take. Not a man that he hated that he did not kill.

28:12 He was a vicious, violent man. and Latimer had to preach before Henry VIII. And when he was at the Windsor Castle, he began his sermon by saying, Latimer, Latimer, be aware of the one before whom you speak. He is King Henry, and if he chooses to do it, he can send you to the fire. But Latimer, Latimer, be careful before whom you speak.

28:53 It is the God of heaven, and if he chooses to, he can cast you into the fire of hell. And he preached in a way that Henry didn't like. But Henry had to listen. One of the ways we get the courage to be moral, be morally courageous, is to have an audience of what? There are certain things you have to consider about that. One is you have to be discerning. Not every issue is an issue in which God is involved. Not every dispute in the church is something that has to bring about the judgment or the commendation of heaven.

29:53 You need to be discerning. If you speak in the name of God, for God's sake, be sure what you're talking about is something God's concerned about. It also takes humility. When we say to a congregation, thus says the Lord. We are really standing in the place of God, representing God to the people. To say thus saith the Lord, and God didn't say it. is blasphemy. Be humble enough to realize that. Not all arrogance from the pulpit is the moral equivalent of courage. Sometimes it's the moral equivalent of stupidity.

30:55 There are people who talk as though they were God instead of representatives of God. Be careful of that. Be very careful. But when you know you have a word from God and you know that it applies to a particular situation,

31:18 then it takes moral courage to speak on God's behalf. But today in a culture like ours, We need men and women who stand for God and speak for God, and do so in a way that demonstrates courage and says what God wants to say to people in the 21st century. May God give us preachers who are willing.