Impatience & Disloyalty in the Church

I really enjoy sports and listen to ESPN Radio when I'm driving, just to keep up with what's going on. One thing I've noticed is that teams are quick to fire a head coach or to criticize the quarterback or leading player when the season isn't going as well as they had expected. The fan bases of major organizations (e.g. the Cowboys, the Lakers, the Knicks, the Yankees, etc.) are especially quick to call for change when the losses begin to pile up. Most recently, Mack Brown, the head football coach at the University of Texas resigned after being openly criticized by fans...and that was after a winning season!

We're this way in other areas of our lives, too. When the conditions at work aren't up to snuff, we begin looking for a new job. When we go out to eat and find a strand of hair in our food, we vow to never eat in that restaurant again. When the economy begins to tank, we blame whoever is in office and demand change. When we have a bad experience with the customer service representatives of a company, we act as if the company as a whole is terrible and we take our business elsewhere.

Impatient much? I think so. But this is really nothing new, is it?

In 2 Samuel, we read about the trials and troubles that slowly but surely deteriorated the administration of King David. Following a war with his own son, Absalom, there was talk in Israel of bringing King David back to Jerusalem. But the men of Judah stepped in before the rest of Israel could take action and brought the king back themselves. This offended the Israelites to their core. Notice their response...

"Just then all the men of Israel came to the king, and said to the king, 'Why have our brethren, the men of Judah, stolen you away and brought the king, his household, and all of David's men with him across the Jordan? ... We have ten shares in the king; therefore we also have more right to David than you. Why then do you despise us - were we not the first to advice bringing back our king?" (2 Samuel 19:41, 43).

I can understand why Israel was upset. They felt left out. They felt that the king was "playing favorites." And certainly, David and/or the men of Judah could have done more to involve the rest of Israel here, if for no other reason than to avoid hurt feelings and create a stronger sense of family. But they didn't. Perhaps they didn't think about it. Either way, the other ten tribes were pretty upset. On top of all the things that had gone wrong in David's administration, now this had happened. The proverbial "last straw."

In 2 Samuel 20, we learn that the ten tribes chose to rebel against David. Rather than patiently work things out, they followed the leadership of a rebel named Sheba. They abandoned ship. They divorced themselves from their king. They gave up on what they had had for going on 80 years with their brethren in the tribe of Judah.

So, you see, nothing has changed over the millennium. Folks were impatient then just as they are today. We are quick to forsake our obligations, quick to jump ship, and quick to change our loyalties.

And I'm afraid that many in the church are this way, too. Rather than remain loyal and committed to their church family through thick and thin, many are quick to switch churches when controversy and conflict come. Maybe the preacher says some things that are controversial. Maybe the elders make a decision that receives criticism. Maybe someone hurts your feelings. Maybe growth becomes stagnant.

I would suggest to you that we need a little more patience...and a greater sense of loyalty. Isn't that what family is all about anyway? Can we truly grow as a church when members are breaking away left and right as a result of personal offenses, minor disagreements, or because the grass seems to be greener on the other side of the fence? Probably not.

We may be overly-demanding of the restaurants in which we dine, overly-critical of the coach of our favorite sports team, and disloyal toward the companies with whom we do business...but please, let's not allow these same attitudes to translate into the church. Unlike the Israelites in 2 Samuel 19-20, let's stand together and grow together, even when times are tough.