There was a time when I found it strangely satisfying to identify what was wrong with other people’s ministries. I hate to admit it, but I was guilty. I am sure most ministers know others ministers that seem shallow. Others who appear theatrical, self-promoting, or simply absurd. Criticism can feel remarkably close to discernment when we are the ones doing the criticizing. Years ago, however, the Lord confronted me in a way that permanently changed how I think about the ministers I am tempted to dismiss.
Years ago I was digging in my backyard while thinking about a local ministry that I believed deserved some criticism. As I stepped backward, I slipped slightly down an embankment. I was not injured, but in that moment something happened internally that was far more consequential than the fall. For what seemed longer than a few seconds, the failures and sins of my own life seemed to flash before me like pages being turned rapidly in a flipbook. Then a question impressed itself powerfully upon my heart:
Michael, see the things you have done? Did I still use you to accomplish My will?
The answer required no theological debate. Yes.
Then came the thought that brought the matter home: I still use you, and I also use them.
That realization did not teach me that doctrine is unimportant, that false teaching should be ignored, or that every ministry deserves endorsement. Scripture repeatedly commands Christians, and especially ministers, to exercise discernment. What it dismantled was something more subtle: the assumption that because I can identify serious faults in another minister, I therefore know the extent to which God may or may not use that person.
Being Used Is Not the Same as Being Approved
Matthew 7:22-23 makes the problem uncomfortable. Jesus describes people who will say that they prophesied, cast out demons, and performed mighty works in His name. Yet He will declare, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” Their works apparently affected other people, yet those works did not prove that the workers themselves belonged to Christ. This creates a distinction ministers should not ignore: being used by God is not necessarily the same thing as being approved by God.
The distinction becomes even sharper in Philippians 1:15-18. Paul acknowledges that some were preaching Christ “from envy and rivalry” and others from “selfish ambition.” Their motives were corrupt. Their preaching was apparently being used as a weapon against Paul while he was imprisoned. Yet Paul responds in a way that can sound almost scandalously generous: “whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.”
Paul did not suddenly become indifferent to character or motive. Elsewhere he speaks plainly about false teachers, disqualified leaders, and corrupt doctrine. But here he recognizes something ministers easily forget: God’s ability to accomplish His purposes is not limited by the purity of the instrument He chooses to use.
That ought to produce humility before it produces criticism!
The Difference Between Discernment and Contempt
A minister may preach the truth while struggling with pride. A pastor may lead people toward Christ while possessing glaring weaknesses of his own. None of this excuses sin, nor eliminates accountability. But neither does it grant us permission to conclude that God has done nothing through them simply because we have discovered something objectionable about them.
We sometimes imagine ministry as though God were searching the earth for flawless instruments. Scripture tells a very different story. Peter denied Christ. David committed terrible sins. Jonah preached while resenting the people hearing him. Samson’s life was a theological headache before theological headaches had a name. Even Paul acknowledged the possibility of preaching to others while needing to discipline himself carefully lest he himself become disqualified (1 Corinthians 9:27).
This does not lower the standard for ministry. It raises the standard for humility.
Christian leaders must evaluate doctrine. We must confront abuse, deception, immorality, and teachings that distort the gospel. But there is a difference between discernment and contempt. Discernment asks whether something is true, faithful, and worthy of imitation. Contempt quietly assumes that another person’s failures place them beyond God’s usefulness while conveniently forgetting our own dependence upon grace.
A Better Question for Ministers
Perhaps the safer question is not, “How could God possibly use that person?”
The more revealing question is, “Why has God ever used me?”
Once that question is allowed to linger, criticism becomes more careful. We can reject what is false without pretending that we know everything God is accomplishing. We can recognize another minister’s weaknesses without enjoying them. We can warn against error without needing to erase every good thing God may have done through an imperfect servant.
God’s use of a person does not automatically validate their doctrine, character, or motives. But neither do their failures prove that God has never worked through them. That leaves every minister standing in the same uncomfortable but necessary place: grateful that God can accomplish His purposes through imperfect people, and cautious about becoming too confident in deciding which imperfect people He is allowed to use.
References
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. (2016). Crossway.
Matthew 7:22-23; Philippians 1:15-18; 1 Corinthians 9:27.
