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.