Football season is upon us, which means that the nation will be once again filled with “armchair quarterbacks” who are content to second-guess every decision on the field and sideline (and criticize quarterback and coach alike) from the comfort of their living rooms. Sadly, many professing Christians have the same view of the local church. This manifests in absence from fellowship, failure to properly support and encourage the pastors of the church, and causing division within the church. I covered the first issue here, but the others are just as important.

Sympathize, Don’t Criticize

Armchair quarterbacks can easily criticize players and coaches because they are unaffected by the stress of the situation. Only one who has been in the huddle or on the sideline truly understands the complexities of those decisions. The same can be said of pastors. Those unacquainted with the true nature of pastoral work may think the pastor only works an hour on Sunday. While I am not a pastor, I have known enough of them to confidently say that such a view could not be further from the truth. Every sermon takes several hours of study, preparation, and prayerful consideration…and that is only a small part of the job. On top of the myriad of large and small issues of church administration to deal with, pastors care for their congregants in numerous ways that most people are completely unaware of. All of this is challenging (and therefore strenuous) mentally and spiritually. On top of all of this, pastors are some of the devil’s favorite targets. Jesus said, “strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered” (Mark 14:27), so the devil knows that the best way to attack a church is to attack the leaders of that church. One of the devil’s favorite tactics toward this end is to incite “armchair Christians” to burden their pastors with criticism. Instead of criticism, all of their labor on our behalf makes our pastors worthy of “double honor”. Scripture says that plainly: “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching” (1 Timothy 5:17). This makes the unfounded criticism of armchair Christians even more sinful, for Paul continues: “Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses” (1 Timothy 5:19). The vast majority of criticism leveled against pastors does not fit that description. Furthermore, Scripture commands us to honor and obey our pastors, not criticize them:

“We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.”

-1 Thessalonians 5:12-13, ESV

“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

-Hebrews 13:17, ESV

This makes clear that leveling unfounded criticism against pastors is sinful and must therefore be avoided. Pastors have the burden of caring for our souls, so we are commanded to honor and submit to them so that their burden will bring them joy rather than groaning. Yes, pastors are human and therefore make mistakes, but mistakes are not necessarily sins. Even so, just as we are called to forgive as we have been forgiven, we must give grace to our pastors as we have been given grace by God (Colossians 3:13).

How to Be a Joy and Not A Burden

To avoid being an armchair Christian, it is not enough to simply avoid criticizing our pastors. Instead, we must actively honor and encourage them so that their task of leading us will be not only not burdensome but actually a joy to them. One of the most important ways we can support our pastors is by regularly praying for them. We don’t know their struggles, but God does, so as we lift them up in prayer, we are supporting them as they engage in battles against the world, flesh, and devil that we know nothing about. We should also make a habit of regularly encouraging them. If we fail to do these things, we leave them to fight the devil alone, which makes us similar to David’s mighty men at Rabbah, who were unwitting accomplices to Uriah’s murder (2 Samuel 11:14-24). By failing to pray for and encourage our pastors, we are effectively withdrawing from them as the Mighty Men did and are thus helping the devil to fight against them.

Even worse than neglecting to pray for and encourage our pastors, we actively fight against them when we entertain unfounded charges against them. Sometimes, pastors do commit sins that disqualify them from ministry, as we have seen most recently with Matt Chandler. The charges in such cases are well established, making confrontation of the pastor biblical and necessary. In those cases, Paul continues: “As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear” (1 Timothy 5:20), but this should be a part of church discipline (Matthew 18:17-19) and not the vigilante actions of a lone member (which would only be one witness). Even in this case, the rebuke is for the purpose of both calling the pastor to repentance and the general edification of the church. God takes any baseless complaint against the leaders He has appointed very seriously. After all, He struck Miriam with leprosy for leveling an unfounded accusation against Moses (Numbers 12). We should therefore take it equally seriously.

Our pastors bear a heavy burden, and since Scripture commands us to bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2)–and that includes our pastors–the least we can do is pray for them, encourage them, and support them however we can, which means we should not only refrain from but actively oppose unfounded allegations against them.

A House Divided Against Itself

In addition to being unjust (and thus opposed to the character and commands of God), unfounded allegations against pastors often cause division. One of the greatest threats to a church–and thus one of the greatest burdens on a pastor and one of Satan’s favorite tactics–is division within the church. For this reason, Paul delays confronting serious issues in the Corinthian church in order to address the issue of division. The Corinthians were celebrating alternative sexuality (a man sleeping with his step-mother), suing each other frivolously, indulging in Christian liberty to the detriment of others, bringing shame upon Christ by disorderly worship, abusing the Lord’s Supper, fighting over spiritual gifts, and believing false doctrines about the resurrection. Despite all of these critical issues, Paul prioritizes dealing with division, taking nearly four chapters to address it (1 Corinthians 1:10-4:20). In truth, many of the issues Paul deals with in the rest of 1 Corinthians either stem from or are exacerbated by those divisions. This should not be surprising since interspersed within Paul’s rebuke of their divisions is his rebuke of their arrogance and selfishness. After all, arrogance and selfishness are often at the root of such conflicts (James 4:1-3).

I saw this firsthand in a church discipline situation in a previous church. An elder who disqualified himself by persistent and unrepentant sin then committed what was in my opinion an even worse sin by sowing division within the church. Instead of stepping down humbly and repenting of his sin, he stirred up division by asking many church members to choose between him and the elders. By my observation, his divisiveness was more damaging to the church than the sin that disqualified him in the first place, and it was an immense burden on the elders. It is no stretch to say that such people who sow division in the church are in league with Satan. If neglecting to pray for and encourage our pastors while entertaining unfounded allegations against them makes us the devil’s unwitting accomplices, sowing division in the church and leveling those unfounded allegations against our pastors makes us his willing and active accomplices. Therefore, the divisive and critical armchair Christian can be compared to the “worthless” men that conspired with Jezebel to murder Naboth (1 Kings 21). They are presenting themselves to sin (Romans 6:13) so they can be the delivery system of demonic attacks against their pastors. Scripture is clear that we must not entertain even the hint of such division:

“As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.”

-Titus 3:10-11, ESV

This is not to say there are not times in which division is appropriate. If the church is straying from sound doctrine or obvious sin is persistently unaddressed, the most loving thing for the church is to bring that to light, which may well cause division in the church. Paul recognizes this necessity, “for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized” (1 Corinthians 11:19). Even then, Scripture commands us to confront them in a respectful, dignified, and gentle way for the purpose of lovingly calling them to repentance and strengthening the true church. So if we are to instigate division in the church, it must be for the express purpose of building up rather than tearing down the church. Such division must be done carefully as with a surgeon’s scalpel or builder’s saw, not a murderer’s knife or demolition man’s wrecking ball.

Don’t Forget the Family

The burden of ministry and the toxicity of armchair Christians weigh heavily on pastors’ families as well. Since pastors are some of Satan’s favorite targets and attacking families is one of his favorite strategies, his attacks on pastors’ families can be his most severe and intense. This means that we should take special care to support, encourage, strengthen, pray for, and care for our pastors’ families. Anything less is tantamount to conspiring with Satan against our churches. This includes caring for them financially, as Scripture clearly teaches that pastors are to be adequately compensated financially by their congregations as both a due payment and sign of gratitude for the spiritual service they render (1 Corinthians 9:3-12, Galatians 6:6). The stronger and healthier the pastor’s family is, the more beneficial his ministry will be to the church.

We must continually extend grace to our pastors and their families just as God continually extends grace to us. We need to recognize the challenges of ministry and the burdens they place on our pastors and their families then do whatever we can to help rather than hinder them. We must remember that whatever we do to our brothers and sisters in Christ (which includes our pastors and their families), we ultimately do to Christ, meaning that at the final judgment, armchair Christians run the risk of hearing Jesus say to them: “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). The Good and Perfect Shepherd (John 10, Hebrews 13:20, 1 Peter 5:4) has graciously given us faithful shepherds to equip us for the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:11-16). So let us worship Him by submitting to our pastors, regularly praying for them, and making their work a joy and not a burden for the unity and upbuilding of the Body. In this way, we will not be armchair Christians but will be helping our pastors bear their burdens, making their leadership over us a joy.