The Vanity Meter

There is absolutely nothing wrong with trying to look ones' best. That is a good testimony.

However, I once knew a young man who if anyone reached their hand near his head, he would recoil immediately like a turtle into its shell. If anything about his hair changed, he immediately rushed to the nearest restroom to meticulously re-sculpt it.

What likely began as a desire to be a good testimony, soon became nothing more than fleshly vanity. Thankfully, he grew out of that and is good-natured about it today. I won’t bring up the immature things I did, of course. I’d bet you’re not interested in hearing about those.

Some Christians take the approach of not caring what others think of their deportment. That is unwise for one’s testimony. But the lesser talked about opposite extreme is caring too much, or we might say, being vain.

While I do not think it is a good practice to always “air all of our dirty laundry” (especially inappropriate things), it is at least some wonder how Baptists are to bear one another’s burdens when we refuse to let others think we have any. I suspect this is a uniquely Baptist problem.

Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

We Baptists are often known for not sharing anything real about ourselves or not showing that we have feet of clay. And it gives us the reputation of being fake and "over-saved". When prayer meeting time comes, we share prayer requests that are sometimes essentially "humble-brags" about who we are witnessing to (some are genuine of course).

Additionally, we share sanitized requests about our health, someone else's health, a job, our country, etc. Rarely in Independent Baptist churches do you hear an established member share a prayer request that they struggle with impatience or pride, or that they don't have devotions faithfully. See, that would make them look, well… average. And perhaps we’re often afraid that others will lack 1 Corinthians 13 charity.

This is perhaps common in the pews of our churches. But it happens in the pulpit as well. It’s just a bit different. Over the years, I’ve noticed that it’s entirely possible for a pastor to become so utterly fearful about his testimony that he is, shall we say, paralyzed and less effective.

James remind us:

For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. James 3:2

We cannot always control people’s perception. No matter how careful we are, some people will misunderstand. Others will see what they want to see. When preaching, putting a fine point on truth and the application of it puts you firmly at risk of these things. Explaining the interpretation of Scripture actually seems like the easier part. It’s the application part that people often disagree on more fervently. So, we then avoid that part. But should we always? In our efforts to avoid the controlling, fundamentalist archetype of just telling people how they should live, have we resorted to simply saying a lot but telling people nothing?

Putting a fine point on the application of Scripture does not undermine the work of the Holy Spirit in hearts in all cases, though it can in some. But the pastoral role is to teach, and teaching must say something by way of application otherwise it is just armchair theorization. We must draw applicable conclusions when there are conclusions in the text to be drawn.

Often, this vanity about how we come across can make us tiptoe around conclusions. And we simply hope people will “pick up what we’re putting down”. And yet many times, they simply do not do so. Jesus describes His people like sheep! Can the Holy Spirit help people draw the conclusion you want them to draw? Of course! But preaching must have a point to it that goes further than the interpretation alone otherwise God would not have chosen the foolishness of preaching as a mode of ministry (1 Corinthians 1:21). He would simply use the Holy Spirit all the time and there would be no need for preachers among men. Preachers are in many ways responsible to help people connect their faith to their practice by way of application. Preaching must not just inform the sheep, it must also lead the sheep with that information.

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 1 Corinthians 1:21

There will always be members who just want to be told how to think and how to live, which is unfortunate. And sometimes, we try to make them think it through themselves by not telling them the application they’re supposed to draw. But many people simply won’t think it through. I call this “Hiding the Ball” preaching. Sometimes, it’s acceptable to do this and even preferable so that people mature spiritually. However, if that is the only way we preach, it starves the other people who already know the application and just want to hear their pastor be certain about his conclusions. It robs the people who simply want to see a strong spiritual leader. Preaching must feed people, but it must also lead people.

We obviously want to avoid the controlling fundamentalist archetype. But in efforts to avoid that methodology, we must be careful about performing a pendulum swing straight into the arms of ineffectiveness and what some perceive as less than real leadership. The answer, as with many things, is a balanced approach.

I’ll conclude with a simple biblical test to see if we are being vain in the name of testimony: When my preaching is accompanied by the fear of man and fear of expected risk, I might be vain.

The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe. Proverbs 29:25

I realize that there are times where preachers might inadvertently be perceived as the controlling fundamentalist archetype, but if we’re unwilling to be unfairly perceived that way, in that moment, we might be caring more about our appearance than the feeding and leading of people. We can’t please everyone in our preaching. We must please the Lord. And we must not succumb to the fear of man in how we are perceived. People’s faulty perceptions of preachers are an expected risk of ministry. Don’t let good testimony go so far as to become vanity.

And finally, if we get better at giving 1 Corinthians 13 charity ourselves in how we perceive others, perhaps it will get easier for us to in turn expect it from others. And hopefully then, the fear of how we are perceived will dissolve and vanity will give way to genuineness.