How does a bush burn and never be consumed? How does an iron ax float in the water? How can a man be given a renewed body after being dead for three days? I don’t know! There you have it. The pastor said, “I don’t know!” It sure is hard to say, “I don’t know.” Think of how you would feel if you went to the doctor with symptoms that resembled a heart attack and the doctor simply said, “I don’t know what’s wrong with you.” Think of how you would feel if you went to your automobile mechanic and said, “my car will not start, do you know what’s wrong?” and the mechanic replies, “I don’t know.” Although incompetence is more common than most of us would like to admit, people who are educated, skilled in a particular field, and have matured with wisdom are not ready to say, “I don’t know.” The preacher in Ecclesiastes has a word for the preacher in your town who doesn’t like to say “I don’t know”: “As you do not know what is the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, So you do not know the works of God who makes everything” (Ecclesiastes 11:5). The principle is that the pastor is not God. The pastor is not the Vicar of Christ on earth. The pastor’s call must be accompanied with preparation, wisdom, discernment, and resolve. Wisdom and discernment are necessary to make decisions that will affect the spiritual welfare of church members. Resolve is necessary to apply those decisions for the spiritual benefit of church members. However there are times when understanding the virtue of humility and admitting, “I don’t know” will serve the best interest of the congregation.
Church members should have confidence in the pastor’s analysis, explanation, and application of God’s word to their individual lives and the culture in which they live. Every pastor should have his “Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other hand,” if he expects to honor his shepherdly call to guide and guard the sheep under his care. However, all too often the pastor thinks he must have an answer for everything because he thinks the church member expects it. "Pastor, should I get married” a young single male queries. “I really need a wife” the young man continues. The young man may need a wife and the Bible commands his people to be fruitful and multiply, so the principle of marriage should prevail, but can the pastor say for certain that the young man should marry? The pastor should counsel the church member with all wisdom and humility. The pastor may be able to give some spiritual and secular wisdom in the matter, but at that particular time the pastor may have to honestly say, “I don’t know.” The pastor may have to say, “I can’t be sure” because of various ambiguous and uncertain factors held in consideration. Questions in relation to reality that are more difficult to understand are the questions that may cause the pastor to confess his lack of omniscience more often. If the pastor’s understanding, reasoning, and discernment are such that there is no “gray” area, no adiaphorous matters, then the pastor has become as God with all knowledge. For the sake of the pastor and his congregation, he must be prepared to acknowledge his inability to assert all knowledge.
“Don’t follow me I’m lost” was the acute message on a bumper sticker. I say “acute” because it cuts to the nerve of evangelical Christianity’s lack of respect for the pastor’s work in this massive information age. I can’t recall the numerous times a church member would greet me after church quickly reminding me that I should have visited that church member during the week before the Lord’s Day because of the member’s upset stomach, ingrown toenail, coughing spell, ad infinitum. My recorded message was, “how was I supposed to know.” The message from the pew is loud and clear. The pastor should know everything. We need to come to grips with the notion that the pastor can know everything or should I say the pastor should not know everything. The pastor is a mere man. A pastor cannot know what he doesn’t know. The principle applies to simple mundane matters of everyday life to the most complex theological or philosophical questions. The serious questions in life require thoughtful inquiry, but in the final analysis the answer may not be forthcoming. It may be “I don’t know.” I remember Dr. John Gerstner, an erudite exceedingly gifted theologian, preaching a sermon on a difficult passage and he came to a point where he said, “other theologians don’t have an answer and neither do I, but I’ll give you my opinion for what its worth or maybe for what it’s not worth.” Even with all the preparation, gifts, and abilities, the pastor must be a humble man before God who knows all things, including the heart of His anointed. There are times when our opinion may not be worth much.
Pastors should face the deluge of information with a sense and attitude of humility. The prophet Jeremiah was quick and judicious to say "Alas, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, because I am a youth” (Jeremiah 1:6). The prophet demonstrated the kind of humility that is conspicuously absent in the contemporary church. Solomon is another example of one admitting to his insufficiency to lead a nation. Solomon said, “And now, O Lord my God, Thou hast made Thy servant king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in” (1 Kings 3:7). He knew enough to say, “I don’t know.”
The pastor has something to say to his congregation, but he is not “ask Mr. Jeeves” and he is not the answer man. As the congregation looks to the pastor to instruct, protect, and guide them, they should also expect him to demonstrate the integrity that may require him to say, “I don’t know.”
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