The First Mark
The prophecy of the two priesthoods is being fulfilled today, right before our eyes. Both ministries are operating at the same time, in nations all across the world.
When the man of God stood before Eli, he did not merely speak of one man's failure. He described two ministries that would run side by side to the end of the age. First, the prophet speaks of the ongoing ministry of a self-centered, backslidden, compromising priesthood — a priesthood of the spirit of Eli. And he begins by naming two things. The first is the mark we must face honestly today: priests that are looking for esteem from man rather than God. Man pleasers.
That phrase ought to stop us. The issue is not that these priests are weak men with strong callings. The issue is the direction of their hunger. Every minister hungers for something. Some hunger for the glory of God. Others hunger for the good opinion of the congregation. And here is the hard truth the prophecy forces us to reckon with: you can be gifted, you can be busy, you can be popular — and still be in the wrong priesthood, because your applause comes from the pew and not from the throne.
Before we point at anyone else, let us be honest about how easily this spirit wears a pastor's clothes. The man-pleaser does not announce himself. He does not stand up and confess that he values the crowd's approval more than God's. He simply stops preaching the parts of the message that cost him anything, and starts preaching the parts that keep everyone comfortable. It is subtle. And it is deadly.
The man-pleaser does not announce himself. He simply stops preaching whatever costs him anything, and starts preaching whatever keeps everyone comfortable.
Soft on Sin
Eli was soft on sin. He never made any decision that would offend his two sons.
Consider what that actually meant. Only once — one time — in over fifty years of ministry, did Eli correct his sons. And look at what they were doing. They were committing the vilest acts: adultery, having relations with the women who worked at the temple, defiling the very house of God. And after all of that, after decades of corruption at the altar, all Eli could manage was a question: “Why do you do this?”
He had full authority to remove them from the priestly office. He could have acted. But he was unable to restrain them because of his neglect over the years — and because he had grown too lazy to even bother. Friends, laziness in a leader is never neutral. Neglect always has a harvest.
This man had no righteous indignation. He never shared God's wrath and hatred toward sin. That is what makes him the perfect picture of the man-pleasing priesthood: a ministry that is afraid to rebuke, afraid to confront, afraid to exert any authority at all toward God's family, the congregation. Eli represents every minister who has learned to keep the peace at any cost — even the cost of holiness.
Eli corrected his sons once in fifty years. A leader who refuses to confront will end up watching corruption he could have stopped.
Pulpits That Never Rebuke
There are churches today you can attend for a year and never hear one word about sin.
Think about that. A church could be totally corrupted — half the congregation divorcing, adultery rampant, teenagers sleeping around, children unruly. The whole congregation could be given over to pleasure, sports, and entertainment. And from the pulpit? Never a word of correction. Never a rebuke. Never a warning.
Instead, the pastor caters to the people's weaknesses and cravings. He studies what the crowd wants to hear and delivers it with a smile. Why? Because correction has a cost. Rebuke might offend someone. An offended giver might leave. Empty seats make empty offering plates. And the man-pleaser needs the people more than he needs the presence of God.
And let us not lay the whole blame on the pulpit. Scripture warns that in the last days people will gather around themselves teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. A congregation that demands comfort will always find the preacher who supplies it. The demand creates the supply. So the question falls on all of us: do we want a minister who heals us, or a minister who flatters us?
This is the first characteristic of the evil ministry that developed in Eli's soul, and it is the mark of every ongoing, compromising priesthood today. A pulpit that never offends anyone is not a pulpit that loves people — it is a pulpit that fears them.
The man-pleaser preaches to the seat, not to the soul.
Whose Approval?
Sooner or later, every minister must answer one question: whose approval am I trying to win?
“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”Galatians 1:10 · NIV
Paul draws a line in the sand. Man-pleasing and Christ-serving are not two flavors of ministry — they are mutually exclusive. You cannot serve two audiences. The moment the congregation becomes your source of affirmation, it has also become your master. And a minister with two masters has already chosen which one he will obey when the message gets costly.
Go back to God's charge against Eli and hear it as if it were spoken to our generation: “Why do you honor your sons more than me?” (1 Samuel 2:29). Eli honored his sons above God. The man-pleaser honors his congregation above God. The names change. The idolatry doesn't. Whenever the approval of people outranks the approval of heaven in a minister's heart, the altar has already shifted.
The opening scripture of this article tells us this is nothing new. Many of the Jewish leaders in Jesus' day actually believed in Him — yet they would not openly acknowledge their faith, because they were afraid of being put out of the synagogue. Believe it or not, that spirit is still preaching. Men and women in ministry today who know what is true, who have seen what is right, but who will not say it aloud because the synagogue of their day — the board, the donors, the followers — might expel them. They loved human praise more than praise from God. It cost them their confession then, and it is costing ministries their conviction now.
And notice who paid the price. It was not only Eli. It was the whole house of God. When a leader will not confront sin because he fears the crowd, the crowd pays for his cowardice. People sit under that ministry year after year and never get free — because nobody ever told them the truth that would set them free.
A minister with two masters has already chosen which one he will obey when the message gets costly.
The Price of the Applause
Applause is a currency that buys nothing in eternity.
The man-pleaser receives the esteem of the room and loses the favor of heaven. He is celebrated by people and disdained by God — because God has already settled the matter: “Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained” (1 Samuel 2:30). There is no third category. There is no honored-by-man-and-by-God category for the minister who chooses man's praise over God's presence.
Now let me speak as a pastor, because I know where man-pleasing often begins. It does not always begin in ambition. Often it begins in a wound. A person who was never affirmed, never approved, never truly seen — he can carry an unhealed craving for acceptance into ministry, and the applause of the crowd becomes the medicine he keeps reaching for. Friends, God wants to heal that wound, not decorate it. Deliverance and inner healing are not only for the congregation — they are for the called. Your identity is settled in Christ. You do not need the crowd's vote to validate a calling that heaven has already confirmed.
A healed minister is a free minister. When your worth is no longer up for a vote, you can preach the whole counsel of God and let the chips fall. Some will be offended. Some will leave. But the ones who stay will be transformed — because for the first time, somebody loved them enough to tell them the truth.
A healed minister is a free minister. When your worth is no longer up for a vote, you can preach the whole counsel of God and let the chips fall.
The Call
So here is the question every one of us must answer: whom do I please?
Not whose pulpit I admire. Not whose conferences I attend. Whom do I please? Because the God of Eli's day is the God of this day, and His standard has not moved. He is still raising up for Himself a faithful priest — one who will do according to what is in His heart and mind (1 Samuel 2:35). Not what fills the room. Not what keeps the offering up. What is in His heart.
If you lead — as a pastor, a teacher, a parent, a voice in your generation — take the honest inventory today. Where have you softened the message to keep the peace? Where have you refused to confront what God asked you to confront? Bring it to Him. Repentance is not the end of a ministry; it is often the beginning of one.
And if you sit under ministry, pray for your leaders — but never trade truth for comfort. The faithful priesthood is rising. The man-pleasers are fading. And heaven is looking for ministers whose only audience is the throne.
Come near. Come holy.