What do I look for in a Pastor?

Greetings All,

     Another week, another message!  I so look forward to sending out these gems I glean from my reading of Christian authors.
     This week's "thought"  has to do with the trend in the church to court or win the approval of the movers and shakers in the world by conforming Christian ministry to standards people in the world would find more acceptable.  It addresses the attempt to make ministry more proper, legitimate, credible and well-received in the eyes of the world -- more professional.  And to a degree the thought may seem good. But it must be approached with caution, lest the faith be made into something it was never intended to be - just one among a plethora of other legitimate admirable professions to pursue.

     This thought comes to you from John Piper in one of his less-well-known books, "Brothers, We Are NOT Professionals."   It's a good reminder in a world that often seeks to pressure the Church to conform to its standards. Though written primarily to pastors, it has a message for every Christian. Try to understand what he's saying and I believe you will see the validity of his points.  And at the end, ask yourself: What do I look for in a pastor?  Enjoy.

     "We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry.  The mentality of the professional is not the mentality of the prophet. It is not the mentality of the slave of Christ. Professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and heart of the Christian ministry.  The more professional we long to be, the more spiritual death we will leave in our wake. For there is no professional childlikeness (Matt. 18:3); there is no professional tenderheartedness (Eph. 4:32); there is no professional panting after God (Ps. 42:1).  But our first business IS to pant after God in prayer. Our business IS to weep over our sins (James 4:9). Is there professional weeping?  Our business IS to strain forward to the holiness of Christ and the prize of the upward calling of God (Phil. 3:14); to pummel our bodies and subdue them lest we be castaways (I Cor. 9:27); to deny ourselves and take up the blood-spattered cross daily (Luke 9:23). How do you carry a cross professionally?  We have been crucified with Christ; yet now we live by faith in the one who loved us and gave Himself up for us (Gal. 2:20).  What is professional faith?

     We are to be filled not with wine but with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). How can you be drunk with Christ professionally? Then, wonder of wonders, we were given the gospel treasure to carry around in clay pots to show that the transcendent power belongs to God (II Cor. 4:7).  Is there a way to be a professional clay pot?  We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus (professionally?) so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested (professionally?) in our bodies (II Cor. 4:9-11). I think God has exhibited us preachers as last of all in the world. We are fools for Christ's sake, but professionals are wise.  We are weak, but professionals are strong.  Professionals are held in honor, we are held in disrepute. We do not try to secure a professional lifestyle, but are ready to hunger and thirst and be ill-clad and homeless. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slaughtered, we try to conciliate; we have become the refuse of the world, the scum of the earth (I Cor. 4:9-13).  Or have we?

     Brothers, we are NOT professionals!  We are outcasts. We are aliens and exiles in the world (I Pet. 2:11).  Our citizenship is in heaven and we wait in eager expectation for the Lord (Phil. 3:20).  You cannot professionalize the love for His appearing without killing it.  And it IS being killed.  The aims of our ministry are eternal and spiritual. They are not shared by any of the professions. It is precisely by the failure to see this that we are dying. "The life-giving preacher," says Richard Cecil, "is a man of God, whose heart is ever athirst for God, whose soul is ever following hard after God, whose eye is single to God, and in whom, by the power of God's Spirit, the flesh and the world have been crucified and his ministry is like the generous flood of a life-giving river." 

     ...The professionalization of the ministry is a constant threat to the offense of the Gospel. It is a threat to the profoundly spiritual nature of our work. I have seen it often: the love of professionalism (the desire for equality in status and pay with the world's professionals) kills a man's belief that he is sent by God to save people from hell and make them Christ-exalting, spiritual aliens in this world. If the world sets the agenda for the professional man; God sets the agenda for the spiritual man. The strong wine of Jesus Christ explodes the wineskins of professionalism. There is an infinite difference between the pastor whose heart is set on being a professional and the pastor whose heart is set on being the aroma of Christ -- the fragrance of death to some and eternal life to others (II Cor. 2:15-16).  God deliver us from the professionalizers!

     God, give us tears for our sins.  Forgive us for being so shallow in prayer, so thin in our grasp of holy truths, so content amid perishing neighbors, so empty of passion and earnestness in all our conversations.  Restore to us the childlike joy of our salvation.  Frighten us with the awesome holiness and power of Him who can cast both soul and body into hell (Matt. 10:28). Cause us to hold to the cross with fear and trembling as our hope-filled and offensive tree of life.  Grant us nothing, absolutely nothing, the way the world views it.  May Christ be all in all (Col. 3:11). Banish professionalism from our midst, Oh God, and in its place put passionate prayer, poverty of spirit, hunger for God, rigorous study of holy things, white-hot devotion to Jesus Christ, utter indifference to all material gain, and unremitting labor to rescue the perishing, perfect the saints, and glorify our sovereign Lord. Humble us, O God, under your mighty hand, and let us rise -- not as professionals, but as witnesses and partakers of the sufferings of Christ. In His awesome name. Amen." 

     Some of us (myself included) have lost elements of the passion we once had when we started out in the ministry.  In some cases wisdom has thankfully tempered a lopsided zeal, a blatant omission of duty, or a pride-motivated (rather than Christ-motivated) passion for service.  But in other cases the passion that drove us into the ministry can get driven out of us by the ministry -- sometimes by the expectations placed upon us that we need to be more like the successful worldly professionals around us.

     Yet other times it may even be due to the pastors themselves adopting the subtle worldly idea that ministry is a "profession" rather than a "calling."  One that is to be carried out even if there are no "competitive benefit packages."  Yes, carried out even if it were to mean persecution, the loss of all our possessions, or even our life (Hebrews 11:32-40 / Rev. 2:8-10).  Piper's point is well taken --  professionalization of the ministry can (and has) brought spiritual apathy to the church.  Maybe it's time to consider afresh what it means to be a follower of Jesus, and remember that the call to follow Jesus is a call to serve Him for His sake, at whatever the cost, no matter what comes our way as a result -- something most of the professionals I know would not be inclined to do in their particular professions.

In His Service, Pastor Jeff

Here & Now: Americans – Disassociated from Religion

Greetings All,

     This week's thought is about the growing number of "nones" in American society.  According to a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News Survey, younger Americans don’t value patriotism, having children, or organized religion as much as young people two decades ago. These are the so-called “Nones” whose religious affiliation “none.”  And since the early 1990s the number of them have tripled.

     Below is an interview involving Derek Thompson, senior editor at “The Atlantic” about why this has happened, taken from NPR's - Here & Now:  Americans – Disassociated from Religion. It really is very thought provoking and worth the read - especially if you know young adults who have left the church, or distanced themselves from all forms of organized religion (some sections condensed and clarified due to discussion format). Enjoy.

     Host: You write that more than 9 out of 10 Americans belonged to an organized religion throughout the 60s, 70s, 80s, but then came the 1990s. You spoke to a sociology and religion professor at Notre Dame. What did he tell you about what happened in the 1990s?

     Derek: The rise of the religiously non-affiliated, otherwise called the “Nones,” is an incredibly modern phenomenon in the US… that took off in the early 1990s.  So I asked him.  What happened in the early 1990s?  He said, “Historically speaking there's sort of 3 events we have to key in on.”  The first, is the association between the Republican Party and the Christian right.  That did not necessarily exist in the 1960s and earlier.  It was instead, a reaction to a series of things that happened in the late 60s early 70s.  The sexual revolution, the Roe versus Wade decision, the nationalization of no-fault divorce laws, and the Bob Jones University case where it lost their tax-exempt status over its ban on interracial dating.  Because of all those things the Christian right sort of jumped into politics and merged with the Republican Party in a way that, I think, offended a lot of moderates and liberals, who then began to detach from both organized religion and Republicans.  That's number one.  Second, is the end of the Cold War. For the previous, say, 40 years, there had been an association between those who didn’t believe in God (the communists) and “the evil empire.” Once the Cold War was over, being godless wasn't necessarily considered as evil [as it had been].  And third, I think after 911, during the Bush years, a new association – not between godlessness and the evil empire, but rather, between religion and zealotry (at the national level with the USA, or at the international level with al Qaeda) fed into the rise of religious non-affiliation.

     Host: This is so fascinating.  I mean, take the end of the Cold War reasoning.  You know people (as you remind us) could suddenly say: “Well I don't I don't belong to a church” and not be thought to be communists, which previously they might have been. And then after the al Qaeda attacks, there were people wanting to distance from organized religion, and there was also the scandal in the Catholic Church.

     Derek: Absolutely!

     Host: So, who is doing this non-affiliation?  Is it one specific demographic?

     Derek: Yes. The group that is most pulling away from organized religion over the last 20 to 30 years are young white liberals.  Young white liberals are the ones that are leading the rise in the “Nones.” You don't see a similar dramatic increase from the Blacks and Hispanics.  It is being led by young white liberals who see that the Republican Party has become more and more entrenched with the evangelical movement. Distancing themselves is their way of saying: “I’m not a Republican.”   By proxy, by rejecting the Republican Party, a lot of young whites (I think) feel like they have to reject organized religion as well.  And so, what's ironic to me is that there was this thesis from the late 19^th century that said that religion was going to lose its halo effect because of science. Science was going to drive God from the public square.  But, in fact, in the last 30 years, there's been no grand scientific revolution to make people lose their faith in God.  Science hasn't driven God from the public square, politics has!  And it’s particularly driven religion from the public square for young white millennial's.

     Host: Well, we should clarify that there are many young white millennial's who are very active in churches, or temples, or mosque.  We know that.

     Derek: Absolutely.  But also there is another factor.  Which is that when young people nowadays are delaying having their families, and having their own individual lives for longer, by the time they settle down they may not have time for activities on Sunday morning, or Saturday morning, because they have gyms to go to, and they’ve got this other kind of schedule that's interesting.

     Host: Yeah.  But then you also write about what may be one of the paradoxical downsides.  I mean obviously very religious people might worry about this from a different perspective, but you know, it becomes harder to have a social life without an institution to attend.

     Derek: Yeah, I think that’s a good point. I should add that Christian Smith listed a lot of non-political reasons why religious non-affiliation might be growing, including as you mention, maybe rising divorce, delayed adulthood, etc.  You know, it seems to me that religion isn't just theism. It's not just a belief in God.  It's a bundle. It's a community. It's a theory of how the world works. It's a way of finding individual peace. And I find that a lot of people who have rejected the organized religion bundle shop for individual pieces of that bundle à la carte.  So, you know, maybe their work is a religion, or their politics is a religion, and spin class is a church, and not looking at your phone for a few hours is akin to a digital Sabbath. So, it's interesting to me that although so many millions of Americans have abandoned organized religion, they have only sought to recreate it everywhere they look. They've given up God to a certain extent, only to seek him out everywhere else.” 

     We could surely add other things -- like the Jimmy Swaggert and James Baker scandal in evangelicalism, the misuse of funds and gifts given to ministries, and many other things -- that may have soured people against organized religion.  Yet, regardless of what led to it (and I do believe they are right in suggesting that the end of the cold war, a far too close an association with one political party, and religious zealotry involving violence are to blame) we are left with what we are to do about it?  And the fact that people have come up with all sorts of religious substitutes for organized religion suggests that if we could learn from our mistakes as we move forward, some may be drawn back -- since it the desires for religious expression seems hidden in human nature, even when we try to repress it.

Living in the Grace of Jesus, Pastor Jeff

Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory

Greetings All,

     Yesterday I received a book in the mail sent to me by a wise old friend. As one who loves to climb mountains, the title captured my attention when I opened the package: "Canoeing the Mountains," by Tod Bolsinger. Yet, the secondary title clued me into the fact that it probably was not what I initially thought - "Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory."

     As I read the first chapter I felt like the author had been a fly on the wall in many of my conversations in recent years!  He even mouthed some of the exact phrases I had used!  So, today, I let you in on an issue that has been weighing on me (and many others in ministry) for at least the past decade or longer - trying to minister in a post-Christian (often anti-Christian) culture.  This selection below is just to give you a taste of what he will address in the rest of his book -- offering hope for a breakthrough where many seem to have run into what FEELS like an impenetrable wall we were not trained or equipped to break through. Enjoy.

     "One night after a long day of meetings, an older pastor let out a heavy sigh. He was nearing retirement, and we were working together on a project that was supposed to reorganize our entire denomination in order to help our church better minister in a changing world. And that changing world weighed on him.  He remembered well how not that long ago life was different. He stirred his drink and said to me, 'You know, when I began my ministry in a church in Alabama, I never worried about church growth or worship attendance or evangelism. Back then, if a man didn't come to church on Sunday, his boss asked him about it at work on Monday.'

     Sociologists and theologians refer to this recently passed period as 'Christendom.' The seventeen-hundred-year-long era with Christianity at the privileged center of western cultural life. Christendom gave us 'blue laws' and the Ten Commandments in school [and prayer in schools]. It gave us 'under God' in the pledge of allegiance and exhortations to Bible reading in the national newspapers. (I have a copy of the Los Angeles Times from December 1963 that has stories on the Warren Commission (investigating the assassination of John F. Kennedy), the nine-thousand-member Hollywood Presbyterian Church, and a list of daily Bible readings for the upcoming week.  Can you even imagine the Los Angeles Times exhorting people to read their Bibles today?) It was the day every "city father" laid out the town square with the courthouse, the library, and a First Church of _______ within the center of the city.  For most of us these days are long gone. (For some of us, that is good news indeed. Did you notice the reference to 'man' in my friends statement?)

     In our day (unlike then) cities are now considering using eminent domain laws to replace churches with tax-revenue generating big-box stores, Sundays are more about soccer and Starbucks than about Sabbath, Christian student groups are getting derecognized on university campuses, the fastest growing religious affiliation among young adults is 'none,' there is no moral consensus built on Christian tradition (even among Christians), and even a funeral in a conservative beach town is more likely to be a Hawaiian style 'paddle out' than a gathering in a sanctuary.  As we see all this we know that Christendom as a marker of society has passed.

     Over the last ten years I have had one church leader after another whisper to me the same frustrated confession: 'Seminary didn't prepare me for this. I don't know if I can do it. I just don't know...'  A number of pastors are ready to throw in the towel. Studies show that if given the chance to do something else, most pastors would jump at it. Reportedly, upwards of fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry EVERY MONTH  [Every year more than 4000 churches in the U.S. close their doors, almost double the number from 20 years ago.] 

     A couple years ago I learned that three of my pastor friends around the country had resigned  -- on the same day. There were no affairs, no scandals, and no one was renouncing the faith. But three good, experienced pastors turned in resignations and walked away. One left church ministry altogether.  The details are as different as the pastors themselves, but the common thread is that they finally got worn down by trying to bring change to a church that was stuck and didn't know what to do. Their churches were stuck and declining, stuck and clinging to the past, stuck and lurching to quick fixes, trying to find an easy answer for what were clearly bigger challenges. What all three churches had in common was that they were mostly blaming the pastor for how bad it felt to be stuck.

'If only you could preach better.' 

'If only you were more pastoral and caring.' 

'If only our worship was more dynamic.' 

'Please, pastor, do something!'  (That is what we pay you for, isn't it?)

     And to make matters worse, the pastors don't know what to do either. As a seminary vice-president I am now charged with confronting this reality head-on. Our graduates were not trained for this day. When I went to seminary, we were trained in the skills that were necessary for supporting faith in Christendom.  When churches functioned primarily as vendors of religious services for a Christian culture, the primary leadership toolbox was:  1. TEACHING (for providing Christian education).  2. LITURGICS (for leading Christian services).  3. PASTORAL CARE (for offering Christian counsel and support).  In this changing world we need to add a new set of leadership tools..." 

     If you would like to know what those new and necessary tools are, you will need to purchase his book for yourself!  As a pastor who has lived long enough to see Christendom progressively and purposefully deconstructed, and replaced at almost every turn with secularized and post-Christian alternatives, it has been stretching.  I'm not one of the pastoral casualties he lists, but in all honesty there have been times I have come pretty close. In fact, given those statistics it may be time to start a "pastor support group" for those who feel they are on the verge of being one of those 1500 pastors every month who leave the ministry.

     I haven't had time to read far into his book, but I wanted to share the introductory chapter so people can know there is a voice of encouragement from someone who has his ear to the ground, and has himself been a pastor ministering in our post-Christian culture.   A culture where traditional styles of leadership and ministry (which garnered much fruit in the not-so-distant past) can actually be a hindrance and obstacle in the present. His word to pastors - "Start with conviction, stay calm, stay connected, and stay the course - even when navigating loss."

     Ministry has always required people to, "run the race with perseverance"  (Hebrews 12:1-2).  Yet today is one of those cultural seasons or times when like a runner in a marathon on a hot and humid day, people in ministry are encountering what in the Boston Marathon is called, "Heartbreak Hill" -- a long gradual incline at the 20 mile mark.  It's a "grueling test of endurance" as one writer puts it, which drives many to give up before the finish line.  A place where one must be mentally prepared, make adjustments, and persevere, or become a casualty.  If you happen to be at that place, maybe you might want to see what Bolsinger has to say.

Living in the Grace of Jesus, Pastor Jeff

Testimony of William Grimshaw

Greetings All!

     There comes a time in the life of every believer where they must wrestle with what they truly trust in; where their hope lies, and what the only true object of saving faith is. This week's "thought" is a true account of the one man's journey along that road -- a road that led from misplaced faith and depression, to true faith and joy!
     It is not unusual (at least at the beginning of our life of faith) to have a faith that when tested is found lacking or misplaced. Hopefully this testimony about William Grimshaw's journey from trusting in the wrong thing, to being led by a miraculous event to trust in the only true saving object of faith will be of help to all -- either as a guide that takes you to where you need to be, or a reminder not to stray from there. It comes from "The One Year Book of Christian History" by Michael and Sharon Rusten.  Enjoy.

     "William Grimshaw was born in Lancashire, England, in 1708. He went to Christ's College, Cambridge, intending to enter the ministry. During his third year he fell in with the wrong crowd, becoming, in his own words, "as vile as the worst."  Still, he chose to enter the ministry, finding no incongruity between his sinful lifestyle and his chosen profession.  Ordained in the Church of England in 1732, Grimshaw was assigned a church in West Yorkshire. He married a young widow, but within four years she tragically died, leaving him with two small children.

     Already a troubled soul, Grimshaw was plunged into a deep depression. He sent his children away to be raised by relatives. All he could think about was his own mortality and the necessity of making arrangements for his own funeral... In his written instructions for his funeral he specified: "To attend my funeral I desire that 20 persons be invited (of my next relations and intimatest acquaintances) and be entertained in the following manner: Let 5 quarts of claret (a red wine from Bordeaux) ... be put in a punch bowl and be drunk in wine glasses until it is all gone."

     At this time an itinerant preacher began rebuking Grimshaw for his legalistic view of salvation [a view whereby he encouraged people to trust in their own efforts, works, or aspects of their own performance for their acceptance with God]. He said to Grimshaw, "You are no believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. You are building on the sand."   Grimshaw tried to avoid the man, but the words "you are building on sand" kept haunting him.  In 1741, while visiting a friend, Grimshaw saw a book on the table and picked it up.  As he opened it, and discovered it was by John Owen, a Puritan theologian, a flash of heat flushed his face. Puzzled, he looked at the fireplace, wondering if the fire had caused his sudden flush of heat.  Opening the book again, he read the title: "The Doctrine of Justification by Faith."  Suddenly a second flash of heat swept over him. Astonished that it happened again, Grimshaw took it as a divine imperative that he was to read the book.

     Taking the book back home, Grimshaw noted in the preface that Owen had written the book for people suffering from the same anguish and distress of soul he was experiencing.  The book confronted the reader with the question of whether he would 'trust in his own personal inherent righteousness (his own efforts and religious or moral performances) or, in full renunciation of it, take to himself the grace of God and the righteousness of Christ alone.' To Grimshaw the choice was clear.  As he would later confide to a friend,  "I was wiling to renounce myself, every degree of fancied merit and ability, and to embrace CHRIST ONLY for my all in all.  O what light and comfort did I now enjoy in my own soul, and what a taste of the pardoning love of God!"

     His ministry immediately changed, and he found peace and joy in his heart as well as his soul. He fell in love with a local girl, married her, and brought his children back home...  He applied for a new parish and moved his family to nearby Haworth, where he ministered powerfully and effectively until his death in 1763 at the age of 55. Under his spiritual leadership the little-known village of Yorkshire became one of the leading centers of the Christian faith in all of England. His funeral was quite different from the one he had planned years before. Vast crowds of loving parishioners followed his coffin to its final resting place. The pastor who spoke summarized the faith of Grimshaw by saying, "Upon Christ's atoning blood and justifying righteousness alone, did EVERY HOPE of his soul's acceptance with God depend" 

     Upon what does your hope rest?  What is the object of your faith? What does your hope or trust for pardon and salvation rest upon?  Is it your efforts at trying to be a "good" person?  Is it a list of accomplishments or a resume of cataloged good works?  Is it a mix of faith in Jesus plus your attempts to be righteous? Here it helps to remember that when it comes to saving faith, Jesus plus anything nullifies Jesus. If you are trusting in anything of your own, you are trusting in you, and thus not fully (or for that matter, not at all) in Jesus.  The Gospel's message is clear: We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.  Add anything into the mix and you disbelieve the Gospel, negate Jesus, will struggle incessantly with emotional highs and lows, find the need to pretend, have a fear of being open, honest and transparent about your sins, wrestle with a sense of of frustration with God and self, fall into occasional depressions, and a lack of assurance of God's forgiveness and complete acceptance.

     Only when one's hope for acceptance with God is in CHRIST ONLY -- only when both eyes are glued on Jesus, instead of one on Jesus and the other on the sin-stained performances of the self -- are they liberated from all those afflicting things to experience peace, joy and release from the weight of burdens too heavy to carry.  John Owen was right in asking: "will you trust in your own personal inherent righteousness [which is always stained by sin and thus unrighteous or unacceptable righteousness], or in full renunciation of it, take to yourself the grace of God and righteousness of CHRIST ALONE."

     Blessed is the person who stops hoping and trusting in their own efforts, and looks instead to Christ alone for their pardon and acceptance with God.  As one who fell into this Grimshaw's mistake, I can tell you from personal experience what a blessed liberation comes as we get our eyes off us, and simply, "fix our eyes (of faith) on Jesus..." (Heb. 12:2).  And please notice it says "eyes" -- that is, both of them!  Not one eye of faith fixed on what you do, and the other one looking to what Jesus did, but BOTH OF THEM fixed on Jesus. For He is the only true object of saving faith, and faith in HIM ALONE is the only means of salvation or remedy for the countless malady's of the soul.

Living in the Grace of Jesus, Pastor Jeff

The Ministry of Jesus, and the Early Church

Greetings All!

     Today's 'thought' is actually the concluding section of my sermon from this past Sunday, a significant portion of which I backed up with quotes from three men: J. B. Phillips, David Platt, and Roger Ellsworth.

     I simply wove their thoughts together to drive home the point I was trying to make about our need, as the Church of Jesus Christ, to have His power and presence actively manifest itself in and through us. It's the idea that we should, to some degree, reflect the nature, passion, power, experience and priorities that were evident in the ministry of Jesus, and the early church, if we are truly to claim a direct connection to Him and them. The selection speaks for itself.  Enjoy.

     “Given what we see of the ministry of Jesus or the life of the early church in the book of Acts, it is more than legitimate for people to ask: 'If we never see the power of God moving among you who claim to be the people of God, can we not justifiably ask where is the Christian faith we see in the Bible? Because in the beginning it was attended with a very noticeable sense of the presence and miraculous power of God.'

     J. B. Phillips points out regarding the book of Acts: ‘No one can read this book without being convinced there is Someone at work here besides mere human beings.’  Yet, the question is: Can that be said of us?  Can it be said of the vast majority of other churches in America today?  Are people convinced that in the church they will discover ‘Someone is at work there besides mere human beings’?  Or do they simply see nice people [not always, but for the most part :) ] doing things that any other human beings could do?

     David Platt brings attention to the need for a power greater than our own when he says: ‘Perhaps the greatest obstacle to the gospel spreading today, is the people of God trying to do the work of God apart from the power of God.’  It’s true.  Without the power of God at work in and through the Church, the world has little reason to pay any more attention to us than any other religious group.  For, no matter how one reads their New Testament, one this is incontestably true: One of the things that caught the attention of people when the early Christians came on the scene was the way that God's miraculous power was at work through them. And because of it, many came to believe.

Speaking to this issue Roger Ellsworth also wrote:

     ‘The people of God have often heard the world tauntingly ask: ‘Where is your God?’ (Ps. 42:3 & 10, Ps. 79:10, Ps. 115:2).  But it is a sad thing when the people of God have to ask themselves that question…  The church, in order to maintain credibility in the world, has to have the power of God!  She is involved in a great spiritual warfare, and only God’s power will enable her to prevail.  Human ingenuity and wisdom are simply not equal to the task. Trying to do this kind of work without the power of God is like trying to break huge granite boulders with our bare hands.

     The problem is that the church is trying to subsist on her own power. She is relying on her own abilities. Human wisdom can produce many things, and the church is trying to pass them off as the hand of God at work, but the world is not buying it. They still bombard us (and rightly so) with the disturbing question: ‘Where is your God?’ And if we will get alone and examine our hearts, we will be driven to admit that the many things we are producing are shabby substitutes for the real power of God… If we are not careful, we can think that pushing all the right buttons will produce lasting spiritual results.

     We can reduce the work of the church to shrewd maneuvering with statistical probabilities and psychological jargon.  We can be guilty of doing the very thing David refused to do – fight in Saul’s armour. We can have polish without power.  We need to realize that God can do more in one minute with His power than we can do in a lifetime with our ‘strategies.’ ’

     He’s right To maintain credibility in the world we must have the power of God!  And how does that power come?  It comes only as we plead in earnest, continual and dependent prayer for the LORD to manifest Himself in our midst for His glory and the health and growth His church.  We need to mimic the heartfelt cry of Isaiah who pleaded with God -- "Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you" (Is. 64:1).

     Will you join me in praying for just that?  Earnestly and consistently praying that His presence and power might be manifest in and through His Church, lest our hands be bruised and bleeding from, 'trying to break huge granite boulders with our bare hands'? ”

     The sermon was based on John 4:43-54.  The quote by Roger Ellsworth can be found in his superb little book "Come Down, Lord," a series of messages on the concluding chapters of Isaiah and dealing with the church's need for revival.  And the quote from J. B. Phillips (which is much more extensive) was taken from his book, "The Young Church in Action - A Translation of the Acts of the Apostles."  Each book deals with what the church was, what it has come to be, and the need to regain much of what has been lost.

Living in the Grace of Jesus, Pastor Jeff

Temptation

Greetings!

     Today's "thought" has to do with temptation -- something every one of us is very familiar with!   In fact, it's something Jesus was very familiar with as well, according to Hebrews 4:15.  Yet, in this thought, taken from a devotional book by Michael DiMarco called "Devotions for the God Guy," (don't let the title mislead you, this one is for guys and girls alike!) he looks at temptation in a slightly different way. The more subtle ways that it works. The often overlooked ways.  The ways where temptation sometimes comes disguised as what we think is virtue.  Enjoy.

"The Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted of the devil." 

Matthew 4:1

     "The most obvious temptation is the temptation to do wrong things.  But what about the temptation to do good things for God? Have you ever been tempted to be great in the eyes of God? Have you ever thought about how amazing it would be to save the world with your gifts, or to become the best in some area of ministry?  This kind of temptation is tricky because it looks all noble and good. But at the heart of it is a bit of pride, and that pride puts the focus on you instead of God.

     We've got Christian "stars."  Those people in the faith who've made it big.  They even have fan clubs.  But that should never be your goal.  When it is, Satan uses your dream of fame to distract you and make it all about you. After Jesus was baptized, immediately he went went out into the desert to be tempted. Do you remember how he was tempted?  He wasn't just tempted to do wrong, but to do God-like things. Things that proved he was who he said he was, like commanding the angels [to keep his foot from striking a stone], or turning the rocks into bread (Matt. 4:1-11).  

     Maybe once you were saved you became tempted to do great things too, so that you could prove yourself, get the glory, be successful, or have a greater purpose. So don't look at temptation as just a chance to do bad things, but look at your heart and make sure it doesn't want to be worshiped just a little bit.  Make sure it doesn't want glory or fame.  Don't let it lead you to try and take the attention away from Jesus.  Everything you do as a God Guy should be to bring glory to God and not yourself (Isaiah 42:8)."

     These are temptations to sin that we often overlook because they're masked under the cloak of what could be seen as virtue in our society.  We have celebrities everywhere, why not in Christian circles?  How could that be so wrong -- especially if it gets us followers who heed what we say about Jesus?  Sometimes we forget that with God it is not necessarily the things we do that makes them sin, but the motive we do them for. After all, what's wrong with wanting people to admire us, look up to us, and be our "fans"?

     It goes back to the admirable attitude exemplified by John the Baptist (which I preached on this past Sunday): "He (Jesus) must increase, I must decrease."  Wrong motivations do motivate us, for self-interest is a very powerful motivator.  But it is also the road that leads us to sin in a faith where Jesus is to have the preeminence or supremacy (Colossians 1:15-20).  A faith where we are to see ourselves (regardless of the effort or endeavor) as "unworthy servants" who have simply "done our duty" (Luke 17:10).  As Paul says of himself and Apollos in I Corinthians 3:7 in regard to sharing the gospel and seeing people come to faith: "So neither he who plants (Paul) nor he who waters (Apollos) is anything, but only God who makes things grow."  In a culture which loves making idols out of people, we need to be careful we do not see as good something that is actually a temptation to sin. 

     May we ponder the words of Jesus more extensively when he says, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil"-- especially when the evil doesn't seem all that evil.

Only By His Grace, Pastor Jeff

How to Walk With God.

Greetings All,

Today's thought comes from the first chapter of a book I read as I was starting out in the ministry.  It was 1987 and the book was written by a man who was having a ministry of great impact at that time in New England -- Everett L. Fullam.  The book is entitled, "How to Walk With God."    Yet, before Fullam tells us how to walk with God (by faith, of course), he points out one necessary detail many overlook in terms of the Being we hope to walk with by faith.  Enjoy.

     "The most distinguishing characteristic of the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob -- the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ -- is His holiness. It's not His great power. It's not His infinite wisdom or knowledge. It's His holy character, with no dark spots, no shadows, but rather light through and through. His holiness means a consistency of purpose that is never deflected and a constancy of devotion in continual and eternal covenant.  If we are going to be among those who seek the Lord, we must concern ourselves with His holiness -- and concentrate on responding with a personal holiness that conforms to the will and purpose of God (Hebrews 12:14 / I Peter 1:16). 

     Holiness is not a popular idea today. There is a form of Christianity that is devoid of holiness, an eloquent testimony that its god is not the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, nor is it the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. People fashion gods after their own images and relate to those gods (those idols) on their own terms, because their gods are products of their own self-creation. In the early chapters of his prophecy, Isaiah recorded a marvelous vision of God seated high and lifted up on a throne. Isaiah wrote that God's train filled the temple, and that the pillars of the temple trembled at the presence of God.  He saw the place was filled with smoke and seraphs and angels flew about, singing, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts" (Isaiah 6:3).  In perceiving this God, the first words that came from his mouth were, "Woe is me, for I am undone. Because I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips."  He had been dealing with the real God, and said: "For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:5).

     The only time we can deal with God and not be impressed by the depths of our need is when we fashion a god after our own liking and worship that god. We can deal with that god and remain the same, but if we come into the presence of the living God, we are struck with our own need. If we are unwilling to deal with the things in our lives that are contrary to the purpose of God, then we are not dealing with the holy God. We are dealing with an idol of our own imagining...  Whatever concerns us ultimately, whatever is the controlling dynamic of our life, is our god. For some people it is family, for others its careers, or getting ahead, or reaching the top. Whatever is dominant in our life is our god; and if it is anything other than the Lord God Himself, that's idolatry.  Before we can walk with Him we need to deal with those things. He wants His people to allow Him to be supreme, and so He told Abram to leave his country, his people, and his father's house. He told him to throw away the gods of his forefathers so he could start afresh, so he could learn to serve Him in singular faithfulness...

     God is a God of mercy -- He is a God of the second chance, and the third chance, and the fourth chance, and fifth and sixth and so on. When we come to Him -- even though we've been walking in the wrong direction,  even though we've stopped for a time and have not been moving at all -- if we recognize that we've been disobedient, and confess and deal with our sin by repentance, we can start over again right away.  God's forgiveness cleanses, and the grace of God again begins to flow toward us, and in us, as the joy of our salvation is restored."

     In our day it must be asked if we seek to walk with God as He really is.  That is, if we seek to walk with the God who is revealed in the Bible as being Holy above all else -- Holy, Holy Holy.  Unspeakably Holy and unalterably opposed to sin.  A God who as Fullam points out, calls us to be holy as He is holy (I Peter 1:16).  In many ways this calls us to divest ourselves of some of the common misrepresentations we have about Him in our minds. It means we must be willing to rid ourselves of the images of Him that we've created (or adopted over time) that make us feel more comfortable in dealing with Him.

     In 1987 when Fullam wrote the book, he could say, "Holiness is not a popular idea today."  I would say that is even more the case today.  Yet if we are to walk with God we must not ignore His primary attribute.  For we are told He is, "the Holy One of Israel."   We are told to "glory in His Holy name" (I Chron. 16:10).  Scripture tells us, "our God is Holy," and "His ways are Holy" (Ps. 77:13 / Ps. 99:9).  No other attribute of God is ever repeated three times in rapid succession. God is never said to be, "Love, Love Love," or"Mercy, Mercy, Mercy."  But He is said on three occasions to be, "Holy, Holy, Holy."  And therefore, if we desire to walk with Him, we must seek to grasp -- maybe above all else -- exactly what that means. For if we do not envision a God who is holy, we are not envisioning the God who is.

May we learn to walk with Him in holiness and reverence, Pastor Jeff