Where Thou is it Written

I just finished preaching in our outdoor service at Library Square in Hutchinson. The biblical text was Colossians 3:1-4. It is hard to preach when all you notes are flying in the wind. Ironically, we sang "I'll Fly Away" just before I preached. But it is the sermon prep that I want to make an observation on.

After I finish my sermon, I will check the internet to see how others approached the text or perhaps look for an illustration if I am stuck. So yesterday I looked at what the world-wide had on this passage. My favorite preachers (ones that have a research team to support them) do very good job on the text. Also, I found one pastor who seemed to me to nail the passage, though what I could read was the bare outline. He had it right.

What disturbed me most was the poor sermons I came across, those purporting to be on Col. 3:1-4, but never came close. One was from a denomination that uses a certain reading for the particular Sunday. I was pleased to find one Sunday on Col. 3:1-4. Though the preacher started in Job, I patiently waited for reference to my passage. Through twists and turns, the preacher's conclusion was something like this: "And know we see that we end up where we began with the passage of today, Col. 3:1-4." I was aghast! The sermon never once touched the passage.

Another fellow, perhaps due to lack of time, or some more devious design, stated his passage as Col. 3:1-4, then gave his congregation as talk on Rick Warren's five purposes of the church (I did not check to see if it was verbatim or not). Not once did he mention Col. 3:1-4 in the body of the sermon. Woe are us preachers if we handle God's word in such a dishonest way. At least he should have been honest enough to credit Rick Warren.

A few more of the internet offerings were so man-focused that they hardly mentioned Christ, the main character certainly in the apostle Paul's passage. Most put the focus on man's activities and life without realizing that Colossians is about Christ's Supremacy.

All my findings confirm Spurgeon's advice to his students, that they should keep their old sermons so that every five years or so, they can weep over them. I have my share of poorer sermons, but God help me if I do not treat the text with respect to attempt to convey its meaning.

Just for Fun - Cut it Out with the CO2 - Don't Exhale

Have you ever seen two new headlines, unconnected, and put them together in your head? There was one article on Al Gore and the EPA pushing to have CO2 be called a pollutant. Now I am not a science major, but I exhale CO2 and I don't know how to stop it. So here is my suggestion: we could save the world by banning the politicians from exhaling. This is where the other article comes in: NASA is asking us where they should go next. My suggestion is that they go to Washington D.C. and see if there is any intelligent life present. :)

The Seduction of Rick Warren

The decision by President-Elect Obama to have Rick Warren conduct the invocation at his Inauguration has been controversial because of his stands on homosexuality and abortion. But as I was pondering this decision, my concern is for Rick Warren. Is there a danger for him as he becomes more and more mainstream? I think of a pure mountain stream as it travels and is diluted into a river. In his effort to appeal to Obama, will he start to dilute the message of Jesus Christ and the gospel? What about the verse in 1 Corinthians that says that bad company corrupts good character (15:33)?

That is why I entitled this entry the seduction of Rick Warren. In his desire to make an impact, he will be tempted to leave out the hard stuff: that there is one God in three persons, that Jesus is the only way, that there are moral absolutes and that the Bible is the complete inerrant word of God. Pray for Pastor Rick that he can rise above those who have succumbed to the seduction of the evil one.

Personal Revival

I was really struck with Richard Baxter's words in the following entry. He was a pastor in the 1600s, best know for his work The Reformed Pastor (not reformed in the sense of theological position, but reform in that you are being changed). Now that I am preaching a little more consistently, I am amazed at how easy it is to get too comfortable. I need to remember that this is God's Word I am handling and I am called to account for people's souls (Hebrews 13:17). Lord, help me to have my eyes on you and seek to please you and find my pleasure in obeying you. Don't let the old english fool you, these words could have been written today.

The Need of Personal Revival
Richard Baxter

Know not what others think, but for my own part I am ashamed of my stupidity, and wonder at myself that I deal not with my own and others souls as one that looks for the great day of the Lord; and that I can have room for almost any other thoughts and words; and that such astonishing matters do not wholly absorb my mind. I marvel how I can preach of them slightly and coldly; and how I can let men alone in their sins; and that I do not go to them, and beseech them, for the Lord's sake, to repent, however they may take it, and whatever pain and trouble it should cost me.
I seldom come out of the pulpit but my conscience smiteth me that I have been no more serious and fervent. It accuseth me not so much for want of ornaments and elegancy, nor for letting fall an unhandsome word; but it asketh me, 'How couldst thou speak of life and death with such a heart? How couldst thou preach of heaven and hell in such a careless, sleepy manner? Dost thou believe what thou sayest? Art thou in earnest, or in jest? How canst thou tell people that sin is such a thing, and that so much misery is upon them and before them, and be no more affected with it? Shouldst thou not weep over such a people, and should not thy tears interrupt thy words? Shouldst thou not cry aloud, and show them their transgressions; and entreat and beseech them as for life and death?'
And for myself, as I am ashamed of my dull and careless heart, and of my slow and unprofitable course of life, so, the Lord knows, I am ashamed of every sermon I preach; when I think what I have been speaking of, and who sent me, and that men's salvation or damnation is so much concerned in it, I am ready to tremble lest God should judge me as a slighter of His truths and the souls of men, and lest in the best sermon I should be guilty of their blood. Methinks we should not speak a word to men in matters of such consequence without tears, or the greatest earnestness that possibly we can; were not we too much guilty of the sin which we reprove, it would be so.
Truly this is the peal that conscience doth ring in my ears, and yet my drowsy soul will not be awakened. Oh, what a thing is an insensible, hardened heart! O Lord, save us from the plague of infidelity and hard-heartedness ourselves, or else how shall we be fit instruments of saving others from it? Oh, do that on our souls which thou wouldst use us to do on the souls of others.

What an Equpping Church Looks Like

As I ponder the question of what an equipping church looks like, three words come right to the forefront: Biblical, Intentional, Relational. An equipping church must start with a focus on the finished work of Jesus Christ and allow the grace and promise of the Gospel infiltrate all they do.

Biblical

We live in a day and age of quick fixes, microwave solutions. This often spills over to the manner in which we look at equipping the Body of Christ. I get plenty of catalogs and e-mails promoting the new program or tool to develop leaders. Our goal is to make Jesus the center of all we do, so we better look at the Word of God to be the center of all we are and do. In our haste to produce ministries and leaders we need to see want the Lord is saying before we act. There may not be a step by step process, but we can learn from Biblical examples of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Ezra, Nehemiah, Jesus, Peter, John, and Paul. We are blessed with real-life modeling of Jesus to His disciples; Paul to Timothy, Solomon to his sons (Proverbs).

As we build this foundation of equipping on the Holy Scriptures, we realize our dependence on God and the work of the Holy Spirit in developing leaders for His Church. If we start with a business model, we are sure to stray from our focus of godly head, heart, and hands.

Intentional

Leadership development and general equipping of the Body will not happen automatically. In Charles Hummel’s classic booklet, Tyranny of the Urgent, we discover that the important often gets set aside because of the urgent less important day-to-day stuff of life. Hummel quotes a manager, “Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important.” Have we let “the winds of other people’s demands” drive “us onto a reef of frustration?”

Being intentional means that we take time to plan, take aim to execute, and close the loop by evaluating how we are doing. These three things will not come by happenstance, but by intentionality. But being intentional is much more work. There is the need to row against the winds of the urgent, focusing our eyes on the destination.

Relational

Equipping the next generation of leaders and ministry partners must be done in the context of relationship. This is not development by proxy, but by rubbing shoulders. When the apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians he told them that he not only shared the gospel, but his very life. Some call this, “life on life,” and that is a good phrase. Equipping people must include mentoring and discipleship, working alongside others to show by example and watch as they develop. All this takes time, but it is worth it in the long run.

Jesus is our master model here too. He lived with the twelve disciples, modeled ministry and lived out love before their eyes, and then sent them out, two-by-two, to let them live it out. After, they compared notes and corrective teaching and encouragement followed; All this in the context of relationships.

Are our Churches Becoming like the New Boxes of Cereal?

I was eating my Trix cereal the other day and I noticed something. Though the front face of the cereal box was the same size, the box has been getting thinner and thinner over the years. I learned in Business School that Cereal Producers die for space on the grocery store shelves. So in an effort to maintain shelf presence they needed to do something to balance cost and price. Their solution: reduce the amount of cereal without "appearing" as if anything has changed. So now, a box of Trix is and 1-1/4 inches and offering less cereal for the same price.

I started to think about our churches. On the front face, our churches look the same as they have in the passed. Though attendance is down, we still maintain a facade of health. We have glitz and programs, but I would suggest that something is wrong. We are becoming thinner and thinner every year. The cost of discipleship is becoming less and less each year. It is is harder to get people to attend Sunday morning. And the church at large is missing the depth of faith that was present in the early church or at the beginning of the Reformation.As a pastor this is a warning and a judgment. I need to continue to hold out the Cross of Jesus Christ and the life that He would have us live. Luke 9:23 is still in the Bible: "If anyone wishes to come after Me (Jesus), let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. I cannot soft peddle the gospel for it is the power of God. so I need to be on my knees more for the local church that God has called me to. With tears and pleading I must encourage them to pursue Christ.

Diving In

I have been keeping a journal since 1982 and now am on my 53rd volume. I do not think that this blog will supercede the hand-written journal. I really enjoy having a pen in my hand, being able to draw connecting lines, arrows, write sideways. My journals these days contain private prayers to the God and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, so those may not be of interest. And, frankly, I am not very good at writing critical essays on current events.

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Sooo, this blog will probably contain the better of my hand-written entries. For instance, the other day I was reading a Calvin commentary on Philippians 2:21 and was struck cold by a paragraph that he wrote.

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"...How great a hindrance it is to Christ's ministers to seek their own interests...For you must give up your own right if you would discharge your duty: a regard to your own interests must not be put in preference to Christ’s glory, or even placed upon a level with it. Whithersoever Christ calls you, you must go promptly, leaving off all other things. Your calling ought to be regarded by you in such a way, that you shall turn away all your powers of perception from everything that would impede you.

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It might be in your power to live elsewhere in greater opulence, but God has bound you to the Church, which affords you but a very moderate sustenance: you might elsewhere have more honor, but God has assigned you a situation, in which you live in a humble style: you might have elsewhere a more salubrious sky, or a more delightful region, but it is here that your station is appointed.

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You might wish to have to do with a more humane people: you feel offended with their ingratitude, or barbarity, or pride; in short, you have no sympathy with the disposition or the manners of the nation in which you are, but you must struggle with yourself, and do violence in a manner to opposing inclinations, that you may keep by the trade you have got; for you are not free, or at your own disposal. In fine, forget yourself, if you would serve God."

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How this comment has touched my heart. It is so easy to follow my own self-interest, wanting ministry my own way, desiring God to work in such and such a way...all for seemingly good motivations. But Calvin has forced me to show my hand. For I must give up my own right to discharge my ministry. Lord Jesus help me.