Growing Old In Christ

Because the New Testament was written over such a short period of time there are a lot of things that are missing from the NT cannon. We have the letters of Paul and a few of the first apostles; James, John, Peter, Jude. I wonder if their expectation of the return of Christ made them not care to write about everything that they dealt with in day to day living.  History in the New Testament is almost by accident. 

One thing that is missing is how to grow old in Christ. It seems that the early apostles had no sense of growing older even though they are all dead and gone today. To find anything on growing older we have to search the Old Testament where there is more information available.

"Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; Even I will carry, and will deliver you" Isa.46:4

"Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails." Psalm 71:9

In the first century AD no one lived as long as we do. It would be hard for those who lived short lives to give us who live longer useful advice.

"And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Mat. 28:20

"Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, I have no pleasure in them." Eccl. 12:1

God bless us, everyone!

Remembering Pastor Mitchell.

I remember pastor Wayman Mitchell as he was preaching how he would walk over and adjust the thermostat for the sanctuary. It was on the platform behind the organ. Never missed a beat. He noticed some discomfort in the audience and he took steps to fix that.

I always saw pastor Mitchell standing by the main entrance to greet people as they came in for church. He did not have long conversations with anybody. But he would shake your hand and greet you by name.

Often, after prayer before an evening service, pastor Mitchell would come out of the prayer room and he would go around the sanctuary shaking hands and greeting people who had arrived early.

I say this simply to say that it is obvious whether your pastor is a people person or not. 

If you do not like people or if you are uncomfortable interacting with people being a pastor may not be a good fit for you. It takes more than a calling to succeed.

PS: pastor Mitchell told us how he used to stand in the bathroom rehearsing his sermons. I wonder how many other pastors practice preaching before they stand up on Sunday morning to preach.

Perfect, Or Good Enough?

 Some of my friends are going camping today. They made lists of what they need to take with them. They started planning weeks ago for this. They didn't wake up this morning and say, let's go camping!

We think that romantic love is just waking up one day and there he is, or she is, the perfect match for you. That magically your perfect mate will come to you unexpectedly, like a dream. 

There is a word to describe people who do not make plans to climb a mountain. The word is dead. Failure to plan is planning to fail. What makes us think that we can scale the uncertain heights of love without any kind of plan beyond what I wear or how I look? 

There is a mystery to romantic love for sure. You are looking for someone who you do not know with the idea of marrying them and spending the rest of your life with them.

On the idea of finding your soul mate or finding the perfect person for you. There is no such person. No one, including you, is perfect. Instead of looking for the perfect person, maybe a better approach is to look for someone who is good enough. Find someone who you can get along with, and grow up together.

Falling in love sounds wonderful. But in reality, you marry a stranger, and then two selfish people begin the gargantuan task of learning to live together under one roof. You do not fall in love as much as you grow into love. Real love takes time to grow.

He marries her hoping she will never change. She will. She marries him determined to change him. He won't change much. The sooner a couple can accept this the quicker they will learn to love the person that they married.

You plan for months to prepare a perfect wedding. Maybe spend less time on the wedding and more time on being good enough for someone to want to get to know you. Looks may get you noticed, but they want to know you, not just appreciate how you look.

"A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Prov.18:24

The end of my thoughts are; be friendly, and trust that God is better at choosing than we are.

Enduring Hardness Like A Good Soldier.

"You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." 2Tim.2:3

There are times when I come home from church and I dive in to study for myself what I just heard preached. Tonight was one of those times.

What are the hardships of being a good soldier? Here is what I found.

1. They must carry a heavy load of gear. Physically demanding.

2. They often are in harsh or extreme climates unlike home. 

3. They go through high intensity training. 

4. The physical demands of combat. Going from rest to high alert or attack.

5. Sleep deprivation. Little or no sleep while under stress.

6. Nutritional needs unmet. Survival, but not nutritional.

7. Injury rehab. Injuries happen. You get wounded or hurt.

Soldiers are trained to maintain high physical fitness and resilience. There is a comradery among fellow soldiers. There is a sense of duty that motivates you. To be a good soldier you must endure these and many other hardships.

Paul uses the term "endure hardness" which is the Greek word kakopatheo. This word is only used twice in the New Testament, both in second Timothy. Here is the other place.

"But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry" 2Tim.4:5

Both endure hardness and endure affliction are one Greek word. It is a word that implies suffering, enduring, and implies something hard or evil.

To survive in the ministry you must learn to endure when things get hard. Discipleship is the training ground for ministry. You want an easy life, do not become a pastor.

Real Love or Romantic Love?

 "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." 1Cor.13:1-2

First let me say that love is an action word, not a feeling or emotion. Love is defined by what we do and by the motivation by which we do things. Maybe it is the quality, and not the quantity, of our actions that define us. In God's economy, love is more important than results.

Second, love involves words that we speak. Verse one talks about things that we say. Men know that romantic love is expressed by words that we say. Real love can be measures not by the number of words that we speak but by the spirit by which words are spoken.

Third, love is stronger than faith or miracles. The greatest of these is love according to verse 13. Real love will get you through the hard times of life.

Fourth, love is shown through giving. If you love, you will give. What will you give? You give what you have; your time, your talent, and your money. 

Finally, real love and romantic love are two very different things. Romantic love is a mystery, real love is obvious.

"Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." James 2:18

The same could be said about real love. Show me your love without action, and I will show you my love by my actions. Real love is more than a feeling.

Worship Wars Aftermath

No one talks about the worship wars anymore. That fight seems to be over. But in it's wake we have been left with modern worship music that sounds more like a love song or a prayer. Singing romantic love songs to Jesus makes me uncomfortable. Would you sing a love song to your pastor? Have you ever sang a romantic love song to your wife? Singing is worship, extolling God for who He is and honoring Him for what He's done. Save the romance for your wife.

That music sounds like a prayer should not bother us, but it bothers me. If you want to pray, then pray. Make your petitions known to God. Come boldly to the throne of grace. Call upon Him while He is near. But save praying for prayer time, not for singing.

The old hymns, which are the casualties of the worship wars and the seeker sensitive movement, were songs written by real Christians to a mighty God.  In this case, the old wine is better.

One more thought. I am tired of the kick butt songs challenging Satan to a fight. The enemy's name ought not to be sung in our worship services.

A Moratorium On Travel?

 What if our Fellowship declared a moratorium on pastoral travel?  Pastors need to travel to keep the Fellowship on track, right? To keep the main thing the main thing. That may have been true in the early days, but is it still true today?

What if a senior pastor only went out of town maybe 6 times a year? He could travel to conferences. He might even follow Wayman Mitchell's plan of doing healing crusades. Or he could take a vacation for 2 or 3 weeks a year to visit family or to de-stress.  It has to be hard to be the senior pastor when you are absent from your own church so much. Hard to be a shepherd to a flock that you rarely see.

We know what to do said pastor Tom Payne. I agree. God knows what to do too. It is still a work of God isn't it? 

If the senior pastor cannot pull the plug on travel, then maybe he needs to authorize one of his assistants to have not only preaching spots but also to make plans and to spend money and to organize activities.

When I need to talk to a pastor, which is not often, I know who I am going to call. It will not be my senior pastor. It will be one of our assistant pastors. They help me. They are available.

A local church needs a pastor, whether it is a church of 100 people or 1000 people. They all need someone to be there to teach and to preach and to marry and to bury. Someone who takes their calling seriously.