What Really Matters

There are times in ministry when God places people in your life for specific reasons. God uses these people as an example for us to see Christ. I like to call them Christ-reflectors. Undoubtedly, we are to be Christ-like. We should mirror our Maker. But at times we forget what that means in everyday practical life. Such was a time in my life when I was focused on the “ministry” and not focused on simply being Christ-like. God used Mattie to remind me of what really matters.

Unfortunately, the lifestyles between the typical American and the typical Christian are, well, typical. Not much difference exists between the two. About 25% of born-again believers are likely to view sexually explicit movies and magazines, use profanity in public, or by a lottery ticket. About 33% of non-Christians are likely to engage in the same activities. In fact, the most common activity shared between Americans is recycling. As noble as recycling is, what a glorious day when surveys reveal the thread that ties this nation together is Jesus Christ, not recycling.

Mattie was no typical American. She was rock-solid in her faith. I was her pastor, but she taught me so much. At a time when I was worried about growing the church, discipling others, and putting air conditioning in the sanctuary (yes, my first church had no A/C), she quietly reflected Christ through a tragedy.

I received the call late one evening from her husband, Billy Joe. He was matter-of-fact. Mattie had been diagnosed with cancer and was to undergo a full mastectomy the following day. While I did my best to comfort him, he and Mattie were already putting it all on the alter. I have never seen such an upbeat couple at the moment of one of their darkest hours.

Visiting them that Saturday following the surgery, I walked into the hospital room to see Mattie laughing – Billy Joe was cutting up with her like he always did. She had a hearty laugh. Billy Joe was a large graying man, and he talked so fast you could only pick up two or three words of an entire sentence. But he knew how to make her smile. When you talked to Mattie, she would always smile and nod with you in agreement. Even in the hospital bed, her cheeks were rosy. When I said hello, she nodded with an “mmmhummn.”

She was in a lot of pain, but she was reflecting Christ’s joy though the whole ordeal. She could tell I was somewhat uncomfortable with their contagious laughter. After all, I was the pastor going to counsel a couple going through a tremendously rough time. I didn’t quite know how to handle their positive attitudes. So she decided to lighten up the atmosphere by showing me the sealed plastic pouch that was catching all the drainage from her surgery. She laughed even harder when she saw the look on my face as she detailed all about her surgery. Needless to say, Mattie and Billy Joe were rough around the edges.

But their roughness rubbed me the right way. I saw Christ in their lives through-and-through. While Billy Joe stayed beside her the entire time, he never missed church. He was my only usher to take the offering and say the offertory prayer. He knew that the church needed him. Mattie knew that was his part in serving Christ.

The Sunday Mattie returned was a surprise. She wasn’t too far removed from her surgery when halfway through the service she and Billy Joe walked in. I typically do not tear up during a sermon. But I stopped the service in the middle of my sermon and in tears welcomed back God’s faithful servants. That day, God used Mattie to change my perspective. God utilized her faithfulness to show me I didn’t have to do it all, that I am not my own foundation, that my own talents and abilities will never be properly utilized apart from His guidance. God used her to show this pastor what really matters.

Where is the Church Going?

As a pastor, I am always thinking about the future. How can we reach our community better? What can we do to disciple people more? How do we get more members on fire about sharing their faith? I want to know where my church is going. So I am constantly in thought about the future health of my church.

But one of my members said something a couple of days ago that struck a chord. Our families had just finished dinner, and we were talking in generalities about the future of our church. She interluded, “Sam, as long as you are honest and open and sincere, you will have our support.”

I thought about what she had said in light of our conversation. What she was not looking for in her pastor was cutting-edge ideas, nor polished sermons. She just wanted the open and honest Truth. She did not want me to use the church as a loudspeaker for my own means of personal success and glory. She wants her pastor to be the loudspeaker for Jesus, and him alone.

I wonder about the church in general. I wonder where it is going. More than 4 out of 5 teens say that they have attended church for a period of at least two months during their teen years. Yet only 39% of these teens are still in church in their twenties. The church appears to be losing young people to the influence of secular culture.

I think part of the problem is a lack of sincerity, a lack of honesty with the gospel message, and a lack of genuine care for people.

In one of my mindless amazon.com perusals I came across a book entitled The Church of Tomorrow, written in 1936. I had to have it (as usual). It is mainly about the architecture of the church building, not the actual church body. But I will share with you an excerpt:

Now seldom can we find a church yielding a warm, rich exquisite sense of life and comfort if entered solitary reverie. Often an empty showiness is all we can find; seldom the quiet which is not loneliness; seldom the inspiring warmth and dignity of a great sheltering space which fills the individual with content and permits the lonely to be less alone. Quiet, unity, and expressiveness must be regained.

We certainly could use a little less “empty showiness” and a little more “unity” within the church body today. Perhaps the church of tomorrow will be a little healthier. Perhaps Christians will become a little more unified. Perhaps we will find ways to reach the younger generation. Perhaps, like my church member pointed out, we will be genuine and sincere.

In looking forward, I am an optimist. As I tell my church, since God is guiding us, there is no reason to be anything but optimistic. But I am also a realist that many churches are not as healthy as they should be. My church certainly has room for improvement. I myself have areas in my life that I need to give over more to God. So in looking to the church of tomorrow, I realize that the work must begin today. Minute theological divisions will have to be bridged. The competitive nature for butts in the pews between churches in the same localities will have to be squelched. The church body will have to care genuinely about each other at an individual church, local, state, and denominational level. The cross must become the foundation of our endeavors. So let’s all begin the work to make the church of tomorrow a reality today.

Like-Minded Brothers and Sisters

I am currently involved in one of the most insincere processes in our society. Going through this process I have learned that people first look out for their own interests as opposed to others. I have also learned that the world is full of very stubborn and irrational people – myself included. I am trying to sell my townhouse.

I spent a few years in the corporate world before being called to full-time ministry. It was there that I learned that “you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.” I worked in the energy commodities trading world and saw firsthand how sharks eat – they gobble as much as possible and don’t leave anything for anyone else. Such is the game. Little fish get eaten; big fish get bigger. ‘Negotiate’ is synonymous with ‘feeding frenzy’.

In selling my home, I have tabulated exactly how much equity I need in my current home to get the size house that I want for a new home. And I put on my thick skin when it comes to negotiating. The realtors want to buy and sell their homes, not another realtor’s homes. The seller wants the highest price possible. The buyer is aiming low in this down market. Nobody has the same interest. Nobody has the same skin in the game.

In Philippians 2, Paul tells us that we must be “like-minded” in order to truly care about each others’ interests. And that we should not seek our own interests, but rather those of Jesus Christ. The church is certainly not a place for elbowing in your own agenda so that your ideas are at the forefront. The church is not a place for negotiating your requests at the expense of someone else. We are to be like-minded brothers and sisters.

Epaphroditus was willing to sacrifice his life for Paul. He was a “brother, co-worker, and fellow soldier” for the sake of the gospel. Our churches need brothers and sisters who are willing to take up their crosses. Our churches need pastors who will humble themselves for the sake of unity, even if it means a little less limelight.

The problem is the water people are swimming in is luke-warm. Their spiritual lives are full of mushy ambiguity. The Center for Missional Research reports that only 15% of those who regularly attend a Christian church rank their relationship with God as the top priority in their lives. Only 21% of adults claim that their lives are holy, and many of them also claim they have no idea what is meant by true holiness. Luke-warm water is the prime temperature for church feeding frenzies.

Without the right focus in life, one cannot help but to become insincere. Without Christ as the foundation, people begin to fight for their own interests. Churches begin to negotiate over the silliest things. Arrogance becomes the dominant trait of church leaders.

The world needs a unified Christian front. This “crooked and perverted generation” needs “shining stars” reflecting Christ. Are you up for building bridges at the cost of your own personal interests? Or are you still negotiating your agendas on the church? Because apart from Christ none of us will get what we negotiate, we will get what we deserve.

A Plea for Unity

We’ve all heard it – technology is a double-edged sword. And there is no bigger technology breakthrough in recent years than the Internet. The Internet revolution has its great advantages, from instantaneous information dissemination to easy entertainment. But the disadvantages are prevalent as well. Our keyboards can be large megaphones reaching the far corners of the world. Email, blogs, and text messaging are all extensions of the tongue. And Scripture has some pointed words about the tongue. Proverbs 12:18 says that a rash speaker pierces with his words like a sword, yet the tongue of the wise brings healing. James tells us that the tongue can be tough to tame and full of restless evil.

I can’t imagine life without a tongue, nor can I imagine a day without access to email. I get symptoms of withdrawal if I go half a day without checking my inbox. It is indeed a great tool of efficiency. Email, blogs, and other quick-info-senders also can become tools of restless evil. And this malevolence has crept into our churches. It’s very easy to send a quick quip, barbing someone via email, or jousting though the blogosphere. It seems the age-old problem of disunity within churches has spilled into Internet hinterland.

The electronic era is in full swing. In fact, 56% of Americans report that they spend at least up to an hour a day glued to the screen of glowing pixels. Youth ministers now have to become proactive about seeking out info that their students put on their personal websites. It can be disheartening to see what they place in the public domain. And I have read blogs by pastors and other church leaders that are downright venomous. These leaders are throwing electronic grenades simply to prove their point.

While many are using this newfound technology for good, there are a wide variety of people within the church causing envy and strife. The apostle Paul pleaded with the Corinthian church that they would be unified with no divisions. I assure you that his letter did not become irrelevant with the advent of our post-modern time. If anything, his words are needed now more than ever.

Sometimes dirty laundry needs to be aired. Sometimes the public needs to know the dirt. Sweeping something under the rug can be just as bad as blabbing it to the world. But one of the main goals of the church is unity. We must exemplify this unity. How will the world ever see Christ in us if all they read about on the Internet is the amount of infighting we have?

Differences must be worked out, but we also stand together. We are to stand firm, a unified body of Christ. And what greater testimony than a church that has come together for the purpose of God’s glory!

One of my church members emailed me last week. He was encouraging me about my sermon on humility, and he wanted to add one point. Contained in this email was a quote that I will share with you. He said, “Don’t ever look down on someone unless you are bending over to give them a hand up.” If only this attitude pervaded our churches and what Christians type, text, blog, and email everyday.

Pastors Who Lack Interest

I’m not too big on cooking. I worked as the grill guru-master at a local wings joint for three years while in college, so I know my way around fast food. But I am certainly not a skilled chef. It is just something for which I have no passion.

Being recently married, my wife and I have discovered that we must cook something in order to eat. It was a bit of a shock that first week of marriage. Neither of us is all that passionate about cooking. And this lack of interest recently showed when we tried to host a dinner party a couple of weeks ago.

We saw this recipe in a cookbook that sounded quite tasty. But cookbooks are only good in theory – you have to follow the directions in order to produce something edible. What we concocted for this dinner party was certainly not edible. We were attempting to make something called soufflé. What we got was ‘soup-ple.’ Luckily, we had enough chips and dip to squelch any hunger pains.

For a couple of weeks we laughed about how pitiful our attempt was, but we didn’t figure out our mistake until we were making another dish. For all you single persons and young married couples out there who are learning to cook, here’s a grand tip: when the stick of butter says ‘1 tbsp’ on the side, it doesn’t mean that the entire stick of butter equals one tablespoon It means just that one section is a tablespoon. I know, I know, I’m a flippin’ genius. You can thank me later.

The bottom line: to be a good chef you need to be passionate and knowledgeable about the kitchen. The same passion applies to any job that you undertake. It also applies to ministry. And why people go into the ministry without passion for what they are doing baffles me. In a recent study by Ellison Research, it was uncovered that four out of ten pastors state that they are not interested in reaching out further to their communities. Such is the case with all major denominations, and it holds true with both evangelical and mainline churches. So how can a pastor not want to do the ministry required of the position?

The excuses abound - from lack of funds or facilities to not enough time to outright apathy about the community. It’s time for pastors and churches to drop the excuses. Many will say, “Once we grow some more, then we can…” But growth of a church just cannot occur nor be sustained unless that church is reaching out to the community in some fashion.

It’s so easy to get into the internal mindset, falling into the trap of focusing solely on the members of the church. While this ministry is crucially important, Christ also calls Christians to an entire world of ministry beyond the church walls.

And there are many easy ways to reach out to people who may have never stepped foot into any church. One idea that I saw work at my first church was serving a free community breakfast before Sunday morning service, advertising it to the surrounding neighbors. But the point is not the actual program. The point is getting people excited about an outward focus in the church. Once this fire catches, it is contagious. And it must start at the top. If you are one of the four out of ten pastors wallowing in apathy, then more than likely your church will not see an outward focus come to fruition. Those who are lay leaders, one way to spark a fire is to demonstrate to the pastor your passion of seeing people come to know Christ. We must all be leaders in the area of evangelism and outreach. The bright side is that 6 out of 10 pastors truly want to reach out further to their communities. But the imperative of Acts 1:8 is simply not optional. This imperative also calls us beyond just our immediate communities. And nothing would be more exciting than seeing whole segments of a people come to Christ, sparking a global revival.