To please people

From Chuck Swindoll -- a word to one of pastors' toughest temptations -- pleasing people:

Though we are accountable to the churches we serve, ultimately, each one of us, as a pastor, answers to God. Without that sort of single-minded devotion to the Lord, we run the risk of becoming people-pleasers or worse, slaves of other’s expectations. Pastors who become pawns as they focus on pleasing people are pathetic wimps.

Our responsibility is to deliver what God’s people need, not what they want. As we do, that truth should hit us with the same authority as it does the folks to whom we communicate. May God deliver every honest pastor, every truth-seeking church leader, and every Christian from the bondage of pleasing people.

“For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).

Grace is what sets Christ’s message apart

English preacher Charles Spurgeon got a letter from a man who wrote to say he’d been examining Christianity -- he’d been going to church for some time, but he'd been repeatedly disappointed by what he’d experienced there. He wrote to say he was ready to abandon his experiment with Christianity and walk away. But, before he did, he wondered if Spurgeon might have something to say to his situation.

Spurgeon responded with a story. There was a man who had a wonderful apple tree; it bore the most beautiful and sweetest red apples imaginable. But there was a problem. Everyone knew how good his apples were, so everyone who came by helped themselves to his apples. To stop the thefts, the man decided he’d plant lots of other apple trees all around the good tree. Except the others all produced only sour apples.

Spurgeon said, "you need to know that out on the fringes of Christianity and churches, there are lots of sour, bad apples. You’ll find anger, dishonesty, hypocrisy. But, he told the man: if you will press on, if you will press inward, toward the center, you will discover that the heart, the trunk, of Christianity is sweet and delectable beyond your wildest imaginations. When you reach the trunk, I guarantee, you’ll never be dissatisfied."

The heart and trunk and center of Christianity is God’s grace revealed in and through His Son Jesus. As the NT unpacks grace, it is the heart of our faith. Grace is what sets Christ’s message apart from every religion on earth. You will discover that most religions have some concept of justice. Justice means, people will get what they deserve.

In some religions you even discover some thought of mercy. Mercy says that you may not get the punishment you deserve. Only Christianity introduces you to grace. Grace says God gives you as a gift, what you do not deserve. No religion offers grace! But, the sick truth is, in Christianity, it also is often missing. Grace is a theory we believe or a concept we sing about, not a Truth we celebrate and enjoy and live. But if we’ll get hold of what the NT says, we’ll realize grace is a truth we should feast on, one we need to hear again and again.

Man at Odds with the World

Working on 1 John 2:15-17 this week for the "Satan's plan for your life" message series -- this week it's "He wants you buying what the world is selling". I read this quotation from Bonhoeffer:

"In a world where success is the measure and justification of all things, the figure of him who was sentenced and crucified remains a stranger." Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian, pastor, and martyr (1906–1945)

A refreshing word from a far country

What pastor wouldn't get encouraged by a simple note like a missionary friend sent yesterday.

Dear Dean,
I am praying for you personally. I know the struggles of pastoral work very personally and intimately. How can I pray for you more specifically?
Your friend in Jesus,
Chris

Jesus Loves Me

According to the story, the great intellectual man (I think he was even a theologian) was asked by someone after a lecture, "what's the greatest thought you've ever had?" His reply was swift and simple: "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so!" In his "time alone with God" book and instructions, John Maxwell said, in your time with God you need some time to just sit and "let God love you." That was a new one for me! That's what verses I read this morning allowed me to do -- sit and bask in the Father's love.

³⁵ Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ³⁶ (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) ³⁷ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^b]">[b] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39 NLT)

Me? Humble?

My wife and I talked again yesterday about humility. In part it flows from Paul's word in Philippians to consider others' needs as more important than our own -- to put others first! You can't get much more antithetical than that to a "me first!" culture. Maybe again, that's why humility is clearly one of the most accurate barometers of how we're doing in Christ-likeness. Don't imagine I'll tell you how to become humble! It's kind of like they used to say about being a member of the Brethren Churches. The moment you say "you are" -- you no longer are!

Someone said, you need to fail miserably before you discover how deeply you need God and people -- and the more you need humility in your life. If humility is a barometer, what are its barometers?

• Thinking your opinion or behavior is superior than most others’ opinions or behavior.
• Wanting your own way: even in the stupid, small things of life.
• Arguing on -- even when it's obvious you’re wrong -- or when you are right, acting badly about it.
• Inserting your opinion when its your heart people need to see.
• Forgetting that it is God Who gives you all the stuff and gifts you "possess" and He can also take them away.
• Using “I” much more than "you" in conversations.
• Saying things that smack of “false humility” -- so others will really think you're really humble!
• Making excuses when you get corrected
• Hiding your faults
• Being hurt when others get recognized and you don’t
• Never volunteering to do the menial tasks (or being willing to do them when no one's watching!)

Where are the servants

It strikes me that we "full-time Christians" get so driven to do the ministry rather than equipping others to do it (Ephesians 4:11-17). I wonder -- does that directly short-circuit Christ's transformational process in people -- in developing all Christians to be servants first. ("serve" is the root word for "ministry" in all the languages I know). Instead of servants, we've now got a generation of spectators. Maybe we "full-timers" need to re-visit how deeply interconnected Jesus' ideas of serving, humility and leadership really are. Maybe then we wouldn't be looking so in vain for servants -- and leaders.