Why Do We It

Thanks to my friend Ron Freeman for sharing the following Journal. Ron currently serves as Pastor of Worship at Lakeview Baptist Church where I am the Intentional Interim Pastor.

Why Do We Do It?

“The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)

Do you ever search to find what is at the root of why we act the way we do? We all follow traditions and many times have no clue why we do what we do. Some of those traditions may still be needed and some may have been adopted because of a certain need at the time. Why do we just follow blindly and not ask questions?

Over the years I have watched how we in the church have operated. I have watched us become convicted by a need and then out of our concern create a program to meet that need. We become passionate about it for a while then when our interest is sparked by something else we let it die. Why do we do that? The needs most of the time are still there but it is our commitment to them that wanes. We see the need to reach the lost in the community so we decide that we will start a program to reach the lost of the community. It works for a short time then interest dies and the lost of the community remain lost. Oswald Chambers said: “When the Spirit of God comes into a man, He gives him a worldwide outlook.” What I think he is saying is that God gives us something to look at that is bigger than ourselves. We always seem to be the center of the universe.

In this passage where was the focus of need? It was on a tax collector named Zaccheaus that “the people” said was “sinful.” Have you ever noticed that? It was the people present and not God pointing the finger? Who were “the people” that Jesus was drawn to? It was the tax collector, a prostitute, and adulteress, beggars, and lepers. The ones Jesus had the harsh word for were the ones who thought they had it all together and were above need.

Romans 3:23 says; “All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.” Notice the word “All” We must realize that none of us are better than the one “people” call sinners. If it were not for the grace of God and the forgiveness offered by the shed blood of Jesus there would be no hope for us at all. Let us resist the urge to create programs to put band aids on problems. Let His mission become ours.

Prayer: Lord, Thank You for your grace and forgiveness. Let your seeking and saving of the lost become our desire too. Amen

The Wait

WAIT!!!!! That is such a short word. Even though it is only four letters it has a powerful meaning. From the beginning of life we have had to wait. I remember when we waited for our first child to be born. First, she was a month late in getting here so we waited. Then, there was the thirty hours of labor so we waited.

As time goes on we wait for school to start, for Christmas to come, for sixteen so we can get our driver’s license, for graduation and the big job. Life is full of waits. In the end the wait is worth it. We enjoy rewards for our wait. I can remember the feeling I had when I held our children in my arms for the first time. Christmas was always worth the wait as we opened the presents and enjoyed the events of that wonderful day. Our granddaughter posted on facebook tonight that she got her driver’s license today and drove to the store by herself. She was excited. The wait was worth it.

For the past two weeks I have been waiting. Two weeks ago Sunday something happened in my back and I was unable to walk because of the pain. After a trip to the ER the doctor told me that I had to be down for four weeks. I have not been able to preach on Sunday or go to the office. All I can do is wait in my recliner until my back heals. I must admit the wait is awful because I do not wait very well. My problem is that I have forgotten that the wait will be worth it. My back will heal and I will be able to be back to normal.

I have found that church members have as much trouble waiting as I do. We see this often when churches are in their pastor search. I can remember questions like, “Are we close to getting a pastor” even before I got settled in as Intentional Interim. We have to be careful that we do not forget that the wait is worth it. When we have issues that need to be dealt with the only way to deal with them is in time. That means we may have a longer wait than normal. When we wait we must keep the big picture in mind. Just like the birth of a baby or the excitement of Christmas or the driver’s license, the wait was worth it. The wait for churches is worth it if they just stay the course and let time help heal the wounds.

At http://www.ministrytogether.com we try to address the issues that cause wounds in churches. The matching system helps to match churches with pastors with like beliefs and skills so they will not cause some of the wounds that exist in many churches. Too many of my peers have found that they were not really a good match for the church they are pastoring. They answered all the questions and the churches stated what they were looking for in a pastor but in the long run it just wasn’t a match. By using the matching system we can get to the heart of what causes the issues in the first place.

I am reminded of the Scripture in Isaiah 40:31 "They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah tells us very plainly that the wait is worth it.....Preacherman