Saturday, March 20, 2010
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There's nurture in that sandwich
I'll freely admit it, I'm a horrible sick person. Some people get sick and just want to be left alone. I'm the complete opposite. I get sick and all I want is someone to nurture me, to take my temperature, to hold a cold compress against my forehead, and tell me that's it's all going to be o.k..
Right now, I have none of that. A friend just offered [via text message] to go shopping for me, but it's not the same. A cold sandwich delivered at a door is nothing compared to a grilled cheese served with love.
God knows my prayer. The ball's in His court.
Right now, I have none of that. A friend just offered [via text message] to go shopping for me, but it's not the same. A cold sandwich delivered at a door is nothing compared to a grilled cheese served with love.
God knows my prayer. The ball's in His court.
Monday, March 01, 2010
My Pastor
Well, I wrote about my Bible. Pastor's talking about my church, so I thought I'd pull over for a bit and talk about my Pastor.
As anyone with any insights to Pastor's life will know, Pastor has a very difficult job. The office of Pastor is discussed and described at some length in our Bibles, and in the interest of giving the whole Word, it's fitting that we learn about our Pastor from a Biblical standpoint. It is vitally important that we understand that God desires us to have a Bible-believing and Bible-preaching pastor, and He wants us to understand our relationship with him in terms of his leadership and responsibilities.
Hebrews 13:17-18
17Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
Now, I hope we all know this morning that Pastor takes his ministry calling very seriously and his role as the undershepherd of this church - and therefore us - very seriously. His daily responsibilities are probably enough to cause us headaches just listening to what he has to go through on a regular basis. But the office of pastor is designed by God to benefit our spiritual growth and well-being.
Pastor needs our prayers. We learn that every Wednesday night when Pastor asks that we pray for him and his family; for their health and well-being as well as for keeping Satan away from his household. He needs our prayers and our support if he is to be the pastor that God desires him to be.
The life of a Christian is tough business enough. We all know that. I know that each of us struggle with the daily life and trials that come about, but when it comes to Pastor, so much more is demanded of him. We need good men to continue the work of teaching, preaching, loving and giving their lives for the spiritual health and blessing of God's people. Just as Pastor is a vital link in our spiritual growth, we are a vital link to his.
[God Appointed Institutions:]
First, I want to set a basis by stating that there are God appointed institutions in the Bible. First, God instituted the home and marriage. Marriage was not conceived by mankind in any kind of effort to set up a system by which people would function in a home or raise children. Therefore, whatever mankind does to marriage or the home does not add to or build upon God's plan. If anything, it's Satan and his desire to destroy what God has established perfectly and for all times. The Bible records the story of God creating Adam and Eve. In the very first wedding ceremony God brought Eve to Adam, joined them together and instituted the home. Of course, as soon as God instituted the home, Satan began to attack it, to tear it apart, and to cause division. To this very day, he is still trying to bring down people's homes, destroy marriages, redefine marriage and even love.
Secondly, God also instituted government. The Bible speaks of government as early as Genesis 8, and the Devil continuously attacks and brings corruption into government. As a result, there is a lack of trust toward government. Satan is busy attacking the very authority structure in America today.
Thirdly, God also instituted the church. Here again, the church was not man's idea. It wasn't Israels idea to get together and build a tabernacle. It wasn't the apostles idea to have a regular meeting to discuss religiousity. The church today belongs to Jesus Christ. He's the One Who called out the 12 disciples. After He gave the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the disciples spread the Word and the local church was born.
It's crucial that the church be separated from the world. It's crucial that the church be set apart - to be sanctified. But here too Satan is fighting the church like never before. Today, there are too many churches - or buildings with crosses - and people in vestments and rock bands and motivational speakers and life coaches and all manner of worldliness. In the midst of it all, Satan is completely happy having us argue among each other about all manner of things instead of getting the Word out to the lost world. Satan's goal is to sidetrack us and keep us from doing God's work.
I'm thankful that I've found a church where the Pastor has not strayed from the basics - from the fundamentals of faith. Pastor peaches Christ. Questions abound in Christianity and in the world today:
A. How can I have my best life now? Christ.
B. I don't know what to do with my life. Christ.
C. I need help with a struggle I'm going through. Christ.
God has the local church as a vital part of our Christian growth where we can hear the preaching, have fellowship and grow. I'm thankful that I'm at a church where Pastor preaches the Bible and not self-help. Pastor is a vessel who can teach the truth to God's people. Pastor's responsibilities are to water the spiritual plants, to pull the weeds, and to keep the garden in an environment of growth.
The local church can be likened to a group of plants. Some members try to plant their lives on one side of the road and they don't grow. Other members plant their lives in a good Bible-preaching church, where the weeds are pulled and water is poured out. These members experience growth. The local church is not something to neglect and the man of God called to preach to us is likewise someone we should not neglect nor take for granted.
Remember Spiritual Leadership
The first principle to understand is that members in the local church must remember spiritual leadership. In the book of Hebrews, Paul is writing to Hebrew believers, probably around Jerusalem. He is telling them to remember their pastors and to follow their leadership. What was true for the early church is still true this morning. Paul has some specific words for the early church with respect to their pastor in Hebrews 13:7,
"Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the Word of God." He tells them to remember or acknowledge their spiritual leadership. Later on in verse 17, Paul uses two words that can really go against our grain. It starts with "obey".
"Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you."
Obey and submit. These may be two words that don't sit well with us in today's world. There are lots of reasons why we don't want to submit to Godly authority. In the world view, we have a "you're not the boss of me" attitude. We're not eager to ask for Pastor's counsel because we think we know what he's going to say, and we don't want to hear it. But deep down, we know we can find it in Scripture for ourselves - we just don't want to. But there could be other reasons why we don't want to obey our Pastors. It could be that we've been at a church where the pastor overstepped his authority or "demanded" a loyal following, or perhaps he wasn't the man of God that he should have been. These are betrayals of trust, and the consequences of such abuse hurts many people in churches for many years all over the world. If a pastor is living the life of a pastor and is giving loving leadership, he won't have to demand anything of us. He will earn the respect and the following that God intends. A godly pastor will always give his church family a worthy example to follow through his preaching, but more importantly, his actions and his life will give us more sermons than anything else.
As individual Christians this morning, we must make the choice to follow the Word of God and actually give the remembrance and support that the Bible commands to our pastor.
Now that I've pumped up pastor to a level that is almost unattainable, I must add the caveat that regardless of pastors level of perfection or imperfection, we need to support him in his godly role of leader of this church; as undershepherd. We may not agree with everything he says about cats or Ford trucks, but when it comes to Biblical issues and principles, according to the Bible; according to our text this morning, we are to give remembrance to him.
Verse 24 of the same chapter in Hebrews is another reference to pastoral leadership. In verse 7, he says to remember them. In verse 17, he says to obey and to submit to them. In verse 24, he says to salute those who have the rule over you.
A salute is simply a greeting. It's an acknowledgment of an office. In the Army, we saluted all the time. I saluted countless officers regardless of if I knew them or not, and we should have the same respect for the office of any preachers who preaches in good standing in a like minded church. Now, having saluted countless officers, I remember one in particular who I saluted all the time. Captain Phelps. He was my captain. I was his driver when we would go out to the field. During the normal garrison time at Fort Lewis, Washington, I was working in an office outside his office, but we really got to know each other when we were in the field - living in each others way. Since he was my captain and I was his sergeant, there were a few things that were perfectly clear. One, he was in charge of me, and two, life was a lot easier when we got along.
Captain Phelps was usually a man who I could approach about things, but really only about really things relating to the Army. Since I was unsaved at the time, the people I would ask about more personal issues were my peers; my friends. What's amazing to me is how many people will go to their friends for advise on something that their friends have no experience or training in, instead of going to the person that God has put into your life for these situations. It's like facing a new subject in school and being introduced to a new concept that is completely foreign to the entire class, and asking a classmate for the answers to the homework. They don't know the answers any more than you do! The truly wise student isn't one who knows all the answers. The truly wise student knows to ask the teacher when they don't know. Now, here again, I need to fill in some blanks because I'm not telling you to go to Pastor for every little detail about life the universe and everything. For the most part, the Bible holds the answers that we need for most situations, but when there's an issue or a decision that you need to make - or not make as it turns out - pastor is the person God has put into our lives for further guidance.
This is another area and perhaps the first and most frequent one that the Devil fights us in. It's in this relationship with our pastor that should be open and honest. If you can't talk to your pastor about important issues of life, then you're selling yourself short because he is a God-given resource. You may also, if you feel the need to under certain circumstances talk to Mrs. Pastor - if you're a lady. If there's a struggle in your walk with God or some spiritual issue, why is it that Pastor is sometimes the last person we want to talk to? It is during these times in life that we try to avoid the Pastor. We slink out of church unnoticed; squeezing between the wall and the plants. And it is often at these times when we need this relationship the most. The Devil knows this and that is why he fights it.
Is there an issue even now that you've thought about that you know Pastor isn't completely aware of? If there a spiritual problem that you're facing, but you're choosing to face it alone? Why?
Proverbs 11:14 "Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety."
Let Pastor be one of those counsellors whose opinion and godly counsel you lean on. I dare say that we might need to exclude some people from our list of advisors. Psalm 1:1 covers these situations, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly". Certainly, we should not be getting our spiritual guidance (if you will) from unsaved friends and family members. When we eliminate those people from our pool of counselors, the numbers drop pretty quickly. I wanted to continue with Proverbs 19:21, "There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand", but instead of reading off the multitude of verses that recommend godly counsel and searching the Scriptures, I'll just say, "read Proverbs, and see what it says about godly counsel."
The book of Proverbs and all the verses we're going to cover here are not talking about a dictatorship or some kind of man-centered, fleshly honor. It is simply teaching us to maintain a healthy, Christ-honoring, and open relationship with our spiritual leaders - those who teach us the Word of God, those who pray for us, and those who lead us to follow Christ.
According to 1 Peter 5:2-3, pastors are not to be lords over God's people.
2Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock.
A Pastor may be defined as one who labors in the work of God, stays in the will of God, and is faithful to the Word of God.
In Acts 20:28 the Bible says that the Holy Ghost appointed the pastors to be overseers in the congregation.
"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."
Ephesians 4:11-12 says that Christ "gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."
In God's structure of authority, He holds pastors accountable for how they steward that influence. God will hold pastor responsible for the direction of this church and for how he provided spiritual oversight for our lives. This is the first church that I think I ever heard this, and it's something I can find from Scripture, so A: it must be true and B: I'm thankful to be in a church like this because if Pastor believes it, he's going to take his calling that much more seriously.
Satan is doing his level best to disrupt this relationship. God will always bless a church that allows spiritual leadership to lead. The best thing a church can do for its pastor is to allow him to lead from a heart that follows God. We should also support pastor because stagnation will kill this church, and pastors with vision like what he sees on that patch of dirt outside there are few and far between.
As long as what pastor proposes is ethically, morally and doctrinally correct, the Bible says that the church is to lend a helping hand. This is what it means to remember spiritual leadership.
So, what's the message in Hebrews 13? If you're fed by Pastor's messages, and if you're growing in this church, then you have a duty to support our Pastor and this church until God calls you to something else. That's a choice that we can all make. We CAN choose to have the right spirit towards Pastor - because there's plenty who can choose a resentful spirit. Chose to be joyfully supportive - because some will bitterly oppose. Choose to pray for and love Pastor - because some will gossip and resist. Choose to remember, because some will forget.
As anyone with any insights to Pastor's life will know, Pastor has a very difficult job. The office of Pastor is discussed and described at some length in our Bibles, and in the interest of giving the whole Word, it's fitting that we learn about our Pastor from a Biblical standpoint. It is vitally important that we understand that God desires us to have a Bible-believing and Bible-preaching pastor, and He wants us to understand our relationship with him in terms of his leadership and responsibilities.
Hebrews 13:17-18
17Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
18Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.
Now, I hope we all know this morning that Pastor takes his ministry calling very seriously and his role as the undershepherd of this church - and therefore us - very seriously. His daily responsibilities are probably enough to cause us headaches just listening to what he has to go through on a regular basis. But the office of pastor is designed by God to benefit our spiritual growth and well-being.
Pastor needs our prayers. We learn that every Wednesday night when Pastor asks that we pray for him and his family; for their health and well-being as well as for keeping Satan away from his household. He needs our prayers and our support if he is to be the pastor that God desires him to be.
The life of a Christian is tough business enough. We all know that. I know that each of us struggle with the daily life and trials that come about, but when it comes to Pastor, so much more is demanded of him. We need good men to continue the work of teaching, preaching, loving and giving their lives for the spiritual health and blessing of God's people. Just as Pastor is a vital link in our spiritual growth, we are a vital link to his.
[God Appointed Institutions:]
First, I want to set a basis by stating that there are God appointed institutions in the Bible. First, God instituted the home and marriage. Marriage was not conceived by mankind in any kind of effort to set up a system by which people would function in a home or raise children. Therefore, whatever mankind does to marriage or the home does not add to or build upon God's plan. If anything, it's Satan and his desire to destroy what God has established perfectly and for all times. The Bible records the story of God creating Adam and Eve. In the very first wedding ceremony God brought Eve to Adam, joined them together and instituted the home. Of course, as soon as God instituted the home, Satan began to attack it, to tear it apart, and to cause division. To this very day, he is still trying to bring down people's homes, destroy marriages, redefine marriage and even love.
Secondly, God also instituted government. The Bible speaks of government as early as Genesis 8, and the Devil continuously attacks and brings corruption into government. As a result, there is a lack of trust toward government. Satan is busy attacking the very authority structure in America today.
Thirdly, God also instituted the church. Here again, the church was not man's idea. It wasn't Israels idea to get together and build a tabernacle. It wasn't the apostles idea to have a regular meeting to discuss religiousity. The church today belongs to Jesus Christ. He's the One Who called out the 12 disciples. After He gave the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the disciples spread the Word and the local church was born.
It's crucial that the church be separated from the world. It's crucial that the church be set apart - to be sanctified. But here too Satan is fighting the church like never before. Today, there are too many churches - or buildings with crosses - and people in vestments and rock bands and motivational speakers and life coaches and all manner of worldliness. In the midst of it all, Satan is completely happy having us argue among each other about all manner of things instead of getting the Word out to the lost world. Satan's goal is to sidetrack us and keep us from doing God's work.
I'm thankful that I've found a church where the Pastor has not strayed from the basics - from the fundamentals of faith. Pastor peaches Christ. Questions abound in Christianity and in the world today:
A. How can I have my best life now? Christ.
B. I don't know what to do with my life. Christ.
C. I need help with a struggle I'm going through. Christ.
God has the local church as a vital part of our Christian growth where we can hear the preaching, have fellowship and grow. I'm thankful that I'm at a church where Pastor preaches the Bible and not self-help. Pastor is a vessel who can teach the truth to God's people. Pastor's responsibilities are to water the spiritual plants, to pull the weeds, and to keep the garden in an environment of growth.
The local church can be likened to a group of plants. Some members try to plant their lives on one side of the road and they don't grow. Other members plant their lives in a good Bible-preaching church, where the weeds are pulled and water is poured out. These members experience growth. The local church is not something to neglect and the man of God called to preach to us is likewise someone we should not neglect nor take for granted.
Remember Spiritual Leadership
The first principle to understand is that members in the local church must remember spiritual leadership. In the book of Hebrews, Paul is writing to Hebrew believers, probably around Jerusalem. He is telling them to remember their pastors and to follow their leadership. What was true for the early church is still true this morning. Paul has some specific words for the early church with respect to their pastor in Hebrews 13:7,
"Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the Word of God." He tells them to remember or acknowledge their spiritual leadership. Later on in verse 17, Paul uses two words that can really go against our grain. It starts with "obey".
"Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you."
Obey and submit. These may be two words that don't sit well with us in today's world. There are lots of reasons why we don't want to submit to Godly authority. In the world view, we have a "you're not the boss of me" attitude. We're not eager to ask for Pastor's counsel because we think we know what he's going to say, and we don't want to hear it. But deep down, we know we can find it in Scripture for ourselves - we just don't want to. But there could be other reasons why we don't want to obey our Pastors. It could be that we've been at a church where the pastor overstepped his authority or "demanded" a loyal following, or perhaps he wasn't the man of God that he should have been. These are betrayals of trust, and the consequences of such abuse hurts many people in churches for many years all over the world. If a pastor is living the life of a pastor and is giving loving leadership, he won't have to demand anything of us. He will earn the respect and the following that God intends. A godly pastor will always give his church family a worthy example to follow through his preaching, but more importantly, his actions and his life will give us more sermons than anything else.
As individual Christians this morning, we must make the choice to follow the Word of God and actually give the remembrance and support that the Bible commands to our pastor.
Now that I've pumped up pastor to a level that is almost unattainable, I must add the caveat that regardless of pastors level of perfection or imperfection, we need to support him in his godly role of leader of this church; as undershepherd. We may not agree with everything he says about cats or Ford trucks, but when it comes to Biblical issues and principles, according to the Bible; according to our text this morning, we are to give remembrance to him.
Verse 24 of the same chapter in Hebrews is another reference to pastoral leadership. In verse 7, he says to remember them. In verse 17, he says to obey and to submit to them. In verse 24, he says to salute those who have the rule over you.
A salute is simply a greeting. It's an acknowledgment of an office. In the Army, we saluted all the time. I saluted countless officers regardless of if I knew them or not, and we should have the same respect for the office of any preachers who preaches in good standing in a like minded church. Now, having saluted countless officers, I remember one in particular who I saluted all the time. Captain Phelps. He was my captain. I was his driver when we would go out to the field. During the normal garrison time at Fort Lewis, Washington, I was working in an office outside his office, but we really got to know each other when we were in the field - living in each others way. Since he was my captain and I was his sergeant, there were a few things that were perfectly clear. One, he was in charge of me, and two, life was a lot easier when we got along.
Captain Phelps was usually a man who I could approach about things, but really only about really things relating to the Army. Since I was unsaved at the time, the people I would ask about more personal issues were my peers; my friends. What's amazing to me is how many people will go to their friends for advise on something that their friends have no experience or training in, instead of going to the person that God has put into your life for these situations. It's like facing a new subject in school and being introduced to a new concept that is completely foreign to the entire class, and asking a classmate for the answers to the homework. They don't know the answers any more than you do! The truly wise student isn't one who knows all the answers. The truly wise student knows to ask the teacher when they don't know. Now, here again, I need to fill in some blanks because I'm not telling you to go to Pastor for every little detail about life the universe and everything. For the most part, the Bible holds the answers that we need for most situations, but when there's an issue or a decision that you need to make - or not make as it turns out - pastor is the person God has put into our lives for further guidance.
This is another area and perhaps the first and most frequent one that the Devil fights us in. It's in this relationship with our pastor that should be open and honest. If you can't talk to your pastor about important issues of life, then you're selling yourself short because he is a God-given resource. You may also, if you feel the need to under certain circumstances talk to Mrs. Pastor - if you're a lady. If there's a struggle in your walk with God or some spiritual issue, why is it that Pastor is sometimes the last person we want to talk to? It is during these times in life that we try to avoid the Pastor. We slink out of church unnoticed; squeezing between the wall and the plants. And it is often at these times when we need this relationship the most. The Devil knows this and that is why he fights it.
Is there an issue even now that you've thought about that you know Pastor isn't completely aware of? If there a spiritual problem that you're facing, but you're choosing to face it alone? Why?
Proverbs 11:14 "Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety."
Let Pastor be one of those counsellors whose opinion and godly counsel you lean on. I dare say that we might need to exclude some people from our list of advisors. Psalm 1:1 covers these situations, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly". Certainly, we should not be getting our spiritual guidance (if you will) from unsaved friends and family members. When we eliminate those people from our pool of counselors, the numbers drop pretty quickly. I wanted to continue with Proverbs 19:21, "There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand", but instead of reading off the multitude of verses that recommend godly counsel and searching the Scriptures, I'll just say, "read Proverbs, and see what it says about godly counsel."
The book of Proverbs and all the verses we're going to cover here are not talking about a dictatorship or some kind of man-centered, fleshly honor. It is simply teaching us to maintain a healthy, Christ-honoring, and open relationship with our spiritual leaders - those who teach us the Word of God, those who pray for us, and those who lead us to follow Christ.
According to 1 Peter 5:2-3, pastors are not to be lords over God's people.
2Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock.
A Pastor may be defined as one who labors in the work of God, stays in the will of God, and is faithful to the Word of God.
In Acts 20:28 the Bible says that the Holy Ghost appointed the pastors to be overseers in the congregation.
"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."
Ephesians 4:11-12 says that Christ "gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."
In God's structure of authority, He holds pastors accountable for how they steward that influence. God will hold pastor responsible for the direction of this church and for how he provided spiritual oversight for our lives. This is the first church that I think I ever heard this, and it's something I can find from Scripture, so A: it must be true and B: I'm thankful to be in a church like this because if Pastor believes it, he's going to take his calling that much more seriously.
Satan is doing his level best to disrupt this relationship. God will always bless a church that allows spiritual leadership to lead. The best thing a church can do for its pastor is to allow him to lead from a heart that follows God. We should also support pastor because stagnation will kill this church, and pastors with vision like what he sees on that patch of dirt outside there are few and far between.
As long as what pastor proposes is ethically, morally and doctrinally correct, the Bible says that the church is to lend a helping hand. This is what it means to remember spiritual leadership.
So, what's the message in Hebrews 13? If you're fed by Pastor's messages, and if you're growing in this church, then you have a duty to support our Pastor and this church until God calls you to something else. That's a choice that we can all make. We CAN choose to have the right spirit towards Pastor - because there's plenty who can choose a resentful spirit. Chose to be joyfully supportive - because some will bitterly oppose. Choose to pray for and love Pastor - because some will gossip and resist. Choose to remember, because some will forget.
