Category Archives: Faith

And now, I’d like to say a few words to my fears

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“Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you” (Psalm 116:7).

Fears crop up from time to time.

They co-exist right alongside my faith, like tares among the wheat (referencing Matthew 13:30).

My faith and my fears are not friends, you understand, nor are they unknown to one another.  They have fairly well existed alongside one another from the beginning, so they are well-acquainted, in the sense that competitors on the gridiron who do battle in repeated contests come to know one another intimately.

I identify with the fellow who, when told that all things are possible if he could believe, answered, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24).

What do I fear?  Let me count the ways.  (I do this knowing full well that fears love to be given room and attention and energies, all of which serve to feed this cancer, causing it to mushroom.)

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What unbelief looks like in a pastor

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“The just shall live by faith” (Habakkuk 2:4; quoted in Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38).

“Whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).

In a real sense, the shepherd of one of the Lord’s churches demonstrates faith every time he goes about his business of tending to the flock, of preparing sermons, delivering the message, or stepping into a hospital room.

He never knows what God is going to do and lives in the hope and expectation that He will do something.  Anything!

But there is another sense, perhaps on a deeper level, in which this one called of God may send a different kind of message, one of unbelief and not of faith.

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What laypeople need to know–and seldom do–about speaking in “big church”

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By laypeople, I mean non-preachers.

By speaking in church, I mean before large groups of the Lord’s people.

Many non-clergy are outstanding on their feet in front of large groups. Schoolteachers come to mind.  But the typical church member, even one who teaches a Sunday School class, is out of his element when suddenly asked to deliver a talk in front of the whole church.

Marlene said to me, “I’m sorry I took the entire service, Pastor. But the Lord was leading me.” Translation: She really got into her talk and couldn’t control it.  As a young pastor, I had invited church members to share testimonies in the morning worship service, something along the lines of 5-7 minutes.  (Later, I learned to interview the individual and retain hold of the microphone the entire time!)

Since Marlene had not prepared adequately, once she got going, she couldn’t find a convenient stopping place. She kept on for a full 40 minutes.

Personally, I would not blame my failure to prepare on the Lord.

I see it happen all the time.  It’s almost embarrassing.

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The most unusual way I pray for some of my grandchildren

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“Faithful is He who called you, and He will bring it to pass” (I Thessalonians 5:24)

If God starts something, He will see it through to the end.

And that’s how I pray the way I do:

“Lord, these are your children.  They would not exist without Your love.  Had you not laid it on my wife’s heart to adopt a foreign child, and later pulled me to the same decision, their mama would still be in Korea and these three granddaughters would never have been born.”

“Therefore, Lord, I feel a special confidence in interceding on their behalf.  They are your responsibility.  They were your doing.  They are yours.”

“So, I ask you to watch over them.”

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The Lord got no bargain when He saved us

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“He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust” (Psalm 103:14).

The Lord is under no illusion about us.

The Creator remembers He made us from the dust of the earth. He knows we are made of humble stuff.

And yet He loves us anyway and wants to do amazing things for us.  How terrific is that?

He knows He got no bargain when He saved us.

No doubt He lowered any expectations He had concerning us from the first.

When we sin, the only one surprised is us.

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The one question servants are not allowed

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“What would you like me to do for you?” (Luke 18:41)

A servant asks: “What can I do for you?”  “How may I help you?” “Can I do anything for you?”

But there is one question a true servant (as opposed to an employee) is not allowed to ask:

“What’s in it for me?”

My opinion is that the typical church in this country lives by the maxim: “If it doesn’t make us better or look better or feel better, we will not do it.”

What’s in it for our church?

I’m thinking of a little family in dire need of a healthy church and what it could provide for them.  Over the years, a relative who is a pastor made a point of putting them in touch with at least one church in the various communities where they lived. Several of the churches responded well at first, then promptly dropped the family.  Once they learned this family was going to be difficult, that they were not “low hanging fruit” (meaning “easy pickings”) they moved on.  Once they found out this family was complicated and was not ready to join anybody’s church, they had no heart for the game.

The typical church loves to reach people who are reachable, who will fit within their fellowship, and will not require a lot of maintenance or difficult ministry.

The typical church–I am well aware of the dangers of using such a nebulous term, but please allow me the freedom to do so–lives for itself.  The Kingdom of God ends at the edge of the parking lot.

Now, as a pastor of 42 years, I know the problem.

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The fine print in the gospel

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This morning as I was getting ready to face the day, I noticed something on the television.  An ad for “hair club for women” was running.  Photos flew by of before and after shots of women. Most had been afflicted with bare spots or thinning mane and the “after” photos showed them with gloriously full tresses.

Then I saw it.  Down in the corner the small print said, “Results may vary.”

Ahh.  Yes, indeed.  Results may vary.  The old “caveat emptor.”

The ad might as well say “these are not typical,” as advertisers are forced to do by truth-in-advertising laws.

Sadly, in our culture we’re used to such come-ons and slick sales spiels. No one expects the used car salesman to tell you why we should be cautious in buying this particular car.  We’ve learned to turn a suspicious eye toward the seller of the house who cannot quit raving about all its fine points.  What, we wonder, is he not saying?

Which brings up another point…

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Evidently, God has been making plans for you for some time now

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“…the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).

We don’t begin to have a clue.

God is doing a zillion things He has not deigned to mention to us mortals.

It’s not our business to know, for one thing.  He has reserved most of what goes on in the universe for Himself.  “The secret things belong to the Lord our God…”  (Deuteronomy 29:29).

All that we know about the operation of the created world is a sliver of the full story.

How can it be that before the world as we know it was formed, the Heavenly Father was already at work making plans for us to arrive and dwell with Him forever?

I do not know. Neither do you.

What unimaginable reality may we expect to find when we get to Heaven if Father has had all these eons to make it?

What does this say about pre-history, the story of what God was doing before the Big Bang of Creation.

We hang our heads in humility.  We read the final verses of Romans 11 and say, “Yes, yes. This is how it is!”

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Overlooked scripture No. 4 “Second-hand faith”

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“And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, ‘He told me all that I ever did.’ So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of His own word. Then, they said to the woman, ‘Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world'” (John 4:39-42).

Paul Harvey used to call this “the rest of the story.”

We preachers dearly love the Lord’s encounter with the woman at the well, given in the first half of John 4.  It’s insights and teachings, its power and pathos, make it one for the ages.  But the story does not end the way we generally conclude it, with her rushing back into the town to tell her friends about the Man she had met. There is more.

As the townspeople flowed out to meet the Lord, they begged Him to stay, which He did. Then, two days later, when He left, Jesus left behind a lot of new believers.  That’s when some of them gave us the memorable statement which I’m calling “overlooked scripture.”

“Now we believe…not just because of your testimony that He told you everything you ever did…but because we have met Him for ourselves, and we know that He is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

That’s strong stuff.

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Overlooked Scriptures No. 2: “Why Jesus is the authority on Heaven”

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“No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is the Son of Man who is in heaven” (John 3:13).

Jesus knows about Heaven.

He should. He’s a native.

When He speaks of Heavenly things, everyone else on the field should retire and every mouth be closed.  No one else carries the credentials Jesus does regarding the divine.

I wonder if people have ever considered the width and breadth and depth of this statement, given by our Lord to Nicodemus.

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