Ugly behavior in the name of Jesus

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I’m remembering an incident some 15 or more years back which seems to have set the pattern for all the years (and politics) since.

President Obama’s health care plan had been passed by Congress and a lot of people were unhappy about it.

What stands out in my memory is how ugly some people were even while presumably occupying the high ground morally. (Let your mind dwell on that for a moment.)

As congressional leaders worked their way through the crowds surrounding the U.S. Capitol building–security and police were everywhere–curses were being spat in their direction by these champions of the unborn.

The gay congressman heard, “Fag!” yelled at him. The N-word was hurled at Congressman John Lewis, a hero of the Civil Rights movement if one ever existed. And we’re told that in the House of Representative itself, a congressman yelled out, “Baby killers!” to those voting for the health-care legislation.

I was in Springfield, Illinois, watching this on television from my hotel room in between worship services at one of our churches. The pastor and I were discussing the behavior of the demonstrators.

This reminded him of the time a deacon hit him in the face and “busted my tooth.”

I said, “I have to hear this story.”

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If you enter the ministry, bring a healthy curiosity!

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I came by it honestly. My dad, a coal miner with a 7th grade education, was interested in everything. He read and learned and talked to us of all kinds of subjects.

In college, I changed my major from physics to history because the professors in the science building were focusing more and more on tinier and tinier segments of the universe. But history deals with it all, every person who ever lived, every civilization, every lesson learned. Nothing is off limits to history.

That did it for me.

I’m reflecting on a life-changing week I enjoyed. On a Monday afternoon, I was among a busload of preachers and spouses from across Europe who spent several hours touring the ruins of Pompeii, the Italian city devastated by the eruption of Vesuvius in August of A.D. 79. It was truly unforgettable. So much so, that….

After my arrival home in New Orleans 36 hours later, I was in our public library reading up on Pompeii. I checked out a Robert Harris novel Pompeii, and finished it the next night. (Note: I recommend anything Mr. Harris writes. The best historical novelist ever.)

I felt like I had been living in Pompeii that week.

I returned to the library and checked out everything I could find on Pompeii.

Okay.  The question is…

Why? Of what possible use is this in my ministry?

Answer: I have no idea. Maybe no use at all, maybe a lot.

A strong curiosity is a wonderful thing for any Christian to have, but particularly preachers. Why?

Well, several reasons….

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The time I rebuked our guest preacher

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She called to confirm that I was indeed coming to address her church’s seniors at their monthly meeting.  “Yes,” I assured her. I had it on my calendar.

Then she said, “Brother Joe, can I talk straight to you?”

Absolutely.

“The last speaker we had,” she said, “was awful.  He had promised to speak on (some subject; I forget what) but when he rose to speak, he preached three sermons–I mean he went on for an hour–and never once dealt with what he had promised.  He was harsh and hard to listen to.  Honestly, it was offensive.”

“The people are still talking about it.”

She was quiet a moment, and said, “We don’t want a repeat of that.”

I took a couple of minutes to tell her what I would be speaking on.  That satisfied her.  And a few days later, she called to say they were all pleased.

I have been where she sat.  I know the feeling, and I appreciate her boldness.

It takes a certain amount of courage–call it moxie or nerve or bravery–to confront a speaker, whether before or during or after he finishes.

Here is my story.

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The precious blood of Jesus (I Peter 1:18-19)

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…knowing you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. (I Peter 1:18-19)

I know of one Baptist church with a policy that no hymn celebrating the blood of Jesus will be used in a service. What they do with all the Scriptural texts on that subject beats me. I’m guessing that some leader has let the mania for political correctness drive his common sense from the room.

Jesus said the new covenant was “in my blood” (I Corinthians 11:25).

The writer of Hebrews said, “Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22).

The Apostle John wrote, “The blood of Jesus Christ…cleanses us from all sin” (I John 1:7).

“Who are these clothed in white robes, praising the Lamb of Heaven? And where did they come from?” an elder asked. The Apostle John, in the midst of his vision, uttered, “You know who they are.” The elder said, “These…have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:13-14)

Paul told the elders of Ephesus, “Shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28).

You can preach a lot of sermons and ignore the subject of the blood of Jesus, but you’ll have to pull a Thomas Jefferson to do it. (You will recall he took scissors and cut everything out of the New Testament which did not conform to his concept of God. He was more honest than many today who do the same thing, although without the shears.)

To the best of my knowledge no one has done with the doctrine of redemption through the blood of the Lamb what J. Sidlow Baxter did in “The Master Theme of the Bible.” The first chapter of that book presents a broad summary of the entire message of Scripture on this subject.

I’m going to lay out the outline he uses, then add a word or two at the end which I hope readers will not skip.

According to the wonderful British expositor J. Sidlow Baxter, Scripture gives 10 primary presentations of the Lamb–

In Genesis 4, the account of Abel and his lamb.

In Genesis 22, Abraham offers a lamb in the place of Isaac.

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A Spurgeon story you may not have heard

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I once shared this story with Dr. Warren Wiersbe, who was a great admirer of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, considered by many to be the 19th century’s greatest preacher. Even though Wiersbe had written of Spurgeon and probably knew as much about the man as anyone, he was unfamiliar with the story.

The source is an 1898 book, The Unexpected Christ, by Louis Albert Banks.

The chapter in which the story is located is headed, “Christ Cleansing the Temple of the Soul,” based from Luke 19:45-46.

“Mr. Spurgeon said that in his young ministry he received a tremendous spiritual uplift which was felt through all his later life by a strange revelation which came to him in a dream.

“He was sitting in an armchair, wearied with his work. He had fallen asleep in a very self-complacent sort of mood, as his work at the time was unusually successful. As he slept he thought a stranger entered the room, and though his face was benign, he carried suspended about his person measures and chemical agents and implements, which gave him a very strange appearance.

“The stranger came toward him, and extending his hand, said, ‘How is your zeal?’

“Mr. Spurgeon supposed when he began his question that the query was to be for his health, but was pleased to hear his final word; for he was quite well pleased with his zeal, and doubted not that the stranger would smile when he should know its proportions. Instantly he conceived of it as physical quantity, and putting his hand into his bosom brought it forth and presented it to the stranger for inspection.

“He took it and placed it in his scales, weighing it carefully. Mr. Spurgeon heard him say, ‘One hundred pounds!’

“He could scarcely suppress an audible note of satisfaction; but he caught the visitor’s earnest look as he noted down the weight, and he saw at once that the man with the scales had drawn no final conclusion, but was intent on pushing his investigation.

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What is a pastor’s heart? He wanted to know.

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A young pastor who feels he might be out of place in leading a church sent me a note. With the constant demands upon his time and the unending situations that call for wisdom and patience, he’s feeling like the fellow who was eaten alive by a school of minnows. He wonders if he’s cut out to be a pastor.

He said, “I hear people talking about those who have the heart of a pastor. What exactly is that?”

Great question. I’ve preached since the early 1960’s but have never been asked that until now.

Perhaps a pastor’s heart is like what someone said of art: “I can’t define it but I know it when I see it.”

Here are some clues to the identity of a pastor’s heart…. 

–My friend Chris was grieving over the reassignment of their church’s associate minister and his family to a new congregation several states away. In the church hallway, she was passing one of the women on the church staff. The minister said, “Good morning, Chris. How are you today?”

Chris burst into tears.

With that, the minister pulled up a chair and gave Chris the next 30 minutes of her day. In telling me about it–and expressing her wonder at such sensitivity and kindness from the staff member–Chris said, “They must teach this in the seminary.”

No. They don’t. It’s what a pastor’s heart looks like.

I’m tempted to say that one either has a pastor’s heart or he/she doesn’t. But it’s probably not that harsh. The Lord who specializes in giving new hearts (Ezekiel 36:26) can surely tweak the heart of a willing servant to make it even more loving and gracious.

–Rudy French is a preacher, an evangelist, and, with his wife Rose, a member of the Southern Baptist Mission Service Corps. At the time of this event, Rudy was on a mission in Korea. He sent me this note.

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What we would like to ask all church big-shots

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“…who loves to be first among them” (III John 9).

I’ve known the bigshots in quite a number of churches. They have no trouble identifying themselves as the force to be reckoned with around this church.

If you are the visiting preacher, their words to you before or after the service will be an announcement, not a comment.  You will know you have heard from the control room of the universe.  You have heard the voice of God.  This man is in charge around here.

No one has to tell you.  You just know.

This one calls the shots.  Rules the roost. Throws his weight around.  Is the power behind the scene.

He loves to have the pre-eminence.  (See Diotrephes in III John, above.)

Woe to the pastor trying to do the will of God in this place but having to deal with this millstone around his neck, this roadblock on the highway, this sandbar in the stream.  Metaphors keep suggesting themselves.  Clots in the arteries.  Bullies on the playground.

Obstinate. Headstrong. Bull-headed. Egotistical.

The only opinion that counts is his.

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The surprises of the prodigal son

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“A certain man had two sons.  The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’  And he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, where he squandered his estate with loose living….” (Luke 15:11ff.)

The story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 is iconic. That means it is typical, it is well-known, and it’s an accurate depiction of a thousand things about this life.  Understand that story and you know a great deal about how life works and what God does.

If you knew nothing more about God than how He is depicted in this parable, you would love him with all your heart.

You and I are represented by the foolish, younger son.

That son, the subject of a few million sermons and the inspiration of almost as many conversions, received a lot of surprises in this story…

One. He was surprised that the father granted his selfish request. Some lessons we just have to learn for ourselves, and the Father was a good teacher.

Two.  He was surprised that the father allowed him to leave.  Surely, he must have thought, I will be stopped.  After all, this is a lot of freedom I’m being allowed.

We are all surprised at the leeway the Father gives us.  Of course, when our decisions turn out to be ill-advised and the harvest of our wild oats are found to be bitter and diseased, we tend to criticize our Heavenly Father for ever allowing us such freedom in the first place. We want it both ways: for us to have the right to do as we please, but God to protect us from the result of our foolishness.

Three.  He was surprised at all the friends he now had.  Previously, back at home, it was just family.  Now, he is the toast of the town.  Surely, he must have thought, this is real life.

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You are somebody in Christ. But who exactly?

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“I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3).

“But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

We are loved. We are winners.

“I’m me and that’s good. Cause God don’t make no junk.” –from a poster by a child in a ghetto.  (source unknown)

The man said, “I think my wife’s health problems go back to something in her childhood, as to how she was treated.  She seems to have trouble accepting who she is in Christ.”

It’s always fascinating to consider what gives us our identity.  And what conditions robbed us of the same.

Smart Aleck is the biography of Alexander Woollcott, drama critic for the New York Times a long time ago.   Woollcott is said to have been a master wordsmith, which is what made me order the book in the first place.

Woollcott came from an impoverished background and carried enough personal hangups and oddities to set him apart for the rest of his life.  He was overweight, oddly shaped, and egotistical.  And those, goes the old joke, were his good points! When the New York Times hired him, that newspaper was one of 8 or 10 competing in that market, and not particularly distinguished.  His pay was $15 a week, and yet he was thrilled.  The author says he loved being “Alexander Woollcott of the New York Times.”

“At last,” writes author Howard Teichmann, “the sense of belonging began to set in…. Being somebody was infinitely better than being nobody.”

This may be why while unemployment is difficult for everyone, but men in particular have a problem with it.  Their identity is so often bound up in their jobs.  When men meet, they often begin with “What do you do?”  The answer helps to define us, we feel, whether accurately or not.

Ministers who find themselves unemployed experience the same weightlessness, the sensation of not belonging and thus being nobody. For a long time, the minister had introduced himself as “Pastor of Central Baptist Church” or “Assistant Pastor of First Church.”  Suddenly, that goes away.  Now, who is he?

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Read a book: Nothing can replace that!

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“I was amazed that some words on a page could change your life.” –Testimony of a woman in rehab last Monday night.  She had been in and out of jail more times than she could count, and in prison three times.  These days, she is a solid Christian woman with a strong testimony and a peace that passes understanding.

“I felt I had jewels in my mouth.”  –Frank McCourt, writing about his youth in Belfast.  When a teacher introduced the teenager to Shakespeare, a new world opened for him.  The movie Angela’s Ashes, based on McCourt’s book of the same name, showed him lying in the bathtub reading Shakespeare out loud.

Often I will read four or five books in a week.   Hey, I’m retired and some weeks the calendar is blessedly empty.  Those are great days for grabbing a book and disappearing into another world.

What’s funny about reading all those books last week–my wife thinks it’s more than a little bizarre–is that I read them all at the same time.  That is, I will read one for an hour, then switch to another.  Some nights my bedtime reading is two of the books.  Friends ask if I mix up the story lines.  The answer is that about two sentences into the reading and I’m back in the world created by that author.

I became a writer because I love to read.

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