Confidence: What it is and where to get the best kind

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“Now, as they observed the confidence of Peter and John, and understood that they were  uneducated and untrained men, they were marveling, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).

The religious authorities–rulers, elders, scribes, Annas the godfather of high priests, Caiaphas, his son-in-law and present high priest, and others of high priestly lineage–were stunned. They had not seen this before.

A small group of nobodies, untrained and unlettered rough fishermen-types, stood before them, resisting them and speaking up as eloquently and boldly as though they themselves were in charge.

Who did they think they were?

The authorities were used to people cowering in their presence.  They spoke and no one dared to say otherwise. They decreed, and it was so. No one dared defy them.

And yet, that’s what was happening today.

“Where did they get this confidence?” the rulers asked each other.

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The cure for the common sermon

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“Now when they heard the preaching of Peter and John, they were marveling and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.”  (A free paraphrase of Acts 4:13)

Hey, pastor, next Sunday let’s hit one out of the park.

Let’s preach a sermon that will thrill your own soul, knock the dozing member out of his lethargy and onto his feet, and bless the hearts of your sweetest, finest people.  Let’s have a sermon that will stun your critics, surprise your mama, gladden the heart of God, and grab the undivided attention of the unsaved.

Let’s put an end to the common sermon.

You know what a common sermon is, I’m sure.

It’s uninspired in its conception, boring in its plan, and dull in its delivery.  In preparing it, you have to force yourself to stay awake.  When you preach it, the congregation takes a holiday. When it’s over, you wonder if you shouldn’t find some other line of work.

When common sermons follow common sermons like rail cars behind the locomotive, the preacher is probably in a rut.  And we all remember what a rut is–a grave with the ends knocked out.

In a “common sermon,” the outline is often uninspired and may look something like this: 1) The Power, 2) The Point, and 3) the Product.  Or, pehaps 1) The Application, 2) the Attraction, and 3) the Adoration. The introduction, the message, the conclusion.

Bo-ring.  But then, you knew that.

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Christmas Curmudgeons

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“I bring you good news of great joy!” (Luke 2:10)

I love almost everything about Christmas. I love the Nativity scenes, the displays of lights, the cool weather, the festive clothing, the songs (well, most of them), the carols, the special foods, the candies and pastries, the church services, the pageants, the gift-giving, and even the crowded malls. I love the high-flying decorations downtowns attach to street lamps, and the happy songs about snow-falling and sleigh-riding even though I live in the too-warm South, and I even enjoy stories about Santa Claus. I love the Christmas specials on television, including the cartoons about Peanuts and Frosty and Rudolph (not that I actually watch them; but I like knowing they’re there).

If you feel called to point out all that is wrong about this happiest of all seasons, you will probably want to find another audience, because I love Christmas.

However.

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A question no one in Heaven will ask

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“These in white robes–who are they and where did they come from?… These are they who have come out of great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:13-14).

“How did you get here?”

The fellow across the table from me was making polite conversation, I suppose. We were taking a break in a deacon-training event I was leading at a church in an Alabama town, nearly 300 miles from home.

“I drove,” I said, and thought, “How did he think I got here?  There is no airport within two hours.  The train comes nowhere near here.  Did he think I took the Greyhound? Or hitchhiked?”

Later, I decided he was asking the route by which I had traveled, there being four or five highways I could have taken.

“How did you get here?”

It occurs to me that when you and I get to Heaven, and begin meeting people right and left, finding out about their backgrounds and listening to their stories, no one will ask us this question. To ask how we got there would imply there are different ways to that place the Bible calls “The Father’s House.”

Let your mind dwell on that for a minute….

“I came by this religion.”  “I got here by being really good.”  “I imitated Jesus…or Mother Teresa…or my grandmother.”  “I fasted and prayed and flagellated myself.” “I lived in the desert on a diet of ants and bugs to bring my body under subjection.”  “I was sincere.” “My good works outweighed the bad.”

None of that foolishness.

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Assumptions we make…to our own regret

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“How shall they call on Him of whom they have not heard?” (Romans 10)

During one of my first weeks in college, the upperclassmen were allowed to harass us and treat us like serfs.

That was a long time ago and I have no bad memories of the experience, so it must not have been too dangerous or humiliating.  What I do recall, however, is upperclassman Walter Maine ordering me to mop his floor.

The floors in our dormitory rooms were some kind of hard linoleum, as I remember.  These days, I could clean his floor with scarcely a thought, seeing as how I have done our kitchen floor a few hundred times.  You assemble the equipment, fill the bucket half-ful of warm water, add a little Mr.Clean, dip the mop in, squeeze it out good, and run the damp mop over the floor. Every 30 seconds or so, you return to the bucket, slosh the mop around inside, squeeze it out, mop more of the floor, and continue the process until the floor is clean. Then, toss out the water, rinse the mop with clean water, and rinse out the bucket, then store them.

Simple enough.

But not for this 18-year-old farm boy in the fall of 1958.

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What a church can expect from its deacons

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“For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus” (I Timothy 3:13).

I suggest you not worry about dissecting that and trying to grasp the fullness of its meaning, deacons. Just enjoy it. Believe it. Work to demonstrate its truth in your life.

All it seems to be saying is that when a deacon does his job well, God and the congregation are really, really proud of him!

I see deacons serving well all the time.  They’re taking care of the church’s widows and dependent elderly, rallying to the support of their pastor, serving as the “event staff” when church projects need helpers, listening to disgruntled church members and helping them to see the wisdom of what the leadership is doing, and cooking breakfast for the monthly men’s meeting.

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Things no pastor should ever have to worry about

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The title might be a little misleading. To not “worry” about something does not mean the pastor does not know about it.

A good staff will handle the minutiae of the ministry–the problems that arise that they are able to address without the involvement of the shepherd himself–in order to free up the pastor for his major assignment of church leadership.

The pastor who tries to micromanage his church is attempting the impossible and choosing to desert his post.

A wise pastor–who has the resources–can bring on staff capable and trustworthy assistants to free him up to do the three big, big things in his ministry:  Preach/teach the Word, give direction to the entire church program, and care for his flock.

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Why the pastor is the last one who should deal with personal attacks

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Someone–Sister Dee Structive or Brother Big Shott–is stirring up dissension in the church, accusing the pastor of this silliness or that foolishness.

On the surface, their criticism appears to be nonsense, and yet some people will believe anything negative. The congregation is disturbed by this business and outsiders are looking around for other churches to visit.

Somebody ought to do something and do it quickly.

We have said on this website that when someone in the church attacks the pastor and is stirring up strife in the church, a small group of Godly members should visit the troublemaker and do two things: a) ask “what’s going on?” and then b) listen to their complaint.  If they have a legitimate beef, or if it appears they may have one, the members of the task force return to the pastor and, with his involvement, begin the process of dealing with it.  However, if the individual does not have a sound reason for what they are doing, the visitors kindly but firmly ask them to “cease and desist.”

“Sister Structive, we are asking you to stop this now. It should end.”

To my surprise, several readers went found much to disagree with in this approach.

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A creative pastor will find ways to teach his people

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(This is a followup to the previous article: “The ability to teach.”)

That pastors should teach their people is a no-brainer. It’s explicit in the Scriptures and implicit in our  being called “shepherds.”

A wise pastor will be creative in finding ways to teach his congregation, recognizing that many who will listen to his sermons are not coming to any class or small group, no matter how he browbeats them or how enticing he makes it.  He will have to find other ways to teach them.

That’s what this is about, finding ways to teach the Lord’s people.

1) Pastors will teach in sermons, of course.  But they should work at doing it well.

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Requirement for a pastor: The ability to teach!

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“An overseer (episkopos) then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach….” (I Timothy 3:2)

Most preachers would rather preach than teach.

Even the names say that, don’t they?  We call pastors “preachers,” not “teachers.”  And yet….

In seminary, we used up an entire class period one day trying to figure out the difference in preaching and teaching.  By the end, we had given up.

Each of us has our own understanding of how they differ. Here’s mine.

Think of preaching as exhorting and proclaiming in order to change lives; think of teaching as imparting information and insights in order to inform the mind and change the heart.

Teaching can be an important but minor part of preaching, and exhorting may be one component of good teaching. But the major chord of preaching is proclaiming, and the major thrust of teaching is conveying insights and truths.

“Yes, but….”

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