How to give thanks. And how not to.

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It is said that when Maureen Stapleton won the Academy Award, she gushed into the microphone, “I want to thank everyone I’ve ever known!”

That got a laugh, I’m sure, and everyone understood the sense of gratitude that threatened to overload her nervous system. It’s a grand feeling, no doubt, although few among us have ever been in the position she was at that moment.

But does anyone think that Ms. Stapleton’s friends and family members, her co-stars and colleagues, her producers and directors, immediately felt appreciated and properly thanked by that statement? Surely not. No one took it as a personal word of appreciation.

Impersonal, general, generic one-size-fits-all thanks does not do the job. A message on the sign-board in front of a place of business saying “Thanks for your patronage” does not communicate thanksgiving.

There are ways to say “thanks” effectively and also ways to say “thanks” when you’re wasting your breath.

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In everything give thanks. Go ahead, it’s not that hard.

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In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.  –First Thessalonians 5:18

Were not ten lepers healed?  And yet only one turned back to give thanks.  –Luke 17:11-19

“Thank you” may not be the most profound thing you will hear or speak today. The person you direct those words to–let’s be honest–will not find them the most rewarding of utterances they receive throughout the day. In our society, they’re rather routine.

However, and this is what keeps us coming back to reminding ourselves to give thanks, the absence of those two words creates a deafening silence that may wound good people who have served well.

Thanksgiving can be trite or it can be a treasure. How we give it, the way we speak it, the smile on our countenance, and the sincerity in our voice, these infuse it with authenticity or diminish its worth.

Though I have the gift of eloquence and can move great audiences with the force of my words and have not thanks, I am become a self-righteous prig and an insufferable elitist.

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10 questions for those not accepting “once saved always”

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(I send this forth in all sincerity and with the kindness of Christ. If you disagree, please respond graciously also. God’s people should be able to have a serious and Christ-honoring discussion about this hotly debated subject.  Thank you.)

Let me set the table with something the Lord Jesus said.  When the disciples returned from preaching with glowing reports of amazing victories over the devil, our Lord called them back to earth, so to speak, with this:

“Do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you. But rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).

Now, look at what He did there.  The Lord changed the basis of their joy and thanksgiving from something that fluctuates–like the outward results of missions, which can be good or bad, up and down–to something permanent and unchanging, our salvation.

The Lord Jesus clearly thought our salvation was secure. And He should know, right?

Otherwise, wouldn’t He have chosen some other basis for our joy?

No other conclusion is possible. Jesus clearly thought salvation was a once-and-done proposition. Something permanent, solid, irreversible.

As far as I am able to tell, you will not find one place in the utterances of the Lord Jesus that say otherwise.

For those who find they cannot accept the teaching of “once saved always saved” (aka, the security of the believer), we have a few questions….

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What to do when the pastor needs a time-out

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A friend was in a conference at her church in which various leaders were sitting around haggling over some issue. When one of the guys grew a little irritable, his wife said, “All right, Bobby. You’re in time out!”

The wife is a kindergarten teacher.

Pretty good idea, I think. Someone crosses the line and begins behaving badly, and we put them in time out. Maybe like hockey’s penalty box.

A pastor sent me a note, asking for my (ahem) famous instant assessment on his situation. He’s losing his passion for his ministry even though he knows he’s in the right place and there is nowhere he’d rather be. His sermon preparation is uninspired and much of the work of the ministry is drudgery to him.

I said, “This is a no-brainer. You are fatigued. You need rest.”

He did not argue, but started telling why his church was not going to allow him time away.

What would you think was the major reason the church will not grant him some quality time off? Answer: He’s bi-vocational.

What that means is that in addition to pastoring the church, he also holds down a full-time job in the secular world. So, to the congregation–this is him talking now–he’s part-time at the church. And what could possibly be stressful about a part-time job?

Faulty reasoning. Seriously faulty. His full-time employment carries a full quota of stress and pressure. As for the church job, there is no such thing as a part-time pastor. You are always the pastor and always on call. The work is never far from your mind. Your sermons are always incubating inside you, whether you’re having lunch at your desk or driving to the office. Church members rightfully feel if they need you, day or night, they can call.

Try telling them, “I’m not on duty right now. I’m part time.”

The fatigued pastor needs some time out.

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The most important person in your church office

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The receptionist–the one who greets the public–is in many ways your most important staffer.

She is the first person most people see when they walk in, the voice they talk with on the phone, and the only one a lot of outsiders will deal with from your church.

Pastor, she can make you or break you.

She can be a light to someone coming in from the dark, lift the spirits of a visitor who ran out of hope miles up the road, defrost the spirit of Jack Frost himself, and protect the beleaguered pastor who desperately needs an hour of study time without interruptions.

She can do all these things and more. But she can also run people off faster than Sunday’s tithing sermon or Wednesday night’s cold ham and peas.

Where does one find a receptionist sent from Heaven?

Answer: Heaven.

Ask God. He knows them all, has full resumes on each person on the planet, and runs the best placement service ever. Pray.

For some reason a long time ago, I began getting invited to speak to meetings of church administrative assistants, a catch-all phrase that encompasses secretaries, receptionists, bookkeepers, and practically anyone else on the office staff. I’ve been to Alabama’s Judson College more than once addressing that state’s church secretaries, done the same at Louisiana’s Tall Timbers Conference Center and Mississippi’s Garaywa Center. Best of all, for many years the National Association of Southern Baptist Secretaries (NASBS) invited me to attend (to address them, hold conferences, and sketch everyone) their bi-ennial gatherings, sometimes at one of our conference centers (Glorieta in New Mexico or Ridgecrest in North Carolina, at other times at Lifeway in Nashville and one year at the First Baptist Church of Dollywood. Oh, excuse me. Sevierville, Tennessee. (smiley face here!)

This is not to imply that I know a lot about their work, only that I spend a good deal of time with them and treasure the difference these ladies–they’re almost always women–make in the church’s ministry.

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What pastors should not do about search committees

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Just to be safe, you may wish to go ahead and plant your tongue firmly in your cheek.  While the subject is serious, my treatment of it will be only somewhat so.

Let me begin by telling you that in a long ministry (I began pastoring in 1962 and I’m still preaching and ministering), I have literally talked to over a hundred pastor search committees.  In fact, during one three-year period, I counted up and realized I had dealt with an average of one search committee every month, thirty-six in all.

So, pastor, let’s say you’ve been invited to meet with the search committee from the First Church of Butterfly City, and you’re plenty excited.

You’ve been at your present church a number of years now and have about run out of ideas, patience, and energy.  A change would not only be good, it might save your life, your ministry, and even your marriage.

Now, pastor, simmer down.  Do not let yourself become too excited….

First, pastor, you must not assume anything.

–Do not assume the Butterfly committee has done its background checks.  It’s completely possible they may begin tonight’s meeting with, “And who are you again? And where are you serving?”  Assume they know very little about you.

–Do not assume that you are the only candidate the Butterflyians are interviewing.  Committees have been known to invite a series of preachers for interviews, after which they will decide which ones are worth the trouble of traveling to hear them preach.  Assume–until they say otherwise–you are one of several they are looking at.

–Do not assume you are their number one choice and start dreaming of moving to that wonderful church in Butterfly City. This is no time to be calling the chamber of commerce for information on the nearest schools.  This is not yet the time to start doing background checks on the church.  Assume this is just for your encouragement and their education until the Lord and events say otherwise.

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What Satan knows about you–and doesn’t want you to know

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“In order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his devices.” (2 Corinthians 2:11)

First, Satan is a liar and a murderer (John 8:44).

Satan is a fallen angel who was banished to earth (Revelation 12:9).

Satan is one angry being (Revelation 12:12) since he knows that after his days here are ended, he goes straight into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10).

Keep those things in mind.

You don’t want to trust that fellow. He is without the faintest hope of any future, big-time angry at God, and a liar of the first order.  That’s a terrible combination. Don’t ever go into partnership with someone like that.

Trust nothing he says. Accept no promises from this liar.

However, he’s smart.  Giving the devil his due, Martin Luther said of him, “On earth is not his equal.”  You and I are no match for him by ourselves.

Now, since Satan has been around for thousands of years, he has watched the human parade and taken copious notes on our foibles.  He knows how to pluck your strings, friend.  That’s why we have to be constantly on the alert and trust nothing he says.

He wants you to fail and will do anything to pull that off.  Limited the way he is, there is nothing Satan can do against God directly, so he strikes out at those whom the Lord loves: People. Humanity. You. Me. Them. Us.

All of that is leading up to this: The devil knows some things about you which he would just as soon you never find out.

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Things most pastors simply cannot do

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“One can’t believe impossible things,” said Alice to the White Queen.

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

–From Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

I write this mostly tongue in cheek.  But not completely.

Having pastored six churches over 42 years and having preached for over 55 years, I know that my fears, my failures, my successes, and my accomplishments all tend to work themselves into what I am preaching.

It seems to require the strength of Samson to keep these things out of our sermons….

–If a pastor jogs or works out, it is impossible for him not to work that into a sermon at least monthly.  “As I was jogging yesterday morning, I’d just completed my third mile….”

–If a pastor’s child has excelled in athletics or the band or in the classroom, he will find a way to allude to that in a sermon.  It’s what a proud dad does.  “My wife and I are so proud of Jayson who has just received ‘student of the month’ award for the third time.  We were telling our daughter who is working on her Master’s at Johns Hopkins…”

–If the pastor once took a course in Greek and can find his way around a Greek lexicon, he will find it impossible not to drop that into the occasional sermon. “When I was studying Greek” or “My Greek Bible says…”  I say this to our embarrassment.  If a real Greek scholar ever entered the service and challenged us, we would be mortified.

–If a pastor reads through the Bible annually–or has just done it the first time–not saying so in a sermon is asking more than he is able to give.  He just has to say so. “As you know, I read through the Bible annually–and have done so for the last 13 years.”

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Witnessing as Jesus Taught It

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Good evening.  I am standing before you tonight on behalf of your family members and friends.  They are going to be needing you to do two things–

–to live the Christian life before them.

–and then, in time, to explain to them how they can receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  To be saved, born again.

You cannot do the second until you make a good effort toward the first.  No shortcuts.

Here is our text…

Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you and how He had mercy on you.  (Mark 5:19)

After the great Shantung revival in China a century ago, Missionary Bertha Smith returned to South Carolina and wrote the story, Go Home and Tell, the title based on Mark 5:19.

That’s our mandate.  Let’s talk about it.

The Lord wants no secret agents. No undercover man.  We are commanded to go public in our devotion to Him.  We confess Him as Lord, we are baptized, we love the brethren.

There are probably as many ways to bear a witness for Jesus as there are believers, millions.  Place a Bible on your desk.  Speak of Jesus in your conversation.  Give your testimony. Pray for those in need.  Befriend the strugglers.  Give literature.  Give food to the hungry.

I love the story of Al Braca.  Tuesday, September 11, 2001, Al was at his usual job on the 104th floor of One World Trade Center in New York City.  He was vice president for the Cantor Fitzgerald brokerage firm.  Al Braca was a born again believer, he had been saved 23 years earlier.  And since he freely shared his faith among the employees, they referred to him–mostly behind his back–as “The Rev.”  From time to time, those with personal problems sought out Al for counsel, usually when no one else could see them.  

Everyone knew Al Braca to be a born again Christian.  Everyone.  And from time to time over the years, Al had asked the Lord for permission to find other work where his co-workers were godly, were not obsessed with making money.  But no, the Lord said. He was where the Lord wanted him. 

That morning, the planes hit that tower around the 90th floor.  A few hours later everyone above that level died when the tower crashed to the ground.  Al Braca died along with all the others in his firm.  But the fascinating thing is what Al was doing before the towers fell.  

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A PARABLE YOU DID NOT KNOW WAS IN SCRIPTURE. With an amazing promise.

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First, before we get to that parable, I’d like to toss a few questions your way…

  1.  Have you gone to church all your life?  Most of us have.
  2. Have you noticed in Scripture than when our Lord taught, the people were amazed?  In Matthew’s gospel, check out 7:28-29; 8:27; 9:8,33; 12:23; 13:54; and on and on.  It’s all through the gospels.
  3. Question:  Why were they amazed?  There are several possibilities but the best answer comes in John 7 where the temple authorities sent their soldiers to arrest Jesus and bring Him to them.  The soldiers found our Lord teaching in the public square, but before arresting Him, decided to listen to what He was saying.  An hour later, they showed up at the temple empty-handed.  The authorities were livid.  “Where is he??? We sent you to arrest Him!”  The soldiers answered quietly, “No one ever spoke like this man.”   That’s why people who heard Jesus for the first time were amazed.  It was new.  They had never heard anything like this before.
  4. So, the big question is:Why aren’t we amazed? We read our Bibles and close them and go away saying “That was nice.”  We honored the Lord’s word, but we were not amazed by it.  The reason is: It’s not new.  We’ve heard it all our lives.

And that is our problem.

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