“You do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether both alike will be good.”  (Ecclesiastes 11:6).

“Of what use is this?”

What fruit will this bear for the Kingdom of God?

We never know.

It’s the question we should never ask.  First, we’ll not get an answer until we get to Heaven.  And second, to insist on knowing what God will do with our effort, our gift, our witness, before we act is to remove all faith from it.  And without faith, pleasing God is impossible (Hebrews 11:6).

You drop your offering into the plate at church.  There it goes.  Where it will end up, what it will accomplish, God alone knows.  Your church has a budget, you know how the money will be added together and which causes it will fund.  But your particular gift, you have no way of telling.

You’re distributing flyers for your church.  Some, you know, will end up in the garbage.  Some will never be read. But what if one or two become instruments for the Holy Spirit and someone’s life is forever changed?  Wouldn’t that be worth all the effort?

Continue reading →

“Those that were gain to me I counted loss….” (Philippians 3:7)

First. 

I wondered how things would be in that church of another denomination.  They had a good reputation and were growing while the small church I pastored was struggling.  So I visited their revival service one night.

One time was enough.

The preacher was delivering some shallow, hardly biblical at all, message and was whooping up the excitement to keep the people dancing in the aisles.  When the furor died down, he would step up the microphone and continue his tirade.  When the people returned to the uproar, he took a break and walked over to the piano player–who had not slowed down the constant banging at any point–and carried on a conversation.

I could not take any more of that and never envied that church or its pastor again.

Continue reading →

“Why is everybody always picking on me?”  –1950s song by The Coasters

The biggest egotist in the room may be the wallflower who sits alone, absorbed in killer thoughts about his isolation.  “Why does no one talk to me?”  “They’re all snobs.”  “Why did I bother coming to this thing anyway?” I, I, I, me, me, my, my.

Over the years I’ve met quite a few pastors who were being victimized and brutalized by their own low self-esteem and their inferiority complex.  It’s tempting to say here that “it’s not a complex if you’re really inferior,” but that would be cruel.  This person afflicts enough mental cruelty upon himself/herself without outside aid.

The poor-me pastor is usually in one of three situations…

Continue reading →

(14th article on the Seven Churches of Asia Minor)

FALSE REPUTATION.  Back then as now, people fake their credentials in order to fool the gullible.  

I’ve known of people to create Christian testimonies and pass themselves off as having had a sordid past.  Why? To manufacture empathy, perhaps, or to impress the more timid souls in church who would never venture to live such a ragged, rugged life.

There were a lot of impostors in these seven churches.  Consider…

In the church at Ephesus, they had people who called themselves apostles and they were not. (Revelation 2:2).  Who were they fooling?  They were trying to fool the membership of the church. God’s people are known to give great honors and generous gifts to those they esteem highly.  These impostors wanted the reward they were not entitled to.

In Smyrna, they had people who called themselves Jews and were not, but were actually a synagogue of Satan.  (2:9).  (Who would know this better than the Lord of Heaven and earth, who knows the secrets of everyone’s hearts!)  Who were they fooling?  Themselves and no one else.

Thyatira had a woman whom Jesus calls a Jezebel.  She called herself a prophetess, but was a deceiver.  (2:20)  Who was she deceiving?  Perhaps herself,  but clearly a good number of people who were in big trouble if they did not wake up and repent.

The Sardis church had a reputation that they were alive, but they were dead.  (3:1)  Who were they fooling?  The chamber of commerce, probably.

Continue reading →

I should state up front that not everyone calling himself/herself a minister of the gospel is telling the truth.  Charlatans and hypocrites can be found in every field of endeavor, including the ministry.  Those who go from church to church preaching corrupted gospels, bullying the congregation in the name of Jesus, tearing up fellowships and ruining lives–such people need to be put out of business.

Once pastors and denominational leaders see the destructive pattern in a minister’s history, they should quit passing his name along to other churches.  And someone should speak the truth to him and say why.  Then “unfriend” the guy.

But unless a church has good cause, it should never fire a minister.  If there are reasons for dismissing the minister and vacating the pulpit, faithful and mature leaders can find ways to make it happen without ruining that person’s future opportunities for service.  But outright firing a minister forever brands him and may ruin his ministry prospects.

I hear this all the time.  “He’s outlived his usefulness here.”  “We need new leadership.”  “He’s not a good match for our church.”  “He’s offended the key leaders and no one trusts him anymore.”

Continue reading →