By Joe McKeever, Preacher, former Pastor of seven churches, and retired Director of Missions at the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans.

I’m pro-pastor, but I’m not blind.

These men (in our denomination, pastors are men) are called of God and assigned some of the most difficult work in the universe, and for the most part they labor well and long and you never hear a complaint out of them. They are my heroes.

Most of them.

The typical pastor in our denomination serves a church running 100 or fewer in attendance, which tells you the offerings are insufficient to provide much of a living for him. In some cases he holds down a second job or his wife works. Or both. Or, most amazing of all, he manages to live on what they pay him.

I believe in these guys. They are my brothers and my admiration of them knows no bounds.

Most of them.

But there are times when some of these ministers do the most self-defeating things. Not all of them, thankfully. But enough to warrant our addressing the issue as a caution to the rest of the Lord’s stable of shepherds.

Here is my personal list of the 5 most frustrating things pastors do.

FIRST: It’s frustrating to see preachers cut corners on sermon preparation.

What is bizarre about this is that the Sunday sermon is 50 percent of their job, as far as most of the congregation is concerned.

I grant you that in the more liturgical churches that isn’t so, with the ministers’ homilies often appearing as 5 minute reflections thrown together just before he entered the sanctuary.

But in the world I live in, the only time 90 percent of the congregation sees the pastor is on Sunday morning. If he does poorly there, he has just about sealed his fate with the membership as a whole.

And yet.

From the scant attention given the Sunday sermon by many ministers, from the small study time allotted to its preparation, and from the haphazard delivery of this message during the morning worship service, one would think neither the members nor the minister put a value on the sermon.

It is the single most important thing the pastor does. If he is smart, if he values his ministry, and if he wants to go on receiving a paycheck to provide for his family, he will give great prominence in his schedule to planning that message.

SECOND: It’s frustrating when preachers miss the entire point of what a sermon should be.

Many a preacher–not all, thank the Lord–think a sermon is a rumination on some text they’ve studied or have been reflecting on. Many think this is the time to issue a grand pronouncement on some hot-button issue in the public mind. Others think of the sermon as their moment to proclaim their convictions before a people looking for answers. And, to some, it’s an instruction time when they may educate people seriously deficient in spiritual things.

A sermon is none of these things.

God said of the false prophets of Jeremiah’s day: If they had stood in my council, then they would have announced my words to my people, and would have turned them back from their evil way (Jer. 23:22).

That’s what a sermon is: the words of God, received by a servant of the Lord who has taken the time to “stand in His council,” and is willing to deliver them faithfully and with full courage.

The minister’s message is called “The Word of God” for good reason. This is what God has said for us today.

One of the most common errors of pastors when they began looking for a message to preach is to assume that since the Bible itself is called “The Word of God,” anything in it they decide to preach suffices as God’s message for this Sunday. Not so. The Bible is a huge book, a library even, one containing thousands of messages and potential sermons. It does not follow, therefore, that these are all-occasion messages, able to be preached interchangeably, with the Spirit doing with any one what He could do with any of the others.

The wise minister will tell himself, “The Lord has a message for our people next Sunday. He alone knows who is going to be present, and what each person is struggling with. Therefore, I will go to Him in prayer, asking what He would have me preach.”

Then, as he prays, the minister reads the Word. He listens for God’s voice. He waits and he reads, and thinks about what he has received. Then, in God’s own time–either at that moment or hours or even days later–he knows, “This is what the Lord wants preached. This is His message.”

It’s a great feeling.

THIRD: It’s frustrating to see ministers issue instant assessments on how well the sermon worked today.

In our denomination, it’s a rare sermon that is not followed by a public invitation or altar call during which a hymn that calls God’s people to action is sung and the minister invites people to “walk the aisle” in response to whatever God has told them. When he gets a good response to the invitation, he feels affirmed in his preaching and ministry. But when he doesn’t, when the congregation stands there like department store mannequins, he tends to feel he has failed them or God.

When a minister feels like a failure, nothing good results. Often he will adopt one of two extreme measures: he will either throw in the towel, give up and quit, or he will adopt manipulative tactics to get people down the aisle one way or the other.

Neither is wise. Both are self-defeating and unworthy.

One could wish every minister knew several critical things about the practice of preaching:

–often, it’s more planting and cultivating than harvesting. Be wise.

–just because people do not register a commitment to Christ within five minutes of the end of your sermon does not mean the message did not do its powerful work or that you did poorly. Be patient.

–people are complex beings, and build mighty defenses against the work of the Holy Spirit. Destroying those barriers–which the Spirit of God alone can accomplish–takes time and repeated assaults. Be faithful.

–you are not the judge of your own effectiveness, not now and not ever. Be trusting.

–and finally, even the Holy Spirit does not manipulate people into decision-making but allows each one to “choose this day whom you will serve,” so neither should you.

FOURTH: It’s frustrating to see ministers ignore the great sermon-building resources the Lord has put all around them.

Often when I’m with a pastor in the middle of the week, I’ll say, “So, what are you preaching Sunday?” He tells me the text or the subject, and then I say, “May I give you a thought on that?” He says yes and I’m off.

What I’m doing is what I wish someone had done for me as a young pastor: prod my thinking, stir my juices, tell me something on a text I hadn’t thought of, pass along a great story on that subject I might be able to use.

All around the minister are other pastors. Each one is a mother lode of information and insights, experiences and concerns. Tapping into that resource is as simple as making a phone call: “Bob, do you have a few minutes to meet me for coffee?” And then, in your office or the coffee shop or the fast food restaurant or down at the service station, after you’ve exchanged pleasantries, you say, “Can I pick your brain? I’m preaching Sunday on Philippians 4:13, ‘I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.’ Talk to me about that verse. Anything at all that comes to mind.’”

Have something to write with. Jot down what he says. Take the conversation wherever it goes. Then, at the end, whether that’s 2 minutes or 20, thank him and end that portion of the discussion. If you or he need to leave, do so.

Repeat as often as needed. He’s not the only pastor in your town.

Oh, and one more thing that is so obvious it should not have to be said, but it does: do not limit yourself to ministers of your denomination. Some of the best insights you’ll ever get will come from men of God who did not attend your seminary or any seminary for that matter, but who have devoted themselves to the Word and the ministry.

Ministers tend to be loners. How self-defeating this is. You will not find a pattern for going it alone in the Scriptures. We do see a few men who tried it, but rarely with positive results.

FIFTH: It’s frustrating to see ministers constantly frustrated.

A preacher will see and learn and know what he needs to do to be more effective, but because of a heavy load of administration or pastoral work, he does not have the energy or will or time to change. To make radical changes means adjusting his schedule and that frequently requires the support of the ministerial and office team as well as the congregation. That takes time and energy and patience.

And so he goes on, laboring ineffectively, digging a deeper pit for his ministry, growing more frustrated, doing more and enjoying it less, all the while seeing his efforts bearing little fruit.

Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose.

That line from “Me and Bobbie McGee” has stood me in good stead for a long time. When you are at the end of your rope and have nothing to lose, it’s actually liberating. Anything you do will be better than nothing.

So, take that courageous step, pastor. Free yourself of the frustrations that hound you when you know more than you are doing, from spinning your wheels as a result of busy work someone else could be doing to free you up for more profitable ministry.

I have a strong feeling that if we are frustrated at our ineffectiveness, the Lord is moreso. In fact, He may be the One who sent us the frustration in the hope that we would take drastic action to rearrange matters in our lives.

No one lacking courage need apply for this work.

You can do this, pastor. Stand strong. Trust God. Do right.

This article appeared earlier in Dr. McKeever’s blog, joemckeever.com, and is republished in SBC Today by permission of the author.

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These expositions by Dr. Kirksey are offered to suggest sermon or Bible study ideas for pastors and other church leaders, both from the exposition and from the illustrative material.
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Introduction

To be a Christian is a contradiction in many ways.  Dr. A. W. Tozer shares in That Incredible Christian:

Let us . . . simply observe the true Christian as he puts into practice the teachings of Christ and His apostles.  Note the contradictions:

The Christian believes that in Christ he has died, yet he is more alive than before and he fully expects to live forever.  He walks on earth while seated in heaven and though born on earth he finds that after his conversion he is not at home here.  Like the nighthawk, which in the air is the essence of grace and beauty but on the ground is awkward and ugly, so the Christian appears at his best in the heavenly places but does not fit well into the ways of the very society into which he was born.

The Christian soon learns that if he would be victorious as a son of heaven among men on earth he must not follow the common pattern of mankind, but rather the contrary.  That he may be safe he puts himself in jeopardy; he loses his life to save it and is in danger of losing it if he attempts to preserve it.  He goes down to get up.  If he refuses to go down he is already down, but when he starts down he is on his way up.

He is strongest when he is weakest and weakest when he is strong.  Though poor he has the power to make others rich, but when he becomes rich his ability to enrich others vanishes.  He has most after he has given most away and has least when he possesses most.

He may be and often is highest when he feels lowest and most sinless when he is most conscious of sin.  He is wisest when he knows that he knows not and knows least when he has acquired the greatest amount of knowledge.  He sometimes does most by doing nothing and goes furthest when standing still.  In heaviness he manages to rejoice and keeps his heart glad even in sorrow.

The Best of A. W. Tozer: Book One, compiled by Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter 20, (Camp Hill, PA: Wingspread Publishers, 1978, 2000) [Originally published, A. W. Tozer, That Incredible Christian: How Heaven”s Children Live on Earth (Harrisburg, Pa.: Christian Publications, 1964)] © 1978, 2000 by Zur Ltd..  Database © 2007 WORDsearch Corp.

It is my prayer that we will be able to say with that Puritan of old:

I am mended by my sickness, enriched by my poverty and strengthened by my weakness. . . .  What fools are we, then, to frown upon our afflictions!  These, how crabbed soever, are our best friends.  They are not indeed for our pleasure, they are for our profit.

Abraham Wright, The Golden Treasury of Puritan Quotations, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2000), p. 17.

Dr. John Thain Davidson, author of Talks to Young Men (New York: A. C. Armstong & Son, 1885), shares the following in an article titled “The Christian”:

The word “Christian” occurs but three times in Scripture.

In the first we read of being “called” a Christian; in the second, of being persuaded to “be” a Christian; and in the third, of “suffering” as a Christian.  There is thus here an ascending graduation: first, the name; second, the reality; and third, the suffering or experience.

Up to the year of our Lord 42 or 43–that is, the period indicated in our first text–the followers of Jesus had no distinctive title by which to separate them from the world around; that is to say, they had no appropriate designation accepted by themselves, and recognized by those who did not belong to them.  Not till this time, indeed, as I shall presently show, had such a designation been necessary.

But, as it may be interesting to trace the appellatives applied to the followers of Jesus from the commencement of the Christian era, let me, in a single sentence or two, enumerate them.

The very first name given to them was that by which their Divine Master Himself was pleased to designate them, viz., “disciples,” a word which means learners and followers, and which occurs in the gospels more frequently than any other, e.g., “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” [John 8:31].

The second name was “believers,” which was given to them on account of the faith they professed; e.g., “and believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes,” [Acts 5:14] etc. This name, however, as we learn from profane writers, was sometimes applied by way of reproach, though of this we have no instance recorded in the New Testament.  It was not unusual for the Greek philosophers to nickname the Christians credentes, that is, “believers,” because they did not exercise their reason, but took things on trust.  Augustine used to say, “Let them jeer us for our faith; let us nevertheless believe.”  In human and earthly concerns belief comes after knowledge, but in spiritual things it often goes before: e.g., John says, “We believe and are sure (lit. know) that thou art the Christ,” [John 6:69] etc.; not “We know and believe.”

A third name given to Christ’s people was “the brethren” [Acts 6:3].  This they were called because of the spirit of love that bound them together, and the recognition of their oneness and equality.  “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren” [1 John 3:14].

The fourth and only other name, so far as we can learn, by which they were know among themselves, was “saints” [Acts 9:13,32,41 26:10].  This they were called because of their holiness, and separation from the ways of the world; e.g., “Salute all them that have the rule over you (that is, the office-bearers of the church) and all the saints” (that is, the members) [Hebrews 13:24].

The names I have now mentioned, “disciples,” “believers,” “brethren,” “saints,” were all honourable and pleasing titles, and were given to the early Christians by their Divine Master, by the Apostles, and by each other; but, you will observe, there is nothing in any of these designations to mark them out, in the eye of the world, as a distinct and separate people.

As their numbers increased, however, and they became as a body more consolidated, it was to be expected that some generic title would come to be attached to them; and so it happened.  And as the name “Christians” became the distinguishing appelation of the followers of Christ, the fact itself, and the place where the name originated, were worthy of record.

By whom or in what spirit this name was given to them is not certainly known, and yet we have some glimpses of truth in regard to the matter.  Undoubtedly it was not the Jews who originated the title; for as the word “Christ” means simply “Messiah,” to call the followers of Jesus “Christians” or “Messianists,” would be giving up the argument to them altogether, and acknowledging that their Master was indeed the true Christ.  No; the ground of their reproach against the disciples was not that they believed in a Christ or Messias, but that they accepted Jesus of Nazareth (or of Galilee) as the Christ.  Hence, whom they wished to designate the disciples contemptuously, they called them “Galileans,” [Acts 2:7] or more frequently “Nazarenes” [Acts 24:5].  Thus we read (chap. xxiv. 5) that one of the charges which Tertullus (a legal orator engaged bye the Jewish party) brought against Paul before the governor Felix was, that he was “a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes,” which just meant a leader of the Christian body.

And as their name was not given them by the Jews, neither, we have reason to believe, was it directly given them by God.  Some have taken up this idea, and imagined that the title was a matter of special divine revelation.  To this I reply, that there is not hint given of such a thing; and as the word occurs only in two other places, and is not once used by Paul, it is extremely unlikely that it came from divine suggestion.  It was given to them, no doubt, by the citizens of Antioch.  Those Gentiles could not enter into the spirit or meaning of such words as “disciples,” “believers,” “brethren,” or “saints,”  nor could they enjoy the paltry spleen which the Jews exhibited in their contemptuous title “Nazarenes;” and as Antioch was the first place where idolatrous Gentiles were converted and real missionary work began, and the infant church was therefore becoming less and less identified with the Jewish nation, what more natural than that they should call the disciples after the name of their great Master, especially as that name was doubtless continually on their lips?

It is possible, indeed, that they may have been a vein of derision in the origination of this title, but eventually this passed away; and it is a singular thing that most of those names which are now honoured and respected in the Christian Church, were framed at first as terms of reproach and contempt.  I need only mention the words [Huguenot], Puritan, Methodist, and even Protestant, to show how names that were derisive in their origin may afterwards be gloried in as titles of true nobility.

Such, then, seems to have been the origin of the name “Christians;” not given by God, nor by themselves, nor by the Jews, but by their heathen neighbours, to mark them as a new sect, and designate their relation to Him whom they acknowledged as their Head. The honoured name we accept; let us seek to be worthy of it.

“The Christian: A Weekly Record of Christian Life, Christian Testimony, and Christian Work,” Thursday, April 28, 1870, (London: Morgan & Scott, 1870).

As we have noted, we find the term translated “Christian” three times in the Bible.  After reading each passage we will ask a question.

I. The first mention of the term translated “Christian” is in Acts 11:26.

Let us begin reading in verse 19, where Dr. Luke writes,

Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only.  But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus.  And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.  Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch.  When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord.  For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.  And a great many people were added to the Lord.  Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul.  And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.  So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people.  And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:19-26).

Are you frequently perceived as a Christian?

Based upon your actions and attitudes do people regularly perceive you as a Christian?  Are you “the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13) with flavor?  Are you the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14)?  Are you “a city set on a hill [that] cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14)?  Does “your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16)?

II. The second time we find the term translated “Christian” is in Acts 26:28.

Let us begin reading in verse 24,

Now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, ‘Paul, you are beside yourself!  Much learning is driving you mad!’  But he said, ‘I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason.  For the king, before whom I also speak freely, knows these things; for I am convinced that none of these things escapes his attention, since this thing was not done in a corner.  King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets?  I know that you do believe.’  Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You almost persuade me to become a Christian.’  And Paul said, ‘I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains.’  When he had said these things, the king stood up, as well as the governor and Bernice and those who sat with them; and when they had gone aside, they talked among themselves, saying, ‘This man is doing nothing deserving of death or chains.’  Then Agrippa said to Festus, ‘This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar’” (Acts 26:24-32).

Are you fully persuaded as a Christian?

Paul forcefully witnessed to Agrippa.  Unless you are fully persuaded you will never be persuasive.  Paul was fully persuaded as he writes in 2 Timothy 1:8-12,

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,  who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,  but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,  to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles   For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Timothy 1:8-12).

Paul writes in Romans 8:31-39,

What then shall we say to these things?  If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?  Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect?  It is God who justifies.  Who is he who condemns?  It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; / We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’  Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Several months ago, my good friend Scott Ward, with GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, sent an article titled, “Young adults less devoted to faith.”  In it Cathy Lynn Grossman states, “Most young adults today don’t pray, don’t worship and don’t read the Bible, a major survey by a Christian research firm shows.

If the trends continue, “the Millennial generation will see churches closing as quickly as GM dealerships,” says Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources.  In the group’s survey of 1,200 18- to 29-year-olds, 72% say they’re “really more spiritual than religious.”

Among the 65 percent who call themselves Christian, “many are either mushy Christians or Christians in name only,” Rainer says.  “Most are just indifferent.  The more precisely you try to measure their Christianity, the fewer you find committed to the faith.”

Key findings in the phone survey, conducted in August 2010:

•65% rarely or never pray with others, and 38% almost never pray by themselves either.
•65% rarely or never attend worship services.
•67% don’t read the Bible or sacred texts.  Many are unsure Jesus is the only path to heaven: Half say yes, half no.

“We have dumbed down what it means to be part of the church so much that it means almost nothing, even to people who already say they are part of the church,” Rainer says.

The findings, which document a steady drift away from church life, dovetail with a LifeWay survey of teenagers in 2007 who drop out of church and a study in February by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, which compared the beliefs of Millennials with those of earlier generations of young people.  . . .

Even among those in the survey who “believe they will go to heaven because they have accepted Jesus Christ as savior”:

•68% did not mention faith, religion or spirituality when asked what was “really important in life.”
•50% do not attend church at least weekly.
•36% rarely or never read the Bible.

Neither are these young Christians evangelical in the original meaning of the term — eager to share the Gospel.  Just 40% say this is their responsibility.  Even so, Rainer is encouraged by the roughly 15% who, he says, appear to be “deeply committed” Christians in study, prayer, worship and action. . . .

The 2007 LifeWay study found seven in 10 Protestants ages 18 to 30, both evangelical and mainline, who went to church regularly in high school said they quit attending by age 23.  And 34% of those had not returned, even sporadically, by age 30.

The Pew survey found young people today were significantly more likely than those in earlier generations to say they didn’t identify with any religious group.  Neither are Millennials any more likely than earlier generations to turn toward a faith affiliation as they grow older” (Cathy Lynn Grossman “Young adults less devoted to faith”, USA TODAY, Available from: http://www.usatoday.com/NEWS/usaedition/2010-04-27-1Amillfaith27_ST_U.htm Accessed: 08/12/10).

III. The third time we find the term translated “Christian” is in 1 Peter 4:16.

Let us begin reading in verse 12, where Peter writes,

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.  If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.  On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.  But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters.  Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.  For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?  Now ‘If the righteous one is scarcely saved, / Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?’  Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator” (1 Peter 4:12-19).

Are you fiercely persecuted as a Christian?

One pastor lamented after reading the Book of Acts, “You know wherever the Apostle Paul went, there was either a revival or a riot.  Everywhere I go they serve tea.”

From 2 Timothy 3:1-12, we read,

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:  For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.  And from such people turn away!  For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,  always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.  Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.  But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance,  persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured.  And out of them all the Lord delivered me.  Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

In an article titled,

“American missionaries gunned down for ‘preaching Christianity’”, Kathy Gannon shares the following:  “KABUL, Afghanistan – Taliban terrorists have declared they shot and killed a team of missionaries, including six Americans, because they were ‘preaching Christianity.’”

Ten members of a medical team, including six Americans, were shot and killed by the Islamic terrorists as they were returning from providing eye treatment and other health care in remote villages of northern Afghanistan, a spokesman for the team said Saturday.

Dirk Frans, director of the International Assistance Mission, said one German, one Briton and two Afghans also were a part of the team that made the two-week trip to Nuristan province.  They drove to the province, left their vehicles and hiked for hours over mountainous terrain to reach the Parun valley in the province’s northwest.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press in Pakistan that they killed the foreigners because they were “spying for the Americans” and “preaching Christianity.””

Kathy Gannon further explains, “Among the dead was team leader Tom Little, an optometrist from Delmar, New York who has been working in Afghanistan for more than 30 years, Frans said.

Little was expelled by the Taliban government in August 2001 after the arrest of eight Christian aid workers – two Americans and six Germans – for allegedly trying to convert Afghans to Christianity.  [On September 11, 2001, Muslim extremists, known as al-Qaeda, coordinated a series of suicide attacks on the United States of America.]  He returned to Afghanistan after the Taliban government was toppled in November 2001 by U.S.-backed forces” (Kathy Gannon – Associated Press Writer – 8/7/2010 6:20:00 AM “American missionaries gunned down for ‘preaching Christianity’”  Available from: http://www.onenewsnow.com/Church/Default.aspx?id=1116150 Accessed: 08/12/10).

Conclusion

Dr. A. W. Tozer shared his pulpit once with Dr. Vance Havner (1901-1986).  After the message Tozer went up to him and said, “Finally, a man I don’t have to clean up after.”  Dr. Vance Havner wrote a book titled Why Not Just Be Christians? (Vance Havner, Why Not Just Be Christians? Available in electronic format from:  http://www.wordsearchbible.com/catalog/search.php?author=Vance+Havner Accessed: 08/14/10).

From The Best of Vance Havner we read, “The early Christians did not adjust to the situation, they adjusted the situation” (Vance Havner, The Best of Vance Havner, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1989). Dr. Havner shares the following in Hearts Afire: Light on Successful Soul Winning:

There is a lot of soft, sentimental talk about Him today that brings no conviction.  When Isaiah saw the Lord, he did not feel comfortable!  Neither did Habakkuk nor Daniel nor Paul nor John.  We want a picture of Him today that does not disturb us, that smiles at sin, and winks at iniquity.  I remember a man who told me he wanted to hear no hell-fire sermons but rather about the meek and lowly Jesus.  Yet the poor man did not seem to realize that the meek and lowly Jesus said more about hell than is reported from the lips of anyone else in the Bible!  We need a true and complete vision of God in His holiness and Christ in His glory that will bring us to repentance.”  Dr. Havner further observes, “But we are a pretty comfortable crowd of Christians, who seem to forget that for us the Gospel is not something to come to Church to hear, but something to go from the Church to tell.  The cause of Christ is not carried forward by complacent Sunday morning bench-warmers who come in to sit but never go out to serve.

Vance Havner, Hearts Afire: Light on Successful Soul Winning (Westwood, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1952) Database © 2009 WORDsearch Corp.

Invitation

Allow me to ask three more questions:

First, do you have genuine Christian Faith?

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).

Paul writes to Timothy, “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,  and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:14-15).

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).

The Christian faith is an evangelical faith.  It matters what you believe.  We must believe the good news as we read in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.  For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

Furthermore, do you have warm Christian Fellowship?

John writes in his first epistle,

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.  If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us (1 John 1:5-10).

Paul warns, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them” (Ephesians 5:11).

Finally, do you have a sharp Christian Focus?

From Hebrews 12:2 we read, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

This verse calls to mind a hymn by Helen Howarth Lemmel (1963-1961) who was once a vocal music teacher at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois.  From the Refrain we read, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, / Look full in His wonderful face, / And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, / In the light of His glory and grace.”

Make certain that you have repented of your sin and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.  If not, may the words of the old African American spiritual be yours, “Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart”  [Emphasis mine].

May each one of us truly know what it means to be a Christian.

Another Pastor told me, one time, that a certain fella went crazy on the Bible. He said that the man started studying his Bible, too much, and it caused him to lose his mind!

I’d like to know what your thoughts are on these two statements. And, is a “big crowd” what’s the measure of success in a church?  Is Bible preaching, or expository preaching, or text driven preaching not the way to go, if you really want to be a successful Pastor?

Maybe we should have the Holy Ghost Hokie Pokie at our Churches, in order to get the crowd coming?!!?  Peter Lumpkins had this video at his blog, and it reminded me of what some Pastors and Churches do in their attempt to be “relevant” and gain a big crowd.  I mean, if a big crowd is our measure of success, and we’re willing to just preach shallow, fluffy, psychological, self help messages to gain the crowd, then shouldn’t we look to things like the Hokie Pokie, or Christian Country line dancing, maybe, depending on your culture, to “reach” people; to get the crowds?  Take a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTPowYQ-jVU

I’d really like to hear your thoughts on this.

I’m afraid that we have a lot of Christians in the pews of Baptist Churches that really have no depth to their faith, whatsoever.  They do not know the Bible.  They do not know doctrine.  They really do not know what they believe nor why they believe it, if they do believe it.  We may even have Baptist Churches with people, who believe that you can lose your salvation, if you do something really bad like watch porn, get involved in a homosexual act, or commit suicide.  I mean, surely those people will go to Hell, right?  We may have Baptist Churches with people, who believe that the Church should just accept any baptism.  I mean, why make such a fuss about little Tommy Jones and his momma, Lucille, having to get baptized when they were a member of the Covenant Presbyterian Church for years?  What right do we have  to ask them to get baptized by immersion?  I mean, really…ain’t we carrying this stuff just a little too far?  Folks, I’m afraid that we have Baptist Churches that have a lot of people sitting in the pews, who really could not tell you the difference in the Methodist Church and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and they really could not care less to know.  They would say that we’re all nearly the same.   We all follow the same God.  We’re all going to the same place anyway.  You’ve probably heard all of this before, just as I have, right?

Do you know what I believe to be an even sadder situation?  There are some Pastors out there who don’t see it either.  We have pulpits in the SBC where the Bible is not really preached and taught.  We have pulpits where sermons are preached every Sunday that could be preached at Baptist Churches, or at  Methodist Churches, or at Pentecostal Churches.  And, the Methodists would amen…quietly…the sermon, as would the Assembly of God people…more loudly, of course.  The same sermon could then be preached in the Baptist Church, and they would amen it.  These  sermonettes have no depth; therefore, the people have nothing given to them to make them grow deeper in their faith.   They hear little, self-help-psychological-”how-to” sermonettes every time they attend their church. How can we expect those people to be deeply grounded in their faith, knowledgable about doctrine?   How can we expect people to be sound in their faith, and to stand strong on the Word of God when THEY DON’T KNOW IT!

My friends, we’re seeing a movement among the younger crowd that I applaud.  They want to hear the Bible, not our traditions.  Not our thoughts.  Not our philosophies and theologies.  Not our opinions. They want to hear the Bible.  They want to preach the Bible.  They want to teach the Bible.  To that, as a Christian who is the Baptist flavor of Christian, I say a hearty AMEN!  Let’s teach the Bible.  Let’s preach what the Bible clearly says.  When we do, then people will be Baptist, Southern Baptist.  If not in name, then in doctrine.  Oh, they may not join the SBC (and if they don’t, that’s fine).  Let them be whatever it is that they feel led to be, but, at least they will be sound in doctrine.  If our SBC Pastors, Seminary Professors, and our Sunday School literature writers, etc., will teach the Bible, then we’ll be steeped in Southern Baptist doctrine.  We’ll hold to the clear teachings of Scripture, because the BFM2000 is what we believe the Bible clearly teaches, and it is.  May God help us to grow in our understanding and knowledge of His Word and thus get to know our Creator better and better and better every day.   May the Lord help us to love Him more and more and more every day.  To God be the glory.

The buzzword of division among under 40 pastors is ‘relevance.’ Here, as with so much of ministerial lingo, is much room for debate primarily because the word has come to assume definition without having been defined for the larger audience. With no definition comes no consensus, thus the majority can affirm its use without knowing precisely what is being affirmed; further, when a minority cautions its use, they become the subject of derision by its proponents, though the proponents themselves hold varying, or even contradictory definitions of what is meant by the term.

Relevance was once championed for the use of chairs and projection in worship. Now the battle over relevance has to do with street talk and profanity. It has been argued by some (though I think largely the minority) that shock jock language is acceptable because of the audience that is being targeted. “If a preacher wants to reach a sailor then he must sound less like a preacher and more like a sailor,” as the argument goes. In other words, to continue to talk like a preacher is to make one irrelevant at engaging the world of a sailor. This concept seems flawed for at least two reasons.

First, it assumes the irrelevance of the message as it is. The nature of the Gospel is that all men are lost and in need of salvation through Christ, without which there will be eternal separation from God in a place called Hell. That message is relevant no matter the audience.

Second, it assumes the sufficiency of the preacher. It implies that the message itself is of limited power, and is in need of someone to give it life. Therefore, the message becomes in need of the preacher, not to make it known, but to make it worth knowing.

Rather, we should begin with two presuppositions. First, those who respond to the offer of salvation do so because of the power of the word and Spirit. Second, the person who responds to the message of the Gospel does so precisely because they recognize it is different from the message of the world. The Bible calls the minister to be an example, not an accomplice.

Does relevance mean that the preacher is able to communicate something to the world, or does it mean that preacher has something the world needs to hear? In other words, does the preacher have a world to which he needs to make a message relevant, or does he have a message that is relevant that needs to be given to the world? One says the message is irrelevant and needs relevance added to it, in this case by the preacher. The other says the message is relevant and simply needs someone to deliver it to the world.

I cannot help but find the irony that much of what is considered relevant is often derived from polls. These polls are taken from the same people who no longer believe in Satan, Hell, or the exclusivity of Christ. Yet we make our authority for relevance to be the responses received from polls. In turning to the theologically erroneous to develop our practice of proclamation we can hope to establish a blissful ignorance at best.

In 2 Corinthians Paul has spent much of chapter 1 lamenting the difficulties that he has faced. He has been rejected by those that should follow him, persecuted by those to whom he has sought to minister, and criticized by those who did not understand his message. Yet, he counters all of that by reminding us of some truths that will greatly aid in ministry in 2 Corinthians 2:14-17.

First, Christ will lead his people in victory. Wherever the gospel is preached, Christ will be victorious. We must ask ourselves if we really believe the message is able to accomplish what we say it can accomplish. We must determine whether our approach to preaching begins with the assumption of an inherent relevance contained within the message or if relevance is intentional on the part of the preacher. I fear that our over-fascination with intentional relevance may be revealing a lack of trust in the inherent relevance of the message.

Second, the preaching of the gospel will be satisfying to some, and putrefying to others. We should not seem surprised when it is rejected. We must escape the developing mentality that a successful ministry will be embraced by everyone. To remove the offense from the Gospel requires removing the Cross from the Gospel. To remove the Cross from the Gospel is to remove the good news from the Gospel, leaving us with no Gospel at all.

Third, we are inadequate to bring the Gospel to a higher level of accomplishment than what is already inherent within it. Any pursuit of relevance that seeks to make the Gospel more successful is to place the adequacy upon the preacher and remove it from the message. In the words of Paul, “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God” (2 Cor. 3:5). In other words, we don’t make the Gospel relevant, it makes us relevant. Should we lose the Gospel of salvation in favor of a gospel of coping, we shall have discovered ultimate irrelevance. Then we will no longer speak for God and we will no longer have anything unique to say to people.

Fourth, we are not free to peddle the word of God. That is, we dare not seek to make the Gospel more palatable to social desires or cultural norms. We are not to be manipulative with the word of God. Some attempts at relevance hold little of the Gospel message, as if we can stealthily slip in the message of salvation and make the hearer a Christian without their knowing it.

Fifth, what we preach, we preach in Christ and before God. Perhaps a question every preacher should ask is if their message was written in manuscript form, would the Lord be willing to claim that message as His own? Would He hesitate to read every word? If the message is indeed in Christ and before God, then we should expect that God would be willing to own every word of the message.

To seek relevance at the expense of Biblical fidelity is ultimately to be irrelevant. We will say nothing they have not already heard. We are to expose the message in all of its fullness, which by design, is radically different from any other message the world has heard. It should sound different because it is different.  The message that we are to communicate finds its locus in the inerrant and sufficient word of God.

It is a message that by nature is offensive to those who are perishing and satisfying to those who are being saved. Is it possible that the perceived losses we have suffered are due more to a lack of trusting in the power of God’s word and Spirit than in a culturally mandated relevance? There is no more relevant message than the simple message of the God who came to save sinners using the Cross as an instrument of reconciliation for those who respond in faith. Anything less is irrelevant.

Interaction with this post is at www.johnbmann.blogspot.com

People search for answers during tough times. There is no doubt that things are getting tougher for many. But, how can the community of faith navigate through difficult times? The Apostle Peter (1 Peter 1:13-25) offers us four checkpoints to follow. First, while in this world, we are to look beyond our present situation to the grace we will fully realize when Jesus returns for His church. While things may be unstable here, we can be assured of our hope in Jesus when he returns to set this fallen world straight. Second, while in this world, we are to live our lives in a manner that reflects a growing holiness in our actions that stems from a relationship with Jesus. The old ways that was conducted in worldly ignorance must not be our habit as Jesus is now our new example. Third, we are to do all things with reverence, not with sloppy aimlessness. The Father gave the most precious thing He could, His Son, and the lives of those who call upon the name of the Lord should reflect the price that was paid to redeem them from their iniquity. Finally, we are to love one another in the community of faith. Not superficially, but in such a way that the true believer displays passion and finds pleasure in loving his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Our closest friends and confidants should be found in the household of God and it is where we should find our greatest encouragement. Ultimately, our love comes from God and we are able to love during difficulty because God has brought us to a new birth that was supernaturally seeded by His Word. The answer to these tough days is Jesus as told to us in the scriptures. May all who are being transformed by His Holy Writ search for Him, live in Him, honor Him, and love each other through Him.

I have never been good at writing short devotions, in fact it was requested that I keep the words down to 150! Well, I went over that at 325. Being a preacher, I fall into the error of sometimes being too long-winded. The passage studied was 1 Peter 1:13-25. In these verses I found four imperatives (commands) given to church under difficult times. Normally when imperatives are given it indicates a primary clause. In this passage the primary clauses are found in verses 13, 15, 17, and 22. If I was preaching this in a sermon, it would have four points that supported the idea of how Christians are to persevere in times of trouble and trials.

The Epistles contain mainly a didactic genre. In preparing lessons or sermons, it is important to focus on what the writer was emphasizing in light of its context. It is too easy to focus on a secondary clause and neglect the main emphasis of the passage. I see this a lot in so-called “expository preaching.” The preacher will take a verse of scripture, possibly do some word studies on it and develop a sermon from that. This can lead to a gross error in missing the point of the passage. While word studies are important to understanding the text, they must follow a proper understanding of how the clauses in the passage relate to one another.

I am a believer in text-driven preaching (TDP). The basis of TDP is understanding the semantic structure of the text. This requires searching out the primary and secondary clauses. Primary clauses stand on their own as independent units of thought. Secondary clauses relate to the primary clause in a supporting way. For instance, if I say, “I played football and I went to college,” both “I played football” and “I went to college” are independent clauses without a supporting relationship between them. Yet, if I say, “I played football when I went to college,” there is a subordinating (supporting) relationship of “when I went to college” to “I played football.” The primary clause is, “I played football” and this is further explained in that it was while I was in college that I played.

So what does all this mean for the preacher preparing to deliver God’s Word? In the passage used for the devotional there was identified four primary clauses. The first clause is in verse thirteen.

13 Therefore, get your minds ready for action, being self-disciplined, and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Someone might look at that and preach a sermon on being self-disciplined, yet that is not the main point of what the writer intended. By the way, I consider the author of all Scripture to be God using inspired human writers to convey His message to us. In doing so in this verse, God did not put the major emphasis on being self-disciplined, even though He does want us to do that. No, the main emphasis is on setting our hope completely on the grace to be brought to us. When will we fully realize this hope of ours? At the revelation of Jesus Christ. Yet in this world of trouble and trials, our minds are prepared through self-discipline. The focus of this verse is not being self-disciplined or being prepared. The focus is while in this world, to set our hope on the next world where grace will be fully realized at the unveiling of our Savior. How do I know this? Because in the Greek, the imperative command is not on being self-discipline or having ready minds. The imperative is placed on setting our hope.

It takes time to learn TDP. I am still learning myself, but it is well worth the effort. In a later post, I will write on how to identify primary and secondary clauses in a scripture. But, until then, I’d like to suggest some resources you may or may not have in your library. First is David Alan Black’s, Learn to Read New Testament Greek. On pages 185-86, he gives a brief description on how to identify the primary from secondary clauses. Also, if you do not already have it, you must get Daniel B. Wallace’s, Greek Grammar, Beyond the Basics. It also discusses the relationships between clauses and how to identify those relationships. Plus, it is written is such a way to quickly find answers to various Greek questions.

A surgeon never stops studying his craft in order to save lives; how much more important is it for us to study our craft when it is souls we seek to save? I have benefited greatly from TDP. May the Lord use it in all the pulpits so that His Word will be delivered the way He intended it to the original hearers.

“Rarely do we hear these days of a church that is distinguished primarily by its faithful, powerful, expository preaching. Instead, when we hear persons speak about their their churches,they usually point to something other than preaching. They may speak of its specialized ministry to senior adults, or its children’s ministry, or its youth ministry. They may speak of its music or its arts program or its drama team, or of things far more superficial than those. Sometime they may even speak of the church’s Great Commission vigor and its commitment to world missions – and for that we are certainly thankful. But sadly, it is rare to hear a church described first and foremost by the character, power, and content of its preaching.” (Mohler, 78-79)

Later, Dr. Mohler points to Paul (Col. 1:25) and relays Paul’s claim that he had been given his ministry “to make the word of God fully known.” As Dr. Mohler states, “The central purpose of Paul’s ministry, indeed the central purpose of every Christian ministry, is to make known the Word of God.” (Mohler, 79)

How do we make God’s Word fully known? For Dr. Mohler and other people like myself we believe it is done primarily through expository preaching. But wait, what is expository preaching? Many definitions are out there and I have heard many state that they are expository preachers, yet when it comes time for them to deliver the Word, I hear everything but expository preaching. Allow me to offer my humble opinion in this smörgåsbord of definitions. Expository preaching can be defined as: text driven preaching that seeks to expound on the central idea of the text and further clarify that idea with the following and or surrounding verses that support it. It also seeks to illustrate and apply the text so that the listeners can grasp what God has conveyed to the original listeners and ultimately have His Spirit carry that meaning to those who are listening today and apply it to their lives.

The focus of preaching should not be preaching that is based on the “felt needs” of the congregation, because, as is claimed by Dr. Mohler, “… the sinner does not know what his most urgent need is.” (Mohler, 20) The preaching that a Great Commission Resurgence needs is preaching that proclaims the full counsel of God which leads the listener to being confronted with the Gospel. Ultimately, it is to the Lordship of Christ through His Word that the church must submit. A church, a ministry, or a movement cannot discover what Jesus would have them do if they are ignorant of His Word. Nor can a Great Commission Resurgence be faithful to the Lordship of Jesus if it glosses over portions of God’s Word because those doctrines are felt to be  secondary in order or moralistic in nature.

The Great Commission Resurgence needs an embracing of expository preaching. Without it, we are in danger of not fully making known God’s counsel as found in the Bible. Our pulpits should be known for dynamic expository preaching. Without a return to this, seeker friendly/emergent type preaching will lead our churches in becoming further atrophied and ignorant of their strongest weapon: the Word of God. A Great Commission Resurgence without expository preaching is a movement without the Lordship of Christ.