The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Preaching (Page 15 of 25)

Trust the Word

February 1, 2011 / / 0 Comments

[Allow me just a couple of more postings about Dietrich Bonhoeffer from Eric Metaxas’s latest biography.]

Preach the Word. Preach the Word. How many times I have been told, “Preach the Word!” Jimmy Butler here at Legacy exhorts me with, “Preach the Word, brother!” at least a couple of times every week. People write that to me at the ends of cards and letters and emails. I’ve written it and said it — even texted it —  to my preacher friends countless times. In California, I’ve heard it shouted from the congregation as a preacher takes the pulpit.

Preach the Word. Yes. That is our call as ministers of the Scriptures. Proclaim boldly and courageously the Holy Word of God. Faithfully. Without compromise.

Bonhoeffer certainly pushed his students to preach the Word. But he encouraged them to a deeper understanding of what it means to be a Christian proclaimer when he urged them to “trust the Word.”

In 1932, Bonhoeffer told his young seminarians at his illegal underground training school at Finkenwalde, “We must be able to speak about our faith so that hands will be stretched out toward us faster than we can fill them. A truly evangelical sermon must be like offering a child a fine red apple or offering a thirsty man a cool glass of water and then saying, ‘Do you want it?’ Do not try to make the Bible relevant. Its relevance is axiomatic. Do not defend God’s Word, but testify to it. Trust the Word. It is a ship loaded to the very limits of its capacity.”

Trust the Word. What a powerful idea.

We must understand that when the Word of our God is presented it will shake people, it will wake people, it will completely undo people. The Word of God has the power within itself to cause people to see their great need for salvation from God in Christ. If the Word is truly preached, the answers to the deepest needs of mankind will be received without all the baggage and camouflage and add-ons of “religion” and false piety and denominational hogwash. The grace of God, without filters and arguments, will touch people.

We don’t have to try to make it relevant. It is eternally relevant!

We don’t have to worry about it being powerful. It is supremely powerful!

And we preachers need to trust it. Trust the Word.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has promised us that not one bit of his proclaimed Word will ever return to him empty. Trust that great promise. Trust the Word.

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The Packers and Steelers arrived in North Texas yesterday and brought snow and ice and temperatures in the teens and minus-zero wind chills with them. The roads are all completely iced over after an all night sleet and freezing rain and flurry fest. Schools are out today. The church offices are closed. Ditches are littered with abandoned cars. Tree limbs are snapping. Power lines are sagging. Nobody’s outside.

It was sunny and 75-degrees Saturday and Sunday. It’s 16-degrees right now, snowing, with 30-mile-per-hour north winds. I’m really interested to watch all the national shows tonight and read all the national press tomorrow to see how DFW fares in the eyes of the global sports media.

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I’ve added another great link to the “Around the Table” page on this blog. It’s a click to several communion meditations by Jay Guin. I recommend checking them out. Instead of beginning your table talk this Sunday morning with, “When Howard called me last night and asked me to do the Lord’s Supper…” how about starting it with some theology? Some inspirational Scripture? A short illustration that ties what’s happening at the table today with Jesus’ meals from two thousand years ago or that great wedding feast of the Lamb to come? I invite you to read these meditations. And use them.

Peace,

Allan

To My Co-Workers In God’s Pulpits

December 30, 2010 / / 2 Comments

To Jason, Jim, Grady, Jim, Rick, Kyle, Greg, Chris, Erich, Charlie, John Mark, Jordan, David, Scott, Terry, Larry, Buddy, and Patrick:

You are not a salesman, you are a mediator of God’s Holy Spirit. You are not a motivational speaker, you are a faithful proclaimer of God’s Gospel. You are not a therapist, you are a Christian minister. Self-help tips are not the tools of your trade; it’s the inspired Scriptures. You are not a church chaplain, holding the hands of church people as you go about church business; you are a powerful spokesman for God, confronting sin and calling our Lord’s people to repentance. You are not a comedian, you are a comforter to those who dwell in dark places. Your call did not come from a family member or a spouse or a professor or a mentor, it came from the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth. Your passions are not motivated by financial gain or popularity or prestige, but by the burning desire in your bones to seek and save the lost. Your goal is not to fill pews and collection trays, it is to forcefully advance the Kingdom of Heaven in the hearts and lives of your hearers and in your community.

You guys are so cool.

You give it up every day. Every day. You live it. You breathe it. You assimilate it into every cell of your being and it radiates through every one of your words and deeds to bless with God’s grace every person you meet. It’s incredible, really, how powerful you are. Very powerful. A critical cog in God’s salvation plan for all mankind, a vital link in his eternal chain to reconcile the world to himself and redeem the heavens and earth. You reside in the company of Isaiah and Ezekiel, Amos and Hosea, John the Baptist and Peter and Paul.

It is our God who works in you. And the cool thing is that you know that without a doubt. It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purposes.

I love you guys. All of you. You inspire me to be better.

I pray God’s richest blessings for you and your great ministries in 2011.

Peace,

Allan

This Is Not God’s Way

December 15, 2010 / / 5 Comments

Winston Churchill told a story about a little boy who was playing on a pier and tumbled over into the water. The boy couldn’t swim and began to cry out for help. A soldier working at a nearby dock heard the desperate screams and dove into the sea. This brave young man swam out to the child, put him on his back, and brought him safely back to shore and into the loving and nurturing arms of the cheering crowd. The next day, the little boy’s mother came back to the docks looking for the courageous soldier. When the pier workers pointed her toward her child’s rescuer, she walked right up to him and asked, “Young man, are you the one who saved my little boy?”

The soldier stood up. His chest began to swell and a smile broke out on his face as he answered her, “Yes, ma’am, I am.”

The woman leaned in and looked right into his eyes, “Where’s his cap?!?”

We preachers and ministers and elders and other church staff believe we are called by God. We believe we are charged by God to do the things we do in the name of his Son. It’s a high calling. It’s a noble vocation. It’s not a nine-to-five gig. It’s an all-consuming passion that compels us to preach and teach and pray and serve.

So when we answer that call from our Lord and move into the ministry, we all believe we’re entering a holy, God-sanctified realm. But the reality for most of us is that we’ve entered a system, a man-created and human-perpetuated system that grinds up and spits out preachers and elders. Broken preachers and elders are all around us. A lot of them are still working. A lot of them are not. Burned out. Trashed. Used. Abused. Walked all over. Stomped on. Chewed up and spit out like the gunk on the floor of a major league dugout.

The expectations we place on preachers and elders, the ways we treat them, the things we say to them and about them — behind their backs and even to their faces! — the things we demand of them, the attitudes of ownership and entitlement that guide our interactions with them, none of that is from God. We’ve been a part of this sick system for so long, we think it’s God’s way. But it’s not. It’s the human way. It’s the world’s way. The way we generally treat preachers and elders is not God’s way.

The reason wives and families of ministers and elders resent the church, the reason so many of our best and strongest and most faithful men refuse to serve when the church calls, the reason so few of our most gifted young people are interested in the call to preach and minister is that they all know they’re not entering into a holy partnership with God and his people as much as they’re entering into a life-sucking, soul-robbing, energy-draining system.

It’s not supposed to be this way. It doesn’t have to be this way.

It needs to change. We can do better. And we should.

The call from our God is for us to live in mutually-encouraging relationships in Christ. We are to “fan into flame” the gifts from God we see in our preachers and elders, not explode all over them with soaking wet, white fire extinguisher foam.

We are all holy people, set apart by our God to serve his holy purposes. Our interactions with one another should also be holy. They should encourage and inspire, not discourage and depress. We should express gratitude, not attitude. Instead of arguing and complaining and criticizing, our words and actions toward those who serve us should be motivated by the Spirit who lives inside us, the Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. And no system.

Peace,

Allan

Preacher to Preacher

November 22, 2010 / / 0 Comments

In Friday’s post I mentioned a few rules-to-live-by for preachers that our mentoring group down in Waco had discussed last week. Jim Martin presented these regular practices to us as paramount to his preaching ministry. And he had asked us to bring a few of our own.

These are the three that I brought:

Pray with everybody – nobody comes to see me in my study without spending some of that time in prayer. If you’re coming to my office to complain or confess or to ask questions or to share something personal or to ask for advice, I believe my number one job is to give spiritual guidance. I must speak to you out of my knowledge of the Scriptures, out of my relationship with God, and out of the love I have for you as a brother or sister in Christ. And that conversation must be bathed in prayer. The same is true if I come visit you. I will not leave your home or your office or your hospital room without praying to God with you.

Together prayer. Intercessory prayer. Community prayer. It sets the tone, it prepares our hearts and minds, it centers us on what’s really important as we talk about whatever needs to be talked about. I believe prayer very clearly communicates to my conversation partners my priorities in giving counsel from a spiritual perspective, not a worldly one. It also communicates that I, myself, understand I’m not qualified to be giving any counsel at all. Whatever wisdom I have comes directly from our gracious Father.

Be transparent – some of our shepherds at Legacy say one of the reasons they brought me to this church is because I’m so open with everybody. When I hear that, I’m quick to say — mostly joking — that the openness will also be the reason they fire me.

I don’t hide anything from anybody. I’m honest with my feelings, with my sins, with my dreams, with my frustrations, with my love for God and for this church, and with my opinions. By the grace of God, as Paul says, I am what I am. I’m a work in progress. I’m trying really hard. I’m inadequate in many ways. But I’ve got Holy Spirit power inside me. I’m not afraid of that.

If we’re really going to live in Christian community with one another, if we’re really going to love each other like brothers and sisters, if we’re really going to accept and trust and defend and respect one another, if we’re really going to confess and share and be open with one another — and I preach all those things — then I must be the one to model it. And I do. You never have to wonder where I stand or what I think. I’m out there. Vulnerable. Open. Honest. It does rub some people the wrong way, I know. Not because they don’t like it, I think, but because they’re not used to it.

Acknowledge wins for the elders – I’ll never forget listening to Eddie Sharp talk about preachers and elders several years ago at an Austin Grad Sermon Seminar. (I think I know why elders and preachers have historically butted heads. I understand what causes it. It’s wrong. There’s nothing right about it. But I get it.) Eddie made it crystal clear to me in an afternoon session in May 2006 that, of all the people in our congregations, elders have the job description that most closely matches that of the preachers. Elders have the same frustrations, the same feelings, the same dreams, the same struggles, the same gifts, the same doubts, the same everything.

But here’s the line that nailed me, the line I’ll never forget: “You preachers are always looking for affirmation and respect from your elders; you have no idea that your elders are all looking for affirmation and respect from you.”

Really? Sometimes I can’t hardly believe that. But what if it’s true?

I always try to compliment our shepherds, to congratulate them on jobs well done, to point out to the church when they do something special. When I recognize compassion in an elder, I point it out to him and thank him. When I see generosity or kindness in one of my shepherds, I acknowledge it and tell him how wonderful it is. See, in church ministry, it’s really difficult to judge wins and losses. It’s not like looking at numbers or balancing ledgers or meeting goals. How do you know if you’re becoming more like Christ? How can you tell if your congregation is growing spiritually? They need to be congratulated for the “wins” that you see. I tell them that I love them. I tell them I appreciate their hard work and their dedication to our flock. And I tell them I support them and that I have their back. If you’re a preacher, I think your elders need that from you.

Preaching for a local congregation is a difficult job. I still don’t feel very good at it. I’m certain I’ll never stop learning how to do it better. I often tell people it’s the hardest work I’ve ever done, but absolutely the most rewarding. Those rewards and blessings come from our God who calls us and equips us for the task. It all comes from him. And it’s done in order to bring him eternal glory and praise.

Peace,

Allan

This One’s For The Preachers

November 19, 2010 / / 0 Comments

I had the great pleasure of spending an amazing Tuesday this week in Waco with Jim Martin and our “Waco Alliance” of five preachers and an elder. This monthly mentoring group does wonders for me. I come away from these meetings re-energized for the task, rejuvenated for the work, and with a renewed sense of God’s power and blessing in my life.

(We did suffer a setback on Tuesday.  Apparently, Bubba’s has gone out of business. For ten straight months we’ve eaten ten straight times at Bubba’s, a little hole-in-the-wall cafe in Lorena that serves home-style cooking right off the grill. There’s nothing better than The Bomb, their signature cheeseburger, and a basket of those seasoned fries. The velvet paintings of John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and, yes, of course, Elvis add greatly to Bubba’s indefinable charm. Although, admittedly, the velvet Charles Bronson in the men’s room does make us a bit nervous. But, now it’s gone. We pulled up Tuesday to an empty Bubba’s: signs gone, chairs stacked on the tables, lights out, velvet paintings adios! As a backukp, Dan’s BBQ in Hewitt was good. But it wasn’t The Bomb at Bubba’s.)

So, Tuesday, among many other things, we discussed habits and practices that make a difference in our ministries. We shared with one another the things we do regularly that positively impact our preaching and ministering in our churches. Jim offered his ten. We all chimed in with feedback and suggestions and personal anecdotes and stories. And we all resolved to pay more attention to these godly principles and practices:

Be a godly man – pay attention to my own spiritual growth; I must be a model of godliness to my church.

Manage self – do not live in reaction to my own past or to the present actions of others; I can’t control anybody but myself; and I need to do that well.

Be a student of my community and my church – be observant, pay attention to the people and the circumstances around me; what are they talking about in the hallway? what are they concerned about in the apartment complexes? what are the issues facing the schools? what are the problems in our church’s homes? I can’t be fully aware if I’m always locked up in my study.

Teach and preach for the week, but prepare for the future – “crock pot sermons” are the best ones; meditate and pray and stew on the sermons you can’t preach yet but will have to in a few months or years.

Read, read, read! – that’s how you grow

Take personal temptation seriously – always be aware that there is one who wants to destroy you; always be on guard.

Seek maturity in relationships – be Christ-like in all of your interactions with people; the things you say and do and think with others should reflect an increasing level of spiritual maturity.

Take a day off – understand that you are totally dependent on God and that the world does not depend on you.

Be present in key pastoral moments – I can’t be there for every knee surgery or mole removal procedure, it’s impossible; but I will be there for death and funerals, for discouragement and divorce, for job loss and weddings and new births and cancer; spiritual guidance is my calling, and I’ll be there fully.

Pay attention to your own body and thoughts and emotions – you’ll know when you need to slow down or speed up, hold back or let loose, speak or be still;

Preachers, do you have any other rules that you live by or regular practices that you see as paramount to your success as a minister in your church? Or something to add to one of these ten? Please share by clicking the “comments” line at the top of this post. I added three of my own to the list this past Tuesday. I’ll share them with you after the weekend.

Peace,

Allan

The Happiest Person

November 17, 2010 / / 0 Comments

One of my favorite authors, Dallas Willard, famously says, “The happiest person in the church ought to be the pastor.” I have that quote on the wall in my study, right there in eyesight above my computer. I read it several times a day. I’m looking at it right now as I type this post.

“The happiest person in the church ought to be the pastor.”

Why should the preacher be the happiest person? It’s not because everybody treats him so well. It’s not because he’s so highly paid. It’s not because his wife is perfect or his kids are straight-A students with boy scout medals and scholarships. It’s not because he only works one hour a week. It’s not because he wields any power or influence, is respected in his community, or owns a great haircut and fashionable wardrobe.

Willard explains that the preacher is the happiest person in the church because he understands. He gets it. He knows it better than anybody. He sees the big picture. He recognizes the Truth. He’s fully aware of the ultimate realities.

The preacher understands that our God is good and faithful. He knows that Christ has redeemed us and delivered us from sin and slavery to death. He sees that our Lord is sovereign and reigns over all our circumstances. He’s totally convinced that God’s Holy Spirit lives inside us and empowers us to do great things. He recognizes that we’re all destined for a glorious eternity in the loving presence of God. He’s aware that little petty things — most all things, actually — don’t really matter in light of our salvation from God in Christ.

Wait a second…

…that’s you, too. Right?

Peace,

Allan

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