We Should All Be "Wordy"

I had a pleasant surprise Sunday night . . . a real treat. After preaching in revival service at a local church, Andrea, Bekah, and I decided to eat at our local Cracker Barrel. When we arrived, three pastor friends and their wives were already there and invited us to join them. Another pastor and his wife joined us and we blessed Cracker Barrel with our brand of “the joy of the Lord.”

The five of us, as well as several other pastors, have spent a considerable amount of time over the last several weeks praying together for each other and for our churches. Over the course of time, we have fostered a friendship that has enriched my life, and I hope the lives of the other guys as well. Tonight, our wives had the opportunity to enjoy the fellowship too. All I can say is, “oh, my, what a time!”

Our fellowship is a mutual encouragement to each other. Now, remember, we ARE guys, so there is a lot of silliness and good clean fun, but the camaraderie always lifts our spirits, like a B-12 shot for our soul. The conversations we have are therapeutic. Words are like that, we can use them to heal or to hurt. Thankfully in our group we use them to heal. Humor is used quite often – we laugh AT and WITH each other – because we truly are a funny bunch.

Consider the options all of us possess when it comes to our speech:

Pleasant words are a honeycomb: sweet to the taste and health to the body. – Proverbs 16:24

. . . but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in God's likeness. – James 3:8-9

The words we employ and how we choose to employ them either build up or tear down those at whom they are directed – and any others who hear them or read them in the process. Since our words are so sharp and effective, let me challenge you to wield words with caution.

Let me suggest two practices, one preventative, the other proactive, that will help you use your powers for good and not for evil. First, THINK before you speak. Using the word THINK as an acrostic, ask yourself the following questions before firing off that missive or hitting the SEND button:

Is what I am about to say True?
Is what I am about to say Helpful?
Is what I am about to say Important?
Is what I am about to say Necessary?
Is what I am about to say Kind?

Then, as a proactive step, let me encourage you to make a habit each day intentionally to give someone a verbal B-12 shot. Pick someone and send some positive words their way. Sweeten their taste and fortify their body with the honey of kind words.

What will it be . . . honey or poison? Build up or tear down? Bless or curse?

Thank you, my brothers, for the encouragement you give me. I wish every pastor had a crew like us. But then again, the world probably couldn’t stand it, could they?

SBC - Zion or Afghanistan?

We SBC members received some disheartening information today: for the first time, the country’s largest protestant Christian denomination reports declining membership and numbers. For all of my lifetime, the SBC reported growth among its churches, but a plateau/decline now appears evident over the last several years. How could this happen? I have an idea.

Apparently, since the all important battle for the reliability and infallibility of the Bible has been settled and won, boredom has overcome some (most) active participants in SBC life and new battles have sprung up within our “Baptist Zion.” I guess Protestants always look for something to protest. Unfortunately, the result amounts to a denominational Afghanistan where competing “warlords” battle to marginalize those who believe differently than they on issues NO WHERE NEAR as critical as the inerrancy of the Bible. Every “station on the theological dial” is guilty at times of parroting their own pet issue all the while proclaiming all other issues to be “tertiary.”

So . . . what to do? The SBC is a voluntary collection of churches that pool their resources to accomplish together exponentially more than we could accomplish alone. In like manner, Baptist churches are nothing more than a voluntary collection of believers who collective use their individual spiritual gifts and resources to serve each other, their communities, and their world. Any effective solution to the resuscitation of the SBC will begin with individuals who serve in Baptist churches. INDIVIDUALLY, we are fragmented, therefore our churches are divided and fragmented, so it only stands to reason the collection of churches known as the SBC will be fragmented. We have become a sad 21^st Century example of what Paul described in the church at Corinth:

I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ." 1 Corinthians 1:10-12

…because you are still fleshly. For since there is envy and strife among you, are you not fleshly and living like ordinary people? For whenever someone says, "I'm with Paul," and another, "I'm with Apollos," are you not [typical] men? – 1 Corinthians 3:3-4

We are not divided over our allegiance to “names” but we seem to choose sides based on our favorite issues - Calvinism versus Arminianism, Complimentarianism versus Egalitarianism, Elders rule versus Congregationalism . . . the list could go on ad nauseum (especially to God!). We would rather fight over secondary issues than to work together to accomplish the most important ends. According to Paul, our problem is CARNAL, FLESHLY, WORLDLY envy and strife. Various groups and individuals battle each other for position, prominence, and power, rather than battling the real enemy, Satan, and his grip of lostness on precious souls. Honestly, do you believe Jesus died on the cross so we could claim victory for a particular doctrinal interpretation?

This is not a MACRO problem, but a MICRO problem. There is strife at the SBC level because INDIVIDUALS are fleshly and seeking to win battles for which Jesus did not die. Individual churches are impotent because members fight the same battle for position, prominence, and power locally.

I want to prayerfully challenge you – as an individual - to consider your true allegiance, evaluate who is your real enemy. There are way fewer “essentials” than we pursue. I suggest three: the glory of God, the Lordship of Christ, and the salvation of lost souls. Let’s get back to pursuing these three goals with passion. When individuals get right, churches and conventions get right. Let’s get our focus back where it belongs.

What Evil Lurks

We once lived in a house with a mold problem. We aren’t sure when or how it started, and we didn’t notice at first. We were made aware of the problem when Andrea pulled a leather belt out from the back of the closet that contained more “culture” on it than on a liberal arts college campus. Further investigation revealed that the mold began in the HVAC system and had infected the duct work. For so long, an unseen hazard not only lurked, but grew surreptitiously throughout our house.

Like mold in a house, bitterness poses a hazard to our spiritual health as well. One may best describe bitterness as an unsettled anger and resentment over a past hurt or disappointment. This failure to forgive threatens our walk with God. Consider what the Word says:

See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. – Hebrews 12:15

Bitterness, like a root, begins unseen, and continues to seethe beneath the surface. But bitterness cannot stay hidden for long – it erupts like a volcano spewing boiling lava of resentment. Bitterness creates trouble for the one who harbors it.

First, bitterness affects our body. Studies link bitterness to increased heart trouble, high blood pressure, gastro-intestinal disorders, and sleep disorders, as well as a number of other physical maladies. Our minds control what happens in our bodies, and an unforgiving spirit keeps our nervous systems churning at an unhealthy rate.

Even more dangerously, bitterness affects our spirit. The clamor of a bitter memory drowns out the still small voice of God. The one harboring bitterness loses the ability to see life through the lens of God’s activity, but instead views all circumstances through the smoky filter of unforgiveness.

Also, bitterness affects our relationships – it “defiles many.” One person’s bitterness becomes another’s hurt when a bitter person carelessly slings the hot lava of resentment. I once heard a saying I have found to be true: “Hurt people hurt people.” A bitter person is negative, complaining, and argumentative; never a joy to be around, but rather a nuisance to be avoided.

So what can we do when forgiveness is difficult to demonstrate? In a recent sermon titled The Landmine of Unforgiveness, Dr. Charles Stanley reminds that while we may never be able to forget the hurt someone has done to us, it is necessary that we forgive the offense of the hurt. He mentions that the key lies in how we choose to remember the hurt. When a painful experience comes to mind, we can choose to revisit the hurt, or to continually forgive the offense.

Let me encourage you to do a bitterness audit of your life. Has someone caused you the kind of hurt that you enjoy revisiting? Have life’s disappointments created a scab that you cannot stop reopening? Acknowledge your hurts and their sources. Release your offenses and let God wash you clean. Sure, you may have to do it countless times for every offense, but the liberation and healing is worth it.

My Song of Solomon Post

I enjoy gardening. I guess even though a boy becomes a man, he still enjoys playing in the dirt. There is something special about working the earth God created and being part of the creative process. Granted, when God created the earth and all that is on it, He started with NOTHING, but we join the creative process and take seeds from what has been created before, plant them, nurture them, tend them, then harvest and eat the results.

Since we have moved to Hoschton, I haven’t had a garden. Wouldn’t do any good here. If I planted a garden, it would feed the local “wild kingdom” before it fed anyone else. We see an abundance of deer, quite a few rabbits, some raccoons, ‘possum, and the occasional fox. The fox sightings always remind me of Scripture passage:

Catch the foxes for us —
the little foxes that ruin the vineyards—
for our vineyards are in bloom.
Song of Solomon 2:15

In this part of the love story between Solomon and the Shunnamite woman, she using this beautiful poetic expression to remind her lover to guard against relational predators that would sabotage their love and strain their relationship. She wanted to guard against actions and attitudes that would cause their love for each other to grow cold.

In the same manner, for all of us we are in danger of spiritual foxes eating the blooms of our relationship with Christ before fruit appears on the vine. We often allow the our spiritual discipline to grow stale and lifeless due to routine and familiarity.

When we do the same things over and over, they become second nature to us. If we always read the same passages of Scripture, pray the same prayers, read the same devotionals, we may become so familiar with them that they lose their freshness. Let me suggest that you “freshen” things up from time to time.

Read a different Bible translation for a whole week - seeing the truth stated a little differently adds a new perspective.

Read the Bible out loud. Reading aloud causes you to think about each individual word and its meaning.

Try writing out your prayers. Again, writing them forces you to think about what you want to say – to bring prayer back into the conscious chamber of your brain. Rote prayers can be uttered without a second thought. Written prayers require fresh focus.

Instead of singing the words to a hymn, try reading it instead. Taking away the need to notice the melody allows more focus on the meaning of the words. So many hymns were first written as poems only to later have music added to them. You could be amazed at the praise and truth that stems from the message of even the most familiar hymns when we employ them a little differently.

Consider a one meal a day fast for several days. When you deprive the body you often get the soul’s attention. Taking ourselves out of the regular flow of daily activity awakens our minds and hearts to hear what God may want to speak through His Word and our prayers.

What foxes threaten your vineyard? What are you doing about it? In the words of Dora the Explorer . . . SWIPER, NO SWIPING!!!!

I Should Forgive My Algebra Teacher

I was pretty good in math as a kid. I was flash card champ in the 5^th grade – or something like that. I was really good at multiplication and addition and not quite as strong at division and subtraction. I was also good in grammar. I knew how to diagram sentences, and I could even locate Indirect Objects. Johnny gave Jill a brand new book. SEE! In a sense I guess you could say I was good with letters and numbers.

But I bailed out when algebra rolled around and they started putting letters with the numbers. I didn’t pursue too many algebra, trig, geometry, and calculus classes. I abandoned the numbers and set my course with the letters. I wish someone would have told me that bean counters and engineers make a more abundant living than talkers and writers.

A particular multiplication problem found in the Bible causes me great problems. Here it is:

Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”

Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. – Matthew 18:21-22

It’s not the math that trips me up – I know that 70x7=490. It’s not even the understanding and meaning that gives me fits – I know that Jesus is not limiting forgiveness to only 490 times, but instead he is speaking figuratively that there should be no end to our willingness to forgive a fellow believer. Where I have difficulty is in implementation. I don’t like to forgive.

Yet my reticence to forgive took on a new light to me recently when I offered an apology to a brother and asked him to forgive me. I had made an unintentional mistake and wanted to clear the air and move forward in our walk with God. But he did not accept my apology and I was withheld forgiveness.

That was a very strange feeling; I had never had that happen before. In the gazillion times in my life when I have apologized for something, I had previously received a gazillion graces. But not this time. Suddenly, I was able to feel the opposite emotion to the relief we all feel when another extends grace and forgives us, and this opposite emotion has made me more sensitive to the need to be forgiving of others – even to this one who refused to forgive me.

I need to forgive, if for no other reason than I too have been forgiven. Also, if I choose not to forgive, I cannot receive forgiveness. After all, in the model prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that God would forgive us our debts AS we forgive our debtors. As. In like manner. To the same degree as. Tit for tat. If I want to receive grace, I should give grace.

So, what was meant to hurt me has actually helped instead. This experience of “anti-grace” or whatever you would call it, has helped me to see how liberating forgiveness is to both the giver and receiver. Today I choose to erase everyone’s spreadsheet. I forgive. Even if I am not forgiven by them.

“Oh to grace how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to be,

Let thy grace, Lord, like a fetter, bind my wondering heart to THEE,

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.

Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for THY courts above.”

Of Mice and (Cowardly) Men

We had a mouse in our house last week, you would think he was the most dangerous of all God’s creations. We noticed the ratty little booger Wednesday afternoon. We tried to alert the cat (Rahab) to “this present danger” and she seemed at best . . . disinterested. Finally, after being reminded of her raison d'être, she was on the case. She is an excellent mouser bringing samples of her work from the field behind our house to us weekly. As a precaution, when we left for church, we set a trap between the fridge and the counter.

When we returned, the trap was still set, and the cat had yet to dispose of said pestilence. In fact over the next four nights the cat would engage in a noisy, and sleep depriving, game of cat and mouse. We soon realized that “game” was exactly what Rahab was playing.

At one point she caught Lucifer (what I named the mouse) and came walking to the bedroom where I sat working on my computer. Have I mentioned that I am slightly traumatized by mice? She dropped the mouse just inside the doorway and looked at me triumphantly. As I sat there trying to figure out how to get out of the room without going anywhere NEAR the only doorway, she playfully scooted it toward me. This of course resuscitated Lucifer from his stupor, and he darted away under the dresser. I, on the other hand darted out of the room.

On Saturday we discovered the mouse had created a bachelor (we hoped) pad in a drawer underneath the oven. He had made a nice bed in one of the cups of my former muffin pan. So off to the store I went to get yet another solution to the problem – glue traps. Before leaving for church Sunday morning, I loaded the drawer with these traps. When we came home, he was not stuck to a trap, but comfortably curled up in his bed. He even looked up at me as if to say, “Could you please close the drawer, the light is in my eyes and I am trying to sleep!” But alas, I roused him up, and he ran directly into one of the traps. He was disposed of. But I languished in my embarrassment of being afraid of a little mouse.

Fear is not from God. In fact 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Yet fear is a very present and often crippling emotion. Just as I tried three solutions to the “Lucifer” problem, God has given us three tools to trap fear and render it impotent in our lives.

• Power – God’s power, that is. One of the reasons we fear is that we think we lack the necessary ability to handle those situations that frighten us. You know what? We are right. But God has ALL POWER and He is the one who can and will handle any obstacle we face.
  
  
• Love – We are assured God’s love, and because He loves us, we need not fear what will happen. The ONE who is in control of this whole universe cares about us deeply – he proved it by sending His Son to die for our sins. Because He loves us, we can rest assured He is watching over and protecting us.
  
  
• Sound Mind – I have learned that life is a constant battle between what I feel and what I know – emotions versus reason. I blogged about this sometime ago. Emotions are a useful tool to help us discern what is going on in and around us, but emotions do not accurately define reality. What we know about God, His ways, and His purposes form a secure matrix from which we can view life. As we learn more about God and experience His activity in our lives, we learn to trust our experience more than our emotions.

So, when the rodent of fear tries to neutralize your life, remember there is an all-powerful, all-knowing God in control of your life. Take your problems to Him and trust Him to bring you through.

By the way – the cat has been placed on probation. It’s is on her permanent record.

Experience. . . The Best Teacher?

“I know what the Bible says about it, but . . . “

How often do we try and rationalize our situation and prove to someone – maybe even ourselves – why our circumstances are so unique that we are exempt from following clear Biblical instruction?

Several years ago I read a (purported) Christian book that had a statement something to the effect of “the Bible is where God has been, revelation is where he is now. Would you rather read the dusty pages of history or experience the fresh revelation from God for today?” I had a hard time continuing to read the book. I think I finally did give up about the third chapter. Our culture has led us to value our own interpretation of our experience over the authoritative and timeless written revelation of God that is His Word.

The apostle Peter had a most ethereal experience one day on a high mountain in Galilee. Along with James and John, he saw Jesus at a moment when his divinity was shining through his humanity. The Bible word describing this phenomenon is “transfiguration.” Also present at that moment were Moses and Elijah – certainly an experience worth remembering. Yet, later Peter referenced that experience when he wrote:

For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
2 Peter 1:17-18

Yet, in spite of that experience he wrote with the very next dip of his quill:

And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. – 2 Peter 1:19-21

As meaningful and memorable as his personal experience was, Peter recognized that God’s Word was even surer than what he tangibly experienced. We can have full confidence in God’s Word to teach us, lead us, correct us, and establish us. I encourage you to read it, heed it, and trust it. The Bible is our only infallible guide through this journey we call life. It is not some dusty old stories of how God used to act; rather it is alive and relevant for your life today. Let God’s Word help you make sense of your life.

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Pastors Who Were Full of Bull

I had a treat today. I got together with several of the pastors in our association and we traveled over to Lawrenceville to meet and pray with Dr. Frank Cox, pastor of North Metro First Baptist Church, who will probably be the next president of the SBC (more on than in a minute). Can you imagine what it is like when 11 pastors invade a Longhorn’s Steak House? Yes, bedlam ensued and some cows fulfilled their destiny. Something about pastors and bull seem to go together, but I will leave that to your imagination.

Our association’s slogan is “Miracles are happening in Mulberry” – I love calling the associational office just to hear Valorie say that! But miracles are indeed happening in Mulberry . . . one of the pastors picked up the tab for the WHOLE GROUP. Had I known that, I would have had the prime rib!!! But seriously, thanks again, Brother Shuford, that really was nice of you and we appreciated it.

Back to Dr Cox. I was blessed to have the time to get to know him and hear his heartbeat for God, for his fellow pastors, for our own “Southern Baptist Zion” and for the Kingdom of God in general. But one particular story he share really touched me and gave me great respect for the man. A couple of years ago a group of pastors asked Dr. Cox to consider being nominated for SBC president. For those of my readers outside of SBC life, opportunities like that only come around once in a lifetime. Such an offer is attractive to pastors, because we all possess a God-given desire to make an impact in people’s lives. We want to impact our churches, communities, and if given the opportunity, we want to impact as many people as possible. This is not an unusual desire; consider the story of Jabez. A position such as that certainly would constitute an “enlarged territory.”

After much prayer and deliberation, he turned down the offer for the simple reason that his son was going to be a senior in High School, and he did not want to miss out on such an important part of the life of such an important person. He chose, in my estimation, the greater good. You see our influence is never more important than it is at home. I was reminded of the story in the book of Judges about Jephthah. He wanted victory so badly - and I might add, victory all in the name of God, for His cause – that he made a foolish promise to God. He promised that if God would grant the victory that he would offer as a burnt offering the first thing that came out of his house to meet him when he returned home. God kept His end of the deal and gave Jephthah the battle. As Jephthah approach his house, his only child – a daughter – came out to meet him. With a broken heart, two months later, he kept his end of the deal.

We pastors are vulnerable to a similar temptation. And not just pastors, every parent is faced with the temptation to advance our career, earn more money, provide more for our kids . . . all the while sacrificing our families on the altar of parenthood in absentia. But folks, the most important point of influence ANY of us have are the kids in our lives. Our families, spouses and kids both, deserve the best of our time, attention, energy, and love. There is no gain that ever is worth the sacrifice of our families.

A separate post on priorities is forthcoming, but for now, let me challenge you to put your family first in your life. And thank you Dr. Cox for being a living example of father first, pastor next. By God’s grace may I always be faithful to follow your example.