The New Adventures of an Old Preacher

We all know the church is compared to a human body in Scripture. (If you don’t know please read 1^st Corinthians 12:12ff) So if the church could get a check-up like our bodies what vital signs would be read?

The Obvious- like blood pressure and temperature, these are the most easily seen vital signs in any church:

·        Attendance- Hebrews 10:25 has been the basis for a bunch of sermons over the years. The numbers do not lie. Attendance is a sign of the health of a church- and not just on Sunday mornings. Sometimes more can be diagnosed by looking at the vitals during the other meeting times. But just as with high temperature, low attendance often is only symptomatic of something more disturbing.

·        Contribution- Once again, there is usually more than meets the eye going on with this vital. A church with a robust, hearty contribution demonstrates that the body is in very good shape.

·        Conversions/Additions- This is the third tangible which can be measured relatively easily. Is the church evangelizing? Are people being added to the body?

The Intangibles- These are as not readily seen, but are just as crucial to the overall health of the body as the more obvious vital signs. These are harder to gauge and measure, but a healthy church must have healthy:

·        Involvement levels- Any body will break down and deteriorate if that body is not supported by its normal functions. Part of Paul’s teaching in the Corinthian context is the essentiality of every part of the body/church functioning at optimum level. Bottom line- are you involved in consistent, meaningful, spiritual work within your church? For it to be healthy- you must.

·        Leadership- Of course, the head of the body, the church, is Christ. From this overall standpoint our leadership is extremely healthy. Practically speaking, however, God has entrusted the health of the local church to us. Churches with excellent vitals are lead by visionary servant-leaders who encourage creativity, initiative, freedom, accountability and growth within the body. Oppressive, heavy-handed leadership usually stunts growth and can lead to a dysfunctional body with weakening vitals.

·        Spiritual Food- Every body needs nutrients. The church is no exception. A consistent and balanced diet of the grace and truth of the Word of God is a must if a church is to develop and grow in God’s direction. Any inconsistency or imbalance can do much damage to the overall vitals of a church and weaken its ability to make any difference in its community. 

·        Interaction- or fellowship. Our human bodies are marvels. Each sinew and muscle is connected to another to support our skeleton which protects our essential organs- all being feed by an intricate following blood system which… well you get the picture. How about our churches? Again I reference Paul in 1^st Corinthians- we need each other if the overall body of Christ is to be healthy. The more fellowship we enjoy the stronger our vitals will be. 

The health regime for the strongest church possible begins with me and my personal spiritual vital signs. The church is only as strong and healthy as I am within it.

Over the weekend a young couple from Birmingham, Alabama was passing through Pensacola on their way to enjoy a vacation when a drunk driver slammed into them, changing their life forever.

In the car with them was their six-month old baby- a baby they will never be able to hold and love again.

This moring one of our elders, Bud Myer, and I visited Chris and Danielle Collar at our local Sacred Heart Hospital as they prepared to be discharged to return home to their family. They are members of the Heritage Place Church of Christ in Birmingham. Please, take a few moments and pray for this couple.

Tears and anger is what I saw and experienced this morning. I am so glad Bud was with me, for I could find no words to say.   

Alan Jackson sang about them a few years ago. He claimed that there “ain’t no cure” for them. Well, I dunno, but I do seem to have them. Just feel like I am in a creative funk- like the well is a little dry.

I know reading is the best way to rejuvinate the mind. I am reading The Way of the Wild Heart by John Eldridge, but not at the pace I prefer. I still have Simply Christian by Wright on my desk shelf just waiting for me. And there are a couple of smaller books that I need to read to help me prepare for some upcoming class series that I plan to teach. I need to go to the beach (or mountains) for a week and just read. That would be awesome.

I am working on plans for fall sermons and classes. The sermon focus will be on the Ten Commandments. My idea for a class is still evolving but I think I have settled on an overall theme of Truth versus Tradition . This should be really interesting.

I enjoyed going over last Wednesday to the Fort Walton Beach church and participating in their Wednesday summer series. What a great church! Their preacher is Jeff Custer and he is a neat guy. I would like to get to know him better. I have a couple of more Wednesday night appointments like this in the area later. I know they will be fun too.

On the homefront we are having a sunroom added to our house. It is interesting watching it go up and we are looking forward to enjoying it. Specifically we will use it as a play room for our kids.

As for a family summer vacation, we are only taking an abbriviated one for a few days to the Big Easy to take in the aquarium and zoo. Our bigger trip will come in the snow somewhere- skiing in the winter.

I hope your summertime is going well!

Recently our local newspaper, the Pensacola News Journal featured an article about a local pastor handing out little “complaint free world” bracelets. He challenged his flock while wearing these bracelets to not complain for 21 days. What a great idea!

But it is not an original one. The apostle Paul long ago took this idea one step further.

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blamless and pure, children of God, without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life. (Philippians 2:14-16)

Isn’t it interesting how Paul equates purity with not complaining and arguing with a depraved society; and how by being people who do not engage in either, our impact will be like shining stars? Wow. Do you realize there is so much power in just being content and agreeable?

My guess is no, you didn’t- and that you are not alone. There is simply way too much complaining in our world, in our homes, in our cars and in our church foyers. I’ll confess. I am guilty. I will be first in line for the bracelet.

At their roots, complaining and arguing are selfish endeavors. It is all about me- what I like or dislike. I really do not consider others while I am complaining. I am not thinking of the Golden Rule. And unfortunately, I am not setting the example God has called me to set. I am not shinning like stars and, therefore, I am not providing any witness of heaven to those around me who have to hear and absorb my complaints and criticisms.

Reread Paul’s words. They are divinely authorized. They are not suggestions for consideration. God simply wants us to be different to make a difference. Complaining, bickering, backbiting, arguing, discontentment, strife, disagreeableness, etc. belong to the world, not to the church of Jesus Christ.

Sure, there will always be things that need improving, things that will not be perfect, worship services that will go overtime, cars that will pull right out in front of us, and numerous other things that will not go our way; but God has spoken, and complaining is just not  the way to handle them.

Paul not only wrote the words of Philippians 2:14-16, but he lived them in that very city. In jail for doing absolutely nothing criminal, he chose to honor God and sing praises to him instead of complain about a miscarriage of justice (See Acts 16). That incredible testimony shone like a star and lives were changed forever.

So, how about joining in on the “complaint free world” and demonstrate the power and grace of God over the things that bug you?

You may never know the difference you will make!

We had an awesome four-city mission trip. It was an honor for me to accompany our youth group. For me the trip was summed up by an elderly YMCA volunteer in St. Louis who choked back tears in talking about the renewed “hope” our group brought her as we worked beside her.

Our busy summer continues as, I am sure,  does yours. VBS, camp, vacation, adding a room onto our home, etc are all calling my name. Obviously my blog has and will continue to suffer as a result.  

I have been thinking about this busyness and in this weeks bulletin preached to myself. I share it with you below.

THE MOST IMPORTANT 

Remember when Jesus was questioned about which command was the most important? (See Matthew 22:34-40) Sure, it was a loaded question designed to expose Christ as a pretender, but he used it to clearly define what is most important. Jesus just sliced through all their rhetoric and convoluted reasoning to reveal God’s top priority for us. The most important is to love God and each other with heaven’s passion. And ever since Jesus spoke these words heaven has been encouraging us to prioritize our life thusly.

The results have been- how shall I say- overall rather pathetic. It is not that we don’t get it. We do. Loving God and each other heaven’s way opens us up to a total transformation. By making this most important to us, everything else spiritually significant follows. This is why Jesus originally said, “all the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments”. If we refuse to love, we will refuse to do the remainder of God’s will.

So, it is not a misunderstanding that stops us from prioritizing God’s way. It is just that so many other “important” matters get in the way. We are busy people, after all, with important stuff to do. We have incredible demands on our time. We have important meetings and career goals to achieve. And when we are finished with all that, well, we are just tired. So, the few minutes of freedom from the important we have, we like to relax and enjoy. This leaves little time to truly invest in a purposed way for God’s priorities.

But God does not stop reminding us to make him most important. Think of one of the original Ten Commandments. “You shall have no other Gods before me.” Or consider another call from Jesus to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness”. Then there is that sage wisdom from Solomon that the entire purpose of man is to “fear God and keep his commandments.” Everything else he challenges us is simply “meaningless.”

That last statement really hits me where I live. It really says that unless my most important is God’s most important then all the other important stuff I do really does not matter.

It is all about priorities and here is what I know about them:

• My time, my money, my energy, my gifts and my passion will follow my priorities.

• I can’t have two top priorities
• If God is not my most important priority then I will not ever be able to truly follow him 

This is why Jesus answered that long ago question as he did. Love defines the single most important investment of our heart, time, talents, passion, and energy. We give all to what we love. If that is God then the law, the prophets, the commandments, the sacrifices, the devotion, the discipleship, the involvement he is seeking will naturally happen. We will not be too busy. We will not find something else more important. We will not neglect our relationship to his church. We will share our faith and encourage others. We will be demonstrating God’s most important in our character and life.