"You're Not Called!"

I bumped into an old friend of mine the other day. He's a really great guy! We have a long history together too. We grew up in the same town, went to school together, my brother dated his sister and he even sung at my wedding.

Randy and I, as we are both wont to do, quickly found ourselves in a religious discussion. I can't remember the specific topic, if there was one, but he being a preacher, began to give me some of his insight into preaching and the mechanics of preparing sermons. He explained that many preachers make sermon preperation hard on themselves and how they should realize that there is so much information in the Bible that they could easily spend week after week on the same chapter and/or passage.

The following story jumped into my mind. I made it a point to share a “Reader's Digest” version of it with him.

My brother, Joe, and I once went to something called a “bi-vocational conference.” The idea, I think, was to be a help seminar for men in the ministry who worked a regular job and also pastored. I, unlike my brother, was not a pastor or a preacher, but I was a music leader at the time and, besides, I think Joe wanted some company.

We attended the conference at the Sweetwater Associational Office in Madisonville. I suppose someone considered that a central location for the event.

I soon discovered I was the only layman present for the meeting. I suppose that didn't make me feel too awful uncomfortable. Being me, I just sort of went with the flow. I can't remember too much about what was said during the meeting. As I recall, though, the first half hour or so wasn't too bad. Then, sadly, things began going downhill.

The next, maybe, forty-five minutes, the men leading the conference spent their time, er, helping those present come up with simple ways to create sermon outlines. It even, I would say, descended to the point that they were having the attendees call out random books, chapters and verses with the leaders giving quick subjects and synopses for sermons off the tops of their heads.

It reminded me of when, as a teen, we would watch the “Mac Davis Show.” He always had this part of his show where he would ask the audience for random words and phrases which he would quickly turn into cute little songs. Some of them were actually quite good and they were always funny. He was a really talented guy.

Joe and I were, at this point, both becoming uneasy and irritated at the entire episode. We thought that we were there for advice and training on how to be better church leaders. We weren't looking for quick and easy ways to come up with sermons that amounted to no more than three points, a poem and a prayer. (They always forgot to include the poem, though.)

I can't recall exactly what homily there were attempting to construct, but big brother Joe had had about all he could stand. He spoke up, strongly and loudly enough for all to hear, saying, “If you can't preach that, you ain't called!”

He got a lot of looks from around the room and most smiled or nodded in agreement. I may have even heard and amen or two. Sadly, though, I fear the point was lost on all of them.

From what I can tell, at least from my own experience and observation, SBC seminaries decided some decades back, that it is less their job to teach the Holy Scriptures to their students than it is to teach them how to preach. They've apparently concluded that you can take an intelligent, glib young man, (soon they'll think woman,) and prune him into someone who can deliver three sermons a week like a factory turns out widgets. You know, mass production. Henry Ford would be proud!

In far too many churches, the pulpits are populated by men who see pastoring and preaching as more of a vocation than an avocation. It's a job just like any other job to them. You put in your hours; you put together a sermon; you deliver it on Sunday. You take your vacation every year and expect a raise likewise. You're smart; you're eloquent; you're mundane; you're also superficial.

There still remains the question: Are you called?

My dad was a preacher/pastor. (He had even been a deacon previously.) He took his calling very seriously. I would find him many nights, very, very late, sitting at the kitchen table, studying his Bible. Often, it was, I imagine, in preparation for a sermon. Still, knowing him, he did it mostly for love of God and desire to know Him better.

I recall him telling a story about another preacher we know named Jimmy. It happened on the advent of Jimmy's first sermon, Dad, in his own way, taught him a lesson I'm sure he never forgot. I laughed every time I heard the tale. I still laugh whenever I remember it.

Dad and Jimmy were sitting on the front pew and Jimmy was anxiously studying the notes he had prepared for the sermon he was about to give. Dad sat next to him for some minutes, watching him sweat. As the moment of truth was almost upon the new, young preacher, dad asked to see the man's notes. Jimmy obediently handed them to him. Dad took them, ripped them to pieces, looked Jimmy in the eye and said, “Now, go preach the Gospel!”

Jimmy was horrified, but learned a valuable lesson that day. He learned that good notes don't necessarily make for a good sermon. He learned to trust God and not his own intellect.

Dad was always prepared, studying and praying fervently. He was not above making notes, but you could never call them copious. Still, he never trusted in his own knowledge and preparation. He trusted in God! On more than one occasion, after hearing him preach one of, what I thought, was among his best sermons, he'd confess to mom and I in the car on the way home that he had no real idea what he was going to say when he got behind the pulpit. There is a certain horror in living that way that keeps a man honest, methinks.

In my mind, helping a man become a better speaker, less repetitive, more eloquent and assisting him in avoiding bad habits like, well, picking your nose in front of a congregation are all things that seminaries could do to contribute to the success of the acolytes sitting in their classrooms. Still, I can't believe it is not the job of human professors to teach men artificial, affected ways of producing canned, uninspired sermons that have no more effect than keeping the pastor in a church that supplies a regular paycheck.

I understand the desire of young men today, and yesterday, to preach. Many are glib, loquacious, talented, intelligent and truly do want to serve God. The problem is, themselves or someone else convinces them that the only way to do so is to “surrender to the call.”

Some people are pushed into the idea. They are the victims of someone else's desire to live vicariously through them. Maybe they are the eldest or only son of a deacon or other church “leader. ” Perhaps, they were pushed into the idea by someone with an ego simply trying to prove themselves right concerning a “prophecy,” or other such silliness, regarding the young man in question. Some are even coaxed by their friends or fellow wanna-be's. My dad would often refer to these poor souls as, “momma called and daddy chosen.”

Women too struggle with the “calling.” Many also love God and want to serve Him. Like men, they often see preaching as the only way to serve God. They forget the sermon the Lord preached about the eye, the ear, the foot and the hand. I guess everybody wants to be the eye.

In my family, what with so many preachers and deacons populating our ranks, it was inevitable that I too would struggle with the Lord's calling in my life. I suppose I was called to preach by everybody but God Himself. Fortunately, I suppose, I was never convinced that it was actually the Lord seeking that path for my life. (That's for another blog though.) Furthermore, I had sense enough to know that God needs well-versed, studious laymen too.

I've known plenty of men who started preaching at a very early age. (Some, perhaps, not so early.) They seemed to have a real desire to serve God, but to me, and it seems to my Dad also, that something was just out of place with so many of them. He would sometimes say of these somewhat deluded men that they spent so many years trying to preach and yearning to preach that, as he would put it, “The Lord just finally called him.”

It seems to me, and I think the Scriptures will back me up, that if God calls you, he'll provide you with the message. He didn't say, don't study, don't prepare and don't pray. He said it would come from him and not from our own selves. I like to think it's like owning a gun. You load it and God will tell who you how to shoot...and what to shoot.

I fear the problem boils down to fear. There is fear for so many preachers in merely trusting the Lord. They don't want to face a single Sunday not knowing exactly what they are going to say. They can't just yield their voices to the Holy Ghost believing that He will fill them till they overflow into the congregation seated before them. No, when it really comes down to it, they, like so many of their parishioners, can't seem to find a way to let go and simply let themselves fall into the Hands of God!

Letting go? Falling into the hands of God? I can think of worse things!

Nine and One Half Baptisms

I went to an old fashioned river baptism recently. You don't see many of those, these days.

There were a total of ten baptismal candidates. Though, in my book, it was, at the most, nine and a half.

Why do I say so? Because one lady, who appeared to me to be a fine lady, had been waiting on her "letter" to arrive from her previous church. ("Letter:" that's a Southern Baptist thing, if you don't know.) Suddenly, went to the altar asking the preacher if she could join the church by baptism instead of waiting on her letter. The preacher was pleased with the idea and the congregation even voted in the affirmative.

I suppose her recently converted husband's immanent baptism was on her mind. Perhaps she wanted, in some way, to show some sort of solidarity with him. She gave no real indication of her thoughts or feelings other than saying that she wanted to be baptized again. The pastor remarked at least twice, "There's nothing wrong with that!"

Well, is there? Is he right? One thought, among many, that loomed in my mind which apparently occurred to no one else, was the simple question: "Why?"

Was there some problem with her first baptism? Was it done incorrectly? Was she lost when she was originally baptized?

The very fact that the pastor described at least part of her wish to be baptized as a desire to "join the church" by baptism, begged several unasked questions. That very statement alludes to the old baptist teachings of baptism being the door to the church.

I know enough about Baptist history to know that the Ana-Baptists were so named because of their requirement of rebaptism, but that requirement applied only to those joining their ranks from other denominations. It's a topic for another blog, but, in short, they were dealing with pedo-baptists, papists, sprinklers and those who had been baptized under false authority. (It never seems to occur to most modern Baptists that, although the minister may be the administer of the ordinance of baptism, without the authority of the congregation, it's no more than bathing at home in your tub.)

What if she wants to be baptized again next week? Will the congregation gladly accommodate her? What if another member gets the notion to be baptized again? What if the pastor got the notion to be baptized again, would the church accommodate him?

I wasn't surprised when the pastor cheerfully professed that he had been baptized twice, himself. Sometimes it's hard to kick against the pricks. What I mean is, if he, in the recesses of his mind, somehow realizes that perhaps he was somehow in error, that's the type of thing that usually haunts one's mind. People who are in the wrong always try to bring others over to their unorthodox thinking. As my dad used to say, "You've got me convinced, now convince yourself."

It seems that Baptism, along with the Lord's Supper, have become something completely different than what they were even fifty, let alone, two thousand years ago. They are both thrown around and passed around on a whim without any thought that Almighty God, Creator of the earth, moon and stars, might be even the least bit particular about how we administer his ordinances. If you search nature itself, you'll discover order and structure throughout the cosmos. (That's yet another blog.) Yet, we capriciously chase any idea that throws itself before us.

Now, I'm really not trying to hurt any one's feelings or be insensitive to any one's sincere desire to be closer to God. I'm only trying to point out that there is a wrong way and a right way to do the Lord's work. Again to quote my dad, "If any way will do, then no way will do just as well."

Baptism...Who Needs It?

Alright, all I was trying to do was sell this preacher I know a t.v., when he started in on me. He backed me into a corner. He really didn't give me much of a choice.

He was bragging, I mean, bragging about how he set his pastor "straight" on a certain matter and kept asking me, "Am I right? Am I right?" No, he wasn't right, but I was simply trying to avoid the ruckus I was certain would ensue if I didn't keep my opinions to myself.

He told me that a man had recently been saved at their church, but hadn't yet, for whatever reason, been baptized. His pastor said that the guy shouldn't take the Lord's supper since he had not been baptized. Well, this braggart recounted to me how he told his preacher that "everyone is welcome at the Lord's table," and since the man was saved, he should be welcome also. Jeepers! What a lot of rot!

I tried like the dickens to avoid the turmoil. Still, after being asked if he was right for the fourth or fifth time, I decided to just go ahead and answer him. I've known both of these preachers for years. So, tough if he didn't like my answer.

I asked him, "Would you let a man teach Sunday School in your church if he hadn't been baptized? Would you let him be a deacon? Would you let him pastor your church?" I argued that we wouldn't let the unbaptized fill any these functions in our church. Yet, would we allow them to do something even more important, such as, partake of the Lord's Communion?

I continued that we wouldn't want anyone taking a post in your church who is out of fellowship with the Lord. How could a man be in fellowship with God's will if he hasn't even been baptized?

He seemed a bit stymied as if he had never thought on it that way. Yet, he continued to argue that my view wasn't right, although without any reason why I was wrong.

I finally pulled out the big guns. I knew he had known and respected my dad and I just told him that that is what my dad taught me and it was good enough for me.

Do I think for a moment that this retired Baptist pastor went home, thought it over, swallowed his pride and decided I was right? Do I think for a moment that he went to his pastor and said, "I was wrong. You were right." Not likely.

Many Christians, even, shamefully, Southern Baptists, have reached the stage in our existence where we are so worried about being politically correct, even in God's house, that we think the "bigger" sin is offending somebody and hurting their precious feelings. Actually, the "bigger" sin is to go against the Lord's will and His way. Today, we are more than willing to sacrifice genuine piety for counterfeit politeness.

"What Are You Saying?"

This is a little something the Lord gave me a few years back. I hope it helps someone. It helped me.

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Once upon a time, a man who was very distraught over a plethora of issues in his life, called on his pastor for counseling. Only moments after his arrival at the parson’s office, he embarked on a tirade of how things in his life were pushing him to the brink of despair. He concluded that, to top it all off, he felt God was not even listening to him. He declared that no matter how much or how loud he prayed, he heard not a whisper from the Almighty!

After patiently listening to the disturbed young man for the better part of an hour, the pastor simply sat at his desk apparently displaying no response whatsoever. This aggravated the man even further. So, he demanded some sort of reply. When he did, he noticed that the preacher was moving his lips, but no sound seemed to come from him.

The man then angrily cried, “What are you saying?” The parson only continued to move his lips, evidently without uttering a peep.

Now enraged, the distraught man stood up from his chair and leaned on the pastor’s desk, nearly shrieking at the top of his lungs, “What are you saying?!” His pastor only continued to move his lips without so much as a flinch.

This was about more than the emotional fellow could take and so he leaned even further on the desk, so far across it that his face was soon in his minister’s face, practically nose-to-nose. Once again he bitterly begged him, “What are you saying!?!” It was only then, with his face so close to that of his unassuming pastor, he finally heard the words that he had been saying from the start:

“Sometimes God whispers so that we’ll get closer to Him.”

I Kings 19:11&12

The Woman Down the Street

I knew a man some years ago; I think it would be accurate to refer to him as a friend. Well, one day, he sort of announced to me that he was thinking of leaving his wife. It seems that he had been keeping company with a woman who lived down the street and had told his wife that he was moving in with the woman. Furthermore, he told his wife that if the new relationship didn't pan out, he would simply come back home.

Now that is the situation, more or less that was described to me. Admittedly, I think my major regret about the whole situation personally, is that I didn't confront my friend and tell him how out of line he was.

To continue the tale, the new relationship didn't work out, but there never was a return home to his wife. I guess you could say their relationship had been, shall we say, strained. "Surprise, surprise!"

He did find another woman, though, who would marry him. They have a relationship that has continued for some years and seem quite content and even have a number of offspring. His first wife also remarried, but the relationship with the new husband is, in my opinion, cold. The two seem to have fallen on hard times and the relationship appears to be in a downward spiral.

Now, you might say, "That is one of the craziest things I've ever heard!" I would agree. Still, I'm shocked, though not surprised, to see this scenario played out on a fairly regular basis. You say, "Really? Where?" Ever so sadly, I see it, as I saw this one, in a Baptist pulpit. This is where I see it over and over.

Yes, I confess, this was not literally a husband and wife, but a pastor and a congregation. It was my pastor and I sat dumbfounded on the third pew when he said that he was talking to another church, "with a view to a move." How opaque can you get? I didn't even understand what in the world that meant! He was saying that, although he was currently our pastor, he was being courted by, or was courting, another congregation. He just wanted to let us know publicly and that he might or might not be resigning. Sheesh!

Well, he did resign and take on the newer, ah-hem, larger church out of town, but his pastorate there was short-lived. He soon left, under what circumstances I don't know, returning to his home town. He soon accepted a call to another church and, interestingly enough, the church seems to be very busy and growing.

The previous church hired another young seminary graduate and since the several years he has been there, the congregation has sunk to about a quarter of what it was when he was hired. Deacons and long-time, active members have left. Still, his name does show up in our Associational Minutes on a regular basis heading up one or another county or out of county ministries. Hmmm.

So, what's my point? My point is that, from what I gather, especially among seminary educated preacher's, pastoring has become a vocation and not an avocation. They are being taught to hang on to a church until they have another to go to, no matter what the damage done to the congregation. Furthermore, they're taught that it's perfectly legitimate to court one church while pastoring another.

You may ask, "What are they supposed to do? Resign without knowing where they will go to next, if anywhere?" Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.

My father, who was a well respected pastor and led many souls into the Kingdom, understood that when God says it's time to go, it's time to go. He was never fortunate enough to pastor full-time, so he always had to work a regular jog to feed four growing boys and what little money he received from a congregation would have been no more than supplemental at best. His philosophy was, stay until you do what God wants, then let the next pastor do the same. In other words, trust God. Pretty radical, I know.

My brother who is also a Baptist pastor and "tent-maker" as they call "part-time" pastors today, has received some questions from other preachers upon their learning that he had resigned one church without having another lined up. When he told them, "God said it was time to go," some would look at him as if he had two heads! (Incidentally, no good pastor is part-time, only his pay is part-time.)

I fear that our seminaries and colleges are graduating too many young men who are more interested in having a job that they think is an good alternative to physical labor or punching a clock and less about following God's will. We hold our pastors in high esteem for the sacrifices they make for God and their congregations, but upon closer examination many of their salaries, fringe benefits and retirement packages, some are not sacrificing so much.

I hope the parallel is clear that many pastors are treating their churches as a wives of convenience who are to support them until they find something they deem as a bigger, better deal. Pastors are, after a fashion, husbands to their congregations and, in my never to be humble opinion, flirting with another body is adultery in one of its ugliest forms. How can their be stability in the home or the local church when the leader has wandering eyes and a roving heart?

I've no doubt that most of these men have a yearning to serve the Lord, but that yearning is often misunderstood as a call to preach and pastor. So many are of the mind set that the only way to serve God is to "surrender to the call." There are too many out of place and that is why they are easily swayed and mislead by those who do not teach them that the call of God is a call to self-sacrifice. The damage by poor shepherds who feel no obligation to the sheep, but only desire money, comfort, honor and/or a platform to vent is immeasurable.

John 10

1Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

2But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

3To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

4And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

5And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

6This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

7Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

8All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.

9I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

10The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

11I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

12But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.

13The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.

14I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

15As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.