12 Things Pastors Won’t Hear in Heaven

Here is an article from Mike Leake I recently ran across.  It really resonated with me:

I’d really hate to waste my life on things that aren’t significant.

Occasionally it is good to step back and wonder about the types of the things you probably will not hear in heaven.

So I imagine a scenario where someone that the Lord has called me to shepherd walks up to me in heaven and says, I sure wish that you’d have...

Here are 12 things I doubt would fill in that blank. 

1. I wish you’d have shown me more rapture charts.
2. I wish you’d have told me steps to making more money.
3. I wish you’d have prepared me for what heaven looks like.
4. I wish you’d have settled those theological debates.
5. I wish you’d have done funnier skits in our worship service.
6. I wish you’d have pushed for a bigger building.
7. I wish you’d have talked more about politics.
8. I wish you’d have preached much shorter sermons.
9. I wish you’d have worn ties (or cooler jeans for our postmodern crowd).
10. I wish you’d have given us better pop-culture references.
11. I wish you’d have made our worship ambiance better and the transitions smoother.
12. I wish you’d have spent the money to fix that pot-hole in the church parking lot.

I could probably keep going.

Some of these things might be important and they might even be a means to serve and assist people in worship. But they are not ultimate.

What I don’t want to fill that blank would be, “I wish you’d have pointed us to Jesus more. I wish you’d have prepared us for heaven better. I wish you’d have preached more to root out sin and unbelief. I wish you’d have encouraged us to lay down our idols more.”

Those are the things I don’t want to hear.

What I do want to hear is the sweet and grace filled words of the Chief Shepherd, “Well done good and faithful servant."

What do you think?

Maintaining Relationship When It's Hard

We live in a throw away society.  When something breaks, it’s easier and often cheaper to throw it away and get something new rather than trying to fix it.  While that may be true with the latest gadgets, too many of us have applied that same “throw away” principle to our relationships with others. 

When times get tough and conflicts arise, too many of us give into the temptation to just “throw away” that relationship in order to pick up a new one.  We aren’t necessarily conscious about it, but that doesn’t make it any less real.  Here are three I have seen over and over again:

• Marriages are thrown aside because it appears to be the easier way out of very difficult troubles that have developed.  Unfortunately what people come to find out is they simply exchange one set of problems for a new set, often greater than the first.  On top of that, the same problems that ended the old marriage are brought into the new one – sometimes with the same results.
• Families and friendships are fractured because someone says or does something to hurt the other one, but neither one is willing to actually deal with the problem, to say they are sorry or to try and reconcile.  So strain leads to distance and to relationship in name only.   
• Churches are wounded when two Christians (or two groups of Christians), both who claim they love the Lord, allow some hurt or disagreement to divide them so that one of them ultimately breaks fellowship and leaves the church body as a result.   

In each case, one or both parties decides to “throw away” the other rather than actually do the hard work of reconciliation.  Conflict resolution and biblical reconciliation are hard, no question about it.  It’s more satisfying to be right or to win the argument than it is to say you’re sorry.  It’s hard to rebuild trust when it’s broken.  It’s easier to avoid someone than it is to have a difficult conversation.  It’s hard to accept and treat someone respectfully when you disagree with them.  Arguing always appears more successful than dialogue.  And – especially for Christians – it’s always hard to decide what matters are really “secondary or disputable,” not worth worrying a thing about, and what matters are “essential” and worth defending.

This is nothing new.  Jesus dealt with this directly in Matthew 5:23-26 and 18:15-20.  Paul also dealt with it a lot, especially in Romans 14 and 15.  What do these important texts have in common?

1. Conflict is real and will continue to happen, unfortunately even in the lives of Christians.
2. Christians do not have the option to be “throw away” people.  We must always work for reconciliation.
3. While reconciliation is always the goal, we can only control our words and actions.  So we must make sure they are in line with Jesus. 
4. Grace, humility, forgiveness  and love are virtues we must always cultivate before, during and after any conflict arises.  They are the means to avoid it altogether and the only way to repair relationships if it occurs. 

Listen to Paul’s words of wisdom to the church in Rome as they fought over some “disputable matters” about how Christians should conduct themselves in the world.  “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God” (Romans 15:5-7).

No “throw away” relationships there!

What do you think?  How can we be sure not to be “throw away” people?

Holiness??? . . . Where it SHOULD begin!

It seems like every time the subject of holiness or sanctification is brought up outside of a group of pastors or seminary students that eyes begin to glaze over and people start to tune out.  I wonder why that is.  I don’t believe I have ever met someone who is open and seeking spiritually who didn’t want to know God and be used by Him in real and clear ways.  People want their lives to mean something, to count for something.  That SHOULD be where we begin in any discussion of holiness or sanctification. 

I believe sanctification can easily be defined like this:  to set something or someone apart for God’s holy purpose.

Talking about holiness, Eugene Peterson writes:

The unique thing about the holy is that it cannot be known or understood apart from entering it, apart from being formed by The Holy.  It is not a subject we learn from a book or a lecture.  We enter in . . . Holiness cannot be reduced to an emotional, devotional experience that we cultivate in order to “feel spiritual.”  It has command content to it.  Holiness is not an experience of sublimity that abstracts us from the world of work; it is an invitation to enter into what God is doing and intending to get done in the world.  And it’s for everyone . . . (The Jesus Way, p. 135, 137)

Over and over again the Bible talks about sanctification and holiness not as something we grab and hold, but a process or a journey we embark on for our entire life as followers of Jesus! 

What would our lives look like if we didn’t stop with studying the scriptures, but only used that study as a springboard for action?

What would our lives look like if our whole bodies, not just our mouths, were totally submitted to God to use for His good purposes? 

What would our lives look like if our love and devotion to God didn’t begin and end – or even peak – on Sunday morning, but permeated throughout the week in every aspect of our lives?

What would our lives look like if we began to grasp the idea that the most holy thing we might do in a given week is to listen with compassion to a hurting friend, to render aid to a complete stranger, to encourage our disappointed child, to thoughtfully and without fanfare give a hand to a stressed out spouse or to go the extra mile in our role as a volunteer? 

What would our lives look like if we willingly and gladly gave generously and sacrificially of our money and our resources not out of a sense of duty, but out of a devotion to set all things apart for God’s holy purpose?

I believe that is where holiness is, in questions just like that!  If we begin there, it might be controversial.  It certainly will be convicting and challenging.  But one thing is for sure . . . It won’t be irrelevant or boring!

What do you think?

The Cost of Following

I was sent this video from a missionary our church supports in the Muslim world.  It contains a powerful testimony of a young, former-Muslim woman and music from the band Selah.

I don’t think we Americans have the slightest clue of the cost that one must pay to become a follower of Jesus in that part of the world.  Truly that decision has all-or-nothing consequences that may mean they will be ostracized from family and friends or even worse! 

Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?  For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:23-26).

Watch this video with Jesus’ words in the back of your mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT4v5Ma5iiE&feature=player_detailpage

What do you think about this woman’s testimony?  What stands out to you?

How does it affect your decision to be a follower of Jesus instead of just a fan?

What has been the cost of being a follower of Jesus in your life?

The Implications of 50 Shades of Grey for Christians

I have heard a lot of buzz lately about the book 50 Shades of Grey.  This book has been bought and read by millions and has lasted at the top of the New York Times bestseller list for over three months now.  I personally know of a number of people who have read it or have thought about reading it, not to mention a great amount of buzz in the media and on Facebook about it.  As followers of Jesus, how should we react to a book like this or to other questionable books, magazines, movies and places?  We don’t need to become modern-day Pharisees, nor do we need to isolate ourselves in a social corner.  However, it seems to me that we need to come to terms about where the Bible’s lines are on this subject. 

Commenting on the book, sermoncentral.com writer Karen Yates writes:

As a mother of three children, I'm likely raising my sons to be someone's lover, husband, father, and best friend. My daughter too, is learning how to be her husband's wife. And all around them are compromised, loosened sexual content. It's on the TV, on the radio, in bookstores, on the baseball field and next to the Trident at the grocery store check out. A few months ago, when I was face-painting for our city, an 11-year-old asked to have 'Sexy and I Know It' etched on her cheek (goodbye unicorns). Turn on a baseball game and you'll enjoy the not-so-pleasant duty of educating your child about Cialis.

Sex sells, and while we can take steps as parents to guard what comes into our homes, we cannot, unfortunately, completely isolate our children from the avid sexual images around them.

Fifty is only going to make this worse.

We need to be prepared.

The rulebook that navigates my life as a Jesus-follower is that of the Holy Bible.  For most of my readers, you too also have that compass. Yet I understand there are many people who do not live their life under that constitution, and I have many amazing friends who are of no faith or of a different faith. I must be ready to take a stand in this conversation. We (you and me) must be wise, educated, and engaged to speak into the movement, and we need to have more than Bible verses under our belt. We need to be able to discuss, dialogue, and challenge our culture as to why we think these books and what they stand for negatively impact our communities. We need to be able to explain why this book is not good for the soul, why it will harm your marriage instead of help it, why a carnal pleasure for a moment is not worth the lasting psychological harm.  

 
To read some secular critiques of the trilogy, check out these articles: Dr. Drew Pinksy: "Dr. Drew: 50 Shades of Grey Pathological, Poorly Written"; Whitney Frink of Acccess Hollywood over at MSNBC "Is 50 Shades of Grey Sending the Wrong Message?"; "Avflox" of Blogher who likes BDSM "The Troubling Message in Fifty Shades of Grey"; Avital Norman Nathman over at HLN "Women Deserve Better than 50 Shades of Grey."

Within the church, we need preparation. We need Biblical reasons for why we shouldn't follow the mainstream culture on this one.

Here is what Jesus says:

You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.”  But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. (Matthew 5:27-30)

God designed us to pour all of our sexual energies into one person, our husband or our wife.  When we don’t do that it inevitably leads us away from the design of God, wounding and destroying the healthy sexual relationship we should have.  As a pastor I know personally of many cases where this very thing HAS happened . . . always to people who never expected it!  The effects of these things are always subtle, so subtle most people deny having any trouble until it’s too late. 

What do you think about this important subject, not just the book, but the important issue of fully honoring Jesus with our hearts and minds in this area?

Right Priorities

I was thinking about a statement Jesus made to His disciples one day as He reflected on the need of the crowds.  It’s found in Matthew 9:35-38:

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion (You could insert love here.) for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

When you look at this, what seems to fit?

• Jesus is ministering to needy people.  We see that all the time.
• Jesus is healing people in miraculous ways.  That too is typical of Him.
• Jesus has great compassion or love for these people.  Jesus attracted all kinds of different people to Himself, including people who were on the margins and who didn’t fit with a holy man like He was – “prostitutes, tax collectors and ‘sinners’.”
• He recognized a great spiritual harvest that was ready to be gathered in.

What amazes and surprises you?

• Jesus doesn’t ask them to pray for a bigger harvest.  Certainly He wanted a big harvest.  If great numbers of angels rejoice in heaven when just one lost sheep returns to the fold how much would they rejoice if thousands or millions do?  But apparently the size of the harvest, which definitely mattered to Him, wasn’t the biggest issue.  We always think the bigger the better and put most, if not all, of our emphasis there.  However, that wasn’t Jesus’ way.
• Jesus asks for them to pray for more workers.  Jesus’ concern was that there wouldn’t be enough workers to gather in this great harvest.  The workers are obviously you and me.  Jesus’ concern is that, for whatever reason, we won’t go out into the fields.  His prayer is that we will.

I have read this story many times and not caught that important piece before.  How about you?  Have you missed it too? 

This text will now serve to remind me again of Jesus’ priority of people, especially people far from God, over everything else.  Obviously Christian people matter.  They have needs and they need ministry too.  However, we must be sure that our focus is always out in the fields.  That needs to get the first and best of our attention.

Does it get your first and best?  How do you know?  Can you point to specific places in your life – people far from God who you are inviting to church, building a relationship with or ministering to in Jesus’ name?  Do you remember the last time you had a spiritual conversation with someone that pointed them to Jesus?  Who are you regularly praying for to receive Christ?

How do you react to this important reminder?  Let us know.