“Only love for Christ has the power to incapacitate the sturdy love for self that is the bane of every sinner, and only the grace of Christ has the power to produce that love.”
- Paul David Tripp, A Quest for More, p. 105.
I found this quote on a couple of blogs this week. How little we seem to understand the selfish center within us that must consistently be brought to the Cross.
Thanks to Michael at Behind the Leaf for sharing a personal collection of thoughts and quotes. I liked these for bringing an element of conviction:
Francis Chan makes some powerful points in his challenging book Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. His concern is that so many Christians are lukewarm. He would in fact question whether they have truly been saved – a judgment that comes from God himself in Revelation 3:15-16: “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.“ (ESV).
Some convicting excerpts:
Chan has much more to say in this easy to read, yet thought-provoking little book about the “crazy, relentless, all-powerful love” of God. A much more in-depth review of the book is posted on Discerning Reader.
“The prevailing conviction in American society today regarding leadership is that character doesn’t count…Nothing, however, could be further from the truth. Who I really am and what I do in private will ultimately affect what I do in public.” Joseph M. Stowell“We have to make a distinction between someone who holds the position of a leader and an individual who behaves as a leader.” George Barna
“Churches are so engrossed in trying to please non-Christians that many have forgotten their first duty is to please God.” John MacArthur “No one need aspire to leadership in the work of God who is not prepared to pay a price greater than his contemporaries and colleagues are willing to pay. True leadership always exacts a heavy toll on the whole man, and the more effective the leadership is, the higher the price to be paid.” J. Oswald Sanders
“The will of God is always a bigger thing than we bargain for.” Jim Elliot
For a number of years I would put a quote from my current reading on our weekly staff meeting agenda. We are in the process of collecting them into a single document, which has been very interesting to review, and somewhat convicting. Here’s a few that have some insight to church leadership:
“Leaders stand alone, take the heat, bear the pain, tell the truth.” Max Dupree
“Poor leadership and administrative goofs can and do lead to interpersonal problems and spiritual chaos. Trying to resolve personal and spiritual conflicts in a church or mission group without correcting leadership problems is an exercise in futility.” Anderson and Mylander
“The methodology of ministry (today) often has more to do with Madison Avenue than the Sea of Galilee.” Millard Erickson
“In most decisions the root problem is not so much in knowing what to do as in being prepared to live with the consequences.” Oswald Sanders
“Ministers are for churches, not churches for ministers.” Charles Spurgeon
“What a minister is on his knees in secret before God almighty, that he is and no more.” John Owen
“The real test of our servanthood comes when someone treats us like a servant.” John Fischer
“A great leader never sets himself above his followers except in carrying responsibilities.” Anonymous
“A vision with no underlying sense of purpose, no calling, is just a good idea.”
The following is not my story. It was written by Ann Welles in the Los Angeles Times. I put it into my files some time ago, thinking that it would be good to use “someday”. In going through my files today, I felt moved to share it today.
“A Story To Live By”
My brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister’s bureau and lifted out a tissue-wrapped package. “This,” he said, “is not a slip. This is lingerie.” He discarded the tissue and handed me the slip. It was exquisite; silk, handmade and trimmed with a cobweb of lace. The price tag with an astronomical figure on it was still attached. “Jan bought this the first time we went to New York, at least 8 or 9 years ago. She never wore it. She was saving it for a special occasion. Well, I guess this is the occasion.” He took the slip from me and put it on the bed with the other clothes we were taking to the mortician. His hands lingered on the soft material for a moment, then he slammed the drawer shut and turned to me. “Don’t ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you’re alive is a special occasion.”
I remembered those words through the funeral and the days that followed when I helped him and my niece attend to all the sad chores that follow an unexpected death. I thought about them on the plane returning to California from the Midwestern town where my sister’s family lives. I thought about all the things that she hadn’t seen or heard or done. I thought about the things that she had done without realizing that they were special. I’m still thinking about his words, and they’ve changed my life.
I’m reading more and dusting less. I’m sitting on the deck and admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden.
I’m spending more time with my family and friends and less time in committee meetings. Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experience to savor, not endure. I’m trying to recognize these moments now and cherish them.
I’m not “saving” anything; we use our good china and crystal for every special event—such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, the first camellia blossom.
I wear my good blazer to the market if I feel like it. My theory is if I look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries without wincing.
I’m not saving my good perfume for special parties; clerks in hardware stores and tellers in banks have noses that function as well as my party-going friends’.
“Someday” and “one of these days” are losing their grip on my vocabulary. If it’s worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now. I’m not sure what my sister would have done had she known that she wouldn’t be here for the tomorrow we all take for granted.
It’s those little things left undone that would make my angry if I knew that my hours were limited. Angry because I put off seeing good friends whom I was going to get in touch with—someday. Angry because I hadn’t written certain letters that I intended to write—one of these days. Angry and sorry that I didn’t tell my husband and daughter often enough how much I truly love them,
I’m trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives. And every morning when I open my eyes, I tell myself that it is special. Every day, every minute, every breath truly is…a gift from God.
By Ann Wells in the Los Angeles Times
I recently heard one leader in our church indicate that we had too much preaching and teaching – that what is needed is more emphasis on connecting with people in their real lives. I’m certain that we won’t be tossing expository preaching at Crossroads Bible Church anytime soon - Pastor Jerry Mitchell is vitally committed to the that task. Such statements may expose a short-sightedness in what ministry is all about and the call of the pastor. Yet having been in ministry for 36 years I have been able to see several swings of the philosopy of ministry pendulum. One of those swings has had to do with this issue of preaching versus pastoring (pastoral care). The church tends to be on one side of the pendulum swing or another … in balance for a few minutes as it moves from one extreme to the other. Maybe the issue is that some divorce preaching from pastoral care; or maybe that we reduce shepherding to preaching alone. John MacArthur said sometime early in my ministry that,
“The pastor who is not a preacher grows petty. The preacher who is not a pastor grows remote”
As in so many situations it is not “either/or”, but rather “both/and.” In this vein I appreciated Paul Lamey’s Observations on Pastoral Preaching over at Expository Thoughts. I especially liked #6, learn to preach in weakness, fear and in much trembling….the opposite is a kamikaze pride, and #1, preaching great sermons should not be a cover for poor shepherding.
I may not preach very often but I can pray for those on our pastoral team who do stand in the pulpit that they will be good shepherds and, that, as a team of shepherds, our church staff will appropriately care for the church of Jesus Christ.
Tell me what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
This question at the end of Mary Oliver’s poem The Summer Day is really good. It is a question that should remind us of the value of our lives, as well as the brevity of our lives. It speaks to the uniqueness of our individual lives. And to the value of life made up of days that quickly pass and cannot be lived again.
As I reflect on this sentence I can’t help but think of my life as a Christian. I take this to mean much more than just trying to do my best to obey the “rules” of being a Christian man – as good, or as helpful, as those rules may be. It makes me think more broadly. Is my life really about something that matters to God and his people? Do I really live in a way that brings glory to God? Does my life call attention to Him? I don’t need to be doing great things, just simple things in a biblically true manner. Ultimately that means we live for God’s glory. John Piper writes,
“God created us to live with a single passion: to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives.”
That means that whenever we live for any reason other than the glory of God we will be wasting our days. Piper’s book is worth purchasing and reading. It is not a book about having a safe or secure life, but a life that really matters. He and Mary Oliver both call us to think and live more deeply than our own little worlds. I’ve been thinking about these things. How about you? The thinking has been somewhat easy. The doing seems to be harder.
The church’s worst enemy is the man of little faith within the membership, not the faithless man of the world.
These words, attributed to D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, should cause every church leader to pause. Maybe this is why Peter wrote:
” Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:12-17, ESV)
God desires a pure, strong, church to impact the world. He will purify it himself if leaders do not guard it themselves. Maybe that is why Peter continues in the next chapter with the command to leaders: “Shepherd the flock of God among you ….” Good shepherds will watch out for the flock, they will seek to strengthen the weak Christian and shore up the faith of the wavering one. They will guard it from those who would undo things from within because the church is not ours, it belongs to the one who sacrificed himself for it.
I’ve posted on this before. Little things matter to God. Probably more than we think. I know I can get caught up with doing “big, important, things” while forgetting the little stuff, even when I know what Jesus said in Luke 16:10-11:
“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?” (ESV)
It is always a bit of a tension – trying to determine priorities when confronted with numerous tasks with varying impacts and visibilities. Yet it would appear that we must be diligent to carry out whatever it is that God puts before us because it is important to him whether it is a large, visible task or not. I think “whatever is that God puts before us” is the crux of the tension we face. It is likely that not everything we choose to do (OK, that I choose to do) is put before us by God. It is easy to get caught up in big things and big visions and somehow forget to determine if it is actually God’s work. Maybe he wants me to be more involved in little things, things that no one sees. Maybe the second issue is that we have become so concerned with image that it is far to easy to blow off the little things that people don’t see. D. L. Moody said that,
There are many of us that are willing to do great things for the Lord, but few of us are willing to do little things.
Jesus always seemed to get back to the unseen motives, the unseen priorities, the unseen desires of the heart – that which is inside, to explain so much of the external. The Luke passage demonstrates this we read on in chapter 16,
“And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:12-15, ESV)
I’ve been praying today that God might be pleased with the little things that I do … and that I might take care to be faithful in the little things.
