A Pastor's Thoughts

This past Sunday we observed the Lord’s Supper.  Twice, actually.  In the morning service we used the traditional method of a cracker and sip of juice.  We also observed the Lord’s Supper in the evening.  Though this was unofficial, it was certainly more like a New Testament Lord’s Supper.  We had a cookout.  There were burgers, hot dogs, slaw, potato salad, cakes, pies, and cookies.  It was a wonderful time of fellowship with fellow believers.  We talked together, laughed together, got to know each other more, encouraged each other, prayed for and with each other…it was true biblical fellowship.  It was the same type that would have occurred in the 1st Century.  We spent over 3 hours together as one big family.  Many of us had attended cookouts on Saturday (July 4th) with families, friends, and coworkers.  There was only one thing that brought all of us together on Sunday evening.  Our relationship with one another through Jesus Christ!  We had a meal together and we honored Him in it and through it.

I have been a follower of Jesus for over 12 years now and the longer I am involved in the local church the more I see the need, the desperate need for true biblical fellowship.  This can and should be accomplished in part by a right observance of the Lord’s Supper.  In the New Testament, believers met very frequently to encourage each other, pray together, study the Word, etc.  They would meet in homes in the evening and have a meal together.  In fact, it was this meal that helped unify them and remind them of their unity and equality in Jesus.  There were slaves seated right next to nobility, Gentiles next to Jews, educated men next to uneducated men, etc.  This type of commonality did not occur anywhere else.  Only through the Cross of Christ are all men and women seen as equals.  The first generations of believers shared this meal and were always reminded that Jesus was the reason, He was the focus of their gathering.

After several generations when the believers began to meet in buildings designated for worship, it became less convenient to share a meal together.  It began to be represented by only a bit of bread and a bit of wine.  It soon became a religious formality instead of an intimate time with fellow believers.  Fast forward a few more hundred years and observing the Lord’s Supper became one way to receive God’s grace.  All of the sudden there seemed to be a spiritual, almost mystical importance attached to the practice of receiving the bread and wine.  This continued for hundreds of years.  It wasn’t until the early 16th century when the Reformers began to question this practice.  Luther moved some from what the Catholics were doing, but not much.  John Calvin went a little further.  Ulrich Zwingli said the Lord’s Supper is a memorial.  For those who followed Zwingli’s thinking, they removed the “spiritual and mystical” aspect.  However, they did not return to the roots of the Supper.

I am a Baptist.  I am proud to call myself a Baptist.  Baptism is important to us.  Jesus gave the church only 2 ordinances, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  We Baptists have gone through many inconveniences to practice baptism as it was done in the first century.  We have a baptistry in the Sanctuary.  We fully immerse fully clothed adults into a tank of water in front of crowds of people, on a Sunday morning.  We do this because Baptism is commanded and we do not want to take the convenient route of sprinkling water on the head of a baby.  Unfortunately, we have kept our conveniences when it comes to the Lord’s Supper.  We no longer treat it as if God dispenses grace to us through the Supper.  We no longer think that some mystical thing is occurring when we observe the Supper.  But we have made it an individualized, self-focused, self-examining time in which we do not focus on one another.  We do not focus on the victory and new life in Christ.  More often we focus on the death of Jesus and our sinfulness.  Many people are filled with guilt and grief over their sins and only take the Lord’s Supper out of obligation or expectation.

Sunday night in our church we had the Lord’s Supper.  It was a meal with celebration, fun, laughter, joy, mutual edification, and encouragement.  I think this is what Jesus had in mind when He told the disciples, “do this in remembrance of me.” (1 Cor. 11:24)

Here is an excellent update on the Clinic in Ethiopia where I had the privilege of spending some time last November.  BeckyLynn Black has written this article of Dave Black’s site.  It is a great reminder and guide for our prayers on behalf of the precious folks in Southern Ethiopia.  Here is the link.

Yesterday was interesting at the convention.  The highlight was the motion on the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force.  Hopefully this will produce some good thoughts for our convention to look at next year.  We certainly need ways to streamline our missions effort.  One tough thing to hear was the Lottie Moon Offering, that supports International Missions, missed the goal by almost $30 million!  If things don’t change quickly the IMB will be pulling 700 people off the field and only 500 of the 2000 in preparation to go, will be able to go!  I can remember in years past the call to pray for God to send more laborers into the harvest around the world.  God has answered that prayer by calling more to go.  Now, the funds aren’t there to send them!

It was encouraging to hear of churches taking a “Christmas in August” Missions Offering in August.  It was also encouraging to see the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Texas give a check for $100,000.  God is still working!

It was interesting hearing some of the motions from the floor.  Any messenger can make a motion from the floor.  If it receives a “second”, the Committee on the Order of Business looks at it and determines what Board it should go to, if it should come to the convention floor, or if it is “out of order.”  As someone said, “apparently you can say the craziest thing, and someone will second it.”  We had motions ranging from studying the claim that the world will end in 2011 and that our churches are run by Satan (same motion), to a committee studying the impact of the 1611 KJV in preparation of the 400th Anniversary.  There were people who wanted to ban the sale of books by certain authors, investigate seminary presidents for inviting certain chapel speakers, and for Lifeway to only purchase things made in the USA when it comes to VBS materials!  You’ve gotta love the freedom to make such motions!

All in all, it was good to see us end the day with the focus on sharing the Gospel around the world.  That is what we are called to do.  That is why this convention formed in the first place.

As you can tell from my Twitter feed, I am in Louisville, KY at the Southern Baptist Convention.  The actual Convention starts tomorrow, but today was the Pastor’s Conference.  It’s always good to hear some good preaching.  When I started preaching each Sunday morning, I never realized how much I would miss hearing sermons!  There have been some great messages today.  Very timely in my life.  I heard Ed Stetzer, Francis Chan, Fred Luter, Alvin Reid, and David Platt.  They were all great!  The thing that seems to resonate in my heart most tonight as I reflect on the day is this: the priority of sharing the Gospel.

Often we hear sermons that admonish us to do more soul winning.  That’s not what is on my heart.  I mean, yes we need to share the gospel more, but what I sensed today was the reality that sharing the Gospel IS what we are to be about.  We are to understand the Gospel, live the Gospel, and share the Gospel.  It is that simple.  The Southern Baptist Convention began as a way for like-minded churches to partner to share the gospel and plant churches.  So many of our 44,000 churches have moved away from a Gospel focus.  We focus on ourselves, our buildings, our needs, our desires, our preferences, etc.  God has called us to take the message of Jesus to the nations.  As David Platt said tonight, “God will accomplish His work.  He doesn’t need the Southern Baptist Convention in order to do His work.  If we retreat from our Mission, He will simply use someone else, and we will be miserable in the process.”

The night ended by me running into my Pastor.  Marvin Suitt will always be my pastor.  I rode with his family back to my hotel.  We stopped at a Convenience store for them to pick up some snacks and it was great to see my pastor go right up to a homeless man and begin to tell him about Jesus.  What a great example!  Lord, help me to be more about the Gospel than anything.  Lord help me to be Gospel-minded in all that I do.

Everything was as usual when I saw Matthea and the kids board an airplane for Orlando on Saturday May 22nd.  The plan was for her and the kids to spend the next 10 days with her family in Florida, then I would drive down on Monday June 1 and we’d stay there until Monday June 8th, when we would all drive back to Durham.  Seemed like a good plan to us.  They would have plenty of time with family in Florida, I would be able to have some quiet time at the house, it would be good for everyone.  On my end, things were going well.  I managed to see 2 movies at the theater in 2 days.  I spent a day at the Lake with some folks from church.  I successfully wakeboarded (apparently it is tougher than it looks).  Things took a turn Tuesday evening, the 25th.

I was getting into may car at church when my phone rang.  My mother-in-law say, “Jon, everyone is ok, no one is hurt…now here is Matthea.”  That’s a helpful, but scary way to start the conversation.  Matthea proceeded to tell me that her parents house was struck by lightning.  She was ironing a dress and was knocked across the room.  The light fixture in the back bedroom exploded and there was a lot of smoke pouring into the house.  They gathered up the kids and called 911 on their way out the door.  Matthea told me this and said there were now about 6 firetrucks at the house.  Well, thankfully no one was injured.  Also it seems there were no other calls for the firemen, since they never even had to turn on their hoses.  The only damage was to some of the main electrical lines and some outlets.  Within a few hours I had found someone to watch the dog and I was on my way down Interstate 95 to bring them back home…since there was no electricity.

Within 48 hours of my departure, we were all safe and sound back in North Carolina.  It was an interesting trip.  Carter and Katherine and alternated vomitting during the trip home.  Needless to say we were all glad to be at home.  2 days later, Matthea’s dad had repaired everything and they had power now in their home.  So we had a decision to make.  What to do for vacation?  We had already made the 1000 mile round trip journey to Florida and back.  We were tired and exhausted and in need of some rest and family time.  Sunday evening, the 31st, we decided to spend a few night in Myrtle Beach.

Monday we rested, cleaned, and packed.  Tuesday morning we headed out for the beach.  We found a good deal on a place to stay for a few days.  The kids were having a blast, everything was great.  Then we heard terrible news from back home.  A dear man in our church was suddenly killed in an accident.  We have only been in Durham for 4 months, but we have come to love so many of the people here already.  In fact, we had lunch at this man’s home just 4 days earlier!  We debated on coming back that night, but we decided to come back on Thursday morning.  Our hearts ached for this family and their loss.  Our hearts ached for our church family and the loss of a dear church member.

Some have said that our vacation was interrupted.  Well, it may seem that way.  The truth is that ministry is not my job.  We wanted to come back and be with our friends who were grieving, we were grieving with them.  Ministry is our life.  Ministry is living life together.  We’ll have our time of rest when the Lord sees fit for that.

This past Sunday I preached from Romans 8.  I talked about how God knows all things and nothing is a surprise to Him.  I have realized in the past 2 weeks that I should never plan for something without thinking that He may have other plans.  I don’t think the Christian Life is ever boring.  Now, there are boring Christians, but that’s another thing…Serving Christ and being open to Him is always an adventure.  When I was in Ethiopia last Fall, our team leader, BeckyLynn (who blogs here), would always say, “you just have to flow.”

Thanks to many of you who have prayed for us these past few weeks.  Thanks for following me on Twitter and keeping up with us.

I just walked out to get the mail and I received my Advance Review Copy of The Jesus Paradigm by David Alan Black.  I am looking forward to getting into it today.  I will post a review shortly.  Also, I have been out of the blogging world (except for my Twiter feed) for the past few weeks.  I’ll be posting about the past 2 weeks soon as well!

I stopped in for gas yesterday and wanted a soft drink for the ride.  I went back to the cooler and found the Cherry flavored Coke Zero.  This is a great beverage.  It was $1.39.  This is the usual price for a 20 oz. drink at a convenient store.  I paid for the drink and as I walked to my car, something seemed strange.  I thought that my hand had gotten larger or something.  I looked down at the bottle, and it was not 20 oz.  it was 16 oz.  Maybe this change happened a while back…I don’t know.  For years, you could get a 20 oz. plastic bottle from the convenient store.  Coke (and presumably everyone else) has reduced the drink by 20%, yet I was paying the same price for it!  I was getting less for the same money.

Here is my question, are our church services like this?  Have slipped something by the congregations over the past 10-15 years?  It still lasts an hour, but they get less theological songs, less prayer, less focus on the Lord, less reading of His Word, and less teaching from His Word.  Maybe it hasn’t been 10-15 years…maybe it has been 50-60 years…I’m not sure.  But the fact is people who attend church each week don’t get the same “product” that they used to get.  Have we pulled a fast one like Coke has?  Or, have the people come to expect less, and we give them what they expect.

I know that teaching the Bible week after week is not popular.  It never has been.  As leaders in churches, we cannot strive to be popular.  Jesus said it is not good when all people speak well of you.  The only person I want to be fully satisfied is Jesus.  If He is pleased by what I do, then I have accomplished what I need to accomplish.  In the years I have been involved in ministry I have learned that nothing will please everyone.  That means every decision will be unpopular with someone.  I could do what I like, what the majority of people like, or what Jesus likes.  I pray that I will clearly follow what Jesus wants and lead others to do the same.

I went to a seminar today that some interesting topics.  Well, some more interesting than others!  A gentleman named Dan Cook spoke.  Dan began a ministry years ago called Building God’s Way.  They help Christian schools and churches with buildings and with being good stewards of their existing buildings.  Dan came to know Jesus a little more than 20 years ago.  He was an architect at the time.  He told us that prior to coming to Christ, he had worked with over a hundred churches in helping them build new buildings.  In all of those projects and countless meetings with church leaders he said no one had ever told him about Jesus.  He said, “I knew about prayer because at the end of the meeting they would say, ‘you can leave now, we’re gonna pray.'”  Dan said they never shared Christ with him.  In his words, “I was simply a tool to help them get their new building so they could keep doing church.”  Ouch!

When “church” becomes a building instead of the people, we’re in trouble.  In most churches congregations, the building is the focus.  It is where much of our money goes.  The building should be a means to an end, not the end!  It provides a place for us to meet, fellowship, encourage one another, pray together, teach, gather, share communion, and build relationships.  Sports analogies are overdone, but the building is the locker room, not the playing field!

How many times do we drive to the building, sit in the building, admire the building, and then leave.  We do this and think we have been good Christians for the week since we “went to church.”  We know that Christ cares deeply for His church (He died for it!).  That is theologically correct.  Where we get it wrong is to asume that the building we call “the church” is what He died for.  When we start to think that way our priority becomes our building instead of the people for whom He died.  Satan can get us out of the Kingdom business when we focus all of our energies and efforts on ourselves.  Thank you Dan for the reminder today of what we are to be about.

I drove behind a vehicle today that was sporting this bumper sticker:The thought is nice.  I guess the point is that these world religions all have some things in common and we should focus on those similarities in order to “get along”.  It is true that we should not fight or war against one another because of our different belief systems.  I find something troubling about these presumptions however.  I assume the creators of the bumper sticker, and society in general, see two things these religions have in common.  First, a belief in a higher power. Second, a desire to “be good people”.  I guess the thinking is that we are all headed in the same direction so we might as well get along.  The troubling thing is not what these religions have in common, but where they differ.  Each believes in a higher power, but followers of Jesus are not taught to simply “be good people.”

It is true that followers of Jesus should be what the culture would define as “good” (sometimes).  But we are not “good” for the same reasons that adherents of other faiths are “good”.  The religions of the world teach that people need to be “good” in order to have a better after-life.  Followers of Jesus are taught to, well, follow Jesus.  Here’s where things can get tricky.  In following Jesus we will be honest, hard-working, trustworthy, “good” people.  But we do not do these things to gain a better after-life.  We do these things because we follow Jesus and He commands us to do these things.  We are motivated by our love for Jesus, not our fear of having a bad after-life.

We can coexist with adherents of other faiths in that we should not take up the sword for proselytizing purposes.  We should be the people Jesus has called us to be and let others see the freedom that comes from loving Christ.  It is a far greater joy to be a “good” person when we’re motivated by love rather than motivated by fear.

My heart goes out to all those affected by the Swine Flu H1N1 Virus.  Thankfully it is a smal, very small number who have died.  (Nowhere close to the 4000 babies that will aborted today in our country alone).  People are reacting, maybe even overreacting.  Everyone wants to know how to catch it, how to avoid it, etc.  Here is a website that may help.  http://doihaveswineflu.org