The Pastor's Soul, Role, and Home.

Your Church: Building Up . . . or Chiseling Away?

How can a church building suddenly turn up missing? Well . . . it did. Stolen!

Last seen in July 2008, the 200-year-old Russian church disappeared just a few months later. Orthodox officials in a village northeast of Moscow intended to reopen the abandoned, two-story Church of the Resurrection—and begin services again. Imagine their surprise when they came to the place where the church had stood . . . and saw nothing! It’s a common occurrence in rural areas of Russia for vacant churches to have their gilded icons and other valuables stolen. But now the entire church building itself had been stolen! How did it happen?

Brick by brick.

Nearby villagers dismantled the structure in October 2008 and sold each brick to a local businessman for one ruble each (which amounts to about four cents per brick). “Of course, this is blasphemy,” a local priest blathered. “These people have to realize they committed a grave sin.” To which I think, Oh, really? What about the leadership that neglected the church for so long?

When I saw the date of the church’s deconstruction, it struck a personal nerve. October 2008 represented the tenth anniversary of the church where I serve as senior pastor. It is a pivotal milestone in our church’s history, as we determined to stop the spiritual erosion our local body was experiencing. Spiritually speaking, we resolved to put a halt to the dismantling of our internal walls and to begin rebuilding the spiritual foundation of the biblical essentials for a church: teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer (see Acts 2:42). I am so grateful that God intervened. He graciously granted us the opportunity to get back on track! His grace rescued us. Even though we were only ten years old, signs of erosion were beginning to occur.

Jesus promised to build His church, adding the declaration, “and the gates of Hades will not overpower it” (Matthew 16:18). That’s a good-news, bad-news statement. The good news is that the Adversary will not spoil the growth of Christ’s church. It will prevail. The bad news? Satan will do all he can to dismantle the church. If he can’t bring it about suddenly, then he will chip away at it brick by brick.

Every church will face challenges. In fact, the New Testament tells us that struggles are a normal part of the Christian experience.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.

1 Peter 4:12

What’s true of us as individuals is also true of our churches. No need to be surprised when challenges come. We will struggle! No need to scramble around, wring our hands, and wonder what to do in the midst of the Enemy’s insidious attacks. Rather than take our cues from the world, the Scriptures offer us a clear path to follow in the midst of any trial. But that certainly doesn’t mean it will be easy.

You can be sure of this: overwhelming challenges and fierce struggles lie ahead in your path—and in the path of your church. Believe it. Expect it. But for sure, prepare for it. Only through devotion to the inerrant Word of God will we retain our values when the Adversary starts chiseling away at our walls. Do not be intimidated. He “will not prevail.”

Some things are worth fighting for.

—Chuck

The Church’s Foundation

Whenever we want to understand a topic or term, such as church, we should begin at the passage of primary reference. It helps to ask: Where did the word first appear, and in what context was it used? Surprisingly, the first mention in the New Testament of the word church wasn’t from the pen of the apostle Paul. Peter didn’t coin the term—nor did any of the other apostles. It was Jesus.

“I will build My church,” Jesus promised (Matthew 16:18). Let’s examine the implications of those five, monosyllable words in this “primary reference.”

First, I—Jesus made it clear from the beginning that the church as God intended it would have Christ as its architect. Make no mistake about it, He is the Originator of the church. It was His idea. He protects it. He leads it. He alone is its Head. Second, the word will looks to the future. Jesus didn’t say, “I have built,” or even, “I am building,” but “I will build.” The church had yet to begin when Jesus made this statement; it was a promise for the future—for the very near future. But at the time He spoke these words, Peter and the other disciples had no clue what “church” meant. Third, the term build suggests not only a beginning but an ongoing process. If you read music, think of a crescendo mark over Jesus’s statement. Try to imagine the excitement and energy in the Master’s voice, as He communicated the future to these disciples. The church would begin at a certain point, and then it would grow and grow . . . and keep on growing. Why? Because Christ will construct it. He will enlarge it and shape it as He pleases. Fourth, the word My affirms ownership and authority. Not only is Christ the Originator of the church and the Builder of it . . . He is also its Head (see Colossians 1:15–18).

It’s essential to keep asking ourselves, as I try to do, Is Christ the Head of our local church? Does He have first place in our ministry? Is what we do all about Jesus—or have we drifted from that singular focus? To guard against erosion, we must keep Jesus as the Head of the church. It is His church. Never forget that.

When Matthew recorded Jesus’s word for “church”—the first mention of that term in the Bible—he chose the Greek word ekklesia. It’s a compound word, from ek, meaning “out, from,” and kaleo, meaning, “to call.” It refers to those who have been “called out from among” others. The term more accurately reflects an assembly of people defined by a distinct purpose. The word was in use hundreds of years before Jesus, but by adding the word “My” to the term, Jesus revealed that He would build His own ekklesia—a people defined by faith in the truth that Peter had just revealed: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). We now call this unique assembly over which Jesus serves as Head, “the church.” How valuable it is to return to the origin of this term and make a serious examination of its purpose!

Why study its origin? Because there we see God’s intention. Our understanding and application of what church should be will erode if we don’t examine and keep in mind its Founder and its foundation.

—Chuck

Principles All Churches Should Examine and Apply-- Part Two

Last week, I shared with you the first two of three principles all churches should examine and apply. Here they are again, in summary:

• Clear, biblical thinking must override secular planning and a corporate mentality. Think spiritually!
• Studied, accurate decisions must originate from God’s Word, not human opinions. Stay biblical!

As promised, here’s the third principle and imperative: wise, essential changes must occur to counteract any sign of erosion. Please notice I did not use the word “easy.” Change is not easy when erosion has occurred—but it is essential. The imperative? Be flexible! Be ready and willing to make some changes—essential changes—especially if you hope to arrest the slow, silent, subtle slide of erosion. And stand alone through those changes, if necessary. The poet and artist E. E. Cummings wrote: “To be nobody-but-yourself—in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody but yourself—means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting.”¹

As a pastor, you may find yourself standing alone against erosion in your church. If so, I commend you. And believe me, that isn’t an easy place to be. When I realized the erosion that had already begun to occur in our church years ago . . . when I realized how far we had drifted from God’s original, simple plan, I prayed: “Almighty God, give us that original vision again. Give me the courage to lead this flock back to the essentials. Make it happen again!” And He has begun to do so. It’s been marvelous!

But it has not been easy.

Course correction requires changes. It demands a devotion to the essentials of a church as modeled by the early church. Here they are:

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42)

It isn’t enough simply to have the essentials in our churches. We must continually devote ourselves to them. In the original language, that phrase translates a single Greek term that means: “to continue to do something with intense effort, with the possible implication of [doing so] despite difficulty.”

Will there be difficulty? Absolutely! Open your New Testament and revisit the early church. Just look at any church! The Adversary will stop at nothing to overcome the work of Christ. You can count on it.

—Chuck

¹ E. E. Cummings, as quoted by Ted Goodman in The Forbes Book of Business Quotations: 10,000 Thoughts on the Business of Life (New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007), 553.

Principles All Churches Should Examine and Apply-- Part One

I have discovered three principles and three imperatives I believe all churches should examine and apply. The first principle is this: clear, biblical thinking must override secular planning and a corporate mentality. And the imperative? Think spiritually! However well-organized our churches become, we must give priority to biblical rather than to secular thinking. In the first-century church, there were no secular organizational structures or church politics. There was no guru of authority or “chairman” of anything. There were no power grabs from control freaks. There were no personal maneuverings, infightings, financial squabbles, or turf protection. Instead, it was a place where a spiritual emphasis took precedence over the world’s way of doing things.

What does this look like when applied today? For starters, our teaching needs to be biblically based and spiritually inclined. Our Sunday school classes, adult fellowships, and small-group instruction gatherings need to center on the teaching of the Bible and spiritual lessons. Our songs and our hymns should have spiritual content. Our counseling ministry needs to be derived from the Spirit’s revelation in the Scriptures. Our relationships with one another need to have spiritual priorities—intimate fellowship where people can trust one another. The church ought to be the one place where spiritual thinking overrides everything else—all those battles we fight within the marketplace. Why? Because Jesus Christ is the Head of the church. The church is a spiritual entity.

Second, studied, accurate decisions must originate from God’s Word, not human opinions. A true, spiritual mind-set comes from meditation on the Scriptures. So the imperative would be: stay biblical! The Word of God ought to be central to every worship service on Sunday. Furthermore, every elders meeting and every staff meeting should have the Scriptures as the basis of the decisions that are made. God’s Word is to be the church’s guide; it shapes our current thinking and future planning by giving us principles we can understand, believe, and apply.

I love the words of A. W. Tozer: “The world is waiting to hear an authentic voice, a voice from God—not an echo of what others are doing and saying, but an authentic voice.”¹ As those in the church who follow Christ as our Head, our words must come from the Living God and not be an echo of human words or works . . . certainly not the words from our culture! As wise and intelligent as human opinions are, the church isn’t guided by the thinking of any fallen human being. (By the way, that includes the pastor!) Christ is the Head. Our thinking is shaped by a study of Scriptures—by God’s thinking. This is about building the church God’s way—and God’s way is found in God’s Word. Nowhere else can we find such an authentic voice.

A church that is working is a church that is growing. I believe that. But be careful of the order of that statement, because a church that is growing is not necessarily a church that is working.

—Chuck

PS. I’ll share the third principle and imperative with you next week.

¹ A.  W. Tozer, Rut, Rot or Revival: The Condition of the Church (Camp Hill, Penn.: Christian Publications, 1992), 178.

Pastoral Tact

Remember the teacher or seminary professor you had who lacked tact? Learning was regularly sacrificed on the altar of fear. You wondered each session if that was the day you’d be singled out and embarrassed through some public put-down. Remember the salesman you encountered who lacked tact? Once you found that out (and it usually doesn’t take 60 seconds), you wanted only one thing—to get away! Remember the boss you worked for who lacked tact? You never knew if he ever understood you or considered you to be a valuable person. And who could forget that tactless physician? You weren’t a human being; you were Case No. 36—a body with a blood pressure, a history of chronic diarrhea, and stones in your gall bladder—“and you need surgery immediately.” All this was spoken in perfect monotone as he stared at a folder stuffed with x-rays, charts, and papers covered with advanced hieroglyphics. Brilliant, capable, experienced, dignified, and respected . . . but no tact.

Ah, that’s bad . . . but you know what’s worse? A tactless pastor.

The classic example of tactless humanity, I’m ashamed to declare, is the abrasive pastor who feels it his calling to fight for the truth with little or no regard for the listener’s feelings. He seems to delight in developing a devastating pulpit that scourges rather than encourages, that blasts rather than builds. This preacher plows through the feelings of people like a John Deere tractor, leaving them buried in the dirt of blame and shame and, worst of all, deeply offended. Of course, this is supposedly done in the name of the Lord, right? “To do anything less would be compromise and counterfeit.” His murder weapon is that blunt instrument hidden behind his teeth. His favorite modus operandi is either to overlook or openly demean others . . . and the backwash is a back alley strewn with the litter of broken hearts, bitter souls, and former-church attendees.

May I remind you: “The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer,” writes Solomon. That which turns away wrath is “a gentle answer,” wrote he. The wise person uses his tongue to make “knowledge acceptable,” he adds. And don’t forget the impact of the proverbs, “The tongue of the wise brings healing,” and, “A man has joy in an apt answer and how delightful is a timely word” (see Proverbs 15:28; 15:1-2; 12:18; 15:23). I love the words of Paul to young Pastor Timothy:

The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

2 Timothy 2:24–26

As we stand and deliver this Sunday morning, let’s intentionally guard against hurting and spend our efforts healing. We don’t need to compromise the truth of the Word of God. I’m not suggesting that. I’m urging that we be gentle and sensitive when we are touching the tender feelings of others. Go back and read Paul’s counsel once again––slowly and thoughtfully. Let’s get aboard the Lord’s bus and enjoy each other, as we leave the striving to Him.

Love and acceptance of one another are nurtured in a context of tact.

—Chuck

Love Them Tender

Back when I was a kid, I got a bellyache that wouldn’t go away. It hurt so badly I couldn’t stand up straight. Or sit down without increasing the pain. Finally, my folks hauled me over to a big house in West Houston where a doctor lived. He had turned the back section of his house into his office and a small clinic. It was a hot, muggy afternoon. I was scared.

The doc decided I needed a quick exam—but he really felt I was suffering from an attack of appendicitis. He had whispered that under his breath to my mom. I remember the fear that gripped me when I pictured myself having to go to Memorial Hospital, being put to sleep, getting cut on, then enduring those stitches being jerked out.

Looking back, however, I believe that “quick exam” hurt worse than surgery the next day. The guy was rough, I mean really rough. He poked and thumped and pulled and pushed at me like I was Raggedy Andy. I was already in pain, but when ole Dr. Vice Grip was through, I felt like I had been his personal punching bag. To him, I was nothing more than a ten-year-old specimen of Homo sapiens. Male, blond, slight build, 99-degree temperature, with undetermined abdominal pain, lower right side, and nauseated. Never once do I recall his looking at me, listening to me, talking with me, or caring about me. Although young, I distinctly remember feeling like I bored the man—like case No. 13 that day, appendectomy No. 796 for him in his practice. And quite likely, an irritating interruption in his plans for eighteen holes that afternoon.

Granted, a ten-year-old with a bellyache is not the greatest challenge for a seasoned physician to face . . . but his insensitivity left a lasting impression. His lack of tender caring canceled out the significance of all those neatly framed diplomas, achievements, and awards plastered across the wall behind his desk. At that painful, terrifying moment of my life, I needed more than credentials and a diagnosis. Even as a little kid, I needed compassion. A touch of kindness. A gentle, considerate, soft-spoken word of assurance. Something to cushion the blows of the man’s cut-and-dried verdict, “This boy needs surgery—meet me at Memorial at five o’clock today.”

Looking back to more than sixty years ago, I’ve learned a valuable lesson: when people are hurting, they need more than an accurate analysis. More than cold, professional advice. More, much more, than a stern, firm turn of a verbal wrench that cinches everything down tight.

As pastors, we must remember that fragile and delicate are the feelings of most who seek our help. Most of them have unspoken fears. They need to sense we are there because we care . . . not just because it’s our job.

Truth and tact make great bedfellows.

—Chuck

The Goal of Our Preaching

Application of the Bible is a priority in my preaching. I never leave the congregation to guess how the text applies. I plan the application of the message just as carefully as I work through its introduction and exposition.

I have discovered that if you cannot summarize the application of your sermon in a sentence or two, you don’t have a sermon. You may have a number of interesting and accurate thoughts, but you won’t have it drawn together into a cohesive whole. The result? No one will remember what was said.  You ought to be able to give your message in one or two sentences. Here’s an example: Christ has set us free, and we should enjoy the liberty that He’s provided for us through His death and resurrection.  Your message should state and restate that thought from various angles so that the theme pulsates through your sermon. 

Apply this outside the message as well. It’s wonderful if you have a sensitive minister of music who can weave that theme like a thread through the anthem the choir sings, or the arrangement the ensemble plays, or the song the soloist brings, or the hymns and choruses through which the congregation worships. By doing that, the whole service underscores and affirms the message—not just your preaching. People leave with the application ringing in their minds, almost like a tune you can’t get out of your head.  

I always suggest timeless principles at the end of a message . . . lessons the listener can carry home and use. Really use. I learned from Dr. Stan Toussaint, one of my professors when I attended seminary, that it’s helpful to put the application toward the end of a message.  There’s something about ending a message with a clincher that makes it more effective.  For example, I will often say, “There are three warnings here that all of us would be wise to heed.”  Then I list each one in a brief manner, explaining how they can be applied, and then I repeat them. I often ask the congregation to write down the principles. Why write them down? I learned a little saying many years ago that I have found helpful: “Thoughts disentangle themselves over the lips and through the fingertips.”  In other words, when something is not clear, it’s often helpful to talk it out and also to write it down. That brings clarity.

Don’t skimp on the application of the message. Don’t spend all of your time explaining the text without explaining how the text applies. One of my mentors, Dr. Howard Hendricks, offers a poignant warning:

Every time you observe and interpret [the Bible] but fail to apply [it], you perform an abortion on the Scriptures in terms of their purpose. The Bible was not written to satisfy your curiosity; it was written to transform your life.¹

Pretty blunt, but his point is true: the Bible was meant to be lived—not just studied.

Application is the ultimate goal of our preaching. Go there . . . every single time.

—Chuck

¹ Howard G. Hendricks and William D. Hendricks, Living by the Book (Chicago: Moody Press, 1991), p 284.

Marks of a Mentor: Releasing Others

In my almost fifty years in the ministry, the Lord has brought in and taken away many friends and coworkers. As hard as it always is to lose those I have mentored and developed—both staff and laypeople—I try to affirm their decision to follow God elsewhere. That’s what the church in Ephesus did for Apollos when he sensed God’s leading to leave:

And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

Acts 18:27–28

Please observe, when he was led to leave, they “encouraged him” to go. We pastors need to realize that God does not intend for all the faithful folks to stay at our church. We want that, but God’s plan is greater than ours. We never need to pour on the guilt or try to manipulate someone who senses the need to follow God elsewhere.

We don’t own them. They belong to the Lord, not us. Don’t ever call the congregation, “my church,” or refer to the flock as, “my people.” They’re God’s people. We are simply shepherds. Our purpose is to help them reach their full potential, whatever it may be . . . and wherever it may lead.

I have a long-standing commitment never to talk anybody into coming or out of leaving the church—whether a staff person or layperson. If an individual is led to leave, I find a way to help make that happen. If an individual is led to come, I find a way to help them make the change. Hold everyone loosely.

“Move ahead,” the Christians encouraged Apollos. “Of course, we don’t own you here in Ephesus.” And you know what happened? Paul would later write to the Corinthians:

I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.

1 Corinthians 3:6

I love it! The Lord took Apollos back to Corinth, and he became so effective that he watered the seed that the apostle Paul had planted. The Christians in Ephesus get part of the credit for that success. Why? They recognized that God’s work extended beyond their own church . . . and they released Apollos.

We pastors must do the same.

—Chuck

Marks of a Mentor: Addressing Weakness

Last week I shared with you one of the marks of a mentor that we all enjoy: affirming others with trust. But there’s another side of the coin that’s just as important. Good mentors also address weaknesses. For example:

Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John; and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

Acts 18:24–26

When Aquilla and Priscilla heard Apollos preach, they detected some things lacking. There was nothing in Apollos’s words about the work of the Spirit. No mention of the body of Christ . . . the Spirit-filled life . . . how Christians can live as conquerors . . . nothing. They only heard about the baptism of John and the ministry of Jesus. That’s all Apollos knew. Accurate . . . but incomplete.

A discerning mentor addresses weaknesses that need to be strengthened and wrongs that need to be corrected. That’s one of the greatest benefits of good mentors. They won’t let us get away with staying like we are. They won’t let us keep making the same mistakes over and over again. They love us too much. 

Mentors spot flaws and, like Aquilla and Priscilla, they don’t embarrass us publicly. They don’t nail us on the spot. But behind closed doors they say, “I need to mention something I notice that you do . . . or that you don’t do.” They care, because they’re discerning. They spot the area of need, and they put their finger on it like on a nerve.

The benefits? Reproof causes the one being mentored to remain teachable and accountable. Both are important. But it’s also vital that when we are the ones doing the reproving, we make sure we also are loving. Paul said it well:

Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity.

1 Timothy 5:1–2

I also admire Apollos’s response. He listened to them. One of the best things we can do when someone corrects us is to pay attention to their corrections. Do you do that? I hope that your biblical knowledge has made you more approachable and less untouchable. Mentors have nothing to gain by correcting us. We have everything to gain. We are better people if we take reproofs personally. (Sounds like a proverb, doesn’t it?) I could name some corrections my mentors gave that stung me to my core. And you know what? I knew they were right. I felt a little humiliated, but they turned it around into something positive: “Once you correct this, you’ll be even more effective.” It was true.

As mentors, we should be good at addressing weaknesses—at giving reproof. We should also be good at receiving it. It makes you a better pastor.

For that matter, it also makes you a better husband and father.

—Chuck

Marks of a Mentor: Trust

We pastors think of ourselves as those who mentor others. For a moment, however, put yourself in the shoes of someone being mentored. If you had a positive mentor somewhere in your past, think back to what that relationship meant to you then.

When a mentor believes in you, trust comes along with it. He trusts you when he is not around. I’ve always appreciated how Paul applied that trust to Priscilla and Aquila:

Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria, and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. In Cenchrea he had his hair cut, for he was keeping a vow. They came to Ephesus, and he left them there.

Acts 18:18–19

Paul didn’t stay; he “left them there.” A mentor who believes in you trusts you when he’s not around. Do you know the benefit of that? Those being mentored become more responsible. They have to!

The mentors we admire are like the bosses we love to work for: they are not controlling people. They trust you when they’re not around. They give you an assignment and they rely on you to follow through. They’re not peeking in your window. They don’t squint through your keyhole. They’re not checking up on you through a friend or putting spies on your tail. They trust you.

You find that even when they’re not there—because they’ve trusted you—you really want to step up. It makes you feel responsible. The flip side of being trusted is proving yourself to be trustworthy.

Paul left Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus, and the result was wonderful. Because they were trustworthy, they helped to shape the local church during its formative season. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that you’re being trusted.

It’s a wonderful feeling.

Now reverse the roles again. Do you trust those you mentor? If so, do they know you believe in them?

Have you told them so? Go there.

                    —Chuck