This has been one of those "good news...bad news" weeks. The good news is that the leadership of Calvary Baptist Church is recommending a building, a builder, a bank, and a loan amount; the bad news is that I had to call and let the other builder know that they didn't get the job. Yeah, that's hard for me because I don't like giving people bad news. The good news is that we are now able to move forward; the bad news is that some don't want to move at all. The good news is that another decision has been made; the bad news is that this one decision creates many more decisions yet to be made. Ok, I think you get the picture.
I want to quickly give you a perspective on this from my heart as a pastor. I see the opportunity in all this to being great glory to our worthy God. He is absolutely without question a magnificent God and everything we do I see as a grove that is ripe for picking the fruit of exalting God's name higher than we ever have.
I am not simply looking to pick this God-exaling fruit when we finally relocate; I want to do it right now. If we don't seek opportunities to honor His name now, I believe we won't in the future just because we are in a new place. Every day must be seen as a day to honor Him and let others know about His majesty. Getting to a new place isn't going to magically change things for us. In fact, it will create more problems that are unique to that location. But, if we are consistently trying to hit the target of glorifying God now, then no matter where we are that will continue to be our theme.
If we are driven by a consuming desire to let others know how great God is, then we will not be consumed with selfish desires about a new building on a different piece of dirt. God made us to glory in Himself, not in bricks and sticks. At least one difference between to two is how long they will last. Living for God outlasts and outstrips living for a building.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! (Psalm 34:3)
Grace & Peace,
Scott
Something I read a couple of weeks ago struck a pastoral nerve. It was something that C. S. Lewis wrote:
"The charge to Peter was Feed my sheep; not Try experiments on my rats."
This gave me pause as I thought about my ministry as a pastor-teacher to the wonderful flock at Calvary Church. Keith Higginbotham taught me to ask, "What are you doing with these people?" You see, I realize I have the solemn and sacred responsibility to feed and not experiment. The church is not my personal playground in which to invent games just to keep the rest of the kids entertained and interested so they won't leave for a bigger and better one. No, the church is the bride of Christ and I have the awesome responsibility of co-nurturing her through the Word of God, not through tricks, techniques and strategies.
And what about the bride herself? What is Calvary's (and every other church out there as well) responsibility? Well, I can tell you that its not to be like a patient in a comma and be force fed through a tube. Nor are you to take every bite indiscriminately. This means you must get up (literally get out of bed and go to corporate worship) and eat. Enjoy the meal served. Eat to your fill and then sit back and let it digest. I believe we digest God's Word best when we act like a cow and let it keep coming up as we look at the Scriptures for ourselves. The Bible calls this meditation. And to be afraid to ask the question, "Did what Scott (or put any pastor's name in there) taught jive with other Scriptures?"
If you just swallow everything you hear you will become constipated spiritually (pretty painful)! And people in this state can't do much of anything--they are immobilized. I would encourage you to follow the example of the believers in Berea who "received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so" (Acts 17:11).
Grace & Peace,
Scott
The old saying goes, "Love is in the air." Yes, it's that time of year again--Valentines Day. Maybe this will simply serve as a reminder to the men out there (because we know our ladies don't need the reminder). Today I want to charge all of us to love biblically, and to accomplish this let's quickly look at love in two ways.
On the one hand, the worldly system in which we live bombards us with counterfeits to genuine love. The media portrays love as something that is easy to get into and easier to escape from. This type of love is Satan's imitation to the genuine thing. It is a love that has very little to do with choice and very much to do with feeling and attraction. It is something that comes and goes, and when it comes we are taught to grab it with gusto, but when the good feelings fade then we are free to move on. Western society not only gives us permission to love in this way but also encourages it.
On the other hand, God created us to love passionately for the long haul. It is not some ho-hum love nor is loving a lazy affair. The object of our love is someone whom we must follow hard after. This love is going to take commitment, patience and sacrifice. Loving someone doesn't come easy or cheap; in fact, it can be difficult and downright expensive. But God teaches us that the end result is worth it all. After all, it was His love that drove Him to sacrifice,
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Grace & Peace,
Scott
