Some times I just don't say thanks enough....

“The things we take for granted are dreams to many people.”

  Forgive me. I’m having a full blown senior moment…I truly hope that I’ve said this before. If I haven’t though, I apologize. Sadly, I know though I haven’t shared this in a long time. So please do not take that as ingratitude. It’s not. I am very, very thankful! In fact, Jane and I both are.

  Every year since I became your Pastor, our church has willingly underwritten the costs for me to attend a conference. Sadly, that is not the case for some of my colleagues (though today it is for most).

  One of my greatest fears in preaching is growing stale, or worse, irrelevant. Like you, I’ve sat under someone’s preaching and wondered at times, what I was doing there and how can I graciously extricate myself? I truly hope that you don’t do that here. Yet, when a pastor is isolated, it is easier for that to happen. Age adds to the isolation.

  The Bible reminds us that “iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17). Yet, just as nearly every field needs continuing education, the same is true of pastors. Yet, one of the handicaps of being a pastor is that you rarely are able to personally hear and experience preaching and Bible teaching…but every believer needs it. 

  One of the verses that staggers me is 1 Corinthians 1:21, “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.” In other words, God has chosen to use the “foolishness of preaching” to work in hearts and bring glory to His Name. That amazes me! There certainly seem to be more effective tools that God could use, like a miracle or two. Even a drama or well done animation would seem to be more effective. Yet, God has chosen what seems like, humanly speaking, to be a poor choice as a communication tool to share His Word and message. And I know that often feel very inadequate to the task and awed that God would use me.

  While I seek to feed my own soul by spending time in the Word and prayer, there’s something about being under Bible teaching that feeds your soul in a way that “self-feeding” will never do. And though I work at focusing on the worship music when we sing together as a family at Grace, there is something very freeing about sitting in a worship service where you have no responsibility for any parts of the worship service.

  Probably, all of you can relate. You know what it is to have the whole family, extended family with cousins by the dozens, over for a huge meal. Maybe something like Thanksgiving or Mother’s Day. You’re trying really hard to enjoy the meal, to focus on the conversations and interactions. Yet, in the back of your mind, you’re wondering if the gravy is burning, or if the pie tastes okay. Because you’re the host, when the toilet backs up or they run out of ice, you’re the one that they come looking for.

  As a pastor, I pray before I come on Sundays and then must work to stay focused on worship and the main thing every Sunday. But if it’s too warm in the auditorium, or if the slides aren’t working correctly, or if no one showed up to teach a class or work in the nursery, or even a child is crying in the midst of the service, my mind turns to what is taking place.

  Add to that, the burden of the burdens coming into the worship service each week. As a pastor, I often know what others may not know: someone struggling with a difficult marriage or child; an individual being defeated by sin or doubt; someone seeking and checking out this “Christian” thing to see if it’s real. It could be a brother or sister with a loved one in a crisis. Every pastor who is seeking to be faithful to God’s calling on his life feels that burden. Yes, he rejoices with those who rejoice, yet he weeps with those who weep. Joseph Parker used to say, “If you preach to hurting hearts, you will never want for a congregation; there is one in every pew.” 

  So there is something freeing about sitting in a worship service and being totally focused, and having the Spirit touch your heart through the music or preaching. Many a time, I’ve wept as I’ve been in those places, as the Spirit worked in my own heart. I’ll never forget sitting many years ago under the preaching of John Piper as he bared his soul. John, like me, grew up in the Deep South and was raised in bigotry. I remember him sharing his own journey and tears poured out of my eyes, as I realized that his journey was also my journey…and I had never quite seen it like that before.

  Last week as Jane and I sat under the preaching of J.D. Greear, Paul Tripp and Steve Brown to name a few, our hearts were stirred. Our souls were stretched. We grew! And you made it possible. We even heard a new version of the Doxology that I can’t wait for us to learn and sing at Grace!

  Conferences are filling and exhausting. Maybe it’s because preachers are cheap, they usually start early in the morning, go all day and then end late at night. You find yourself stuffed spiritually, a bit exhausted, but it’s a good tired.

  Let’s be honest, with a church budget, there are seemingly an infinite amount of items where we could direct our funds. (If you don’t believe me, ask our Church Treasurer). Thank you for making our soul care, spiritual growth and sanctification one of those focuses. Thank you so much for not begrudging us that time away. Thank you to so many for stepping up and taking on extra responsibility so that we could focus where we were at, knowing that things were in willing, capable hands here at Grace.

  And most of all, thank you for letting an aging, bald, “well-rounded,” geezer be your pastor for over a quarter of a century. God has so greatly blessed me with you and this local community. Please don’t tell, but I know that I’m the richest man in town and I have one of the biggest and best families! May our Father bless each one of you as you are a blessing to Jane and me!