THE POUND
PROCLAIMER
Volume II
July 2007
Number 9
Sing
to the Lord, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day
to day. Psalms 96:2
RED HEADED ANGEL
ON MY SHOULDER
I had been preaching for a few
years and was comfortably settled into a self supporting work. In these early
years, it wasn’t unusual for my sermons to be at the least an hour in length.
The nature of my sermons was like the crack of a whip. I was good at cracking
the whip. I was being complimented for
my preaching skills although my sermons ran for an hour on a fairly regular
basis. I took great pleasure in being a located evangelist with the reputation
I had acquired.
One Sunday evening before
the service began, my oldest son, who at the time was about four years old,
asked if I was going to preach that night. I responded with an enthusiastic,
“of course I am going to preach tonight.” Immediately his mouth gave a twitch
and he slightly dropped his head to one side, indicating his displeasure. I saw
by his reaction that he did not appreciate the privilege of getting to hear me
preach. I thought, as his father, I should bring this to his attention, so I
asked, “Don’t you like to hear me preach?” As I asked this question, I was
looking down into this round, chubby face topped with red hair and pitted with
two of the bluest eyes you ever saw. It was an angel’s face. While I was
looking into that angel face he answered my question by shaking his head, NO!
Once I regained my composure, I decided to shame him into submission. “Son, it
really hurts to hear you say that you don’t like to hear me preach. You
shouldn’t tell daddy you don’t like to hear him preach. I don’t like for you to
tell me such things.” It was at this point he looked straight into my eyes with
that look of childish innocence. I expected him to tell me he was sorry and he
really did know that I was a wonderful preacher. Instead, he said, “Don’t ask.”
“Out of the mouth of babes and infants, you have established strength
because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.” [Psalms 8:2]
It has been thirty-two
years since a red headed blue eyed angel put me in my place. Now, whenever
someone gives me a compliment about a sermon, I imagine a little red headed
angel sitting on their shoulder shaking his head.
There is a very real
temptation for preachers to forget that they are servants. The work we do is
important and for that reason may give the impression of importance for the one
doing the work.
I once told a fellow
preacher that he should take better care of himself because God needed him in
the work. He quickly corrected my thinking. He said, “I cannot get along
without God, but He can do just fine without me.”
Jesus illustrated the need
for all Christians [especially preachers] to humble themselves to serve rather
than be served (John 13:12-17). The willingness to dedicate one’s life
to moving from congregation to congregation, suffering the slings and arrows of
weak brethren, and forgoing the financial security provided by secular jobs is
a laudable attitude. However, it in no way makes one ‘more’ righteous than
those who sit in the pews service after service and listen to our sermons.
Preacher, don’t let Satan deceive you “For everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).
The Editor’s
Page
The Hebrew writer instructs
Christians by saying, “Therefore let us
leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again
a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,” Hebrews
6:1. God’s standard of perfection is often ignored. We live in a
world filled with things that contradict this standard. One of those things is
self-fulfillment. We are trained to be competitive, to be winners on the job
and in recreation. The motivation is to win at all cost.
The following account
illustrates how we can rise above the ‘win at all cost’ mentality and put
others before self (Philippians 2:1-4).
One afternoon Corky and his
father walked past a park where some boys that Corky knew were playing
baseball. Corky asked, “Do you think they will let me play”? Corky’s father
knew that most boys would not want him on their team. You see Corky is
‘special’, he has Down’s syndrome.
Corky’s father approached one
of the boys in the field and asked if Corky could play. The boy said, “We are
losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on
our team and we’ll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning.” Corky smiled
broadly as he was told to put on a glove and go out to play short center field.
In the bottom of the eighth
inning, Corky’s team scored three runs but was still down by three. In the
bottom of the ninth inning, Corky’s team scored again to tie the game. With two
outs and the winning run on first, it was Corky’s turn to bat next.
Would the team let Corky bat
and give away their chance to win? Corky was given the bat. Corky did not know
how to properly hold the bat. Corky stepped up to the plate and the pitcher
moved a few steps closer to lob the ball in softly. Corky swung clumsily at the
first pitch. One of Corky’s teammates stepped to the plate and held the bat
with him. They faced the pitcher and waited for the next pitch.
The pitcher lobbed the ball
softly toward Corky. As the pitch came in, Corky and his teammate swung the
bat. It was a slow ground ball to the pitcher. The pitcher picked it up. Corky
would be out and the game would be over. The pitcher took the ball and threw it
on a high arc deep into right field. Everyone started yelling, “Corky, run to
first. Run to first”. Corky had never before, in all his life, run to first. He
scampered down the baseline with the biggest smile you ever saw. By the time he
reached first base, the right fielder had reached the ball. The right fielder
picked it up. He looked at the ball for a moment then threw it high over the
first baseman’s head. Everyone yelled, “Run to second, run to second”.
Corky ran towards second base
as the runner ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home. As Corky
reached second base, the opposing short stop ran to him, turned him in the
direction of third base and shouted, “Run to third”. As Corky rounded third,
the boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, “Corky run home”. Corky ran.
As he stepped on home plate, all eighteen boys lifted him on their shoulders
and made him a hero. After all, he had just hit a ‘home run’ and won the game
for his team.
On that day, eighteen boys reached a
level of God’s perfection seldom reached by the great unwashed mass of humanity.
They were willing to put another’s happiness before their own need to be
winners. In lowliness of mind, each one counted Corky better than self. In so
doing, they gave a little boy the greatest thrill of his life. And, in my
humble opinion grew about six inches in stature!
THE LAST WORD
If you will
permit me a little ‘shade tree’ psychology, I would like to point out a cause
of discouragement among Christians.
It seems to be
a common attitude that congregational growth is lacking because ‘someone’, other
than me, isn’t doing their part. This is reflected in the belief that if we
could just get a new family of dedicated Christians to move in our area or if
we could just get the right preacher or if our ‘cheap’ brethren would just open
their purse strings then we could really grow.
Discouragement
sets in when we realize that these expectations are not going to happen. At
times, families where the parents are faithful Christians do relocate. However,
the odds against this happening are not where we should put our hope. There is
no such thing as the ‘right’ preacher when it comes to stimulating
congregational growth. Further more, financial wealth does not insure that a
congregation will grow as it should.
Discouragement
is the result of focusing on what we perceive others are not doing. This is
more desirable than focusing on whether or not we are fulfilling our personal
responsibilities to the local church.
When you are
discouraged about the attendance, make sure that you are present at all
services. When you see that the treasury is being depleted, determine to give
more. If you believe the preaching work is failing, give encouragement to the
preacher by suggesting specific sermon topics, participate with him in making
contacts in the community by providing contacts and going with him, and make
personal application to the lessons he gives.
It
is easy to make excuses why we are not personally involved and to blame others.
It is difficult to take control of our lives to promote congregational growth.
