Conflict Within The Church

April 6, 2011 Leave a comment

W.B. Riley, who served as the pastor of First Baptist Church of Minneapolis, Minnesota for some fifty years, told the following story:

“In my first pastorate, three of my church officials had refused for three full years to speak to one another. A committee was appointed to investigate the cause of the difficulty and either adjust it or bring in a recommendation for exclusion.

The night of the trial arrived. The three officials were in their places, silent, glum, and determined. Much prayer was had before the committee’s presentation.

The Spirit wrought! Hearts softened! At last one man arose and in penitence confessed his fault. Another followed, and yet a third man. Men who had passed in the streets with a scowl, now locked in mutual embrace.

For six months I had preached my heart out, without a convert. The next Sunday night the house was packed to the point where I was left but standing room in the pulpit. A multitude of converts were made, and for two full years (the rest of my pastorate in that place) the inpour to the church was incessant. A new house was erected; from half-time service the church went to full-time, from no gifts to large gifts; and in a lifetime of ministry I have known no delights to exceed the blessed winters and summers brought about by a reconciliation of brethren.”

And now, in the light of this excellent illustration, I’ve got two questions for you:

#1: Are you currently playing some role in causing any hard feelings or ill-will within your church?

#2: Even if you aren’t playing such a role, if such hard feelings or ill-will exist within your church, what are doing to bring the problems to a godly resolution?

Filed under Christian unity, church, Church Discipline, Doing Good, Extending Forgiveness, Influence Tagged with , , , , , ,

Sunday School

March 25, 2011 Leave a comment

Most people don’t know that the Sunday Schools of today’s churches bear little resemblance to the original Sunday Schools of England’s late 1700s. Those schools were quite literally places of basic education where poor children could learn to read and write. You see, in that day England did not have what we now think of as state education. Therefore, it was typically only the richer class who could afford to educate their children. That was done by means of hired governesses, private tutors, and boarding schools. Poor children were usually left to either take the low pay and long hours (as much as 13 or 14 hours a day) of factory work or some other form of low-level, menial labor.

While there is some debate as to when and where the first Sunday School opened, there is no doubt that Robert Raikes became the man most closely associated with the movement. He was the editor of the Gloucester Journal, and he saw Sunday Schools as a way of keeping the children of poor families from gravitating toward lives of crime. His Sunday Schools began by meeting in homes, and he promoted the work through his newpaper.

As the term implies, the schools met each week on Sunday. Why that day? It was the only day the factories didn’t work, which made it the day children got into the most trouble playing in the streets, being loud and rowdy, and just generally creating disturbances. Raikes used the Bible as a textbook to teach the children to read and write.

Within just a few short years, the Sunday School movement exploded throughout England as approximately 250,000 children were attending schools. It wasn’t long before the various religious denominations began to open their own schools, and by the 1830s attendance in Sunday Schools had grown to over one million. Not only did the schools teach the children to read and write, they also provided them with new clothes to wear on Sunday as well as basic instruction in matters of morality and cleanliness. Discipline was handed out for offenses such as cussing, lying, and other forms of inappropriate behavior. For the record, the first Sunday School in the United States was opened in the 1790s by Samuel Slater in his textile mills in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

Over the century that followed, child labor laws and the beginnings of compulsary state educational systems eliminated the primary needs for which the Sunday School movement had begun. This allowed Sunday Schools to turn their focus exclusively toward religious indoctrination and become the Sunday Schools we know today. It’s interesting that arguably the greatest impact the Sunday School movement made on society was that it was successful enough to cause society to put the schools out of their original business.

Filed under Bible Study, Children, church, Corporal Punishment, Doing Good, God's Work, Influence, Scripture, spanking, Teaching, The Bible Tagged with , , ,

Faithful Over A Few Things

February 22, 2011 Leave a comment

Here’s a short follow-up to yesterday’s post “You Just Never Know.” The two walk hand in hand.

George Matheson was a blind Scottish pastor in the late 1800s. While he was serving as the pastor of a church in Innellan, he preached to only a handful of worshippers one stormy winter’s Sunday. He left the service discouraged because he felt that his sermon had been especially good. But what he didn’t know was that a stranger in the congregation would never forget the sermon or the blind preacher who delivered it. Over seven years later, that man would recommend Matheson to become the pastor of St. Bernard’s Church in Edinburgh, a call which would lead to thirteen years of highly fruitful service for Matheson at the church.

In the parable of the talents, Jesus taught that the one who is faithful over a few things will be made ruler over many things (Matthew 25:14-30). While He gave this parable within the context of a teaching on prophecy and rewards in the afterlife, the basic principle can apply in this life. A proof text is His parable of the faithful steward (Luke 12:42-48), which isn’t found within the context of a prophetic teaching.

God is always on the lookout for good stewardship, and He always takes special notice of a George Matheson who will faithfully preach to the best of his ability for a bad-weather, poorly attended Sunday service. So don’t ever take lightly any opportunity that comes your way to do something in service to Christ. Remember that no job is too small for a servant big enough to do it well.

Filed under Attitude, Character, church, Church attendance, Doing Good, God's Omnipresence, God's Omniscience, God's Work, Leadership, obedience, preaching, Prosperity, Reward, stewardship, Trusting In God, weather, Worship Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

You Just Never Know

February 21, 2011 Leave a comment

Lyman Beecher was one of the most famous Presbyterian preachers of the 1800s. Early in his ministry, he once exchanged pulpits for a Sunday with the pastor of a small country church. It was in the middle of winter, with snow piled up along the road, and it was all that Beecher could do to maneuver his horse through the drifts and get to the church.

Once he arrived he found that he was the only one in attendance that morning. This left him with a dilemma, and so he went to the pulpit and began to pray silently. Finally one man entered the church and Beecher proceeded to preach an impassioned, fervent message to him. At the sermon’s close, Beecher hurried down to greet the lone worshiper, but the man made his way out the door before Beecher could approach him.

Well, twenty years passed and one day Beecher was boarding a train when a pleasant-looking gentleman approached him and asked, “Do you remember me, Dr. Beecher?” Beecher answered, “I don’t believe I do.” “Why, we once spent an hour together in a storm!” said the man. “I don’t recall it,” said Beecher, “where was it?” The man asked, “Do you remember preaching in a small country church to an audience of one man twenty years ago?” Beecher smiled and said, “Yes sir I do, and if you are the man, I’ve been wanting to see you ever since.” “I am the man,” said the fellow, “and the sermon you preached that Sunday morning led to my salvation, made a minister of me, and yonder is my church! And the converts from that sermon, sir, are all over Ohio!”

Be faithful in whatever your Christian duty is today, no matter how small or seemingly inconsequential. You just never know how God might use it.

Filed under church, Church attendance, Commitment, God's Work, obedience, preaching, Reward, salvation, Sowing and Reaping, submission Tagged with , , , , , ,

Power Shortage

February 5, 2011 Leave a comment

Here’s an old story, but a good one. An organist was getting ready to play as the church service began. But when he put his hands on the keys, there was no sound. Everyone in the congregation knew that something was wrong, but no one knew what to do. Thinking fast, the pastor went to the podium and began praying a very lengthy prayer. While he was praying, the church custodion figured out that the organ was unplugged and quickly rectified the problem. Then, with the pastor still praying, he jotted down a note and handed it to the organist. The note read: “After the prayer, the power will be on.”

Be honest now, how much have you prayed today? Since I’m figuring that you and God have a lot to talk about, why don’t you settle in right now and have a quality time of prayer? Remember that the power is off until you do.

Filed under church, needs, prayer, Prayer Requests, Priorities Tagged with , , , ,

Feeling Kind Of Small?

February 2, 2011 Leave a comment

You’ve probably heard of Solomon’s temple, that beautiful, majestic house of worship that served as the centerpiece of worship in Israel. But did you know that temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonians in 587 B.C.? Nebuchadnezzar also deported the defeated Jews to Babylon, where they would spend decades in exile from their homeland.

At the end of those years, however, God raised up the Medo-Persian empire to defeat the Babylonians. Medo-Persia was led by a man named Cyrus the Great. One of his first official acts as the new ruler of the Jews was to allow the willing to return to their homeland and reestablish their culture and religious observances. Shortly thereafter, a group of over 40,000 Jews returned to Jerusalem and built what is now known as “the second temple.” The man most prominently associated with this second temple was Zerubbabel. Thus, the temple is often called Zerubbabel’s temple. It was built on the same site as Solomon’s temple and was completed in 516/515 B.C. And would you believe that this second temple would actually stand longer than Solomon’s temple? Whereas Solomon’s temple had stood for approximately 400 years, Zerubbabel’s temple would stand for approximately 500 years.

But the second temple did have one major problem: It simply wasn’t as grand and ornate as the first one had been. You see, the incredibly prosperous days Israel had known under King David and King Solomon were now long gone, and the riches it would have taken to duplicate Solomon’s temple simply weren’t to be found. Unfortunately, the inferior appearance of the new temple greatly disappointed all the elderly Jews who remembered the glory of Solomon’s temple. Ezra 3:12-13 sums up their response to the new temple:

“But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes, so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off.”

But, of course, the real question that needed to be answered was, “Did God approve of this new temple?” And we find His answer in Zechariah 4:10 as He asks the piercing question:

“For who has despised the day of small things?”

I don’t mind telling you that I’ve claimed this verse many, many times since starting Disciples Road Church. I mean, it’s not like we had 100 in attendance our first Sunday and are now running 1,000. (We might be running that many, but we are actually catching only a small percentage of them!) Nevertheless, we forge ahead, confident that when God looks at our church He smiles, the way He must have smiled when Zerubbabel and his group completed that second temple. No, I’m not putting a local, New Testament church on par with a temple of Israel. I’m just pointing out that, in God’s eyes, small isn’t necessarily bad.

And so, are you trying to get some new work of the Lord off the ground? Hang in there. Did you start the work from scratch and thought it would be much more impressive by now? Stick with it. Do you feel a tinge of shame when you compare the work to larger, more established works? Stop that. Don’t be guilty of despising the day of small things. Never forget that if God says what you are doing is good and should continue, then that settles it. He is always on the lookout for some Zerubbabels, some people who will start and complete new works for Him. And He really isn’t interested in what the naysayers think about those works.

Filed under Adversity, Attitude, church, contentment, faith, God's Work, obedience, Patience, perseverance, Personal, trials, Trusting In God, Worship Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

A “Bring Your Own Board” Kind Of Church

January 31, 2011 Leave a comment

A man named Squire Hughes was one of the first settlers west of the Miami River in Ohio. Being a religious man, he would ride twenty miles on horseback just to worship at the Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati. But there was a problem the first time he attended worship at the church. The pews were the style that had a door on the outside of each pew, and as Hughes walked down the church aisle all the doors remained closed to him. Not one person from one pew was hospitable enough to open their door and invite him to sit in their pew.

After Hughes had walked all the way down to the front of the church, he started making his way back up the aisle. By this time a few of the “good Christians” were feeling fairly ashamed of themselves and so they opened their doors for him. But Hughes had a temper and the damage was already done. He angrily stormed back up the aisle, past all the pews, and walked out the back door.

A short time later he came back in, this time carrying a board he had found. He walked all the way back down to the front of the church, sat down on the board, and remained there until the end of the service. Then he picked up the board, put it on his shoulder, walked out the back door, and rode away. And what do you think happened the next time he attended that church? Every pew door was opened to him.

Had any visitors to your church lately? Well, how did you treat them? Did you greet them with a smiling face, a warm welcome, and a hearty, “Here, sit by me”? Or did you look at them with an upturned nose and think, “Now what are they doing here?”

Ah, the church of the “frozen chosen.” Most towns have at least one. It might be a rich church or it might be a poor church, but it’s the one where the folks have the mentality, “We’ve got our group and we don’t need anyone else.” I’m telling you, Christian, beware of that mentality. Why? Well, first and foremost, it is highly displeasing to God because it is lethal to outreach. But second, you just never know when some Squire Hughes type will put you in your place one Sunday.

Filed under Attitude, Character, church, Church attendance, Doing Good Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

That’s What Christians Do Now

January 27, 2011 Leave a comment

Here’s a tie-in to my previous post about abortion. While I have no plans to turn this blog into a daily tirade against the sins of America, sins such as abortion, I do feel that the Lord wants me to share this one follow up post. It’s a piece that was written by Donald E. Wildmon, the former President of the American Family Association. It’s been passed around for several years now, and so maybe you’ve read it. But if you haven’t, I trust that you will find it thought provoking. And, by the way, I’m aware that Wildmon, like Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, D. James Kennedy, and others in the so-called “Christian right,” has not always been well liked for his conservative stances and boycotts. I’m also aware that I might not agree with every last thing he has ever said or done. But, nevertheless, this word from him is, in my opinion, a very worthy assessment of things. He writes:

“In 1973 The Supreme Court said it was ok to kill unborn babies. Since then, we have killed more than the entire population of Canada. And it continues. A woman’s choice? Half of those who have died in their mothers’ wombs have been women. They didn’t have a choice. It is called abortion.

Me? I go to church, the minister preaches, I go home. That’s what Christians do now.

First it was in dingy, dirty theaters. Then, convenience stores. Then, grocery stores. Then on television. Now it is in the homes of millions via the Internet. It is called pornography.

Me? I go to church, the minister preaches, I go home. That’s what Christians do now.

They called it no-fault. Why should we blame anyone when something so tragic happens? Haven’t they already suffered enough? Half of the marriages in America end this way. The children suffered. The family broke down. It is called divorce.

Me? I go to church, the minister preaches, I go home. That’s what Christians do now.

At one time it was a perversion. We kept it secret. We secured help and hope for those who practiced it. Now it is praised. We have parades celebrating it, and elected officials give it their blessing. Now it is endowed with special privileges and protected by special laws. Even some Christian leaders and denominations praise it. It is called homosexuality.

Me? I go to church, the minister preaches, I go home. That’s what Christians do now.

It used to be an embarrassment. A shame. Now a third of all births are to mothers who aren’t married. Two-thirds of all African-American children are born into a home without a father. The state usually pays the tab. That is why we pay out taxes, so that government can take the place of parents. After all, government bureaucrats know much better how to raise children than parents do. It is called illegitimacy.

Me? I go to church, the minister preaches, I go home. That’s what Christians do now.

At one time it was wrong. But then the state decided to legalize it, promote it and tax it. It has ripped apart families and destroyed lives. But just look at all the money the state has raised. No longer do we teach our children to study and work hard. Now we teach them they can get something for nothing. We spend millions encouraging people to join the fun and excitement. Just look at the big sums that people are winning. They will never have to work again! It is called gambling.

Me? I go to church, the minister preaches, I go home. That’s what Christians do now.

Not long ago, Christians were the good guys. But now any positive image of Christians in movies or on TV is gone. We are now depicted as the bad guys – greedy, narrow-minded hypocrites. The teacher can’t have a Bible on her desk, but can have Playboy. We don’t have Christmas and Easter holidays – just winter and spring break. We can’t pray in school, but can use foul language. It’s called being tolerant.

Me? I go to church, the minister preaches, I go home. That’s what Christians do now.

Yes, all these things came to pass within 30 years. Where were the Christians? Why, they were in church. All these things are for someone else to deal with. Times have changed. Involvement has been replaced with apathy.

But don’t blame me. I didn’t do anything. I go to church, the minister preaches, I go home. That’s what Christians do now.”

Filed under abortion, church, Church attendance, Divorce, Gambling, Government, Homosexuality, politics, Sex, Sin, Witnessing Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Follow Up To “Church Or YBOA Basketball?”

February 24, 2010 Leave a comment

In March of last year, I wrote a post entitled “Church Or YBOA Basketball?” In that post, I explained how my son Ryan’s participation in Youth Basketball of America was causing him to miss some of our Sunday morning church services. I concluded the piece by saying that I had made the decision that Ryan would no longer miss any church services over scheduling conflicts with his YBOA team.

Well, so far this year Ryan’s team has played in two tournaments. In the first one, we played three games on Saturday and one at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday. Since our church services begin at 10:30 a.m. and end at roughly 11:45 a.m., Ryan was able to attend church and still be at his game on time. So far, so good.

But things didn’t work out so convienently this past weekend. Ryan’s team played two games on Saturday and was scheduled again for 12:00 p.m. Sunday. Now I had to put my money where my blog was. It wasn’t an easy decision, and I did reexamine the whole issue before making it, but when the dust settled I stuck to my guns. Ryan missed the game, but we had an excellent church service.

On Thursday of last week, I wanted to talk to Jeff, Ryan’s coach, after practice. My plan was to hand him a printout of the blog post, ask him to read it, and then call me. But Jeff was too busy talking to other folks for me to have such a moment with him. So, I just left the printout in the seat of his truck with a little note asking him to read it. I called him later that night but couldn’t get in touch with him. He got my message, though, and called me the next day.

Jeff and I had a good ten-minute talk in which I explained that my decision to sit Ryan out had nothing to do with him as a coach. I said, “This is between me, Ryan, and the Lord.” Jeff understood completely and we even talked about ways in which the situation could be prevented from happening again. He said he is going to think about asking the tournament directors to let our team just play three or four games per Saturday and not come back on Sunday. That plan has my vote, but we’ll see what comes of it.

For the record, our team lost that Sunday game. That’s the bad news. The good news (at least for me) is that we lost by a wide enough margin so that no one could say, “If Ryan had been there, we would have won.” Since he is a starter, I figure that his presence could have helped some. But when you get beat by 23 points, I’m not sure Kobe Bryant could save you. 

There was one thing that surprised me about my decision not to let Ryan play. I had two different people make a point of saying that they didn’t expect Ryan to play because they had read the blog post and remembered it. When I found that out, I was glad that I hadn’t waffled on my decision. That would have caused me to lose some credibility.  

In the end, I don’t know how the rest of our season is going to play out. All I know is that I’m going to do my best to continue to honor the commitment I felt the Lord led me to make last March. Hopefully, we either won’t be scheduled for any more Sunday games or they will tip off late enough for us to get Ryan there after church.

Again, the idea of playing all Saturday games is very appealing to me. Of course, since Sunday is always the day the tournament champions are crowned, we wouldn’t be able to actually win a tournament. To me, though, that is a small price to pay to give nine boys and their parents the opportunity to build their Sunday around church instead of YBOA basketball.

Filed under Character, Children, Choices, church, Church attendance, Parenting, Personal, Priorities, Sports Tagged with , , , , , , ,

No Church Today

January 31, 2010 Leave a comment

We had to cancel church today due to our second big snow in six weeks. Whereas the December storm dumped a foot on us, this one only gave us six or seven inches. I suppose we should be grateful that the weather guys missed the forecast a little. We were supposed to have gotten a foot again.

I really do hate cancelling church. The fact is, I could get there. I have not one but two all-wheel-drive vehicles and am pretty good at driving on snow and ice. I could get the parking lot scraped too. My brother-in-law, Ben, has a big blade on his jeep and volunteers to handle that job for me.

So why cancel? I do it because I don’t want anybody getting hurt by trying to get to church on a wintry morning. If one car ended up in a ditch, I’d feel terrible. If one elderly person slipped and broke a hip while getting in or out of a car, I’d feel terrible. If one mother’s feet gave way and she went down while holding her child, I’d feel terrible. I know that we are not supposed to live in fear of what could happen, and I’m really not a “doom and gloom” person. But I don’t think God wants us to completely abandon common sense in some misguided, fanatical zeal about never missing a church service.

As I listened to the church closings on our local radio station this morning, it became obvious that 95% of the pastors took the same cautious approach I did today. No church was having regular services. One was only having an 11:00 worship service. A couple were having one 2:00 service this afternoon. But 95% just cancelled everything.

For me, a Sunday morning without church is like a basketball court without goals. It’s just not right. I’m not one of these people who secretly cheers when church gets cancelled. (Seriously, if you are such a person, you need to do some soul searching and figure out why getting to “legally” skip church excites you.) And it’s not just the fact that I want to preach. It seems like I’m always preparing sermons or preaching them. The thing is, I really do miss the fellowship and community of church. I enjoy being around my brothers and sisters in Christ. I enjoy them being a blessing to me and me being a blessing to them.

Oh well, my prayer on days like today is that cancelling services will help the members realize how much they enjoy coming to Disciples Road Church. It’s the old “absence makes the heart grow fonder” thing. I don’t ever want church attendance to become rut or ritual to them. I don’t even want it to become mere ”religion.” Christianity got off track when it became a religion. It was always supposed to be a relationship, a relationship between the believer and Jesus. And as a integral part of that relationship, the believer is supposed to attend church on Sunday, the first day of the week, as a way of celebrating Christ’s resurrection on that Sunday morning so long ago. Yes, Christians are supposed to do that celebrating every Sunday, not just Easter Sunday.

On a completely different note, I did get one bit of good news this morning. My scales weighed me at 187 pounds. So, I’ve lost 14 pounds in 20 days since I started my diet and exercise program. If you want to know the specifics of how I’m doing it, go back and read the post entitled “It’s Diet Time Again.” 

My goal is still to get somewhere between 175 and 180 pounds. From there I’ll just be trying to maintain. I’ve been in that range before, and I’ve even held it for a couple of years, but it doesn’t happen naturally. What naturally happens is me drifting back up over 200 pounds. Since I know that full well, maybe I can prevent it from happening this time and stay at my ideal weight. Now if I can just figure out a way to safely have church after a big snow on Saturday. That one is a little more problematic.            

Filed under Christ's Resurrection, church, Church attendance, dieting, Easter, Personal Tagged with , , , ,

← Older posts

Newer posts →

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 40 other followers