What of those who stumble and fall?

I have known too many Christians in who, as Paul called it, “shipwrecked” their faith.  Mostly men, but a few women, who destroyed their witness and tarnished their good deeds through a huge error later on in life, usually the sin of lust.  Coming to terms with this isn’t easy.  These are people that took a wonderful gift, God’s amazing grace through Jesus, and seemingly squandered it by making everything they did or said in the past seem like a waste.  Those of you who know me are probably thinking of some of the same individuals, if you don’t know me, you are likely to know some people yourself that fit this description.  Instead of asking questions about theology, and getting into a Calvinist vs. Arminian debate, let me instead share the words of the Biblical commentator from the 18^th century, Matthew Henry.

                The occasion for Matthew Henry’s quote is his commentary on 2 Chronicles 16, the end of King Asa’s life.  Asa had been a tremendous man of God, full of piety, zeal, and faith, but he stumbled badly at the end, committing sin when his trust in God faltered, and refusing to repent when God sent a prophet to correct him.  The text doesn’t tell us that Asa reconciled with God before he died, when last it speaks of him he is still refusing to seek God’s face.  What do we say of such a man, do we applaud his earlier victories won through faith, or do we focus upon the disappointing ending of an otherwise exemplary life?  As someone who conducts funerals, this question is certainly practical for me, but it also speaks to the pain that my heart feels for brothers and sisters in Christ who have drifted away, or sometimes sprinted away, from their faith.

                Henry’s charitable, and also I think in keeping with God’s abundant grace, view of such lives was this, “The eminent piety and usefulness of good men ought to be remembered to their praise, though they have had their blemishes.  Let their faults be buried in their graves, while their services are remembered over their graves.”  We won’t have an answer to our wondering about people who end poorly, but focusing upon that which was good in their life and letting God deal with that which was bad, seems like the right way to go to me.

Sermon Video: Those whom the LORD strengthens, 2 Chronicles 16

To start well is great, to finish strong is good too, but can we remain solid throughout our lives?  King Asa of Judah, great-grandson of David, started out as king with an amazing amount of piety, zeal, and faith.  He not only rid his people of the plague of idolatry, but he also led them to victory over an invading army by relying upon the LORD, and followed that up by leading his people in a rededication ceremony to the Covenant of Moses.  Fifteen years later, Asa, a man who chose peace over war when his foe was weak, is once again confronted by the prospect of war.  Baasha, the new king of the kindred of Judah to the north, Israel, has occupied a hill along the road leading up to Jerusalem, and fortified it.

                How will Asa respond?  Up until this point he has chosen to live by faith, but when this particular trial comes Asa responds out of fear.  Instead of relying upon the LORD, as he has successfully done previously with spectacular success, Asa attempts a desperate and underhanded ploy.  King Asa convinces the ally of Baasha of Israel, Ben-Hadad of Aram, to betray him and instead of helping Baasha attack Judah, Ben-Hadad invades Israel.  The betrayal of Israel was purchased with the gold and silver of not only Asa’s palace treasury, but the treasury of the temple of the LORD as well.  In the end, Asa succeeds in defending his kingdom, Baasha if forced to withdraw from building his fort when his northern villages are captured by Ben-Hadad, but at a steep cost.  Asa sacrificed his own integrity by outsourcing the sin of another and bears some of the responsibility for the deaths of his kindred attack by the army he paid to invade them.

                God, in order to explain to Asa his displeasure, sends him a prophet.  The prophet tells Asa that his lack of faith has not only cost him a chance at lasting peace, but also robbed God of the opportunity to destroy Ben-Hadad’s army along with the invading army of Baasha.  If Asa had continued to trust in God, a far greater and lasting victory would have been achieved, and without the moral stain of Asa’s chosen path.  Instead, the kingdom of Aram to the north will continue to plague not only Israel, but eventually Judah as well.

                Asa could have stood firm, he could have become one of the greatest kings of God’s people, if only he had continued to trust God.  God is ready to help those who seek him, he told Asa, “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”  It isn’t enough to trust in God, we need to continue in that trust from beginning to end, through thick and thin.  When Asa died, he was honored by his people as a man who had served God with all his heart, he deserved that honor, but he could have been much more, if only he had continued to trust in the LORD.

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How do you know if a ministry is right for you?

How do you know if a potential ministry opportunity is the right one for you?  As a church pastor, this is a question we need to ask ourselves on a regular basis.  There are plenty of opportunities out there, far more than we have the resources of time, energy, or money to be a part of, so how do we know if the latest idea is one that will really make a difference for the kingdom of God?  The usual answers about talent and passion can be useful guides, after all, few pastors are likely to be much good at trying to be someone they aren’t by tackling a problem where talent is lacking, and most pastors will find it hard to stick with a ministry that doesn’t speak to the passion that drove them to choose to serve the Lord in the first place.  Instead of looking at this from a philosophical or practical viewpoint, let me relate to you the story of how I came to be involved in the para-church ministry that now occupies a great deal of my ministry effort.

            In 2012 I was new to Franklin, Pennsylvania.  I had just moved her in January with my wife, Nicole, from Michigan where I had been a part-time pastor of a small rural church and a part-time alternative education teacher.  The First Baptist Church of Franklin is an established church with a rich history and a beautiful building.  The numbers at First Baptist had dwindled in recent years, but the passion of the people for serving God was still evident to me when I came here to candidate.  When I accepted the job I knew it would be a long-term process of turning things around, but I also knew I would have the support of the congregation to do it.

            In the spring of 2012 I was invited to attend a meeting of the Children’s Roundtable of Venango County, a group consisting of local government officials, civic leaders, and local pastors, by another pastor who was unable to attend this particular meeting.  Not knowing what the focus of this particular group was, other than guessing that it had something to do with Children’s issues, I attended the meeting.  The first meeting was informational for me, learning about some of the local poverty related issues that affect children, but didn’t point toward any particular involvement on my part.  When I attended a second meeting everything changed.

            At the second meeting of the Children’s Roundtable, it was clear that these local government officials and civic leaders were looking to the local churches as a potential source of manpower to help alleviate some of the previously identified problems.  At this meeting, the local CYS solicitor, a good man who I now count as a friend, asked me to speak on behalf of the churches of our county and represent them.  Now keep in mind, I was the junior member of anybody’s ministerium list, still trying to figure out my role in this community, and certainly not anyone with any particular authority to speak for others.  But I was there, and I went with it.

            During the next several months, I became more and more involved in the process of talking about what needs the local churches might be able to help address, and how they would go about doing it.  What started out as a wholly unexpected request to speak on behalf of my fellow pastors, soon saw me become the default leader of the church response and the host of the eventual meeting to share this proposed local government and church cooperative effort.

            When that meeting of about sixty interested people happened, we were covering ground that I had never imagined would be a part of my ministry here at First Baptist.  I do have a history of ecumenical efforts, and this church has its own history of participating in the local food pantry and benevolent fund, but where this was going was far beyond anything that either I or they had attempted before.  The basic premise of the idea that was then forming was to build a partnership between the Human Services Department of Venango County {It had begun as a CYS effort, but quickly grew to include Aging, Mental Health, and all the rest} who would provide the information of their clients who needed help beyond what they could give, and local churches of all denominations throughout our whole county.

            In November of 2012 I led a second meeting to formulate our initial action plan, hoping to find a core group of people from several churches willing to be on a committee to get this lofty idea off the ground.  Once again, I ended up with more than I bargained for.  We did find our core leadership group that night, many of whom are still vital to our organization’s efforts, but we also found something fairly daunting: our first referral.  One of the caseworkers in attendance brought the file of her client who was in need of help, and after getting her permission to share that information, she told us about the significant repairs that this home needed before winter set in.  Before we had a name, before we had an official leadership, we had work to do, and that is what we did.  We helped someone when we were just trying to figure out who we were.  From that day onward, the referrals started to flow in, first slowly, then a trickle, eventually a flood we can barely keep our heads above.

            We eventually settled on the name of, Mustard Seed Missions of Venango County.  It wasn’t a ministry that I went in search of.  The way that it functions today has a lot of my input on it, but the primary idea of government/church cooperation belonged to somebody else.  I had never been much of an administrator, and my teaching days certainly didn’t develop a love of paperwork in me, but when it came time to choose our first president, all eyes were looking at my end of the table.

  Why did I do it, why take on this significant daily burden when I already had a church that needed me?  One reason is that I felt liberated as a full-time pastor from my years of juggling two jobs and I really wanted to make a difference in this community.  A second reason is that I had this strong feeling as the idea began to be formed early in 2012 that it wouldn’t get off the ground if one of the local pastors didn’t adopt it as his own.  Lastly, I just couldn’t say no when I was asked if the churches of our county would be willing to help the poor, if we can’t say yes to that question, what can we say yes to?

How do you know if a ministry is the right one for you?  I’m not sure I have any profound answer to that question from my own experience, but I sure knew that I had found my answer when I agreed to be a part of our para-church, non-denominational, government/church cooperative effort to help the poor in the name of Christ.

Sermon Video: The faithfulness of Asa - 2 Chronicles 14-15

History is full of the stories of heroes and villains who attempted or accomplished dramatic things.  Far less well known are the builders, creators, and reformers whose efforts often go unnoticed even though their impact is not.  One such less well known but not less accomplished person in the Bible is the King of Judah, Asa.  Asa was the son of Abijah, a war hero who only reigned for three years, but he didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps.  The kingdom of Israel, which had rebelled against Asa’s grandfather Rehoboam, was exceedingly weakened by Abijah’s victory over them in battle, but Asa didn’t press forward to try to reclaim the land that Rehoboam’s pride had forfeited.  Instead, Asa chose a path of peace.  The temptation to seek glory in war was overshadowed in his mind by the need to work for reform amongst his own people.

                The focus of Asa’s reign as king was the destruction of the idols and altars of foreign gods that had existed in Judah since the days of Solomon.  This cancer upon the spiritual faithfulness of God’s covenant people had grown and was long overdue for removal.  When Asa came to the throne, he used his power and authority on behalf of the cause of moral purity, following the commands of the Word of God.  To remove idolatry would not be enough, however, Asa also urged his people to renew their efforts to follow the Law.  Whenever we seek to combat sin, we only do part of the needed task if we don’t replace sin with righteousness.  Our hearts abhor a vacuum, if sin is removed it will return again if the right and the good have not filled its place.

                Asa also prepared his people for war, building up the nation’s defenses, even in a time of peace.  This foresight proved valuable when the nation was invaded, but even though he had prepared ahead of time, Asa still cried out to the LORD for deliverance.  Asa’s mixture of prudence and reliance upon God is certainly worth emulating in our own lives.  We can and should use our mind and resources to prepare for the uncertainty of the future, and we certainly still need to rely upon the Lord when that day of trouble comes.

                After all of these victories, God sends the prophet Azariah to warn the people against the danger of wandering away during the good times.  God promises to always remain as long as his people are faithful, but warns them that if they leave him, he won’t stick around.  This reminds us that we have a relationship with God, something that requires commitment from both sides.  If we abandon God, how can we expect to still have a relationship?  To protect against such a mistake, Asa encourages the people to rededicate themselves to God, offering sacrifices and taking new oaths of fidelity.  The concluding commentary is encouraging, “They sought God eagerly, and he was found by them.  So the LORD gave them rest on every side.”

To watch the video, click on the link below:

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Sermon Video: Rehoboam, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - 2 Chronicles 11-12

Is being a follower of Jesus Christ a sprint or a marathon?  In the case of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon and new king of Judah, his reign started exceedingly poorly.  His pride cost him the allegiance of the northern ten tribes, a situation he intends to remedy by going to war against his rebellious subjects.  At this point, God sends a prophet to deter Rehoboam from making war against his own kindred, and Rehoboam listens.  Over the years that follow, Rehoboam has both times of faithfulness to God and times of wandering away from the LORD.  He makes some wise decisions, and some foolish ones.  With such a mixed life of ups and downs, what is the final verdict for Rehoboam?  “He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the LORD.” (2 Chronicles 12:14)  He never fully committed himself to following God.  When times were tough, he was willing to rely upon God, but when things improved, his devotion wavered.  In the end, his lukewarm obedience to God was just not good enough. 

            How many Christians treat their faith the same way?  When we need God, we’re full of devotion, when we start to think that we don’t, or when faith starts to cost us something (i.e. service to others), the appeal fades away and so do we.  That isn’t good enough.  Either God is God of our lives, either we serve him fully, or we’re just kidding ourselves.  Rehoboam never got past seeing God as an expediency, he never decided to devote himself to God, don’t make the same mistake.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

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Avoiding the fool's bargain

While working on my sermon for this week, I was reading Matthew Henry’s commentary on II Chronicles that was written in 1708.  The text tells of Levites who left their homes and land in the northern ten tribes of Israel and migrated south to Judah because their new king, Jeroboam, had replaced worship of the LORD with idolatry in order to keep his people from going to Jerusalem to worship.  Jeroboam’s political decision proved to be utterly disastrous as it started Israel down a road of moral decline that ended in the destruction of the kingdom in 722 at the hands of the Assyrians.  The Levites, seeing that they were no longer welcome, and that they could not continue to serve God as they had done, decided to leave the land that had been given to support them while they ministered.  It was a costly decision for them, one that took away a certain income and left them hoping for the best in a new land.  It was also clearly a wise and brave decision, to choose morality over money, a choice that continues to be put before God's people in our world today as it was when Matthew Henry commented on the decision of the Levites three hundred years ago.  In response to their choice, Henry wrote, “No secular advantages whatsoever should draw us thither, or detain us there, where we are in danger of making shipwreck of faith and good conscience.”  Whether that advantage is money, fame, or influence, it just isn’t worth it.  To risk your reputation, your honor, and your faith in God for such things will always be a fool’s bargain.  

Sermon Video: The Pride of Rehoboam, II Chronicles 10

When Rehoboam, the son of Solomon and grandson of David, ascended to the throne of the Kingdom of Israel, he faced a potentially explosive situation at the very beginning of his reign.  The taxes that had been levied by Solomon felt oppressive to the people and they chose a man who rebelled against Solomon, Jeroboam, to be their spokesman and bring their grievance to the new king.  {Side note: II Kings tells us that Jeroboam had already been chosen as the king of the tribes that would break away by the prophet Ahijah}.

            After taking three days to consider the request, and consulting both his father’s advisors and the men of his own age, Rehoboam answers the request by his new subjects exceedingly harshly.  The arrogance and lack of compassion in his answer, as Rehoboam vows to raise the taxes instead and rule by fear, shutting the door on the possibility that he might rule by wisdom and love for the people, actually drives the people away and begins the rebellion that splits the descendants of Abraham into two nations.

            It would be easy to criticize Rehoboam for listening to his own generation and ignoring the advice of his elders, that flaw is so common in our world in every generation that it hardly needs to be pointed out.  A secondary application of this text that may be overlooked by those who assume that have little of Rehoboam’s power in this world, is the idea of how power and authority are used by Christians.  We’ve all been on the wrong side of somebody with power over us who was willing to use that power for their own ends, and I would imagine that most of us have fallen to the temptation to do the same thing to somebody beneath us.  The example of Christ, to use power with compassion and humility, applies to us all as we all do have relationships where we have power over somebody else and it is up to us to make sure that we aren’t corrupted by that power but instead treat it as an opportunity to be a servant.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

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Sermon Video: Who is the greatest, and who is on our side? Luke 9:46-50

Just prior to his decision to set out resolutely for Jerusalem, Jesus deals with two misconceptions on the part of his disciples.  Both of these questions involve the warped perspective of humanity versus the correct perspective of God.  In both instances, Jesus reveals to his disciples that the viewpoint of God is what they must adapt to because it is the basis of the kingdom of God.

            In the first episode, the disciples are busy arguing amongst themselves about which of them will be the greatest when the Messiah establishes his kingdom.  Forget for a moment that Jesus just told them once again that his future contains suffering; the debate is still woefully misplaced because it focuses on the human preoccupation with appearing great instead of God’s judgment regarding true greatness.  Jesus corrects their error by using a child with no rank, status, or privileges to illustrate that in the kingdom of God greatness will be awarded to those who serve the least in this world.

            In the second instance, the disciples attempt to stop a man who is copying their ministry by casting out demons in the name of Jesus.  Jesus responds to this desire to monopolize the work of the kingdom by declaring the very generous parameter that, “whoever is not against you is for you.”  In working for God, we don’t have the luxury deciding who we want to work with and who we want to be accepting of.  Everyone who is working by the power of the Holy Spirit, for the sake of the Gospel, and the glory of the Father, is on our side.  All of our excuses to exclude those we don’t like or don’t agree with fall by the wayside in light of Jesus’ declaration of unity for all those who follow him.

            It isn’t easy to adopt either of these perspectives.  Our human nature seeks aggrandizement at the expense of others; it is only by the power of God that we can hope to seek the benefit of others in a Christ-like manner.  Likewise, it is clear that those who follow Christ are not united, that divisions have always plagued his Church, but that is no excuse for us to perpetuate the mistakes of our ancestors in the faith.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

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