Keep Your Vows

The prophet Isaiah was the mouth piece for God to warn his people about his unhappiness with them. God’s people Israel were often referred to as God’s wife. They had made promises to each other but the wife Israel forsook her promises and started “sleeping” around with other false Gods. God warned Israel through Isaiah (and other prophets) that he was going to give them over to her “lovers”… the heathen nations of Assyria and Babylon. God took away his protection of his wife and gave her over to Assyria and Babylon and they treated her horrendously… slaughtering most of them.

We as Christians have made a promise to God and committed our lives to him. Don’t think for one minute that God doesn’t expect us to live up to our promises. There are consequences for breaking vows… on this earth and in Heaven. Just ask Israel.

Let Your Light Shine

1 Peter 3:8-15

"Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart and a humble mind… being ready always to give an answer to anyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you.”

This text explains that our Christian behavior as we interact with others should generate questions about Jesus Christ which dovetails precisely with what Jesus said in John 13:35…

“By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have brotherly love for each other.”

So here it is, through our demonstrable interaction with each other Jesus Christ is exalted. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Let your light shine… do not hide it under a basket… and other Bible quotations. Demonstrate your lives to your neighbors, your fellow workers, your enemies and whoever you may come in contact with so they can ask you the question, “Why are you different” and you can respond “because of Jesus Christ.”

Customer Service

Julie and I were in New Orleans a few weeks ago and were scheduled to go to a lunch put on by a drug company. We were a little early and Julie was hungry so we walked in to the hotel restaurant where they were still serving a breakfast buffet. I asked how much it was and the server said $28. Julie said… I’ll just wait and walked out.

The server said… if she wants a muffin I’m sure that will be OK. So I fetched my bride and she picked out a Blueberry muffin. As we were walking out the server ran to us and said… here’s a napkin.

Wow! That’s customer service.

How about “customer service” in our assemblies… specifically our visitors? Do we ignore them or give them a warm welcome and act as if we are truly interested in them. Do we judge them because they may be dressed inappropriately or do we ignore their dress for the sake of being hospitable? Are body piercings and tattoos so repulsive to us that it creates a barrier to hospitality?

I was paid a compliment by a former employer who is not known for paying compliments. He said, “Rob Perkins can talk to anyone, no matter their station in life, and make them feel comfortable”. That compliment really goes to my mother because I learned hospitality from her. Learn hospitality. Don’t be too busy and neglect visitors and don’t judge based on appearance. Practice excellent “customer service”.

That server at the Ritz Carlton in New Orleans? I told her if she wanted a job I would gladly hire her. She is a precious jewel. I hope that visitors at Parkway can see the same qualities in us.

The Problem with Grass Burs

I’m in the middle of a big Grass Bur problem at my house right now. It’s because when it was a little problem I ignored it. Now it’s a big problem. I started attacking the problem a year ago. I take my wheel barrow and a shovel and walk two acres searching for the little weeds. I’ve gotten where I can identify the plant without its characteristic bur but I’m so obsessed with getting rid of them that anything that even resembles a Grass bur plant gets dug up. I have two or three “hot spots’ in my yard where they have taken over. On these areas I spray the whole area with Roundup herbicide spray… but it kills everything. This year I have cleared up certain areas of my yard and I can focus on the few areas left. I see that it’s going to be about a three year process but really I’m going to have to pay attention to them in perpetuity because when I drive into my back gate I invariably will bring in Grass Burs from the wild and untamed areas behind my property.

Grass Burs are a lot like sin. - Grass Burs make my life miserable… so does sin - Sin, like Grass Burs, if ignored when small can become huge. - Sometimes Sin, like Grass Burs, reaches a critical mass before you decide to do something about it and then it’s a lot of trouble to bring under control. - Grass Burs are easy to recognize by the fruit it produces… the bur. Sin is easy to recognize by the fruit it produces. Learn to recognize the “plant” early and “weed” it out of your life before it produces that un-godly fruit. - Sometimes you are so surrounded by sin that you have to use a “Sin Herbicide”. That means you have to get completely away from your un-godly friends and family and surround yourself with the kind of people who are good for you. - You may have sin totally controlled in your life but we live in an un-godly world and if you are not vigilant you’ll carry those little grass Burs home with you.

To control Grass Burs you have to be a little obsessed with getting rid of them… be obsessed with eradicating sin from your life. It makes life so much sweeter.

Eldership and Member Development

Obviously the congregation is made up of different members with differing abilities. The church is described in 1 Corinthians 12 as a human body. The body needs all of its parts to function properly.

If parts are absent or weakened then the church is “handicapped” and cannot function properly as God designed it. So then it is on the Elders to identify and develop talent in the congregation so that the church body can function properly.

Here’s the thing… talent can never be developed unless it is discovered and used.

Several things factor into the wasting of talent by not using it. In a lot of congregations the Preacher is the main guy. He typically does all the preaching and teaches all of the classes. After-all that’s his job we pay him for that right?. So you have a body part that is over developed while the other parts are wasting away. I’m not a fan of the one Preacher system (for several reasons) where the Preacher is used to the exclusion of the other members.

Another factor is micro-management by Elders. Some Elders feel like they have to do and control everything. I know, of some congregations where the Elders do all of the announcements for fear that someone might “announce” the wrong thing.

At Parkway we discovered a young man who in his early 20s had an incredible “presence” for making announcements. He was comfortable, spoke clearly and had good extemporaneous thoughts to share with the congregation. We have used him and I’m convinced still have not discovered his “ceiling”.

We’ve had young Song-leaders who showed ability and with use have really developed into excellent Song-leaders.

Talent and ability can never grow unless you use them. You can’t be afraid of talent making mistakes. In fact you want the talented people to make mistakes so they can grow and learn from it. As Elders, let’s not handicap the congregation. Let’s discover talent and use that talent so the congregation can be all that it can be.

Eldership and Communicating Your Mission

I’m afraid that for many members if you asked them what the mission of the church was they would reply… to take the Lord’s Supper, sing, give the offering, pray and listen to preaching… Failure… abject failure. Those things are “what” the church does. The mission relates to “why” we do those things. We do the “what” things to accomplish the “why” things.

The Lord’s Supper causes us to remember Jesus and his sacrifice. Singing is a memory device to teach us about God and to teach each other. The offering teaches us to sacrifice to help others. Praying teaches us dependence upon God for all of our cares and worries. And Preaching/teaching causes us to learn about God. These things (and others) help us grow spiritually as individuals and collectively as a congregation to demonstrate to the world (physical world and spiritual spiritual world) that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

That’s our mission and it’s a grand and challenging mission.

So Elders, as leaders, need to constantly communicate to the congregation why we are in business. Not just a collection of spiritual robots performing a mundane list of requirements but a living, breathing, growing, organic collection of spiritual beings waging war with Satan and pleasing our God and Father in Heaven.

Something You Can Learn from Dogs

I was recently at a seminar that provides service dogs for people who are handicapped and often wheel chair bound. I was struck by what the speaker said, that a lot of these handicapped people are mentally beat down because they are not normal and that feeling is validated every day by the way people look at them and treat them.

When this organization provides a service dog for these individuals a transformation begins to take place… the dog provides unconditional love… the dog cannot see the handicap. He’s blind to it.

And eventually the handicapped person begins to believe the dog that they are worthy of love.

Jesus Christ provides that kind of transforming love but the problem with that is it’s hard to buy into concepts. What’s easier to buy into is when the Lord’s people provide that kind of unconditional love. Then it becomes palpable and real and helps build faith in Jesus Christ.

So when we meet someone who is not like us and may wear the visible effects of a sin stained life don’t look at that handicap, don’t even look at it… look at the person inside and use the power of love that Jesus gave you to help transform them because eventually they’ll begin to believe in it and reject the lie that Satan has sold them and believe in Jesus Christ.