My Dear Pastor,
“Preach Christ… He is the whole gospel. His person, offices, and work must be our one great, all-comprehending theme.” —Charles Spurgeon
The Height Of Arrogance
October 26, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
Warning: this post may step on your toes.
Oswald Chambers wrote, “We have to find out God’s methods, not try to get God to approve our methods.”
Pastor, are you telling God what your church is going to do, and then asking God to bless your efforts?
Sadly, many churches innocently slide into this mode. But watch out: this is the height of arrogance!
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you know how to reach your community, or organize your church, or even accurately select your next sermon. You can’t do it!
But God can!
He knows your community and your church better than you do. So try a better approach by starting with humility.
Don’t tell God what you’re going to do and then ask Him to bless your plans. Instead, ask God what He is already blessing, and then go do that.
Attaboy!
October 19, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
October has been designated as Clergy Appreciation Month. Some pastors live from “Attaboy!” to “Attaboy!” from their congregation, so October is like a feast for them!
But the apostle Paul has a slightly different perspective on this. More than getting an “Attaboy!” from a church congregation, he is joyful over the “Attaboy!” he hears from God.
For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when He comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy.
For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20; 3:8-9)
Paul’s goal is seeing people who have been changed because of their relationship with Jesus. And these changed lives are all the reward he desires!
YOU ARE OUR GLORY AND JOY!
Pastor, it’s nice when you get the “Attaboys!” from your congregation. But what’s even better is to help your congregation enter into a deeper relationship with Christ, and then hear the “Attaboy!” from God Himself!
What an amazing joy that we get to play a small role in helping people stand firm in the Lord!
Worthy Of Imitation
October 12, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
I pray that my life is worthy of imitation. And, pastor, I pray yours is too!
Here’s how to make sure it is an imitable life: I can’t just talk a good life. Paul wrote, “Our gospel came to you not simply with words….” Words are important, but they shouldn’t be a replacement for a life that backs up those words. Paul continues his thought:
Our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction…. (1 Thessalonians 1:5)
Their sermons were backed up by the help of the Holy Spirit, and the deep conviction that Paul, Silas, and Timothy lived by. This was all outwardly focused toward others. Look how Paul concludes this verse, “…you know how we lived among you for your sake.”
They never attempted to use the gospel or their calling to benefit themselves, but always for the benefit of others and for the glory of God.
The result (v. 6):
You became imitators of us and of the Lord.
I pray that all of us can say this about our congregations!
Neglect Of Our Gift
October 5, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
Pastors, I’m challenged by these words from Charles Bridges—
It is indeed a ‘neglect of the gift of God that is in us,’ to trifle either in the study or in the pulpit. God will bless our endeavors—not our idleness. Our Master, and our people for our Master’s sake, have a just claim to our best time and talents, our most matured thoughts, and most careful studies. To venture upon this infinite work of God with slender furniture, proves a guilty unconcern to our high responsibility.
Idleness is not just laziness (although it can be that too). Think of your car when it’s idling: perhaps it’s not in gear, or maybe your foot is still on the brake. In either case, the car is not moving along to its full potential.
It’s the same for us. If we’re not moving along to our full potential as pastors, we’re idling. And that, in the words of Charles Bridges, is a neglect of the gift of God that is in us.
How might you and I be idling?
- Not spending enough time in prayer? If we’re not praying, we’re operating in our own strength, not in God’s strength.
- Hunting for a text to share, instead of seeking the mind of the Lord and letting Him reveal the text we should share?
- Taking on too many projects?
- Not delegating?
- Not organizing or planning ahead?
- Not taking care of our physical health, so we’re battling staying alert or staying healthy?
- Not spending enough time in personal devotions, so our “tank” is nearly dry?
Those are just a few thoughts that came to my mind. The Holy Spirit can reveal where you may be idling and possibly neglecting such a precious gift, if you will ask Him.
Let’s always be men and women who live up to the full potential of what God has called us to. I’m praying for you!
Commissioned = Struggling
September 21, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
As I like to do on Fridays, this post is especially for my fellow pastors.
I have become [the church’s] servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the Word of God in its fullness. (Colossians 1:25)
Let’s be honest: What pastor wouldn’t say he/she wants to “serve” the church?
But look at Paul’s definition of a servant of the church (Colossians 1:24-2:5):
- Suffering
- Rejoicing in that suffering
- Proclaiming the gospel
- Admonishing the saints
- Teaching with all wisdom
- Maintaining a passion for everyone’s perfection
- Laboring
- Struggling
That’s quite a list!
Paul also says, “I want you to know how much I am struggling for you” (2:1). The word here and in 1:29 come from the same root word meaning: A contest (whether sports or a courtroom trial) in which there is a large audience, and in which one contestant is representing a larger group.
It’s like an Olympic athlete competing for his country, or an attorney speaking on behalf of her clients.
Then Paul adds, “I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments” (2:4). In other words, actions speak louder than words. As Teddy Roosevelt famously said—
“It is not the critic who counts; nor the many who point out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly…who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat.”
Pastor, stay in the arena!
Don’t walk away from the struggles!
Persevere through the difficulties!
People are watching you. What people? Specifically those sheep whom God has commissioned you to shepherd in His pasture. So stay in the fight!
I’m praying for you!
Disciples Indeed (book review)
August 29, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
If you’ve been keeping track of my reading habits, you will know how much I appreciate the wisdom of Oswald Chambers. If you are not as familiar with his works, a great book for pastors and ministry leaders to get initiated into his wisdom is Disciples Indeed.
One reason that My Utmost For His Highest has been so popular (I believe) is the singular thought that Chambers presents each day. In Disciples Indeed you are taken into Chambers’ classroom at the Bible Training College in London, where he is instructing those preparing themselves for full-time vocational ministry. His teaching style was not to weigh his students down with lengthy lectures, but to give these students a place to think more deeply about the things of God.
Disciples Indeed is made up of nearly two dozen lectures. Each lecture presents a single thought in a series of small paragraphs, some of them only a single sentence in length. Chambers’ style of teaching in bullet-point fashion was intended to present profound truths upon which the student could meditate at length. Each chapter appears short on the pages of the book, but there is so much in each lecture for us to ponder.
I highly recommend Disciples Indeed to all “Christian workers” (as Oswald Chambers called his students) who have answered God’s call on their lives to step into a role of teacher, pastor, evangelist, youth leader, or the like. I am confident that your biblical thinking will be greatly enhanced by “sitting in” on these lectures.
Pastor, Do You Enjoy Pastoring?
August 10, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
Phillips Brooks was a pastor, teacher, and songwriter. These words of his should be read very carefully and thoughtfully by every pastor…
“I think, again, that it is essential to the preacher’s success that he should thoroughly enjoy his work. I mean in the actual doing of it, and not only in its idea. No man to whom the details of his task are repulsive can do his task well constantly, however full he may be of its spirit. He may make one bold dash at it and carry it over all his disgusts, but he cannot work on at it year after year, day after day. Therefore, count it not merely a perfectly legitimate pleasure, count it an essential element of your power, if you can feel a simple delight in what you have to do as a minister, in the fervor of writing, in the glow of speaking, in standing before men and moving them, in contact with the young. The more thoroughly you enjoy it, the better you will do it all.
“This is all true of preaching. Its highest joy is in the great ambition that is set before it, the glorifying of the Lord and the saving of the souls of men. No other joy on earth compares with that. The ministry that does not feel that joy is dead. But in behind that highest joy, beating in humble unison with it, as the healthy body thrills in sympathy with the deep thoughts and pure desires of the mind and soul, the best ministers have always been conscious of another pleasure which belonged to the very doing of the work itself. As we read the lives of all the most effective preachers of the past, or as we meet the men who are powerful preachers of the Word today, we feel how certainly and how deeply the very exercise of their ministry delights them.” (emphasis mine)
Pastor, what unspeakable joy should thrill us to know that God Himself called us to do what we do!!
I know that being in full-time ministry is tough. I know the demands on our time. I know that we are often targets for criticism. But still, this should never diminish our joy in being God’s ministers!
Heavenly Father, I thank You for the calling to be a pastor! Today I pray for pastors who don’t feel the joy they once felt. Holy God, will You reconfirm Your call on their lives. Reassure them that they are doing what they are doing because You called them to do it. And I ask that Your Holy Spirit would reinvigorate them with holy joy. Let the hands that hang low be lifted up in praise! Let mouths that have been tightly shut open wide in holy laughter! Let Your joy be their strength and encouragement. May You be glorified in joy-filled pastors!
7 Quotes From “Secret Power” Especially For Pastors
August 3, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
D.L. Moody’s book Secret Power is addressed to both individual Christians and church leaders (you can read my full book review by clicking here).
I posted some quotes for individual Christians to consider yesterday. Here are seven quotes especially for pastors and church leaders:
“The Gospel proclamation cannot be divorced from the Holy Spirit. Unless He attend the Word in power, vain will be the attempt in preaching it.”
“Skeptics and infidels may say they don’t believe in it. It is not our work to make them believe in it; that is the work of the Spirit. Our work is to give them the Word of God; not to preach our theories and our ideas about it, but just to deliver the message as God gives it to us.”
“It is not the hard work breaks down ministers, but it is the toil of working without power. …If you ministers have not the Spirit of God, you had better not preach, and your people had better stay at home. I think I speak not too strongly when I say that a church in the land without the Spirit of God is rather a curse than a blessing. If you have not the Spirit of God, Christian worker, remember that you stand in somebody else’s way; you are as a tree bearing no fruit standing where another fruitful tree might grow.”
“Man cannot preach effectively of himself. He must have the Spirit of God to give ability, and study God’s Word in order to testify according to the mind of the Spirit.”
“Thousands and thousands are sitting in darkness, knowing not of this great Light, but when we begin to preach Christ honestly, faithfully, sincerely and truthfully; holding Him up, not ourselves; exalting Christ and not our theories; presenting Christ and not our opinions; advocating Christ and not some false doctrine; then the Holy Ghost will come and bear witness. He will testify that what we say is true. When He comes He will confirm the Word with signs following.”
“I believe the reason why God makes use of so few in the Church, is because there is not in them the power that God can use. He is not going to use our ideas, but we must have the Word of God hid in our hearts, and then, the Holy Spirit inflaming us, we will have the testimony which will be rich, and sweet, and fresh, and the Lord’s Word will vindicate itself in blessed results. God wants to use us; God wants to make us channels of blessing; but we are in such a condition He does not use us. That is the trouble; there are so many men who have no testimony for the Lord; if they speak, they speak without saying anything, and if they pray, their prayer is powerless; they do not plead in prayer; their prayer is just a few set phrases that you have heard too often. Now what we want, is to be so full of the Word, that the Spirit coming upon us shall bring to mind—bring to our remembrance—the words of the Lord Jesus.”
“I have lived long enough to know that if I cannot have the power of the Spirit of God on me to help me to work for Him, I would rather die, than live just for the sake of living.”
Pastoral Submission
August 3, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
What do you think of when you hear those words pastoral submission?
We may not be on the same page about this yet. I don’t mean people in a congregation submitting to a pastor. I mean something deeper than that.
Allow me to start with an unusual verse for this topic. Paul wrote,
When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face… (Galatians 2:11).
First of all, this is the proper way to handle an issue like this. Paul didn’t talk to others, nor run to the leaders in Jerusalem, but he went one-on-one with Peter.
Consider Paul’s relationship to Peter if there was a “corporate flowchart” for the First Century Church—Peter would have been Paul’s superior. Yet, Peter not only received this correction from Paul but continued to speak highly of Paul.
Beginning in the first chapter of Galatians we see Paul’s level of accountability. He answered to God, but he also submitted to other church leaders. Not only that, but this passage (Galatians 2:7-9) tells us that other church leaders submitted to Paul.
When I know God has called me, and I am doing my work for His approval alone, and when I know God has called others, and they too are ministering only for His approval then we can mutually submit to one another.
It’s not a top-down hierarchy in the church, except for Jesus being the Head and all others are below Him. All others (clergy and congregation) in the Body of Christ are on equal standing—no one is more important than any other. Therefore, as we submit to Christ’s Headship, we can also mutually submit to others in the Body.
What keeps us from doing this? Pride! We say, “What will others think of me if I submit?” Pastors think, “If I submitted to someone in my congregation, how could I ever lead this church? People will take advantage of me! No one will ever listen to me again!”
Not true!
When I am fully submitted to Christ, there is no stronger grounds for SERVANT leadership.
I don’t pastor to lead; I pastor to serve.
I’m not building my church; I’m building Christ’s church.
I’m not growing my followers; but followers of Jesus.
Holy God, help me to know who I am in You. You have called me to pastor, so I am Your servant. Help me kill my pride! Help me serve and submit. Help me to build Your Church.
UPDATE: This post was one of the seed thoughts that went into fashioning my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter.
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