Do You Consider Your Pastors A Gift?

This past Sunday, C.J. Mahaney was at our church to speak, particularly in light of the recent announcement from our pastoral team that we would be transitioning to a new senior pastor. C.J. preached from 1 Cor. 3:18 - 4:5 and encouraged us to receive Christian leaders as gifts from God. However, he cautioned us not to identify primarily with one leader, for in doing so we can cut ourselves off from other leaders that God intends to use as means of grace in our lives. We should avoid sinful comparisons between our leaders and guard against a preference for one over the other.

I find this can be a difficult challenge, particularly in the information age. Even for those who sit under great preaching at their churches, it's easy to download messages from Piper, Dever, Sproul and a host of others and start to compare. Not to mention the fact that we have the writings and teachings of so many great Christian leaders throughout the history of the church available to us. It's easy to go from hearing these messages in an edifying way that supplements what you are receiving in church to critiquing your local pastor for not living up to these other teachers. Obviously, I am not suggesting that you shouldn't evaluate what your pastor is preaching, but I do think it's easy to desire another teacher over the pastor that God has ordained to faithfully preach the gospel to you week after week and care specifically for your soul.

We should not be cutting ourselves off from the ways that God intends to use our pastors in our lives by preferring one over another. Rather, we should rejoice at the way God is using the specific and unique gifts of our pastors to serve our local church in a meaningful way. And we should give God the glory for the way he uses them to build us up and encourage our faith.

Thankful and Willing to Listen

This morning during my quiet time, one of the passages I was reading was Ecclesiates 5. Two thoughts...

First, v.18 (Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.) I know that I can think of my work and my possessions as gifts of God, but I do not often consider that the "power to enjoy them" is also a gift of God. This is a healthy reminder to rejoice and thank God for not only what he has given me but also the joy and contentment I have in his those thing. Also, the fact that I can enjoy what he has given me in ways that honor and glorify him instead of valuing the gifts over the Giver, is a reason to praise God. Though contentment can be a struggle, I should be thankful for this gift and pray earnestly for it. What a relief is it that contentment and joy in our circumstances is not something we have to muster up in and of ourselves! It's another reminder, like Wolfgang's message last week, to be thankful in all things.

Second, v.1-2 (Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.) I'll be the first to admit that there are parts of this passage I don't quite get (and the next verse, v.3, is confusing). However, I am challenged about how I approach church and other times of teaching. It is very easy for Sundays to become a routine and normal thing, a time of great joy of course, but routine in some ways if I am not careful. I want to be mindful of preparing myself to receive teaching and not just showing up. I want to be humble and teachable before the preached word. I don't want to be so caught up in my note taking that I miss points but I don't want to fail to review the message later on and to apply it to my life. I want the gospel to always appear amazing and to effect my heart, no matter how many times I hear it. I don't want my pride, preferences and knowledge to cause me to nitpick preaching while neglecting to apply the truth of God to my soul. I want to have an open heart that is ready to "draw near to listen" to what God may teach me, even if it isn't what I expected or is tough for me to hear.

These things are temptations and struggles that can appear from time to time. So, with a singles meeting (THRIVE) tonight, great preaching at church and PCRT and New Attitude coming down the road, I pray that God would make me one who values his word more and one who is eager not just to speak or argue, but to listen to and seek to understand and apply what he is saying.