Moments in the life of a Pastor

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Author Archives: Giles


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1 Purpose in the Pain – Part 1

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

If there is one thing that people try to avoid its pain. Our typical response to pain is to run because instead of seeing pain as productive we seem to only see it as a problem. We rebel at the suggestion of it, recoil at the sight of it, and reject any notion that it might be beneficial. Yet the truth is that the lessons of life are almost always taught in the classroom of calamity. Yet few of us are willing to be a student in the classroom of suffering. When it comes to pain, here in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Paul provides us with a proper perspective. First Paul reminds us that pain is:

  • Part of life

From a logical point of view, one would think that God would be gracious and reward those who do good with less pain. Especially when it comes to those who are sold out to serving Him, but I want you to notice that even preachers like Paul don’t get a free pass when it comes to pain. In fact, the opposite is true, as Paul passionately pursued God’s plan of proclaiming peace to all people he seemed to endure an incredible amount of pain. His “resume of suffering” appears in the previous chapter, in 2 Corinthians 11:23-29, and includes multiple imprisonments, beatings, floggings, canings, life-threatening experiences, as well as stoning and shipwrecks where he spent a night and a day stuck floating in the open sea. There were times of torment and trials when he didn’t have enough food, clothing, sleep, or friends. He was chased by bandits and infuriated religious leaders, and he carried the pain of being betrayed by false friends. Paul also battled temptation and experienced anxiety over the young churches that he started. So when we come to this passage we need to remember that Paul is not being flippant about pain, for he was a regular student in the school of suffering. Paul refers to this pain as his “thorn in the flesh.” How bad was this particular pain, well the passage tells us that it was a hurt straight from hell, it was a “messenger from Satan,” sent to torment him. Paul didn’t just put up with this pain he prayed and asked God to remove the pain. Not only because pain is not fun but also because from a human perspective Paul could have done more without the pain. He could have planted more churches, written more letters, won more converts for Christ. Paul didn’t just petition God once, he persisted in prayer asking again and again. On three separate occasions, Paul pleaded with God to remove his pain, yet this passage makes it clear that God didn’t take away His thorn of suffering. When it comes to pain we need to remember that our Savior walked the streets of suffering. He understood the pain of loss as He wept at Lazarus tomb or the pain of God’s people as he wept over unrepentant Jerusalem. He experienced the agony of both the physical pain of the cross, as well as the personal pain of betrayal. He suffered the pain of scourging as well as the pain of disappointment and discouragement. He was ridiculed and rejected so that we could be redeemed. Jesus walked the path of pain and so will we. Look life often starts with pain as the doctor slaps the baby’s bottom, and in some aspects, goes downhill from there. The truth is we already know that pain is a part of life the real question is are we looking for the positives in our pain? That is what Paul did and it’s what we can do as well. It’s here in the passage that second Paul reminds us that:

  • Pain has a purpose.

Now, this point of theology is really tough because there is a fine line here that we need to be careful not to cross, lest we cause even more pain to someone who is suffering. We must never glibly explain someone’s pain as a work of God. Not only is it not wise to tell someone in pain that God “won’t give them more than they can bear” but it is also not biblical. Because that passage in 1 Corinthians 10:13, is clearly dealing with avoiding temptation, not overcoming pain. Instead, this idea that pain has a purpose is best used as a self-study. Instead of trying to provide purpose to everyone else’s pain we should look at this passage first for our own personal pain. It is in these seasons of suffering that we discover at least part of the purpose for our pain. Pain can provide a path to maturity found through no other process. These are lessons that can only be learned through the school of suffering, and only the student enrolled there is allowed to make the discovery. As we look at this passage Paul concluded for himself that his “thorn” was meant to keep him from becoming conceited about his miraculous life and ministry. As we look at Paul’s pain we discover some positive purposes, for instance in Philippi, Paul and Silas were beaten publicly and then put in prison. Yet instead of pouting they chose to praise and that night the jailer was saved. Out of their suffering came salvation, which begs a difficult question, am I willing to endure hardship so that others can hear the hope of the Gospel? While Paul experienced the pain of prison the jailer experienced the Prince of peace. Do I care more about a problem free life or proclaiming the giver of life? Out of their suffering, a seed was planted and the story of salvation spread. But like Paul in the midst of our pain, most of us struggle to see any purpose because pain has a way of clouding the vision of pain’s purpose. In the midst of the suffering, it is extremely difficult to find the purpose of our pain, and even more challenging to celebrate that purpose. Unless, of course, faith plays a role, and we chose to look at pain though the lens of faith and not just our feelings. Pain can provide a platform for accelerated growth that nothing else can rival. Most of our growth comes in the groaning times, not in the good times. The problem is that we want to grow we just don’t want the groaning. It takes a tenacious faith to pray to a God who allows the suffering and say, “God, I don’t know the purpose of this pain, but I trust the person behind the purpose.” There are no guarantees for any of us, we are not promised a pain-free life or even a clear understanding of the purpose of our pain. But pain can be profitable and instead of running from God in the midst of our hurts we need to run to Him. If you are in a season of suffering and there seems to be no end in sight instead of blaming God and running from Him start believing and resting in Him. Because only God has the ability to bring power out of our pain.

 


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30 Warped Worth – Part 2

Matthew 23:1-12

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. 5 “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. 6 And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. 7 They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’ 8 “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. 9 And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your Father. 10 And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you must be a servant. 12 But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

The Pharisees desire to feel important and valuable led to the first trap:

  1. Seeing church as a place where OTHERS should change.

Jesus said the Pharisees were prone to “…tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” Matthew 23:4. They saw worship as a place to pass judgment on others, instead of seeing their own sin. Now before we pass judgment on the Pharisees we need to recognize that we are all prone to seeing the sins in others while being blind to our own. You know how that works, you are sitting in church listing to a sermon and you think to yourself man that was a great message I just wish that Bob had been here to hear it. What we are really saying is there are those who are failing in their faith and need to hear the Word but it’s not us because we have it all together. Jesus confronted this self-righteous attitude, calling it sin. So why did the Pharisees do this? Because it made them feel powerful, righteous and holy because compared to others they felt better than everybody else. So how do we sidestep this trap so that it doesn’t trip us up, first recognize it as sin, and second we need to commit to applying all Biblical warns to ourselves first. We need to consider how we should be obeying the Bible before we ever consider applying it in the lives of others. As Pastors, we need to be careful that we are practicing what we preach and not just preaching principles we never apply. When we practice the passage in our own lives instead of passing judgment on others we protect ourselves from tying heavy loads onto the shoulders of others that we don’t care about ourselves. We need to be careful not to condemn others for things that we ourselves are guilty of. The second trap that the Pharisees fell into was:

  1. Serving to be seen

Verse 5-6 says, “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. 6 And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues.” We all struggle with wanting to be seen, and it starts at a very early age. Just listen to little children, who often say “look at me, look at me.” This is where we have to check our motive for ministry, why are we serving is it because we love the Lord or because we love the looks? If we are not careful we will become people who love the limelight more than we love the Lord. Now we need to remember that anytime anyone serves to be seen they are not only seen by others but also by God. And you can be assured that the Almighty will be appalled, that we would attempt to use HIS worship to show off. So how do we protect ourselves from this temptation? We need to remember who we are serving, so let me ask you are you making ministry about serving or about self? We also need to remember the purpose of praise, it’s about God’s glory not ours. That means its imperative that we cultivate a humble heart and we become a conduit of praise instead of a consumer of praise. So let me ask you, are you in it to reflect God’s glory or receive the glory. Corrie ten Boom once told a friend, “… people thank me so much and it used to worry me because I didn’t want to get a big head. So I began to collect those compliments like flowers. ‘Thank you,’ I’d say. ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’ And then at the end of the day, I’d kneel down and I’d say, ‘Here You are Jesus, they’re all Yours.'” She learned to give God all of the glory. What about you are you giving God all of the praise or just part of it and holding back the rest for you? I’m always amazed at pastors who think they are superstars based on the sermons that they preach when in reality they have such great material to work with. If their preaching is based on the bible then the one who deserves the applause is the author. The third trap is:

  1. Trying to use worship as a way to gain a reputation.

Jesus said of the Pharisees: “They love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. 7 They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’ 8 “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. 9 And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your Father. 10 And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah.” The temptation to seek power, position or prestige in the church is a very real problem. If we don’t have the proper perspective when it comes to our self-worth we can end up trying to use God to gain those things instead of giving God the glory. It’s here that Jesus addresses the trap that comes when we are tempted by titles. Many preachers are referred to as reverend and while it is ok to be respectful of the position of pastor we have to be careful that we don’t revere the person. To “revere” someone means to hold them in awe. The only one who deserves to be held in awe is the Almighty, as Isaiah declared: “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another…” Isaiah 42:8 and in Isaiah 48:11, “…I will not yield my glory to another.” If we are not careful our position will get in the way of our praise. When you know whose you are you don’t need power or prestige or a “reputation” to feel significant and special. And if we do, it’s a sign that we’ve got an ego problem. Maintaining a proper perspective will protect you from the poison of pride. We need to remember that serving in God’s kingdom is a privilege, not a position. That it is an honor to serve; we don’t serve to be honored. What about you are you like the Pharisees trying to use worship as a way to gain worth or are you using it to give glory to God?