God tricked me!

There is no such thing as fair. I know this. I taught it to my kids. But God? Not fair? You better believe it! He tricked me (although maybe he had to). I felt the call to be a church planter about 8 years ago. My dream was to have this mega church with a big band, lots of people, and lots of resources. I heard stories of guys setting up church and having tons of people show up the first week. I even heard about this guy in Grand Rapids that had 2,000 people show up the first week. Even he thought it was a fluke until 3,000 people showed up the second week. My seminary made it sound so easy although they did tack on the obligatory "This is hard stuff." How hard could it be. You just follow the formulas they taught us and, voila! You have a church! Just follow the recipe on the box.

Then came doing the real thing. I was never more tired of people quoting me the same scripture, "When TWO or more are gathered in my name..." Then came the asparagus analogy. Apparently it takes a long time for asparagus to grow. All I knew was I was not experiencing the "drive-thru" success "everyone else" was experiencing. No mega church, no multiple ministries, no mega-bucks either.

What I got instead was a whole boatload of wonderful and "interesting" people. "Slightly irregular" has become our congregational description. I just finished listening to Eugene Peterson's new book, "The Pastor, My Memoirs". First I see that there is nothing new under the sun. Pastor Peterson ran into the same people we run into every day. They just had different names. Nothing new under the sun. Then the revelation that I had been tricked by God. Instead of a big church, we got people with big problems. They were hard working folks mostly, and well meaning. They grew up in the same culture I grew up in and look how I turned out! I found I didn't want to be a church planter, or a mega church pastor (some people called that a rancher (big spread analogy)). I want to be a shepherd. You know, a small intimate flock. Woolly and itchy but pretty lovable when they aren't butting you or falling off a cliff. But you gotta lov'em. They steal you heart. And I know they have stolen God's heart. Sometimes it is better to be tricked.

I think I’ve got it!

I’m slow. I hoped old age would help me learn quicker, catch on faster. But not so much. I was trained in a wonderful learning environment in the seminary where I studied. I have read volumes on various subjects such as theology, end times, post modern church, church planting and church growth. I read about how to have a “sticky church”, a cool church, an outside-the-box church. I came to my old hometown expecting the worse and my expectations were met. Few showed up for this “new kind of church”. Even fewer stayed. Slowly, I mean glacier speed, people started to stay. A couple of them got it. Most came clueless and stayed that way. I guess maybe I was and am the right pastor for the clueless, or as our t-shirts announce, the “slightly irregular folks”.

The pressure seemed to be to get more people and more money. You have “saved” more people if you have lots and lots of people in your church. And of course you need more money to “do the Lord’s work”. Why was I such a failure? My denomination hadn’t even recognized us as a real church after six years. I guess I can’t blame them. One week we have 75 people in church, the next 20, and we come closer to the latter most weeks. And don’t even get me started about the money. Then I realized what I was doing. As the author of Ecclesiastes says, “13 I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”

I gave up. I called my overseer and said this is it. This is all we will ever need to be, a family, a church, a people of God albeit slightly irregular. I am a pastor, maybe an old pastor but that’s my call. My wife and I are the father and mother of this family. We hope someday to be the grandparents with others taking over, but until then we have one call. To love and serve the people God brings to us, whether they show up on Sunday or not, or give lots of money or not. There is no higher calling.

Who am I that God could use me?

In the movie, "The Nativity" Mary is confronted by an angel who tells her what God is doing in her life. Her response (not Biblical but very possible) was, "Who am I that my Lord would use me?" She said yes to God and it not only changed her life but ours as well. God chooses to work through His people. He could do it Himself but that would not be the same. He is calling us to be used by Him. It actually helps define who we are when we say yes to God. A.W. Tozer, a famous Christian author around the turn of the last century writes:
God Wants to Work Through You
Unbelief says:
Some other time, but not now;
some other place, but not here;
some other people, but not us.
Faith says:
Anything He did anywhere else He will do here;
anything He did any other time He is willing to do now;
anything He ever did for other people He is willing to do for us!
With our
feet on the ground,
and our head cool,
but with our heart ablaze with the love of God,
we walk out in this fullness of the Spirit, if we will yield and obey.
God wants to work through you!
The Counselor has come, and He doesn’t care about the limits of
locality,
geography,
time
or nationality.
The Body of Christ is bigger than all of these.
The question is:

Will you open your heart?

We have a very BIG God

As we approach various disagreements about the nature of God, His ways, His teachings, we often get stuck on issues that can divide. In the Letter to the Romans Chapter 14 Paul refers to “disputable matters” and warns that this can divide the church and hurt people, especially those who are weak, struggling or even still learning about their faith (maybe all of us?). He repeats this discussion at the end of 1 Corinthians Chapter 8. My contention is that our God is a very big God who can and does include many more of us than we might include ourselves. The Greek word for “disputable matters” is adiaphra, and has been a contention in various Christian faiths for centuries. God is not exactly a one-size-fits-all God but He is big enough to fit all. I am not saying all will be with Him, there is a free will choice, but I think He intends that all will be with Him who want to be. I will even go further than that, I believe that He can and does customize the Christian walk, the disciplines, that He calls each individual to, as best fits their needs, disposition, and background. I have been a Protestant, a Catholic, in multiple denominations including a son of an Orthodox mother. I have seen great things God has done in so many of their varied beliefs. I believe when we get in disagreements we often are thinking too small. One wants to do things one way and someone else another. God may very well want both even if they seem to us to be contrary. Again it depends at times, in my humble opinion, about what we need. God comes down to our level. Our God is an awesome God who wants us to come to Him and there is a facet, a nature of God that each and every one of us can connect with. That is the breadth of God’s love.