Sterling Brown

Sometimes we can be so familiar with something that we miss it entirely. Ever stop and think about what this day is really celebrating?

- A young, engaged, likely middle school aged virgin, comes courageously to her fiance saying “no, I didn’t sleep with anyone…but I’m pregnant. And in fact, the Father is Almighty God.” – A man decided to put his name and reputation on the line to go along with this…all because an “angel” said so.
- Shepherds come out of the wilderness, much like the guys in New Mexico talking about aliens visiting them and abducting their dog. Only this time their story is this: “angels visited us, and we saw all the host of heaven and heard them singing. They told us that the one and only, creator God has came to earth…as a little baby.” – “Wise men,” or should I say, pagan astronomers who had virtually nothing to do with the Hebrews or vice versa, come saying “A new star appeared in the heavens, and we know that the Christ is born!”

As if this has ever happened in the history of the world before or since. Where were the kings, or religious leaders, or teachers or priests? It’s amazing what the God of the universe has done…it’s almost unbelievable how he has chosen to do it. The whole thing sounds rather scandalous wouldn’t you say? God came to earth that, by the Good News, to elevate the poor, the oppressed, the working man, the young woman, the crazy, drama stricken family and the sincere, spiritual seeker. Christ has come for us all. That is really worth celebrating.

Well, I hope your Christmas is awesome! I hope your Christmas is filled with peace, love and joy from the One who fought off hell for you and I. He overcame hatred personified and the evil in the heart of every man and woman. His joy carried him through pain and His love conquered all.

With love. Sterling

For thousands of years God was known as many things: Creator,  Almighty God, Lawgiver, Judge, etc. And all of these are true of Him. But with the coming of Jesus, we learned something different about God. The greatest revelation, the thing that God desires to be known as by each of us, is that of a loving, intimate, forgiving Father.

With the exception of one time while hanging on the cross, whenever Jesus referred to God it was as “Father.” In fact, the word he used was “Abba,” the intimate equivalent of Daddy or Papa. Of the many roles Jesus filled in his earthly ministry (prophet, teacher, healer, etc.), his primary concern was walking out his relationship as a loving, obedient Son (John 8:28-29,Heb.5:7-8).

One of my favorite stories that highlights this is from the Gospel of John, chapter 11. When Jesus’ friend Lazarus had died, he walked in on a scene of great grief and mourning. For four days this man had been dead. And as he approached the tomb where the body was laid it says this…

⁴¹So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”  ⁴³When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Wow! How’s that for confidence? In the middle of tragedy, Jesus looks up and confidently declares that his Father is still there, listening to his prayers. He states that his desire was not just to do miracles, but for people to know he was God’s Son. He demonstrated that his power came not just from his own ability, but from his prayerful dependence upon his Father. And we see that this great victory, raising a man from the dead, was for us just another reaffirmation that God is an ever present, intimate and powerful Father.

What about you? When times are tough, where do you turn for strength? When things are going well, what do you you take pride in? With your roles and responsibilities, even with life’s challenges and difficulties, I encourage you to remember this one thing…the greatest thing:

“You, O LORD, are our Father,
our Redeemer from of old is your name.” -Isaiah 63:16

Last week a prominent pastor in town stepped down from pastoring his church after admitting to an adulterous affair. While I do not know him, I have tried to learn some from him. And like so many, my heart breaks for him and everyone affected. And while I hope everyone prays for him, I do hope we can all learn from this. Geoff Surratt of Seacoast church has written a great response to this entitled “An open letter to pastors” from his blog “Inner Revolution.” And while he has directed it to ministers, I believe it is appropriate for all Christian men to read and take to heart…

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This weekend Gary Lamb, one of the more popular pastors in the social networking world, admitted that he has been in an ongoing affair with his assistant. Following the direction of his church Overseers he resigned from the church he planted five years ago effective immediately. The damage his actions caused will continue for many years in the lives of hundreds of people. I do not know Gary personally but I have followed him on Twitter for the past year and have read his blog occasionally. I have no comment on his specific situation other than to say I am praying for his family, his church, the woman he has been involved with and for Gary.

I do, however, want to comment on pastors shipwrecking their lives and the lives of their families. I have been involved in ministry all of my life, the past 27 as a staff member or pastor at three different churches, and I have seen stories like Gary’s over and over. The details vary, but the end result is the same; total devastation. The key question is not what happened, but rather how can we avoid the same fate. Here are some random thoughts:

1. If you think you aren’t vulnerable, you are already toast
   I had a counseling professor in college who said that the pastors who are in the most danger of a moral shipwreck are the ones who think it will never happen to them. If you think you are too honest, too faithful, or too transparent to ever be involved in an affair you are skating on very thin ice. David never thought he’d sleep with Bathsheba until he saw her naked; then he couldn’t think of anything else. You can steal money, you can get involved in pornography, you can cheat on your spouse, and you can lie to your family. Every day of our lives we have to remind ourselves we are vulnerable to complete moral failure.
2. If you think you can burn the candle at both ends, you are already toast
   There are no super humans in ministry. When I read twitters of pastors who get up at 4:00 a.m. every day, who work seven days a week, who counsel people at night and on their “day off”, I know that they are headed for a fall. God took a day off when he was creating the world, Jesus took a beach trip to Tyre and Sidon (Mark 7:24) during his ministry. Unless you know something God doesn’t know you are headed for a major fall without regular downtime.
3. If you think you can do ministry without accountability, you are already toast
   The only “conversation” I ever had with Gary Lamb was a Twitter exchange over the importance of an accountability group. Gary felt that the Overseers of his church provided all the accountability he needed. My contention is that we need people who are face-to-face with us on a regular basis, who know our wives and our assistants, who can ask us the really tough questions. I don’t know if the Overseers provided that for Gary or if a local group would have prevented his fall, but I do know that I need that kind of scrutiny in my life.
4. If you think you don’t need safeguards, you are already toast
   Filters on internet access, never handling cash for the church, never meeting with someone of the opposite sex alone, letting others have access to your email; these are such a pain and to be honest I don’t always have all of them active in my life. The reality is that safeguards will not keep you from doing what you have already decided to do, but they can give you enough margin to change your mind before you act.
   
5. If you think it’s about you, you are already toast
   Failure begins with ego. When you begin to think that success is because you are smart, funny, talented, cool or a 100 other adjectives and not simply because God is God and has chosen to bless you; you are headed down a very dangerous path. When you being to think the ministry will crumble without you and that you have to work 24/7 to make it happen you are headed toward destruction. When you think the rules stop applying to you and you can cut corners and you are above it you are on a crash course for disaster.
   

As ministers we are in a marathon. If you do not pay attention to the danger signs along the way you will crash before the finish line. Your crash may be a spectacular moral failure like Gary’s, it may be the slow destruction of your marriage, or it may be the rotting of your soul; but Satan will use ministry to destroy you. And God will not say to you in Heaven, “Too bad about your family, but awesome job building a great big church. Fist bump, dude.”

Three things every pastor needs to do:

1. Slow down
   You will not change the world today and tomorrow isn’t looking good either. There is plenty of time to hang with your wife, play with your kids, play golf, relax. God was at work long before you showed up and He will be at work long after you are gone. You cannot live on adrenaline all of the time. You cannot be pumped up about every weekend. If you live that way for an extended time you will crash.
2. Open up

   You need someone in your life who knows you inside and out; someone who will ask the hard questions and know when you are ducking the answers. It is difficult as a pastor to find someone you can be truly honest with, but it is essential that you find that person. Another pastor who does not attend your church might be ideal.

3. Count the cost

   Every time you are tempted to break a rule, to cut a corner, togo somewhere you shouldn’t go consider what it will cost you when it all comes to light. What is going to happen when your wife finds out? How will she feel? What will it do to your children? What will this do to your church? How will it feel to write a letter like Gary had to write?

You don’t wake up one day and decide to shipwreck your life. You do it one stupid decision at a time. As someone who has seen this happen again and again and again I am begging you to take action today because it will happen to you.

I was watching the NBA Finals last night & they showed an interview with Kobe Bryant & Magic Johnson talking about how Kobe’s in the gym at 5 am every morning working out, practicing, pursuing his mastery of the fundamentals. Given his incredible natural talent, one might think he got where he is on talent alone. But now we know this is not the case.

We tend to think about Jesus the same way. You know… “he was the Son of God, so obviously he was perfect” kind of thing. As if he did everything on natural ‘talent.’ How easy it is to forget that when he was tempted by the devil, he resisted, responding with “it is written,” demonstrating his dependence on the Scriptures. He made a habit of corporate worship, going to the Synagogue every weekend. And the Gospel of Luke tells us that “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” What he demonstrated was a disciplined life empowered by the Spirit and obedient to God.

And more than winning sports championships, He overcame sin, death, the devil and hell itself to win a victory for all of us we couldn’t achieve on our own.

I’m crazy enough to believe we can change the world. But I realize it won’t happen without being absolutely committed to the cause of Christ. Committed enough to change our habits. Committed enough to get up in the morning to pray. Committed enough to embrace discipline and master the “fundamentals.” Because if we want to have the kind of influence & experience the kind of power Jesus had, we need to do a few things really, really consistently:

1. Read the Bible

2. Resist temptation

3. Worship in community

4. Pray

Of course, this isn’t all we should do. But  let’s at least do what we know to do & do it well.

“I realized that becoming a master of karate was not about learning 4,000 moves but about doing just a handful of moves 4,000 times.” – Chet Holmes

Think about this passage from the book of Acts, chapter 2:

42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer…46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

I don’t think this book of Acts experience was as much an anomaly as it was the natural outflow of the culture of the Life of the Triune-God working through a people that had been transformed by Jesus. Because of an encounter with God that was borne out of the Apostolic clarity of Jesus, his finished work, his miraculous resurrection, his promised Spirit, and the resulting new humanity, God’s people were drawn toward each other in a way that cannot be manufactured or contrived. Of course the “temple courts” experience was vital to maintain their connection to God, to each other and to their history.

But their experience was not limited to the temple only. They made a regular habit of spending time together outside the temple courts. And their regular diet was that of Gospel teaching, developing a sense of family, sharing encouraging words, generous living, contributing to the needs of others, as well as faith filled prayers to know God more through Jesus.

Not only was that kind of community attractive to the onlooking culture, but it was totally unstoppable! I believe today it is no different.