PreachingHelp.org

I recently read an article in the “Abilene Reporter-News” and the title was, “Women in the church: moving toward equality.”  That title intrigued me because I found it hard to imagine a church that was just “moving” toward gender equality.

You see, I was under the assumption that everyone was familiar with and believed the words of Paul when he said, “”There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).  Why would a church in the 21st century just now be moving toward what the inspired apostle Paul affirmed nearly two millennium ago?

Well, actually, I do know why, but it’s really not about moving toward “equality,” rather it’s about moving away from God’s divinely appointed roles and responsibilities within the church.

The Mercy Street Church of Christ in Abilene, TX bills itself as a “gender-inclusive Church of Christ.”  Now again, I never considered myself  as a part of a “gender-exclusive” church, for there are probably as many woman as men where I preach.  But what they mean by that is that it is their desire to remove any “gender-based role distinctions” in the church.  In short, they want women preachers.  In fact, they are pressing their desire for women to preach in their congregation to the extent that they advertise for women to contact the church, so that they may preach.

Allow me to briefly share a few thoughts on this subject:

• First, consider what the preacher at the Mercy Street Church of Christ said.  He said, “I think it is sinful for the church to restrict the use of women’s (spiritual) gifts.”  Yet later in the interview he said that he realizes his view has the potential to be divisive, thus his reason for starting Mercy Street rather than divide an existing congregation over the issue.  Here’s my question.  If it is sinful for a church to restrict the use of women’s spiritual gifts as he said, then why wouldn’t he desire to call people out of a sinful situation?  Why would he leave them in their sin?  Would he do the same for liars, thieves, drunkards, and extortioners?  Seems to me that if it is sinful, you would do all you can to call people out of what is sinful.
• Remember that the gender-based role distinction between men and women is not culturally derived.  This is the claim of of the Mercy Street preacher, but I ask you to examine the text itself.  Turn to 1 Corinthians 11:1-12; 1 Corinthians 14:26-40, and 1 Timothy 2:8-15 and see if you can find a distinction between men and women’s roles that is culturally based.  You won’t, but what you will find is that the gender-based role distinctions are rooted in creation order.
• Also remember that equality does not imply there are no role distinctions.  This was the mistake of Korah (Numbers 16).  He argued that since all of God’s people were holy, then everyone should be able to do what Moses was doing.  He was wrong…read it.  This is precisely the argument that is being made today with regard to the role of women.
• Don’t allow yourself to be caught up in and known exclusively for some agenda, even if it’s biblical.  Instead, be known for your love for Jesus, and your submission to Him on every doctrine that He taught.

This coming Sunday will mark the beginning of the 2010 East Tennessee School of Preaching and Missions annual lectureship.  I’m really looking forward to attending.  I’ve never had the opportunity to attend, so this year will be my first.

This will be one of the highlights of the year to which I will look forward as I begin my work with Karns.  I’m really looking forward to the lessons, the fellowship, and getting a chance to spend a few days with old friends and making new friends.

We are getting closer and closer to making our move to Karns.  It seems hard to believe, but I only have six more Sundays to preach at the South Green Street congregation.  Leaving South Green and all my good friends and good memories will be one of the most difficult things I will ever do, but I’m convinced that there is much good that can be accomplished working with the Karns congregation.

If you can get some time off, why don’t you drive to Karns and take in some of the lectureship.  I’m sure you’ll be glad you did.

(By the way, if you aren’t able to attend the lectures, you can view the lectures live through streaming video at The East Tennessee School of Preaching and Missions).

A rather comical experience happened the other day that, upon reflection helps to illustrate a rather profound truth that some do not seem to comprehend.  First allow me to share my experience, then I’ll make the application.

Last Sunday following morning worship, my family and I went to a local restaurant for lunch.  We sat at a table next to a young couple from church.  There was still quite a bit of snow on the ground due to our winter storm, but this couple “lucked out” and found a parking space right next to the entrance.  However, while we were eating, the snow on the roof of the restaurant gave way, slid off the roof and onto this couple’s car.  The whole restaurant “oohed” and “awed” and had a good laugh.  (I had to go out and take the picture you see above).  Jokingly my friend said, “You know, maybe that was God’s way of getting me back for taking that parking space right beside the door when I should have let someone else have it.”

Well, he was joking when he made the comment, but many people are not when it comes to things like this.  How often do you hear someone assign “divine retribution” to the source of tragedies?  Remember the tsunami that devastated Indonesia a few years ago?  Remember how many people said this was a “disciplinary act of God” against these people?  Just recently, with respect to the earthquake in Haiti, Pat Robertson assigned the earthquake to the retribution of God because the people of Haiti had made a pact with the Devil.  However, whether we’re talking about the Earthquake in Haiti, the Tsunami in Indonesia, or the snow slide that landed on my friend’s car, the fact of the matter is we don’t know why those events occurred.

I’m not saying that it is not within God’s disposal to use calamity to teach and discipline.  He certainly did so with the Flood (Genesis 6:13).  He also did so with Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plains (Genesis 18:20-21; Genesis 19:24-25).  But here’s the difference.  I know the flood was an act of divine retribution because the Bible tells me so.  I know the destruction of Sodom was an act of God because the Bible tells me so.  However, I have no such revelation with reference to these present day catastrophes, therefore I should not be so presumptuous to speak without authority, and assign actions to God where no proof exists.

As a preacher, I take seriously the responsibility to accurately represent the words of God.  But not only should we desire to accurately represent what God said, but also what He does.  Don’t be guilty of assigning to God’s retribution what you do not know is His retribution.  I no more know whether the Tsunami in Indonesia or the Earthquake in Haiti were acts of God than I do the snow slide on my friend’s car was an act of God.  Could it not also be the unfortunate circumstances of one merely getting in the way of “natural laws?”

Friends, we must give care that when we speak for God, that we represent His words and His actions accurately and avoid presumption.

As I was celebrating my 48th birthday on January 15, an 11-year-old girl from Port-au-Prince, Haiti was ushered into eternity.  Now I understand that life and death occur every minute of every day, but the circumstances of this little girl’s death have really gripped me.

This little girl had been trapped, all alone for three days before rescuers finally heard her cries for help. Her right leg was crushed and held her pinned beneath tons of rubble.  Upon being discovered, the girl was conscious, able to eat and drink, and was able to talk to her rescuers as they worked to free her.  After hours of digging, they were able to free her from the rubble, but sadly, just one hour later, she died from her injuries.  Her last words spoken were, “Mother, don’t let me die.”

This story has broken my heart.  Maybe it’s partly due to the fact that I have a 9-year-old little girl who will turn 10 in a few months, and I’ve tried to imagine what it would be like if it was my daughter who was trapped, alone, afraid, and in pain.  My heart aches for this little girl and her family.

The earthquake that shook Haiti is over, but the aftershock is being felt all over the world.  This little girl is just one of hundreds of thousands of stories that could be told by people whose lives have been turned up-side-down.  But now, here’s the point of my article…don’t miss it…As we sit in our comfortable homes with our families, let us not, because of our own personal comfort, forget the second greatest commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).  Don’t allow this opportunity to minister in the name of Jesus to pass you by without doing what you can to help your neighbor.

Just this past weekend, while I was driving in Bowling Green, I saw two men carrying crosses on the side of the road, followed by a crowd of about 30 or 40 people.  As I passed these two men, I looked at the crosses they were carrying and I couldn’t help but notice that both crosses were accessorized with wheels!

Now, I understand why they placed wheels on these crosses.  The wheels make the crosses they are carrying easier to carry.  The wheels make the crosses more convenient to bear.  But that’s the impetus for this article.  You see, there’s nothing convenient about a cross!  In fact, it was designed to be an inconvenient, excruciating, and humiliating means to kill someone.  Convenient crosses?  They don’t exist…or at least shouldn’t.

If I can jump from what I saw this past weekend to a spiritual application, I would say that from the looks of things, I believe that many people have attempted to put “wheels on their cross.”  Remember that Jesus said that in order to be one of his disciples, one must be willing to deny himself, take up a cross daily, and follow him (Luke 9:23).  From what I’ve witnessed in some, rather than denying self, and bearing one’s cross daily, some have attempted to accessorize their cross.  Unwilling to reject Christ completely, they have attempted to fashion a cross of convenience – crosses with wheels.

Our society has made an icon out of the cross.  We wear them around our neck, they dangle from our ears, and they are even tattooed on our bodies.  This all makes me wonder if we have failed to comprehend the true significance of the cross.  The cross represents selflessness, sacrifice, obedience, dedication, and self-denial.  Do you think most people realize that?  The cross is more than a piece of jewelry or a trinket, and it certainly doesn’t have wheels.

My advice to those who wish to gain public attention by carrying a cross…take off the wheels! Those wheels are incongruous with the message of the cross.  I for one, noticed the wheels, not the cross.  Don’t lessen the burden of the cross by accessorizing it with something that makes it convenient.  What do you think?

As the have now arrived at the New Year, completing the first decade of the new millennium, I did a little reflecting.  These reflections are personal, and may not mean a lot to you, but they are my mile-markers over the past decade.

• Our youngest daughter, Anne Marie was born in the year 2000.
• Both of our sons became Christians during this time.
• Our oldest daughter graduated from High School and has almost completed her under-graduate work at Freed-Hardeman.  While at FHU, Kelli spent one semester in Europe.
• I was robbed at gun-point at a church in Alabama and survived.  Tends to put life into perspective.
• I had a tumor removed from a salivary gland.  Benign!  That tends to put life into perspective as well.
• My sons and daughter excelled in Band…state finals, All-District every year.  Countless hours of discipline and hard work.
• My Pittsburgh Steelers won two Super Bowls.  You may think, “so what?”  But I got to watch both of those games with my dad.  Wouldn’t trade those memories for anything.
• My mom and dad reached 50 years of being married, 50 years of preaching, and 45 years of preaching for the same congregation in Chester, WV.
• Kim and I celebrated 25 years of marriage and 25 years of preaching.
• My wife and our two oldest children took part in a mission trip to Ica, Peru.
• I was privileged to speak in approximately 70 gospel meetings and lectureships.  Two of the more memorable ones, due to locations were in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and Anchorage, Alaska.  Beautiful trips…and cold -18 degrees and more than a foot of snow.
• I completed ten years of MercEmail email devotionals, sixteen years of daily radio work, and 20 years of preaching for the South Green Street Church of Christ in Glasgow, KY.
• And after 20 years of working with the South Green Street congregation, we accepted an offer to move to Knoxville, TN to work with the Karns Church of Christ in June of 2010.

There’s much more, but these are mile-markers that quickly come to mind.  But they are only mile markers.  So much living has taken place in between these events.  So much has happened for which to be proud of with respect to my wife, my children, extended family, and church.  I have been blessed, and I am thankful to the One from whom all blessings flow.

It is my desire to stake out some more mile-markers in the upcoming decade, but especially, between those mile-markers live with greater purpose, commitment, and faith in God.