The Frustrations of a Simple Pastor tagged: , , ,

The Frustrations of a Simple Pastor

Posted by in Baptist Life, Church & Missions, News & Culture

I am frustrated.

I could be just plain mad, but that would mean that I am not exhibiting the self-control that is part of the “gift” the Spirit shares. I have laid my burdens down with my Lord, and He takes them – but that does not mean I am not still frustrated, for I am hopelessly still made of flesh. Pray for me, and I will for you.

I am frustrated that many in Christian circles “don’t get it.” And this goes double for many Southern Baptist bloggers.

Now don’t get too riled up gentle reader. I am sure that there are many who are concerned about me and the fact that they believe I don’t get it either.  So there is an equal amount of frustration to go around. I “get” that.

Who am I?  I am just a simple man, a Pastor of a small traditional Southern Baptist Church that has been in existence for 140 years. Traditional in the sense in that we still sing hymns out of a book (though we have the Power Point and display them for each hymn – but by golly over half the congregation still looks at the book instead of the display), I still wear suits, our eschatology is semi-dispensational (there are some bumper stickers on some cars in the parking lot which say “vehicle will be abandoned if the Rapture occurs”), we have an American and Christian flag displayed at the front of the sanctuary, and we conduct invitations at the end of the service.  We no longer have an organ (no one can play it, and we can’t afford to repair our fifty year organ) but we do have a keyboard (which came about despite a little angst from our musical puritans). Our theology is admittedly and unashamedly Baptist and evangelical.  We hold to what Jesus said that “not one jod or tittle” so we are inerrantists who proudly display the Ten Commandments upon the wall – and notice carefully – I did not say the “ten admonitions” or the “nine suggestions with one culturally irrelevant “not for us today” New Covenant Theology “nonsense” (in my loving opinion that is) – yet in all that we are not legalists.  We also display the “Church Covenant” on the wall which also can be found in our Constitution/Bylaws. We pray and weep for the lost, and attempt through various means to share the Truth that is Jesus Christ to our community, and the world.  We stand on the truth of Scripture in our every day world, calling sin a sin, yet sharing that God loves sinners of whom we are chief. We are socially tolerant in that we accept anybody be they homosexual, the poor, an immigrant, the rich, Hispanic, African-American, white, Muslim, Hindi, or “none of the above” to come and hear our proclamation that Jesus is the only way to God. The gospel of Jesus is for everyone, and it is not for sale to the highest bidder or for only those who can afford it – for none of us can. We don’t have many programs, nor do we have a Christian Life Center.  We can not compete with the local mega-church wannabe, and struggle with sister churches of all denominational stripes who appeal with activities versus just the plain “fellowship of the saints.”  Our deacons are gray haired, and our congregation mainly middle aged with a small youth group and a scattering of young couples with children.  We represent the mainstream of Southern Baptist life today scattered over 38,000 churches. We are grieved when some (a minority) tells us “you are doing it all wrong” but then tell us we should be more tolerant of the opinions and practices of others (their opinion, their practices).

Take for example our displaying of the flags in the front of the sanctuary. There are many of the “that’s wrong” folks who would tell us that we are desecrating the worship of the true God while displaying an American and Christian flag in the sanctuary – that we are “Americanizing” the gospel – whatever that means.  To tell you the truth, we never thought of it that way at all.  The church bought a couple of display flags for the sanctuary in the 1940’s.  When the church burned down in 1985, a couple of more flags were bought and are on display in the sanctuary today.  We are authentically Baptists who unlike the liturgical church do not deify objects or use a large number of worship aids in worshiping that which is True “in Spirit and in Truth.”  We have the Ten Commandments (to remind of us of what is moral and holy living), the Church Covenant (our responsibilities as members one to another), a display banner (which currently quotes Isaiah “…they shall mount up with wings like eagles…” – the messages are seasonal), a pulpit (a monster of one made of oak), the Lord’s Table (with the traditional inscription, “In Remembrance of Me”) a large display Bible, two candles, a beautiful mosaic stained glass window in the baptistery depicting Jesus in the Garden on the night of his betrayal, a screen with projector, sound and computer equipment, and the two flags (which one of our members who is a veteran made sure we were displaying “right”).  None of these objects are used in terms of “worship” and are rarely commented upon during services. Besides the obvious “tools” (such as projectors and sound equipment), the rest are just ornamentation with an intentional symbolism.

One could make an argument “why have any decoration at all”?  Granted a legitimate argument is that any decoration could theoretically take away true worship, distracting as it might be in worshiping God. The Quakers do make such an argument for you will not find any worship decorations at all besides a table and a chair in a Quaker church.  But I don’t see that problem associated with the “why the flag” crowd – they are more than likely (this is antidotal admittedly) to have more worship aids in the sanctuary than less.  Of course we have the “what the flag represents” crowd who would crow more about the atrocities of an imperfect human government, fawning more over the sins of a people rather than their accomplishments (so Old Testament that). If we are comparing perfection with imperfection then they are right.  But some want to compare (and have compared on this blog) the display of the Swastika with the Stars and Stripes. If you are of that mind, I kindly invite you to come and share that with a couple of my older saints – men who represented the Stars and Stripes against the Swastika. These men never owned slaves, nor did they commit genocide against native tribes. They did help rescue the world from a mass-murdering crazy lunatic and the nation(s) that followed him. They witnessed with their own eyes the atrocities of what pure evil can do if not confronted culturally. What they lack in stamina today, they more than make up for it in passion. And while you may not appreciate the word journey they will take you on, you will be better for it and your rhetoric may become more “enlightened.” I least I hope and pray so.

So why do we have the flags displayed?  I can only speak for us and no one else, so do not take this as a universal “truth.”  I admit there can be “right” and “wrong” reasons to do anything, however I do believe we have the “right” reason here. That reason is clearly found in our minutes from the 1940’s business meeting when the vote was taken to purchase the flags. The time was during World War II, and many young men from our church family were overseas or preparing to be overseas. Some of them did not come back – they made the ultimate sacrifice their country asked of them leaving behind their grieving families with a church family to grieve for them as well. Wednesday night prayer meetings were packed with people wall to wall in earnest prayer for the survival of the nation and the continuation of the gospel to all the nations through the mayhem and chaos that war brings. The front pew often had to be re-stained every few months from the tears shed by the people who prayed for the end of the war and the return of their fathers, brothers, sisters, uncles, and aunts who went off to be in harms way.  Someone then suggested that the American flag and the Christian flag be purchased and then displayed in the sanctuary. The debate then ensued about what purpose it would serve – mere patriotism would not suffice. The people in that business meeting decided that the flags would not harm true worship – they were not symbolizing the pre-eminence of the nation over God, or even patriotism and nationalism over the Kingdom of God.  The flag was not and is not a “worship aid.”  It merely is displayed (the minutes actually say this) as a “…reminder for prayer.”  A prayer aid!  To remind the saints in worship to pray for their nation, the nations leaders, “…and all of those in authority.” To pray that the gospel be sent and heard by the nation so that all people within the States could hear and respond to the true gospel of Jesus Christ.  The flag would be a vivid reminder so that a righteous people could pray “…for the healing of their land.”  The Christian flag would also serve as a prayer aid, a reminder that “…when one part hurts we all hurt…” – a vivid symbolic display in the local church of being united with the Church Universal, with Christians all over the world forming one Body whose Head is Christ – of whom we are commanded to pray for and support.  As Communion (represented by the Lord’s Table) is a call to remember what Christ did for the Body, so our little congregation remembers to pray for our nation and fellow believers with the flags being the symbolic reminders to pray.  They are no more, and no less than that.  And besides, is this not a time to pray for our nation and world plunging into darkness?  To pray for Christians everywhere, many who are in bondage and suffering? What IS the problem of being called to prayer for a nation that has given us the ability that many Christians around the world do not have as a luxury: openly and freely worshiping and witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ?

What others do or don’t do everywhere else is kind of irrelevant to us. Just because the Norwegians do not display flags in churches is not a relevant or useful argument with us. Just the other day I reminded the folks about that 1940’s business meeting, and the reason why we display the flags in sanctuary.  The prayer that night was in earnest: prayers for the nation and her leaders; prayer for our brothers and sisters in Christ everywhere. Like all the other reminders in our sanctuary, these are a good thing. Despite what may be the opinions of others, we will keep them up. We are not accountable to the nay-sayers – we are accountable to God alone.

I am a little frustrated.  You see, when I read blogs these days I get a sense of a people whose sole purpose is the cast aside all “tradition” for the sake of “because.”  No invitations (so unbiblical) no flags (so American) no standing up against cultural sin and standing up for what is true, holy, and righteous conduct (a waste of time).  I witness some who have no problem in disparaging Christians from being engaged in trying to take a stand culturally with others of like mind who may not be Christian (“hypocrisy, adulterous, idolatry”), yet have no problem in standing for edgy methods of engaging the culture which in and of itself may also be idolatrous (cursing in services, popcorn and peanuts during worship, allowing non-Christians to take over church buildings to worship their false gods, etc. etc.). Those who would never desire any level of criticism as to their doctrinal beliefs are more than willing to sling mud on others over weather or not to have an invitation, if tithing is a good thing, or if the 4th Commandment is for all of God’s creation and a moral command (rooted as it is in Genesis) or if it is irrelevant today.  And of course if one is a dispensationalist like a vast majority of our traditional churches are, then they are theologically heading to Hades in a hand basket.  How quaint!

I am frustrated. I see the vast number of young seminarians rushing to go “everywhere else” except to shepherd a small church in need of some fresh air and a new beginning. Some of these young seminarians do not want to deal with the “antiquated” beliefs of these established churches – they avoid them like a plague.  They more often than not start new churches, or hook up with the “in” crowd. How bitterly sad that seminaries built upon the good will contributions of thousands of small churches in the hopes that young men will be trained to perpetuate the work of the Gospel in their communities will never see the benefits of why they are giving to these institutions in the first place because these young men don’t want to minister with them! What exactly are they teaching at these places anymore? “With those with ears to hear, let him hear!”

Of course the biggest part of my frustration with these head wise but heart weak know-it-alls is this: they assume that people in the pews are weak, stupid, and ignorant.  They look with a hyper-critical eye at the sheep to determine the undeterminable: if they are saved or not. A couple of points here that I have concluded after some time in ministry: 1) I don’t know and 2) I will never know on this side. I preach the Truth every Sunday. I walk it and talk it within the best of my abilities and the gifts that God has by His grace given to me. Most of my flock does the same. We often fail. Guess what? That does not make us hypocrites – that makes us sinners one and all. I have carefully gone over the fruits of the spiritual life with my church family – the love chapters in 1 John so that folks can make a self-diagnosis where they stand. Those in sin we have confronted – many of them have not returned to the fold for they were not of us. But I do not assume that I know more than my folks – many times they teach me more than I know – and that is a good thing. In that I am more apt to listen to the wisdom of my older saints rather than that of young novices – it has to do with experience. It just seems to me the churches of blogmeisters seem to garner wisdom of the young and wish to ditch the old because they think they are “ignorant.”

There are a lot more things my friends we have in common than we have apart. We need as a community to seek them rather than embrace conflict as a way of life. I understand that conflict in and of itself is a part of the human condition.  I also know that our Lord said that they (the world) would know us by our love for one another.  In my frustration I am sure I have rubbed people the wrong way. Forgive me in my failure to live up to my own standards. Let us work through our frustrations with this concluding thought: while both you and I may see things that are “wrong” in one another (and it is our duty as siblings to lovingly point these things out) it is our Father who will eventually correct us alone, all by Himself.
 
Now may God bless you in your work today!