Weary in Doing Good
Sunday, November 18th, 2007
Twenty-fifth after Pentecost
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Theme: Renewing our Strength When we are Tired of doing what is right
Bone weary.
Stumbling exhaustion.
Glazed-eyed.
It is true. There are times in this life of ministry that one wonders when the next chance will come around to grab a few winks, preferably in a row, preferably in a horizontal position.
The demands of making oneself available to a larger family than the one God has blessed me with as my IMMEDIATE family ARE sometimes high, and at times frequent if not nonstop. There are weeks which in retrospect become a blur, sometimes a haze of coming and going and meeting and talking and visiting and calling and driving, always driving.
It is a hard task, at times, but it is always tempered by joy. It can be exhausting, but it is still, even now, energized by something other than my own physical stamina – or lack thereof.
As you know, the pastors of the Rappahannock Association periodically get together – on the first Monday of each month – to visit and pray and spend time together sharing our experiences, joys, cares and concerns, in many cases sharing a particular burden with the group with the express purpose being to serve as encouragement to each other. It is a forum for questions as well as advice to be shared. I remember one of the early conferences I attended, one of the pastors prayed our opening prayer, and his words were “Thank you God that another Sunday is over.” This was coming from a pastor who had been at his church for nearly two decades at the time, and I remember being struck not by the thought, but by the honesty of the words.
Not that I was surprised either. The emotion behind it was not of disgust or disillusion with the responsibilities of a Sunday, but it was more a mixture of … loving exasperation and … maybe weary anticipation of the NEXT Sunday to come. It was the natural relief one feels when a difficult taks is done.
The world seemed to respond in stunned surprise at the revelation in reading the book of Mother Teresa’s writings that for the last 50 years of her life she felt totally disconnected from God – she had no sense of God’s presence in what she was doing. I heard or read a reviewer comment that perhaps that was the only way she herself would be able to identify completely with that portion of the population of India which she served so admirably and selflessly for all those decades.
There are literally countless millions who work just like her. Men and women, saints of God who give themselves completely to the work of the Lord and receive NO recognition, who seldom are named or even mentioned in conversations, and who pass into the anonymous annals of history but without whom the church would be a shadow of itself.
It is to them that we owe a debt of gratitude in this season of Thanksgiving, as well as, of course, to God, for building on the foundations laid by Christ and following the example set by Paul, those who had the right to ‘eat someone’s bread without paying for it’, as Paul writes, but who, like him, did not.
It is one of the most repeated nuggets of advice I’ve heard over the last four and a half years, from fellow Pastors and others – know who you are talking to. Know what their lives are, what their worries are, what they like and dislike, what MOVES them. And as much as I am able, I’ve tried to do that. At the same time, the burden of the ministry of PREACHING – not Pastoring, but PREACHING – is to call us ALL out of our comfort zone, to face us ALL with the demands of the Gospel as WELL as the blessings of it, to confront us ALL with the fact that we live in a world that IS too dangerous for anything but truth AND too small for anything but love.
So in sharing with you about feeling tired, I’m not limiting that feeling to the tiredness that comes from being a full-time minister. It is the same tiredness that comes from being a full-time student or sole provider, eighty-hour-a-week employee, grandparent, caregiver, errand-runner, behind-the-scenes coordinator, or full-time mother.
What does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton on November 18, 2007?
We are all called by God to a specific task – to love God. And we are all called by God to one Joy – to live the life given to us in such a way that IT will be our witness to HIS love for us.
I know you’ve heard me say it time and time again, but it bears repeating, because we need reminding. On those days when we look back on the week and wonder why we do it, wonder if there isn’t something better we could be about, wonder if we really ARE answering God’s call in carrying out the duties we are carrying out, WHATEVER THEY MAY BE – we need to find those answers in the combination of our prayer life, our devotional life, and the fellowship of believers we call our faith family. Because it is within this fellowship that God provides us perspective. It is in this fellowship that God provides us with the points of view that we couldn’t think of on our own, that we have trouble understanding, and that we NEED to see in order to WALK in the other person’s shoes.
We are all prone to the same trials, temptations and sorrows. We are all subject to the same stumblings. But thank God, we are all called to face them TOGETHER. God’s message to us is that we are not alone. We have a Savior who is also our friend. And we have the comforter – the Holy Spirit – to guide us along, to PROD us along, at times, and to illuminate our minds and FIRE our hearts as we follow Christ.
Paul’s exhortation to not grow weary in doing what is right is a word directed to a family of faith that is continuously learning that its source of strength is not in its own abilities and skills and talents, but ultimately on the wellspring that flows directly from the heart of God.
Let’s pray.
Sunday, November 18th, 2007
Twenty-fifth after Pentecost
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Theme: Renewing our Strength When we are Tired of doing what is right
6 Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. 7For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, 8and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. 9This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. 10For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. 11For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. 12Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. 13Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.
Bone weary.
Stumbling exhaustion.
Glazed-eyed.
It is true. There are times in this life of ministry that one wonders when the next chance will come around to grab a few winks, preferably in a row, preferably in a horizontal position.
The demands of making oneself available to a larger family than the one God has blessed me with as my IMMEDIATE family ARE sometimes high, and at times frequent if not nonstop. There are weeks which in retrospect become a blur, sometimes a haze of coming and going and meeting and talking and visiting and calling and driving, always driving.
It is a hard task, at times, but it is always tempered by joy. It can be exhausting, but it is still, even now, energized by something other than my own physical stamina – or lack thereof.
As you know, the pastors of the Rappahannock Association periodically get together – on the first Monday of each month – to visit and pray and spend time together sharing our experiences, joys, cares and concerns, in many cases sharing a particular burden with the group with the express purpose being to serve as encouragement to each other. It is a forum for questions as well as advice to be shared. I remember one of the early conferences I attended, one of the pastors prayed our opening prayer, and his words were “Thank you God that another Sunday is over.” This was coming from a pastor who had been at his church for nearly two decades at the time, and I remember being struck not by the thought, but by the honesty of the words.
Not that I was surprised either. The emotion behind it was not of disgust or disillusion with the responsibilities of a Sunday, but it was more a mixture of … loving exasperation and … maybe weary anticipation of the NEXT Sunday to come. It was the natural relief one feels when a difficult taks is done.
The world seemed to respond in stunned surprise at the revelation in reading the book of Mother Teresa’s writings that for the last 50 years of her life she felt totally disconnected from God – she had no sense of God’s presence in what she was doing. I heard or read a reviewer comment that perhaps that was the only way she herself would be able to identify completely with that portion of the population of India which she served so admirably and selflessly for all those decades.
There are literally countless millions who work just like her. Men and women, saints of God who give themselves completely to the work of the Lord and receive NO recognition, who seldom are named or even mentioned in conversations, and who pass into the anonymous annals of history but without whom the church would be a shadow of itself.
It is to them that we owe a debt of gratitude in this season of Thanksgiving, as well as, of course, to God, for building on the foundations laid by Christ and following the example set by Paul, those who had the right to ‘eat someone’s bread without paying for it’, as Paul writes, but who, like him, did not.
It is one of the most repeated nuggets of advice I’ve heard over the last four and a half years, from fellow Pastors and others – know who you are talking to. Know what their lives are, what their worries are, what they like and dislike, what MOVES them. And as much as I am able, I’ve tried to do that. At the same time, the burden of the ministry of PREACHING – not Pastoring, but PREACHING – is to call us ALL out of our comfort zone, to face us ALL with the demands of the Gospel as WELL as the blessings of it, to confront us ALL with the fact that we live in a world that IS too dangerous for anything but truth AND too small for anything but love.
So in sharing with you about feeling tired, I’m not limiting that feeling to the tiredness that comes from being a full-time minister. It is the same tiredness that comes from being a full-time student or sole provider, eighty-hour-a-week employee, grandparent, caregiver, errand-runner, behind-the-scenes coordinator, or full-time mother.
What does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton on November 18, 2007?
We are all called by God to a specific task – to love God. And we are all called by God to one Joy – to live the life given to us in such a way that IT will be our witness to HIS love for us.
I know you’ve heard me say it time and time again, but it bears repeating, because we need reminding. On those days when we look back on the week and wonder why we do it, wonder if there isn’t something better we could be about, wonder if we really ARE answering God’s call in carrying out the duties we are carrying out, WHATEVER THEY MAY BE – we need to find those answers in the combination of our prayer life, our devotional life, and the fellowship of believers we call our faith family. Because it is within this fellowship that God provides us perspective. It is in this fellowship that God provides us with the points of view that we couldn’t think of on our own, that we have trouble understanding, and that we NEED to see in order to WALK in the other person’s shoes.
We are all prone to the same trials, temptations and sorrows. We are all subject to the same stumblings. But thank God, we are all called to face them TOGETHER. God’s message to us is that we are not alone. We have a Savior who is also our friend. And we have the comforter – the Holy Spirit – to guide us along, to PROD us along, at times, and to illuminate our minds and FIRE our hearts as we follow Christ.
Paul’s exhortation to not grow weary in doing what is right is a word directed to a family of faith that is continuously learning that its source of strength is not in its own abilities and skills and talents, but ultimately on the wellspring that flows directly from the heart of God.
Let’s pray.
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