The longer I am a pastor the more I desire to let people know that I am JUST like them. A peculiar thing happens when you are a "paid minister". People treat you different. It is amazing how peoples language goes through a "talking to preacher" filter. On the golf course, around the 3rd to 4th hole, when they find out what I do for a living, it is humorous to see men apologize profusely for the joke they just shared. Around the "church front" many times instead of saying "that person really hurt me", they say "Oh the enemy is trying to attack me" or "Oh blank!!,(enter the cuss word that people usually use), becomes, "Wow,I feel like David did when he was beseiged by his enemies in Psalms 68". People will say, "no way", oh yes it is so true. You think you get "church speak" at church, I get it everywere I go.
That why I am so blessed to have elders like I do. Todd Parks and Doug Vaughn are two jewels who have pastored churches and they are as real as the day is long. I am also blessed to many friends who are the same. In fact, there are too many to list. I tried it-- and it was getting out of hand. They are who they are, wherever they are, with whomever they are with. Praise God I MARRIED the real deal.
It is refreshing to be around people who are more concerned with how God sees them then how they appear. These people seem to bring the peace of God wherever they go. Sometimes I think this is an overlooked aspect of bringing the Kingdom of God to the world. In the Kingdom there is no insecurity. Instead there is a self-less confidence that is bold yet humble: it defies "earthly" logic but hints of a place where things are as they should be. It is beautiful, it is exotic, it is peaceful and it is daring. Those who cross the path of a Kingdom life seem to go in opposite directions. To some it brings intrigue and others it brings anger. To some it is the answer to what they have always hoped for, to others it fuels a fire of rage that consumes more life.
It's interesting, and I know it can be done ad nauseam, but when I make myself real in the pulpit, people really seem to respond. I just read a blog by Patric Mead called "Tent Pegs", he talked about being like Isaac. He admitted that he is a preacher because it keeps him going to church and he needs that. Oh he has a tremendous passion for God and Christ, it is just the church part he struggles with. He is introverted. A natural loner. And the guts to be real. I love an honest guy. I love that fact the bible is so honest. It is full of "real People". I am preaching a series called "FAith that Works", profiles of the "giants" of faith in Hebrews 11. The more I study these characters, and that is what they are!!!!, the more I see God's grace in it all. Noah gets of the good ship ARK , promplty plants a vineyard and gets drunk. Abraham sleeps with his maid and lies, not once, but twice about his wife to cover his own butt. Jacob- Oh my gosh!!! Talk about a manipulator!! ..... Rahab... all the real people. All these people riddled with fear and failures and what does God remember: their Faith. If it weren't for these "real people" I a might think that these "saints" never sinned. I might be inclined to think they were like all the perfect people in church. Like all those preachers who are so full of faith and have it all together. I might never know that God could use a weak, stained, narcisistic, Pharisee like me. Praise God he uses real people. The truth really does set us free.
It ocurred to me the other day how good a deal we really have: God places Jesus' righteousness on us, forgives and forgets our sin, and gives us credit for any good that we do. What a deal. I am given credit for the miniscule good, forgiven for the mountainous bad. What Grace. What a Savior. I can give my life to a God like that.
