5 Annoyances With How Christians Talk About Spiritual Gifts

Love is the theme of 1 Corinthians 13. About 75% of the time I’ve heard 1 Corinthians 13 mentioned is in the context of marriage. Seemingly every wedding has it read, which is fine, it’s the most redeeming aspect of most weddings.

But the context is not at all about weddings or marriage.

1 Corinthians 12 is about spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 14 is about using spiritual gifts within a church gathering.

The theme of love is brought up in the middle of those chapters.

If you don’t have love, all your spiritual gift does is cause problems.

This isn’t a weakness or fault with spiritual gifts; it’s a fault of ours. We are proud. Pride warps spiritual gifts.

Spiritual gifts are for the benefit of the church, but proud people turn them into, “Hey everyone! Look at me! Look at me!” This causes division and confusion. This is especially true if there are multiple arrogant people who think they have spiritual gifts.

The first three chapters of 1 Corinthians are about division in the church. Pride was the cause. Lack of love and pride go together. Love thinks about other people; pride thinks about me, me, me.

Throughout my years as a pastor there were many needs in the church. I thought of people who could help meet those needs. I asked them to help.

Guess what I heard approximately 98% of the time?

“It’s not my gift.”

Oh gag.

I have some thoughts about the people who say, “It’s not my gift.”

1. People who say “it’s not my gift,” never exercise any gift. They don’t do anything. If a person had a discernible gift that they were using regularly, I’d be happier hearing “it’s not my gift.” But that’s not what happened. “It’s not my gift” was said by those who never did anything.

2. “It’s not my gift” is a most sanctimonious excuse for Christian laziness. The bottom line is that you don’t feel like doing what is needed. Just say that. Just say you don’t want to do it. Be honest. I don’t want to. I don’t have the time. I don’t have the money. I can’t stand those people. Don’t put some fake spiritual veneer on top of you apathy. Don’t spiritualize laziness.

3. Love is the motivation for the use of spiritual gifts. Love thinks about the other person. If you love the people in your church you will look for ways you can help them. Whenever you help someone in the church, that’s you exercising a spiritual gift. People who never find a spiritual gift, are simply people who don’t love people in their church.

4. Paul says to “covet earnestly the best gifts,” which makes it sound like you can get as many spiritual gifts as you want. The idea you are locked into one or two gifts is nonsense. This is especially true if you see many needs in your church. Why not be the person who develops the gift the church needs right now?

5. There’s a notion that spiritual gifts are things we naturally enjoy doing. Spiritual gifts often get confused with natural ability or pleasure. This is nonsense. Spiritual gifts must at some level be spiritual; they can’t just be natural talents or things you were born enjoying. Biblical love includes sacrifice. Love hurts. Yet people in churches seem to think that if my service inconveniences me or costs me something, it must not be my gift. I think they assume people with a spiritual gift just love using that gift all the time and are always happy and free of sacrifice. This isn’t the case. I’d suggest that you know you’re exercising a spiritual gift when you are laying down your life for someone, as Christ did for us, which doesn’t always feel great.

That’s not to say that spiritual gifts must feel terrible. There are people who are good at things, but it must be discerned whether they are naturally talented or spiritually gifted. Lots of good speakers speak in churches, yet the content of their speeches let you know they don’t have the spiritual gift of preaching or teaching.

The proof of a spiritual gift is that people are edified and helped, not whether the person who did it is good at it.

In the end, all the times I was told “it’s not my gift,” guess who ended up doing that stuff? I did. I can attest to you not all these things were my spiritual gift. But I did it anyway because it had to be done I loved the people who needed the help.

That’s not me patting myself on the back. This was hard. It stretched me, but it also made me better at exercising spiritual gifts. I learned a ton and I think was able to help people. I wanted others to get this same great experience.

But I couldn’t get them off their butts to go help.

Spiritual gifts are not determined by you looking at yourself and seeing what your pride thinks you’re good at.

Spiritual gifts are determined by what needs your church has and by how your love responds to those needs.

The church has really messed this issue up and most Christians, instead of seeing spiritual gifts as reason to be helpful, instead use them as excuses to be lazy.

This shouldn’t be so.

There is a more excellent way: LOVE. Love people and spiritual gifts will take care of themselves.

_____________________________________

If you’d like to hear more of my annoyance with how churches are completely blowing it, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

Fathers and Priests

A priest, in the biblical sense of the word, is someone who intercedes on behalf of someone else before God.

Not all priests were official priests. Take Job for instance.

Job probably lived during the time of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Job was probably the first written book of the Bible.

Melchizedek was out there at this time too, and is referred to as a priest, so he seems to be the first official priestly office holder (Genesis 14:18).

But Job made sacrifices for his kids and interceded for them in case they cursed God in their hearts (Job 1:5).

There is no explanation of this behavior, no mention as to whether it “worked.” But it is mentioned in part as proof of the uprightness of Job. It certainly wasn’t a bad thing.

That role is similar to what a priest does.

Perhaps fathers were the first priests. Any good dad will petition God on behalf of his kids. Good dads are aware of their children’s sins and weaknesses, the areas of life they will have trouble in.

I have prayed many, many times for my children. I did this when they were little when they had no real notion of God or prayer. They aren’t living in conscious awareness of God, and I know it needs to occur, so I did it for them.

When they were and are older, I pray for them because I know they are out there on their own doing who knows what. I don’t really know their heart. I know they are in a young part of life where they get busy and might not be thinking about God or prioritizing life in light of Him as well as they could. So I pray for them.

My kids do not need me as a mediator between them and God. Christ is the one mediator. I’m not saying I’m actually their priest, I’m saying that the father role is priest-like!

I don’t know if any of my prayers for my kids have made an actual difference. I don’t know if God is more merciful to them on account of my prayers for them.

I guess I don’t really care, in one sense. It’s a natural outflow of loving my kids. I do know that things are working out ok for me and them, and part of that has to at least be on account of my loving concern for their spiritual health. I can’t imagine things would be better if I hadn’t done all that on their behalf.

The priest knew more about God and saw more about God than the children of Israel did. They knew, or were supposed to know, more and were to take their increased knowledge of God, plus their responsibility as leaders of the people, seriously and intercede.

Parents do the same thing. They know more than their kids. They know more of God and the spiritual needs of their kids if they are paying attention. How can a parent not intercede on behalf of their kids?

One way is if the parents are spiritually dead themselves and simply not concerned for spiritual things. Another way is when parents get their kids saved by forcing them in so many ways to “say the prayer.” Once they “get them saved,” they cease worrying about the eternal state of their children.

This is not good parenting or priesting.

Parents have a critical role in the spiritual health of their children. Kids reflect their parents. There are always exceptions to the rule, but they are pretty rare.

Be spiritually concerned for your kids, no matter how old they are or whether or not you think they are saved. It’s sort of the job of being a parent. This is especially true if you are a pastor. The Apostle Paul says if you’re not a good father you shouldn’t be a pastor (1 Timothy 3:4-5). I imagine this means something.

In all your concern for the spiritual health of people in your church, start with the people in your family.

Is Giving Money to Church, Giving Money to God?

I’ve been told many times in many ways in many churches that if I give them money, that’s me giving money to God.

That is one astounding statement.

Getting yourself confused with God is the essence of pride. It is what Satan did that resulted in his fall. It’s the temptation he subsequently used to get humanity to fall—you will be like God (Genesis 3:5). He hasn’t changed tactics.

The Catholic Church historically took this notion further than anyone, blatantly saying that giving them money resulted in forgiveness of sins. Martin Luther quipped that chief Catholic money-raiser, Johann Tetzel, acted on the principle that, “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, another soul from purgatory springs.”

Protestants love bashing on Catholics; it’s one of our favorite things to do. There’s good reason for doing so, but there’s also good reason to heed Paul’s warning when confronting other people’s sins: confront humbly, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted (Galatians 6:1).

The more we point out the fault in other people, the cloudier our vision of ourselves becomes. Yes, the Catholic Church thought they were in the place of God. The idea that Protestant churches are free from this error is laughable.

Any church that tells you that giving them money is how you give God money, is falling into the same trap.

Sure, we don’t say that exact thing, and most Protestants stop short of saying that giving them money leads to forgiveness of sins, we don’t copy the exact error, but boy howdy do we like telling people our church is in the place of God.

Protestants also like to go on about Sola Scriptura, the idea that the Bible is our sole authority for life and doctrine. This is said a lot. Way more than it’s acted on.

For instance, how many verses in the Bible tell us to give money to church?

Google, “Bible verses that say to give money to church.” You’ll come up with several results. Click on one that seems promising. Read those verses. Note how none of them say to give money to church!

2 Corinthians is often used as the go-to source for guilting people into giving money to church. That is because one reason 2 Corinthians was written was to guilt the Corinthian church into giving money!

Why did Paul want them to give money?

The church in Corinth was filthy rich. Many churches in Paul’s day were struggling and getting beat up in persecution. In 1 Corinthians Paul told them to gather up some money “for the saints” (1 Corinthians 16:1). The saints were the poor saints in Jerusalem. Paul brings up their need in Romans 15:26 also.

Poorer churches gave. Corinth did not. Paul writes 2 Corinthians to guilt them into giving their money for the poor saints. He already told other churches they would (2 Corinthians 9:1-5), and they promised they would (2 Corinthians 8:10-11), but they didn’t. Paul compels them to do what they promised.

Many people will partially quote 1 Corinthians 16:2 that we should take up a collection on the first day of the week, Sunday. Obviously this refers to taking up an offering in a church service on Sundays.

Yes, indeed, that’s what it says to do. The money, however, was to be used for the poor saints in Jerusalem. That’s the entire context of giving money in 1 and 2 Corinthians.

This is not Paul telling churches to take up an offering for salaries and buildings. It’s for the poor.

The only verse that remotely comes close to telling people to give money to church is 1 Timothy 5:17, “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.”

Allow me to make two opinionated points:

1. All usages of giving money in the New Testament are for helping the poor. 1 Timothy 5:17 probably assumes that the elders were poor. That was probably due to the fact they were laboring in the word and doctrine, and that time commitment cut into their billable hours at a regular job.

2. There are very few elders who were supposed to be given double honor, especially in our day. I have known and do know many pastors. There are very few who are laboring in the word and doctrine. Mostly they are running a business labeled a church and putting on social programs. Yet in our day, the vast majority of all church budgets go for salaries and benefits.

OK, my two opinionated points are over.

Even 1 Timothy 5:17 doesn’t tell you to give money to a church; it says to give it to an elder who is helping you spiritually.

All other usages of giving money in the New Testament are about giving money for the poor.

The word “alms,” which Jesus uses for giving money, refers to giving money to the poor. Matthew 6 says to give your alms discreetly so no one, not even your left hand, knows about it. He’s talking about giving to the poor, not putting money in the church offering to update the furnace. You can update the furnace if it needs it, but don’t tell people that’s giving alms or giving money to God!

In Acts 2 and 4 we are told that the early church had all things in common. Members sold their personal property and took care of each other’s needs. Meeting the needs of others was the whole point of selling their stuff (Acts 2:45 and 4:34).

Luke 12:33 says we are to lay up treasures in heaven. The way to do that, based on this very same verse, is by giving alms, sometimes translated “charity.” It means giving to the poor or someone in need.

The rich, young ruler was told to sell all he had and give to the church building fund. Oh wait, I read that wrong. He was also told to give to the poor (Matthew 19:21).

Mark 12:42-44 is often used by churches to get the last drop out of their people. The widow gave her last mites into the temple treasury. The temple treasury was used for purchasing sacrifices, wood for the fires, upkeep of the temple, and also for the priests. Doesn’t this mean giving for the temporal running of the church is giving to God?

It might, it’s probably the best verse to prove that. It should be noted that the temple is not the church though. We, the individual and collective members of the Body of Christ are the temple in the NT. This fits quite nicely with the idea that giving money means giving to other people, not the running of an institution in between us and God.

The New Testament temple is not an institution or a building; it’s people. People say this all the time, but few act as though it was true.

The Old Covenant stressed the physical. The New Covenant stresses the spiritual. Christ died so we wouldn’t have to pay for animal sacrifices, and priests, and altars, and silver bowls and spoons for temple service. He freed us from that so now we can actually use our physical money and stuff for helping people. Unfortunately, most churches accumulate stuff and buildings and go right back into slavery keeping them from helping those in need.

Many who tell you that giving to the church is giving to God will use Old Testament Scriptures. Since we don’t have elders who have given themselves to the word and doctrine, very few people understand the distinctions between the two testaments in their Bible. This has lots of bad results.

Many in the Health and Wealth movement base their notions of money on the Old Testament. The Old Testament said if you obey God you will get physical blessings; if you disobeyed you would get physical curses. Deuteronomy 28 is probably the best passage to illustrate that.

The law was given to the physical race of Israel. It was written on a physical rock. All the 600+ laws were about how they physically handled physical stuff. If the physical people of Israel kept their physical laws written on a physical rock dealing with their physical stuff, God would physically bless them in their physical land (Read Deuteronomy).

The New Covenant (Testament) does away with all this (Read Hebrews).

If the verses being used to convince you that giving money to a church equals giving money to God are from the Old Testament, be careful!

There are no verses in the Bible that say you should give money to a church. All verses in the New Testament about giving money specifically say to give your money to other people: elders, the saints, and the poor or those in need.

If your church is giving to the elders, the saints, and the poor, then feel free to give to it. And yes, all churches have expenses dealing with physical things, but any church viewing their responsibility before the Lord with any seriousness, will endeavor to keep those expenses as low as possible.

I have known many pastors and I have known many churches. Very few churches are giving to the poor. Most are giving to the elders and most of those elders are not laboring in the word and doctrine. Most of the rest of the money goes for the building. And, unfortunately, many of those churches have a significant amount of their money going to a bank in interest payments.

The church today is not following the New Testament and has more or less fallen into the same unbiblical ways as the Catholic Church we so love to bash.

Money and power go together. When a church tells you that giving money to them is what it means to give to God, they are falling into the trap of money and power. Humility and meekness are much easier if you don’t have money!

If your church routinely tells you that giving to them is giving to God, this is a huge warning sign.

Be careful out there.

___________________________________

If you’d like to hear more about my views I think are biblical that no one likes, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

Why I Get Depressed When I’m Around Christians (as far as I know)

About 90% of the time I’m around Christians, I’m more depressed afterwards than before.

I said this on Twitter and someone replied, “Either you or they are not doing it right.”

I’m aware of this, and this deepens my depression.

I will fully admit that this experience is at least partially, if not entirely, my fault. I imagine I’m a proud, egotistical, self-righteous, judgmental jerk. I’m saying that honestly. The odds this is entirely the case are pretty good.

So, that’s one option, and probably the first one on the list. But for the sake of argument, I’ll pretend there is at least a percentage that might be their fault.

If we grant that possibility, here is my explanation of my depression around Christians.

Also, let me add real quick, that the 10% of the time I’m not depressed around Christians is very real. I am not depressed after a conversation with a Christian where we talk about the Bible and get into swapping verses and thinking together through a question, while we both come up with other verses, and by the end everyone present has been edified and it’s so cool.

This is generally one-on-one style of communication, but I’ve also occasionally had it in a group setting.

Now, to the 90%. Here’s how it goes.

1. Every time I go into a Christian environment, I pray for me, for everyone else there, and anyone who opens their mouth. I pray that we are all edified and brought closer to Christ. This is my sincere desire for every meeting of believers. This is my constant prayer going into any Christian gathering, whether it’s a church service or grabbing lunch.

2. As mouths open, I am routinely shocked by the unbiblical nonsense that almost immediately comes forth. Once one weird thing has been said, I begin praying, “Lord help me to know what to say, how to say it, and if I should say it.” I usually wait, hoping, praying someone else heard it too.

3. Inevitably, the next open mouth will not only not correct the first mouth that opened, the second mouth will dig the hole of unbiblical nonsense deeper.

4. As the unbiblical nonsense is shared, I get a pain in my gut. You know that feeling when you have diarrhea that first time and you’re not sure what’s going on yet? Yeah, that feeling. The physical pain in my stomach increases until I must say something.

5. I carefully and as humbly as possible (not always possible unfortunately) quote a verse and try to steer the conversation back to biblical solid ground.

6. People either stare at me, laugh, argue, or ignore what I said. Rarely ever has anyone taken the bait to actually correct where the conversation is going.

7. I am now the bad guy, the one who made it awkward, the one who is “sowing division.”

8. I leave the gathering feeling terrible about everything. I pray earnestly for the people who said unbiblical nonsense and for me and for the church, and for, dear Lord, please come quickly.

9. Then I go home and hash and rehash what was said. Was I right? Were they really wrong. I look up stuff. I pray. I give way better answers to the imaginary replaying of the event in my head.

10. About two days later I’m over it. Now it’s time to go to Wednesday night church and repeat it all over again.

Let me give you an example I had last year. There was a group of 20 or 30 believers talking about Lot in the context of 2 Peter 2, particularly the verse that said righteous Lot vexed his soul over the wicked conduct of the people around him. I was not the leader in any way and am not a pastor of anyone in the group; I’m just another person sitting there.

About four people opened their mouths on this verse and it went like this:

First Person: Lot shouldn’t have moved close to those cities.

Second Person: Yeah, I heard he should have let Abraham choose first.

Third Person: It’s not right to be vexed in your soul.

Fourth Person: Yeah, it was a sin for him to be vexed; he should have been trusting God.

This verse, which is clearly a defense of Lot even though we like hating on him, was turned into saying the exact opposite point.

This is one of thousands of examples, some more distressing; some less. All annoying.

When you’re the guy who is always throwing cold water on people’s fun pontificating, people get real tired of you. I decided not to say anything about this one. I let it go. I took my diarrhea feeling home with me.

I never know what to do. But whatever I do is wrong. It never makes any difference to say anything anyway. There are times I have to though, and I hate it every time. I won’t sleep that night.

I was on the phone for an hour today with the cable company to cut my cable. After the hour long conversation I felt terrible. Maybe I was rude. Maybe I should have been more patient. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. Maybe the best thing would have been to just keep the cable and avoid the whole situation.

So, maybe it’s just me and my insecure introvert awkwardness.

I like to think my sadness over the unbiblical nonsense spoken by so many Christians might have something to do with me being in the body of the Man of sorrows who was acquainted with grief. I like to think it’s me following James’ advice to turn my laughter into mourning. I like to think this response is a good thing and shows my spiritual discernment.

Then again, knowledge puffs up.

Nothing I do ever feels like it was the right thing to do. It’s all very depressing.

I know there are many people who can’t relate to all this. I know “It’s not your job to fix people,” and “it’s not your responsibility.” I know all that. I never said any of that.

I’m looking at it more from the standpoint of judgment day and me giving an account for how well I handled God’s Word (which will judge us by the way) and how well I helped others handle God’s Word too.

If I didn’t love people, if I didn’t care, none of this would bother me. That’s my other justification. It just shows how great my love is for others.

Could be, then again, I probably just want to be right.

I don’t know.

I skipped church for two weeks straight last month and it was the happiest two weeks of the year.

________________________________

If you’d like to hear more about my depression caused by pastoring Christians, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

Why Are You A Pastor?

In my talks with pastors over the years, I’m not sure why many of them are in the ministry. Some are pretty blunt that they have to make money and they don’t know what else to do. One of the downsides of seminary education is that you are not qualified to do anything. Although, that appears to be the point of all education at this point, but I digress.

When I was preparing for pastoral ministry, my main motivation was thinking I could make the church better. I was judgmental about how churches did stuff. Instead of just complaining about the church, get in there and help if you know so much.

That was my thinking at the time. There was a bit of a Messiah Complex going on, not gonna lie. The church that showed interest in my help was in sort of a desperate situation, a perfect place for a messiah to go. It was a perfect fit.

And, as you can imagine, worked out terribly.

I know other pastors who approached ministry this way as well. They were honestly trying to help the church, but by “help the church” we mean “do church the way that makes me comfortable.”

I think this is the impulse behind 97% of church planting efforts: Let’s finally get a church that does everything how we want it done.

Yes, I know, I’m cynical, I’m also pretty observant and that sure looks like what’s going on.

The Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 2 explains why he is in the ministry. It’s slightly different from my reason:

God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the ma Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. (1 Timothy 2:3b-7a)

It appears as though Paul entered the ministry to make much of Christ and let people know Christ was the way and means of salvation. His preaching ministry was to make Christ known.

What a weirdo.

Obviously we all know this is the reason to go into ministry. Duh. In fact, most of us would probably even say it if we were asked, or at least something pretty close. Yet anytime a guy says this is his reason for being in ministry, I’ma go ahead and judge him. “Yeah right. I bet, you sanctimonious fruitcake.”

We know it’s the right answer and that actually it’s the only answer, yet we also know the thoughts and intents of our heart.

Is that really why I’m doing this?
Would I do this if I weren’t getting paid?
Would I do it on my “day off?”

What about to those annoying people I’m sick of talking to?

But wait, does that mean I don’t have to do hospital visits then because I’m too busy preaching about Jesus, because if so, I’d totally make more of Christ then.

What we say we believe is best revealed by what we do. You can say all day long that you are a pastor to glorify Christ, but what do you actually do?

Paul said he was in ministry to proclaim salvation and sufficiency in Christ. That’s the right answer. Is it your answer? Is it your answer in words, or is that actually what you’re doing?

Think about it, and act accordingly.

________________________________________

If you’d like to hear more about my failed Messiahship of a ministry, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

Paul’s First Command To Timothy: Pray

Prayer is our most unused tool in the church.

Our prayers become formulaic, everyone has to sound like they are praying, with all the “Father Gods” and “Lords” and King James English and breathy tones. We know what it sounds like to pray, so we do our best to sound like that.

If your voice changes when you pray, you’re probably praying for the audience.

On top of that, most of our prayers are only concerned with physical things, and mostly with our health. If it weren’t for getting sick, I don’t know that most Christians would ever pray.

As a pastor, it’s very important that you pray right. People will follow your example whether you want them to or not.

By “right,” I of course mean biblically. You don’t have to measure up to my standard. You should measure up to God’s.

How you pray will impact your life; how you live will impact your prayers.

Our prayers should reflect the new life in Christ made available in the Gospel. We should have new concerns, things that are higher than this earth, things that would come out of the mouth of a citizen of heaven.

If we are made new spiritual creations in Christ Jesus, you would think our primary concerns would be for spiritual things.

You would think so, but no casual glance at Christianity reflects this.

We pray as if we are merely physical people and all our concerns are physical. New jobs, new cars, knee problems, cancer treatments, kid’s taking tests, etc.

Certainly these things are real concerns and we are told we can pray about all things. Nothing wrong with praying about these things. Did you hear me?! There’s nothing wrong with praying about these things.

BUT DON’T FORGET THE SPIRITUAL COMPONENT WHICH IS FAR GREATER!

When people want me to pray for their cancer treatments or desire for a new job, I will always include something along the lines of “help them learn whatever they can through this experience and lead them to spiritual growth.” I even go so far as to say, “If them having cancer draws them closer to you, then let them have cancer. If healing them will draw them closer; then heal them.” You’ll be amazed at how fewer people will ask you to pray for all their issues!

Raise people’s vision higher. Remind them of our spiritual selves that will live for eternity.

Before Paul tells Timothy anything directly related to how to be a leader in a church, he says:

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, (1 Timothy 2:1-3)

The first thing Paul brings up is prayer! Primarily prayer for people, and especially for people in positions of authority.

Why the focus on praying for people, particularly those in authority?

Because Paul wants us to shut up.

The church should not be marked with political wrangling and theorizing and bashing on authority. The world does that. Those are the world’s people dealing with the world’s concerns. They have nothing else. For after all these things do the Gentiles (the unsaved nations) seek.

Christians are different. The world can have the world. The world is dead to me (Galatians 6:14).

We wrestle not against flesh and blood. Donald Trump is not your enemy. Joe Biden is not your enemy. Satan is. Don’t be fooled. Pray for all these people, as most of them are caught in Satan’s grip. Pray for their souls.

If you viewed your political enemies as souls who will spend eternity somewhere, and spent more time praying for them than bashing them, I imagine your heart would be softened. I imagine that would lead to a quiet and peaceable life.

Praying constantly for the spiritual help of everyone around you will make you quiet, peaceful, godly, and dignified.

People red in the face angry, screaming and carrying on, is not a mark of one who is born from above. Of one who has been placed into the body of the Prince of Peace. Of one who has the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, PEACE).

Our prayers should raise us above the fray.

Oh yes, I know, here’s where That One Guy says, “Don’t be so heavenly minded you’re no earthly good.”

Never in the history of humanity has anyone ever been too heavenly minded. Jesus Christ, who actually came from heaven to earth, and then went back to heaven, was the most perfectly heavenly minded person ever and He had quite the impact down here.

Don’t buy into that stupid line.

You will never in a million years be too heavenly minded. That is in fact one of our main problems in life: we are too earthly minded. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life consume us. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. Etc.

Being excessively heavenly minded is exactly what we should be and it’s desperately what people in our church need to see in their pastor.

If you were heavenly minded your prayers would reflect it. Pray for people. This is where Paul starts with Timothy.

__________________________________

If you’d like to hear more of what I think the Bible says to pastors that will annoy people, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

Pastoral Ministry is Warfare

Paul calls Timothy’s ministry “warfare.” I love this (1 Timothy 1:18).

The word means military service, your tour of duty. I’ve heard many pastors who retired or left the ministry talk about their time in it. Certainly sounds like guys returning from the battlefield to swap war stories. I know I have mine.

Ministry isn’t easy and there are many battles to be fought. The first battle is with your own sin, pride, and various other things that can take you down.

That’s why Paul tells Timothy right after this to “hold faith and a good conscience” (1:19). Stick with the faith, you’re not done, the just shall live by faith. A good conscience, which is informed by Scripture and empowered by the Holy Spirit, will keep you from veering from it.

Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. When you lose grip on faith, sin happens. When sin happens, the spiritually mature person’s conscience will alert them.

If you veer from the faith and your conscience is spoiled or hardened, you will make shipwreck of your faith and your ministry will be a disaster.

Paul mentions Hymeneaus and Alexander in verse 20. These two guys did leave the faith and lost their good conscience. Paul handed them over to Satan.

This is the second battle the pastor will face: Battling idiots in the church. False teachers, deceivers, and just plain old ignorant fools are making a mess of the church. The pastor’s overseer and protector job is largely concerned with these people.

One of the hardest parts of being a pastor for me was seeing my own battle with sin, and yet having to discipline someone in the church for their sin and the division they were causing in the church because of it.

“Who am I to do this?”

Part of this was my fault for not taking my sin seriously enough to knock it off. Part of it was insecurity, sometimes brought on by a bad conscience. I knew my sin. I knew the rationalizations my flesh made with it. What if they find out? What if they do ask me “Who are you to tell me” when they actually might have a point?

I hated church discipline situations. Having the awkward conversations that had to be confronted. Hated every second of it.

In hindsight, I could have been better at keeping the faith and a good conscience. If I had done that, I imagine I would have approached these battles with more confidence in the Lord. I kind of have to say though, that my recurring battles with sin did keep me humble and I think that helped in some of these situations.

But that’s probably just more self-justifications.

Ministry is war. If yours isn’t, you either have a perfect church or you’re not paying attention to yourself and your sin, or to people in your church.

I know some happy pastors who don’t view their ministry as warfare. They seem to have zero self-awareness and confront no one on anything ever.

You can indeed have a non-warfare ministry if you desire one. It won’t help anyone and don’t be shocked if false teaching overtakes your church at some point.

And, just so we don’t forget: we wrestle not against flesh and blood. The weapons of our warfare are not physical but spiritual.

There’s another realm of warfare going on too. I felt it several times during my 21 years in ministry warfare. There was definitely something bigger going on. Too many coincidental things to be merely coincidental.

If you’re not feeling the slings and arrows in ministry, you’re probably not doing much spiritual ministry. If you are feeling the battle, congrats! Good job. It means you’re probably doing something right.

At all points of the battle, before, during, or after, hold fast to the faith and a good conscience. Do battle with your own sin and pride.

Don’t shipwreck yourself or others.

Fight the fight!

________________________________

If you’d like to hear more details about my depressing experiences pastoring my church, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

Don’t Forget Pastor: You’re a Sinner

In 1 Timothy, Paul says he is the “chief of sinners.” He’s #1 in the sinner rankings. Many have noted that Paul said earlier in his ministry that he was less than the least of all saints and less than the other apostles.

Paul had a serious view of his sin. Paul was a man. Never forget that biblical people were still human. Paul sinned, not just in the past, but all his life. When you see your sin, it is depressing.

I’ve heard Christians say that because of Christ’s forgiveness you shouldn’t have any regrets or shame about the past. I understand the point. Paul also said to “forget those things that are behind.” But to have a calloused attitude toward sin, to not be humbled by your trespasses, seems dangerous territory.

Paul was in ministry. Ministry has a way of making you see other people’s sins, and boy howdy will you see them. You’ll see and hear about so many of them you might be tempted to think, “What is wrong with you people?” Perhaps you’ll follow that up with, “Lord, thank you that you did not make me like those sinners.”

As soon as sin becomes “what other people do” and you view yourself as better than those lowly, evil sinners, you should resign.

Yes, forgiveness is great and yes, God has removed our sin as far as the east is from the west. We should press toward the mark and forget what is behind. But never forget you were and are a sinner.

The flip side of not seeing your sin is to have a hardened conscience, which in the Bible is always a characteristic of unbelievers. If we say we have no sin we are liars.

Paul knew his sin, remembered his sin, and regretted his sin. This is normal and healthy, a mark of true spiritual wisdom.

Paul didn’t beat himself into the ground over it, he didn’t whine and give up in mopey inadequacy. Paul saw the sin, but also saw the greatness of His Savior. Read the full quote:

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

–1 Timothy 1:15-17

Paul saw his sin right along with the greatness of his Savior, leading him to worship his great God.

There are many reports of pastors falling into disgrace. Typically this happens because they don’t take their sin seriously. They fixate on and yell about the sins of others, while feeling their “sins” are justified because of their spiritual position. They revel in their “Man of God” status, they feel they are God’s gift to humanity, the whole church needs them and their wisdom.

You’d never hear any of them say they were the chief of sinners, or less than the least of all saints (However, some do belabor this point in humble bragging, which is also a warning sign).

Humility should mark your ministry. Humility is best understood by seeing that you are a sinner, not just them other people, but you, the guy up front, the “spiritual leader.”

Don’t lose sight of your sin, your need for a Savior and the Gospel, and your need for spiritual growth and maturing. Self-righteousness is nothing more than forgetting you are a sinner.

At the same time, you do no one any good to wallow in your sinful misery and be too afraid of the master and bury your talents. Yes, your sin is tremendous, but our Savior and His Gospel are more powerful still.

___________________________________

I Am Grateful for My Years in Pastoral Ministry

Although I have enjoyed making fun of and complaining about and whining about and being cynical about pastoral ministry for years, I have to say, my years as a pastor were one of the best things that ever happened to me.

I consider it all to be a giant blessing and honor.

Before I get too uncharacteristically carried away in positivity, let me say that I did not feel this way during most of my years in ministry! There were brutal days. I was swallowed up in deep depression for years.

The struggles were real. The lack of money was real. The pressure to please people was real. The humiliation and disrespect were real. It was all real and felt horrible.

But over time, especially now that I’m out, the clarity of hindsight has shown me what a great thing all the misery was. Tribulation works patience, experience, and hope, and hope does not make ashamed.

It’s through those tough times that I lost confidence in myself and was driven to God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, and the comfort of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

If those terrible things had never happened, if everything had gone well instead, I fear to think of what my spiritual state would be today.

I was not equipped to handle success as a young man. I know I would have become a massively arrogant jerk. I would have been one of those fallen pastors we enjoy posting about on Twitter. I needed to be cut down. Being a pastor in the church I was in cut me down very well.

Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:12-14:

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

I don’t claim to be appointed like Paul was. I had no Damascus Road experience with my ministry spelled out for me. Nor can I claim my past life was the result of ignorance in unbelief.

I grew up in a pastor’s family. We had Bibles everywhere. My ignorance was entirely due to laziness and self-righteousness. It wasn’t until that was beaten out of me and I was driven to the Word for lack of other options, did I start to become less ignorant.

Now I can give thanks to the Lord for the opportunity I had to serve Him, as flawed and pathetic as it seemed to be. It was an honor to teach God’s people from God’s Word. I should have been more grateful during it.

The Lord is the ultimate judge of our ministry. Endeavor to please Him, never forgetting that we do the job to serve Him. It’s not for the pay, the prestige, the respect, the power, the influence, or any number of other possible candidates that drive people into pastoral ministry.

It’s to serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What an honor and privilege it is.

___________________________________

Good Preaching Annoys Bad Sinners

I am working my way through the Pastoral Epistles one post at a time. The next section is 1 Timothy 1:8-11, which says that the law is to be used correctly. People who don’t have sound doctrine will always say weird things about the law.

Legalists add to it and constantly bash people into the ground over scruples, most of which can be seen. There’s always an external something you’re supposed to do to conform, and if you don’t show that external thing they pounce on you.

Some go the other way and stretch grace and love so far that it leads to lasciviousness. They find ways to eliminate all law, and often endeavor to explain how we can do all the things the law says we can’t and that God is cool with this.

Both are wrong.

Paul said the law is not made for a righteous person, but for a long list of sinner types. Read the list sometime. It’s in 1 Timothy 1:9-10. He lists 14 sinful types of people and then adds “and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine.”

I imagine that includes a lot of stuff.

I’ve often heard people whine that doctrine is impractical and irrelevant; it just gets in the way of unity. It’s just arguing about theories of the atonement or theories of the trinity and other issues that have nothing to do with, like, real life, man.

This is incredibly stupid.

The reason people don’t like doctrine is because sound doctrine always leads to sound behavior. When you’re taught right; you act right. People enjoy their sin, that’s why there’s so much bad doctrine in the church today.

Sound doctrine, according to 1 Timothy 1:11, is in accordance with the Gospel.

There are many warped gospels in the church: Easy Believism, the Health and Wealth Gospel, Universalism, Fatalistic Calvinism, etc. All of these exist because people don’t have right doctrine because they would rather sin and get away with it.

One of the main jobs of a pastor is the preaching of the Word. This preaching should be according to sound doctrine, which will put you at odds with sinners and the sins they enjoy.

Many pastors cave here. They feel the desire to preserve or manufacture unity trumps the teaching of sound doctrine. Some cave because they know their church can’t afford to lose more donors. Some don’t mention right doctrine and wrong sins because they themselves are in bondage to sins.

There are many reasons for preaching bad doctrine and none of those reasons are good.

There is one reason to preach sound doctrine and that’s because God says to do it! I suggest you go ahead and do that regardless of how many people it bothers or how much humility or repentance it might require in you.

People like to sin. If you preach against sin, people will not like you. Tough. Deal with it. It’s the job. If you’re not willing to do that, then get a different job.

Make sure you’re doing it in love though! Some pastors turn into massive jerks here. Speak the truth in love. The desired outcome is the salvation of souls and the edification of believers, not an uber-powerful pastor who slams everyone around.

If you’re not willing to preach the truth in love, then get a different job.

Sound doctrine is what people need. In order to help them get it, the pastor has to have it. Sound doctrine is always shown by righteous living, which is why the qualifications for church leadership are all based on righteous living.

This is a big deal. Get this right.

______________________________________

If you’d like to hear more of my accumulated pastoral “wisdom” that shrunk my church, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!