Perhaps even more striking, the number of Americans with no close friends rose from 10 percent in 1985 to 24.6 percent in 2004, according to a report in USA Today last summer (June 23, 2006; Study: 25 Percent of Americans Have No One to Confide In). So, in this regard the church merely mirrors its society.
What was it my old professor used to say makes for a good pastor? Three things: A good head, a thick hide, and a soft heart. He was right. No good pastor I know is sufficiently well endowed with the prerequisite “thick hide” to make a perfect score on that part of the test of long-term pastoral living.
When we’re honest, we’ve all met Alexander, Demas, and the deserters. Sometimes their names are changed to protect the guilty. Be warned: If you haven’t met them yet, heed Paul’s follow-up words to young preacher Timothy, “You also must beware.” The Alexanders are there and if your ministry is worth having they’re out to get you.
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Pastor George Duffield (1818-1888) must have met his Alexanders, too. Nearly 200 years ago he penned his great hymn, Stand Up Stand Up for Jesus. Among its verses are these words: “Stand up, stand up for Jesus, stand in His strength alone; The arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own.” No truer word has ever been printed in a hymnbook, for Alexander, Demas, and the deserters have been, if nothing else, prolific. Their spiritual offspring have gone after -- or run away from -- preachers at the most inopportune times in each of our lives.
How shall we stand against our Alexanders and the rest? Paul, still in prison, testifies, “The Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (2 Tim. 4:17,18).
How do we do it? The simple answer is: We don’t. We don’t need to. All we need do is give our Alexanders over to the Lord in prayer and let Him do the rest. Don’t dream revenge, don’t fight back for ‘“It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Rom. 12:19). Let God have Alexander.
Meanwhile, let us renew our resolve to simply “Stand up for Jesus!” “To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Let all God’s preachers say “Amen!”
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Robert Leslie Holmes is Senior Pastor of Saxe Gotha Presbyterian Church in Lexington, SC. He may be reached at leslieholmes@saxegotha.org. His book When Good Enough Just Isn’t Good Enough (Ambassador Int’l), deals with leading your church in mission in the 21st Century.
