Hebrews 13:17
Whenever the Lord knows in advance what I'm preaching the following Sunday, He loves to lend a hand. I appreciate that. That's why the two contacts I received yesterday arrived at just the right time.
The first was a phone call from a member from an earlier pastorate who is now retired and living in another state and serving his church in a leadership capacity. A year ago, he had been on the search committee that brought a new preacher to his church. I asked, "How's the new pastor doing?" "He's doing great. Everyone is very supportive and he seems to know what he's doing." "Be sure to say that to him," I reminded. "Oh, I do," he said. "We go to lunch occasionally and I try to affirm him."
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He hesitated a moment and said, "I hate that word 'affirm.' It sounds so effeminate." I said, "Give me a better word." He said, "I try to give him a pat on the back. I don't 'affirm' him." We laughed and I said, "Spoken just like an old fighter pilot." Which he is.
Call it what you will, I love to hear of church members supporting and encouraging their ministers.
Then an e-mail arrived from another former member (I have been at this 40 years; I have lots of former members) who lives in another state and whose pastor is just retiring after a 15 year ministry. He wrote, "About 20 of us got together and bought the pastor a new Harley Davidson. Boy, was he surprised." Now, for my money, motorcycles are an acquired taste. But his pastor loves them and that made this a special gift. I typed in reply, "I personally thank you for honoring your pastor in this way."
So — what is my sermon this Sunday? It's a verse I have shied away from preaching for years, lest it sound too self-serving. But, funny thing, the more I reflected on it, the more I saw the heavy burden it puts on me and my colleagues in the ministry.
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. (Hebrews 13:17)
How I finally got around to preaching it was that two months ago, I decided the Lord would have our congregation memorize this 13th chapter of Hebrews and for me to preach through it. So, now I'm down to this verse. In that sense, we could say He planned it all along.
I'm calling this sermon "The Scariest Verse in All the Bible — to Us Both." Obviously, I'm hoping to whet someone's curiosity with that, but it's not much of an exaggeration. Think of the two directives in this passage.
One, church members are to obey their leaders and submit to them. That's me. I'm a leader. A church will have numerous leaders, but one primary leader-the pastor. Now, the pastor is variously called in the New Testament an elder, an overseer (the KJV says "bishop"), and a shepherd (the word for "pastor"). But this is all one office. Denominations have built ecclesiastical systems around these as three different offices, but in the Bible they are used interchangeably. Acts 20, for instance, calls the leaders of the Ephesus church by all three names. The same people were elders, overseers, and shepherds. And the people were to submit to them, to obey them. I know plenty of church members who go ballistic over that thought.
