As I was reading this morning I came across a passage of Scripture that brought back some memories. In 2 Kings you will find the account of King Joash. He began to reign when he was seven years old as the king of Judah. He was kept in hiding for six years from his grandmother that had murdered all of his brothers and cousins. Sound like a soap opera? The grandmother was also the queen of Judah…not something God had set up. She killed off all of her relatives to take possession of the throne. She must have been one nasty woman. I would like to call her something else but decency will not allow me. Eventually the wicked, queen grandmother was assassinated and Joash took the throne that was rightfully his at the ripe old age of seven. The Bible says that Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years that the priest Jehoiada instructed him. There are two events that we remember Joash for. One of them is the chest of Joash. This was a wooden chest with a hole bored in the top where people would bring their offerings for the repair of the temple. I remember the few times I went to the little Methodist Chapel with my grandparents as a small child there would be a time in the service when any child that had a birthday would come and place a token offering in a little bird house looking church model. As I read the story of Joash I see a seven year old king placing his pennies in a similar box. But apparently the people did this for a long time because the box would get full and they would have to empty it and start over. This struck a nerve with me because I once pastored a church where the very first time I met the treasurer he introduced himself to me as “the Judas of the bunch.” Whoa! Red Flag! And it was a self fulfilling prophecy. We later found out the man was hiding money. He would count the offerings, by himself, put it in the back of his car and drive around with it for a week or two before depositing it. Joash did not worry about the money in his chest because “They did not require an accounting from those to whom they gave the money to pay the workers, because they acted with complete honesty” 2 Kings 12:15. I was a young, stubborn pastor and it came down to a “him or me” ultimatum with my treasurer. The church chose him because of his seniority and I watched God take His hand off that church. We have a great system of checks and balances in our church at Cades Cove. I have never even been in our counting room nor do I intend to go. We have different teams assigned to counting, book keeping etc. An old preacher told me early on in ministry, “Son, if you will keep your hands off women and money you will be alright.” So far, so good. The other event Joash is known for is giving away the gold and silver of the temple to keep another king from attacking Judah. The king did not attack Judah, but a pattern was formed where foreign kings would come and the kings of Judah would use the furniture and jewels of the temple to barter freedom. Hello?! What happened to kings with backbone that would say “We bow to no one but God and He will fight for us!” Joash had plenty of accounts to refer to of how God delivered with the choir, with a broken lamp, with watery ditches, thunder, etc. I believe that honesty and faith are virtues that are extinct from many of the things we do “in the name of God” and under the umbrella of the church. Maybe honesty could be our first step back toward the holiness of God.
About a year and a half ago God spoke to me to build our church with the broken. I studied this thought intently and meditated profusely on God’s imperative command to me. His command was not a suggestion, nor was it the newest, greatest, latest method to do church. I have become more and more appalled at what we do in the name of church, then just for good measure tack the name of Jesus at the end of our self indulgent, pious, preposterous endeavors. I have become increasingly aware of just how much we worship our “worship.” We worship the seat we sit in at church. We worship the song that speaks to us. For some of us that song is a chorus, for some of us that song is a hymn. It may even be a specific instrument that is played, or conspicuously absent from our services. Exactly two years ago I wrote a blog called “The Journey From Passion to Trust.” In that devotional I described how God had used dynamite to blow my entire world apart. I confess that I am a recovering Pharisee. It was easier to stand in judgment than it is to hand out compassion. Judgment cost me nothing, compassion is expensive and messy. And I found that not many people fit into what used to be my preconceived notion of what was necessary to follow God. Broken people are dirty people. Broken people are broke people. Broken people are damaged people. I am not the first leader to be aware of how difficult it is to minister to the broken, bruised, and damaged people of our community. Solomon had this down way before I did. Listen to what Solomon said: “Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; But much increase comes by the strength of an ox” Proverbs 14:4. I am not trying to say that any of you are oxen or cows, I just want you to know what Solomon and I have found out: when you deal with people it gets messy. Maybe a better way to say what I am trying to say is “No mess, no ministry.”
As the past two years have expired I have witnessed, with what feels like light speed, changes in my life, my family and our church that I did not perceive happening. Bottom line is that time changes things. Time changes people. Time changes churches. Time changes countries. Jesus never changes. Jesus never fails. As things become less and less familiar we have a tendency to grasp for the comfortable things of the past. Our past and even our memories become idols, stealing our passion away from the here and now. Sometimes we even allow the bad experiences to become idols. I don’t know about you, but I am tired of giving away my worship to perceptions, memories, successes and failures. About two months ago I made a commitment to Jesus Christ that I am starting over. I am taking His word and I am going to be as true to Him and His word as I possibly can. This time I am going to let Him judge the ones that need to be judged. I have heard about all I want to hear about what works and doesn’t work in church. I am through with people who are experts in religion and have no idea what an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ is all about. I have begun to listen to a lot of dead preachers. But ironically their messages are filled with more life and Holy Spirit than many of the people that are littering the airwaves and pulpits of today. These are men who are dead in the flesh and moved on to heaven. Please don’t mistake them with living dead preachers that occupy pulpits for money or fame. I was listening to Vance Havner the other night. He was a spirit filled mountain preacher from North Carolina that knew how to bring it. I chuckled as I heard him say “A person with a PhD that has never been born again is nothing more than a phenomenal dud.”
We have experts in about every area of the church today but how many of us our experts on what it means to be born again, to be securely positioned in Christ? Both by birth and by adoption. I am tired of people telling me how to be the next, best greatest _______. I am going back to what John the Baptist said “He (Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease” John 3:30.
In our broken, broke church we are seeing people’s lives radically changed. And they would not fit in most churches. I am a teetotaler because of generational, Biblical, and health reasons. But we have recently baptized bartenders, bargirls, people living together and many others that would not even be allowed to grace the doors of most churches. And I hang out with them. I play ball with them. But I don’t hold back from preaching the whole counsel of God and I let them know that up front. My job is to preach to them and love them. It is the duty of the Holy Spirit to clean them up. If I try to clean them up I wind up messing them up worse than they were to begin with. It is really cool when we are patient with the Holy Spirit. We don’t get to see all of them transform, but there is always that one…Wow!
Can I invite you on a journey with me? You may already be there. But will you get on your knees and in His Word and follow this simple plan just for a little while? What is the plan? It is not a new one. And it has worked for a long time. Here it is: Jesus, plus nothing. Let me know what happens.
In Christ,
Keith Pierce, Pastor
Cades Cove Fellowship
Cadescovefellowship.org
PO Box 7237
Maryville, TN 37802
Recent Comments