Martin Lloyd-Jones
August 30, 2025 Leave a comment
May 15, 2025 Leave a comment
Andrew Murray gives all pastors/preachers a good reminder in the following statement. “Being in Christ and living in the power of the Holy Spirit is a life to be lived, not just a tool that we can use.”
Relax, Results Can’t Be Orchestrated
March 9, 2025 Leave a comment
Growing up on an Iowa farm I helped my dad till the soil, plant, cultivate, and then harvest the crops. We put much effort into growing crops but never made them grow.
I recall us having planted a field of corn east of the farm buildings. For days all you could see when looking at the field was black soil. Then, about a week after planting, I looked east at the sun coming up over the horizon and the sun’s glimmering reflection on rows of small spikes of emerging corn. We had done nothing after planting the corn seed. It had come up all by itself.
This memory reminds me of a parable Jesus told, recorded only in the Gospel of Mark which has clear application to pastoral ministry. “He also said, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come’” (Mark 4:26-29).
J. C. Ryle comments on this passage, “Let us observe this truth also, for it is deeply instructive. It is humbling, no doubt, to ministers and teachers of others. The highest abilities, the most powerful preaching, the most diligent working cannot command success. God alone can give spiritual life. But it is a truth at the same time which supplies an admirable antidote to over-anxiety and despondency. Our principal work is to sow the seed. That done, we may wait with faith and patience for the result. We may go to bed at night and [get] up by day and leave our work with the Lord. He alone can, and if He thinks fit, He will give success.” (Expository Thoughts on The Gospel of Mark, J. C. Ryle, Aneko Press)
As a pastor, I often saw myself as a farmer. My farm was my local church. Like a farmer, I planted, tilled, watered, and weeded in many metaphorical ways. Like the farmer, the results were up to God. This thought, when embraced, can lighten a pastor’s burden. It did for me.
Not Necessarily Succesful, But Faithful
October 28, 2024 Leave a comment
A quote from J. C. Ryle appropriate for pastors laboring in a church…
“The honest master pays his laborers according to the work they do and not according to the crops that grow on his land. Our Master in heaven will deal with all His servants at the last day in like manner. He knows that success is not in their hands. He knows that they cannot change hearts. He will reward them according to their labor and not according to the fruits which have resulted from their labor. It is not the good and successful servant but the good and faithful servant to whom He will say, “Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21).”
“Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Mark: A Commentary [Updated]” by J. C. Ryle
The Perfect Motivation for Being a Merciful Pastor
October 8, 2024 Leave a comment
Pastors are expected to be nice to everyone in their church. Who wants a nasty pastor? Sometimes people who didn’t attend church told me the reason is that churches are filled with hypocrites who act badly. Sound familiar? And they think this is news to us pastors? No one knows better than the pastor how imperfect the church is! I was tempted to respond, “That’s okay, one more hypocrite who sometimes acts badly won’t be a problem for us at all.” But I bite my tongue; I don’t want to be nasty.
Most of us have heard, and undoubtedly used, the phrase, “Churches aren’t nursing homes for saints but hospitals for sinners.” If churches are “hospitals for sinners” then it wouldn’t be a stretch to suggest that the “doctors,” are we pastors, and that we are ill ourselves and in need of further healing ourselves. This fact, I came to find out, in my ministry, was the key for me being a merciful pastor.
Sometimes the hurt I experienced as a pastor was quite intense. Keep in mind that most of the time most of the parishioners were wonderful and exhibited the love of Christ. But sometimes, with a few people, not so much.
Jesus taught us that we’re to love our enemies. That would mean anyone who hurts us, including those in our church. But it can be difficult to love our enemies, especially those enemies within our church family. Oh, we might be able to fake it outwardly if we’re a good actor, and make it look like we’re loving our enemy. Down deep, however, we’re likely still seething with anger and unforgiveness. If I had to grit my teeth with those who mistreated me over the years, trying to love them, I’d have ground down my teeth to the gums long ago.
There’s a better way, I found, the only way to truly love our enemies. Jesus gave us that way when He said, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). The way to be able to show those in our congregation mercy (forgiving them) is to focus on how we, as the pastor, also need God’s mercy (forgiveness) in our own lives. I know, we might argue that we’ve never done something so despicable as the person who has hurt us. True, we may have not done the same despicable thing as that person, but if we’re honest, we must admit that we’ve found our own creative ways to be despicable.
It’s when we acknowledge we have had to depend on God being merciful to us that we can then, in turn, find the will and strength to be merciful toward those who have hurt us. Reflecting back to those 40 years of ministry where I encountered some hurtful people, I can testify that focusing on God being merciful to me was the key to being merciful to those hurtful people in my congregation.
When I found it difficult to forgive and show mercy, I learned I had to turn the focus onto myself and how I had to count on the constant mercy and forgiveness of God myself. Then, by the help of my merciful God, I could give the mercy and forgiveness to others that I’d been given by God.
“We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
Pastoral Judging
September 10, 2024 Leave a comment
Looking back, I could be judgmental as a pastor. I recall taking my afternoon coffee break at the Barnes and Noble coffee shop when an older pastor came in to buy a book. We had met before so we exchanged a few words. He informed me that he was retiring soon. I sensed anticipation about the coming change. He looked tired, his demeanor like Eeyore’s, the stuffed donkey in the Winnie the Pooh stories. I thought to myself, I hope I don’t lose enthusiasm for being a pastor like this guy, that I keep going for years to come.
I don’t know how long after this, probably not many years, a church consultant asked me if, after a lifetime of pastoring the church, I was going to be able to hand over the reins of pastoral leadership to my heir apparent in a couple of years. I replied, “I’m wondering if I can hang on that long.” My response surprised me. Several factors played into it, but it turned out that I retired a year earlier than I had planned. I shouldn’t have been so harsh with my judgment of the tired and nearly retired pastor at Barnes and Noble.
I was determined, as we went through the process of pastoral transition, that we wouldn’t make a mess of it like some large, high-profile churches had done in the recent past. We would do it better. In retrospect, it didn’t go as planned. I’m comforted in knowing that God uses unfolding events for His glory and for the good of people even if those events went other than the way we wanted. Still, I shouldn’t have been so judgmental of those other churches.
I think it’s an occupational hazard of pastors to enthusiastically assert that others aren’t doing ministry as well, as Biblically, or as successfully as we are. What are we modeling for our people when we take such a view? Is our own heart in a good and humble place when we make such judgments?
I know, there are times when we need to help our congregation see false teaching and wrong practices of some high-profile ministries or local ministries. We’re also called, as pastors, to judge the qualifications someone has, or doesn’t have, for a ministry position in the church. But I wonder if we don’t sometimes fall to the temptation of passing judgment when the primary motivation, if truth be told, is for the building up of our own ego, that we’re doing it better.
The last thing we want to do is to emulate the prayer of the Pharisee in one of Jesus’ parables, the “bad guy” as Jesus portrays him in the parable, who prayed while standing near a tax collector, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector” (Luke 18:11). The prayer of the tax collector, the other main character in the parable, who turns out to be the good guy, was a humble prayer of confession. We’ve all preached the parable and know that the Pharisee’s prayer was the wrong prayer to pray. Yet, do we ever think, say, or even pray something similar, “Lord, thank you that we aren’t like that church!” and then list, at least in our minds, why we’re so much better?
Yes, we have differences with other churches. Some of those differences are major. If those differences concern major Biblical truths then we’re to be vigilant, identifying false doctrine and wrong practices. But there are also cases where there has been historic disagreement among serious Bible-believing people through the years. Often, this has to do with church structure and practices.
I’m reminded of the exchange between the apostle John and Jesus. “’Teacher,’ said John, ‘we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.’ ‘Do not stop him,’ Jesus said. ‘For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us’” (Mark 9:38-40).
We should pray for great discernment when it comes to judging someone else’s ministry. Is their ministry for or against Christ? Are we being called upon by God to judge? Yes, there will be times when we’re called to pass judgment. There will also be times when it’s not our place to judge.
This blog is called A Pastor’s Heart. The issue of right judgment and wrong judgment should be of great importance to a pastor’s heart!
Motives Matter
August 29, 2024 Leave a comment
A grassfire threatens several homes nearby. The fire truck arrives, lights flashing and siren blaring, with four firemen onboard, including the driver. The worried homeowners watch as the fire truck charges toward the fire, not stopping at the edge of the blaze but driving into the middle of the inferno! All the firemen jump out and start attacking the fire that’s all around them. They soon have it put out. The homeowners rush up to them, praising them for their bravery.
The fire truck driver shakes his head and says, “There was no bravery involved. The fire truck’s brakes failed, that’s why we ended up in the middle of the fire. We were fighting for our lives.”
This fictitious story is a good example of how motives aren’t always what they appear to be. We can do the right thing but for less than the best reasons, even for a bad or wrong reason.
It could be argued that the motive doesn’t matter much, as long as you’re doing what’s right. Really? Motives matter, in pastoral ministry as much, if not more, than in any other field of endeavor. Motives matter for several reasons.
Wrong motives won’t keep us motivated. If we do what’s right because we want attention or some kind of reward, we’re likely to stop doing what’s right when no one is watching, praises us, or pays us. This certainly applies in pastoral ministry. We aren’t always going to receive that affirmation we’d like. When we do receive affirmation we need to take it with a grain of salt, not allowing ourselves to become addicted to it. A good test is to ask ourselves if we’re willing to do what’s right, and keep on doing it, even when no one is looking, when no one will find out about our good deed, or when it’s not going to be popular.
Wrong motives also are almost always eventually exposed. When people get to know us better they can see through us, to our true motives. We can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time. Our parishoners, especially those close to us in leadership, will see us for who we really are.
Wrong motives also distance us from God. We may fool people and even ourselves but not God. God knows our heart, He knows our true motives every time. God cares about our heart. We preach it; we just need to believe it enough to apply it to our own hearts.
It’s not easy having the right motives. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I’ve done much of anything with 100% pure motives, including pastoring for nearly forty years.
So, what to do about the reality that we don’t always act out of pure motives? A big step is to realize the importance of having the right motives, that they give us integrity and result in sincerity, helping to make us a person of good character.
By the way, trying to judge someone else’s motives is never wise and almost always hurts relationships. We have enough trouble identifying our own motives, let alone those of someone else! The late president Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “Never question another man’s motive. His wisdom, yes, but not his motives.”
Moving toward the right motives in all we say or do can seem an impossible task. This is why it’s also important to ask for the good Lord’s help. He dwells within our innermost being and can help transform our motives.
When it comes to our ministry we should ask ourselves if our heart is in the right place. That’s because motives matter!
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23).
Wherever You Are in Your Ministry, Be All There
August 2, 2024 Leave a comment
Something I saw on a YouTube video prompted memories of me chatting, laughing, and praying with our choir and praise team before going into the sanctuary to begin the worship service. It brought tears to my eyes.
Now that I’m retired, looking back I’m not sure I embraced those moments as I should have, or other moments in the daily life of the church. Much of my focus was on how we could do things better and even bigger, how we could grow our church, and ways we could be more than we then were as a church, whatever that might mean.
Don’t get me wrong. These can all be good things to pursue, if done with the right motivations and in response to what is believed to be God’s call. But if I could give some words of advice and encouragement to those now in the trenches of pastoral ministry it would be to embrace the moment, enjoy the now, wherever you are as a church, be all there!
When it comes to discontent there’s both Godly discontent and ungodly discontent. Godly discontent for pastors would include wanting everyone to keep becoming more the person Christ would have them be and the church to keep becoming all that Christ would want it to be. We’re not to be satisfied with the status quo. On the other hand, it’s also good to recognize ungodly discontent, being dissatisfied with what God has given us in the present.
There’s plenty of literature for pastors on how important it is to cast vision, set the bar high, that kind of thing. I’m trying, in this short writing, to remind us of the importance of valuing what we now have. We can be so fixated on the horizon of our church’s future, looking to reach that glistening goal out there in the distance, that we walk right by the gems of the moment that sparkle at our feet.
So, relax a bit. Enjoy that impromptu conversation that’s not on your schedule. Relish the dessert with a few senior ladies. Get down on one knee and have a conversation with that child who just glanced up at you. Ask the custodian how his or her day is going. There’s an unimaginable number of opportunities to pause in the moment and to be all there!
“Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today’” (Luke 19:1-5). [Emphasis mine]
Note: I may have written on this subject in a previous blog;
I don’t remember. If I did, well, I think it bears repeating.
My New Book — Growing Older Gracefully
June 25, 2024 Leave a comment
I’m exited about the release of my book, Growing Older Gracefully — 31 Reflections on Finishing Well.
The book is for YOU if….
… you’re approaching, or in, your senior years.
… you have a parent, grandparent, relative, or friend who is a senior.
… you want to better understand a senior you love.
… you need a birthday gift for a senior or a retirement gift…
… you want to, as a pastor, better empathize with the seniors in your congregation.
The book can be ordered on Amazon here in both paperback and ebook.
The Internal Life
March 30, 2023 Leave a comment
Here’s a helpful quote from a book I’m reading by Kelly M. Kapic, You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News.
“Too often we confuse busyness with honoring God or confuse checking off to-do lists with spiritual health. Gregory the Great (540–604) encouraged the minister to ‘not relax his care for the internal life while he is occupied by external concerns, nor should he relinquish what is prudent of external matters so as to focus on things internal.’ We need to be holistic. And let us beware that if we neglect our own internal worlds we will usually undermine our ability to love well and wisely the very people we hope to serve.
A Pastor's Heart 