Daily Devotions: Bad Wolf - Acts 25

Acts 25:19       Instead, they had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive. 

I’m having a bad wolf of a day. For those of you who watch Doctor Who, you know that that means I’m having a feeling of impending doom. I don’t mean on a personal basis or at a congregational level. I just feel that our Western Church has become so progressive that it is heading for disaster. We’ve strayed too far from our traditional roots and scriptural foundations and my biggest fear is that the Holy Spirit will abandon us to our own theological deceptions and idolatrous ideologies.

“Way to go, preacher!” I can hear some of you groaning. You were looking for an upbeat spiritual nicety that would tide you over the weekend. Instead, you get the bleating heart of a pastor who feels like he’s in the wilderness and has outlived his usefulness.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not feeling sorry for myself. I’m feeling sorry for the Church and the next generation. From what I’ve read in the Book of Revelation, an apostate generation is one of the crucial signs that we’re heading into the End of Days. I can’t seem to shake this off and I feel perplexed because nobody wants to hear, read, or accept another doom and gloom message. Life is meant to be fun and church is meant to be happy. The world doesn’t need a clerical killjoy or pathetic prophet.

And yet the world needs to hear the Truth before it’s all too late. The world needs to know the Way before it loses itself. The world needs to find the Life before it starts to finally die.

Almost two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul faced his accusers who rejected his message and the fact that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead. Sad to say, Paul would face the same kind of people in today’s world, but this time they would be part of the Christian church that he helped to establish.

Perhaps you can excuse these thoughts as the morbid ramblings of a person who is dealing with his own issues about his own mortality. You’re free to think that way and reject the message. But before you do that, honestly ask yourself this question: is the Church progressing or declining?

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, we claim to be Your Church and yet we refuse to be claimed by Your Word. We say that we are Christians, but do we truly let You in our lives? We follow our own ideas and create our own paths, expecting You to catch up with us and condone our ways. Will we leave it too late? Will we be ready for Your Return? In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is currently the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Today’s image is one of John’s abstract drawings called “Crossing Over.” It depicts the passing of a soul from this world into the next. If you would like to view a larger version of the image, please click on the following link: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/75/208654420_3eab83b2de_o.jpg

Melted Hearts

There’s a new report from the Pew Research Council that is showing a decline in the numbers of people who are Protestant Christians. Protestantism, which has shaped American identity for generations, may soon become a minority faith. In the 1980s, 65 percent of Americans called themselves Protestants; today that number is down to 51 percent. Only 43 percent of those aged 18-29 say they are Protestant.

Podcast version here

The reasons for the decline are many and it means that local congregations have to work harder to grow in faith, commitment, and size. Protestants, especially Presbyterians, can no longer take it for granted that their voices are being heard. In fact most of the figures show us that we are consistently being ignored. Whatever theological tussles and scriptural squabbles we have in our denomination may seem important to us. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, we’re outdated, unimportant, and insignificant.

It seems like we have been hit with a mortal blow. For some people, this will just make them want to give up. Instead of making faith a lifetime commitment, people are choosing to make church going a life-style choice. Rather than give of their time, talents, and resources to Christ’s mission, people want to spend time, effort, and money on themselves. It’s hard to overcome this sort of spiritual ambivalence. It seems to be, according to these statistics, far easier to let go of the Church and give up believing in Jesus.

Personally, I think the Church has been dealing with the here and now too much, forgetting about the future and hereafter. More pastors are into preaching prosperity rather than salvation. More congregations are looking for life style enhancements instead of life changing conversions. We are meant to be the Church in the world, but sadly we’ve let the world come into, and take over the Church.


Bible Verse of the Day


Joshua 7: 5b They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted and became like water.



When the Israelites were defeated at Ai, their hearts melted with fear. They no longer had the strength or commitment to go on fighting their enemies. They lost their faith and confidence in God, and even Joshua was depressed by the defeat. It was a turning point for the people. They could go quietly into the night and be lost forever, or they could turn back to God and look for His guidance. They had to revive their faith and fulfill their destiny, or they could retreat across the Jordan and return to the desert.

As I see it, we have a straight forward choice before us: revive and survive, or deny and die. I don’t know about you, but I don’t intend to give up. There’s too much at stake, and there are too many souls that still need to be saved.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You command us to go out into the world to make disciples of all people, bringing them into Your Kingdom. Call upon us today to reach out to our families and friends, our neighbors and colleagues in loving and faithful ways that will attract them to You. In Your Holy Name, we live and pray. Amen.

Ineffective & Unproductive - Why we need to close small churches

Podcast version here

2 Peter 1:8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There are two things that most pastors fear for the churches that they serve: that the congregations become ineffective and unproductive. Over the last thirteen years, I’ve watched small unproductive and ineffective churches drain the pooled resources of our Presbytery and denomination year after year without any change to their status. And when Presbytery threatens to pull its resources from them, they become church tyrants monstrously opposed to any interference to their non-existent mission to their local communities.

Most of the time, these small churches are manipulated by one or two strong families who believe it is their divine right to keep the congregation the way it is. They firmly possess all the power, property, and prestige that the church has, sucking its life away by their refusal to let go.

Take, for example, a church in our town that has a beautiful sanctuary, which can seat at least three hundred people, but only has about twelve people worshipping each Sunday. An approach was made to the Session by the local Korean Presbyterian church to combine their congregations in order to redevelop the building and bring life back into the church. At first things seemed to be going well, and then when an agreement was almost made, the twelve member church refused to finalize the process. Rather than bring in hundreds of new Korean church members with their families, they backed out and decided to remain small. Eventually, the church will fall into major disrepair, become dilapidated and die. The congregation is both ineffective and unproductive. God will surely not bless such an out-of-touch-with-reality community.

It’s about time we held our smaller congregations accountable for their lack of mission and purpose, ministry and vision. There’s no good reason to sustain them if they are not willing to make the necessary changes. Let’s not let nostalgia and rooting for the under dog get in the way of Christian practicality and Presbyterian polity. If they will not grow, they need to go.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You hold us all to be accountable for what we say and do on behalf of Your Kingdom. You call upon us to go out into the world, making disciples of all the nations and baptizing people in Your Name. Bless our churches with a great desire to increase Your Kingdom in the communities where we reside. Close those churches who impair Your work by just wanting to coast along and do nothing effective or productive. In Your Holy Name, we sadly pray. Amen.

Vision Decisions or How casting aside vital opportunities can cause churches to decline

Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (NIV)

It was Rear Admiral Grace Hopper who coined the phrase “It’s better to ask for forgiveness afterwards than to wait for permission.” She also initiated the term ‘computer bug” after literally finding a bug in one of the Navy’s large computers. Years ago, one of my daughters had to do a project on famous people and somehow we chose Grace Hopper. It was a great experience exploring her life and when we went to visit Washington, we took time to find her grave in Arlington.

Forgiveness is the fuel that separates churches from other clubs and organizations. Within a congregation, different groups and entities are always vying for finite resources, time, and space. Almost twenty years ago, when I ministered to the two churches in Scotland, both congregations started to really grow. One of the churches didn’t have a lot of space, so I wanted to take out some of the back pews and build a narthex, where our church children could have Sunday School during the worship service. They were meeting in the village hall about four miles away from the church. I realized that if they couldn’t meet in the church itself, then eventually the young families would fall away from worship. I couldn’t convince the Session or the Board that this was the right thing to do. When I left, so did the families. Worship still continues at the church, but there’s never a children’s sermon given by the pastor. It’s sad.

I guess some people wouldn’t have forgiven me back then, if I had managed to take out some of the back pews that they were sitting in. They refused to see the bigger picture and ended up with a dying church.

I guess the lesson for us this morning is to learn to forgive one another in our congregations, so that we can move forward into a bigger and better future for the Lord. For in the end, what we say and do reflects what we accomplish and achieve for His kingdom through our churches. And sometimes the vision and the opportunities that we set aside, are the very ones that will bless our congregations in the years to come.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, please grant us the rare gift of discernment, so that we may know what is right, good and proper in Your eyes to enhance the life, work, and ministries of our churches. Teach us how to bear with one another lovingly and grant us the grace to forgive each other graciously. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.