A Jack of all Trades, Master of None

When discussing a local preacher’s role, there are many hats he is required to wear.  Bible scholar, skilled public speaker, confidential counselor, chaplain to the ill, statesman officiant during weddings and funerals, marketing coordinator, interior decorator at times, and office manager are all titles the preacher, at times, claims as his own.  When considering what education the preacher has, a two-year or B.A. in Biblical Studies is hardly sufficient to accomplish all of these goals in a meaningful way.  Often preachers take upon their shoulders roles that they should not, but because of a lack of men willing to take some of the roles on top of their secular work, the preacher carries on.

I am thankful that here at Thomaston Road we have no shortage of devoted Shepherds and Deacons to lift the burden that often falls upon the local preacher.  This job is not just that, it is more.  The preacher doesn’t just work for a living, he is willing to give over his life towards this worth-while endeavor. Many preachers have found they have even sacrificed their roles as husbands and fathers in Christ’s pursuits.  While it is admirable that they love the work of God so much, it is foolishness to neglect their own families for any cause.  One thing that was pressed onto me by one of our elders was “your family is your greatest mission field”.  I have found that to be true and necessary.  The church members may see me only twice a week, but our families see us all of the time.  A congruency must be there from who we present ourselves as during church gatherings, and who we are at home.  If this is not the case, resentment can build and confidence in the preacher’s decisions and role as the head of his family deteriorates.

This life is not easy for any of us, but we have been given instruction and clarification from God’s Word about what is important and valuable uses of our time.  I am thankful that our Heavenly Father understands all of the facets of this life and saw fit to guide us on this journey.  None of us are perfect, or have all of the answers, but when we try to walk in the light as He has called us, we share that blessed fellowship.  He has not left us to our own devices.  He walks within us, and alongside of us every step of the way.

As we travel this road together, let us all do our best while helping those we can along the way.

Some Thoughts Recently

It is now May of 2023 and Camp Canaan is almost upon us. Last year was my first ever experience with a Christian Camp and though it was a new thing to me, I felt it was a wonderful blessing to be able to help coordinate everyone’s efforts. The past year seems to have flown by, while at the same time being a long year. I find that most things that I do from which feel enjoyment appear that way. Our little family has been so blessed to have been led to Thomaston Road and we are excited about the future.

We have a diverse group of saints here. Some have been here for decades continuing the work, others are just finding us and “putting their hands to the plow”, while others have joined our number a year or two ago and are finding their way to serve as they continue to grow into their own lives. I recall the number one thought I had on our “try-out” visit here being that the potential for God to do something incredible here was extremely high. The servants that are here, the assets we already have, and the right leadership seemed almost too good to be true. I am thankful that we have been doing a great work for our Lord together thus far.

But…now is not the time to rest. Things are just beginning to amplify and glorify our great God and His works. While we look towards the future, we ask for God’s guidance and blessings to be upon all our labors in His name.

Evangelism – The Work Entrusted to Us

I recall years ago the way I used to think about evangelism.  I was assured in Scripture that we are to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you… (Matthew 28:19-20). And I was told that the ways that this is to be done meant that we should do door-knocking campaigns have Gospel Meetings to encourage visitors from the community to come and hear the Gospel.  While this might have been effective in decades past, our culture has developed and evolved where these things are not commonplace and foreign to those outside of the Church.  What we have at our disposal now are tools to communicate digitally to much more people than we could hope to reach going door to door. 

The thought has been posed before, what could the Apostle Paul do with access to the tools we have.  Imagine how Paul would use an email account, a Facebook profile, access to the audio and video tools we use to livestream our services.  To say that he would use those tools to spread the Gospel message is a gross understatement.  We can all do better in our communication of the good news to the lost, but many of us are doing what we can already.

To imagine a God so loving and trusting to give us, fallible humans, the role of spreading the plan of salvation to the world, is almost beyond comprehension.  I think of Jesus’ ascension often.  Before Jesus returned to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, he trusted those 11 men to tell the world about Him.  He left them the “Comforter” which was no doubt helpful to them in their work, but they still were imperfect.  We pick up their mantle, and their charge, generation after generation and join the crusade of telling the world about God’s grace.  Conversation with our friends, families, neighbors, and co-workers are all important in building those relationships to share the good news.  We are here to follow our Savior in “seeking and saving the lost” (Luke 19:10).  Let us constantly be reminded of our responsibilities and encouraging towards one another as we work in His Kingdom.

Faith vs. Works

One of the most “controversial” questions in regards to Christianity has always been are we saved by faith or are we saved by works.  The reason why this question is so important is that there are masses of people that rebelled against a “works based” salvation doctrine that was common among the Catholic Church in the medieval period.  As the written Word of God was translated into common languages for people to read it was more and more prevalent to question what was taught by the Priesthood of the Catholic Church and to lean more towards “faith based salvation”.  That is a large simplification of what is commonly called the Reformation Period in Christian history.  As we simply turn to Scripture and try to uncover God’s perspective on the issue, we find some helpful passages.

Romans 11:5–6, “So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.”

Ephesians 2:4–6, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”

Ephesians 2:8–9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

These passages are just some of many that emphasize that one’s salvation is not based on works that man does, but it is from the grace of God.  However, these verses are not the only ones that contribute to the debate.

James 2:14, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?”

James 2:22–24, “You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”

Famously Martin Luther, a leader in the Reformation Period, was at odds with the book of James due to the emphasis on works being required for one to be faithful to God.  So what is it then? Are we saved by works or by faith? Commonly the Bible gives us a clear understanding that on topics like these it is not “all or nothing”, it is both.  Are we saved by the Grace of God? YES! Are there works that we are required to do to achieve the grace offered by God? YES!

I would recommend reading Matthew 25:31-46.  In this passage mankind is divided into two camps, named goats and sheep in the passage.  Notice what was different between the two groups. It was not that one side didn’t know what the Gospel of Jesus was, it wasn’t that some had never heard of the one-true-God before, nor was it anything related to their spiritual identity.  The reason given for why some were found faithful and others were not was the works that followed their obedience to God’s commands.

What is the Hardest Commandment?

As many of you know by now, on my website I have a form that you can fill-out (even anonymously) if you have a Bible Question which I will either address in an article or a sermon.  I have received a question recently “What do you think is the hardest commandment for the church on the whole to follow?”  This is a very broad question but I will do my best to consider what the Scriptures have to say based on my perspective.

When we look into the book of Acts for example, we see that the early church in Jerusalem had a sense of community based on their needs.  

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Acts 2:42–47.

These words are recorded to give the reader a sense of what the church looked like on a daily basis.  Although our churches in America today do not necessarily reflect the image of the church in Jerusalem, the sentiment is a great goal to try and attain. We see the sacrificial love that the saints had for one another based on their need and preformed acts of generosity to model the example and teachings of Jesus.  One of the most highly celebrated acts for a Christian to do is to show forth the same kind of love towards our family in Christ.

“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”

Romans 12:9-10

“Let all that you do be done in love.” 1 Co 16:14

“And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Eph 5:2

“For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.” Heb 6:10

“For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” 1 Jn 3:11.

“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” 1 Jn 5:2–3.

Although it may seem simple, showing true love to one another is the perfect model to be more like God since through His love we have been redeemed.  We reflect the love first shown to us, towards others and sometimes that is no easy thing.

Some Things I Have Learned Going Back to School - Part Three

I have now officially done all of the work required for this semester.  It feels very odd to not be thinking about which books I have to read, the assignments I need to complete, and the papers I need to write.  I have been doing all of this almost constantly since 2017 so it is going to take a little while to get used to having some more free time to devote to the other areas of my life.

Work, Family, Life Balance is Hard

For the last two years since beginning to drive for Uber to help pay for school, I have had preaching, family, schoolwork, and driving constantly rotating on my priority list.  It has been a struggle to keep everything in its proper place without neglecting at least one of those areas.  I write this not to complain; I am very privileged to be able to balance those things.  But it does make me appreciate how difficult it is for others to have a lot going on but still keeping first things first in their relationship to God and the church.  

This past week I was looking for rides to give downtown and I met a med student.  I was driving her from her apartment near the hospital district and was taking her to a clinic in North Charleston.  I asked her about her studies, her work, and in turn she asked what I did full-time.  The conversation was nice, but she was obviously very tired.  She revealed that she was a Med Student who just left a rotation at the hospital and was now going to do her shift at the local clinic to meet her hour requirements.  Along the way she said she had been up since 4am on that day and had been working on call for the last 7 days straight.  She did doze off along the way but when she woke up, she said that at least tomorrow she had off.  Its meeting someone like that helps me keep things in perspective and reflect on my blessings. 

Education Never Stops

The last lesson I want to talk about in this series is that we never reach a point where we know all about a subject.  Especially when it comes to Scripture, there will always be a new discovery, language nuance, theory, or other thing that makes a text new and fresh for the reader.  Although I am done with this particular degree, I have a back catalogue of books I have purchased which I now have time to read and learn more about the subject that are interesting to me.  

I am thankful for my education and my ability to use that new information to hopefully encourage and uplift you in our worship services.  I thank God He has given me the opportunity to do this for a living, and to help others connect with Him through the Gospel.   

Some Things I Learned Going Back to School Part Two

Last week I wrote about how much I didn’t know, that I didn’t know about the Scriptures.  This week I have two more things which I learned while going back to school for this degree.  

Read Those With Whom You Disagree

My previous experience in reading religious journals, articles, and books was basically only reading those that come from the same general time period, with the same religious traditions, and generally hold the same position about various issues.  This is not only frustrating, but possibly dangerous.  If a person is only ever looking at a situation from one perspective, there is no room for questioning and growth.  Reading from only one side of an argument also creates an echo chamber of “what you know the issue is and what the right answer is”.  If you get bogged down into that situation, then anything that is different than what you’ve read, is of necessity incorrect and possibly even sinful.  

The solution to this echo chamber is to read from people that are from different time periods, with various religious backgrounds, and likely have no idea about the perspective that you have.  In other words, the more you consider each side of an issue, the better equipped you are to understand more and mature.   There are many scholars of varying religious traditions that have the same questions that we have about a text, which if we let them express their reasoning it can benefit all of us as well.  Along the same lines:

If You Have Doubts, Good.

I have learned that no one has all the answers about God and the Bible.  There are things that are impossible to know for certain.  This is not to say that we have to doubt about God’s existence, personality, requirements for salvation, etc. but it does mean that we wont know everything just from studying theology.  If you look at a text and feel like you know everything about that text, I can assure you you do not.  I didn’t even know what I didn’t know (which I mentioned last week), but now I can say I have some questions and doubts about issues…and its fine!

The more we learn about God and the Bible the deeper our relationship to Him and each other can be.  Learn from my mistakes and avoid the pitfalls that prevent us from loving Him more until we are taken home. 

Some Things I Have Learned Going Back to School - Part One

I am in the final weeks of my last semester at Heritage Christian University. I was fortunate enough to hear from a friend that this college transferred the maximum amount of credits I earned in a two-year preaching school towards a B.A. in Biblical Studies. After I enrolled, I knew I wanted to earn this legitimate degree, if only for the sake of achieving a new piece of paper on my office wall. Little did I know I was about to open up an entirely new and interesting phase of my biblical education. For the last 3 years I have done either three or four courses a semester, including doing 4 summer courses each year to maximize my efficacy to earn the degree. Within the next few weeks, I want to explore some of the les- sons that I have learned, at least in a general way, along the way. 

I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT I DIDN’T KNOW 

I have been at the Essex Village Church of Christ for 5 years now. It’s funny how that time feels like just yesterday, but also feels like so long ago. When I got here, I was leaving the first church I worked with in Charles Town, West Virginia. I took that role fresh out of preaching school and I can tell you with all shame, I thought I knew almost every- thing about every bible subject. I can now tell you with all humility, I didn’t even know what I didn’t know. 

My very first course I took at HCU was one that it called the most challenging for new students called Critical Introduction to the Old Testament.
The reason why “critical” is in the title of the course is it starts to challenge what we “have been told about the Old Testament” versus “what
we actually know about the Old Testament”. This means date, author-
ship, intended recipient, difficult passages that contradict others, etc. are all in view. This class is one that I have a tough time with because the questions and answers that were discussed went against specific things I was taught at the other preaching school. Not to say that what I was taught was necessarily wrong, but it was not as in depth and maybe not even as “honest” as the way I was taught at Heritage. In other words, I was taught how to best ask questions to study and find the answers, instead of just being told what the answers were supposed to be and that was that. Those two schools have different intentions and results, but both were valuable to me in their own way. 

When I look back on all the answers I thought I had before this continuing education verses all the new questions I have now, I see I was pridefully ignorant of some very key things in Scripture. Does this mean that my position on how one can be added to the Lord’s church or secure their eternity has changed? No. But now I am better able to understand the “other person’s” side of an argument and show grace and humility to someone who holds different positions than me. And this is such a wonderful thing others have shown me when I thought I knew every- thing about the Bible. 

Maybe this article doesn’t resonate with you. This is really just a confession of a humbling les- son I have been given by God, but maybe you can at least empathize with these thoughts and take them to heart. I will continue these thoughts next week, but I just wanted to share this one with you today. May God bless us as He ever does. 

Who Rules in the Kingdom of Men?

As I am writing this the Presidential Election is still uncertain.  I am sure by the time this is read we will know who our President is for the next 4 years, but right now we do not know.  I am vocally non-political.  I am much more concerned about my own citizenship in heaven than I am in this nation.  I am not ungrateful for the freedoms that we have, the price that has been paid to secure those freedoms, and the need for vigilance to protect those freedoms in the future.  However, I have met many religious people, even fellow preachers who (in my opinion) may discuss and preach too much about secular politics to the neglect of weightier “Kingdom of God” issues.  

However, using the perspective given to us by the ancient writings of Scripture, we can see the rise and fall of many nations, empires, and civilizations.  Sometimes it’s helpful to reframe our worldview from God’s perspective to not get sidetracked in matters that may cause the atrophy of our spiritual development.  When we read the Hebrew Bible we see the creation of our physical world, the development of mankind working to create a tower to heaven, the dispersal of man throughout the ancient world, the flood and repopulation of the Earth, the tribes among which Abraham was called, the growth of the Israelite nation, the tribal wars in Caanan, the growth of the Assyrian, Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman empires.  This is a huge span of time covering approximately 5,000 years or more!  I mention this because our nation has been around for less than 250 years in comparison.  Again, not to minimize our achievements, progress, and sacrifices, but we are blink of the eye in comparison to God’s view of the nations.  

I am reminded of a very interesting passage in relation to the nations. 

Daniel 4:28-33, “All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws.

Nebuchadnezzar allowed his own ego in ruling Babylon to lead him to be humbled by God Almighty.  Lest we forget, The Most High rules overall.  God bless us as we strive to do the best we can in His service.

Another Parable of Jesus

Another Parable of Jesus

Allan Hornbuckle

Last Sunday we talked about one of the most well known parables of Jesus, the Parable of the Sower. Directly after that we have a few more that seem to have been taught in the same setting. Matthew 18:24-30, “He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

In this parable the farming illustration is the same to the parable of the sower, but the point is different. There is good seed in a field as well as weeds. The contrast between that which is useful and will bear fruit and that which is useless and bears nothing of value is the dichotomy. The Bible often uses the comparison of two extreme things to make a clear picture. The idea of being alive and dead, greatest or least of all in the kingdom, focusing on the spiritual or physical of life are just few examples. In this parable the thought is that one is either from good seed which will bear the intended crop, or you are useless and planted by “the enemy” or Satan. The main thrust at the ending is that there is a day coming where Jesus will be dividing the two and the useless will be destroyed. The message is simple, but the illustration makes it memorable and applicable.

The great things about these kinds of parables is the clarity in which they teach a point about spiritual life, while still being grounded in a story with which we can relate. If we are in the right mindset, daily life may present situations to us that we can view as more modern parables from which to learn. My favorite which I have heard recently was someone trying to better explain Luke 6:37 and the wine skins. We do not store wine in the hides of animals anymore, so there is some explanation that must take place to make the point. The person I was referring to made a point about the various types of digital storage cards used for digital cameras. The man states that he had a case for an older format and tried to use the same protective case for a smaller, newer digital storage card. The problem was it did not fit quite right and rattled around within the larger, older case and damaged the card. So in a similar way, the new wine would not have fit within the older wine skins since the process of fermentation would have stretched the skin to the correct size. If one were to put new wine in an old wine skin, the new wine would ferment again within that vessel and it would eventually burst. I immediately understood the passage in a clearer way, because I can relate to digital camera card much easier than carrying wine in an animal skin. If we pay attention, all kinds of mundane things can help us understand the teachings of Jesus as well.