EPISTLES TO PASTORS!              DO 47             2/71

INSPIRED TEACHING

         1. I HAVE SOMETIMES WATCHED A MOVIE ON TV HALF WAY THROUGH BEFORE I EVEN RECOGNISED THAT I HAD SEEN IT BEFORE, its brief & shallow performance had made so little of an impression on me, & some such superficial entertainment is so unimpressive that you can't even recall it the next day, with all its audiovisual advantages! How much less the average dead, inactive & unimpressive church service!
         2. MAY GOD DELIVER US FROM EVER BEING GUILTY OF SUCH UNIMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCES, as I tried to put across to you musicians in "Sock It To Me!" (See No.32) May we never be guilty of routine, ho-hum, what-a-weariness classes! Even the most factual teaching should be alive in the spirit, vital, startling, awakening, changing! If it leaves them still sitting there like stupefied zombies, unchanged, unawakened, dead appliances with the plug pulled out, no vital current, no life, just dead weight, we've failed!
         3. EVERY CLASS, EVERY TALK, EVERY SONG, EVERY REPORT, EVERY JOB, OUGHTA TURN US ON! I used to sing a song--an old Negro spiritual--"Oh, you gotta have a glory in the thing you do; oh you gotta have that somethin' that thrills you through & through! Cookin' taters, washin' clothes, or blowin' baby's nose; you need that certain somethin' that will see you through!" Call it what you like: Inspiration, charisma, talent, personality, or the Spirit--you've gotta have something that brings you & them both to life, spurs you to action, emotion that moves you out into motion! Get excited! Do something! Don't just sit there, droning your audience to sleep!

SHARING WITH & TRUST OF CO-WORKERS

         4. DEACONS, BUSINESS MANAGERS, SECRETARIES, TEACHERS, ETC.--THOSE TRUSTED WITH SUCH IMPORTANT & CONFIDENTIAL MATTERS so vital to our welfare & security, surely can be taken into the confidence of the intimate business meetings of leadership & should be rightly so-trusted, including those vital to communication, as well as tried & proven, time-test ed, older brothers & sisters whose loyalty is unquestioned!
         5. THESE SHOULD BE SHOWN THAT WE LOVE & TRUST THEM, HAVE CONFIDENCE IN THEM & can trust them with confidential material & should certainly be included in your leadership meetings, regardless of the lowliness of their task! "Despise not the day of small things" & "Let no man despise thy youth.-"Zech.4:10; 1 Tim.4:12. This should include those functioning in publications, printing, photography & any other classified materials!
         6. TIME IS THE GREAT TESTER, & THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN WITH US A LONG TIME, WHO HAVE TRUSTED US SO LONG A TIME, SHOULD BE SHOWN THAT THEY, TOO, ARE TRUSTED--potential leaders, rising from the ranks, soon to fill your shoes! If you cannot take them into your confidence after so long a time of faithfulness & loyalty, who is going to take your place?--And how are they going to understand & cope with the problems & responsibilities of coming leadership! And how are we going to expand, unless we train them to be ready for these, & how can they better learn than by experience, example, trust & involvement in present predicaments?

DEALING WITH FAILURES & BACKSLIDERS

         7. IN THE CASE OF MISTAKES & FAILURES & EVEN BACKSLIDERS, YOU SHOULD REMEMBER THE CASE OF THE PRODIGAL! Although he lost his birthright & inheritance, he did not completely lose his place as a son at the Father's table & was not without honour, a ring, a new robe & the fatted calf, as well as a considerable celebration of thanksgiving over his return!
         8. HE WAS NOT ROBBED OF EVERYTHING & MADE TO START FROM SCRATCH, & he was still honoured as a son & shown great love & rejoicing by the Father, even feasting & dancing upon his return! Think it over! I think we have somewhat to learn here! We could be too hard on our backsliders & those who make mistakes! "Baby the Babes!" "Temper the wind to the shorn lamb & receive ye him, but not to doubtful disputations, as a brother; though weak, to his own master he standeth or falleth! So who art thou that judgeth another man's servant? God is able to make him stand!"--Romans 14.

HANDLING NEW DISCIPLES & WEAKER BRETHREN

         9. DID JESUS MAKE IT SO HARD FOR NEW DISCIPLES TO JOIN? What about the 3000 on the Day of Pentecost?--And the 5000 a few days later? Did they put each of them through such a tough testing & sifting session as to discourage all but the strongest? A lot of you wouldn't have made it if we had, in those early days! Where would you be now? I could name a few of you whom I never would have passed, who are now some of our most responsible workers & leaders! Time is the great tester! Some have passed our other tests with flying colours, only to fail in short order, when the real trials came! Surely the Early Church seemed to give everybody a chance & only washed out those who really failed to make the grade, not hinging everything on one initiation!
         10. DID THE LORD TURN ANYBODY DOWN FOR LACK OF SPACE, TIME, OR TALENT? Didn't He have a few weak followers? I wonder how many of His disciples would have passed our tests in the very beginning of their discipleship! They didn't even pass the Lord's tests, but He still kept them, bore with them & put up with their frailties, until they grew & were made strong by His Spirit! Can we not do the same? Can we not give them the same chance Jesus gave them? Hebrews 12:12-13: "Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down & the feeble knees, & make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way (discouraged), but let it rather be healed!"
         11. BEHOLD, "THE LAME TAKE THE PREY!" (ISA.33:23) THE MOST HANDICAPPED MEN IN THE WORLD HAVE BECOME SOME OF ITS GREATEST HEROES! My Grandfather used to preach on "The Advantage of a Handicap", pointing out that nearly every great man the World has ever known had some serious handicap--physical, mental, or otherwise! Caesar, Napoleon & Hitler were all epileptics! Don't underestimate the advantage of a handicap! I'm probably the worst weakling in the whole outfit--I could never pass your tests--I would be a miserable failure! (Maria: Me too!) We never would have made it & neither would some of you! How about that?
         12. I WOULD HAVE WASHED SOME OF YOU OUT LONG AGO, IF THE LORD HADN'T MADE ME KEEP YOU, & GAVE YOU ANOTHER CHANCE! "I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy"--Exo.33:19. "I take the weak things to confound the mighty"!--1Cor.1:25-29. I am the weakest of you all! We could never pass your tests! How can you expect so much of babes who know nothing & are utterly helpless!
         13. A BABE IS A BABE IS A BABE! ONLY TIME WILL TELL! Please give them a chance! You would have washed me out long ago, but God accepted me & I'm still going, unworthy as I am, weak as I may be, faultful & errant, yet full of His Love & mercy for you all! I love you! You're my children! How could I cast you out, no matter what you do! You're still mine & I love you & I'll give you every opportunity, every chance to prove yourself, to make good.
         14. HOW MANY TIMES THAT VERSE ENCOURAGED ME--me, for whom I saw no hope, no value, no worth, only wickedness! How many times I clung to that Word, "Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out"!--Jn.6:37. How can you turn them away, even the stranger in thy gates, even the lame, the handicapped, the halt, the poor & the blind? "Go ye therefore into the highways & the hedges, & compel them to come in that My house may be full!" You say, "But there is no room!" HAVE THE FAITH OF LUTHER, WHO SAID, "WITH EVERY ADDITIONAL MOUTH, GOD WILL SUPPLY!"--Luke 14:16-24.
         15. ONCE UPON A TIME, AT THE END OF A MISSION MEETING, A POOR DRUG-ADDICTED HARLOT came forward & grasped my Mother's arm until her nails left their imprint in her skin, saying, "YOU SAY ALL I HAVE TO DO IS TAKE JESUS? THAT'S ALL I HAVE TO DO? Just take Jesus? (Weeping & tongues at this point) And He'll do the rest? Tell me, quick! My mind is too confused by drugs, my body's too weak from harlotry, I can't understand any more, I can't do anything more! All I have to do is take Jesus?" My Mother replied with love, "Yes, Dear, that's all you have to do--just take Jesus & He'll do the rest!" And the harlot said, "OK, I TAKE HIM". My Mother asked, "Do you want me to go get your things?" But the harlot replied, "No, I don't want anything from that old life! I just want Jesus!" Just then the Salvation Army band passed by, & suddenly the little wasted figure straightened up & followed them out the door, tagging pitifully behind--a mere wreck of humanity, a bit of trash on the sea of life, tossed to & fro, had finally landed on the Rock, Christ Jesus! And the Army took her in! She only lived two years, but she became known as the "Angel of such-&-such a street". You may have read her story in one of those little tracts--how God can use the least & the weakest of the daughters among the children of men & what a blessing, & indeed an angel she became, just to her own little neighborhood, winning many hearts with His Love!
         16. OH, BELOVED, I NEVER COULD HAVE MADE IT IF YOU'D PUT ME THROUGH SUCH TESTS! I am the weakest & most unworthy of you all--the chief of sinners, the most miserable failure! Only God in His mercy could ever do anything with me! How can you not comfort others with the comfort wherewith you yourselves are comforted? How can you not extend the same mercy that He has extended to you? Why can't we give them a chance? How can we turn anyone away who comes to us for help? To whom will they go? We alone have the Words of Eternal Life & present-day service for anybody & everybody, even the worst!
         17. LOOK AT JESUS & HIS MOTLEY CREW, or St. Francis & his, or any number of others!--All the misfits of society!--Those most likely not to succeed! And yet by the miraculous power & grace of God, they became shining lights to the children of men--rays of hope for despairing & desperate men! Like King David of old, a murderer, adulterer, liar & hypocrite! How oft we have clung to him for hope, saying, "If God could forgive HIM, surely He could forgive ME!"
         18. GOD'S DANDY BAD EXAMPLES ARE GOD'S ONLY HOPE FOR THOSE WHO FEEL LOST & HELPLESS! Please, let's not turn anybody away! Jesus gave everybody a chance! He left the decision with them! He told them how hard it is, but He let them make the choice! How can ye turn them away? "And He healed them all, because He had compassion on the multitude."--Mat.14:14. PLEASE, have mercy! You can't expect much of a baby! Be GENTLE with little lambs, PLEASE!
         19. PLEASE HELP THESE LITTLE ONES! I helped you when you were little & nobody else wanted you! I didn't even want some of you, but the Lord wanted you & made me take you! He loved you so much, I just couldn't refuse you, even though I didn't see how or where you'd ever fit in, but you're now some of our strongest members, our most faithful reliables! "Lovest thou Me? Feed My sheep!"--John 21:15-17. I love you!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family