The other side of the pulpit.  People.

When Jesus went about preaching he was not confined or restricted to a pulpit.  We know that he preached and taught in many different locations.  Yes he preached and taught in the temple courts but he did the same on the mountain, on the sea, on the sea shore and in the streets.  Jesus the Good Shepherd loved people and had endless compassion and genuine care in his heart towards people, both crowds of people and individual people.


Jesus had a tremendous ability to know what was in the heart of people; he could not be deceived and taken in by people.

 Mark 2:1-8. “5When Jesus saw their faith; he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  6Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7“Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”  8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things”?


Luke 6:6-11.  “6On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shrivelled. 7The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. 8But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shrivelled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there. 9Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”  10He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. 11But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus”.


John 2:22-25. “23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. 24But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. 25He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man”.

 
It is very interesting and perhaps surprising to read that Jesus would not entrust himself to people who the scripture says, “believed in his name”.  This ability that Jesus had meant that no one could dupe him or lead him up the garden path, it meant that he did not need to rely on second hand information about someone’s character or reputation.  He knew the motive of every heart, whether or not they were sincere and genuine or if they were hypocrites, play actors playing their religious games.


There was nothing that Jesus did not know about people and the games they played.  He knew that the treasurer Judas was dipping his hand into the pot and stealing from it.  He knew that this same man would one day betray him with a kiss.  He knew that the tough guy Peter would deny knowing him.  On another occasion crowds of people were welcoming him into Jerusalem shouting “hosanna, hosanna” and shortly after that perhaps many of that same crowd would be shouting, “crucify, crucify”.  Jesus loved people but some people caused him a great deal of pain and sorrow.


We may not possess the exact same ability that Jesus had to know what was in a person’s heart but the blessed Holy Spirit can give us a definite measure of wisdom and discernment when it comes to looking into another person’s heart and life.  By nature I think that I am somewhat naive when it comes to reading people.  I do not like to read or analyse individuals when I am listening to them or talking with them.   At one time it became almost natural for me to do so because of my counselling back ground but I try not to do that now.


I try not to be suspicious or wary of people but since the transition from the pew to the pulpit I sometimes struggle not to.  As a member of the other side of the pulpit people I have listened to a number of very sincere and committed servants of the Lord sharing some of their stories of betrayal, conspiracy and deceit by people whom they never thought such things were possible.  It has saddened me greatly to become aware that for many years I was not aware of the level of deep hurt and sorrow that some of those who profess to be Christ like inflict on their spiritual leaders.


Without going into any detail I have had my own experiences of people who have betrayed, conspired and deceived.  I would be a play actor if I pretended that those experiences did not affect me in any way.  They hurt me; they caused doubt, disappointment, discouragement, disillusionment and a certain amount of despair and distrust.  I was not long a pulpit person when I experienced some of these things and I was crying out to God for comfort and to help me cope.


The Lord as always answers and he did it as I was walking down a street in Lurgan town.  The verse that he chose to comfort and re-assure me was in Isaiah 54:17.  “No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.  This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD”.  

 
A few days ago I listened to someone who described to me their feelings of being betrayed by people who they never expected could or would do that to them.  It left them feeling isolated, abandoned and alone.  I think that Jesus must have felt something like that when one of his disciples betrayed him with that kiss we talked about earlier; another of his disciples and closest friends denied three times that he even knew him and the rest of the bunch ran away and left him all alone, abandoned.  Sadly some people can use you and then loose you, this happens sometimes to pulpit people who invest time and effort in pew people for them to suddenly abandon ship as it were without any explanation.


There is very little if anything that pulpit people encounter with pew people that Jesus himself did not experience.  He is therefore well qualified to identify with us and help and encourage us to keep trusting and following him irrespective of how some people treat us.


Galatians 6:9-10.  “9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers”.

Hebrews 12:3.  “3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart”.

 
If you are reading this and you have been betrayed, deceived and conspired against by some people please ask the Lord to help you look to him for encouragement and comfort and to believe that not all people will treat you that way.  Often when we are feeling dejected and down we cannot see the positives in the midst of the negatives.  Some years ago I read this little verse somewhere.


“Two men looked out behind prison bars,
One saw mud the other stars”.

Where are we looking?



Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

1    I lift up my eyes to the hills--

      Where does my help come from?

2    My help comes from the LORD,

      The Maker of heaven and earth.

3    He will not let your foot slip--

      He who watches over you will not slumber;

4    indeed, he who watches over Israel

      will neither slumber nor sleep.

5    The LORD watches over you--

      The LORD is your shade at your right hand;

6    the sun will not harm you by day,

      nor the moon by night.

7    The LORD will keep you from all harm--

      He will watch over your life;

8    the LORD will watch over your coming and going

          both now and forevermore.

                           

By the way when I refer to pew people I am talking about lay people and pulpit people Pastors and Ministers or whatever other name they may be called. 

The other side of the pulpit.  People.

If you have been following the blogs you might remember that when I worked in the big factory the Lord spoke to me and told me that he wanted me to stop working with machines and to start working with people.  I mentioned that at that time I had no idea how that would work out but as I look back over the last fourteen years of my life since the Lord brought me out of the factory I can see clearly the path the Lord took me down.

It started with me becoming a trained counsellor and working as a volunteer in a Christian counselling centre. Then I began working as a volunteer in a charity shop that sent out humanitarian aid to the Ukraine and supported churches, hospitals and orphanages.  I then went on to work voluntarily for three years in a drop in centre.  In each instance I was directly involved with interacting with people.

During those years I learned a lot about people and I am still learning.  Having sat in the pew for over thirty years I suppose it is ok to refer to those years as being a pew person.  Now that I have been at the other side of the pulpit for three and a half years it is probably ok to refer to myself as a pulpit person.  It has been an interesting transition from the pew to the pulpit.  I was going to say that you can imagine the change in perspective but in fact you cannot imagine what it is like unless you actually experience it.

During my thirty odd years in the pew I cannot recall ever trying to view church life from the point of view and perspective of my previous Pastors.  I took it for granted that when I went to the mid-week bible study the Pastor would be there with a prepared study.  The same applied to the two Sunday services, the Pastor would be there with two prepared sermons.  On reflection even though I stated earlier that I did not as far as I know make life difficult for any of my previous Pastors I would have to hold my hand up and honestly admit that by and large I took them for granted a lot of the time.

Recently the thought came to me of how many times during the week do God’s people think of church or their Pastor.  When I look back over my life in the pew I am shocked with my answer to that question.  I would suggest that for many pew people Sunday is the time to think about church and remember that they have a Pastor.  Having said that, in times of trouble or when circumstances are difficult the Pastor and the church may suddenly come to mind.

The night that I was almost killed in a terrorist ambush when three innocent people lost their lives somehow my Pastor found out about the shooting and that I had been caught up in it.  I can tell you that when he turned up at the hospital in the early hours of the morning I was very glad to see him.  Someone said to me recently that now that I am a Pastor I am more passionate for the church.  I went away and thought about that statement. 

My conclusions were both yes and no.  Let me try and explain.  As a young Christian I was taught how important bible study, prayer and attending God’s house twice on a Sunday was important to my Christian development and spiritual well being.  Throughout my thirty odd years in the pew I have always valued those things and attended them regularly.  When other pew people did not seem interested or deem them necessary for their spiritual well being and development it did not really affect me of bother me too much, all I need be concerned about was myself.

Now that I am a pulpit person I would be lying if I said that it does not bother me.  Not long after becoming the Pastor of the church I had a strange experience during one of our mid-week bible study-prayer meetings.  As we were singing one of the choruses before the study started, suddenly I began to see the faces of some of our church people above the empty seats.  I had never experienced anything like that before and it troubled me.  When we had finished singing the chorus I felt that I needed to share the experience with the people who were there. 

I tried to explain to them what I thought it meant.  I believe the enemy was trying to discourage and dishearten me by pointing out in a very vivid way all the people that perhaps could and should have been there but were not.  If that was the enemy’s intention then he had a measure of success but only a small measure.  I don’t think that I am any different than other Pastors concerning the apparent lack of interest among many of God’s people when it comes to the mid-week prayer and bible study meeting.

The devil loves us to focus on the negatives and overlook the positives.  I will share another true story about that in more detail later.  Praise God for his intervention when the enemy comes in like a flood.  As suddenly as the absent faces appeared suddenly they disappeared during the singing of the chorus and my attention was turned to the faces of the people who were there.  When we stopped singing and I was sharing the experience with the people I thanked them for coming and encouraged them in their commitment to the things of God that will help them to grow and become more mature in Christ.

When I was in the pew the absent faces would not have meant much if anything to me because I did not feel responsible for their lack of interest or commitment but I was not in the pew now, I was in the pulpit and I did feel somehow responsible for them.  The Good shepherd cares for the sheep.  Passion is personal, I cannot make anyone passionate.  Passion I believe comes from a true, strong inner desire or longing for something.

Many years ago when I was a lean, mean, fighting squash playing machine a man approached me and asked me if I would help him to become a better squash player.  I gladly accepted the challenge and suggested that first of all we should work on his physical fitness.  He agreed and I told him that I would call for him and we would train together.  The first night that we had arranged to train together was a cold winter’s night with a blizzard blowing.  I ran around to his house and rang the door bell.  He opened the door with a look of amazement almost as if he was looking at a ghost, having said that I could have looked like a ghost because I was covered in snow.  He was standing in his slippers and nothing else that he was wearing was suitable for the weather outside either.  He said that he did not think that I would train in those weather conditions.  I was a bit annoyed with his apparent change of heart as it was he who approached me looking for help.  Needless to say we never trained together and his squash career never got very far.

I said that I would come back to the true story of how the devil tries to get us to focus on the negative things and thereby miss the positives.  There was a period in my life when due to a number of difficult circumstances I felt very alone and disillusioned with my life.  I was praying for things to change and get better but they seemed to get worse.  I cannot remember where I was or what I was doing but the Lord spoke to me once again through a very vivid picture scene.

He took me back to a real event in my life when I was at Technical College.  I was in the art room and the art teacher knew that I had no interest in art so he asked me if I wanted to take a camera and go to the local park which was not far away and take some pictures.  I think I was out the door before he knew that the camera had been snatched from his hands.  I love being outdoors with nature all around so I had a great time.

When I returned he asked me if I would like to see how the film would be developed, once again I was in the dark room before he blinked.  When I had an interest in something I did not need persuading, I moved to it quickly.  Sadly there were not many things that I moved quickly to in school, anything to do with sport being the exception.  He showed me the process that the film negatives had to go through before they finally became a picture.

The Lord took this real event from my past and was now spiritualising it to help me to understand what was happening in my life at that moment in time.  He showed me that I was going through a process of spiritual development but I could not see it because I saw my circumstances as negative and dark, I could not see the positive things that God was doing in my life.  Wow what a way to be shown how God’s hand was with me leading me and guiding me.  Some of those circumstances have helped prepare me for the other side of the pulpit.  When I meet people who are struggling with circumstances and trouble in life I can encourage them that there is a reason and a purpose in it and that God in his time will put them in the picture and they will understand and be blessed.