Ah … famous last words. Here’s a few I thought you might enjoy or find interesting:
When convicted murderer James W. Rodgers was put in front of a firing squad in Utah, he was asked if he had any last requests. “Yeah,” he said, “bring me a bullet-proof vest.”
Drummer Buddy Rich died after surgery in 1987. As he was being prepped for surgery, a nurse asked him, “Is there anything you can’t take?” Rich replied, “Yeah … country music.”
When Groucho Marx was dying, he let out one last quip: “This is no way to live.”
Jack Soo was an actor on the TV series “Barney Miller. On the show, there was a running gag about Soo’s character making terrible coffee in the office. Soo developed cancer of the esophagus and, as he was being wheeled into the operating room, joked to “Barney Miller” co-star Hal Linden: “It must have been the coffee.”
John Adams was the second president of the United States. As he lay dying on July 4th, 1826, he last words were: “Thomas Jefferson survives.” Adams and Jefferson began as political rivals, but over the course of time they ended up as friends. What Adams didn’t know was that Jefferson had died several hours earlier.
Wilson Mizner was a playwright known for his quick wit. One of his most famous quotes is: “Be nice to people on the way up because you’ll meet the same people on the way down.” When Mizner was on his deathbed, a priest said: “I’m sure you want to talk to me.” Mizner told the priest: “Why should I talk to you? I’ve just been talking to your boss.”
Actress Joan Crawford yelled at her housekeeper, who was praying as Crawford was dying: “Dang it! Don’t you dare ask God to help me!” …. Only she didn’t say “dang.”
Karl Marx was a journalist and a philosopher. His writings on class and economics became the bedrock of modern Communism. He was truly a man of words, and yet the last thing he ever said was this: “Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough.”
Well … on that note … let me add a few last words of my own this morning. I’m not anybody famous. I’m no Billy Graham or Max Lucado … no Rich Warren or Tony Evans … just a local pastor sent by God and the Florida Conference to serve out here in the Glades. I confess to not being much of an administrator … sorry. Never took any management courses in college or seminary. Prior to becoming a pastor, I was always the flunky, the gopher, a clerk … never reached what you would even call “middle management.” When I got my first church, I was thrown into the deep end of the pool and told to start pastoring … and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since … pastoring as hard as I can, as best as I can, following the SOP [hold up Bible], the “standard operating procedures” and doing my best to follow the dictates and leadings of my Employer … with a capital “E” … and His “job evaluation” is ultimately the only one that matters to me … and I hope that my performance here will show that, while I may not be the brightest and best pastor there ever was, I have given these two churches 100% and have tried to validate His trust and faith in bringing me here to serve you all. He had a job for me to do in the short time that I was here and I hope that I accomplished His purpose or purposes. I also hope and pray that when I sit down with my Boss for my final job evaluation, He’ll say: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You weren’t perfect, by any means, but you gave your all out of love for me and for the people I gave you to serve.”
And now it’s time for another pastor to pick up the mantle and guide you as you continue to seek God’s will and accomplish His purpose in the Glades. And so, I want to leave you with some final thoughts and last words from a great pastor that I will always look up to and humbly try to emulate … the Apostle Paul.
I’ll bet you can what guess the first thing I’m going to ask you do is. Anybody care to guess? Yep! Pray! If you remember anything about me, remember this one thing: I am a prayer warrior. My faith in the power of prayer is unshakeable. My greatest joy has been praying for you, praying with you. I have talked to God with you and, yes, I’ve talked to God about you. We’ve prayed together as a church and I have prayed one-on-one with just about everyone of you here. It there’s one legacy that I’ve left you, I pray it’s this one … an abiding faith and devotion to the importance and power of prayer.
Talk to God … every day … all day. Pray for this church. Pray for each other. Pray for His guidance. Pray for the eyes to see, the ears to hear … for hearts willing to be obedient when He speaks. Pray for Pastor Gutierrez. Pray for her husband, Luís. Pray for Pastor Patti Apperlee and her husband, Paul. Pray for their family and pray for the church that she serves. Pray for your sister church. Pray for all the churches in the Glades. Pray for the Methodist Church. Pray for all the churches in the body of Christ. Pray for Emily. Pray for me. Pray for Beaver Dam United Methodist Church. Pray for the First United Methodist Church of Canton.
Paul’s words at the end of Colossians says it all: “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving. At the same time pray for us as well that God may open to us a door for the Word, that we might declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison, so that I may reveal it clearly, as I should” (Colossians 4:2-4).
Next … I want to encourage you to receive Pastor Gutierrez with open arms and open hearts. Duh! I truly hope that none of you feel insulted by my request. I know you and I know that you will do that. In his letters, Paul encouraged the churches and the individuals he worked with and loved to have open hearts and open arms.
In Philemon, Paul wrote: “When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank God because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ (v. 4-6). So if you consider me your partner, welcome [Onesimus] as you would welcome me” (v. 17). In the last chapter of Colossians, Paul writes: “My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you have received instruction – if he comes to you, welcome him” (Colossians 4:10). Paul encourages his brothers and sisters in Philippi to welcome his brother and co-worker, Epaphroditus, “in the Lord with all joy” (2:24). I encourage you to welcome Pastor Gutierrez as you welcomed me … “in the Lord with all joy” (Colossians 2:29).
Third … don’t be afraid of change. Welcome it! Welcome changes aimed at reaching new people for Christ. I have been preaching about the need for change from the very start of my ministry here. I preached about it so much because it is so important for the future survival of this church. Look around you … churches are closing their doors because they refuse to change. One of the saddest and most difficult tasks we have at annual conference is discussing and voting on closing churches. But there are at least four or five every year.
Without a doubt, my hardest moments in ministry here … the ones that caused me the most stress … the ones that I prayed over the most … were not the changes in times of service or programs, whether or not we sing two choruses and three hymns or two hymns. These are just part and parcel of the life of the church. I’m talking about a change in heart, a change of attitude, a change in direction for this church. With all that is in me, I pray that you will not only welcome change but embrace it with courage. When it comes to being open and finding ways to reach new people for Christ, never change the message of the cross but welcome any changes that are necessary to stay culturally relevant in carrying the message of the cross to a skeptical world out there.
Again, the precedent for doing so can be traced back to Paul, who, in describing his approach to ministry, wrote: “To the weak, I became weak to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the Gospel, that I may share in its blessings (1st Corinthians 9:22-23).
Paul got his inspiration to try new and innovative approaches from God. Most Bible scholars believe that Paul wrote the Book of Hebrews, which begins: “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe” (Hebrews 1:1-2). Even God is into doing things in new ways to get the message across to those who need to hear it.
Fourth … let the past teach you how to have a brighter future. I know that I’ve made mistakes in the time that I’ve been here. I’ve made some poor leadership decisions. I’ve mishandled some situations. I’ve failed to address some problems in a timely manner. It’s not that I’ve done everything wrong … it’s just that I am not the perfect pastor … which is okay, because guess what? I haven’t been working with the perfect congregation or the perfect leadership … am I right? We’re all human … amen?
My hope for myself as I begin a new ministry is that I don’t repeat the same mistakes that I made here. I hope and pray that I have learned from them. And it is also my hope and prayer that you learn from your mistakes so that we are all better for the experience of worshipping and working and growing together.
Paul made mistakes and he learned from them … grew as a result of them. “One thing I do,” he writes in Philippians 3, “forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things and if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you” (v. 13-15). In other words, Paul is saying: “Don’t live in the past or get so hung up on it that you allow it to keep you from making progress towards a better future in Christ. Let the past teach you how to have a brighter future, amen?
Fifth … I not only want to encourage you to fight the good fight but to fight the right fight as well. Differences of opinion … tradition …leadership styles … worship wars … holding grudges … territorial face-offs … the list of diversions that Satan uses to infiltrate and paralyze a church are almost endless. One of the first things that Paul advises a young minister that he’s mentoring to do is to choose his battles wisely. He didn’t tell Timothy to fight over matters of opinion. He didn’t tell Timothy to fall on the sword of “tradition.” He encourages Timothy to fight the good fight … to fight the right fight … for the right reason.
Enter into conflict cautiously … prayerfully making certain that what you’re seeking is God’s will and not your own. Paul wanted Timothy to cautiously but courageously confront practices, programs, preaching, and even people whenever they were hindering or keeping the church from doing what God created her to do … and I want to encourage you to do the same.
I hate to be the one to tell you this, but First United Methodist Church is no different from any other imperfect church. You’ve got you problems … and some of them … not all of them … but some of them … are the result of choosing to fight the wrong battle at the wrong time for the wrong reason. But as I said before, we’re all human. I know that there are some people in this church who harbor ill feelings toward me and/or others in this church. Some have left this church or rarely come because of it. And I confess to you that there have been times when I have allowed my own emotions to lead me into harboring sinful anger. But I can’t just leave or walk out on the church, so I have learned how to ask God to help me forgive those who have wronged me … whether by design or not. And if I have wronged anyone during my time here, I will can say in all good conscious that I did not do it knowingly or intentionally … and I would ask those of you who feel I wronged them … if you bear anger against me … to let that anger go rather than take it to your grave. I would also encourage any of you who harbor ill will towards anyone else in this body to surrender those feelings to Jesus. Far better that you should forgive than burn, amen? Remember, Jesus said: “… if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:15).
If you’ve been fighting the wrong battles … stop! If you’ve not been fighting the right battles … start! Fight the good fight … fight the right fight for the right reason, amen?
Sixth … stay the course. Hang in there during the tough times ahead … and there will be tough times. I’m not saying this because I believe there will be tough times ahead because of my leaving … I’m saying this because it is simply a fact of spiritual warfare. The most powerful enemy of the church is Satan and he won’t give up trying to tear this church down until Christ returns and forever casts him into the lake of fire! Jesus told us that we would face troubles, but He also reassured us that we’d be rewarded with eternity in Heaven if we remain faithful to Him.
We do well to heed Paul’s advice and to follow his example. No matter what happened to him, he just kept moving forward by the grace of God … one foot in front of the other … one step at a time … one day at a time. He wasn’t surprised or taken off guard by trouble because he knew that it was coming. Maybe not today … maybe not tomorrow … but he knew … as we should know .. that the only constant in life is what? Change … amen? Today is the day of struggle, combat, warfare. Today we march in the name of the Lord. The day of rest comes later, amen? So stay the course.
And last but not least … finish well. Finish well, First United Methodist. Not everyone in the Bible “finished well.” Dr. Howard Hendricks of the Dallas Theological seminary found that there are around 100 detailed biographies in the Bible. He also found out that two-thirds of them ended poorly. Either they turned to immorality or they drifted away from the faith or they ended their spiritual journey “back-slidden” … “back-slidden” … is that even a word?
Well, you catch my drift. The Apostle Paul was not one of them. He finished well. “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the sharing of His sufferings by becoming like Him in His death,” writes the Apostle Paul. “Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind, and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. Only let us hold fast to what we have attained. Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us” (Philippines 3:11-17).
I believe this congregation has begun to make some of the changes needed to take her to the next level. As a church, I pray that you “finish well.” Don’t regress or backslide into old habits, attitudes, or ways that will hold you back from gathering souls … gathering them here in this church to worship and serve God. Finish well, First United Methodist Church, by continually reaching for the prize that Paul spoke about … by reaching out for more and more and more of God’s glory. Paul didn’t just finish the race … he finished it well. And that is my on-going prayer for each and every one of you. Like Paul, keep the faith because you are confident ... because you know … that Heaven lies in your future.
I don’t want this to be “good bye” … more like “until we meet again.” Will I ever be back in this area? God only knows. Maybe I’ll see you in the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina. It’s possible our paths may cross again but life, being what it is, there are no guarantees, amen? But if our paths never cross again here on earth, it is my hope and prayer that we will see each other again for all eternity in Heaven. So, my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, I urge you … I pray … that you “finish well.”
Let us pray. I wish I could take credit for this prayer, but it comes from The United Methodist Book of Worship …
Almighty God …
You, who called the universe into being …
You, who formed our inmost being and called us to be your people …
We give You thanks for Your constant presence. Through seasons of constancy and even change, You are with us … calling us into deeper waters, calling us together in Your spirit of unity, calling us out of ourselves into the world to serve others.
Grant that those pastors being called into new waters might hold fast to unending love and mercy as a buoy … a love that promised to hold on to us even as we go where Your Spirit leads us. May the churches that receive them be communities of mercy and grace.
May the churches experiencing loss and change hold fast to the promise that Your mission is bigger than any single pastor, local church, or annual conference. Grant that such a promise would bring both comfort and discomfort. Comfort in a season of change and discomfort as it drives us all to love You and each other more.
Strengthen us to be Your church in all times and seasons of life … a place where all are truly welcomed and embraced in Your love … even new pastors and church members. A place where we find ways that You are active among us and calling us to join in Your saving work. A place where the story of Your love and grace and mercy are embodied … even if it comes in shapes and sizes and languages that are new to us.
We offer our prayers in the name of the Triune God … Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And all my brothers and sisters say with me … Amen!
