Psalm 84:10
A Great Place To Be
Kevin Higgins
Woodlawn Baptist Church
Denison, TX
Sometimes we preach and preach and forget that our churches need to be encouraged and reminded that we as pastors love them. I used this message to tell the church I pastor why I love being their pastor after a busy week of working together on a church garage sale.
INTRODUCTION
I’ll have to admit to you that I had begun to get concerned about what I would preach to you this morning as the demands of the week stole my time away. I thought I would run home and put something together last night, but I had so much trouble unwinding that I didn’t do anything until early this morning.
It was a great week. The revival went well in Sherman, and several of you attended on Monday and Tuesday nights, and our garage sale was a great success. During the sale, a sermon began to form in my mind that I want to share with you this morning. In Psalm 84:10, the psalmist said,
For a day thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
One day in thy courts, one day in God’s courts, one day in the place where God dwells is better than a thousand days anywhere else! Notice how strongly he feels about it - he says that he’d rather be a doorkeeper, one of the lowest of all the positions…but its not really a low position - its just not a glamorous position. He’d rather have one of the least thankful, least recognized jobs in all the house of God than to be anywhere else doing anything else. Wow! What a testimony to the love of a man for the house of God! What a testimony of a man’s love for God!
Listen, that’s the way I feel. I love being in the Lord’s house. I love doing things here at the church. I love the fellowship of God and of God’s people. One day here is better than a thousand anywhere else. When I say "here," I mean God’s house, because I have felt that way about God’s house most of my saved life. In other words, whether I lived in Mexia or Henderson or here, I love being in God’s house. But listen, I don’t just love being in God’s house, I love this house of God. There is something particularly attractive about our church that makes it a special place for me to be. I don’t mean the building, I mean you, the people, our church. Our church is not the place - our church is us, the members of Woodlawn Baptist Church. This morning I want to share with you some reasons why I love to pastor this church. I also want to share with you some concerns I have for our church, and then I want to conclude by sharing with you some dreams I have for our church.
I LOVE PASTORING WOODLAWN BAPTIST CHURCH...
I have divided the reasons I love our church into two categories. One list of reasons is very generic, while there are some other reasons that are very personal.
BECAUSE GOD IS HERE
How do I know God is here? He said He would be! Jesus said, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." I love that! There’s lots of great clubs and organizations in the world today. You can be a part of the Lion’s Club, the Boy Scouts, the Veteran’s groups, the City Council or any other club you can name. You can have great purposes for meeting - to save the whales, to save the trees, to help the community’s kids, to build better streets, to make the world a safer place to live - but no matter what the group is or how noble it’s purpose may be, God never promised to be in the very presence of any of those groups except for His churches! He’s not in those places as corporate bodies! But He has promised to be in our presence as one of His blood bought churches!
BECAUSE JESUS CHRIST IS OUR HEAD
Jesus Christ is the head of this place. I’m not the head, the deacons aren’t the head, the body isn’t the head - only Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:22 - And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church." Ephesians 5:23 - For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Colossians 1:18 - And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Is that important? You’d better believe it is! We take our marching orders from Jesus. We get our purpose from Jesus. We have authority because of Jesus. We have power because of Jesus. If the pastor was the head of the Lord’s churches, this one would have sunk a long time ago, and it would be sinking under my leadership - but under the leadership of Jesus Christ we are promised that the gates of hell can’t prevail against us!
BECAUSE WE DON’T HAVE TO WASTE OUR TIME FIGURING OUT WHAT TO BE DOING
Revelation 4:11 is our purpose - to please God. Matthew 28:18-20 tells us how we are going to do it. As a church body we need to be winning the lost, baptizing those who come to Christ, and then we need to teach them how to live for Christ! That’s why we’re here! We don’t exist so you’ll have a place to eat or so somebody can pay your bills when you run out of money. We’re not a babysitting service or a retirement home. We exist to tell a lost and dying world about the redeeming grace of God and His offer of salvation to all who will believe!
BECAUSE THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OUR GUIDE
BECAUSE WE HAVE THE WORD OF GOD
BECAUSE OF OUR DOCTRINE
I am thankful for all these things. Our God, our head, our purpose, our leadership, our doctrine all make us distinct and set apart. There are some among us who don’t believe like we do, and they are welcome to leave or to study the Bible and change their minds. When we can change we ought to be willing to do so - when we can’t change we ought not budge an inch.
We’re not going to change when it comes to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We’re not going to change when it comes to the Bible being the Word of God. We’re not going to change when it comes to salvation by grace through faith. We’re not going to change when it comes to the security of the believer. We’re not going to change on the local church and church sovereignty.
There’s a host of other things we won’t change about the way we believe, and if a person can’t accept that, then there are plenty of churches out there who will teach a lie to fill the pews. I know there are some things that need to change around here. There are some attitudes and ideas that are wrong, and when these crop up we ought to be willing to change. Contemporary gospel is just as valid as any other style of music. Praise songs are just as biblical as the hymnals. Blacks are just as welcome here as whites. There are a host of these kinds of things that need to be carefully addressed, and when we are wrong, then we ought to admit it and change.
But there are some more personal reasons I love our church
BECAUSE YOU LOVE YOUR PASTOR
Since the first time I came you’ve done nothing but love me. You pray for me. You provide for me. You encourage me. You brag on me. I could go on and on and on. I have heard the horror stories from other pastors. I have read about them. I have seen them. It is a terrible thing for a church to feel little or no love for the man God provides as your pastor, but that has not been the case here. You make it easy for me to pastor you. It is a joy to visit. It is a joy to preach and teach and fellowship.
When I have to preach or say hard things, you don’t buck up and rebel against it (you may not listen to it either) but you respond positively. My words cannot adequately express what it means to me to know that you love me and my family the way that you do, and for that I love being your pastor.
BECAUSE YOU WANT TO GROW
I know you want to grow. You talk about it. You work toward it. You are willing to do what it takes to grow. We don’t always know what to do, but I believe that our church is in a position to reach more and more people because of an attitude that welcomes church growth. If we are weak in this area, it is that we don’t always know what to do with people once they join. We have had many many people join with us, but if we’re going to have them coming into the front doors of the church, then we’ve got to shut the back doors so we don’t loose them.
BECAUSE YOU ARE WILLING TO WORK
This weekend was a great example of what I mean by this. On Thursday morning we were suppose to meet at 9:00 A.M. You started showing up at 8:00. We had people who loaded, who moved, who set up, who took money, who labored all day, who delivered stuff and who gave of their time and themselves to see that our garage sale was a great success. We had people spend the night here. We had people working at 6:30 in the morning and even stayed till after dark. It wouldn’t have worked without you!
Maybe you weren’t able to work this time, but I have to really brag on our folk for being a people who are willing to work. Last year on the first night of Vacation Bible School, we had about 65 kids here. We had 41 adults here to work. Our VBS work nights are well attended. Other things are the same way. When something needs to be done around here, you pull together and get the job done. I love pastoring a people like that.
Listen, imagine what it would be like to have all of us working together to build this church! All of us can’t help with every event, but all of you have a job to do here, and it is time you unlock that chain that’s holding you to that pew and join us in the work. If you can’t do what I can do, then do what God has enabled you to do.
BECAUSE YOU ARE WILLING TO GIVE
Offerings have been up since January. Faith Promise has been up. Other offerings have been good. If you’ve been apt to let yours slide, then get back on track and do what you’re supposed to be doing. We ended up with a total of $4,554.20 for our garage sale because people gave. With what we had in the bank, that gives us $5,374.20 to use for our new sound system equipment. I stood and looked at all the stuff and was overwhelmed by your response. A lot of people came up to me late yesterday and said, "I never thought we’d reach our goal. I thought you were crazy." Do you know why we reached our goal? Because you gave.
You give your stuff. You give your money. You give your time. You give your energy. Why do I love pastoring here? Because you are a giving church - and giving churches are churches who receive in turn. We all receive a blessing, God receives glory, and somehow, in some way, God will see to it that for all our giving there are blessings received.
There are a lot of reasons that could be listed. I love pastoring Woodlawn because we have great people. We have potential to go farther than we’ve ever gone. We love missions and our missionaries. You love the Lord and His work. I love pastoring you because you are growing in the Lord and it shows in your lives.
Maybe you could think of some other reasons for me, but for now let me share with you some concerns I have.
I AM CONCERNED FOR OUR CHURCH...
BECAUSE WE ARE NOT REACHING THE LOST
I’m not talking about a door knocking program or evangelistic crusades. I’m talking about you as God’s people sharing your faith and sharing what God’s doing in your life with lost people you know. We’re not reaching them. We need to tell them. We need to invite them to church. We need to help them to see the light, but we aren’t. Some of the problem is apathy. We are comfortable with our fellowship here and lost people who don’t know how we do things makes it messy. Whatever the reason, I am concerned that because almost all of our strengths are inward, that our outreach is being ignored.
BECAUSE YOUTH MINISTRY IS NOT A PRIORITY
I saw this one night several months back. It came to me during a family night when our young kids were going to sing to you after you were through eating. While they were singing for you, our church turned around and went back to their conversations. Some got up and went home. Others were milling around talking and cleaning up and so forth, and all the while they were singing for you.
A few months back, they were singing again during a singsong service. There were complaints because the kids took up too much of the service and even though they practice every Sunday night to sing for you, they are discouraged from doing so. I get the feeling that we don’t really care what goes on with our youth so long as they don’t bother us while they do it.
Listen, the youth ministries of this church are going to have to be addressed if our church is going to continue to have a place in the lives of our younger families. My kids come because they are made to, but other families will take their kids places where youth ministry is not just something we do, but is something that is a priority in the church. You think back over the years here. You think back over the many years of this church’s influence and ministry to young people. Has it ever been the strong priority it should have been? Many of you raised your kids in this church. Where are they today? Are they still going? Do they have a love for God and church? What about all the other youth who have come through the doors, but we fail to really reach.
The future of our church hinges on what we are willing to do to improve our ministries to our kids today.
BECAUSE WE ARE A CHURCH THAT IS GROWING OLD
Now I suppose that this is directly tied to the last point, but it is a little different. I mean no disrespect by what I’m about to say, but it is the reality. In 20 years, many of you will not be here any more. Some of you have longer, some of you don’t. Now maybe you can say, well I won’t be here, that’s your problem. You want a church to pastor? You get them here.
If that’s your attitude, then God have mercy on you. You’ve forgotten your purpose. You’ve forgotten what its really all about. If for no other reason, you ought to be committed to the future of the church because of all the sweat and blood and money you’ve invested in it through all the years.
We’ve got to reach families. We’ve got to reach people my age and younger. We’ve got to retain those who grow up in our church, and to do that we’ve got to honestly evaluate whether we’re willing to pay the price to get them.
BECAUSE WE HAVE TOO FEW PEOPLE DOING THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY
Let me just simply say this - Woodlawn Baptist Church needs every member. It is embarrassing that we had people who aren’t members of our church working this weekend while those who are were sitting at home in the air conditioning.
Let me tell you what happens when you won’t work. It discourages those who do. Now those who work do it for the Lord. They love the Lord and they love His people and they love His work, but you cannot work and work and work while others won’t and not get discouraged. You may not do anything but sit on a scooter at the end of the row and smile and talk and encourage people, but by your very presence you communicate that you are committed and will do what you can to help.
Now I don’t want to spend too much time on all of that. It needs to be addressed. It needs to be changed. We as a church need to repent of our unconcern for these things and we need to individually repent if we are contributing to them, and repentance means a change, a turn around - to quit being or doing or thinking one thing and taking up another that God will be pleased with.
WHAT ARE SOME OF MY DREAMS FOR OUR CHURCH?
Now you understand that anything that comes under this point is purely subject to the leadership of Jesus Christ as we follow the direction of the Holy Spirit, but I think all of these things are God-honoring and are absolutely necessary if we are going to succeed in the years to come.
TO MAKE OUR FACILITIES AS MODERN AND ATTRACTIVE AS WE CAN
We’ve already begun to do this and have built great momentum that we need to keep going. We’ve replaced pews and carpet. A lot of painting has been done. The front doors look great. The lawn is looking better than it has in a long while.
There are some other things we must do. We must keep the place clean and attractive. We are going to have to address our classroom situation in the back. We need to modernize the restrooms. The lighting through the building is not adequate. Fire safety is an issue. We have furnaces that need to be replaced.
When I talk about modernizing the facilities, it’s about paint and trim and doorknobs and cabinets and dark paneling. It’s about sheetrock and carpet and floor tile and seeing to it that when people come to this place of worship we care about their needs being met and we care about communicating relevance to a young and exciting generation of believers.
These things cost money, and on the one hand it is easy to say that what we have is good enough for us it should be good enough for them. Perhaps, but if spending a few hundred dollars on modernizing a bathroom communicates something to a visitor and they return and accept Christ, then was it worth it?
TO MAKE OUR CHURCH A PLACE FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY
To do this we’re going to have to provide variety. We need to be sensitive to the needs of the young and the old. We need Sunday School classes for the single mom and the married couples. We need to continue our playground for small children, but we also need to provide resources for teenagers too. We need Bible studies and fellowships and outings that will draw people in.
What are we doing right now as a church that says to the young lost couple, "We have something for you"?
TO MAKE OUR CHURCH A SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY PLACE TO BE
Church property is some of the most wasted property in the world. What other place can you think of where millions of dollars are spent for people to gather for less than 6 hours a week? Why can’t we put a walking track and a pavilion across the street for members to use and enjoy every day? Why can’t we have Bible studies on Tuesday mornings or Thursday nights? Basketball courts? Tennis or volleyball courts? For families to recreate and play? What’s wrong with fishing trips or shopping trips? Why don’t we do things together? What would be wrong with installing cable in the fellowship hall, and on Sunday afternoons eating lunch and watching the ball games together between the services? Is that irreverent? It would be in here for worship, but what about doing it for the sake of fellowship and mutual enjoyment? Would God be angered at our spending time together in something fun?
I want to challenge you to think outside the box and imagine a church that encourages families to spend time together and find their needs met in and around the church. When we do that, we’ll find ourselves working together to build a place of community and mutual fellowship and greater corporate worship.
CONCLUSION
I love pastoring this great church. It is not the biggest. It is not the richest. It is not the most visible so far as gaining public recognition, but if those are our priorities, then we’ve got it all wrong. I love pastoring here because I pastor a great bunch of people who love the Lord, who love one another and who love the work we’re doing. Some of you won’t let me be your pastor, and I hope that will change. Some of you have never joined with us, and I want to encourage you to seek God’s will. If you’re looking for a church home, I believe we have one of the best anywhere. Maybe you’ve never been saved, you need to make that decision today.
