Bear With Me, Please
By Pastor Jim May
1) Three pastors got together for coffee one day and found all their churches had bat-infestation problems. "I got so mad," said one, "I took a shotgun and fired at them. It made holes in the ceiling, but did nothing to the bats." "I tried trapping them alive," said the second. "Then I drove 50 miles before releasing them, but they beat me back to the church." "I haven’t had any more problems," said the third. "What did you do?" asked the others, amazed. "I simply baptized and confirmed them," he replied. "I haven’t seen them since."
2) Some pastors preach "longhorn sermons," a point here, a point there, and a lot of bull in between.
3) One pastor never prepared during the week, and on Sunday morning he’d sit on the platform while the church was singing the hymns desperately praying, "Lord, give your message, Lord give me your message." One Sunday, while desperately praying for God’s message, he heard the Lord say, "Ralph, here’s my message. You’re lazy!"
4) A stranger entered the church in the middle of the sermon and seated himself in the back pew. After a while he began to fidget. Leaning over to a white-haired man at his side,evidently an old member of the congregation, he whispered: "How long has he been preaching?""Thirty or forty years, I think," the old man answered."I’ll stay then," decided the stranger, "He must be nearly done."
So much for the fun and games of being a pastor – now let’s down to business. I have a message tonight that I am not comfortable in bringing to you, mainly because, in many ways, it seems so self-serving. But I believe that this is what the Lord wants me to say, and so I will say it to the best of my ability.
2 Corinthians 11:1-4, "Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him."
One thing that I have often had to consider, in being a pastor, is whether what I do is effective and what I say is based solely upon the Word of God.
I cannot tell you the number of times, after the sermon is over, and the people walk out the front door, that I have wondered, God, did I do what you wanted? Did I say what you wanted, and with the right spirit and manner of speaking? Did I edify the Body of Christ, or did I bring grief upon your people?
I don’t care how long a man or woman may minister to God’s people, this is always a concern.
Sometimes I think of myself as being much too hard – but then I know that God’s Word is sometimes hard because of the sin and rebellion in hard-hearted men, even those who are a part of the family of God. At other times I wonder, God, did I soften the blow too much? Did I make the sermon too easy? Is that why there was no response?
The fact is that I know the responsibility of my calling. I know the seriousness of my position as pastor and preacher and spiritual leader of this church. I do not take it lightly for I know that I will have to answer to God for every word spoken here and every thing that I do.
Hebrews 10:31 says, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." That is especially true if your hands are covered with the blood of those whom you have led down the wrong path.
I hope that you pray with me all the time, that God’s will is done, and that only what the Word of God says will be preached from this pulpit.
Yet, even though I endeavor to do my best, there are times when I know that I haven’t. All of you are so gracious and kind to encourage me even when I know that you have had to endure through the message because I had to endure through it too.
That’s when I must say, like Paul said it, “Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.”
I know that many of you get tired of my references to those who aren’t in the services. I’ve tried to keep from talking much about it, but when something lies heavily upon your heart and soul, you can’t help but preach it.
So, forgive me, overlook my repetition, and bear with me through it all, because I can’t seem to get away from it, no matter how hard I try. Like Paul, “I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”
Each and every one of you, from the smallest to the biggest, the youngest to the oldest, has a very special place in my heart as your pastor. I know that sometimes I have a hard time showing it the way I should. I can come up with just as many excuses as any of you can, but that doesn’t do away with the way I feel.
I long for the day, if the Lord should will that it be so, when I can have the time and the freedom to be with you in your moments of crises. I am also convinced that the bigger our church grows, the less likely that I will ever be able to do that for everyone. There are more emergencies and more sicknesses than I will ever have time to attend to them all.
But that doesn’t mean that I’m not praying for you, thinking about you and desiring to be there for you at that moment.
Some of you have had sicknesses, and I didn’t come to pray for you. I know that some would say that the Pastor needs to be there, no matter what. I know that some have suffered through some heart-rending times and I wasn’t able to be there for you when you needed me the most. It pains me so that it has to be that way. There are many in the church that I have never visited your home, never spent much time with you at all, and yet you keep coming. I am eternally grateful for your love and acceptance, but that doesn’t change what I would want to happen.
I sometimes wonder if all of that is not the reason that our church isn’t growing like we want it to. I always ask, Lord, have I done my best? Is there anything that I have left undone? The answer comes back, “no, I can never do what I consider as my best”. Yes there are many things that are left undone? And if I feel that way, I know that you do too.
So tonight I want to appeal to you, as Paul did to the Corinthian Church, to “bear with me in my folly.” It may sound repetitious, it may sound foolish, it may sound defeatist even, but it’s the truth nonetheless. Just like the rest of you, I am ever striving toward the mark, and it is ever running before me, and I’m convinced that I will never reach the mark, or that place of satisfaction, until we reach that other shore. Until that day, will you bear with me in my folly, as I do my best to bear with yours as well?
As a minister, a preacher and a pastor to this church, I have promised God that I would do all in my power to present you, in the Day of Judgment, as a chaste virgin, spiritually, before the King of Kings, and the Bridegroom.
My greatest desire is that every one of us, will one day be able to stand before Jesus, at the Bema of Christ, His judgment seat, and be found holy and righteous, washed in the Blood of the Lamb.
As your pastor, I am always concerned when someone is absent. I spent a lot of years on the congregation side of the pulpit, never realizing just what my presence might have meant to the man behind that pulpit. I know where you are and I know how you think.
“It doesn’t really matter if I’m not there. Nobody really cares. The church will go on without me. The preacher will still preach the message. I don’t have to be there for the service to go right.”
Folks, what you must understand, and what I have come to learn, is that your very presence in the service, even if all you do is sit and listen, and take no other part in the service, means so much to me.
Just as a shepherd worries about that one little sheep that is away from the flock, wandering around the edge of the pasture, I am compelled to worry about each of you. I know that there are great temptations out there. I know that the devil is looking for one stray lamb to devour them. I know that every power of Hell is arrayed against us. I know that, no matter how strong you are spiritually, you are no match for the devil alone. I know that it’s so easy sometimes to get caught up in going to other churches for fellowship, and there’s nothing wrong with fellowship. I know that it’s so easy to want to go where friends or family go? But what I also know is that just because other churches preach the truth, and just because your family and friends go there, is that really where God wants you to be so that you can grow in Him?
So I wonder, God, are they all right? Is there anything wrong? What should I do?
The greatest problem that I face as a pastor is “when is the right time, and how many times are acceptable, before my visits, or my calls, will drive people away, rather than bring them back.” Where do I draw the line?
There are some who will welcome you all the time, but there are just as many who would rather you never came over at all. There are some who like attention, but there are just as many who are offended by any attention at all. Which ones are which and how do I minister to them all?
Like Paul, I also fear for your safety. If Satan can fool Eve like he did, and she walked personally with God every day, then the same can happen to you and I. It’s so easy to be corrupted by false preachers, false doctrines and false “Jesus people”. Too many churches claim to preach the gospel but their gospel is not the gospel of the Bible, but a set of man-made rules and man-made traditions that are not gospel at all.
The sad fact is, that I know of many, who even right now, this very night, have left this church, (where I believe that the truth of the gospel is preached, and people can grow in the Lord if they want to), and they have gone to other places where they will not grow an inch because the word that comes forth is watered down to appease the crowd.
They are fooled by the smiles of the crowds. They are fooled and mesmerized by the soft words of the preacher and the professionalism of the music and self-proclaimed worship. They have confused quality entertainment and a show of the flesh as real worship when there’s little or no real worship in it at all.
Some have learned to accept that “pastor” who is nothing more than a hired “wolf in sheep’s clothing” who is only there for one purpose, to bleed the sheep for everything he can get out of them. He is in love with their checkbook, not their eternal soul. And they are more concerned over a broken pledge in the offering than with that broken heart.
If I sometimes seem distant and quiet, perhaps it’s because I remember those who have left us and are caught up in these places where their very soul is in danger. It’s hard for a shepherd to give up his sheep to a known sheep killer!
Sadly, I know that many have gone that way and now they have readily accepted the preacher where they are. Some are doing fine and I’m glad that they have found a home where they feel it’s right for them to be. But many are in a place where I know that God didn’t lead them and they are in grave, eternal danger, and just don’t see it, or refuse to admit it. They would rather accept a false teacher and strange doctrine, for the sake of convenience, than to hear the truth, and so I have lost them as a part of this flock, to a stranger who I know not. That’s a painful part of being a pastor.
Some have left for the right reasons, but most have not! Some have left to go where God called them to go, but others have made their decision based on personal preference rather than the will of God. Some, a few, that I watched walk out the door, brought joy in going because I knew that they were on the right track. But most have walked out, some without a word as to why, never to come again, and it’s those that I fear for the most. Where are they now? Are they serving the Lord? Are they in the Ark of Safety? Or, are they once again, captives of the devil?
That’s what a pastor thinks about all the time. Most of the sheep don’t think much of it at all. They just enjoy being with the sheep that are there. But the shepherd worries over the whole flock, especially those who are out of sight.
So once again I ask you, please bear with me in my folly. Bear with us when we fail to live up to your expectations, and to ours as well.
Also, bear with me if you will for now, because I don’t know exactly how end this message. As the pastor of this church, I want you all to know that you are loved and appreciated more than you can ever know and more than I can ever tell you. Without you there is no church. Without you I am no shepherd. Without you, we would simply cease to exist. Each and every one of you is vitally important to this ministry and this church, and to me as a pastor. You are my reason for being here right now, on this Sunday evening.
I want you all to know, how important you are to me. Whether you are an active server, in front of the crowd, doing a job that all can see, or whether you are working in a ministry behind the scenes where no one can see what you do, you are still important.
My calling would not exist without you! Your membership in this body of Christ would not be the same without me. Someone else could fill this pulpit, and they might do a better job, but it just wouldn’t be the same. Someone else can take your place in the flock, but the church just wouldn’t be the same. We all need one another.
Let’s lift up one another in prayer. Pray for God to send us more sheep for the flock. And also pray that God strengthens and enables the shepherd to lead the church. And may God lead us all into green pastures and beside the still waters.
Lord, help us to be church you would have us to be. Help me to be the pastor and shepherd that I need to be, and help these, your people, to be the best flock of sheep that we can be. AMEN
