I’m normally the second person to arrive at church on Sunday morning. Nick is always first. Nick arrives at 5am, straps on his blower, and cleans the sidewalks and patios. What a heart of hospitality: to volunteer to make sure that the church is looking her best come Sunday morning.
This is one notable act of service among countless others. A few years ago, two members of our connection group showed up within an hour of my text to help me move a jacuzzi. In our two local moves, we’ve had more than two dozen help us. Our connection group dropped off meals at our doorstep when we had Covid. A member of our church regularly blesses me with pens and books. A couple at our church has gifted our Executive Leadership Team with their condo in Rocky Point for our annual retreat. Others supported our children’s education through tax credits. And every year our church has a year-end special offering to bless pastors and directors that has spoken their love to us. I could go on and on. New Life, you are a loving and generous people. Thank you.
From time to time, I run into pastors who are angry and frustrated with their churches. Their irritation leaks out of them. I empathize. Members have hurt me. Others have been stubborn and rebellious. Others have slandered and gossiped. A leader has to step into these hard situations. In his letters, Paul regularly disciplines and rebukes individuals whose behavior is antithetical to the gospel. But leaders ought to be careful. Is our spirit toward God’s people characterized by gratitude or annoyance? Is my heart toward the church driven by hurt or by thanksgiving?
While Paul never withholds his pen from correction, his heart is filled with love and gratitude for his churches. Paul gushes about those in his churches and his partners in ministry. Of the church in Philippi he says, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace,[d] both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel” (Phil 1:3-7).
Paul commends Prisca and Aquila to the Roman church, “who risked their necks for my life,” (Rom 16:4). He commends Mary and Persis for their hard work (Rom 16:6, 12). Paul refers to both Epaenetus and Ampliatus as his “beloved in the Lord.” Paul says that the carrier of his letter, Tychicus is a, “beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord,” (Eph 6:21b). To the church at Colossae, Paul praises Onesimus, who is a slave, as “our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you” (Col 4:9b). Of Aristarchus, Mark, and Justus Paul says, “These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me” (Col 4:11b). In his letters to Timothy and Titus, he calls both affectionately his “true child in the faith.”
I pray that my ministry would be marked by such gratitude. Would the bumps and bruises of ministry not harden my heart toward God’s people. Would I allow Christ to carry the yoke of leadership that my heart would not be weighed down with burdens that are God’s, not mine.
New Life, thank you. You have been so kind to my family and me. You have been forgiven me when I have sinned against you; you have encouraged me when I was discouraged. You have prayed for us regularly. You have proclaimed the gospel, you have invited friends to church, and you have served faithfully. And I know that I’ve only seen a small fraction of all you have done. I love you, beloved children in the Lord. Thank you for your invisible generosity.
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Photo by Raph Howald on UnsplashPhoto by Austin Kehmeier on Unsplash