Grosey's Messages

[Jesus] went up on a mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and to have authority to cast out demons (vv. 13–15).

Note the three purposes for which Jesus "appointed" the twelve apostles:

1. "So that they might be with him."

2. "He might send them out to preach."

3. "And to have authority to cast out demons."

 Neither our culture nor our churches reward these priorities.

The harder we work in ways the world can measure, the more the world will celebrate our work. Over my forty five years of pastoral ministry, would you like to guess how many times someone in our church encouraged me to spend more time alone with the Lord? Not once. But the hours I spent at the church and in the community serving others were noted by church leaders who measured my success in the same way they measured theirs: by definable output.

For a few years I submitted to serve in a ministry as the under pastor of a dying Anglican Church under the senior minister who administered another nearby church. 

For the first six months I didn't even get paid!  

I was responsible for two services each Sunday pastoral care, commencing a Bible college, getting it accredited and teaching at it each week.  Again I was burning out.  And the senior pastor was looking for definable results. 

It's only human nature to do what we are rewarded for doing, to please those whose opinions affect our sense of well-being and even our professional future.

But living without God at the heart of our lives is choosing to be our own god, to repeat the Fall with its "will to power" (Genesis 3:5). And as CS Lewis noted, "Out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy."

By contrast, the closer we are to Jesus, the more his Spirit makes us like our Lord (Romans 8:29), and the more our lives count for eternal significance today.

 Our spiritual enemy will do all he can to lead us to reverse the priorities of Jesus.

The church secretary at that time decided I needed weekly meetings with him to supervise my work at 7:30 am.  I already had weekly meetings with the deacons, and two each week  with the elders, and another monthly with deacons and elders together. Can you imagine ?  Being held accountable so many times. 

That day I made Fred the church secretary (chairman of deacons) wait outside for an hour while I engaged in another more important appointment.  He was angry!  His position meant he didn't need to fit in with my appointment schedule!  And when no car pulled up in front of the church house he was angrier!  

An hour later I told him (note: told) that my appointment with the Lord in his word each day was much more important than any meeting he could devise with me! 

Satan obviously wants us to fall into heinous public sin that destroys our ministries and shames our Lord. Failing this, if we insist on seeking to do good in the world, he will tempt us to make such good our purpose and measure of success. He will lead us to confuse the good with the best, to make the needs of others the definition of our call, to spend our days in a fervor of activity that produces (we hope) enough good to be worth the effort.

The famed preacher Arthur John Gossip once wrote:

Perhaps the ministry was never busier than it is now. Hundreds of men are hoarse from continual speaking, and are wearing out with running here and running there. If things slow down, we evolve yet another type of meeting. And when this new and added wheel is spinning merrily with all the other wheels, there may be no spiritual outcome whatsoever, but there is a wind blowing in our faces; and we hot and sticky engineers have a comfortable feeling that something is going on.

These words were written in 1952. How much worse are things today?

In My Utmost For His Highest, Oswald Chambers similarly wrote: "If we are devoted to the cause of humanity, we shall soon be crushed and broken-hearted . . . but if our motive is love to God, no ingratitude can hinder us from serving our fellow men."

performance anxiety

performance anxiety is a real thing pastors experience when they seek some form of justification for their identity as pastors. 

Today is, therefore, a good day to decide that we will walk with Jesus before we try to work for him. We will draw closer to him than ever before in the knowledge that this is his highest purpose for us. And we will make him known as we know him so that others can do the same.

"How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?"

St. Polycarp died on this day in AD 155. Reliable tradition identifies him as a disciple of John the apostle, also known as the "beloved disciple." He clearly learned from his mentor the importance of personal intimacy with his Lord as the foundation of his life and work.

When Polycarp was led into the Roman stadium, the proconsul challenged him to renounce his faith and live. He replied, "Eighty-six years I have served him, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?"

Sentenced to die by fire, he prayed as the soldiers prepared the wood, thanking God for the privilege of martyrdom. His last words testify to the depth of his love for his Lord:

I praise you, I bless you, I glorify you, through the eternal and heavenly high priest Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, through whom be glory to you and with him and the Holy Spirit, both now and for ages to come. Amen.

No matter what we face today, if we are "with" Jesus in intimate fellowship, we will face it with him. And our words and our lives will glorify our Lord in this world and the next.