A small boy was given explanation that his grandfather had gone to heaven.  He accompanied his family to the funeral home, and when he saw his grandfather’s body in the casket, he said, “So this is heaven!”  The funeral home isn’t heaven, but this earth isn’t heaven, either.  The fact that this earth is not heaven, is perhaps the best explanation as to why we are not exempt to problems.

I believe it was Rick Warren who said that life isn’t so much mountains and valleys,  as we tend to think, but is actually more like the two parallel rails of a railroad track, with both good and bad taking place at the same time.  There are always good things, and there are always things that aren’t so good.

Just last week, I talked to someone who said, “I have lost all faith in the goodness of God.”  This person had gone through a heart-breaking relationship problem.  What do we expect?  Do we expect no problems?  Are we to gauge God’s goodness by the level of our comfort?  If we have to have those answers spelled out to us, we would be too dumb to understand it, anyway!

There is a heaven, and God has revealed that it is a place that stands in stark contrast to this life.  When we are told that God will wipe every tear from eyes, the implication is that there are tears to be cried while we are here.  There is pain, sickness, sorrow, and crying here, because this isn’t heaven.  This is the funeral home!

The most elementary step in being able to do this is to know Jesus in personal relationship, then committing ourselves to trust Him completely. It is important that it be a settled matter in our mind and heart that God is good, that He loves us, and that He will shoulder our burdens for us.

As to the common sense things that we need to do, we need to realize that we can’t be everything to everybody, and we can’t do everything that everybody might want us to do. In short, we are to make priority decisions by focusing on what God would have us to do. What would God have our number one priority to be? What should be second? Third? Once we learn this, we must focus on these things and not let other things, no matter how worthy they might seem, to detour us from our top priorities.

The other thing that I will mention here, is that we must seek God’s will for the decisions we make. A large portion of the pressure that comes upon us is a result of decisions that we have made on our own, or the decisions that we are trying to make on our own. Before Jesus called His disciples, we are told in Luke 6:12 that Jesus prayed all night. This was a big decision with far reaching effects, so He sought the will of the Father in an all night prayer meeting. There is a lesson there for us, also.

God does not intend for us to be so pressured that we get high blood pressure, and a host of other problems. He intends that we have peace that passes understanding and joy unspeakable and full of glory.

The majority of churches today are comfortable churches. They talk a great deal about the spread of the gospel, they do studies about it, they even give money toward getting it done, but they never really do themselves. In the comfort and safety of their four walls the gospel is proclaimed, but the society in which they exist is pretty much unchanged.

The great commission church is consumed with getting out the gospel, beginning in its own community. The life of those on the inside regularly intersets with those on the outside. Sadly, it is much more difficult to get those inside the church mobilized than it is to get those outside the church evangelized.

The battle really begins, when we take our faith into the devil’s territory.  The battle is usually quite subtle.  The devil is the ultimate master of disguise, and he very often will stir someone inside the church to become disgruntled and begin to major on minors.  Multitudes of churches have brought to ineffectiveness by that very subtle attack of the devil.

I recently heard a preacher say that God has given us a defense for every dart the devil throws, but that the devil has no defense for our weapon, the word of God.  Realize that there is a battle and don’t back down from it.  Draw your sword and charge!

Jesus said that the basis of our lives is to be the demonstration of love, not a love of reciprocation, but the kind that is given to those who will not love us back, and those who have hurt us, or even want to hurt us more.  We are to love our neighbor as ourselves, which requires spending ourselves, in time, energy, and money for our neighbor’s well-being.

It is extremely easy to become self-centered, but the Christian call is to be Christ-centered.  It is easy to live in affluency, while most of the world lives in poverty.  It is easy to enjoy our physical worship, while neglecting our reasonable service; and if we do, the world will see us as trying to get something from them, instead of trying to give something to them.

It all comes down to one thing: who holds the title to lordship over our lives?

There are some very simple, common sense things that people can do to show themselves a truly friendly church.  People who visit do not know where everybody’s seat is located.  Oh, people do have a special seat in church, you know.  This is where an “on the ball” usher can make all the difference.  Even in a small church, when a new person, or family walks in, an usher should greet them and walk them down a little ways, not all the way to the front, but so they are about three-quarters of the way back, and ask that person who is sitting on the isle end of the pew if he would please move down and let these folks sit down?  If the service hasn’t already started, in a truly friendly church, somebody will introduce themselves and, not only express  joy in the person’s visit, but give them some information about the church.  It means a lot to see church members who are excited about their church.  When the service is over, instead of rushing for the door and lunch table, people ought to take some time to get acquainted with the new person, hopefully getting a phone number, so that several people can call during the next week.  Being friendly means a lot more than just allowing them to attend.

Peter was what, we today, would call an extrovert.  He was extremely responsive in both good and bad ways.  His responsiveness was perhaps his greatest asset and greatest liability, at the same time.  I think Jesus loved his responsiveness.  Jesus knew that whatever Peter believed to be the thing to do, he would do it with his whole heart.  Jesus gave him the name that meant, Rock, when he was anything but rock-like, but sure enough, that’s exactly what he became.

Andrew, on the other hand, was completely overshadowed by his brother.  He was never the public preacher that Peter was,  and it seems his biggest talent was that he was a very friendly guy, who loved the Lord, and who was easy to approach.  His name is only mentioned 14 times in the New Testament, and most of those are in the gospel of John.  He had a missionary heart, and it was very characteristic for him to be found bringing others to Jesus.  Life didn’t place him center stage, yet there was no hint of jealousy or bitterness.  He worked quietly and faithfully where he was.

The Lord can surely use each of us for just exactly who we are.  There aren’t that many mass evangelists, like Peter, but many of us, like Andrew, can be friendly and find ways to point people to Jesus.

From the time of the Patriarchs, and especially from the days of Moses, God has chosen leaders to put before His people, and through these leaders, He has directed His people.  We can see that God is big on organization, and that He does all things decently and in order, just as He commands us to do.  One of the saddest, darkest times in the history of Israel is recorded in the book of Judges, where the Bible says, “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”  For the most part, they were not trying to do what was wrong, they were trying to do right, but the problem was that they were following their own understanding, without the kind of leadership that could solidify them in such a way that they would all pull together in the right direction.

In church leadership, that many godly people have a divine calling for their particular area of ministry, yet there is somebody who is called to be the under-shepherd of the church, in other words, the pastor.  It is my understanding,  that every other area of ministry within the church comes under the umbrella of the ministry of the pastor.

We all certainly need to understand that as human leaders, none of us are infallible, and certainly we do sometimes make bad judgment calls.  I certainly am no exception to this.  I have, however, been extremely blessed over the years to have had wonderful people serving with me in the Lord’s vineyard.  So often, they have brought a dimension to the work, that I was either lacking, or that I wasn’t using to the degree I should have been.  My ministry has not been without staff problems, but those problems have been so very few, praise the Lord.

Leadership goes far beyond paid staff.  Every Sunday School teacher and every committee member are in leadership positions.  Different churches have different methods of selecting these leaders, but it is extremely important that the first criteria for the selection process is that the person demonstrates a love for God and the church.  How pleased the devil must be, when people put unspiritual people in positions to carry out God’s work.

So many times, I have seen two churches in close proximity to each other, and one will be thriving, while the other is withering away.  It’s not always the case, but most of the time, the difference is leadership.