We Only Have Minutes to Live

Some in pop culture are so famous only their first names are necessary – Elvis, Barack, Beyoncé, Kobe. Their celebrity status, their adoring fans, their self-promotion, and their major accomplishments combine to make their names household words across the globe. By now, you know Kobe died in a helicopter crash Sunday morning when, according to the latest reports, the craft slammed into a California hillside approaching 200 mph. All nine souls aboard the aircraft perished.*

Social media quickly spread the news of the death of Kobe Bryant and the images of the crash site. This wasn’t how the story was to play out for the 18-year-old kid who grew to stardom in the NBA over 20 seasons and will be a first ballot entry into the Basketball Hall of Fame later this year. Friends, teammates, opponents, and fellow celebrities mourned openly their sorrow at his death. The words tweeted, written, and blubbered over and again were “devastating” and “tragic.”

Yes, the deaths of the nine passengers were devastating and tragic, but no more devastating and tragic than the funeral Brenda and I attended on Sunday afternoon of a 59-year-old woman whose body succumbed to cancer or any funeral you recently attended. Death is always devastating and always tragic, and death is no respecter of persons.

The psalmist teaches both the socially low and socially high experience death (43:2). According to the psalm, death doesn’t care if you are rich or poor, foolish or wise (43:10). Death has no regard for who you are, what you’ve accomplished, or what potential awaits you. Death is not interested in your world class athleticism or your Midwestern work ethic or your careful nutrition or your safety measures.

Death doesn’t ask your permission. Death doesn’t move according to your timetable. Death doesn’t care about your plans for today or tomorrow. Death has no regard for a baby not yet born or for a man who has lived 100 summers. Death respects no one. Death fears no one. Death exempts no one. Death just keeps coming. Death is relentless in its pursuit of you, your parents, your children, your siblings, your grandkids, your friends, and every human on the face of the earth. Death will not stop hunting you and yours until it catches you and kills you.

In an interview after his retirement when asked about his post-playing days, Kobe offered, “Life is too short…” Everyone knows this intuitively, and yet many still conclude, “that will never happen to me.” But it will happen to you. Human experiencing shows this, and the Bible declares it (Hebrews 9:27).

Because we do not know what a day will bring (Proverbs 27:1), we should live this day and this moment as if it is our last. That means…

  1. Believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught us that he alone is the possessor of life (John 14). To believe on him is to secure the gift of immortality, a gift he made possible by his substitutionary death on his cross.

  2. Take care of today’s problems today. Paul told the Christians in Ephesus not to “let the sun go down” without taking care of problems with people close to them (4:26). Haven’t you been to funerals where family members were visibly troubled by the broken relationships made all the more painful by the death that draws them together? To the extent that you are able to right the wrongs, break down the walls, build the bridges, mend the fences, or whatever imagery fits you, do what you can to fix what’s broken between you and other people before death makes repair impossible.

  3. Make your minutes count. Compared to eternity, our lives a nothing but a vapor (James 4:14). Like a vapor, we appear on earth’s grassy fields and snow covered hills for seconds. The collection of those seconds means minutes. In those minutes, God intends for us to do something of eternal consequence as we “redeem the time” (Ephesians 5:16) and work for Christ in a way that accomplishes something that reflects his glory and blesses the church (Philippians 2:16). Make good use of the minutes. Don’t waste them accomplishing only what matters in the moment but doesn’t matter for eternity.

Kobe is the latest, but he’s not the last. Kobe is the most famous but not the only one on the helicopter. We are on the clock too. It’s just a matter of when and how. We no longer fear death because of the resurrection of Jesus, but we do understand its inevitably, so we prepare accordingly and trust God for his grace in the moment for us and for those whom we love (Psalm 23).

*In addition to Kobe and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, also killed in the crash were John and Keri Altobelli and their 13-year-old daughter, Alyssa,; Christina Mauser, an assistant basketball coach at the Mamba Academy; and Sarah Chester and her daughter, Payton, 13.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Mike VerWay

Pastor for Preaching & Vision

About That One Time When We Had Elephants at Church

I grew up in a church setting where evangelism was driven by events. We had Watermelon Sunday and Popsicle Sunday. Old Fashioned Sunday encouraged attendees to dress in pilgrim attire or overalls and bonnets, while Western Sunday meant to come with your cowboy boots on. Western Sunday was a challenge growing up on the south side of Chicago; there weren’t a lot of us who wore cowboy boots and ten-gallon hats with regularity.

Circus Sunday was a big hit. We actually had elephants in our church parking lot. I don’t know who owned the elephants or how they got to our church. I do know my dad and his friends laughed well into his last years, joking about my dad following the elephants, scoop shovel in hand. The thinking was, Have an event, invite your friends, give the gospel, and see what happens.

In some ways it worked. On our big event Sundays, we would see 2,000 in attendance. Our pastor preached the gospel. There were some who believed the gospel and today remain faithful followers of Jesus Christ.

Sustaining the events proved problematic. Like the rest of mass marketing, bigger and better was the cry, “We had elephants last month, what can we do this month?”

I remember airplane and helicopter pilots dropping candy and money from their aircraft to the outreached hands below. One Sunday we watched the skydivers pull the cords on their chutes, landing in the soccer field. That was the draw on Skydiver Sunday. What could top that? Maybe we could have the space shuttle land on our street!

I do not want to completely discredit events intended to be opportunities for gospel preaching. I suppose some might look at Peter’s preaching at Pentecost (Acts 2) as an example of event evangelism. Further, I do not want to discredit the motives behind the events. I believe they were pure. Our leadership wanted to see hundreds of people hear the gospel and be saved from God’s righteous wrath.

The unintended consequence was it taught us evangelism is what happens when you bring someone to an event at your church.

The event is the carrot. The overemphasis was “bring somebody;” missing was, “talk the gospel to your sister, friend, or co-worker.”

I think there is a place for bringing someone to an event where Christ is preached (John 4:29). We have held events at our church throughout the years where the purpose has been to bring someone to the church location where a concert will happen, a youth event will occur or to attend something else we offer. We preached the gospel at the event, and all in attendance heard it. However, for outreach purposes, events are supplemental and not primary because the New Testament emphasis is not on events. The New Testament emphasis for evangelism is person to person, one disciple of Jesus Christ fulfilling the Great Commission to another human being (see three examples in Acts 16).

What Happens at Our Church

Every Sunday our pulpit pastor reminds the church of the responsibility to chase the lost. While we use events to help us in the communication of the gospel to the lost, our primary means of chasing an unbeliever is one-to-one evangelism. We look around us and see who is close by. We see family members. We see co-workers. We see classmates. We see neighbors. We see parents of our children’s friends. These are the people we should chase with the gospel. In the providence of God, our paths intersect. My task and yours as a disciple of Jesus Christ is to live faithfully to Christ before them (Matthew 5:16) and to speak the gospel to them (Acts 1:8). An event may help us, but the primary means by which a disciple chases an unsaved person is through personal one-to-one communication.

As an aid to help you to chase the lost, consider Jesus words to love your neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40). Who lives next door to you, behind you or across the street from you? What do you know about that person or family? Do you know names? What is the history of the people who live in that house? Are they believers? Are you loving your neighbor? Is the gospel coming from you to the people God has placed immediately around you?

The Great Commission is often this simple: love people and talk about Jesus.

We will continue to have events as a part of our church ministry, though don’t look for elephants any time soon. When we do, I hope you will extend an invitation to lost people to attend. However, our events will not be day-to-day, week-to-week, or even month-to-month. We will chase the lost one person at a time, each of us embracing the responsibility and privilege of declaring the love of Jesus Christ. Our gospel events will be the intentional interactions we pursue with others that lead to giving the gospel.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Mike VerWay

Pastor for Preaching & Vision

The Kind of Grandpa I Want (and don't want) to Be

So, I’m a grandpa married to a grandma, and the joy has just begun. As an official member of the club, I’ve heard from other club members how awesome membership is and all the great moments that await me. Bring 'em on!

MJ’s life right now consists of eating, sleeping, and filling his diaper. He’s still figuring out mom and dad, so knowing grandpa will have to wait just a little bit longer. But it won’t be wasted time for me. I’ve been thinking about the kind of grandpa I want and don’t want to be.

I want to be a grandpa who loves unconditionally. MJ, his siblings, and his cousins will receive that love from their parents, that’s for certain, but I want him to have my love without any strings attached. He doesn’t have to earn my love. He won’t be loved more or less by what he does or doesn’t do. He’s loved because he’s my grandson. I don’t want to be a grandpa that expects behaviors and rewards them accordingly. Like his daddy before him, I hope MJ will grow to love me because I first loved him (1 John 4:19).

I want to be a grandpa who initiates conversations that inform MJ about the present world and the world to come. I’m new at this, but I’ve been around grandparents my whole life. I’ve done most everything a grandson can do with his grandparents. Instruction and counsel from Don and Marian Christensen stay with me until today. I don’t want to be the kind of grandpa who refuses to talk about hard realities for fear of my grandchild’s response to me. I’ve lived a long time, have benefitted from God’s patient shaping of my life, see life from the perspective of time, have witnessed God’s care for me and our family, and have much to offer MJ and the rest. I cannot stand by idly as the years go by hoping for the best; instead, I must choose to speak to him with gracious words that will point him toward Christ and away from himself (Ephesians 4:29).

I want to be a grandpa who helps MJ’s mom and dad with discipline while leaving the correction to them. MJ’s perfect with the exception of that pesky sin nature he’s carried with him from birth. That sin nature will express itself and require a righteous response from his parents. Like my grandmother and mom, I won’t like when his mom and dad correct him. It will pain me to see his discomfort. So, I won’t be the one correcting him, but I can be the one helping to discipline him. I can be the one showing him the righteous way to speak. I can be the one who helps him to obey his mom and dad and our Lord. I don’t want to be a grandpa who confuses the roles. So, no spankings or groundings from me, but all the aid in discipline I can offer (Deuteronomy 6:2).

I want to be a grandpa who helps MJ’s mom and dad be the best parents they can be. I want to say yes when they call asking for my help, even if my yes is inconvenient for me. We live hundreds of miles apart, but if the time comes when we live closer, I want to pick him up from practice and take him to his oboe and piano lessons. I want his parents to drop him off so they can have dinner together or spend a few days riding roller coasters or walking New Hampshire’s shorelines. I want to share Brenda with them at a time when I should get her all to myself. I’m tempted to think, “I’ve been sharing her with our children for the last 29 years; she’s all mine now.” But that’s selfish. I want to allow them to have her as much as they want. Sure, I’ll eat Dorito’s and drink Pepsi for dinner while she’s gone, but I’ll survive. I do not want to be a grandpa who sees these later years as mine, unencumbered by the needs of littles and their parents (Galatians 6:10).

I want to be a grandpa who is positive. I don’t want to be a grumpy old man. I’ve watched a lot of grandparents up close and personal in my role as a pastor. Many of them are very sweet, see the goodness of God all around them, wear a smile, and only have good things to say about others. And then there are those older people who are critical of church members, other family, store employees, the postman, children in the neighborhood, their spouses, the church piano player, and whatever or whoever else is in their crosshairs on a given day. Generally, I don’t want to be around them any longer than I have to be. By God’s grace, my grandchildren will not think that about me (Philippians 2:14).

I want to be a grandpa who makes much of Jesus. For more than a few years as I’ve seen this day approaching, I’ve pondered a time when one of my descendants does not know Jesus. It’s fearful to me to think of a future where our Lord must again send an evangelist to tell my grandchildren about Jesus. Our Lord did that already in the 1960s when he sent the Baptist pastor to my grandparents door to tell them the gospel. Four generations of Christians have followed Jesus since that day. But I have cousins who do not know Jesus, who do not know of his love for them, and who once again need an evangelist to them the good news. At present, my greatest fear is another evangelist will be necessary for one or more of my grandchildren too. I do not want to be a grandpa who talks about sports, school, hobbies, career, but doesn’t talk about Jesus. I want a common subject in my home, in my car, on my boat, and as we walk to be the beautiful Son of God and his love for us (Romans 10:14).

God says, May you see your children’s children (Psalm 128:6). Like other of God’s gifts I was foolish to loathe the day when I would be called grandpa, thinking that somehow labeled me old and decrepit. I have received one of God’s richest gifts. There will be a learning curve as there is with all God’s gifts to us, but I want to be a good steward of that gift for God’s glory and for MJ’s good.

May God grant me grace.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Mike VerWay

Pastor for Preaching & Vision

Keeping Their Memory Alive

Tomorrow, January 8, is a day of remembrance I hope you will recognize and not soon forget.

January 8, 2020 marks the 64th anniversary of the deaths of five young men giving the gospel to an unreached people group in the jungles of Ecuador in South America. In their memories we call them, “The 5 Ecuadorian Martyrs.”

You might know the name Elisabeth Elliot. Her husband, Jim Elliot, was killed that day along with the other young husbands and fathers, Nate Saint, Peter Fleming, Ed McCully, and Roger Youderian - all between the ages of 27-32 and, collectively, fathers to eight children ages seven and younger, with one more not yet born.

Blogger Tim Challies writes about the influence of their lives and deaths in both the short-term and the long-term.

The impact of their deaths, at least until now, appears to have been greatest among American evangelicals and the US missions movement.

In the US

Just days after the men were killed on January 8, 1956, LIFE magazine sent photographer and reporter Cornell Capa to cover the story, which was then published within the month. (You can now read the entire article online in its original printed form; Capa quotes at length from the diaries of Nate Saint and Peter Fleming.)

And within just a year of their deaths, Elisabeth Elliot, the widow of Jim Elliot, published Through Gates of Splendor, a best seller which told the story of these men and their mission to reach the Auca Indians. Soon after she also published Shadow of the Almighty, which focused more particularly on her late husband and the broader scope of his life.

These publications, along with many others then and afterward, helped make the deaths of these men famous in America and around the world. Their story inspired a generation and is said to have resulted in hundreds more joining the mission field and millions more dollars being given toward the cause.

One indicator of the ongoing influence of their story is that, on the 50th anniversary of their deaths, another book was released (End of the Spear, written by Steve Saint, Nate Saint’s son) as well as a major motion picture by the same title.

Among the Aucas

Though the majority of their influence may be on their homeland, the ministry of the men who died has not failed to bear fruit among the Auca as well.

Around the same time End of the Spear was released, Christianity Today published an article retelling the missionaries’ story and updating us on what has happened among the Aucas since that time. After their husbands’ deaths, some of the widows stayed on to continue ministering to the tribe, seeing some of them come to faith.

According to the Billy Graham Center archives, at least two of the men who had participated in the murder became Christians; and in 1966 they traveled to Berlin to give their testimonies at the World Congress on Evangelism.

The sudden deaths of those faithful to Jesus Christ is as old as the events of the New Testament. The names Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Peter Fleming, Ed McCully, and Roger Youderian stand alongside the names Stephen, John the Baptist, James, and the unnamed “of whom the world was not worthy.”

There will be more until the Lord returns to take us home. We will mourn their loss and cringe at their suffering, but we will rejoice at their faithfulness to a faithful savior. And they will serve as models to us of an unflinching faithfulness to Christ in the face of our oppression, great or small. We will discover when the time comes that as our Lord granted grace to them, he will grant grace to us.

May God continue to use their brief ministries and long memory for his glory and for the good of people.

Other Resources from Challies

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Mike VerWay

Pastor for Preaching & Vision

Let's Do This Together

I don’t have a strong opinion on the whole idea of New Year’s resolutions. If they work for you, go for it. If they are only going to add to the stress you already feel, what’s the point? There is probably a better way for you. But I do think there is necessity in planning for improvement.

There is little good accomplished apart from intention and planning. Clearing the recent snow requires the intention to shovel and the plan to buy a shovel to move the snow. Without either, you’re likely to have that dreaded packed snow driveway, which if it doesn’t irritate you, will irritate your father-in-law when he comes to visit his new grandson.

They probably exist somewhere in Christianity, but I have yet to meet the people who read, study, and know the Word of God without both intent and plan. I do know many people who intend to read the Bible, but they have no plan to follow. Sadly, the reality is too many of us who hear the faithful preaching of the Word of God in our churches spend very little time in God’s Word other than Sundays.

Would you like to change that for yourself? Then let’s read the Bible together. Christianity is always personal but never private, and that includes our Bible reading. We cannot meet every morning or evening for Bible reading, but we can plan to read together.

If you’d like to join me in reading the Bible, I have two suggestions and invite you to choose one with me.

Option 1: Read the Proverb of the Day. This simple plan has been a favorite of many since personal Bibles became the possession of anyone who wanted one. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs. Simply read the Proverb that corresponds to the day. January 1 read Proverbs 1. January 2 read Proverbs 2, and so on. If you miss a day, just pick up by reading the chapter that matches the current day. There is no requirement to go back and catch up, though you certainly can if you’d like.

Option 2: This is the plan I’ll be following in 2020. It’s a great plan for many reasons, and I think can fit into the lifestyles of virtually everyone. The 5 Day Bible Reading Program takes you through the whole Bible from January 1 – December 31. The plan is kind of chronological but not exclusively. 5 days instead of 7 allows for catchup if you miss a day. The plan is free and downloadable, and for those who need paper in front of you, you can print off the plan and mark the days as you go.

So, who’s with me? If you want to read the Bible together, text me or reply that you’re in. The first of every month, I’ll let the group know how I am doing in my Bible reading, and we can encourage each other in their Bible reading.

Most of my readers are more than familiar with the positives for reading and studying God’s Word. You know the Bible is a lamp to your fight and a light to your path. You know it’s the source of wisdom and that Bible intake will keep you from giving into temptation. What you need is a community of people to help you read the Bible. I know a group of people who can help you. I’m one of them, and I need you to help me.

So, let’s read the Bible together. I look forward to hearing from you.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Mike VerWay
Pastor for Preaching & Vision