This morning I begin my twelfth year as the pastor of First Baptist Church. Eleven years ago yesterday I preached my first official sermon as your pastor. I was forty-two. Today, I am not. I didn’t have a midlife crisis when I turned forty. I didn’t have one when I turned fifty. I don’t have a Corvette or a Harley. Kathy still loves me after thirty-two years. I don’t color my hair or go to the tanning bed. I still don’t have a tattoo. I can still wear a belt I bought when I was in high school. And, yes, "Toin it up" from the song Sweet Home Alabama makes me smile.

While I haven’t done anything truly crazy in my fifties—ok, I am starting to play golf—I have been thinking a great deal about what it really means to be a pastor and how I can do that more effectively in the exciting years ahead. I have felt God’s fresh voice speaking to me through these words in I Thessalonians as I hear Paul’s passion and love for this one church in Thessalonica 2000 years ago.

One of the questions that I have filtered through my brain is this: What really matters in the long run? When I finish my run at this thing we call "the ministry," what will really matter? Will it be the sermons I have preached? In twenty-eight years of ministry that’s almost 3200 messages or Bible studies. Won’t that matter? Maybe it is the buildings that I have been part of leading or the number of weddings, funerals, baptisms, Sunday School averages or members. It could be the ministries that have occurred in the places where I have served or churches that were started. All those are fine and important but in the long run what really matters the most? What will Jesus think is really important when I stand before him and my life and ministry are reviewed?

The answer is found in verses 19-20 of our text for the morning. "After all, what gives us hope and joy, and what is our proud reward and crown? It is you! Yes, you will bring us much joy as we stand together before our Lord Jesus when he comes back again. For you are our pride and joy." (I Thess. 2:19-20) In the long run and the end of it all, what really mattered to Paul were the people he has served and the eternities that were changed from hell to heaven. In the long run people are all that matter to Jesus. In the long run as far as any measure of success or value, outside of my family, you—the church of Jesus Christ, you—First Baptist Church of Jonesboro are all that matters. You are what counts to Jesus and what counts to me.

Let’s be honest, though. Saying that is easy but recognizing all you have to cut through to get to that place of conviction is hard. Both pastors and people get confused about what counts with Jesus in the long run. Paul wasn’t the least confused about what mattered when he wrote the Thessalonians. He was thrilled, not about himself or his accomplishments. He was excited that this group of believers had survived in the face of great persecution, because of their dependence on the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. What gave him such joy? That is what he reflects on in our text for the morning. They had, first, a hunger for God’s word that wouldn’t be satisfied. They also showed endurance in adversity that wouldn’t give up and also Paul had a bond of love with them that wouldn’t let go. All of that resulted in an expression of intense affirmation that what really mattered to Paul was the pleasure of standing side by side with people he served when Jesus comes again. In the long run it was people that mattered most.

The first thing that Paul mentions was the hunger with which they received God’s word (I Thess. 2:13). Paul makes no apology for the fact that he had little interest in the contemporary philosophies of people but that what he gave to them was the "word of God’s message." He commends them for how they regarded the message and the way they accepted it. The words he uses are actually two different words for responding to the message of God’s word. The first word meant that they heard the message in such a way that they could understand it mentally. The second word, accepted, meant that they believed it within their hearts. He follows that by saying that this "very word of God" was continuing to work as a present reality within them.

I am thankful as well that there is within this body of believers called First Baptist an ongoing hunger for God’s word. There is evident here a willingness to hear truth and then apply that truth to your lives. For eleven years it has been my privilege to stand before you time after time and say to you, "Open your copy of the Scripture…" and then bring to you God’s word. Recently I had an email from someone who had become so excited about God’s word they asked if they could start a new small group Bible study on Wednesday night. There has been and continues to be a hunger for God’s word that will not be satisfied within our church. Does everyone share that hunger? No, but there is a persistent hunger that continues to grow here for the living word of God. That, my friends, is a joy to any minister!

Paul goes on to another source of excitement and that was the way these new believers had endured through adversity. (I Thess. 2:14-16) In verse 14 Paul talks about how they had been persecuted by their own people there in Thessalonica. We don’t know what specific sufferings they had endured but he said it was an imitation of the ordeal that the Christians in Judea had suffered. He said they suffered "because of the Jews" for believing in Jesus and you suffered because of your neighbors for your belief in Jesus. This suffering could have meant physical pain, rejection, loss of employment, shunning or any number of things. Yet he was impressed that they had endured such pain because they had dared to believe that Jesus was their hope for eternal life.

I recognize that there has been no wave of "Christian Cleansing" in our community. You are not threatened with physical pain or rejected by your community for following Jesus Christ. Yet when I think back on what I have watched you endure these eleven years, I am humbled and grateful. I have seen you demonstrate a level of endurance in adversity that won’t give up. You have done this as a church and as individuals. Our church has faced its share of adversity in these last eleven years. We have been through building projects, staff transitions, worship style changes, financial challenges, yet you endure without giving up. I have joined you when you heard words that you never wanted to hear or said words to you that you never wanted to hear and you have endured. You have faced death, divorce, hurt, pain, loss, sorrow, grief and adversity of all kinds and you just don’t quit. Many times I sit back and wonder why God would let me be in the presence of such awesome and amazing people. How could you not be grateful for a people who, when faced with every adversity imaginable, still believe that God will bring them through! You have endurance in adversity that won’t give up!

Paul moves to the next thing that drew him so close to the Thessalonians and that was a love he had for them that wouldn’t let go. (I Thess. 2:17-18) He tells them in verse 17 of the depth of his passion for them when he was away from them. He described it as the feeling that a parent would have if their child had been ripped from their arms. The word literally was "orphaned" or "bereaved." I listened this week on the radio to the 911 call of a mother who had just discovered that their adult daughter was missing. The frantic voice was painful to hear. The one she loved had been torn from her and she ached for that one who was missing. That is the feeling Paul had here. His words describe an intensity of passion for them that drove him time after time to try to see their faces. Our English translations struggle to describe the strength of how Paul felt when he wasn’t with them. He even mentions that he was battling Satan in his attempts to be with them because he couldn’t imagine being away from them. Paul’s affection for them was so strong that nothing on earth or hell was going to prevent him from being concerned for them. His love wouldn’t let go.

Recently, we were at a dinner and sat with Earl and Charlene Gairhan. Earl is 80 years old and is in fine health. Charlene has been trying to get him to travel and every time she comes up with something, Earl says, "I like it here just fine." There are some who probably would wish otherwise but I want you to know that when it comes to First Baptist Church, "I like it here just fine." Does that mean there aren’t times when I get frustrated or wonder, "What in the world am I doing?" Sure, everybody in every job has those moments. But what I want you to know is this: I love you. I often feel inadequate for the challenges that face us. Yet God and you continue to affirm that we still are right for each other. That doesn’t mean I’m perfect or that this church is either. It means that it is your "faces" that keep me coming back again and again. Eleven years ago you opened your hearts to us and have never closed that door. "I like it here just fine." It is a love that won’t let go.

When Paul has reflected on their hunger for God’s word, their endurance in adversity and the love he had for them, he concludes by saying that in eternity they were all that mattered to him. (I Thess. 2:19-20) It is difficult to put into words the full scope of what Paul says here. The picture is of Paul’s standing in heaven at the return of Jesus Christ waiting for his ministry to be reviewed and evaluated. At last he appears before the One he has served with all his life. When he looks around to his left and right and then glances behind him he begins to see faces. There is Jason in whose home they first met when he came to Thessalonica. There is Aristarchus and Secundus, both from Thessalonica, who traveled with him later. His eyes begin to focus and he sees more and more faces whose names he can’t remember but they are there with him.

Then as though some great curtain has been lifted he sees people stretching out as far as he can see. They are from places he had been in his lifetime: Derbe, Lystra, Ephesus, Corinth, Athens and Rome. Some of those he wondered if they would be there in the end. Others he was certain would share this moment. He begins to weep not for sorrow but joy because these were the lives that were changed. Then through the tears he hears the voice that had confronted him at Damascus when he tried to destroy the very name of Jesus. The voice says, "Paul, all of these who stand with you today, they are your reward. Well done my good and faithful servant." When he looks back on the things that he has accomplished, the churches he started, the sermons he has given—all of it—what he knows will count with Jesus is people, people who have been reached for Christ. He says that when it comes to his evaluation before Jesus they were his only reward and his true pride and joy!

What this says to me and to us is that when we stand before Jesus at his return and he evaluates our lives, it will be people who will matter most. It won’t be sermons, buildings or accomplishments. It will be who is standing on either side of me that I have impacted for Christ that will count. People are the only things that will make it into eternity and they are the only reward that matters.

That causes me to ask who will be standing there with me? It will be the people from churches located in towns from Texas and Arkansas. It will be you who call this church your anchor of faith. It will be people who have been reached for Christ by sacrifices we have made and the resources we have given. It stirs in me another question though: Who needs to be there but might not be because we are silent? The only things that will matter in eternity are people who are standing before Christ when he comes again. If you are counting on a "mansion" made of gold or jewels then forget it. The reward will be the people that join us in his presence.

This morning we gather to share the supper of our Lord. That supper is very simple: a piece of bread and a cup of juice. It is a meal that we share together as the Body of Christ. It is a symbol of the one thing that binds us together: his body and his blood both given for us on the Cross. As the elements are passed between you and the person next to you remember that one-day upon Christ’s return they will stand with you in heaven. In the long run they will be the only things that matter because they are the only reason Jesus died and rose again. And in the long run may we all confess, "…what gives us hope and joy, and what is our proud reward and crown? It is you! Yes, you will bring us much joy as we stand together before our Lord Jesus when he comes back again. For you are our pride and joy." In the long run it is people who matter most.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org