Author: preacherpollard

Neal Pollard

For what must elders give an account?  The Bible speaks of the duties, dangers, and delight of overseeing the local church.  What are elders to do?

1) Take heed to themselves and the church (Acts 20:28)

2) Feed the church the right spiritual diet (Acts 20:28; 1

Peter 5:2)

3) Watch and remember (Acts 20:31)

4) Rule well (1 Timothy 5:17)

5) Labor in word and doctrine (1 Timothy 5:17)

6) Hold fast the faithful word (Titus 1:9)

7) Exhort and convince the gainsayers (Titus 1:9)

8) Take the oversight of the flock (1 Peter 5:2)

9) Be examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:3)

How could one take this responsibility lightly or view the work of elders as frivolous?  Overseeing the local church is definitely serious business!  Remember the inspired words in the great epistle of Hebrews?  “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you” (13:17).  Let us assist them in their God-given work and never oppose their right-doing!

Neal Pollard

I am an admitted “Gator Hater.”  Growing up a huge fan of the Georgia Bulldogs, it is expected of you not to like the University of Florida.  It is nothing personal; it is wholesale, institutional prejudice.  While I am not likely to ever root for their football team to have a winning season, their soon to be alumni, superstar quarterback is now one of my heroes.  I have tried to ignore his wholesome image and even his deep, religious conviction. Wag your head in shame at me if you will, but he killed my Bulldogs every year!

But his latest effort has me in permanent awe of him.  It did not happen on any gridiron.  It happened in a production studio, the work of private donors who paid the exorbitant cost for Focus On The Family to run a 30-second-ad during the Super Bowl.  Feminist groups (one of them called it “extraordinarily demeaning and offensive”) and abortion advocacy groups, all of whom I thought were supposed to be pro “choice,” have excoriated Focus, CBS, and the Tebows, for running a “divisive” advertisement (I suppose “pro-choice” must mean “for” the “choice” of “abortion only”?).  They are circulating online petitions to get the ad removed from the ranks of Super Bowl commercials (which includes some illustrious, wholesome spots–remember last year?!).  Tebow held a news conference to address why he would appear in the ad, and he simply said he was standing up for what he and his mom so strongly believed to be right.  Tim’s mom, Penny, supposedly shares her decision not to have an abortion despite her doctor’s recommendation that she do so.  Several advocacy groups automatically conclude that this makes it a political commercial. Perhaps they fear a likable sports superstar telling the public that it is a good thing to choose life will be harmful to the cause they seemingly cherish dearly.

Tebow has been criticized roundly and repeatedly for dragging his faith out onto the field.  It may cost him endorsements.  In the current culture, it might even hurt his NFL draft position (although I would not hold my breath for that; have you seen him play?!).  There is much hypocrisy here.  Feminists groups ignoring the repeated, worsening sexual objectification of women in nearly any type of commercial.  Abortion groups decrying someone promoting the “other” choice.  Critics who do not mind hedonism, materialism, agnosticism, and the like paraded, but convulse at any sign of theism.

Yet, here is what stands out most to me.  Tebow is willing to risk criticism, personal loss, and stigmatism to stand up for principles firmly rooted in biblical teaching.

What am I willing to risk for my Lord and His will?  Thanks for the challenge, Tim.  I wish you well.

Neal Pollard

The heaviest rodent in the world, the capybara calls South America home, is an excellent diver and swimmer, can be as “tall” as 4 1/2 feet and weigh as much as 150 pounds (imagine meeting that rodent in a dark alley!).  Yet, perhaps the most incredible thing about its habitat and lifestyle is that it can share a riverbank or shoreline with black caimans, crocodile-like amphibians that grow up to 20 feet long and are capable of killing humans.  When the capybara is in the water, it is easier prey for the caimans.  Yet, on dry land, the capybara is almost always safe from the razor-sharp, powerful teeth of the caiman (some information found in Animal: The Definitive Guide To The World’s Wildlife, 158, 426).

Who would think a rodent would be safe standing in the middle of a group of crocodilians?

How this reminds me of the comfort we can find as Christians surrounded by evil and sin!  The ranks of the righteous are dwarfed by the multitudes of the morally depraved (cf. Mat. 7:13-14).  The world would appear to have much more money, power and influence than the church, yet through His help we are not only able to stay safe but even are able to convert some who formerly served and were part of the world.  Without God, we should be frightened as easy prey for the wicked.  But, as Paul says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31).

Now, when we choose to go where the enemy has the advantage, we become easy prey for the devil.  We can become weighted down (Heb. 12:1) and it is then that we become a “sitting duck” (or “swimming capybara”) for the enemy!  Practicing worldliness in our speech and behavior puts us at odds with God, creating distance between ourselves and the safety found in the shelter of His hand (cf. Jas. 4:4; John 10:28-29).  The challenge is to navigate safely through this world without letting its wisdom and ways fill our hearts and minds!

Neal Pollard

As a subscriber to Consumer Reports, I get occasional emails from the company.  This morning’s note from Jim Guest, president of the company, caught my eye.  The subject line read, “Clean hands.”  Guest asserts that “nearly 100,000 Americans die each year from injections they get while in their local hospital for something else–the equivalent of a jumbo jet full of passengers crashing every other day.”  His email is a call for consumers like me to call upon the government to make infection rates public while pressuring hospitals to be more vigilant in their procedures.

This is neither a call for bigger government nor a charge that hospitals are all unsanitary.  Certainly, as in any industry, the medical field is not harmed by reasonable regulations and some facilities undoubtedly need to be more fastidious.  But, it was the title that grabbed me.

Spiritually, we are called to have “clean hands.”  When we do not, we can have a potentially, eternally negative impact on the lives of others.  Consider this more carefully.

MORALLY, WE NEED CLEAN HANDS.  James 4:8 urges the readers to cleanse their hands.  Context warns against being intimate with worldliness (4), guilty of pride (6), submissive to Satan (7), judgmental of brethren (11-12), and overconfident of earthly plans and priorities (13ff).  When our deeds reveal to others that we have “dirty hands,” we hurt our influence with the lost and the saved!

EVANGELISTICALLY, WE NEED CLEAN HANDS. Paul could tell the elders of Ephesus that he was “free from the blood of all men” (Acts 20:26).  This seems to be an allusion to the prophet Ezekiel’s warning that if God’s spokesman did not warn the wicked, that one’s blood would figuratively be on the messenger’s hands (3:18,20).  Paul said he had not shrunk back from declaring the whole purpose of God (Acts 20:27).  When God hands us opportunities to teach the lost and we shun or ignore them, we need our hands cleaned!

DOCTRINALLY, WE NEED CLEAN HANDS. This same context in Acts 20 seems to apply to the content of Paul’s teaching.  He did not avoid the unpleasant and unpopular subjects.  He certainly taught in love (cf. Eph. 4:15), but he could face the Lord knowing he had declared the “whole purpose of God.”  We cannot mislead others living in darkness into thinking they are in the light.  That impacts the cleanliness of our “hands.”

The work of our hands will be examined.  Pilate tried to clean with a basin hands that could have been busy doing the right, courageous thing (cf. Mat. 27:24).  We may try to rationalize or reason what can only be cleansed by doing what is right, but only through obedient faith do we clean our hands!

Neal Pollard

About twenty-four hours after being part of a car crash in northwest Colorado, Stone Martin, at age nine, made the transition from time to eternity.  Now, he rests in comfort in Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22) with the penitent thief (Luke 23:43) and all the saints of the ages (cf. 2 Pet. 2:9) who await, free of heartaches, trials, and earthly cares, that timeless moment for which all the redeemed live and long.

The Martin family typify so well what faithful Christians everywhere do when faced with a tragedy like this (Tom Holland wrote, many years ago, that few things in life are more tragic than the loss of a child because it is out of the natural order and untimely).  As shock yields to resignation, grief and understandable, though not permanent, despair, this faithful couple and the rest of the family will continue to stand.  Why? How?

Proverbs 10:25 says, “When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more, but the righteous has an everlasting foundation.”  Jesus says the righteous dig deep and lay their foundation on the rock (Luke 6:48).  Terrible, tumultuous storms like this can occur, and it shakes violently at one’s foundations.  Trivializing or minimizing the hurt and pain felt at such a moment as this is immoral and unthinking!  Yet, this dear family will spiritually survive and their optimistic hope will influence for good because of a promise made by One who referred to Himself as The Rock.  The fact that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:18) and arose from His grave (Acts 2:29-33) means that dear people like the Martins can take heart from Paul’s words and not “sorrow as others who have no hope” (1 Thes. 4:13).  Yes, they will sorrow in a protracted and penetrating way.  Their lives will not be as they once were.  But, they now live with extra incentive for the realization of that moment when they will enjoy that unending, blissful reunion with saved loved ones and to see, once more, Stone, who will have been at rest upon The Rock of ages!

Neal Pollard

Micah is a book that is filled with some hard, divine judgment due to some pretty wicked behavior on the part of both Israel and Judah (1:1).  God, through Micah, calls them His enemy (2:8).   They devise evil on their beds at night and carried it out in the morning light (2:1). They hated good and loved evil (3:2). Their spiritual leaders led them away from Him (3:5ff).  They were anxious to do evil with “both hands” (7:3) and were willing to betray even their own brother (7:2).  These were grim moral times among the people of God, yet Micah’s message is filled with future hope and even promises concerning the Messiah (5:2) and a passage Jesus quotes in His ministry (7:6).

Micah ends the prophesy with some of the most hopeful language of the entire Old Testament, when he says,

“Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy.  He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities.  You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.  You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham which You have sworn to our fathers from days of old” (7:18-20).  Micah asks, then answers, one of the most important questions of all time and eternity.  Who is a God like the God of the Bible?

Examine the world religions and their gods are fallible, human, and unsafe to follow.  They do not possess nor dispense truth.  The idol gods are made by hands.  The gods of self are made by minds.  But the God of the Bible was not made.  He made all.

God is unique, according to Micah, because of many basic, important qualities:

• Ability and willingness to forgive (18)
• A mercy which mitigates His holy anger (18).
• A compassion that subdues iniquities (19).
• The giver of truth (20).
• The One who keeps His promises (20).

Consider how valuable each of these five basic traits is to how we view our past, present, and future.  God possesses everything we need and gives to those of us who ask and submit to Him.  Why would we look elsewhere for God than where He clearly makes Himself known to us?  As the youth song suggests, “There’s no God like Jehovah!”

Neal Pollard

How often have you been told to take a look at yourself by everyone from your Momma to Eric Clapton?  So often, we are good at seeing others but we are not so keen in our self-examination.  The apostle Paul urges the Corinthians to look at themselves and see where they are, spiritually.  That is helpful advice for us today.  Notice what Paul advises in 2 Corinthians 13:5:  “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” What does he urge?

“Pressure Yourself.”  The broad meaning of the word here is “put to the test.”  It can be a negative exercise, where one tries to put God to the test from hostile motives.  It is the word translated “tempted” in Galatians 6:1.  But, it can also be used in a positive way, as in 2 Corinthians 13:5.  Paul is saying, “Put yourself to the test.”  Louw and Nida put, “Determine the nature of something by submitting it to the test” (Gk.-Eng. Lex., 27.46).  What thing is Paul telling them to put to the test to find out its nature?  Their lives as measured by God’s Word.  The concept of pressure-testing it is to look deeply and closely and find out, truly, if they each were continuing in the faith.  That is an exercise which will require a lifetime of persistent effort, and it certainly leaves little time for pulling out the magnifying glass and the microscope on our brethren.

“Prove Yourself.”  The meaning of “prove” is similar to the word translated “test” or “pressure.”  Trench says it means “to approve after examination” (Synonyms, 278).  The need was to keep themselves on the hook until they had been thoroughly, honestly examined by self.  There is always plenty to see and evaluate in ourselves, enough to keep us busy every day.

“Perceive Yourself.”  What was it Paul wanted them to see in themselves?  It was whether or not Christ was in them.  If He was not, they had failed the test.  When we look into the Bible and put yourself to the test, do you see from that examination that Christ is in you?  We might be able to fool others, but we cannot fool ourselves.  He cannot get in our hearts by wishing, feeling, hoping, or intending.  Paul emphasizes “the faith” as crucial to this process.

Look closely at self.  What do you see inside yourself?  So pursue and live so that Christ is in you.  When He is, He will shine forth through you!

Neal Pollard

It is the worst earthquake since 1770, several years before the end of the Revolutionary War.  The epicenter was 10 miles west of the capital city, approximately the same population as Houston, Texas, or Chicago, Illinois.  There have been dozens of aftershocks ranging from 4.2 to 5.9, the earthquake itself registering an incredible 7.0.  There are no construction standards in the third-world country, and the city’s mayor had declared about 60 percent of the city’s buildings unsafe following the collapse of a suburban school building little more than a year ago.
Haiti, already accustomed to hardship and poverty, is in unimaginable shambles.  Thousands of lives have already been confirmed as lost and it is disconcerting to contemplate what the final tally will be.  This disaster was no respecter of persons, killing foreigners, the wealthy, and the powerful along with the poor, obscure natives.  Hospitals, upscale apartments, government buildings, and palaces, along with shanties, collapsed in on themselves. There have been those who were buried alive that have been recovered, but many more are simply buried under the rubble.

I have only seen a few images of the earthquake, but they are certainly sad and graphic.  The faces photographed portray so many raw emotions.  It is difficult to imagine what these poor people are enduring.  There is no greater physical loss than loss of physical life.

Do you ever wonder how different our reaction toward soul-winning would be if we could see sin as God sees it.  The Omniscient One sees every sinner all around the world, many of whom are buried under the rubble of destructive lifestyles.  He watches with perfect perception all the graphic details.  He sees those buried under their pornography addictions, the unfaithfulness of their adulteries, those with their cursing, tobacco, alcohol, and gambling habits, those buried under the practices of false religions and false teachings, and on and on.  While all of us sin, those of us saved by the blood of Christ must be part of the great rescue operation of those in danger of dying under the rubble of unforgiven sin.  May we awake to the fact that the loss of the soul is infinitely greater than even the tragedy of the magnitude of these events to our south that bring tears to our eyes!

Neal Pollard

The lead article in the fall 2009 edition of Reflections, a quarterly produced by the Yale Divinity School, is written by guest editor Martin B. Copenhaver.  It is entitled “Back To The Future: ‘Retraditioning’ in the Church Today.”  In it, Copenhaver writes of the huge upheaval going on within many “Reformed” or Protestant denominations.  Copenhaver contrasts mainline churches with both Emergent Churches, the darling and hip face of ultimate change in religion today, and Judaism–which is the ultimate anti-Emergent Church in philosophy and practice.  To summarize, Copenhaver says that churches are finding new life and vitality by doing more than just going back to their traditional roots.  They are going back to ancient faith practices, particularly those discovered in scripture.  He seems to indicate that as our culture has replaced Christ with secularism or hedonism as the foundation of society, churches have found new motivation not to simply assume that people believe in Christ or desire to be distinctive.

“Retraditioning,” a term Copenhaver borrows from Diana Butler Bass, is a movement “through which a congregation adopts, or reclaims, practices and understandings that have been part of the wider Christian tradition, but, for some reason, have been abandoned or diminished in importance” (4).  She has much more to say that would be fodder for a different article, but the Reflections article is all about the identity crisis so many in Christendom are facing in these changing times.  To be fair, many congregations within churches of Christ have been wrestling with an identity crisis, too.

But, while we should always be people ever open to more effective methods of fulfilling our God-given mission as His people in ways that are in harmony with scripture, we should never be a people wrestling with an identity crisis borne of having been faddish and preeminently desirous of being seen by the culture as relevant.  We do not have to revisit how often to take the Lord’s Supper, what basic form the sermon will take or the role of the Bible in it, whether or not women will lead in worship, what form church music will take, and the like.  Since all of this was settled in the New Testament 2000 years ago, our role as disciples of Christ is simply to read it, understand it, and do it.  This is true, whether culture accepts and appreciates us for it or not.  As a side benefit, we do not have to go back to the “drawing board” time and again, rewrite creed books or publish a new edition of a Church Manual.  We do not have to grab on to the next, new, and biggest religious trend.  Our never-ending work continues to be to restore New Testament Christianity in faith and practice, calling people to submit to Christ’s authority and shape their lives, individually and congregationally, by His Word!

Neal Pollard

She would interrupt the weekly devotion at Hill Nursing Home in York, Alabama, by crying out, “Can you help me find Winnie Pickett?  Help me, please!  Have you seen Winnie Pickett?”  This elderly woman, a resident of the nursing home, made such imploring cries.  What a sad face she had.  But, who was this Winnie Pickett for whom she searched?  A best friend now deceased?  A childhood friend?  A sister or mother?  One of the nurses was approached to help find the answer.  With compassion, she said, “She is Winnie Pickett.”

Why was she making such a request?  What a strange search, to be searching for one’s self.  Seemingly, Mrs. Pickett was not lucid.  But, even in her confused state, she sought what so many choose to ignore.  For whatever reason she “sought” herself, she illustrates an attitude that should live in each of our hearts.

SHE ILLUSTRATES THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF-EXAMINATION. Paul urges, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you ”unless indeed you fail the test?” (2 Cor. 13:5).  We should want to know where we stand before God (cf. Col. 1:10).  We should seek to know if we are walking worthy of the Christian vocation (Eph. 4:1; 1 Thess. 2:12).  God had to ask a question of Adam that he should have asked of himself, when He inquired, “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9).  The answer to this question, for all of us, is of infinite importance (Matt. 7:13-14).

SHE SHOWS THE CONCERN ONE SHOULD HAVE FOR SELF. Certainly, God must come first with us.  Concern for others preempts concern for self (Phil. 2:3-4).  Yet, Paul’s words ring with common sense when he writes, “no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church” (Eph. 5:29).  The command of both testaments to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Rom. 13:9; Jas. 2:8) presupposes that it is right and healthy to love one’s self.  If we have healthy self-respect, we will naturally love and respect everyone in our lives.

SHE SHOWS THE PROFOUND SADNESS OF BEING LOST. Her mournful cries are unforgettable.  At least in her mind, she was lost.  She did not seem to know where she was, and was afraid of where she was going.  From all indications, sweet Winnie was not a Christian.  How sad.  To witness the steady decline of a dear woman who was outside the fold of safety is helpless and agonizing.  But, every day there are healthy, vibrant men and women in the prime of their lives who look fine on the outside but who are spiritually dead within (cf. Rom. 6:23).  Though physical death may be years away, unless they obey the gospel they are eternally lost (Matt. 25:46).  There is no greater tragedy (Matt. 16:26)!

The remains of a woman was found on the hot sands of the Mojave Desert.  Her last words were preserved in a written note.  It read, “I am exhausted and I must have water!  I don not believe I can last much longer!”  The sad fact is that she died of thirst and exposure only two miles from Surprise Springs, an oasis that would have saved her life (Tan 1216).  Many lost people come in contact with Christians, who know the way to salvation and life.  They are that close to escaping eternal loss.  Will they die without the water of life?  Many are like Winnie Pickett, begging for someone to help them not be lost.  Let’s keep our eyes and hearts open to these.

Neal Pollard

He is an example in handling persecution and suffering (1 Peter 2:21).  He was a role model who could always be trusted to follow (Acts 1:1; 10:38; 1 Cor. 11:1).  Did you know that a prophet over 700 years before His birth foretold of such exemplary behavior?  Isaiah 42:1-3 is about Jesus!  Matthew confirms it in Matthew 12:15-21, in the midst of Jesus healing a man with a withered hand (9-14) and one who suffered a variety of maladies, demon-possession, blindness, and muteness (22-23).  Certainly, Jesus was doing these miracles to verify His identity as God’s Son, but He also revealed much about the kind of attitudes are right for mankind to possess toward others.

Observe Jesus’ Conduct Toward The Sick (15-17).  This is actually seen throughout this chapter and, certainly, throughout all four gospels.  He healed all that came to Him (15).  He restored the man’s hand (13).  He healed the possessed man (22). He did what He could for them.  Now, His power infinitely outweighs our own, but we can and must minister to the sick (cf. Matt. 25:36).

Observe Jesus’ Conduct Toward The Outcast (18,21).  The Gentiles were certainly held beyond arms’ length by the Jews at the time Jesus walked the earth.  But, Jesus’ coming brought justice for them and gave them reason to have faith.  Ephesians 2:11-13 shows the sad condition of the Gentiles when Jesus came on the earthly scene.  As most of us are Gentiles by birth, we are grateful for His gracious outreach.  How do we treat those who society has little use for, the poor, the dependent, the chronically ill, and the like?  How do we treat the “abject” sinner, the one with the sordid past (and even present)?

Observe Jesus’ Conduct Toward Himself (19).  This is a remarkable, unique passage.  What does this verse depict, but the meek and gentle side of Jesus’ nature? Keep reading and you will see Jesus, the Master debater (24-37), far outshining the world’s best attorney.  Read the Master teacher in chapter 13, speaking so many things in practical, powerful parables. Read of His incredible miracles in chapter 14, His bold teaching in chapter 15.  Later in the book, He drives out the moneychangers with a whip and excoriates the Pharisees with the most condemning language of the New Testament. In the midst, God audibly declares Him His Son up on that mountain.  Yet, inclusive of His nature, was what Jesus declares of Himself:  “I am meek and lowly in heart” (11:29).  He was not one who drew attention to Himself.  He was no parader, vaunter, or promoter of self.  This Lion is also the Lamb.  His righteous anger was reserved for sinners and injustice.  His godly understanding of duty drove Him to teach and do good.  His humility caused Him to always project all glory to the Father!  In all of this, He is our example.

Observe Jesus’ Conduct Toward The Powerless (20). Briefly notice an extension of Jesus’ perfect self-control.  He showed compassion and assistance to those who could not help themselves.  What a demonstration of Christlikeness for us to help, do favors for, and reach out to those who are in no position to pay us back for the kindness.

The Pharisees so often acted to be seen of men.  By contrast, Jesus deflected undue attention from Himself as He busily served and honored the Father.  May we diligently work to follow His great example as we “dwell among men.”

Neal Pollard

I downloaded an entire album of his greatest hits, probably because he was my grandfather’s favorite musician and he and my son were born in the same town about a century apart. He only lived 36 years before succumbing to the effects of tuberculosis.  Yet, a good argument can be made that he was a prominent ancestor if not the father of country, bluegrass, blues, and even rock and roll music.  To enjoy such success in so short a lifetime, Jimmie Rodgers had to be a driven, motivated person.  Rodgers had organized two traveling shows by the age of 13, at which age he won an amateur talent contest.  He recorded 110 songs in six years, fighting through the effects of TB to the very end.  His determination to make a living from music was rewarded by awards, recognition, and tributes, though most were offered posthumously.  It was not accolades but adoration for the brand of music he created that drove him.

In Colossians 3:23, Paul says, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.”  Contextually, Paul is speaking to Gentile slaves serving in the Roman Empire in the first century.  Considering human nature, it would have been easy for these slaves to slack off or simply lack motivation to serve in such a debasing, hopeless existence.  In the NIGTC on Colossians, Dunn says,

The implication is that one of the chief dangers of the slave status

was a lack of personal motivation which made all work a drudgery

provided grudgingly, with lack of effort and always with a view to doing

as little as one could get away with. Such an attitude can be sustained

only at tremendous personal cost, with other aspects of the personality

“switched off,” withdrawn, or suppressed, or with a calculating motivation

fed by resentment and bitterness (255).

I cannot imagine having to live such a life, but in whatever circumstances of life I find myself there are some key thoughts from this passage about how I lead it.

BE DETERMINED, WHATEVER.  It does not matter how menial or tedious the task is.  Not every task in glamorous; many are pretty thankless.  Whether we are being watched or not, let us work with determination.

BE DETERMINED, WHOLEHEARTEDLY.  The word translated “heartily” is the Greek word for “soul,” and literally means “from the soul.”  One translation has “put your whole heart into it” (NEB).  Christians know what our purpose and our goal is, so we should make an all-out pursuit in every facet of our lives!  We are (or should be) 100 percent people, in our work, our relationships, our families, and the church.

BE DETERMINED, WHOEVER.  Some are a pleasure to serve.  They are appreciative and maybe even generous.  Others grumble, criticize, and ignore even thoughtful gestures and special touches. This cannot effect our output.  Whoever we are serving, we must work as though every bit of it is for the Lord. Try out that ethic and any task is more than bearable.  Ultimately, He gives the reward.

Give your best shot, whatever you are doing.  What awaits you is the ultimate recognition.  You will even find you love doing it, however difficult the people with whom or for whom you must work might be.  If slaves could do it and were expected to do it, what about us?  Be determined!

Neal Pollard

He was “a model student, very keen, very enthusiastic,” according to a former teacher, Michael Rimmer. “He was a very nice, friendly person. He was a person who did a lot of good things,” added a former classmate, Efemena Mokedi.  He is educated, wealthy, and cultured.  But, unless he changes, he is lost.

That last statement seems illogical to the average person.  What do you need more than a great personality, friendliness, and good deeds?  Most people say that if they are basically good, moral people, it will be enough to get them to heaven.

Isaiah declared that man’s righteousness is like filthy rags (64:6).  Paul wrote, “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7).  Do you see what Paul makes essential to eternal life? God’s mercy.  God’s grace.  God’s Spirit.  God’s Son. God’s plan.  That does not negate obedience (see Titus 2:11-14), but it shows us that whatever goodness we have to commend us is insufficient.  Our standards are inaccurate and incomplete.

Still unconvinced? Guess who is described in the first paragraph.  His name is Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.  He is now better known to many as “The Christmas Day Terrorist,” the man who came so close to blowing up Northwest Flight 253 as it approached Detroit from Amsterdam.  He does not claim Jesus as Lord (John 14:6).  He does not recognize the God of the Bible (2 Thess. 1:7-9).  Abdulmutallab is simply an extreme example that should cause us to reexamine the notion that I can get to heaven by being a basically good person.  Not one person will be in heaven who have not had the blood of Christ applied to their sins (Rev. 1:5; Eph. 1:7).

Neal Pollard

Sunrises and sunsets? Beautiful music? The face of a little child? Emotion from one from whom you would not expect it? Witnessing acts of charity and kindness?  Something moves you.  It motivates you.  Preachers, employers, leaders, and others try to tap into what moves people to produce the desired response.  So do spouses and parents.

I find it interesting that Paul said that bonds and afflictions did not move him (Acts 20:24).  The psalmist says the blessed and righteous man would not be moved by opposition and trouble (Psa. 16:8).  The idea conveyed in scripture is a difference between being moved–troubled, distressed, and disturbed–by lack of faith and courage and being moved by the things that ought to touch, stir, and break the heart.

The cross ought to move us.  The love of God ought to move us.  Grace ought to move.  Fear of judgment and hell ought to move us.  Thoughts of the joy and bliss of heaven ought to move us.  The brotherly kindness of others, either shown to us or to another, ought to move us.  The tearful repentance of another ought to move us. Singing praise to God ought to move us. Others’ grief ought to move us. One’s decision to become a Christian ought to move us.  Proof of God in nature ought to move us.

Isn’t it interesting that God has placed within us a chord that can be struck by deep, spiritual things?  It is disturbing to think that some are not or no longer moved by the things just mentioned.  Some are moved to tears by puppy dogs and sentimental movies but unmoved by Calvary and God’s free gift.  May we be a people whose hearts are reached by the powerful gospel and the God it reveals!

Neal Pollard

A church that has been around for nearly fifty years accumulates a lot of history and experiences.  In that span of time, no doubt a few will have asserted that the Bear Valley church of Christ has not always been as warm and friendly as they should.  In fact, that charge has been leveled at probably every church by someone at one time or another.  Because of the strong doctrinal stand of this congregation over the decades, some have accused us of being unloving.  Yet, after three and a half years serving as your preacher, I have to say that I have never known a more loving church.  I make this claim based on three biblical truths.

You Are A Loving Church Because Of Your Giving. In recent weeks, both elders and missions committee members have repeated the same thing.  This church’s generosity is unbounded.  The elders presented an ambitious increase in the weekly budget and you have exceeded it.  The missions committee proposed an astronomical figure on Missions Sunday and you met it!  The end of year freewill contribution to our missionaries was the largest in history.  This has come despite a financial crisis unknown in our times, with many of our own having been laid off and out of a job.  How does one explain this?  As with the churches of Macedonia, your liberal giving is proof of your love (cf. 2 Cor. 8:24).

You Are A Loving Church Because Of Your Deeds. On almost a daily basis, I hear of your benevolent acts toward the needy, your inviting neighbors and co-workers to church services or otherwise sharing the gospel, or some deed of kindness you have done for another member.  The visits, the rides to doctor appointments, the calls, the cards, and other tangible actions testify of your love.  I literally do not dare to try and list specifics, as you overflow with such deeds.  Truly, as John said, this is love.  He urged, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).  Your tongue is often filled with loving words, but you back it up with your deeds.

You Are A Loving Church Because Of Your Support Of Gospel Preaching.  It is true that the clearest, largest example of this is your commitment to the school of preaching that is 44 years in duration and continuing.  You have send sound, caring men into the fields for over four decades and heaven will be populated with people taught by our graduates.  You are doing the same with the work of the extension program.  But, as a preacher, I know your love firsthand.  Not every sermon I preach is feel-good and positive.  I have to preach difficult topics, those unpopular even among some claiming to be members of the Lord’s church.  You are kind and complimentary of even such sermons.  You have made our family feel so much a part of this church family.  I am grateful and do not even have to ask why.  I know why.  You are a loving church (cf. 3 John 5-8).

It is a daily pleasure to preach for a loving church.  As we face the challenges, trials, and opportunities of tomorrow, may we resolve to grow more loving each day.  If we are always motivated to love God truly and first of all, we will be known far and wide as “that loving church.”

Neal Pollard

The healthcare debate is still raging, with a vote expected to pass at least an expanded, tax-funded version of what we now have. To whatever extent tax subsidized abortion is part of the new plan, it is at odds with scripture.  God hates the shedding of innocent blood and any individual or nation that engages in what He calls abomination does so to their own ruin (cf. Prov. 6:17; 14:34).  The ancient Hippocratic Oath (usually dated around 400 B.C.), as quoted at PBS.org, includes these words from Hippocrates of Cos, ancient Greek physician, includes these words:  “I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.”  While modern medical school graduates are not required to pledge to uphold the ancient version, the assumption made by all patients is that doctors and nurses work to save rather than destroy life.  We should pray but also take every peaceful, law-abiding action we can to oppose any dangerous, national step away from our Creator and Redeemer.

About 200 years prior to Hippocrates’ work, the prophet Jeremiah wrote of the ultimate physician.  Jeremiah’s peers seriously needed His intervention, but they steadfastly rejected it.  In Jeremiah 8:22, the weeping prophet implies three invaluable traits of a great physician.

A great physician knows how to properly medicate.  Jeremiah implies that the “balm” was present. Exell shares an interesting insight about this substance.  He says,

There (in the rocky region of Gilead, NP) the fragrant, resinous gum,

possessed of such famous healing properties, was to be found–found,

however, not by the casual, unobservant traveller who happened to pass

by that way, but by the man who clambered up the rocks, scaled the heights,

diligently searched among the precious, storm-stunted shrubs, yielding

the healing gum” (Vol. 9, 219).

So, this was a physician who knew what would help and was willing to engage in the painstaking process of administering the cure.  God knows what is best for us, spiritually, and He provides the cure for the soul.  At Calvary, He provided the only answer to an eternally serious problem.  We can trust His diagnosis for our condition!

A great physician is present.  Jeremiah’s rhetorical question, “Is there no physician there?,” demands an affirmative answer.  Judah’s problem was not lack of God’s presence.  They refused to “go to the Doctor.”  Mayo Clinic or M.D. Anderson have some of the best physicians in the country, but they cannot save the patients who do not come to them for help. One never has to wonder if the Great Physician is “in,” for He always is (Heb. 7:25).

A great physician helps the patient recover.  Judah’s failure to recover was not because God was incapable of effecting the cure.  Again, Jeremiah asks the rhetorical question of why there was no recovery of Judah’s spiritual health.  It was the sin and shortcoming of the patient, not the physician.  So it is with us.  Whatever your spiritual ailment, He is able to save you!  However seemingly fatal, it is curable!

Our hearts break at the 27-year practice of legalized abortion in this country.  Wherever medical ethics breach spiritual ethics, God will bring about consequences for such.  Yet, whenever and wherever we live, we must urgently get the word out about the Great Physician.  It is such great news that He is perfectly knowledgeable, ever-present, and limitlessly able.  He offers free check ups, if we will meet Him in scripture.

Neal Pollard

The Bible could not be clearer about God’s attitude toward both the proud and the humble. He plainly regards pride as synonymous with wickedness. The wicked “speak arrogantly” (Ps. 94:4). The one with a perverse heart “has a haughty look and an arrogant heart” (Ps. 101:5). The proud treat others wrongfully (Ps. 119:78). But, when you imagine a proud person, do not think of a wino in a back alley, smoking crack, cursing, and indulging in every sort of immorality. More often, he looks like the Pharisee in the temple thanking God that he’s not like that guy (Lk. 18:10-14). He could be the “older brother” of Luke 15, not obviously immoral or riotous or wasteful or overtly disobedient. He may go to church with us. He may even be us. How can we tell when we see him or her? Here are three questions to ask:

CAN I BE TAUGHT?

“The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor comes humility” (Pr. 15:33). With these words, the Bible connects honor and humility but does so concerning the subject of instruction. Contrast this with Jeremiah’s audience, of whom it was said, “But they did not obey nor incline their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction” (17:23). All of us play the role of students in multiple relationships. Do we think we know more than our teachers? Do we feel like they cannot tell us anything we do not know or show us a way better than we are already doing it? Do we regard such teachers with contempt, looking down on them and even slandering them? Behind such folly is unteachable pride.

CAN I BE CORRECTED?

Proverbs 13:1 says, “A wise son accepts his father’s discipline, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.” Proverbs 15:5 calls this same person “a fool.” A proud heart leads one to bristle and rebel when another attempts to correct him or her. Correction is to be given with humility (2 Tim. 2:25) but mustn’t it also be received that way? If not, why not? We are to show all humility to all men (Ti. 3:2), being clothed with humility (1 Pet. 5:5). That is most stiffly tested when we face the correction of another, whether parents, elders, a spouse, a friend, a teacher, an employer, or whoever may be in a position to have to suggest a course of correction for us.

DO I SEEK GOD?

David describes the wicked in a number of unflattering ways in the 10th Psalm, then adds, “The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts” (4). Few of us, if asked, would say that was true of us. We want to be thought of as those who seek God and think about God. Yet, if we are self-centered and full of self, there is no place in our hearts for divine guidance. If I am proud, I do not stop to think about what God thinks of my words before I speak them. I just blurt them out. If I am proud, I do not consider what His Word says before I act. I just do it. Obnoxious, selfish, and proud behavior is not the mark of one seeking God. It is of one seeking self. The Holy Spirit calls us to use the mirror of scripture to honestly answer this question. Through James, He says, “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is fist pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (Js. 3:16-18). Therein is the litmus test determining pride and humility.

This is a serious matter, deserving full attention. Pride drives a wedge in one’s relationship with God (Ps. 138:6). Pride causes friction between one and God (Pr. 3:34). Perhaps no statement makes self-examination on this matter more urgent than Proverbs 8:13, where God simply says, “Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.” Lord, let us be a humble people!

Neal Pollard

There were two characters that scared me as a little boy.  The first was a villain named the “Spellbinder” from the PBS show, “Electric Company.”  Maybe it was because Joan Rivers was the narrator of “The Adventures Of Letterman,” but I digress.  The other character was from Greek mythology, a female monster capable of turning anyone who looked at her into stone.  Being the snake lover that I am, the fact that a pit of vipers was swirling around where her hair should have been did not give opportunity for attraction.  I am over my Spellbinder phobia, but Medusa still troubles me!  And, yes, it is the many-headed snake thing.

There is another many-headed snake out there, more frightening than Medusa.  It is described and depicted in scripture.  “A gossip betrays a confidence” (Prov. 11:13a).  “A gossip separates close friends” (Prov. 16:28b).  “Without a gossip a quarrel dies down” (Prov. 26:20).  Describing those filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity, Paul includes that “they are gossips, slanderers” (Rom. 1:29,30).   Proverbs 25:23 decries the negative influence of “a backbiting tongue.”  Paul feared that at Corinth he would find “slander and gossip” (2 Cor. 12:20).  David said that only one who “has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong, and casts no slur on his fellowman” can dwell in the Lord’s sanctuary (Psa. 15:1,3).

Gossip, backbiting, slander, or whatever other name we give this practice, is a difficult sin for the best of Christians to avoid.  It is, however, a true Medusa, a multi-headed snake.  That may sound harsh, but think about what we do when we engage in gossip.

We are attacking the subject of our gossip. Sometimes, the attack is overt.  We show open disdain or contempt for the one whose back we are biting.  At other times, we may be more sophisticated or subtle in our attack.  We might even launch it under the guise of a position of spiritual superiority or genuine concern.  A grenade by any other name still explodes and does damage.

We are engaging in cowardice. Few people who engage in gossip are brazen enough to say the same thing in the same way to the person that they say about the person.  If you would not sign your name to it and give it to them, do not say it about them.  Cowards are not admirable people.

We are lowering others’ estimation of ourselves, thus harming our influence. That is an irony of gossip.  You cannot bring someone else down without taking the trip with them.  The weak-minded may hear slander or backbiting about another and completely swallow and follow the stated opinion, but most people see gossip as being much more telling a statement about the slanderer.  A further irony is that gossips threaten people’s trust and intimacy with them.  A thinking person will be wary of a gossip, perhaps wondering, “If they say this about ‘him’ or ‘her,’ what are they saying about me to others?”  That’s a great question.

We are flagrantly disregarding the Golden Rule. When we gossip, we are not treating the name, reputation, work, and character of the victim they way we would want ours treated.  Defamation of character, undermining, and whisperings do damage, damage we would not done to ourselves.

Beware!  It is easy to become a Medusa.  If tempted to speak badly of another, stop!  You risk hurting others and yourself more than the mythic damage she did.  Let true, brotherly love prevail (cf. Heb. 13:1; Rom. 12:10).

Neal Pollard

What were the Jews thinking who read or heard the prophesy of Isaiah?  After several warnings of pending captivity and doom for many of God’s chosen ones, Isaiah, by inspiration, begins to look forward to a period of time in which God would send a special servant to redeem and rescue them.  So many Old Testament pictures of this Messiah was of One unlimited in power and greatness, a King, and One greater even than Moses or David.  They could envision the Jewish army led by such a commander in chief, perhaps conquering all other nations of the earth and ushering in unprecedented domination and prosperity.  Yet, at times they had an enigma on their hands.  Descriptions of this coming One in certain scriptures were at odds with their preconceived notions of who this Messiah would be.

Things have not changed in time.  It is not just a Jewish, first-century or 21st-century problem.  Man tends to try and fit Jesus into his own mould.  Many want Jesus, but only the Jesus they imagine and desire.

Some want the King, but not the suffering Servant.  Isaiah 52:13 through the end of the next chapter depicts One with an appearance disfigured beyond human likeness, despised and rejected, pierce, crushed, wounded, oppressed and afflicted, led like a lamb to the slaughter, cut off from the land of the living, suffering, and numbered with transgressors.  How could such a One be the mighty leader of Jewish conquests?  Rabbis chose to ignore or leave unexplained such passages as these.  Yet, we could not have the King God intended without His first having suffered and died (Heb. 2:9).

Some want an earthly Lord, but not a heavenly Lord.  Premillennialists have constructed an entire doctrine centered around their misunderstanding of both Old and New Testaments, the summation of which is that Jesus will return to earth for a thousand years to sit upon a literal throne in Jerusalem.  They strain symbolic and figurative passages, interpreting such things as the battle of Armageddon, the 144,000, a period of tribulation, and much more as having literal fulfillment at some future point.  On His way to the cross, Jesus emphatically told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).  No passage tells us Jesus will return to this earth, much less set up an earthly kingdom here.  Instead, the earth will be destroyed with fire at His coming (2 Pet. 3:10ff) and all mankind will be caught up in judgment before Christ’s heavenly throne (1 Thess. 4:13ff; Matt. 25:31ff; John 5:28-29; etc.).  His spiritual Kingdom, the church (cf. Dan. 2:44; Matt. 16:18-19; Mk. 9:1; Heb. 12:28), is already in existence and is spiritual in nature.  That is not glamorous to the majority, perhaps, but it is biblical.

Some want a baby Jesus, but not the eternal Judge. The babe in a manger, adorned with swaddling clothes, cooing and dependent upon Mary for food, clothing, and protection, is a safe Savior.  He makes no demands, sets no expectations, teaches no doctrine, and sits in a fetal position rather than a position of authority.  Certainly, the incarnation (Jesus coming in the flesh) and the virgin birth are essential doctrines of Christianity.  That He was a baby in this eternal scheme is not denied!  Yet, many want only such a Jesus.  They pass over passages that speak of Him sitting upon the throne of judgment some day, consigning the disobedient and ignorant to eternal condemnation (cf. 2 Thess. 1:7-10).  But sit in judgment He will most certainly one day do (Matt. 25:31-34).

He is a King.  He has all authority on earth.  He came to earth as a newborn baby.  Yet, as accurate as these pictures are, they are incomplete.  They must be understood in the full light of scripture rather than by looking through selected windows we cut to our own custom dimensions.  Let us accept the whole Jesus, love Him, serve Him, obey Him, and look forward to an eternity with Him!

Neal Pollard

The boys and I went shopping for Kathy last night.  She was singing at a nursing home with the Monday night Ladies Bible class, and we decided it was the perfect night to stock up on Christmas gifts for her.  We went to the mall and parked in front of one of the stores (can’t say which one because that’s where we bought present number one).  I asked Carl, our youngest son, to hold the bag containing that gift.  We proceeded to go in and out of several stores.  The bag from the next store where we purchased Mom a gift was held by Gary, our oldest.  Then, we went into another store later and Dale (middle son) and I each had to hold a bag from there.  We went into Sears, where I bought coffee filters.  Carl, exhausted by now, sat in a chair to rest.  We then proceeded to another store to stop, get help from an employee, and look for an item.  Then, we finally made it back through the first store and out to the car.  As we were loading our bags into the back, I asked Carl where his bag was.  His eyes got big and his mouth didn’t move.  I knew the answer!  He had laid it down and carelessly walked off without it!  How irresponsible!  What are we going to do?  Surely somebody has stolen it by now.  Let’s hurry back. I was in a hurry and admittedly unhappy with Carl’s lapse in judgment.  We rushed into the store where we had stopped to ask for help a few minutes before.  We went back to the part of the store we were directed to search for the item we were looking for.  The bag was not there.  We then went back to Sears, talked to HR, LP, and some other agency whose initials I don’t remember.  I was giving Carl the silent treatment, the disappointed parent look, and the “what are we going to do” attitude.  No sign of the bag in Sears.  Well, we decided to cut back to the car through the store we had been in before Sears.  Gary saw the bag, still sitting at the counter where we had asked for help the first time.  It had been 11 minutes since we stood at the trunk.  I know, because I was keeping up with it.  Crisis over.  Dilemma solved.  Bag in hand, then in trunk.  Time to breathe deeply and heave a sigh of relief.  Sort of.

Yes, I tried to recover the situation.  I put my arm around him and smiled.  He was relieved that we found the bag and understood that it was a mistake on his part.  But, what about my initial reaction?  I could not shake that as I replayed it in my mind.  I did not shout, but I overreacted.  Should I have gotten sullen or impatient?  Even if we had never found the (fairly expensive) gift, so what?  I had the opportunity to teach that finding a bag is not as big a deal as it is to keep shining your light when an unfavorable wind blows your way.

Do you know when I find it easy to be patient?  When it’s easy to be patient.  When is it hardest to be patient?  When patience is most tried.  When we do need to show the most patient?  When it is hardest to be patient!  How humbling and shameful it is to fail when put to the test.  My failure was larger than Carl’s.  I told him so.  Since you know, I’ve told you, too.  Hopefully, this is a reminder to be patient especially when it is not second nature to do so.