A Pastor’s Heart – 1 Kings 3:16-28
I delivered this sermon in the
fall of 2007 at a tense and critical juncture within the life of the
congregation I was serving at the time.
Interestingly, this message foreshadows some of the most regrettable and
unfortunate circumstances that emerged and resulted in my subsequent
resignation within seven months.
Quite frankly, as a congregation and church family, we are headed for a
collision course which will eventuate in an implosion of relationships. Such an unfortunate occurrence will mar our
ability and potential for successful ministry for many years into the
future. Only a genuine love for the Lord
and for this Church will prevent this catastrophe. The rising and persistent acrimony and rancor
relating to the complexities and challenges of the Church Renovation Project
threaten the very spiritual, emotional, relational and ministerial (in the
collective sense of the word) of this congregation. Lest we divide the baby, in this sense the
heart of God, we, individually and collectively, must search our hearts to
rediscover a sincere and selfless love and genuine willingness to serve and
offer them to our Lord for His exclusive use and divine purposes at First
Baptist Church Capitol Hill.
Today, I would like to share transparently without any ulterior motive,
self-seeking objective or self-centered fear what the Lord put upon my heart
pertaining to our current challenges as a church family. Fundamentally, our struggles are not against
flesh and blood. Were we able to assess
and assign blame for our financial crisis, construction stoppage, renovation
debacle, failure to do due diligence and internal governance strife with acute
precision, we would not gain any progress in resolving any of these dilemmas. Admittedly, many of us are very angry, hurt,
afraid, disappointed, disillusioned, and depressed; in fact, some of us are
probably downright disgusted with the whole process. Regrettably, some of us have digressed to the
normal pattern of such a predicament by
focusing upon the “right” persons to blame and then seeking to hold them
accountable for causing this mess. The
length and depth of our dilemmas undoubtedly causes quite a bit of
confusion. Compounded with rumors,
inaccuracies and fear, this bewilderment coerces us to turn against each
other. Charges and counter charges cross
each other like the sparks of sharp blades between two dueling swords. “Winning the fight” assumes the place of
first priority in most people’s thinking.
As a consequence, we lose sight of the overall picture. Instead of fighting against the
principalities and powers that seek to defeat us, we erroneously determine that
our fellow brothers and sisters personify the problems and we resolve to defeat
them.
I appeal, pastorally and personally, to each any every one of us to
search deeply within our hearts. Do we
really love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength? Do we love our neighbor as we love
ourselves? Do we genuinely and
selflessly love First
Baptist Church First Baptist
Church
Today’s text demonstrates a stark dilemma which only genuine and
selfless love resolves. I posit that the
very same is necessary to triumph over the current circumstances that we face
as a church family. If each of us
continues to insist that the rest of us must appease our personal desires, then
we will succeed only in cutting the baby in half. Let’s look more closely at this dramatic and
provocative yet rather familiar passage of scripture. Two women give birth within three days of
each other. They are alone in the same
maternity ward. No one else witnesses
the tragedy of one of the new born babies dying in the middle of the night
possibly because the mother inadvertently rolls over on the baby and smothers
the baby to death. The mother who
accidentally smothers her baby to death deceitfully awakens and switches the
babies as the other mother sleeps soundly.
In the morning, the sleeping mother awakens to find that her baby is
dead! Upon a closer examination of the
baby, she realizes that this baby is not the one to whom she gave birth. Actually, the living baby is her child and
she proceeds to argue with the other mother in order to get her child back.
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