Messages
from the Bible
A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick
If you will permit, this morning I'd like to do something that I hardly ever do - talk about myself. In fact, I'd like to build a sermon around the story of my own life. Periodically, it's good for all of us to step to the side of the path for a moment, and take a look back, be refreshed in the memories of God's faithfulness, and then renew our commitments for what still lies ahead.
For me, today marks the completion of six years as Pastor at Crossroads Church. As they say, "It's been a good ride," and be assured, there are still many good years ahead for us. Occasionally someone will ask me, "How long do you intend on remaining here in Hamburg?" When I tell them I intend to stay for many, many years, I look at them closely and try to read their non-verbal response; I wish I could tell if my answer makes them happy or sad, glad or mad.
Bible students understand the importance of the numbers six and seven. Six is the number of man; seven is God's number. As for the days of the week - six days are for work, then comes the seventh which is for rest. God rested on the seventh day, that's why seven is His number. So perhaps my seventh year should be considered a sabbath year. Not a bad idea!
However, today I'm not so much interested in reflecting on the past six years as I am in reviewing my entire history. It occurred to me that most of the people sitting here today have become members of this congregation some time since June 23, 2000, the Friday our moving truck pulled up to 91 Orchard Street. So I thought a brief review of what it is that has gone into the soup of my life prior to that time might be of some interest.
In short, we have lived in nine states and ministered in eight: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. In these diverse places, I have served as Pastor in six churches, Assistant Pastor in three, and as a teacher in two Bible Colleges. In addition, I have preached on five of the world's continents in a total of 13 different countries. During the past eight years, via the Internet, I have ministered to Pastors and Christians in 169 countries - over 180,000 people have received benefit from the "joyfulministry.com" website, and over 10,000 receive my email message each week. In addition, over 500 sermon books have been distributed to Pastors here and abroad.
Life began for me in the small city of Keene, near the southern border of New Hampshire - I was the third of four children born to my parents, Lyle and Glenyth, who when I was born, had just recently accepted the Lord and were attending the Assembly of God church. When I was five, we moved to the campus of New England Bible Institute where my father became a student. During those five years living in a tiny house trailer on the campus in Framingham, Massachusetts, my oldest sister, Drusilla died from a cancerous tumor on her spine - she was eight years old. Upon my father's graduation, we moved to Connecticut where my parents assisted with the pioneering of a new church - for two years we lived in the large old mansion being used for church gatherings. After that, during the year my father spent building a house, we lived in a low cost rental not far from a closed factory next to a large lake with a beach on one end, and nearly endless room to skate in the winter.
It was around that time that something unusual but significant happened during a Sunday evening service at church. During the Bible Study, the Pastor asked for volunteers to read assigned verses - when it came my turn to read, I read the wrong verse - instead of II Timothy 1:12, I read I Timothy 1:12: "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry."
The Pastor kindly noted the mistake I had made, but then paused to say, "Who knows, perhaps this is prophetic of Neil's life." During the weeks and months following that time, it became more and more obvious to me that it was true, I clearly felt that God was calling me into the ministry. When I sat with my high school guidance counselor to plan my class program and schedule, I made it clear to him that this is what I would be doing, and I signed up for the college prep courses. As soon as I turned of legal age, 16, I began to work at the chicken farm up the street from the new house my father had built, and I saved every dime I could from my 85 cents an hour job so I would be able to go to Bible School - I was still 17 when I began my studies at Northeast Bible Institute.
Due to my interest in music, I had taught myself how to play the trumpet, and had been given 10 piano lessons by my Pastor's wife. In Bible School I was accepted to sing in both the traveling male quartet and the Evangelaire Concert Choir - that began to shape my future, and I profited greatly from my experience of ministering in music in hundreds of churches. I had impressed the school administrators such that two years after graduating, I was back serving as their Music Director.
But first, I was invited to become minister of youth and music at a Boston area church - it was there where Gunnel and I met up after four years of separation. We had been teenage sweethearts, but that relationship ended when I went to College, and soon after she had returned to her home country of Sweden. By divine providence, soon after I began ministering in Revere, Massachusetts, just north of Boston, Gunnel returned from Sweden, and for a time lived with her sister and husband who also lived near Boston. At what I thought was a chance meeting following a youth service in a downtown church, Tremont Temple, Gunnel and I met, and afterwards went out for coffee - she paid for her own because I only had enough for one cup plus the 50 cents needed for the bridge toll. Nine months later we were married - by that time I had become the Pastor of a tiny church in Rhode Island.
Being only 23 years old, I was not adequately prepared for that assignment, so we were in Middletown only six months when the call came from the Bible College to serve as Music Director. Three months into that year, we received the shattering news of the deaths of my second sister and her husband - they had been killed in an automobile accident on the way to choir practice at their church in Rochester, New York; their bodies were buried in my brother-in-law's home town of Thomaston, Maine. (Interestingly, the Pastor there had moved to Maine after serving as Pastor here at our church in Hamburg.) The following summer, while traveling with a music team of eight college students promoting the school, I received word that a man with a music degree had been found, and I would not have a job when I returned from the tour. However, the Lord then opened the door for ministry in a downtown Philadelphia church where I would serve for five years as minister of youth and music. Those where extremely busy years - our three oldest children, Ted, Christina and Melissa were born, and I took a full load of Masters' level classes at Eastern Baptist Seminary while continuing my full-time ministry at the church. The Lord had miraculously provided for all my educational expenses, and in 1973 I graduated with honors. After five years in Philadelphia, an invitation came for me to accept a position as Assistant Pastor in a Cleveland, Ohio church. We moved our family into a rented house, only to learn three months later that the Senior Pastor was leaving Cleveland to become Pastor of a church in California. At the request of the official board, I remained during the time the Board searched for a new Pastor, and while he became adjusted - and that turned out to be very helpful in preparing me for further ministry.
Because of my education, I believed that God was calling us into missions, and that I would teach in a foreign Bible School, so I filed an application and began the process of preparing myself for a whole new life. However, a couple of months into it, the Lord clearly let it be known that foreign missions was not in the cards, but that I should submit my resignation to the Cleveland church. Two months later I began as Pastor in the Assembly of God church in Norwich Connecticut. It was there that we purchased our first home (for $19,000!) and saw a broken church mend and grow, and purchase an apartment house which was turned into a ministry center for single adults. It was also while in Connecticut that I was able to enroll in the doctoral program at Hartford Seminary; commuting one day a week, I was able to finish this degree program in four years.
Ever since our days in Philadelphia, we had owned a small plot of ground in Pennsylvania's western Pocono region - we had used it as a family get-away place, but now it was too far away to do us much good. When we decided to sell that property with it's tiny cabin, the opportunity came to purchase what we now call Camp Selah in northern Massachusetts. At that time, only the Main Cabin and a wood shed stood there, and they had been totally vandalized.
After six and a half years of ministry in Connecticut, that assignment came to an end when the Lord made it clear that I was to turn over the church to the Assistant Pastor who had been working with us part time. A call then came from Gloucester, Massachusetts, and for several months I commuted the 135 miles to take up that ministry while my wife stayed in Connecticut to see our children through the school year and sell our home. During the next eight and a half years we served in this fishing town of 27,000. The Gloucester church also had needed mending as the previous Pastor had become unfaithful in his marriage and had been involved in an ongoing sexual relationship with a woman he counseled. The years on the coast were good years. On the family side, it was where our fourth child, Elizabeth, was born. On the church side, there were highlights of conducting a Tent Crusade each summer in the park next to the ocean, and hosting a weekly half hour cablevision program - in our last year, the church bought the house next door and renovated it to provide three units for low income housing. It was also during those years that two additional cabins were built at Camp Selah, and we had begun taking our youth group there each summer, as well as making it available to other churches.
It was also while pastoring in Gloucester that the first trip to India and Bangladesh was taken, and that has now become a regular component of my ministry, now having personally ministered to over 4,000 pastors in more than 30 seminars in South America, Southern Asia and Africa.
Also while in Gloucester, I had the privilege of mentoring several ministerial students at Gordon Conwell Seminary. One of them served as our church's youth leader, and when he graduated, he returned to his home church which was located in New Jersey. When that church was looking for a new Pastor, this former student minister suggested they call me, which they did, and in 1989 we moved again, this time to Scotch Plains where I served as Senior Pastor for four years. That too had been a troubled church, having had a major split a few years prior, and then going through a succession of short-term pastorates. Although the Lord used us to stabilize the church and see it back on the right track again, there were problems that were beyond our capabilities, and for the first time I left a church without being on good terms with its leaders. That story is still too painful to tell, but the Lord had prepared us by leading us to move to a different community in which we were able to have several months for healing before accepting the call to teach at the Bible College in North Dakota.
The challenge of teaching at the College was not only due to the brutally cold weather, having to renovate a broken down house to live in, and being separated from our family by half a country. It was a whole new way of life, preparing and teaching 13 college level courses and participating in an institutional life-style. Of course I missed the preaching, but what I missed more was the element of personal care that is part of the Pastor's daily life and ministry. During this time, the little camp in the Massachusetts woods became a great benefit - summers would be spent there as we traveled and ministered to churches from New Hampshire to New Jersey.
After three years in the upper mid-west, our prayer to be able to move back east was half answered. A call came from a church in Michigan, and starting in the fall of 1996, we began ministering there. We had very little by way of financial resources, but the Lord provided for us a wonderful lake-side home that we were able to rent for a year, and then purchase with almost no money down. On the surface, this church looked in good shape, but some internal strife took its toll, and during our third year we had to bring the church under District leadership. However, before responding to the call to continue moving east, to Hamburg, we were able to see the church back on its feet and operating again on its own.
Coming to Hamburg was the second half of the answer to our prayer to move back east. At one point I had corresponded with the New Jersey District Superintendent who in turn put me in touch with the church here which at that time was under the pastoral ministry of an interim pastor. On the weekend of my wife's birthday, I hobbled into the church (due to injuring my leg trying to play basketball), preached and met with various groups, and the decision was made the following week - six years ago today we began our ministry here, have been here ever since, and will continue to be here for many years, or until Jesus returns as promised.
So that's the Readers' Digest version of my story, but what's the message? Well, there are several.
During these 41 years of ministry there have been many experiences, lessons and observations - too many to list or count, but here are four of each.
Experiences -
1. I have experienced the faithfulness of God, and can confidently say, God is trustworthy. There are good days and there are dark days, there may be rain and wind, but He is always there to provide comfort and hope. On our dollars and coins it may seem like any other frivolous motto, but for the believer, it speaks the truth, "In God We Trust."
2. I have also experienced the truth of the saying, "When God Guides, He Provides." For example, since we were married 39 years ago, my wife and I have lived in 15 different homes - every single one was the result of God's special provision.
3. Another important experience is connected with the truth that God talks.
Probably the darkest season of my life was when my sister, Joan and her husband George were killed. Previously I have shared the story how the Lord used Psalm 46 - "God is our refuge and our strength" - to provide comfort. It happened to be included in the lyrics of a choir piece we had just been singing during the tour when I had last been with my sister in her home when the college choir sang in her church. The words were spoken again in a family gathering the evening prior to the funeral - it came as an interpretation to a tongue given during our prayer time. And when Pastor Brown began his message, he read the words again. Without question, this was God speaking to us.
4. One last item in the experience column - ministry brings great joy - i.e. the title of the website, joyfulministry.com
Learnings -
In addition to the many experiences there have been many lessons learned along the way. Again, too many to list, but here are four.
1. Whatever else you do, make sure that your marriage and family remain well. The priority arrangement that works best is Jesus first, and ministry second, only my understanding of ministry has been, ministry to family first, and ministry to church second.
2. The measurement of ministry is not in the size of building, budgets, or notoriety.
At one point I listened to a very well known church consultant itemize the steps to be taken to ensure the numerical growth of the church. Then he said, it doesn't matter what kind of a religious group you represent - if you will follow these steps, it doesn't matter if yours is a Christian church, a cult, or a Jewish Synagogue, this is how to do it. And I thought to myself, wait, did Jesus say that I was to build His church, or did He say that He was going to build His church?
I also objected to the idea that church growth is more likely to happen if an effort is made to develop the local church according to the homogeneous group principle. That is to say, people want to socialize with people in their own age bracket, ethnic grouping, and economic standing, so give them what they want, and your church will grow. The problem was, I didn't want to be in a church with all short people!
Furthermore, how sad it is when we stoop to the point of measuring success according to the world's criteria where only bigness matters, and ultimate worth is according to the amount of money one earns.
In connection with that, I have learned to be content to minister to the people you have, rather than scolding the absentees or pining for bigger numbers.
3. Also on my list of important learnings has been that there's a constant need for balance and a recognition of partnership.
As for partnership, Paul makes it clear that we are workers together with God, and we are workers together with one another. "We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." (II Corinthians 6:1)
Marriage is a partnership with a man and woman working together. Families are partnerships with children and parents working together. Churches are partnerships with pastors and people working together. Each one needs the others, no one can claim any worthwhile accomplishment in total solitude nor should there ever be any air of superiority.
When I talk to Pastors in other countries about partnership, I like to tell them the story about the Pastor who visited the farmer, who was quick to point out how beautiful were his fields which were ready for harvest. The Pastor scolded the farmer for his boastfulness, exhorting him to give praise to God who had created the field. The farmer's response was, "Right. But you should have seen this field when God had it all by himself."
4. Another important learning has been that God looks for total effort, that whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, not comparing or settling for half-hearted or mediocre performance.
"And whatsoever ye do do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." (Colossians 3:23)
Recently I have read a very old book by the great English author, Charles Dickens. This book is considered by many to contain much that is largely autobiographical, so no doubt the author was speaking for himself when his main character, David Copperfield, who was renamed Trotwood by his adopting aunt, spoke these words, words which truly express the way I feel:
Observations -
And last of all, here four observations, a few things I have noticed along the way - all of which represent great concern.
1. Most of us, most of the time, are more interested in "what's in it for me" than being concerned for the welfare of others.
2. What you see is not what you get.
3. In too many churches, conflict is more predominant than cooperation.
Someone once said to me, "Pastor, it seems you always get to go to the churches that have been deeply troubled with strife." My answer was, "Is there any other kind?"
4. But most alarming of all is my observation that spiritual atrophy is our current reality. Or to say it another way, it looks to me like more people in America are backsliding than are being saved.
Now it occurs to me that this message with memories is ending on the negative tone. However, the real intent is to reiterate the request that is often applied personally, but which we will apply here corporately as a church, "Please be patient, God is not finished with us yet."
As I glance momentarily over my shoulder, I can easily see many wonderful evidences of God's faithfulness, His provision, and His voice that has never grown weak. But as for me, I am not satisfied with a backward look, I will be renewed in my faith in One who is the same Yesterday, Today, and Forever, and trust in an all-wise God until the end of the age. And I invite you to join me in this hopeful look.
1. What are some of the stories you tell, or will tell to your own children about the faithfulness of God?
2. What are some of the elements of your own spiritual history prior to coming to Crossroads?
3. How can the ideas of dependence on God and partnership with man be reconciled?
4. Specifically, in your life, what is an example of God's special provision?
5. If we do not actually hear an audible voice, how can we claim that God has spoken to us?
6. If our priorities are, relationship with God first and ministry for God second, where does the family fit in?
7. If ministry success cannot be measured by bucks and bricks, how can it be measured?
8. What are some blessings that are special to the smaller church?
9. If someone where to ask, "Why do you work so hard to achieve something that cannot be seen, or held in your hand, or taken to the bank?" what would your answer be?
10. How can we avoid slipping into self-centeredness?
11. What is the difference between man's way of thinking and God's way of thinking when it comes to "image"?
12. What explanation can be given for the seeming abundance of conflict with churches?
13. What is spiritual atrophy, and how can it be reversed?
A Backward Glance and a Hopeful Look
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At the same time, as sure as we are that God will not fail us, we are just as certain that people will. Sometimes in our needy hours God uses people, but we should not depend on the people - we only depend on God.
Let me give you just one example: the miraculous provision I mentioned a moment ago when we moved from North Dakota to Michigan. The run-down home we had restored was located on two acres of neglected land two miles out of town. When we were ready to leave North Dakota, we sold the house on a contract for deed - though it went for the grand sum of $9,500.00, we only took away $1,000.00. So arriving in Michigan, there were virtually no funds for a down payment, and the church didn't own a parsonage. When we sat down with a realtor, we said we wanted to rent a house with an option to buy. Because of allergy issues, we also needed a house equipped with hot water heat. The realtor plainly told us there were no houses to be bought that way, and most houses had hot air furnaces. That's what we learned on Saturday. On Monday, we had been invited to meet with a couple in the church who had told us that there was a house near them which was owned by a former member of the church who the year before had moved to Oklahoma. As we sat talking on a rain drenched day, the phone rang - it was Chris, from Oklahoma. Within a few minutes of talking with him, a deal was made. The current renters would be moving out in a month, and we could rent the house, and then purchase it a year later at a set price, assuming we could get a mortgage at that time. Before hanging up the phone, I said, "By the way, what kind of heat does this house have?" Of course, Chris answered, "Hot water baseboard."
I have always respected the teaching of Francis Schaefer, and especially his statement, the title of one of his books, "He is there and He is not silent."
Yes, pastoral ministry has an ample supply of hardships and burdens. But they are all outweighed by a greater abundance of victories and blessings.
Very early in our life together, my wife made it clear that part of my sacred duty was to take one day off each week to spend time with my wife and children. That's why we bought the acre of woods in the western Poconos, and later leveraged it to acquire Camp Selah - 25 years of family memories are tied up in that plot of ground and little lake.
Early on I felt inside of me a certain distaste for what was then called the "church growth" movement and devoted myself to sing the praises of the smaller church.
This doesn't happen automatically, so we must constantly strive to balance old and new; fast and slow; loud and quiet; emotional and thoughtful; word and worship; work and rest; pray and do; large and small; material and spiritual; encouragement and challenge; gifts and fruit.
Verses from both Old and New Testaments support this: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. " (Ecclesiastes 9:10)
"Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do well; that whatever I have devoted myself to, I devoted myself to completely; that in great aims and in small I have always been thoroughly in earnest. I have never believed it possible that any natural or improved ability can claim immunity from the companionship of the steady, plain, hard-working qualities, and hope to gain its end. Some happy talent, and some fortunate opportunity, may form two sides of the ladder on which some men mount, but the rounds of that ladder must be made of stuff to stand wear and tear; and there is no substitute for thoroughgoing, ardent, and sincere earnestness. Never to put one hand to anything on which I could throw my whole self, and never to affect depreciation of my work, whatever it was, I find now to have been my golden rules." (David Copperfield, p. 510)
Tragically, the church has not been exempt from our society's plunge into narcissism or self-centeredness. Today, many people seem to think that the church is like the food court at a shopping mall. Diners float from counter to counter picking up a drink here, a sandwich there, coffee and dessert there. Let me borrow a phrase from the man who wheels the loaded luggage cart through the airport, "Watch your toes, watch your toes." There are very few people in this church, or probably in any church, who make an attempt to attend all of the services rather than just those that make them feel good.
We are too concerned about our image, how it is that we appear to other people, or as I often like to say, "Everyone wants to come out smelling like a rose." This becomes the basis for hypocrisy, and consequently many church people are not as they appear to be. We may dress up for church, but must be frequently reminded that "God looks on the heart."
In all of the churches I have served, there was, or had recently been a very serious conflict in the church or among the leaders. When my wife and I arrived at one church, we met in homes with groups of people invited there for the opportunity of becoming acquainted. During the discussion time, one question I repeatedly asked was, what is the most memorable church experience? - almost to a person, the answer was "when the church split 10 years ago."
Let's stop trying to call it by any other name, the American church is the Laodicean church - we have become lukewarm. I know that there are many who want to argue that spiritual vitality cannot be measured by such things as attendance at worship services, prayer meetings and Bible studies, or by faithfulness in giving God His tithe, or sharing the Gospel with unbelievers. The truth is, people who love Jesus are eager to be with His people in worship prayer and study, they're cheerful givers to the furtherance of the Lord's work here and abroad, and they can't keep quiet about what God has done. It appears to me that we no longer fit this description. Our love has waxed cold. God's nausea is about to reach its peak. And we couldn't care less.
A Backward Glance and a Hopeful Look
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