Victim Mentality

I saw a phrase the other day that went something like this, “Nobody knows the pain others are going through, so be nice. It’s that simple.”

At first glance, that sounds profound. It has so much meaning and sentiment and it is so easy to understand. But I think it is evidence of the victim mentality of the millennial generation. 

The reason it resonates is that so many see themselves in it. Almost everyone has some sort of pain. Most of them have pain that is hidden from the eyes of others. They embrace this phrase because they only wish they could let others know of their pain. 

Here we have the first fallacy - “no one knows my pain.” 

This can’t be true if most people know some pain of their own. It is selfish, self-centered and arrogant to think we are the only ones with pain. But pain does that. Pain, if given place, will rule us, draw us in and make us fixate on self. Pain, if given rule, will make us see ourselves as victims. 

Our first response to pain must be to reject the very idea that no one knows, no one identifies, no one cares. We must no yield to the victim role. We must force our eyes outward and see that we are all in this same boat. Our circumstances may not be identical, but we are not alone. 

Then we must see that the people who do best in life are the ones who move forward despite the pain. 

·       George Washington 

·       George Patton 

·       George Bush

Name whoever you wish who has succeeded in whichever field you wish and realize they got where they are despite their pain. They refused to let pain rule them. 

"So be nice." Here we have the second fallacy. 

Of course, we ought to be nice. It’s a simple concept that simply ought to be practiced. The problem is that the millennial defines “be nice” as “agree with me.”

·       Is it nice for a doctor, who knows his patient is ill, to tell him otherwise? 

·       Is it nice for a teacher, who knows his student has not mastered the subject to graduate him anyway? 

·       Is it nice for the Christian, who knows that one cannot go to heaven without Jesus, to keep back the gospel? 

·       Is it nice for a friend, who sees the damage someone’s selfishness is doing them to smile and say nothing?

Proverbs 27:17  

Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. 

Sometimes the nicest thing we can do is be brutally truthful. We don’t have to be mean spirited or angry. But out of genuine kindness, we really must be blunt. 

Nothing good will come from letting pain rule you. Yield to God’s Spirit and bring the pain into submission.

Marvin McKenzie

In the fields

The Biblical Order of the Family

Over the last few years, I have seen this representation of the Biblical order of the family shared many times. (Note, this version contains some personal additions meant to represent more accurately what I understand to be Biblical.) 

Well-meaning Christians keep the picture going and I do not fault them for it. At first blush, it seems to be a fair representation of the biblical order of the family. It is certainly better than is practiced in many homes, even Christian ones. But it falls short in what it does not include. This failure is in what I consider to be the grossest of areas.

It leaves out the protection of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

Is it a subtle teaching of modalism?

Is it a propagation of the Jesus only movement?

It is a gross oversight to forget that our family is the heartbeat of all three persons of the Godhead.

It leaves out the function of the local church in the protection of the family

Besides the Word of God, no earthly element is more important to the family than the church. One could make the argument that, without the teaching of the church, a family’s application of the Word of God is severely hampered.

Two key passages are: 

Colossians 2:9 (KJV)

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

In Jesus Christ is the fullness of the Godhead. Jesus is not God the Father and Jesus is not God the Holy Spirit, but Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead.

Ephesians 1:23 (KJV)

Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

The local church is the fullness of Jesus.

Get that!

• ·       Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead and
• ·       The local church is the fullness of Jesus

Without the local church then, Christ is only an idea. He functions in and through His body; a local organized congregation of believers instituted into a local church.

Marvin McKenzie
In the Fields

The Importance of Holding Services in Foul Weather

Recently a well-known Baptist preaching commented about the shame that some churches were canceling their services due to inclement weather. I got my start as a believer in churches with his attitude and I’m all for it. I understand that certain comments can come off with more of an adversarial spirit than perhaps the author intends. Perhaps the responses to his comment were a reaction to the perceived spirit of his words rather than the sentiment itself. I have to say, I was surprised at the aggression of the opposing comments.

I would never suggest that a person do what they believe to be personally unsafe in bad weather conditions. I personally know of persons who lost their lives and others who are permanently disabled from accidents that happened as they attempted to get to a church service in the middle of a storm. No one should try to come if it is unsafe to do so.

That said, it is important that church services are held even if the weather is terrible.
The testimony of Charles Spurgeon, arguably the most effective preacher in modern times. Spurgeon was just 15 years old when, because of a terrible snowstorm, he ducked into a small Methodist church instead of going to the church he regularly attended. Weather was so bad that only a handful of people were there. Even the pastor could not make it to the service. After waiting for some time, a layman in the church stood up to offer something from God’s Word to those in attendance. He took his text from Isaiah 45:22 (KJV)

Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

He made a few comments about the passage:

"Looking is no work. Anyone can look," etc. Then he fastened his eyes on young Charles Spurgeon. He told him that he would be miserable in life and miserable in death if he did not look unto Jesus.

Spurgeon said at that moment he felt like he could look his eyes away.

He looked unto Jesus and was marvelously saved.

All because a handful of people did not let inclement weather, or the smallness of the congregation, or even the lack of their pastor prevent them from holding church services.

Marvin McKenzie

In the fields

Thirty-nine Years Ago

I was baptized December 16, 1979. Thirty-nine years ago this year.

The days of month happen this year to fall on the same days of the week that they did back in 1979.

It was either this week, or next, back in 1979, that I attended the services of an Independent Baptist Church for the very first time.

I made my made a profession of faith that day and presented myself for believer’s baptism. Pastor Scudder came to my house to visit me the following Thursday to confirm my salvation and to plan my baptism.

Cornerstone Baptist Church in Kennewick had only had its first service the Sunday before I attended. They did not have a baptistery so arrangements had to be made at another Independent Baptist Church, Riverview Baptist in Pasco.

That took a couple of weeks[1]and was, as I said, performed December 16, 1979.

I had gotten saved April of 1977 but had not gone to church since then

When Mike Riggs invited me to go to church with him in 1979, I was serious about going to church, but I am not sure how serious I really was about being dedicated to the Lord.

I do remember I wasn’t thinking church would consume my life.

• I was interested in a girl who lived 35 miles away[2]and the weekends were my chance to spend lots of time with her
• I had parents who lived 60 miles away and I still wanted to see them as much as I could
• I had a job as an apprentice ironworker and I LOVED it

It just never worked out that way for me.

As soon as I attended that church, it pulled me tighter and tighter in.

When I got baptized, it was on the birthday of that girl I was interested in. I skipped being with her on her birthday so I could be baptized.

Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesdays – they all got taken over by church.

Even Christmas that year was on a Sunday.

I worked an overtime shutdown on my job, drove up to see my parents Christmas Eve, and then drove back home to be in church Sunday morning.

Once Anita and I were married, we dedicated ourselves quickly to serve the Lord and have never looked back.

Marvin McKenzie

In the fields

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[1]Explaining why I can’t remember if my first service was November 25 or December 2. I know I was baptized December 16^thbut I do not recall for sure how many weeks it took pastor to make those arrangements.

[2]We celebrated our 38^thanniversary back in September.

THE CALL TO THE MINISTRY AND CAN WE TELL WHEN OTHERS HAVE IT?

Charles Spurgeon said that there are three components to a call from God:

1. A burden for the work
2. An obvious, observable gift from God
3. An opportunity for ministry

Every Christian ought to have some sort of burden for the work of the ministry. 

But the burden alone is not evidence of a call into the work of pastoring or planting a church.

The problem with planting a church is that the need is so great that 

a person, if not disciplined by his church, can find a place without a Gospel witness. But a town without a church is not evidence of a call to ministry

Therefore the deciding factor has to be that other Christians SEE the gifts of the ministry in the candidate - 

not only that they are doctrinally sound and talented enough to deliver it but that they are stable enough spiritually, emotionally and with health to do the work without creating a excessive burden upon their marriage, their children or those they minister among.

I would illustrate it like this…

1. In a healthy marriage both the husband and the wife have all their needs met in their relationship with Jesus Christ. They do not  marry because they have need of the love of the spouse. They get married so they can give of themselves to their spouse. It is a great relationship because both give freely without ever feeling like they are being taken from.
2. In a healthy church the members have all of their needs met in in Christ before they ever make it to the church house. They do not come to church because they need the others. They will receive what they need from God. They can therefore give fellowship at church rather than taking fellowship.
3. In a healthy pastorate the preacher is gifted of the Spirit so that he can give to his community. He has temporal needs of course, but he is not consumed by them. Because he has his needs met in Christ He is in a position to gratefully receive as blessings those means that are: provided by the church he pastors, the people of his community and the pastors with whom he fellowships. He can live in good conscience that his ministry among them has earned his compensation.

I am afraid men often enter a ministry in such need that they are almost incapable of giving to their church or their community. They go to a town insisting God has called them there but, not being properly gifted, they almost immediately become an emergency situation. Their marriage is strained, their children are strained, the fellowship of pastors is strained because of the obligation (imposed upon them by an unprepared man) to help repeatedly rescue this family. And the people of the community/church become strained by the bad experience of a professed preacher who should never have come, is now forced to leave and in doing so gives a bad testimony for Christ.

I do not mean that everyone should have their finances raised and be self sufficient before they come to a town to plant a new church or to pastor one. What I mean is they need to be sufficiently gifted, spiritually, emotionally and with health so that they can truly offer Christ freely.

Marvin McKenzie

In the fields

The Difference Between Influence and Power

I recently read a piece written by A.C. Dixon, entitled, “I Kept God From Working.”[1]It read, 

“While I was pastor of the Baptist Church in a university town of North Carolina, I was made to realize that as a preacher I was a dismal failure.

Parents from all over the state wrote and requested me to look after the spiritual welfare of their sons in the university. I prepared sermons with students in mind and was glad to see that they showed their appreciation by attending our Sunday services in great numbers. We also appointed a week of prayer and preaching, with the single purpose of winning them to Christ and they attended the evening meetings.

About the middle of the week, however, their interest seemed to turn into opposition. The spirit of mischief possessed them. One night they tried to put out the lights. As I walked through the grove of trees around the university buildings I sometimes heard an imitation of my voice coming from behind a tree. A bright student had caught a part of my sermon of the night before and he was giving it in thought and tone for the benefit of his fellow students who responded by applause and laughter. As I walked before an open window I heard my voice imitated in prayer floating out. I felt defeated and seriously considered resigning from the pastorate. No one had been saved.

After a restless night I took my Bible and went into a grove of trees and remained there until three o'clock in the afternoon. As I read I asked God to show me what was the matter. The Word of God searched me through and through, giving me a deep sense of sin and helplessness such as I had never had before.

That evening the students listened reverently and at the close of the service, two rows were filled with those who responded to the invitation. The revival continued day after day until more than seventy of the students confessed Christ.

What Did It?

The practical question is, "What did it?" Certainly not I. I fear it was I who kept God from doing it for a long time. Out of that day's experience of waiting on God, there came to me a clear-cut distinction between influence and power.

Influence is made up of many things: intellect, education, money, social position, organization--all of which ought to be used for Christ. Power is God Himself at work unhindered by our unbelief and other sins. The New Testament word power holds the secret. The power from on high was no other than the power of the Holy Ghost touching the soul through the living Word and giving it a birth from above. I had been trusting and testing many other good things, only to fail. The touch of God by His Holy Spirit did what my best efforts could not do.”

After sharing the story, a member of the church asked me to explain a bit more about the power of God. I used the word conviction. Bruce Turner, who was preaching for us at the time, interjected about the difference between being convinced and convicted. A conviction is something from God and cannot be altered. God never changes. Those things that come from Him could therefore never change. 

I am convicted, for instance, that the King James Version of the Bible is without error. 

• Academic proofs won’t change that. 
• More popular versions won’t change that. 
• Pressure from others won’t change that. 

I am also, for instance, convicted that the church Jesus built is a Baptist church. 

I could therefore never go to any other sort. It’s not about convenience, programs, proximity, popularity. It’s not about the personality of the pastor or the friendliness of the congregation. It is about doctrine and authority. I am so convicted of this that I could only attend a Baptist church that is equally convicted. 

My convictions come not from what a man has taught me. That would be mere convincing. My convictions come from personal study of the Word of God, an understanding of church history and the work of the Holy Spirit upon my conscience. 

A conviction comes from God and cannot change. I, however, am a man and can change. If I change from my convictions it is necessary that I rebel against them and will be in rebellion until I return to them. 

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[1]http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=28004