2 Sam 23 – Simply Refreshing

Every time I’m wore out from my “professional” faith I can find too many elements of “me” in my work. It’s so amazing how difficult it is to truly deny our selves when we feel we have to perform. It’s so hard to keep our insecurities or personal desires out of the equation. The amount of effort and emotional energy we can put into making things seem perfect is amazing. Especially around Christmas time. Every pastor (even more so their associate pastors) I know is stressed or wore out already and we’ve still got over a week to go. I feel the pressure… then felt the peace come over me when we landed on the theme for this year at Austin New Church: “simple christmas”. Whew. Wouldn’t that be nice? I could literally feel my blood pressure dropping in our staff meeting.

I was speaking recently to a pastor friend about how many hours he puts into a sermon, it was a huge amount of time. Then I began to think about mine. The tragedy is not in how much time we spend on sermon prep (little or much) the tragedy is in how little time we spend on the actual text or truth (God stuff) in relationship to our own illustrations and transitions (Me stuff). While I know those are key elements of clear communication, those are also the things that stress me out. Those are the things that keep me up on Saturday night and take my focus off my family all weekend. It’s evidenced by how much better I feel when I land a good opening illustration.

Even as I write this, I want to defend how important those things are. Why? Because they are important, significant, and maybe even critical. However, my point is that if we could somehow really strip away our intentions, we’d still find too much of “me” in those parts. I want to be a great communicator, not a good one. I want to share something in a way that no one’s ever thought of before. I want to “wow” those looking for faith or something new. The list goes on and on. Meanwhile Paul said he just preached “Christ and Christ crucified” and the Lord says that it’s not by might or power but by His “Spirit”.

The reason I say this is because I’m finding a new groove in life. I’m not fully there yet, probably never will be, but I’m finding peace in the simple. I have much less desire now to please others (other than God) and it’s chilling me out. More than that, it’s helping me really dig into and keep me focused on finding out what’s important on each leg of the journey.

The crux? When I do this, my work, my faith, my life is refreshed and not a drain. It doesn’t feel like a task, it feels like a journey. My energy is up. I feel renewed, encouraged, and excited. I’m encouraged and refreshed. David talks about this in 2 Samuel 23 in regards to leadership.

“The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: 'When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth.” – 2 Samuel 23:3-4

Not only will this be a fruit for those we lead, if we lead in righteousness and in the fear of God, but also a fruit we will receive if we follow God with the same heart.

“A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” – Proverbs 11:25

Even those of us under an authority, when we live by His righteousness and follow in the fear of the Lord, we will refresh those we serve.

“Like the coolness of snow at harvest time is a trustworthy messenger to those who send him; he refreshes the spirit of his masters.”- Proverbs 25:13

And we refresh each other in biblical community…

“In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you.” – 2 Corinthians 7:14

So it’s an indicator. Refreshment comes from God. When there is an absence, there is a reason. Today, I look for those reasons… and I rest in His promises. If David can find it in battle, if Paul can find it in chains, surely we can find it in our plush context of western suburbia.

“… turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” Acts 3:19

“Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.” – Philemon 1:7

“But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge.” Psalm 73: 28a