Rev. Dr. Lance Giuffrida
Posted on July 18th, 2008
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.... NKJV Eph 4:11-12
Some days seem worse than others, don’t they?
Ps 25:16-19
Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me,
For I am desolate and afflicted.
The troubles of my heart have enlarged;
Bring me out of my distresses!
Look on my affliction and my pain,
And forgive all my sins.
Consider my enemies, for they are many;
And they hate me with cruel hatred. NKJV
Or maybe everyday is as bad as the day before. I guess that’s what the Psalmist means when he says, “the troubles of my heart have enlarged.” Things are out of control! Life is out of control! It’s time, Lord, for you to step in now and take a hand, don’t you think? I’ve got problems, here, and more than a few enemies who seem intent on giving me a beat-down. This isn’t the way it’s supposed to go.
But maybe that’s kinda the way Jesus said it would go. And isn’t that part of the problem of being unprepared? You, dear reader, bear some responsibility in this. The information exists between the covers of the book we call the Bible. I’ve been trying to tell you about it and I’m trying to tell you about it, again. Forewarned is forearmed, at least somewhat. So Jesus said,
Mark 13:8 Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in diverse places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows. KJV
I’m not going to dwell on it here but the beginning of sorrows, and the hatred of the world toward those who follow Christ, are just part of the package for Christian believers. It’s what we should have come to expect. The world, its potential for cruelty and all of the bad breaks that can come our way ought not to come as a culture shock to Christians. It is a basic part of our preparation and training as we prepare for ministry in the world.
But Some are Better Prepared than Others...
You can always tell when one team is outclassed by their opponent. Of course the score will show the disparity between the two teams but that is not always the whole story. If you know what to look for sometimes it isn’t just a matter of talent. Sometimes it is a matter of coaching and team preparation. Almost always the team or athlete that has received the best preparation and training will win the day. This is also true for the everyday, ordinary Christian. The day presents challenges for which some are better prepared than others.
I have two examples in mind, and both have given me permission to use their names. One is Jeff Boissonneault and the other is Carlos Freitas. I am going to hold up these two gentlemen as examples of Christian men who came to meet the challenges of the day prepared for what lay ahead. As I do, please be clear I am not suggesting they are perfect in any way. I know they are not. In fact, I have known both Jeff and Carlos for more than 25 years. They are capable of losing their tempers. They have personal faults. But they share something in common with several other Christian men and women I know: they take responsibility for learning what it means to be a disciple of Christ.
They do not make excuses for themselves nor do they blame God when things do not go their way. Instead, they turn to their training as men of Christ and rely upon that training to see them through. And it works. Both men have known personal loss and tragedy. Both men have known what it means to rebuild their lives and to rely upon their wives and children for strength and to give strength in return. And just as important, both know and rely upon the Word of God.
Most recently both Jeff and Carlos lost someone near and dear to them, a father and a grandfather respectively. They expressed grief but were not overcome. They expressed joy without superficiality. They accepted the comfort and consolation of their friends without turning it into a time of self-pity. In short, they both bore witness to he hope we have in Jesus Christ: in death, we are in the midst of life, and even at the grave we make our song Alleluia!
I do not mean to say that Jeff and Carlos are the only two who have borne such witness at All Saints. By no means. I thank God that many of you have. But all of you know family and friends (and perhaps a parishioner or two) who have not held up so well to mounting pressures in their life. Sometimes it has seemed to me that the opposition (scripturally, the world, the flesh and the devil) has become more insidious over the years. So I have prayed about this and wondered about this, and as a good coach I have agonized over what it was that made some better prepared than others. And I found a core principle:
A Christian cannot be equipped for ministry but must first be equipped to meet the challenges of life.
I know that sounds dumb or simple minded. But take a moment and consider. I believe this present generation of Christianity has lost touch with some very basic skills--skills previous generations of Christians knew and understood. These skills allowed our grandparents and great-grandparents to meet challenges in such a way that far exceed the witness of today’s church goers. I also think these skills are recoverable, but like any good habit, the require resolve and practice. Why would anyone want to put in the time it’s going to take? To win. I like winning. I like being a champion. Let me tell you a story.
I told you last month I was the first football coach for our Junior High school team. I also told you we took the championship in our second year. I did not tell you that I retired after that year in order to become a football official for the County. This was something I had wanted to do for a long time and since I had been playing andcoaching for so long, now seemed like a very good time. I was replaced by another head coach who had a completely different philosophy than mine. I coached to my own and my player’s highest abilities always with the expectation we would win. He believed winning didn’t matter. They lost every game that year.
I received a phone call from the principal the following summer asking me to return to coaching. Our school was in an impoverished neighborhood. It was a gang and drug infested area. Sports and academic excellence helped make Stone Junior High stand out among the County’s more “respectable” schools and such a poor showing as the year before did us no good at all. After some hesitation I agreed to one more year. The problem was I had to convince the exact same players as the year before that we could take the field and with only a change in coaching staff achieve a completely different result. What would make the difference? Preparation. Training. The game had not changed. The challenges were no different. The players were the same players. But I was going to prepare them and give them the skills they needed to succeed. The rest would be up to them.
My first challenge was to make them believe in me and the rest of the coaches. That wasn’t too hard. We had a long string of winning and a whole lot of championships behind us. The next challenge was to make them believe in themselves. That was not so easy. But each day as we taught them basic football skills, and measured for them the progress they were making, they began to believe. Preparation. Training. To meet the challenges of the game. They went undefeated that year. Same team that lost every game the year before.
Why does one Christian fare better day to day than another? Preparation. Training. Basic skills in Christianity. I’m a good teacher and a good coach. I can teach you those skills.
Next Month: Equipping the Saints, For Real