August, 2020
Good morning,
A national employment agency recently published an article titled, Jobs Nobody Wants. It was a new spin on the Pollyannaish approach typically used by headhunter firms.
Most recruiters lure candidates with tantalizing bait, using words like competitive earning power, great benefits, flexible schedules and advancement opportunities.
However, the list of Jobs Nobody Wants did the opposite—it provided an inside look at the workplace bottom-feeders. The agency used the following criteria to identify the most undesirable positions:
- Physical or mental strain of the job
- Workplace conditions—i.e. sights, smells, sounds
- Fear factor
- Social stigma associated with the work
- Difficulty finding qualified applicants, and, once found, their reluctance to accept the job
Among the top Jobs Nobody Wants were…
- Radio Tower Climbers
- Morticians
- Prison Guards
- Sanitation Workers
- Explosive Device Handlers
Not a dream job among them! Yet, as a pastor, some of those jobs seem ominously familiar.
That sounds unfair, but it's not really. No search committee, church board or denominational hierarchy could possibly know all the unwritten expectations a congregation has for their pastor. Those things just come with the territory.
To compound the issue even more, some of our job requirements are seemingly impossible … and, oddly enough, those assignments come from God Himself. For example…
- We are to teach God's greatness even though "His greatness is unsearchable."
- We are to teach God's pure word with—as Jeremiah called them—our "unclean lips."
- We are to live in light of eternity while trapped in time.
- We are to "rightly divide the Word of Truth" to a world where, as Peter said, "the untaught and unstable distort the scriptures."
- We are to teach that God "remembers our sin no more," while we struggle to forget.
- We are "to speak the Word of God without fear," even in the face of intimidation.
- We are to confront the culture, but also "be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger."
- We are to teach finite creatures about their infinite Creator.
- We are to "walk by faith and not by sight" in a seeing-is-believing world.
- We are to describe in detail His "indescribable gift."
- …and the list goes on.
Feeling a little inadequate? Yeah, me too!
Whereas these mandates appear to be impossible, God has still called us to fulfill them.
But how? How do the lilies of the field explain their Designer? How do the birds of the air explain their God-given gift of flight? How do flawed preachers articulate perfect redemption?
It is a staggering thought! However, before you toss in the towel, here is God's solid solution to our dilemma:
1) Preach the Word:
⇒ "For [the gospel] is the power of God for salvation … and in it the righteousness of God is revealed." In other words, we simply preach His Word. He does the rest. We use our spoken word to proclaim His written word to showcase the Incarnate Word. Then step aside so He can be seen.
2) Our listeners have been divinely prepared:
⇒ We have an extraordinary advantage! God pre-programmed our audience with a knowledge of Himself. "His eternal power is clearly seen" through His creation. Knowledge of God is undeniably evident, "so that they are without excuse." God wired the human DNA to be highly sensitive to His Word.
Therefore, the apparent impossibilities of teaching profound truths are resolved! We speak for Him, and He takes care of the details.
How could anyone NOT love this job!
Blessings,
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