Marty McLain

“Too Clever by Half” is an expression that relates to someone being over confident in their cleverness and thus susceptible to overreach (wordreference.com). In other words, they overplay their hand in a cutsie way. I think in the ministry it is tempting to try to be needlessly provocative. Sometimes pastors can try to push the envelope in ways that are not good. I can’t help but to think of the recent controvery involving Andy Stanley and Northpoint Church

Personally, I have always enjoyed listening to Andy preach. He is a very gifted communicator and up to this point he has been extremely solid in his theology. He has been cutting edge in some of his methodology and that is perfectly fine with me. However, his message that he preached on April 15, needs some biblical clarification. I am sure that his motivation was noble, but the message he delivered was well below the standard that people have come to expect from him.

I follow Andy on twitter and I was curious when I read his tweet on April 14. The tweet said, “Our Atl area churches will for sure be a No-Sleep zone tomorrow. Something to offend everyone!” I remember thinking he must be going to make a pretty big announcement or something. Now, in retrospect it seems that he knew his statements would stir the pot among Christians and in particular pastors. So, the controversial nature of his message was no accident. It was anticipated and that is what I find most troubling. No doubt, Andy has a huge desire to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, it seems that he catered his April 15 message more around a personal relationship than around Scripture. This is just my opinion as I try to make sense of why he would deliver a message that seems to be incongruent with his previous biblical convictions.

Andy Stanley has done great things for the Kingdom of God. However, he is not bigger than Scripture. The believers at Barea in the book of Acts were commended for examining Scripture to make sure that what the Apostle Paul told them was accurate. So, if the Bareans held Paul to the standard of Scripture then we should do no less in the twenty-first century. My hope is that Andy Stanley will clarify his statements as soon as possible. His track record has earned him the right to do so.

Christianity Today Article

Growing up, I had a hard time keeping my mouth shut. Normally, in public I was shy but when I was with friends I would rattle my mouth. On one particular occasion, I said a little too much and it cost me. My best friend and I wanted to go to the carnival at the Winn Dixie parking lot. We were young and it was a lot of excitement. So, my Mom took us and she stayed in the parking lot while we enjoyed the rides.

Everything was going well until we got on the ferris wheel. As the ferris wheel went up, we noticed that some moisture would come down on us. As I looked up I saw a long haired redneck spitting on us. We didn’t pay for this. He was ruining our ride and somebody needed to say something? However, this guy was big and I was a late blooming thirteen year old. He probably had me by four years and eighty pounds. But in spite of the mismatch, I could not keep quiet. So, I told him to stop spitting on us and he laughed at me. All the while, my friend was begging me to keep quiet but it was too late. Before I knew what was happening I said something that I wished I could take back. In a loud voice I said, “Is that a boy or a girl in front of us?” I can not emphasize enough what a bad move that was. The long haired redneck turned and pointed at me and said he was going to get me when we got off of the ride. I was scared.

Fortunately, when the ride stopped, I was able to join an older crowd of boys who were at the carnival with my big brother. I felt safe. For some odd reason, I thought the situation was over. However, one of the axioms of life is that when you call a boy almost twice your size a girl, the situation is not over until the bigger boy says it is over.

A few minutes later as I was walking by the concession stand, these two big hands suddenly grabbed me and pulled me behind the trailer. We were out of sight. It was only me, my friend, the long haired redneck and his friend. He lifted me off the ground and told me to give him money for a ticket. I refused and he slapped me. He asked me again. I said no and promptly received another pop to the head.

As I was getting roughed up I saw my Momma sitting in her car with a clear line of sight to what was going on. I kept hoping my Momma would see the grave situation I had put myself into. Finally, she made eye contact with the beat down. As she exited the car and made a bee line toward us, I told the guy I would give him the money. As soon as he let me down, my Momma was on him like white on rice. She verbally destroyed him. When she was through, he was crying. However, I could take no delight in his demise. My Momma looked at me and sternly told me that I ought not to have gotten myself in that type of situation. Without a doubt, she was right.

Proverbs 15:1 says, “A soft answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger.” I learned this lesson the hard way. If I had kept my mouth shut, I could have avoided a potentially harmful situation. Instead, I almost got the living daylights beaten out of me and my Momma almost had a stroke. Remember, when you fight fire with fire you just get a bigger fire and greater damage. A soft word is better for long term health.

When you are struggling with depression and you are on the edge of the pit, one of the worse things you can do is to think that you are helpless. Helplessness translates into hopelessness and that is not good. Wrong thought patterns can put you on the fast track to the pit of despair. Psalms 42 and 43 deal with alternating thoughts of hope and depression. From these Psalms we discussed three short cuts to depression and how to stop them.

The first short cut to depression comes when we feel cut off from purpose. The writer of the Psalm was a son of Korah. He had the responsibility of providing music at the Temple. His problem was that he was no longer in Jerusalem. He was in a forced exile cut off from his God ordained role at the Temple. His sense of purpose had vanished. Solution: Serve God where you are with all you have. God still has a purpose for your life. Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.” In other words whatever you are doing, give it all you have because when you die this opportunity comes to a close. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul writes in Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” As long as you are alive, you have the purpose of serving God through whatever you are doing. This purpose lasts all your life. The particulars may change but the goal remains the same, so get busy and get yourself out of that pit and start working.

The second short cut to depression is what we will call demoralizing nostalgia. This depression sets in when the memories in our mind cross the line from inspiring us in the present to burying us in the past. Our fixation with a romanticized past makes our present situation even more unbearable. Solution: We need to realize that the past is history. We can not go back. When we allow ourselves to be defeated in the present by nostalgia from the past then we have ceased to live as God intended us to live. If we need to get nostalgic then we need to get nostalgic about our relationship with Christ and how it was when we first stepped across that threshold of faith. In Revelation 2, Jesus addresses the church at Ephesus. He chastises them for leaving their first love. He encourages them to think back to how it was when they first believed. He desires them to get back to that point. He says, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works…”(Rev 2:4,5). He wants them to remember how if was when they first believed and then let that memory inspire their lives in the present. So, if you need to get nostalgic then get nostalgic about when you walked closest with Christ. Allow this memory to inspire you in the present to get back to where you need to be spiritually. Talk to your self like the Psalmist. “Why are you so downcast, O my soul…Hope in God.”

The final short cut to depression that we find in this passage is perhaps the hardest one to deal with. This short cut happens when we live life with a lack of circumstantial awareness of the presence of God. It seems like we have lost the favor of God. Prayers are no longer being answered. The Psalmist asks such questions as “Why have You forgotten me?”(42:9) “Why do you cast me off?”(43:2) He feels forgotten by God. Meanwhile, his enemies continue to say,”Where is your God?” The only voices he is hearing now are the ones who question God’s involvement in his life. There is no encouragement. There is no circumstantial evidence of God’s activity on his behalf and he can not understand why. He struggles with hopelessness and despair. The solution: Hope in God. Walk by faith. Hebrews 11:1 & 6 says,”Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” We must walk by faith and believe that God rewards those that diligently seek Him. Faith does make a difference. God does bless those who walk by faith. He says so in His word. He decides how the blessing will come but He will bless. Our responsibility is to not give up. Giving up can cause one to miss the blessing of God Galatians 6:9 says, “9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” It is to our advantage not to give up. Trust God and see things through. He has not forsaken you. He loves you. He is for you. He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Just like the Psalmist we need to talk to ourselves. We need to tell ourselves to get out of the pit and hope in God.

Our backyard has needed a lot of care. Through neglect, it began to consist mostly of dirt and moss. So, my youngest son, Stephen, and I decided to do something about it. We planted fescue. We followed the instructions on the bag of seed and lo and behold in a couple of weeks we started to have grass growing everywhere. Grass now grows where previously there had been alternating patches of dirt and moss. Our backyard is being transformed.

Personally, growing this grass has given me a huge sense of accomplishment. Now, I don’t consider myself a sod farmer, but I could apply for the job. As a matter of fact, I like this grass stuff so much I have even seeded the backyard a second time. It’s kind of like those people who keep getting more plastic surgery or those people who keep getting more tattoos or those people who keep getting more chrome on their car or Gollum and the Ring. Just Kidding!! I am not obsessed, but I do like seeing the results of my labor. 

Now for the bad part. We have a dog. He is a miniature dachshund, and he likes to dig. As a matter of fact, he is digging up our backyard one square foot at a time. I am horrified. He is like a machine. Once a miniature dachshund sets his mind on doing something only brute force makes him stop. I really don’t want to kill him, but he has to stop. He is undoing “my precious.” There goes that Gollum reference thing again. 

I have to try to redeem this situation. So, in order to maintain my sanity and save my dog’s life, I am going to make a spiritual application. Here it goes. Am I as concerned about the spiritual growth of those entrusted to my care as I am about the physical growth of my grass? That’s a heavy question for a husband, father and pastor to answer. I have to admit, it convicts me pretty heavily. It makes me really question my priorities and affections. Also, it probably gives my dog a much needed reprieve.

Be Careful With Your Words

There are conversations that take place in private that need to stay private. Words spoken between friends are not always meant for public consumption. However, you never know when an extra set of ears may be listening. I learned this lesson the hard way.

When I was in my early teens, the standard practice for letting a guy know that a girl was interested in him was for the girl to tell one of his friends. The friend would then find out the level of interest. This circuitous path was a way to minimize embarrassment and rejection. Now, certain conversations between friends should be sacred. Well, as sacred as it can get between two junior high boys. Unfortunately, this trust was violated by my closest friend through what was know as three way calling.

One night my friend calls me and asks me if I liked a particular girl. I told him I did not like her. There was nothing wrong with her. She was a popular girl, but I was not interested. However, my friend would not take no for an answer. He had been instructed by the young lady prior to our conversation that if I said “no” then he was to find out why. So, in response to my answer he kept asking me over and over why I did not like her. Finally, out of exasperation I said, “It is because she is somewhere between greasy and gritty.” It was all I could think of to say. I had heard the phrase from a shampoo commercial on television. Like I said, she was a popular girl at school. She was not somewhere between greasy and gritty. Regretfully, it was all I could think to say.

After uttering this phrase, my friend hurriedly got off the phone. It was only much later that he told me the girl was on the other line listening in on our conversation. Needless to say, I felt horrible. I had flippantly repeated a phase from a television commercial. I really didn’t mean it, but I was trying to make a point. I have often thought of how hurt she must have been to hear someone say those words. Once again, I did not mean them. They were from a shampoo commercial and I was trying to get across my point.

Ecclesiastes 10:20 says, “Do not curse the king even in your thought; Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom; For a bird of the air may carry your voice, And a bird in flight may tell the matter.” In other words, don’t say something that you wouldn’t want someone else to hear. Our words are powerful. They can build up and they can tear down. Be careful what you say. You never know who is listening!

Here is the take away from today’s message.

David is on the run. King Saul is seeking to take his life. In his fear, he goes into enemy territory. He has to pretend madness in order to escape the clutches of the Philistines at Gath. Afterwards, he flees to the cave of Adullam. Psalm 56 is a plea for help during this time of desperation.

In spite of the darkness of his situation, he chooses to walk in faith. In spite of the loneliness and desolation of his surroundings, he chooses to believe God’s Word. In spite of all he has lost, he chooses to believe in God’s goodness. He chooses faith over fear and that makes all the difference.

1. Fear and faith struggle for dominance in our lives.
2. Faith is easier when we remember that God is for us.
3. Faith brings light and fear brings darkness.

Every now and then when God answers a prayer you just have to stand back and say “WOW!” Having Andy Parker join our staff is one of those “WOW!” times. We have desperately needed help with our Youth and with our small groups. Out of the blue, through a mutual acquaintance, we get connected with Andy Parker. Andy is a captain with the Georgia Army National Guard. He has a Ph.D. from Southern Seminary in Leadership Development (see the small group administration angle). Additionally, he was a youth minister at one of the leading churches in Lowndes County for over ten years. During his time as a youth minister, he oversaw a ministry that peaked at over 100 students on Wednesday nights. Most importantly, however, Andy is a man of integrity who walks with God. As a church, we feel extremely blessed to have Andy, Brandy and Lily with us. God is good!