"Preacher"

Recently I've had several contacts from people in my High School class from a long, long, long time ago. It's been interesting and fun to catch up. One was very complimentary about the fact that I had been a decent guy and knew I would be in ministry. While that was gratifying, it was sad when they said they had not even known about the Lord until their adult years even though they had attended church during those years. Maybe they weren't open, but obviously I was satisfied to be "a decent guy" and didn't share about the Lord.

"Life-style evangelism" is a "decent" concept, but usually indicates an unwillingness to talk about the Lord. I'm reminded that the Bible says people will NOT know about Him (believe)unless they hear, and they will not hear without a preacher. Of course a "preacher" is not simply one who has a pulpit in a church or on a street corner. A preacher is a proclaimer who speaks the Gospel, which is the power to salvation. Moreover, a "preacher" is not someone who hounds or pounds with the Gospel, but proclaims the whole truth about both the goodness of the Gospel and the requirements of living according to the Gospel.

Whistle While You Work

I've been re- reading John Piper's Let The Nations Be Glad and was reminded of a song that goes back to my childhood when TV shows were black and white and the afternoon included "Leave It To Beaver" and the "Mickey Mouse Club." I think it was a Mickey Mouse (probably in more ways than one) cartoon that had the song, "Whistle While You Work." My parents used it to teach me to display happiness by whistling while I worked. I must have learned well the whistling lesson about displaying happiness because I also remembered another experience from my childhood.

I had told my parents I didn't feel well and probably should stay home from school, which was rare for me. Apparently, I was sitting in bed whistling. On his way out the door to work my father stuck his head in my room and said, "Sick children don't whistle." Ooops!!

Anyway, Piper says about worship that it "is not a gathering. It is not essentially a song service or sitting under preaching. Worship is not essentially any form of outward act. Worship is essentially an inner stirring of the heart to treasure God above all the treasures of the world." (page 206) He includes three stages of worship as "right affections in the heart toward God, rooted in right thoughts in the head about God, becoming visible in right actions of the body reflecting God." (page 207)

If we could grasp this, we would worship (and whistle) while we work, play, relate, rest, or anything in life. We would find true happiness and fulfillment as we walk through life.