A sad bit of excellence…
Published by Matt Glover September 28th, 2006 in Hearing the WordSunday night for us was a little bit sad. Not as sad as it will be next Sunday night, but a little bit sad nonetheless.
It wasn’t that the service was bad. Infact it was pretty good. Our gathered worship was well planned and a bit different to the norm.
Dan spoke and he was also really good. It was probably the best I have heard him speak - he’s a funny guy when up the front, but this time he balanced well with some good thoughts on ‘excellence.’
Dan started by saying that God didn’t want us to have a mediocre life. We are to reflect the God who gave us life to the full - that God is a God of excllenec so we should be people of excellence too. An interesting little tidbit was that the word ‘excellence’ appears just as often as the word ‘repentance’ in the Bible. I’m going to have to check that out, but it’s a very interesting thought!
At this point it would have been easy for Dan to get elitist and make living the Christian life an impossibility. But he said something which I think is worth remembering:
Excellence is not perfection
Instead, excellence is being your best. Not the best, but your best.
Psalm 8 and Genesis 1 state that all God created was excellent. We humans are part of that. Philipians calls us to think about ‘Whatever is excellent.’ Our Christian life, put simply, is to be one of excellence - one that we live the best we can.
But how do we do that? Well, that’s what Dan is speaking on next week. No doubt he’ll speak well, but I’ve got my money on him crying a bit too.
Dan will be leaving us after next week to take up the position of Youth Pastor at Warrandyte Community Church. We’ll be sad to see him go, but recognize that this is the next part of the journey infront of him. Plus, it speaks volumes of the people that have discipled him over the last few years from a teen that knew nothing about Christianity to a man willing to serve with everything he has.
We’ll be commissioning Dan next week, so if you happen to be in the area, drop by and send him on his way!
Matt: I’ve discovered, like you, the downside of discipling people. When they rise up in their ministry and calling, they often have to leave to fulfill it. We’ve seen it over and over again. It is a bitter-sweet thing, and there’s no way around it. Dan is right… we are to live godly lives of excellence. But there is not only gain, but pain in that when we have to separate from each other, even if only for a time. I just read yesterday in Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, “This man did not want to disappoint Jesus, nor to hurt his father. We put sensitive loyalty to relatives in place of loyalty to Jesus Christ and Jesus has to take the last place. In a conflict of loyalty, obey Jesus Christ at all costs.” Counts for friends too. Thus spoke churchpundit!
I like your blog.
Hello from Montreal, Canada…my name is Wren.
I have a discussion forum here…
http://z6.invisionfree.com/denominations
Please know that you are very welcome to register and participate anytime.