Do you remember ticker tape parades? I’m not even sure what ticker tape was (probably tape that came out of a ticker!) but I do remember parades where streams of paper and confetti were showering down from tall buildings upon athletes and other celebrities. It would look like a snowstorm in August! Always felt sorry for the street cleaners though!
I even remember a few high school football games where I created my own confetti and would throw it on people after a touchdown. And more than once I would empty out the bathroom cabinet of toilet paper rolls because that was another favorite thing to toss at sporting events. When you sit up a real high in the stands, then hold one end of the toilet paper, and then hurl the other end it was pretty cool until it hit somebody in the head was bigger than you.
Ticker tape parades were celebrations of victories and great events. For a moment in time we could hitch our wagon and our identity to our beloved sports team and celebrate like we were part of the victory.
From ticker tape to ticky-tack. My word processor doesn’t even recognize ticky- tack. Ticky-tack are those small annoyances that we let get under our skin that have the power to change our whole of disposition and our whole attitude toward something or someone. Ticker tape celebrates someone else. Ticky-tack is all about us. It’s all about our issue. It’s all about the unresolved feeling. It’s all about our assumptions of why others did or said what they did or said. Ticky-tack celebrates our hurt feelings.
One thing I’ve learned from Jesus is that we need a thick skin when it comes to ministry- and serving others.
Matthew 24:6 And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately
Matthew 24:9 “Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers.10 And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. 11 And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. 12 Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.
That’s a tough environment to work in. Targeted for persecution, hated for no other reason than you follow Jesus Christ. People you once worshiped with turning away from you, betraying you, and even hating you.
Our response might or might not be found in verse 12, “and the love of many will grow cold.” We could come to the point of giving up on people, giving up on ministry, and giving up on the world. We might throw up our hands and say, “I’ve had enough! I’ve been stabbed in the back one too many times, I’m tired of being the topic of conversation for little blue haired ladies. I’m tired of swimming upstream so I’ll spin my cocoon, crawl inside, wake me up when it’s over!”
The trouble with this verse is that I have seen the love of many grow cold for a lot less trouble than these verses talk about. Thin skinned Christians are those who can’t deal with crabby people, or less than expected programs, or disappointment from leadership, or expect too much of people, or can’t stand being challenged from the pulpit. Ticky-tack Christians are those who seem more than eager to take offense at whatever doesn’t live up to their expectations. Christian professional victims.
Jesus has a word for us; “he who endures to the end will be saved.”
Jesus doesn’t sugarcoat the brutalities of ministry.. Sometimes ministry has to be “endured.” Jesus is raising up thick skinned, tough, battle hardened believers who are not easily swayed by the riff raff hanging around churches. Jesus is raising up those who know how to take a punch and keep on going.
Are you one of those? Are you one of those who still preach the good news even in the midst of all the bad news? That’s the kind of church I want!
0 comments:
Post a Comment