This is Connect with Skip Heidzig. Thanks for joining us for today's program. At Connect with Skip, we're all about helping you connect with God's Word in a deeper way. That's why we make messages like Today's available to you and others across the globe. And right now, when you sign up for Skip's weekly devotional emails, you'll receive a free download of Chapter 1 from Skip's book, The Biography of God.
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Now let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip's son Nate Heitzig. This is a heavy book. And it's a heavy topic. But I think we kind of promised that at the onset of this series. This series is about adulting.
And let's be honest, adulting's hard. Adulting is difficult. Really, the core idea of this, more than adulting, maturity is hard. It's difficult to grow in maturity, and the only way you grow in maturity is learning what to do and what not to do, oftentimes by making mistakes and learning the hard way. Anyone learn the hard way, some big lessons that you carry with you today?
I look back and I look at all those hard lessons of maturity and adulting, and now on the other side, I'm thankful for them. Aren't you thankful for those difficult lessons you learned? I mean, it can be as early as when you're a little kid and your parents say, Don't touch the stove, and you think I know better. That thing is nice and red and looks beautiful. I'm going to touch it.
And you burn the crap out of your hand, and that's the last time you touch the stove. Because some lessons you got to learn the hard way.
Some lessons are difficult to learn. Adulting and maturity can be hard. And that's what this whole series has really been looking at: how we can mature more and more into the image of Christ. Because I don't know about you, but I don't want to be a baby. I want to be an adult.
And I think maybe some people, you know, in their early 20s are happy being babies and living at mom's house, but I'm not happy living at mom's house. I want to be an adult. I want to learn things the right way and do things the right way, especially when it comes to my faith in Christ. Anyone in here want to be mature in their faith in Christ? I've titled the message today, Don't Give Them an Excuse.
Yeah. And we have a huge problem in the church today, whether you realize it or not, there is a massive problem in the church today. And really, it's a problem that's not just exclusive to the church today. It's been happening for centuries, for millennia since the church started. Even before the church started, we've had a big issue, and that is that pastors are falling out of ministry at an alarmingly rapid rate.
A study from the Hartford Institute for Religious Research says that over 50% of pastors have seriously considered leaving pastoral ministry since 2020. The data suggests that as of fall 2023, 53% of religious leaders have seriously considered leaving pastoral ministry at least once since 2020. And that's up, mind you, from 37% of pastors who reported in 2021 that they had similar thoughts since 2020. About 44% of pastors also said they are seriously considering leaving their congregations since 2020. And that's up more than double from 21% of pastors who reported that same sentiment in 2021.
Now, among the top reasons for quitting ministry, the top four is number one, the immense stress of the job. Number two, a feeling of loneliness and isolation. Number three, current political divisions. And number four, the effect the role has taken on my family. But it's not just burnout that's the issue.
And that's not what we're here talking about today. It's not just quitting that is the problem. Every year, it seems that we see more and more prominent pastors fall because of moral issues. I think we're all shocked and alarmed if you read the news and look at the news just this year, two very prominent pastors with very healthy and thriving ministries who fell from ministry because of moral issues, because of hidden sin. This is a huge issue in the church today, and I cannot stress this enough.
This is a huge issue. And the reason this is such a huge issue and problem is because the world is watching and looking at Christianity for any excuse to not believe. The world is waiting with anticipation. I would even say many in the world are waiting with giddiness for the next news headline of a pastor that falls, for the next Christian friend or family member who falls away from the Lord, so that the world can pause and look and point at Christianity and say, see? See, it's not real.
It's not true. When a pastor falls, it not only hurts his family and his church, it damages the name of Christ. The reality, though, is that there are over 500,000 pastors serving in Christian churches in the USA. You know, we read these stories of two men, two great men who fell. And I'm sure you could argue: well, are they really great if they fell?
They made some bad decisions, and yet they had years and decades of faithful ministry. And I don't want to discount what the Lord did through them. Unfortunately, they have now done that. But there are more than 500,000 pastors in America who aren't doing that. There's 500,000 pastors in America who are faithfully serving in their churches week in and week out, many of them not getting paid for it, who are faithful in their marriages, who love their kids, who are doing the hard work of ministry.
Many of them bivocationally as they work a full-time job just because they feel called to serve in the ministry. But stories like that don't make the headlines, do they? There's no story that USA Today releases that says 500,000 pastors in America faithfully serving Jesus.
Now the one that falls is the one that gets the attention. The one that makes the mistake is the one that brings the headlines. The two pastors who fell is what makes the headlines. Why? Because the world is looking for any excuse to not believe.
But do you realize it's not just pastors that the world is watching? It's easy for us in the church to look at situations like that, and we hear about the stories, and it's heartbreaking to hear about the stories, and we can pile on blame or reasons why that happened or what they should have done. And we can't sometimes pause long enough. To look at the moral of the story of what has happened and look at our own lives and say, is there any area in my life that I'm blind to? Is there any area in my life that I haven't built up walls of protection against that could cause me to fall?
That could cause me to lose my family, that could cause me to lose my job, that could cause me, even more important, to lose my witness. And the problem we're facing, church, isn't a problem. With pastors, It's a problem that every one of us faces. Because the unbelieving world is waiting for any opportunity to point at you and say, I knew it was all fake. I knew it all along.
I knew it was all emotion. I knew it wasn't real. I knew it wasn't true. I knew the Bible really didn't save. I knew that Jesus Christ wasn't the only way.
I knew that you were just like me all along. They're waiting for those moments. We see the same immortal trends in the culture permeating the church today. Divorce is rampant like never before. And as a matter of fact, if you look at the divorce rate outside of the church and in the church, it's almost identical.
People are living in sexual sin, even leaders falling into it, continuing on as though nothing has happened. It seems like this culture is affecting us more than we are affecting it. Pew Research did a study on the nuns. And I'm not talking about the ladies who wear big black robes and white frocks and hit kids' hands with rulers when they're loud in class. The nuns Are a group defined by Pew Research as having no religious affiliation.
So when they mark on a sheet what religion they are, they put none. They're atheists, agnostics, et cetera. And they were curious about. What led this group to define themselves as a nun? And the nuns were asked why they were not religious.
55% of them cited dislike of religious organizations and bad experiences with religious people.
Now, I want to pause because the title of this message is don't give them an excuse. And I recognize oftentimes with non-believers, these can just be excuses. Perhaps they were in a church that called them out on sin and they didn't like being called out on their sin. And so for them, it's just a reaction to, well, that church told me that I needed to change and I didn't like it.
So that might be some of that. It might just be excuses. But chances are that at least a good chunk of it is warranted. Chances are that at least a good chunk of those people interacted with Christians who didn't act like Christians, and that gave them a bad taste in their mouth, not only for Christians, but for Christ. And in our text today, we're going to deal with the importance of being a good example.
Because, like it or not, you will be an example. Like it or not, you are an example. You're an example to your kids. You're an example to your friends. You're an example to the people that you serve with.
You're an example to the people that you work with. You're an example whether you like it or not. The choice that you have is: will I be a good example? Or will I be a bad example? Will I draw people to Christ or will I drive them away from him?
People are looking for reasons to not follow Christ. Don't give them an excuse. We're gonna see three things in our message today. Number one, we've got a problem. Number two, it starts at the top, and number three, it ends with judgment.
Let's look at our first point. We've got a problem. Look at our text. I'm going to have our team bring it up on the screen. I'm going to read it along with you.
James chapter 3, verse 1. My brethren Let not many of you become teachers. knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. Yeah. Now I chose to do this one verse.
Today, because I think that this verse really stands on its own. We've been in this passage and James chapter 2, that's talking about faith without works is dead. And you show me your faith by your works and this concept of our lives matching up with our words. And we're going to be transitioning after this into a chunk of text that's talking all about our words and how dangerous the tongue is. And man, if you think this week is challenging, wait till next week because as we get into words and how powerful words are and how the things that we say matter, I think we're going to be maybe even a little bit more convicted and challenged.
But this verse seems to stand on its own. You have all this text about faith without works, then you have all this text about the tongue, and then seemingly smack dab in the middle says, Hey, by the way, Not many of you should be teachers. Why? Because you know there's a stricter judgment for those who are. And it's a pause.
Now, I think this is important, and this shows us, number one, again, our first point: we've got a problem. This verse is speaking primarily about pastors, but I want to point out to you, it's not written to them. James is not a book that is written primarily for pastors. As a matter of fact, James was a book written to the 12 scattered tribes of Israel, those who were believers who were scattered abroad. It was a book written to your everyday, basic believer.
And we see this even in that first verse. What does it start out by saying, those first two words? My brethren. James is talking to all Christians, not talking directly to pastors. He's saying, hey, guys.
Here's a problem that we have. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzik. Before we return to today's message, what does real spiritual maturity actually look like and how can you achieve it? In his new series, Adulting, A Study Through the Book of James, Pastor Skip gives straight talk from scripture on how to grow up in your faith through trials, temptations, and daily life. This eye-opening 21 message series is our thanks for your generous gift of $50 or more to help reach more people with God's Word through Connect with Skip.
Request your CD package or digital download of adulting when you give at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888.
Now let's get back to today's teaching from Pastor Skip's son Nate Heitzig.
So what's the application here for a believer who has no aspirations to be a teacher? Here it is. Again, the world is looking for any reason to point to Christians and say, I told you so. It's not real. They said they were going to look different, but they don't look different.
They're just like us. The world is waiting and watching for pastors to fall, but the world is also looking and waiting for you to fall. Again, this is not a ministry issue, and James isn't addressing this chunk of text as a ministry issue. Again, keep in mind the context. You have chapter 2: faith without works is dead.
Now he's jumping all into the tongue, and how the things that we say have importance, the things that people hear us say in public, in our workspace, with our families, that it all has an effect on our witness. This is not a ministry issue, it's a holiness issue. And I got to tell you something: holiness is not something that's talked about in church often enough. We want to talk about repentance, and repentance is good. We want to talk about forgiveness, and grace, and freedom, and all those things are good, but not many people want to talk about holiness.
Because holiness is hard. Holiness is difficult. Holiness requires you to take a magnifying glass and stop looking at others and start looking at yourself. And question where my heart. Is there sin?
Where in my heart is there deceit? Where in my heart is there destruction? What in my life doesn't match up to what the Bible says? And if you haven't done that in a while, I challenge you to do it, but I want to let you know it's going to hurt. It's gonna hurt.
And it should hurt. It should hurt all the way until the moment we get in heaven because I'm going to let you know something. You're never going to be holy enough. Until you get into heaven and you stand with Jesus Christ, get to worship him at the throne room, you're never going to be holy enough. As long as you live, as you examine holiness, as you're in the process of sanctification, every time you hold that magnifying glass up to your heart, you're going to find something that needs to change.
And that's what it's supposed to be. We're not supposed to be living in these cozy Christian bubbles, just pretending and singing and clapping. We're supposed to be examining and doing heart surgery and changing and altering our actions. It is part of this process that God has called us to: holiness. As Christians, we are called to be set apart.
That's what holiness means. Set apart. Not like the world. We look different than the world. We act different than the world.
We talk different than the world. We love different than the world. Keeping this verse in context, again, it would almost appear that this verse is a better fit with the last part of chapter two than it is chapter three. Keep in mind, when this book was written, there was no chapters and verses. When the 12 tribes scattered abroad got this, it didn't have chapter 3, chapter 2.
It was just a letter. And we, over time, added those chapters and verses to help readability and help. Divide it. But James 2 again is all about faith without works and how our faith is shown by our lifestyles and that faith without works is dead and that the things you say better match up with the things that you do. Again, remember, these verses were originally written to the Christian Jews of that time.
However, this verse applies more strongly to Christians today than I think it even does to those back then. Because they not only have greater spiritual light through the New Testament, we have this. Full revelation of God's word, but also we have greater spiritual resources to obey the word of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. See, when you become a believer and ask Jesus to come into your life. The world begins looking for reasons to discredit your faith.
Mm-hmm. And I bet you've experienced this. Anyone in here get saved, but you were part of an unsaved family when you got saved? For those of you who experienced that, did your family look for ways to discredit your faith? Did they try to tell you that it couldn't be true?
Or perhaps if you got saved and your family was part of the Catholic Church, maybe even got ostracized and pushed away and you were discredited and discounted? How about those of you who used to have a really, really good friend group of friends back in college? Maybe you did some things that you kind of regret, you wish you wouldn't have done. Anyone have those kind of friends when they were younger? When you got saved, what did those friends think about your newfound salvation?
Oh, you're not fun anymore. Why don't you come to parties with us? Why don't you go to bars with us anymore? Why don't you smoke with us anymore? Why don't you do all those things we used to do?
The world is looking for opportunities to discredit your faith because they don't like your faith. When we as Christians fail to practice what we preach, the world sees through our pretense, and because of that, God is blasphemed. Our lives must be in accordance with what we proclaim, or our proclamation is useless. It's almost like saying Your ring, those of you who are married, put your wedding ring up in the air so we can see it. Come on, married folks.
Don't be shy. If your spouse isn't raising their hand, you are. fully allowed to nudge them right now. If you pull your wedding ring off for a second, look at your wedding ring. Your wedding ring is honorable.
as long as you're faithful to it. Right? Otherwise, it's just a piece of metal. If I look at my wedding ring, it's a nice piece of metal. My buddy Chad made me this piece of metal.
But at the end of the day, it's just a piece of metal. It's just a piece of metal. It has no meaning unless my decision to honor its meaning is followed through with. If my decision to follow through by honoring that ring. Stops working, then the ring is no longer honorable.
It's just a piece of metal. Let me tell you something: wearing a ring doesn't make you married. Wearing a ring is just an outward sign of an inward commitment. As a matter of fact, there's a lot of people who wear a ring signifying marriage, but in reality, the relationship is dead. The ring doesn't make you married.
The ring doesn't make you honorable. You choose to do those things. You choose to step into that calling. In church, you're being watched. You're being watched.
Now, for those conspiracy theorists in here, you're like, who? Who's watching me? Is it the government? Is it NASA? Is it CIA?
Maybe? I don't want to freak you out, but no, I'm not talking about the CIA. I'm not talking about Big Brother. I'm not talking about the government. You are being watched.
By people. The moment someone finds out that you are a follower of Christ, you come under close scrutiny. And it's not always bad, by the way. We can get like panicked by this: man, I just can't tell anyone I'm a Christian anymore, because then they're just gonna be looking for ways to, aha, gotcha. It's not always bad.
Sometimes, when someone you know finds out that you're a Christian, they'll watch your life to see if there's any real changes for good. They themselves might be considering a relationship with Christ and they're observing the impact that it's having on your life first. And perhaps your life can be a good witness and be like, man, they've changed a lot. They're not the same person. They're different.
I want what they have. They seem genuinely happy. They seem joyful. They might be watching your life. Therefore, we carry an important responsibility.
These people will never tell you they're observing you. They most likely won't tell you when you've done something that's impressed them. And they probably won't tell you when you've turned them off from Christ. All they'll do is watch you. Look at your actions.
Look at what you're doing. Listen to what you're saying, and they'll make their internal judgments. This is why Jesus told us to let our lights so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven.
So we as believers have a choice to make. You and I can choose to live in such a way that men will blaspheme the name of the Lord because of us, or we can choose to live in such a way that people will see our good works and, as a result, glorify our Father in heaven. I just want to pause. This wasn't in my notes, but this is why I'm so thankful, church, that we got an opportunity to be part of Love Week this year. Because it is a representation to our city.
Of how much Jesus Christ loves them. They're able to see our good works, that we're doing it for free. We're not wanting applause. We're not wanting news stories. We're not wanting, you know, rows of people to be clapping for us as we come down the streets.
We're not calling mayoral press conferences to talk about the work that we did, we're just doing it. Because we know that God loves them. And we want them to see that we love them. And as they see our good works, we trust and we believe and have faith that it's going to plant seeds. And people are going to say, wow, why would anyone do that for me?
Why would anyone care about me that way? And so, you know, I look at freedom celebration, the fact that we had to unfortunately cancel freedom celebration before we were able to preach the gospel. But I had to stop for a moment and pull back, and I was like, wait a second, we did preach the gospel. We preached the gospel for an entire week to our city. We preached the gospel to government officials who knew that we were doing this.
One ABQ partnered with us, and the city knew we were doing this, and the government officials knew we were doing this, and the mayor knew that we were doing this, and the different community centers, and schools, and nonprofits that we were able to serve, we preached the gospel. This week. We were able to preach the gospel to a lost and hurting world. And even those who came to freedom celebration, we might not have been able to call them forward, but they heard the love of Christ. They heard the gospel.
They heard Jesus being glorified. And if anything, they walked out of that place saying, man, Christians are a lot more fun than I thought they were. And it planted a seed. And if we really believe that we don't know who waters and who plants and who harvests, we don't know how many people are going to heaven because of the week that we just experienced. And we won't know until we get to heaven.
But our actions Glorify the Lord or They blaspheme the Lord. Sum it up this way: if you wear the name of Christ. But you refuse to live the name of Christ. You're defaming the name of Christ. I'm going to say that again.
If you wear the name of Christ, But you refuse to live the name of Christ. You're defaming the name of Christ. So, this is like personal heart surgery right now. Look into your own heart because I want to let you know. This is for you to look at and see where your heart.
Needs fixing. This isn't for the person next to you or in front of you or on the stage to look at you and say, I know what you did this week. And I know sometimes people think, man, Pastor must have been following me this week because he's like talking about things that I did. No, it's just the Bible, the Holy Spirit does that work. But let's just pause and take a moment and ask yourself: do you claim the name of Christ?
Do you call yourself a Christian? Because Christian is literally little Christ. You're taking on the name of Christ. If you claim the name of Christ. Look honestly for a moment.
Are you living the name of Christ? Is your lifestyle Reverberating what Jesus Christ has sounded within your heart. And if it's not. You're defaming the name of Christ. We're so glad you joined us for Connect with Skip Heitzig, today featuring Pastor Skip's son Nate Heitzig.
Before you go, don't forget to request this month's featured resource, Adulting, a study through the book of James, Pastor Skip's twenty-one message series that gives you straight talk from Scripture about how to grow in spiritual maturity and live out your faith in the real world. Adulting is our thanks for your generous gift of $50 or more to help share God's word with more people. Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash offer. And while you're there, sign up for Skip's weekly devotional emails and get a free download of a chapter of Skip's The Biography of God. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heidzig.
Make a connection never full. Of the crossing castle burden. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of connection communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
