The Prerequisites for RESTORATION

As preachers we often entertain the subject of restoration. As preachers we deal with individuals on a weekly if not daily basis who are in need of restoration. Sometimes that restoration is due to a premeditated decision to sin and sometimes it is because the individual was overcome by the lust of the flesh. There are those also who have become broken or bitter based on the decisions made by someone other than himself or herself. Regardless of the reason for which restoration is necessary we all as preachers recognize that restoration is needed if we are to salvage those sitting in our pews who have been wounded in the real battle by a real enemy.

What about the preacher? I was preaching in a rural town in Southern Indiana and the preacher asked me to visit a man that had never visited the church but his wife came on a regular basis. He gave me the address and told me to be careful but he really didn’t give me much more information. When I entered the man’s home I saw a man sitting in a chair in the family room. He was a big man and his countenance was rough and bitter. He had a long ponytail, long beard and he looked as if he were in a biker gang of some sort. I discovered later that he had indeed been asked or commanded to join a biker gang and had actually had some try to kill him for rejecting their invitation. I learned later that in the last church service that he attended he actually ran down the isle and tried to choke the preacher to death. As I sat and shared the gospel with him he never said a word he only grunted occasionally. The only words I remember him saying he uttered as I was leaving. He said, “ you’re alright with me man” and boy was I glad to hear that. To my surprise the next Sunday morning he came to hear me preach. He stared at me the whole service but he didn’t respond in the invitation. I did notice tears running down his cheeks while the invitation was being given but he didn’t respond. At the end of the service while I was standing in the front of the church building greeting people with the pastor I shook his hand and said “Doc, I noticed some tears was the Lord dealing with your heart. I’ll never forget what he said. He looked me strait in the eyes and said; “son the tears were not because the Lord was dealing with my heart the tears were because he was not” he then turned and walked away. I stood speechless for a moment and then I asked the preacher to explain the background of this man. The pastor told me that there was an evangelist years ago that preached all over Indiana. He was actually one of the most sought after evangelist in the area. He had been asked to preach in a church pastured by his dear friend. The church was experiencing some issues and the church began attacking their preacher and his family in this particular service. The attacks were severe and heartless. The attacks were more hurtful than you would have expected even from a group of lost people. The evangelist “Doc” walked up to the communion table, turned and looked at the people and laid his bible down on the table and said, “if this is the way Christians treat the one who loves them more than anyone else in the world I’ll never preach this book again”. He walked out of the building that day and never picked up that bible or any other bible ever again. That evangelist was the man shedding tears in the service because the Lord did not speak to him. Are we truly living in a day of throwaway preachers? I had a preacher tell me a few months ago that preachers in need of restoration need to be discarded. I am sure that David and Peter would disagree. I’m sure they are glad that God doesn’t feel that way. After all didn’t Christ leave the ninety-nine and go find the one lamb that was lost. God still has a plan for the ones he calls. The plan may not be exactly the same as it was but he will make “it again another vessel”.

I. Realize that you are only clay to begin with.

Jeremiah 18:4 “And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it”.

God calls men and women to serve in special but different capacities. Every real preacher has a special calling from God. The reality is that although God specifically calls individuals those individuals are still just plain old ordinary clay. The preacher who loses perspective of who he really is and lets pride begin its destructive work in his life is certainly headed for disappointment and discouragement.

A. Success will often cause us to forget we are “just clay”.

Not all people handle success gracefully. As a matter of fact I am learning that most do not handle success gracefully. Those who do usually do not view themselves as successful but they normally view themselves as blessed but undeserving. Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success”. The self-made man will only be that, a self made man.

B. Praise of people will often cause us to forget we are “just clay”.

I Timothy 3:6 “Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil”. The pastor should be a man that will not become puffed up with pride while receiving the praise of the people. This is what would happen to a novice. It is not just the pastor that experiences this negative process. Singers do, missionaries do, evangelist do, teachers do, employees do, anyone who receives the praise of men is vulnerable.

C. Talent will often cause us to forget we are “just clay”.

I Peter 4:11 “if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth”. It is so easy for us to forget that our service to God is only exemplified through the ability that God gives not because we are extremely talented. Some of the most talented men I know, men who were great orators, men with great leadership abilities, men who had commanding personalities are no longer serving God. They are ship wrecked and their life has no purpose. Men who once pastured great churches whom now never even darken the door of the house of God.

D. Position will often cause us to forget we are “just clay”.

Daniel 4:30 “The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power”, Daniel 4:33”The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws”.

As preachers we sometimes get caught up in ourselves. We become more interested in building empires than building people. If we are not careful we will continually view life from the perspective of what the church owes us as its pastor rather than the honor we have to pastor our people. The bible does say in Matthew 23:12 “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted”. Serving God is a great honor and worthy of admiration and praise but the man of God should let God lift him up and not he himself. The man or woman who lifts themselves up is certainly going to require restoration at some point in their life.

II. Realize that you never left the hand of the Potter.

It doesn’t matter what the reason is for your need of restoration, if you are a born again child of God you never fell from the hand of the potter. The moment you were saved a process of conformation started that is out of your control. You can’t stop it you can only change the severity of it. “Rom. 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,” You can allow God to accomplish this process with less pain or more pain that is up to you, but you can’t stop the process. You will be conformed to the image of his Son. Now if that is true, whatever brought about your need for restoration didn’t pull you out of the hand of God.

There are many who are wounded while in the battle.

A. Sometimes it is their sin that mars the vessel.

A lot of Christians enter the battle unprepared because they do not pay attention in Basic Training. They take lightly the training and insight they receive from their parents while growing up or maybe they do not make personal application of the warnings delivered by their pastor or college professor. It is true that there would be little need for counsel from men like me if people would heed and apply the words of their pastor. “Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls,”

B. Sometimes it is the actions of others that mar the vessel

I know preachers right now that struggle with serving God because they were marred at the hand of someone else. I am not saying there was not fault on his part but much of the damage was done at the hand of someone else. One man was not the husband he should be as is the case with most men. He became frustrated because his wife didn’t want to follow his conviction and guidance. He became harsh with her and would preach at her even from the pulpit. No one was aware but she was. He desired greatly to be used of God and loved his church deeply. He loved pasturing and there was no doubt he had been called to do so. God richly blessed his church but his wife developed a bad spirit toward Christian service and the church. She decided that she didn’t want to be in the ministry anymore and she certainly didn’t want to be with him. She knew her parents would not approve of her leaving so in an attempt to gain the approval of her family she accused him of having affairs with women in the church. He had indeed been unwise in counseling some without his wife present but his wife had continually refused to sit in on the counseling. Although he had not used wisdom in the situation he had certainly not had an affair with anyone and desperately wanted the power of God on his ministry. The accusations of his wife spread like wildfire. Her family now viewed her leaving as justified, and his ministry was destroyed despite the fact that his wife had been his one and only sexual experience.

C. Sometimes the marring of the vessel is simply allowed by God as his way of preparing us for a particular ministry.

How can we forget the story of Hosea found in the book of Hosea? We find in Hosea 1:2 through Hosea 3:5 that Israel had turned her back on God and had gone whoring after other nations. God loved Israel and wanted her to return. He needed a prophet to deliver His message of love to Israel but it couldn’t just be any prophet. It had to be a messenger that knew how God felt about Israel, a man who knew the heart of God. So God allowed Hosea to marry a prostitute named Gomer. She refrained from her life of prostitution until they had three children. After her third child Gomer decided to leave Hosea and enter back into a life of prostitution. Hosea loved Gomer as God loved Israel and his heart was broken. Let’s fast forward to the end of the story. After Gomer was used up and unwanted by her lovers, when her life was in shambles she once again goes on the auction block as a prostitute. No one would bid on this used up prostitute and the bidding was dropped from thirty pieces of silver to fifteen pieces of silver but still no takers, in the back of the crowd a hand goes up. The bidder came forward to take his prize, that bidder was Hosea. He took Gomer home as if she had never sinner. Then and only then Hosea was prepared to deliver the message of God to Israel. He now knew the heart of God. Did it hurt, absolutely? Was it hard, no doubt? But it brought Israel back to God. It’s like going into the Special Forces in the military. There are some areas of service that only heartache can prepare us for.

If you will only allow the restoration process to proceed in your life the Potter can “make it again another vessel” to accomplish something greater than you might have expected. Since you are eternally secure and God is obligated to conform you to the image of his Son, you are still in the hand of the Potter. Let him do what needs to be done in your life for restoration.

III. Realize no one can pull you out of Gods will for your life but you.

God will never allow circumstance or the actions of other people to destroy the purpose for which you were created and molded. I often hear people say “I would be able to serve God if …”. No the fact is that if you are not serving God it is because you have made a decision not to serve God. You have pulled yourself out of the ranks. Sure the circumstances of life may have made it difficult. Certainly the journey may be more painful than it would have been. With out a doubt your success in the ministry will now be hard fought but the fact remains that if you are not serving God right now it is because you made a conscious decision not to serve God.

A. The difficult nature of service after restoration sometimes discourages people from serving God.

Restoration can be painful but it’s process yields great fruit. In working to restore preachers we are finding that restoration is not the most difficult part of the process, the most difficult part is getting preachers and preachers wives to realize they are worth restoring. The Bible does say in Galatians 6:1 “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted”.

David’s defeat of Goliath was great in it’s example but it was an event that occurred one time. David’s rule as king was great in Israel’s history but he is no longer king in Israel. The beautiful Psalms are read everyday by hundreds of thousands of people. For hundreds of years those Psalms have been preacher with power and have changed countless lives but they were pinned by the hand of David after his fall into sin with Bathsheba. Peter was continually up and down in his Christian service but his ministry was most effective after he denied Christ three times. Restoration is hard but could it be that the greatest days of your serving Christ are yet to come if you will but yield to the hand of the Potter as he makes “it again another vessel”.

B. The fear of not being accepted after restoration discourages people from serving God.

It is part of our human nature to want and seek the approval of those we love and respect. That process began when we were infants and will continue to some degree until the day we die. The problem develops when we begin to be more concerned with the approval of man than the approval of God. As Fundamentalist we preach long and hard concerning the seeking of approval of man through sinful activity and denying the commandment of God yet as fundamentalist we violate the same principle in regard to God’s forgiveness. We want to hold people under the bondage of past sins that have been forgiven. The fear of not gaining the approval of our brothers in Christ overshadows the fact that Christ has forgiven us and desires to remold our lives and use us. Jeremiah 18:4 “so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it”.

C. The focus of the conscience after restoration discourages people from serving God.

How many times have you been awakened in the night by a thought involving something that had happened in you past that you were ashamed of? Not everyone can say “And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men,” Acts 24:16. It may have been something that no one is aware of but you. It may have been something that happened before you were saved. For the one being restored it is often much worse because it is public knowledge. I Timothy 1:19 “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:”

The conscience is a very important tool in helping us to remain pure. John 8:9 “being convicted by their own conscience”. It is when our conscience is seared that we are truly in trouble. I Timothy 4:2 “Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron”.

Satan also uses the conscience as well to continue to pull us under the bondage of sins that have been confessed thus keeping us fruitless in our endeavor to serve God as “another vessel”.