At the first meeting he was startled to hear the teacher say to the boys, “We all lie.” Then, shooting his own hand into the air as if to include himself, the teacher asked, “How many of you told a lie this past week?” The boys glanced at one another hesitantly and a few hands were raised guardedly.

For a Sunday School teacher to tell a class of growing boys that he lies, that he admits it, and that he knowingly told a lie during the past week, is quite troubling. It would make it sound to them as if lying is nothing out of the ordinary for Christians.

Christians believe that because all humans are “born in sin” (Ps 51:5) we are all by nature disposed to lie. We do this very early in our lives, even before we know clearly what we’re doing or have a conscience about it.

Children don’t have to be taught to lie; it comes naturally. It’s telling the truth that they have to be taught.

Lying, according to a well-worn definition, is “a misrepresentation of the truth with the intent to deceive.” We can lie in many ways, not only by words but also by silence, or a gesture, or even by a hastily crafted alibi or excuse. Lying may even have in it an element of truth but it always involves the intent to deceive.

So when, by the grace of God, the Gospel penetrates our defenses it reveals to us our dishonest ways. We discover that we have a history of being deceptive — sometimes to an extreme degree. That’s why the gospel calls us to repent. That is, to renounce and turn from our deceptive practices.

Opening ourselves to the gospel brings a great assurance of forgiveness. Our sins are blotted out. But at the same time the Holy Spirit enters our lives in renewing power, and begins the construction of a new life. It’s called regeneration (Titus 3:5-7). In this new life there is no place for deceptiveness or hypocrisy (Eph. 4:25). These sins have to be confronted and truth must become our new badge.

That’s understandable, for when we are saved , Jesus — who is very truth itself — lives in us (Jn 14:6). Moreover, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit, whom he promised to send into the world, is “the Spirit of truth” (Jn 15:26). Therefore, his call to truthfulness is a serious call and the Spirit is patient but firm about it.

But as Christians, in our weakness or fallibility we may slip or forget. We may be overtaken by a “sin of surprise.” We dare not forget that for Christians, sin is never necessary but always possible.

In such cases, what do we do? Here’s the prescription written for Christians for just such a situation: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1Jn:1:9) That’s a promise we should always hold at the ready.

This means we are not casual about our slips and stumbles in regard to honesty; we grieve when we fail. But we are quick to confess them and confident that we can trust God’s forgiving mercy.

In fact, in our best moments, God’s Spirit puts the psalmist’s prayer into our hearts, “Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;/ you teach me wisdom in the inmost place” (Ps 51:6).

This is what we should be teaching boys in a Sunday School class.

In the church too there is need for more real fathers: men who look on marriage and family as a special blessing; who believe fatherhood is an honor bestowed by a loving God; who have a clear, undaunted testimony to a living faith in Christ; and who take faith responsibilities seriously both in the home and the church.

In the past six decades confusion about fatherhood has sharply increased. Women’s liberation in its extreme forms has tended to diminish or even scorn the dignity of fatherhood, and the sexual revolution of the 1960s widened the gap between the pleasures of love and the duties of fatherhood. At the same time the entertainment world in its movies, cartoons, situation comedies, and quips effectively debunked the nobility of fatherhood in society.

The result has a tragic quality. Too many young men are uncertain about whether marriage and fatherhood are worthwhile goals. Too many children are deprived of a strong male hand on their shoulders, a goodnight hug, or a stern protective caution against the bad choices of life.

Young women are asking, where are the men we can admire and respect? Sometimes it seems that there actually is a war between the sexes, and that the best that can be managed is the occasional truce and a sortie across the battleground.

At the same time, dating services are contacted by thousands of men who inwardly yearn to satisfy this scarcely defined destiny to love and to become fathers

It’s time to speak up for fatherhood. Some of us men have a knowledge to be shared. We found fatherhood fulfilling before the present unsettling domestic confusion descended on our culture.

That knowledge is that fatherhood can awaken a sense of destiny in a man. It can make him feel rooted and strong. It is a status to be coveted, a role that prods boys to grow into men. Active fatherhood experienced over a period of 20 or more years can grow a man into what he was meant to be — a provider, a protector, a loving disciplinarian, and for many young children, a hero.

It’s true that in our topsy turvy world things don’t always work out as we expect. Children wander from the path, causing unspeakable heartache. Or they erect undeserved barriers against fathers. It’s a full-fledged tragedy when we learn after a father’s sudden death that the father and his son haven’t spoken to one another in twenty years.

The prodigal son’s father got a treatment he didn’t deserve when his younger son fled the family estate, but in the long run he was rewarded for waiting patiently when his wayward son came home chastened and eager to be reconciled.

As in many other of life’s great enterprises the rewards far outweigh the risks. Tennyson’s words are apt, “Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” This can be made to speak easily for paternal love .

May Father’s Day, June 16, prompt a renewed sense of courage among men who have heretofore distrusted both marriage and fatherhood. And for men already married and with children, may it mark a time when they renew their commitment to this God-ordained role (Ephesians 3:14).

King Asa ran well at the outset of his reign. His story begins, “Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.” He cleared his kingdom of the vestiges of paganism.

It says in 2 Chronicles 14:2-5: “He commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to obey his laws and commands. He removed the high places and the incense altars in every town in Judah, and the kingdom was at peace under him” (2 Chron. 14:2-5).

Outstanding achievements! And there were more. He fortified villages and towns to make them safer. Because he trusted his exploits to the Lord, his army of 580,000 men defeated the armies from Ethiopia though they were twice the size in numbers. He should have finished such an illustrious and devout career with a big hurrah!

But later when he needed to defeat the armies of the northern kingdom – Israel – he did not put his primary trust in the Lord. Instead he gave away treasures from the temple and his own palace to the King of Syria to win his military support. Then, into this picture came a prophet, Hanani, to chide him: You trusted a foreign army, he charged, instead of trusting the Lord.

The prophet then added, “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him” (2 Chron.16:9). From now on, Hanani continued, you will be at war. Asa was angry at this. He put the prophet in prison and began to be abusive to his subjects.

Less than two years before his death Asa suffered from a disease in his feet. Perhaps it was a severe case of gout. The Scriptures report, “Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians” (2 Chron. 16:12). Something at his core had changed. He was clearly no longer a man of faith in the Almighty God, putting him first. He had started his race strong, but how would he finish?

After a long reign his death was elaborately observed with a giant bonfire loaded with aromatic spices. He was buried in a tomb he had prepared for himself in the City of David. The state paid him appropriate honor. But the last days of his life were not his best and, so far as faith is concerned, he did not finish strong.

How different life’s closing days would be for the Apostle Paul. Here are his words near the finish line: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day…” (2 Tim.4:7,8).

There is no question that in spite of his adversities the Apostle Paul intended to finish strong in faith with a keen loyalty to his Savior and Master — and to keep himself on the stretch for him. He was but one of thousands across the centuries whose motto for themselves and challenge for other believers has been: “Finish strong!”

It was a homespun saying. It implied that the preacher’s life was hard and one should only accept God’s call to full time service if following any other course would be an act of radical disobedience. The saying seemed a call more to dutiful than joyful ministry.

It’s true that during the thirties of the last century, the preacher’s life in the West was hard. Preachers were largely self-taught, by studying such as Ralston’s Divinity, sometimes after a day’s work.

Incomes were tight. Reassignments were frequent. In our denomination Preachers were moved every two or three years. And preaching a radical gospel of sin, repentance, salvation through Christ, and holy living often brought resistance if not persecution.

By comparison, the pastor’s life today is less demanding in that radical way. College and seminary provide better education for the task; a parsonage family is usually settled in a community for much longer periods; in most cases optional housing is provided by a given choice between a parsonage and a housing allowance; and incomes are not so near the edge as they were.

But for today’s pastor who takes the calling seriously, responding to “the call to preach” still leads to a demanding life that tests and stretches. Preaching credible sermons in an internet- and DVD-saturated age requires rigorous discipline. Warm-overs from the internet will not refresh the church. Parishioner expectations regarding sermons, pastoral care, and church administration are high and disapproval is sometimes expressed roughly; expenses for children’s activities or medicines may press the margins.

Even more importantly, serving the Lord whether during economic depression or days of abundance involves spiritual warfare. As Paul wrote long ago, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood….” (Eph. 6:9). In other words, any struggle in the pastoral life is not so much with people as with powerful spiritual influences that create resistance to the gospel. To carry out this warfare successfully requires the daily disciplines of prayer both private and communal.

The scarcity of young promising and gifted pastoral prospects today is, in my opinion, related very much to the materialism of our times. I recall one young man who showed all the signs of being called to the ministry but who turned aside to another path influenced, it seemed to me, by a family that could not see adequate material rewards and prestige offered in the pastoral life.

Admittedly the rewards are not usually “material,” but they are surprisingly great. Jesus said to his disciples: anyone who leaves all for me and the gospel will receive a hundred times as much in this present age (with persecutions) “and in the age to come, eternal life” (Mark 10:29-31).

The pastoral life is not a job, it is a “calling.” A job is a defined task (like clerking in a store eight hours a day, or mowing lawns) that may be completed so one can turn elsewhere. A calling is a divine summons which should be answered and is only lifted when the Master himself lifts it. The minister who called his work a “career” did not understand this.

Pastors who have given a lifetime to this calling can report the numerous rewards with joy — the trust reflected in the church’s ordination; the challenge to deliver the word of God regularly through preaching and teaching; the privilege of sharing deeply in the lives of parishioners and adherents; close involvement in the rites of passage with all ages — birth, conversion, marriage, anniversaries, retirement, and death.

Who can measure the deep spiritual satisfaction of celebrating a quiet fiftieth anniversary dinner with a couple whom one had married a half century earlier? Or talking by long distance with another man whom he had led to the Lord at his dining room table forty years before? Or the e-mails, notes and calls that come regularly from Christians (and even unbelievers) who say they were influenced for the Lord even though the pastor did not know it at the time?

There’s a quiet joy that is nourished regularly in the hearts of those who heard the call while young and who responded wholeheartedly.

(If you want to read more about pastoring, get my new book on Amazon.com, THE PASTOR’S FIRST LOVE: And Other Essays on a High and Holy Calling)

To attend, our only requirement was that at some earlier time we had sung in a male quartet – either during college days or on the Light and Life Hour radio broadcast or even with a home-grown male quartet from a local church. Men were there who had sung in college quartets as far back as 1942.

The Nomads from Greenville, Illinois, five singing men, added variety to the event by harmonizing for us twice. And in the foyer of John Wesley Church where we later convened there were enlarged pictures mounted here and there showing some of our faces in younger days, and also how male quartets of former years dressed — matched suits, ties all knotted alike, pocket handkerchiefs each displaying four peaks, and even the same haircuts. Individualism had not yet made its influence fully known to male quartets.

The idea for the event originated in the mind of Marvin Zahnizer, retired history professor from The Ohio State University. The Marston Memorial Historical Center sponsored the event, and Cathy Fortner, the director of the Center, took the project on and with tenacity made it happen.

Retired conference superintendent Bill Cryderman formed the men into a massed choir, David Anderson of the Roberts Wesleyan College music faculty, presided at the piano, Jo Ann Noble, emeritus professor from Greenville College, added organ interludes, and retired pastor, Ron Robart kept the gathering on schedule.

We sang, and we sang. But not without a break at which Professor Zahnizer presented a fully researched and fascinating paper on the many stages of male quartet singing throughout American history.

As our two days together progressed, the sanctuary of John Wesley Church rang with music produced by nearly fifty male voices. For example, the rollicking “I Want to Be There When We Crown Him King of Kings.” Then, the solemn, “Remember Me, O Mighty One” And, the moving “Jesus, What a Friend of Sinners.” And more.

By the afternoon of the second day this choir’s voices filled the sanctuary with refined cadences, both robust and rich. And 29 women who had come along with their men as observers were the first audience to hear this music – soon to be available, it is hoped, on DVD. On one occasion as they sang, my wife passed a Kleenex to a friend nearby, as her tears flowed.

As Kathleen and I drove toward home in Canada we kept reviewing the event with joy. The music created by nearly fifty men played again and again in our memories. Some of the wonderful words kept coming to our minds and we shared them.

Driving the 570 miles we tuned into the news on the radio. What we heard there was of a much different tone. A nation was waking up to governmental blundering and deception. There were angry words. We heard again and again the questions for which answers are yet to be extracted.

But nothing on the radio could smother the words of Christian hope we had sung over and over again at this male quartet convention. The Psalmist, however ancient, could have given this gathering of mature men the very theme for the occasion: “I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live” (Psalm 104:33).

What exactly do married couples build into a marriage? After our decades together, here are some of our thoughts.

TRUST. We knew each other very well when, on December 20, 1947, we made lifetime pledges of love and loyalty. Mutual trust was real from the outset. But beyond engagement, marriage is a fully shared life and the mutual trust had to be applied in a whole variety of new experiences. Putting that initial trust to the test enriched it.

SHARED FAITH. For us, marriage has been a prayer-based life together. From our first days in our one-room apartment, each morning after breakfast I would read a portion of Scripture and then we both prayed, committing our precious union to the Lord. It was at first a learning experience, but a practice we have continued to this day.

FAMILY. Marriage is solid ground for the building of a family. Our daughter, Carolyn, arrived ten days before our first anniversary. We were young and declared that we would incorporate our first child into our youthful lifestyle. But reality dictated otherwise. So we reshaped our program to fit the new reality. We had now to address the task of building a family.

Eventually there were four children — Carolyn, Donald, Robert and our youngest, John David, our special needs child. For John David, family adjustments had to be made and as months rolled into years necessary changes were painful. We made them together. We would not let our heartache adversely affect the wholesome development of the three older children.

We continued to build a family with the children God had given us — enlarged over time to include our children’s spouses, grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren.

REPUTATION. Marriage is a challenge for the building of a reputation. This is unavoidable. What do growing children see from the inside? What do onlookers see from the outside? Do they all see a strong and stable marriage? Is it bound together by a durable love?

Do we continue to respect one another even in stressful times? Christian marriage is about more than personal happiness. It is also, inescapably, about building a reputation that can serve as a beacon to couples nearby who may still struggle.

AN ESTATE. Marriage involves the building of an estate. “Estate” doesn’t mean a fortune. It means whatever joint possessions have come into being through the shared work and careful accumulations of husband and wife together. Estate may be only a bungalow and a modest bank account. Or it may be additional possessions, savings and investments.

In this area, Kathleen and I build with three purposes in mind: personal security for the closing years of our lives; gifts of love to leave the children; and something to bequeath to Christian causes we have supported in life and wish to continue to support after we have gone to be with the Lord.

To think of marriage as a lifetime building project gives long-range perspective. It puts the present moment into a grander framework. And it keeps our thinking about the future unfogged by pressures that come and go in our day-to-day life together.

In a sense the day will not focus only on the honorees–mothers–but also on others in relationship with them. Motherhood is a family-based title. How can we celebrate motherhood without reflecting on family?

On Mother’s Day, mothers all over this continent will be showered with beautiful cards of love. It will be the telephone company’s busiest day of the year for long distance phone calls. In our culture, mothers are super important.

And so it should be. Mothers are the bearers of the race. They suffer the not insignificant strain of carrying a baby to term. Then long before that infant can show the slightest hint of gratitude for the night time feedings, the ever-and-anon diaper changes, the soothing of fevers and healing of rashes, mother carries on with a commitment that is nothing short of heroic. She labors through sometimes sleepless nights and wearying days. She deserves more than a card or phone call; she deserves a public celebration and a big shiny medal.

But sometimes in the long process of bearing, birthing and raising a child, things go wrong. Misunderstandings crop up. Rifts form in relationships. The very children so cared for sometimes sail into their maturity feeling they have good reason to withhold notes of appreciation. On Mother’s Day mothers aplenty nurse the wounds of unrequited love.

Mother’s Day could well be the best day of the year for the healing of such wounds. It’s a family issue. An unexpected phone call, might do it, a card that counts the blessings of motherhood and forgets the long held grievances. Let the relationships long torn and left with ragged edges be healed with forgiveness.

It is the wonder of Christianity that when we ask him, God in Christ forgives us for our sins of ingratitude, our broken relationships, our real or imagined grievances. He does so by bearing those sins into oblivion on a thankless cross.

Mother’s Day would be a good day to pray for healing all across our lands. Where mothers and daughters or mothers and sons have lost precious months or years through misunderstandings may they come home to one another by means of a mighty surge of forgiveness.

So this Mother’s Day, as the phone calls flow and bouquets arrive, may Christians and non-Christians alike make it a day to pray privately for reconciliations, wherever they are needed. We dare not forget that in this situation, as in all others, the Lord Jesus Christ is the great reconciler.

It’s been said that when rifts, misunderstandings, or blunders stress an important relationship, “The first to apologize is the bravest, the first to forgive is the strongest, the first to move forward is the happiest.”

The world looks on as this terrorist, whose ghastly schemes of destruction carried out with his older brother, now dead, killed three and wounded 174 innocent people.

The flow of media talk now shifts to speculate on the terrorist’s future. They cite the Constitution, discuss America’s judicial system, argue over the term “enemy combatant,” and weigh the legal rights of a terrorist who is also an American citizen.

This outpouring of questions will be on the public agenda for years: What will justice mean for the terrorist? For the aggrieved and wounded families? For the Country so unfeelingly violated?

Can any humanly crafted legal system, however deeply rooted in history and the Judeo-Christian moral code, and however meticulously applied, mete out an utterly adequate penalty? Or, must complete justice await the Final Judgment?

Soon after the winning of World War II, British prime minister Winston Churchill was asked about the whereabouts of Adolf Hitler, the Nazi monster who had plunged the world into war. He had disappeared. Some were saying he had fled to Argentina; others that he had killed himself (which turned out to be true).

Churchill replied that he did not know where Hitler was but he was sure he would turn up in this world or the next and would be dealt with adequately by the corresponding authorities. It was a half-facetious allusion to the Christian doctrine of a final perfect judgment for all.

A final judgment beyond time is a theme the Bible strikes often and clearly. Here’s what it says in Revelation 20: 11–15 as translated in the New Living Translation:

“And I saw a great white throne, and I saw the one who was sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to the things written in the books, according to what they had done. The sea gave up the dead in it, and death and the grave gave up the dead in them. They were all judged according to their deeds. And death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death – the lake of fire. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20: 11-15).

It’s a grim picture. Any unbeliever who reads and ponders this prophecy with any degree of seriousness would surely quake. When Christians read it they crowd up to Christ Jesus, their Savior. The reason: By his ignominious death on a Roman cross he paid the full penalty for every believer. He is their Advocate and their at-one-ment (atonement) with God.

But for Christians there is another aspect to that Great Day. The Apostle Paul wrote to Christians in Rome, “For we (Christians) will all stand before God’s judgment seat” (Rom. 14:10b; also 2 Cor. 5:10) Although Christ assures our entrance into the heavenly kingdom, the redeemed must give an account for the quality of life we have lived for him in the power of the Spirit while on earth.

For example, we will be judged on our loyalty to his cause (Lk 11:23), our obedience to his commands (Jn 14:15), our fruitfulness in holiness (Jn 15:5), and our love for our brothers and sisters in the faith (1 Jn 2:10).

As evil as the 19-year-old terrorist has been, and whatever penalty he receives in this world, we pray that he –and all of his victims– will have had an encounter in this life with Jesus that will bring mercy in the world to come. And we live each day in gratitude that God has offered this same mercy to us.

During our time together there were 15 in Professor Elizabeth Gerhardt’s classroom plus another 10 in a room in Buffalo participating in discussions via a 2-way audio-video feed.

So, why our visit? It’s generally expected that trained pastors have a deep personal faith, a working knowledge of the Bible and social skills that are at least above average. But there is much more involved in effective pastoring.

My assignment was to deal with some of these additional, nuanced aspects of the pastoral life from the perspective of a longtime practitioner. In these visits I use materials I have written over a period of time and have recently put into the book, THE PASTOR’S FIRST LOVE.

For example, on this visit, along with other subjects I dealt with “The Seven Characteristics of the Effective Pastor.” My use of the word “effective” rather than “successful” was intentional. Success can often be reduced to numbers. That is not bad, and no pastor worth his or her salt is without the growth urge that can reflect itself in numbers.

But the word “effective” has a greater depth to it. For example, a pastor who is effective in ministering to a grieving family may not add numbers to the membership rolls in doing so but will nurture health in the grieving process and bring consolation to the whole congregation. That is “effective” pastoring.

Another of the seven characteristics of the effective pastor is personal integrity. Integrity doesn’t come easily and it is not always full blown upon one’s conversion. But during seminary days and beyond under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, through an honest and consistent prayer life, and perhaps with additional input from a caring, perceptive professor or parishioner, a pastor’s integrity can be broadened and deepened.

The greater the congregation’s belief in the deep honesty of a pastor in the give and take of daily life, the more responsive they are to receive his preaching and teaching as from the Lord.

Additional characteristics we talked together about are wise management of the family, good care of one’s dwelling, the skilful and restrained management of money and even good judgment about dress, especially when on duty.

It was the subject of the pastor’s attire that raised the greatest response. There were two who spoke for casual attire in the pulpit (“I don’t like ties”). It’s a controverted subject not yet settled. I believe that divine worship may be somewhat informal in style but it can never be casual.

It is the triune God we worship – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – the God before whom Abraham bowed with his face to the ground. The awe and humility that such a vision inspires cannot be casual.

Kathleen and I love our times with seminarians. That’s because for many years, we have carried a growing passion for the increase in numbers of effective pastors.

Our visits prompt us to join congregations everywhere in prayers that God will raise up a new generation of candidates for ministry who will study hard to become godly and competent pastors!

The pastor of Light and Life Park where we spend our winters, Reverend John Hendricks, is about to retire after 58 continuous years in pastoral ministry. He will preach his retirement sermon on April 28.

I have long considered the pastorate a high and holy calling, and John Hendricks is a prime example of a life’s response to that calling. He has lived it out week in and week out, in honorable fashion for such a long spread of time.

Because Kathleen and I will not be present for his last Sunday, I shared with the congregation at the outset of my evening Bible study last evening the following tribute:

Not only does Pastor John manifest nobility and faithfulness as a pastor, but he is also, by the grace of God, the most multi-talented pastor I have known. He could have chosen any one of several careers. For example, he could have been a teacher of English, sharing freely with college classes his love for words and his mastery of language. He could have chosen a career in music, either as a performer or a director, and his inborn vocal talent and musical soul would have served his audiences well.

He could have been a thespian; his marvelous memory would have made him equal to the challenge of many roles. He could even have been a comedian, using his wit, his comedic flare and his natural sense of timing to delight audiences near and far.

But, by the grace of God, and in the mystery of that grace, during his early youth John responded instead to an inward call of God to the pulpit and the parish. In so doing, under the Spirit’s anointing he made the above combination of gifts the servants of the Gospel to congregations for a lifetime.

While for various reasons other ministers have sometimes shifted to other assignments, he has stayed and shared this set of gifts with local congregations of the Church of Jesus Christ across a pastoral lifetime. In doing so he has blessed more souls than we can number.

Now, we will follow him and his wife Bobbie with our prayers as they look forward to opening the next chapter of their life together. May they enjoy the provident care of a God who has blessed them to date in abundant ministry. And by the same grace that drew John to the pastoral life, and Bobbie with him, may our Lord favor him with continuing opportunities to use his gifts to the extent his passions prompt and his strength allows.

Benediction: May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen!