Pastor, Remind Them

I send up a prayer, open my Bible, and start reading. “Lord, what shall I preach next Sunday? Please show me from your word.”

What I’m expecting—and what generally happens—is that as I’m reading along, my attention will be snagged by some truth, some story, some verse, or some phrase, even a word. I pause in my journey to pick it up and analyze it. Could it be the Holy Spirit is calling my attention to this as the basis for the sermon? Sometimes, I lay it back down with a, “Nope, nothing there,” and sometimes, the further I dig, the deeper it goes and the more excited I become.

That’s how I get sermons, and I’m guessing I have lots of company. One of the biggest dangers I’ve found in myself is a tendency to reject the commonplace and familiar themes of Scripture in favor of something new and exciting that the congregation hasn’t heard before.

I know why this is. I have a low threshold for boredom. I don’t like being bored and surely do not want to bore those sitting before me on Sunday. And the truth of the matter is, it’s harder to preach a fresh message on a familiar theme than to find something the congregation has never thought of and regale them with new insights.

As though addressing this fatal tendency in me and no doubt many of my brethren, the Apostle Peter speaks: “For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus showed me. Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you will always have a reminder of these things after my decease” (2 Peter 1:12-15).

I read that and remembering the Simon Peter we meet throughout the Gospels, I smile. He knows. Peter knows that it’s not enough to teach someone something and expect them to get it and then move on to the next lesson. Some things have to be taught again and again. Some lessons need constant repetition and reinforcement.

I love what he says here: “I know that you know these truths, but I’m still going to remind you!” (v. 12); “It’s not enough to know it; it needs to be stirred up inside you!” (v. 13); “I don’t have a lot of time left, so I’m going to make sure that even after I’m gone, you’ll not forget these things!” (vv. 14-15).

We are to remind people of God’s truth. The reason we remind them is to stir them to faith and action. If we do a good job of bringing these things to their memory, even after we’re off the scene, our work will still be bearing fruit in their lives.

John L. Smith is the pastor who baptized me. I was a 19-year-old college student who dropped in on his church one Wednesday night, never expecting to return. The Holy Spirit used this good father-in-the-ministry to ensnare me that night, drawing me away from the periphery of the kingdom and inserting me right smack-dab into the middle of His work, where I have been ever since.

Not long after baptizing me, Dr. Smith moved to a church in another city (I don’t think there was a connection, but one never knows!). One day a year or two later, I learned he was back in town, holding a revival at a local church. I sat in the audience one night and can remember a hundred details of that service. I recall the text he used, an illustration he gave, and even a joke he told.

The text was 2 Peter 1:13, “Stir up the gift.” Pastor Smith said, “The family is sitting down to eat dinner. One of the children keeps asking for more sugar in his tea. Dad can see there is already a half-inch of sugar in the bottom of the child’s glass. He says, ‘Honey, you don’t need any more sugar. You just need to stir up what you have.’”

And so with us, Dr. Smith said. “God has given us ‘all things that pertain to life and godliness’ in Christ Jesus. (2 Peter 1:3) But we need to remind ourselves of these truths. In doing so, they will stir us up to action and faith!”

The joke? You wouldn’t have let me leave without that, would you? Remarking on the commonplaceness of his name, John L. Smith, he said, “The pastor called on Brother Smith to lead in the offertory prayer. Immediately, 25 men began praying. ‘I’m sorry,’ the preacher said, ‘I meant Brother John Smith.’ All but 17 quit.”

Oh, you’ve heard that before? Well, you surely didn’t mind my reminding you, I hope!

Joe McKeever is a retired Southern Baptist pastor from New Orleans, Louisiana. He blogs regularly at www.joemckeever.com.