The Influence of a Pastor | A Celebration of God's Redeeming Work

Paul tells us in Philipians 4:8, “ Finally brothers, whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is just whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is commendable if there is any excellence if there is anything worthy of praise think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me - practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” My goal in these next few minutes with you is to honor Josh through glorifying the Lord’s work in and through him.

On January 8th of last year, Josh asked if I would be willing to speak on his behalf at his funeral. It's no surprise that he was already planning and preparing for his homecoming.  I argued with him as I often did that his request was unfair. After all, he was supposed to be the one to speak at my funeral. We laughed about it and made a deal. His words I’ll never forget, “How about we say… whoever goes first.” I obliged , still feeling confident I would win our bet and he would be the one speaking at my funeral one day many years from now. I stand corrected here today as I am speaking on his behalf. Although I'm still a little mad about it, I am grateful for the opportunity.

I imagine the reason he asked me to speak was probably the same reason I asked the request of him first. I want my funeral to be just another way that the Lord is praised and glorified. I want it to be an opportunity for those that are lost to come to faith. If it was just about me and all of my accomplishments, it would be wasted. I am confident that Josh would wish the same. He would ask us to speak of all the ways that God worked through him. His hope would be that the sting and pain of losing him would fade away as we reflect on Gods love and redemption for us.

I first met Josh ten years ago, in the middle of a strange journey. All my life I had served the Lord with one foot in and one foot out. The basis of my salvation hinged on how faithful I was in the moment, in the hour, in the day. Hard as I tried, I never lived up to the standard I felt made me worthy. At the time, I was coming out of a season of great despair where I had single handedly almost ruined my marriage and my family. We were churchless at the time and I spent many days listening to sermons from The Village Church, taught by pastor Matt Chandler. I was drawn to his preaching because he spoke of God in a way that was intimate. The God Matt knew was so much bigger than the God I had been serving all of these years. There were verses and topics that I never even knew existed in the Bible up until this point and it peaked my interest.

A simple Facebook post from a Matt Chandler sermon led my friend Kelly to invite me to this new church plant they had just begun called Redeemed Church. They were part of the Acts 29 network, which I knew Matt Chandler was a part of. I was intrigued. I needed to know more. I remember our first Sunday going to Redeemed Church. They were gathered at River Shoals clubhouse. Chairs lining the room on all sides. We were welcomed with open arms into this little community. It felt different than big church. It felt small and intimate, but it felt like they were all family. I wanted to be part of that. As I begin to hear Josh preach, I felt the same stirring in my heart as I did listening to Matt Chandler. I couldn't put my finger on what it was. Why is it that this God that Matt and Josh preach of feels so much more sovereign than the one that I have known?

I have never shied away from asking hard questions, so it was almost natural for me to be the first one to speak to Josh after the sermon. My question for him was simple, “Why do you and Matt Chandler speak of God in such a mighty way and how do I come to know God like that?” You can imagine Josh’s excitement at a random 28-year-old asking for the meat of the Gospel on their very first visit. He was ecstatic to spend the next several months and years teaching me how to study and know the one true God. In true Josh form, he sent me home that day with homework: a 9-hour seminar hosted by John piper. I think he was testing to see just how hungry I was.

I remember the shock in his voice when I called the next day to let him know I had watched the entire 9 hours. I explained to him that in those nine hours and through careful attention to scripture, the foundations of what I thought was my faith began to crumble. For the first time my eyes were open to seeing a God that pursues me. It felt like breathing fresh air for the first time. I remember thinking, “This, this is a God I can serve all the days of my life just as I am because it is He who works and wills His purpose in me. It's not up to me! It never was and it never will be. He sustains my faith and I can rest in Him because he promises to complete his work in me. ”  I had tasted for the first time what relationship felt like, and I would never fall back to religion again.

The days and months ahead, Josh would teach me by example what it meant to have relationship with the Lord, and what discipling others looked like. Church never felt like church. It felt like a family. We did life together. Josh always taught us that you invite to your table before you invite to your church. We carried that mindset through all of our different paths, even after the doors of Redeemed closed.  

The Lord used Josh in such a mighty way to disciple and care for me as I moved from the milk of the gospel to the meat, to answer hard questions and to challenge me in ways I had not known before. I give God all the glory and gratefulness for the years I've been privileged to spend under Josh's care.

He will always be my pastor. I will forever miss seeing his name come across my phone, And that familiar raspy voice asking, “Hey you, got a minute?” Those of us that know Josh, know that his phone calls were never a minute. If you take that call you better plan on a good hour. He was seldom at a loss for words or time to talk, and even in his suffering, he found purpose in it.

During one of our many phone calls he told me of a book that he was reading written by John Piper called “Don’t Waster Your Cancer”. It was bringing him great comfort but also perspective through his suffering. I want to take a minute just to read an excerpt from this book and I believe they are the words that Josh would say to us today.

Piper writes, “ Paul used this phrase about grieving without hope in relation to those whose loved ones had died: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). There is a grief at death. Even for the believer who dies, there is temporary loss—loss of body, and loss of loved ones here, and loss of earthly ministry. But the grief is different—it is permeated with hope. “We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Don't waste your cancer grieving as those who don't have this hope.”

Believer in the room, don’t waste this opportunity to grieve with hope. Hope in the promise of our salvation and in the truth that Josh is FREE , free from sin sickness and pain. Hope that we WILL see him again.  Skeptic in the room, don’t waste this opportunity to answer the calling of the Lord.  On Josh’s behalf, I invite you to a relationship not a religion with the one true God who created you from the womb with purpose and value. I invite you to open closed fists and receive the salvation that cost Jesus his life. I implore you to come as you are- broken, imperfect and unable to save yourself. I call you to rest your todays and tomorrows in the hands of a Sovereign, Almighty God who pursues you, all the days of your life. Today is the day of Salvation. Tomorrow may never come.

 

Josh never liked goodbye’s. They felt too final. Although none of us got the chance to give our formal goodbyes, he would have never wanted it that way anyway. He would have left us all with these three words... “I love you.”