Preface: When was the last time that you remember your pastor preaching on the return of our Lord and Savior and King Jesus Christ? I don't mean the perfunctory sermon preached once a year where it has the unction of what pair of socks to choose in the morning.....but a heartfelt hope and a warning along with it? You would probably have to associate the time with a the age of a child....'Let's see....little Jimmy was probably in grade school at the time?" Except of course many old time Pentecostal and Fundamentalist churches who do preach on our Lord's return....churches who we criticize for not having appropriate doctrine....but at least they have not left their first love!
There have been a handful of occasions in the past where a preacher that I either knew or knew of was working on a doctorate degree. I never spent a lot of time thinking about this but my initial observation was....why....for that's a lot of work on one topic....just to be called Doctor?
I went back to college at fifty years old....in a masters program on Higher Education....and this because our son was a couple of years away from going to college.....and I wanted to know as much about our higher education system as I could so that I could advise him....and guide him. I went through the entire curriculum except a one week get-a-way at the end for the cohort where three short classes would be included....and then of course a final paper. I guess I would have liked the degree...but I didn't need it.
Billy Graham gave a lecture almost forty years ago....I remember this because he mentioned that George Orwell's 1984 was only a year or two away. In this lecture he added some humor....it seems a man went down south for his annual hunting vacation.....and asked the proprietor of the hunting lodge if they had a dog called Preacher that he could use. The man said...'Preacher....Preacher....no we don't have a dog called Preacher." The visitor then said...."Surely you do for a lot of people told me of how good he was?" The proprietor then said...."Oh yes.....we did have a good dog called Preacher....then somebody came down here and called him Doctor....and he hasn't been a lick of good since."
I never had the honor of meeting R. C. Sproul....but if I had....I sure wouldn't have addressed him as Dr. Sproul....for that just would never have come to mind. Billy Graham has numerous honorary doctorates given him....but that would be last thing on my mind to call him if I had ever met him.
I write all this to pastors....because in the short time that you have on this earth....it needs to be spent on the gospel....and that your learning and seeking wisdom and discernment should never come to end....and the man who picks up your garbage every Tuesday morning....might be the man who God sent to wake you up....and I don't mean by the clanging of the garbage can lids. Oh...the title of that Billy Graham lecture was....Time Is Short.
