Isa. 58—My Testimony

“And those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell. (Isa 58:12 NAS)

Today begins my first full year as the pastor of Burgaw Baptist Church…a calling that comes with great privilege as well as great responsibility—and one that I do not take lightly.

I have been with you for six months and we’ve gotten to know each other a little.

Church and being a pastor is not a job for me…it is my whole life…it is the life of my family.

• We didn’t move to PA, away from a beautiful home that we owned in Burgaw NC, to live in (at the time) a dumpy 950 sq ft parsonage, to pastor a church that had experienced three splits in 5 years, and take a 16k cut in income because that was our choice—God sent us—when God called me God called my family.
• My wife didn’t turn down a six figure salary to stay in PA, the first time, and then to come back to NC the second time, because that was the wisest financial decision—our family belongs to God. In fact, if we could financially survive without my wife’s salary she would quit today to invest her life working in the church—Heather is working and traveling so that I can do what God has called me to do.
• And I don’t want you to cry any tears or have admiration for us by thinking we have made some great sacrifice—our sacrifice is insignificant compared to the thousands of God’s servants who have given up fortune and family for the gospel. If we look big in any way it is only because we are standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before. And we are thrilled to be numbered with those who are the servants of the Lord.

This verse that I have read to you today is my life’s verse and in order for you to see and understand the significance of it I want to share with you a little of my life’s story.

You already know that I was raised in church and in a godly home with godly parents…and I as religious, but I was not a follower of Christ…I, like a lot of people in churches still today, just played the religion game. When I graduated from Pender High I went off to Bible College to study music. It was in my first semester in college that I was able to look past all the religious stuff and see not only that Christ loved me, but that I needed Him in my life if I ever hoped to rise above the level of common mediocrity.

So I started following Christ and finding out what that looked like for me…not imitating my parents…or someone else in the church…but what me in relationship with Jesus Christ looked like. I must tell you that it was pretty ugly the first three years. I was now a follower of Christ but I was very adamant that I was not, nor ever would I be, a minister….no, my calling was music—or so I thought.

It was in my final year of earning my Bachelor’s degree in Education…the month was October. A missionary (Peter Ng) from Singapore and brought with him a young preacher—Rev. Chacko. (Tell the story) The reason I am telling you this is because I want you to know that something very spiritual and supernatural happened in my heart and life that night…beyond faith…I had no doubt that God had called me and there was no question in my heart—I had surrendered my life to God that I would be His, forever.

As certainly as I sought authenticity and genuineness in my salvation I endeavored to do the same thing with my ministerial calling—What did it look like for me to follow Christ and be his minister?

In April of 1987 I came to be the pastor of King’s Chapel

By 1994 I was going through a lot of internal struggles. At the time I thought I was struggling with my beliefs but looking back now I realize what I was really struggling with was my own “self-righteousness” and the ethics of my ministerial association.

In 1996 three things happened: 1)I turned in my ordination papers to my ministerial association, 2)I committed my life to be a Baptist and was re-ordained as such, 3)I received a call from Bob Powell and on the phone he said, “Nathan, we are about to close the doors here at Friendly, can you help us.”

I went into 1997 as both the pastor of King’s Chapel as well as the pastor of Friendly Community Baptist preaching four times on Sunday and two mid-week services on Wed. and Thur.—and both churches began to grow.

I’m not sure what the actual average attendance was at Friendly but my first Sunday there we had 16 in attendance there and 47 at King’s Chapel—but within the first 18 months Friendly began to grow and in time I left King’s Chapel and became the first full time minister in the history of Friendly Community.

At every church God has taught me something specific. At Friendly it began with the church sign. God had led me to preach a series entitled “Repairing the Breach and Restoring the Paths” from Isaiah. Somehow the “t” from my name had gotten pulled off of the church sign—it was then that I learned that the name “Morton” without a “t” is the word “moron.” And so for about 6 weeks or so the minister at Friendly was Pastor Nathan Moron. Although I had been in the ministry for a number of years—I still had a pretty thin skin…and it hurt. I remember being on my knees praying and crying…probably more out of self pity than anything else…and God spoke to me. Not in an audible voice…it was more real than that. But God impressed upon my heart: “Nathan I have called you to repair the breach…the broken places.” But in order for me to do that God had to break me first; my pride, my goals, my desires, my ambition…. It was in that time of prayer that God put his stamp upon me that this would be the tenor and direction of my life.

Before long Friendly began to grow even more and before long we were averaging around 100-120+ on Sunday Morning. I’d be preaching and see people drive around the church and then drive away because there wasn’t any room left. I thought and told that church that I would never leave…but God had other plans. It seemed that as soon as it became obvious that Friendly was financially and congregationally stable….I needed a job and a salary, more than they needed me to be their pastor…the Holy Spirit began to confirm in my heart that my time was up. That was in the month of July 2000.

I am made of flesh like you are and I hoped that God would lead me to a larger church, that would pay more money, and would have prominence….But I’m glad that God is better than our best ideas.

So instead of moving up the proverbial ladder I ended up at a church named Fundamental Baptist Church that, back in the 70′s and early 80′s, had an average attendance of around 300 on Sunday morning but through a lot on inward turmoil and three splits had dwindled. I have to tell you that at first FBC was the saddest group of people I had ever seen.

I preached, I was voted in, they offered me a salary that was pretty low and I said, “There is no way I’m going to call up my wife and tell her that we are going to move 600 miles, away from our new home, for 16k less than we are living on now.” But, they asked me if I would pray about it before making my final decision and I said I would. But, I called Heather up the next morning and said, “Don’t worry, we are not coming to this church.” (Tell of what happened on Crescent Mountain during the drive home to NC)

While I was in PA God developed in my heart certain truths from Isaiah, that are necessary for a broken church to be repaired. In fact, I wrote a book, that I never published, entitled: The Isaiah Principles—it was built around this chapter that we are in this morning in Isaiah.

The first four years in PA were unquestionably the hardest four years of my life. [But God had called me to repair broken things and in order to do that He had to keep breaking me—I just didn't think there was anything left to break.] Through the pain and the many tears that I wept over that dear church and those people God allowed me to work with Him to see that church not only repaired, but given a new name “Hilltop Baptist”, a new reputation, great deacon and trustee leadership, and this year for the first time they seated delegates at the State SBC convention.

I still remember the day, when like at Friendly, I knew my time was up. There were times I prayed that God would let me leave that church and there were times I prayed that God would let me spend the rest of my ministry at that church…Thankfully, God doesn’t pivot on my emotions and desires, God does what is right.

Heather and I had gone to visit Harvard Divinity School to see about possibly going there to finish my degree. My plans were to leave the ministry for a few years, finish my degree, and then return to the ministry. In my application to Harvard I had to include a statement of purpose. I would like to read you an excerpt from that:

As a 22+ year veteran of the ministry I am often disappointed by what I see coming out of evangelical Christianity. We are addicted to worn out cliché’s, slogans that have no meaning, a belief system that is accepted without question, and a reading repertoire that is entirely comprised of popular writing. Both the liberal and conservative churches suffer from intellectual laziness and moth eaten presuppositions. Nietzsche aptly characterizes much of the modern pulpit when he wrote in the second section of Beyond Good and Evil, “from the beginning we have contrived to retain our ignorance in order to enjoy an almost inconceivable freedom, thoughtlessness, imprudence, heartiness, and gaiety—in order to enjoy life.”

New paradigms of ministry are good but they are not necessarily better than the traditional ones. If done properly Biblical pastoral ministry still meets the needs of hurting helpless humanity. Substance never goes out of style. Denominational fads and hip cool ministry trends will soon pass but true scholarship will outlive the scholar. Today the ministry of the gospel is as vital, necessary, important, and life changing as it was in Paul’s day.

Sadly, the sanctuaries of America’s historic churches have become empty echoic crypts sparsely inhabited by the last faithful few. This ought not to be. The minister’s challenge is not to reinvent the gospel but to reinvigorate himself, and in so doing reenergize the ministry. He must know that his calling is essential, efficacious, and divine. It must consume his intellect, emotions, and will. Scholarship coupled with passion and humble piety is what the church needs. It is what humanity longs for. It’s time for those who stand behind the sacred desks of America’s churches to give the people a reason to come and keep coming.

I believe that the “church growth” lust of ministers and ministries coupled with the religious fads generated by Christian commercialism has produced a wide streak of local church instability that will not go away in a few years. Pastors are not supposed to be entrepreneurs we are to be shepherds. I denounce this ungodly idea that the ministry is a chosen profession—it is not—it is a divine calling. What a minister does and where he ministers must be God’s calling, God’s appointment…and God’s timing.

As certainly as I know that God called me to be a minister of the gospel, as certain as I am that God told me my time was up at Friendly, as certain as I am that God led me to Hilltop Baptist in Indiana, PA, I know that God has put me in this place, at this time, to be the senior pastor of Burgaw Baptist Church. It was no accident that another church in the Burgaw area contacted me as a possible candidate last Christmas…God didn’t want me to go there but He did want me to turn my eyes away from Harvard and be open to the possibility of coming back to Burgaw.

It was no accident that last December I sat in my car in front of this church and told my daughter Melanie, “Now, that’s the church I would like to pastor…..” Not just to get me to consider the possibility of this church, but so that my daughter could, all of her life, look back at that moment and say, “I know that the divine hand of a good God, led my family, and guided our paths.” Melanie doesn’t know everything but she does know that God is alive and at work in our family…even in these days.

Now let’s be practical. I had to be willing to come, and you had to be willing to let me…but there is no question that God, for at least two years, had been working in my life, and in the life this church to put all of this together…I know, without any doubt, that God has called me and led me to be the pastor of Burgaw Baptist…not to build a church (that’s Jesus’ job)…not to make the church what I think it should be…not to make a name for myself…not to climb the religious corporate ladder….but to win the lost, disciple the saved, and shepherd His flock—and work with God as He heals, and repairs, and builds, and strengthens His Church in this place.

With that thought in mind I would like you to look at your bibles at Isaiah 58:1 and I would like you to walk with me through the first 12 verses of this chapter—and then I’m going to close.

58:1—We read God’s instruction to the prophet Isaiah of what he is supposed to do:

“Cry loudly, do not hold back; Raise your voice like a trumpet, And declare to My people their transgression, And to the house of Jacob their sins. (Isa 58:1 NAS)

The Greek word for pastor is—shepherd. The shepherd must preach the truth, not what people want to hear, but the truth and he must do it with boldness.

I know from experience that when you preach against sin there will always be those people who will label you has heartless, unloving, and uncaring but the opposite is true.

Those who use tolerance as an excuse to not clearly identify sin are guilty of hateful negligence. If I were setting on my porch watching my child play with gasoline and matches…and not stop him…the law would charge me with negligence—and rightfully so. A pastor is equally negligent if he does not warn people of the destructive power of sin. I don’t preach against homosexual and heterosexual immorality because it makes me feel better about myself…I do so because I care about people and I don’t want them to miss heaven.

In order for health to return to a body, the disease and sickness must be identified and removed.

58:2—God tells Isaiah why he must “cry loudly…”

“Yet they seek Me day by day, and delight to know My ways, As a nation that has done righteousness, And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask Me for just decisions, They delight in the nearness of God. (Isa 58:2 NAS)

Because they have confused being religious for being in a relationship with God. They pray, they talk about God’s word, they follow the religious rituals…they say they long for the nearness of God…in their mind they think everything is alright.

Do you want to know one reason why churches die? They confuse religion for relationship.

Let me interject a thought here. The problem isn’t that older churches are unwilling to change tradition. The problem is that old traditional ritual and contemporary traditional ritual don’t realize that both ways are just ritual. The old says, “well this is the bible way and it has worked for years and we are unwilling to change.” The new says, “our way is spirit lead theirs is dead and lifeless—both positions are not only arrogant and self presuming—they are both wrong.

When you mistake religion for relationship you fall into the devil’s trap.

“I know that they are murderers but they can’t help it, they were born that way. It’s hateful to condemn them and call them sinners. Where is your compassion preacher…In fact they have their own “murderer friendly church” in Raleigh….and they are very spiritual, they pray, serve in the church, they seem like good Christians.”

This was exactly the case in Isaiah’s day…except their sin was that they worshipped idols, they were very unjust…but they were religious and they thought that made everything OK.

58:3a—Look at the people’s complaint

‘Why have we fasted and Thou dost not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and Thou dost not notice?’ (Isa 58:3 NAS)

We have done everything right God….why don’t you bless us…why don’t you reward us!?

 

So God answers their question—and gives them 3 reasons.

58:3b–
Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And drive hard all your workers. (Isa 58:3 NAS)

First God tells them that not only do they fast for the wrong reasons but while on the one hand they are being very religious on the other hand they are secretly fulfilling their fleshly desires while at the same time they are guilty of injustice toward their workers.

58:4—“Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. (Isa 58:4 NAS)

Secondly they fast (do religious things) and they are in competition with each other.

Thirdly they are not even fasting (doing religious things) so that they will have influence with heaven—in fact—they are only doing these things so they will “look holy”—look at the next verse:

“Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed, And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the LORD? (Isa 58:5 NAS)

This is the same reason God rebuked the Pharisees and warned the disciples against in Matthew 6.

God has no desire for us to impress each other with our spirituality…the goal of following Christ isn’t that we will become very religious…but that by our relationship with Him we will be changed.

The work of the church is not to make people religious…it is to bring people into relationship with God—and in the next six verses God list 10 positive things that a genuine relationship with God produces.

1. ⁶ “Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness,–we are freed from living a life that is overruled by sinful actions

 

1. To undo the bands of the yoke And to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke?,–the slavery to addiction is broken

 

1. ⁷ “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry And bring the homeless poor into the house;—makes us generous
   

 

1. When you see the naked, to cover him; –makes us compassionate
   

 

1. And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?—makes us honest to ourselves about ourselves and delivers us from self-righteousness
   

 

1. ⁸ “Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
   –gives us victory in our lives that brings glory to God—not to self.

 

 

1. ⁹ “Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’—They are complaining that God doesn’t hear their prayers. Here God says, “If you will follow me then your prayers WILL be effective.

 

1. If you remove the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
   

¹⁰ And if you give yourself to the hungry And satisfy the desire of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness And your gloom will become like midday. –Your depression will leave and it will be replaced by joy.

 

1. ¹¹ “And the LORD will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.—You will have a life of purpose: God will guide you, God will satisfy you in even the most difficult, barren, scorched places, he will give you strength when you have no strength, and you will be a refreshment and an encouragement to people around you.
   

 

1. ¹² “Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.—This will be your legacy: this will be your heritage, your reputation: A repairer of the broken things, and a restorer of path to God.
   

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