Sep 25, 2019
By Dennis Coleman
I had a lot of fun at this year’s Conference, even though as stage manager the week turned into a sort of working vacation. But that’s okay. It was an honor to serve our Lord and to serve those of you who attended. Things were not perfect on stage (with overlapping practice schedules and with having to fit a piano, organ, choir, symphony-sized praise band, and a group of dancers on stage) but in the end we accomplished the goals of our Conference President, who was called by God to set the spiritual tone for this year’s theme.
By God’s grace things ran smoothly on stage and off stage. Unfortunately some did not see things in the same light. Even with all the hours of work put in before, during, and after, this year’s was another in a long line of flawed and at times even uncomfortable week of Conference. In some instances we did not meet expectations. And here’s the bad news: future conferences will also fail to meet expectations. In fact until we celebrate an SDB Conference week on our home territory in God’s kingdom, we can count on missed expectations and outright failures no matter how hard those around us try to give us a great week.
In a way, serving at Conference is like being John the Baptist, who seemed to have fallen short of the expectations put upon him by others. I suspect it is these unmet expectations which Jesus addresses in Matthew 11. After responding to John’s messengers who had come to ask if Jesus is “the Coming One” (Matthew 11:1-6), Jesus asked the multitudes, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Matthew 11:7-10 NKJV). As Jesus knew their hearts I suspect He is addressing those unmet expectations.
He describes the first expectation as “a reed shaken by the wind.” A reed bends very easily, having no backbone. As a result it bends in whatever direction the wind blows. I suspect there were a number of well-known people of the time who were like reeds, bending to whatever was politically expedient (think Pontius Pilate) or to whatever would advance their careers or their fame. These were people who were easily swayed by money or by pressure, especially if this pressure came from the religious and political figures, both of whom pressured John because of his radical message of repentance.
Based on Jesus’ question, I’m guessing there were those who were waiting for John to change his message. They likely wanted to see how he would respond in the face of the Pharisees. Instead of bending, he challenged them to bring the fruits of repentance. Again they likely wondered how he would respond in prison, put there by a local political leader because John called out the man’s sin. Once again John failed to meet expectations, going to his grave without compromising on his belief in the Messiah, in God’s kingdom, and in the need for people to repent.
Jesus also asked if people went out to see “a man clothed in soft garments” (Matthew 11:8). I think it fair to say John fell short of this expectation both literally and figuratively. His clothing of “camel’s hair with a leather belt” (Mark 1:6) may have been comfortable but they were not what was considered “soft” back then or even right now. I doubt the religious leaders of the day ever dressed in ways that were noticeably weird. Instead, I suspect they often dressed in ways that screamed to others, “Look, God has blessed me ‘cause I’m good.” John chose clothing that would not be found in a king’s house, unless of course you were in the king’s prison.
Did John have doubts? Perhaps, as evidenced by his sending his disciples to ask if Jesus was the One. But he never allowed himself to bend with the religious or political winds. He never compromised his message. And where others saw a troublemaker or a weirdo, Jesus saw in John a great man of faith doing his best to serve God. Does He see something similar each year at Conference?
For SDBs to have a successful Conference each year we need a lot of people doing their best, both behind and in front of the scene. We have a host committee, a hospitality committee, and the employees of the college all doing their best to serve us during a (usually) warm summer’s week. Sometimes they fail to meet expectations. What does God see even when we fall short of expectations? As He saw with John the Baptist, He sees His children doing their best to serve Him and to serve other SDBs as they worship and conduct the Lord’s business. Hopefully He also sees us responding to each other with the same mercy, patience, and forgiveness He extends to us.
