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There was a farmer who inherited his Dad's farm after his Dad passed away. His Dad loved farming and hard work and made a good crop every year. The son however didn’t share his dad’s love or passion for farming.
Oh… he liked being called a farmer but instead of spending his time out in the fields he liked to dress up in his boots and hat and go down to the coffee shop and talk with some of the other farmers. He also liked big shiny tractors so he traded in his Dad’s old tractor for a newer model with air conditioning and GPS.
He didn’t really care too much if his crops failed because he had crop insurance. In fact since crop insurance would return about 75% of the estimated value of the crop… instead of praying for rain he would pray that it didn’t rain. He could live on the 75%. He wasn’t the farmer his dad was.
The Lord’s church needs leaders who love the church like Christ loved the church. The church needs leaders who are innovative and actively engaged and have a passion for servant leadership. You can grow a good crop with the right kind of leadership.
During the early days of the church the Apostles had set up a “daily ministration” that included “serving tables” for widows. This probably would have been a central location where widows could come and be fed by members of the church. During the course of this problems arose between two classes of widows; “Hebrew” widows and “Grecian Jew” widows. These were Christian widows of course but the “Hebrew Widows” would have been converts from Jews who had been raised in Judea and the “Grecian Jew Widows” were those who had lived outside of Judea. In general, those Jews from Judea thought they were better than the Jews who were from other countries. They were prejudiced.
The problem was that some thought the Grecian Jew Widows were being discriminated against at meal time. How might that happen? Well it might have been true. Maybe the Hebrew Widows were getting the best tables or getting a bigger serving portion. Maybe they were getting seconds and the Grecian Jew Widows weren’t. Maybe those serving were more amiable toward the Hebrew Widows than the Grecian Jew Widows. Or maybe it wasn’t true at all. Maybe the Grecian Jew Widows were just very sensitive.
Wherever the problem lay… it was a problem and needed to be addressed and the Apostles offered a solution that everyone agreed with.
Sometimes in the church today we have similar problems. Let’s do our best to not even give the appearance of discrimination but if there’s a problem that we can’t reconcile lets discuss it with the leaders of the congregation and hopefully we can find a solution that everyone can agree with.
I found out recently that my ancestry includes Native Americans. My people were accomplished farmers and believed in planting three inseparable plants together; Corn, Green Beans and Squash… called The Three Sisters. They planted beans with corn because beans are nitrogen fixers. Beans take Nitrogen from the atmosphere and add it to the soil thus fertilizing the corn plant. The squash have big broad leaves which serve to shade the soil and inhibit the growth of life sapping weeds. At the time of harvest my people would have good crops of corn, beans and squash.
This is similar to the needs of a new Christian. He needs the association with plants that can help him grow and make him better. Some Christians can help new Christians by helping them learn about God and give advice and encouragement. Other Christians can serve new Christians by providing them with new beneficial associations that replace the old sinful friends who have a tendency to pull new Christians back into their old destructive life styles. In addition, something wonderful and mysterious happens… the older, more mature Christian becomes energized and stronger… synergism.
Christians are mutually responsible to each other so God’s crop of people can grow and be plentiful and be fruitful. What a wonderful plan God has… don’t neglect it.
There was an old farmer who really knew how to farm. He could make a crop when no one else could. Part of it was that he was a hard worker. His wife was up and had breakfast made before day light so he could get in the fields early. He usually had a big noon meal and took a nap right after but was back at it and worked while there was still light in the sky. He wasn’t afraid of sweating or getting dirty.
The other part of his success was he knew his land. Oh, he had some land that anyone could make a crop on… the soil was deep and rich and low and caught the excess rain that ran off. Sometimes he liked to just go and watch it grow. The rest of his land was a bit more challenging; some of it was on a hill and didn’t retain much moisture. On some of his land the soil was thin and weak and if he didn’t catch a rain at the right time his crops would dry up and blow away. On that land if it got too dry he would have to haul water to save the young plants until a rain came.
The other part of his land was next to a brush patch and tended to be a little weedy. If he didn’t get out and hoe those rows four times during the growing season the weeds would out compete his crop for moisture, nutrients and sunlight.
The old farmer was the right mix of hard work and understanding how crops grow.
In this parable the savvy Farmer is an Evangelist, Elder or any Christian who is interested in the souls of others. The crop in the weak soil is the new Christian who hasn’t developed the deep tap root of faith… he needs a little help and protection until he can develop. The teacher devotes time and energy teaching about God and giving encouragement and support during stressful times that can be potentially overwhelming.
The crop in the weedy soil is the new Christian who has the wrong friends who pull him away from God and encourage a life of pleasure seeking. In this case the teacher points out the destructiveness of that type of lifestyle and encourages other members to reach out and build relationships with this new Christian… replacing those old friends.
The crop in the deep, rich soil was just a joy to watch. These are the new Christians who don’t need a lot of help. The love of God springs up in their heart and with great energy their faith grows in leaps and bounds. The teacher loves watching the power of God’s word on deep and rich hearts.
Like the farmer, God’s people can accomplish a lot through hard work and understanding what it takes to protect a crop and get it to grow. No one ever said it was going to be easy.
The Parable of The Pounds (Luke 19:11-27) has two stories going on in it. The one we’re interested in has a master giving 1 pound each to 10 of his servants. The master is going on an extended trip and tells his servants to invest his money and when he gets back there will be an accounting to see how they did.
When he gets back we see only the results of three of the servants… the two most profitable ones and the guy who did the worst. The star of the class was the fellow who invested his pound and made 10 more pounds. The master was very happy with him and praised him and put him in charge of ten cities.
The second guy took his pound and made five more. The master put him in charge of five cities.
The last guy was governed by the fear of losing his investment principle and instead of investing it… hid it and preserved it for his master. The master was very unhappy with him and punished him by taking the pound away from him and giving it to his star performer.
How to Discover and Develop Talent.
1. People have to be given an opportunity to perform. In this story the master did not judge the abilities of his employees. He treated them all the same. They all started on the exact same footing and had the same opportunity.
2. When a responsibility is given to someone there has to be an accounting or evaluation process.
3. Finally, after the evaluation process those who have performed well need to be rewarded (positively reinforced) and those who have not performed well must be reprimanded (negatively reinforced).
The master gave opportunity to 10 of his employees and discovered a really high performing individual who he groomed to be even better. He also discovered an employee who was a disaster.
This may sound like advice on how to run a business but it is really about God’s people and the Church.
Lazarus was a beggar. I don’t know how he came to be that way… maybe the same way people become beggars today; Poor economic times, destructive life styles, mental illness, who knows? Lazarus was alone in the world with no one to help him. He was incapacitated and had skin sores and was hungry. Only the local dogs had compassion upon him… they licked his wounds. There are two Lazarus’ mentioned in the New Testament. The other one had two sisters and when he died there was much sorrow and many tears. When the beggar Lazarus died he went to his grave unloved, unwept, and not missed.
The rich man on the other hand liked to dress nice and lived in “mirth and splendor” every day. He had a lot of friends and five brothers who loved him. I’m sure at his funeral there were many tears shed and accolades spoken… and yet the rich man ended up in “Hades”.
You see, the rich man had a low opinion of beggars and after a while beggars just become a part of the landscape… like a fire hydrant. He probably thought Lazarus had “earned” his condition (like that makes a difference) and he wasn’t going to support Lazarus in his poor choices. That thinking kind of makes sense but that thought process landed the rich man squarely in the fires of Hell.
I’m sure when Lazarus was born he was a beautiful little boy and his mom and dad were overjoyed to have him but somewhere along the way Lazarus lost the ability to work, lost his family, lost his health and lost the capacity to be liked. In the Hebrew language names mean things and Lazarus’ name meant something… it meant “God has helped”. I’m reminded of Jesus’ words… blessed are the poor who are in a relationship with the Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. God does help.
Someone told me they kept a supply of Whataburger gift certificates in their wallet in case they came across someone who looked hungry… not a bad idea.
