skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Of course the Bible talks a lot about self control (for obvious reasons)… to please God you have to control your behavior. There is a standard of conduct that he expects. You can’t go the party if you’re not dressed right.
Most of the time we control ourselves because of negative consequences. For instance we obey the laws of the land so we don’t end up in jail. No one wants to go to jail so we obey the law even if we don’t like the law because we don’t like jail worse.
In addition, we control our behaviors so we don’t have the consequence of poor health. Recently I received a lab report that said my HbA1c was elevated so since I don’t want to be diabetic or have coronary disease I greatly reduced my sugar intake. You see, I not only want to live a long life but I also want to have a certain quality of life. Potential consequences force me to take self control measures. I do allow myself one teaspoon of sugar in my coffee once week.
Galatians 5 records a list of behaviors that need to be controlled because the consequence would be like having a thousand needles stuck in our eye. Our room mate for eternity would be Satan. You can dress a pig up and put lipstick and jewelry on her but she's still a pig and Satan will always be Satan.
Uncontrolled sexual desires can ruin families and reputations. Is it worth it? If not then control it.
Lack of control causes consequences. I know there are bad consequences and I know there are good consequences. I also know there is a pint of my favorite ice cream in the freezer but if I share it with Julie the consequences just turned from bad to good.
Abraham and Sarah were old and had no children and no real hope of having any children to take care of them in their old age. Abraham was rich in every other way except for having children. He had a beautiful wife, flocks and herds of livestock, servants and slaves, plenty to eat, but no children to love and revere him.
Of course God had promised him a son and a heritage but it looked like time was running out. Had God forgotten?
Wives have good ideas sometimes and bad ideas sometimes. Sarah loved Abraham so much and wanted him to have a son so badly that she convinced him to have a child with her Egyptian slave girl Hagar.
Imagine Abraham’s great joy when a son was born to him through Hagar at the ripe old age of 86. Abraham and Ishmael walking through the forest, laughing back and forth, reminiscing about the times, contemplating nothing but the fun times they had together. Oo-De-Lally, Oo-De-Lally, my goodness what a day.
But then the dark mood of jealousy erupted selfishly in Sarah and she caused Abraham to get rid of his first child when Ishmael was just 14 years old and Abraham was 100 years old. Of course he had his newborn son Isaac and God’s promise that Ishmael would do just fine but if I’m any judge the old man missed his boy Ishmael and was really shook up.
Ishmael was the first son that Abraham lost.
The second son that Abraham lost was Isaac. A lot of Bible scholars think that Isaac was about 25 years old when God told Abraham to kill and sacrifice him. And Abraham in faithful obedience and fatherly sorrow set out to do just that. In the back of his mind he had the idea that God wouldn’t let it happen. But Abraham watched Isaac tied up on the altar and Isaac confused and pleading with his eyes. Abraham must have asked himself… how long would God let this go on?
And God waited until the last minute possible. The minute when Abraham had the sharpened knife in his hand.
Isaac was the second son that Abraham lost.
Isaac was lost (In Abrahams mind) when God instructed him to kill Isaac because he was going to do it. God gave him Isaac and after-all Isaac belonged to God as the first born. God gave and God could take away. Blessed be the name of God.
I don’t know if Sarah was ever sorry for forcing Abraham to get rid of Ishmael or if Sarah ever thought God was punishing her for her crime against Ishmael and Abraham by having Isaac sacrificed. I don’t know if she was ever sorry but she should have been. She caused one son to be lost and almost lost her own son.
Poor Abraham… trouble with an unhappy wife, sons loved and lost and found again, depressed and surprised at God.
But if faith was easy then everyone would have it wouldn’t they.
James and John were in the inner circle of Jesus Christ (along with Peter). What a wonderful feeling that must have been to be in that small privileged group.
Jesus gave James and John the nickname “Sons of Thunder” No explanation is given but later in the Gospels the brothers Thunder thought the Samaritans had slighted Jesus and wanted to call down fire from Heaven to consume those Samaritans. A fitting action for “Sons of Thunder”
James and John’s mother realized their prominence and asked Jesus if they could be seated on either side of him in his new Kingdom. The momma was looking out for her boyz. She had a little bit of thunder in her too.
Jesus validates their value to him when he invites them along with Peter to witness his transfiguration. They were also invited into the Garden of Gethsemane with Jesus and got to see Jesus in his agony prior to being crucified.
Even Peter understood John’s beloved friendship with the Savior when at the Lord’s Supper Peter asked John to find out who the great villain was who would betray Jesus. Kind of like when our son would get his sister to ask us if they could have cookies.
It’s a grand day at Pentecost. All the characters were there… the Apostles, the disciples even Jesus mother and brother. The Holy Spirit is poured out to the world. Then Peter preached and 3,000 were baptized. Things are going like a giant spiritual Tsunami.
And then things begin to go south. Steven is martyred and then the first of the inner circle dies. James (John’s brother) is beheaded and killed. A “Son of Thunder” ended by great violence.
James was the first (but not the last) Apostle to be killed. John (his brother) was the last Apostle to die and he and his brother James served as book-ends for the story of the Apostles.
James got to see Jesus in his kingdom first and John got to see him last (among the Apostles). Not really how we might have predicted the story would go.
When James died there was only one “Son of Thunder” left… his brother John. But over the course of John’s life the “Son of Thunder” became the “Apostle of Love” (as his writings attest to) and the “Apostle of Love” led a long life and according to the church fathers did not die a violent death. What a great transformation and amazing and surprising ending for the “Sons of Thunder”.
We hire local Veterinarians to cover some of our shifts at Tejas Veterinary Clinic. More than one of them has told us that we have the best trained non-veterinary staff in the whole city. That’s what they say. It didn’t happed by accident.
Early on we recognized that staff can do a lot of what our Veterinarians were doing. Things like placing IV catheters, taking radiographs, handling and monitoring anesthesia, giving injections, performing dentals all under the direct supervision of a Veterinarian. That allowed our Veterinarians to focus on examinations, diagnosis and prescribing.
Initially the training wasn’t going very well. A technician might say something like. Dr Perkins I can’t get this IV catheter in can you please do it for me? and I would oblige.
Eventually we would just say… no… keep trying until you figure it out. And they did. You see… you don’t have to have a college degree to place an IV catheter. Now they have skills and confidence and pride and attitude.
As Christians we have a hard time saying “no”. After-all Jesus said if someone asks of you to give to them… even give them twice as much as they are asking. But I would point out even Jesus would upon occasion tell his disciples “no”.
Here’s a learning point… you have to train the congregation to serve in our public worship. You can’t just let the preacher and a select few handle everything.
Here are a few things that are detrimental to training men to serve.
-letting the paid preacher handle all the Bible classes and preaching because after-all that’s what we pay him for right? I heard a preacher say one time that he had no men in the congregation who could teach an adult class or preach. That’s not the case at Parkway we have several men who are well equipped to handle those duties.
- Not having Sunday night services. On Sunday nights (and Wednesdays) you can use and develop members who are not quite ready for prime time (Sunday mornings). They will get better but need training and opportunity and experience.
- COVID brought some good things but also some bad things. The good thing was live streaming services for those who are unable to attend. The bad thing? Not passing out communion trays but continuing to let members serve themselves with pre-packaged bread and juice. It’s bad because you can’t use your inexperienced members (freshly baptized young people) to gain the experience of standing in front of the congregation (over coming stage fright) and learning to lead a prayer, etc. at the table.
- We have Wednesday night singing once a month and let the young boys lead songs. We’ve had more than one member say in the past that only baptized believers should be participating in those services. How short sighted. For one reason our Wednesday night services are not a God ordained Sunday worship service. They are a time for us to get together extracurricularly. An opportunity for fellowship and study. For another reason these young boys are pure in the sight of God and haven’t reached the so called age of accountability. We are training them for the day when they become baptized believers and can help build us.
Wise leaders understand the importance of identifying talent, developing skills and providing opportunities so that our members can be recognized for their superb abilities and perhaps as being the best in their service to God.
Leaders don’t be afraid to say "no" and don't necessarily take “no” for an answer. Use your smarts and figure out a way to make it happen.
I heard recently that some of our young people went to a leadership conference. I’m a little curious about what the content was. It motivated me to share some of my thoughts about leadership.
I have been and am currently in a leadership position for several organizations… the local Veterinary Medical Association, Calallen Club Volleyball, the city Animal Control Board and of course our local congregation (to name a few). I share this just to offer some credentials. On that note here are a few of my thoughts on leadership.
To do a good job in leadership you have to love the organization and be thinking about it all the time. If you are forced into a position and guilt is played upon you to take a leadership position… you won’t do a good job. I never sought out a leadership position in any of the organizations I have been involved in and have turned down offers for which I was not interested or did not have the time for.
You have to know and build relationships with all the members in the organization. You have to love people and find value in them and appreciate them. You don’t have to be best friends with every single one of them but there has to be a relationship.
One of the best things I ever did was teach regularly in the Middle school and High School and young adults classes. I built relationships with those kids and they do eventually grow up and ask you to do things like baptize them or perform their wedding ceremonies or just ask for advice.
You have to be excellent in communication. Communication is the life blood of any organization. When I first became an Elder at Parkway I got every member’s email addresses and started sending out weekly newsletters. Those emails were also used to inform members of critical needs of our members. Before that if you needed to know something you would have to wait to hear about it at services. Sometimes the Elders would engage the members to make phone calls. Very tedious.
When I served my first term as President of the local Veterinary Medical Association I started sending out emails on a regular basis and communicated the idea that the Veterinary community was stronger as a community rather than a loose association of individuals. Several past Presidents had delegated their responsibilities to their office managers and even my office manager offered to help me. I refused because I was the talent and wanted the organization to be a reflection of me and not a reflection of my office manager.
Communication has changed a lot… I don’t send out as many emails any more because we have social media and texting. Nowadays if you want to really know something going on in the congregation you can pull out your phone and check out our private Facebook page. Its quick and its easy. Some leaders might say things like I hate Facebook and other forms of social media and not use them at all or very minimally. Not all of our members are on our private Facebook page but 123 of them are. Leaders, its not about you and your likes and dislikes… its about serving the congregation. People want to know things and be involved. Help them.
When I started teaching the High School Young adult class I started a group chat on “GroupMe” so I could communicate better with them.
In our volleyball organization I just wanted members to pay cash to play but the new generation doesn’t carry cash. Finally I had to get CashApp. I didn’t like it but I got it and the organization has flourished. Now I’m wondering if I should get Venmo. It’s not about my personal likes and dislikes. I serve the organization.
In the scriptures there are the 5, 2 and 1 talent (ability) members. Let me suggest that in the congregation there are also 5, 2 and 1 areas of responsibility. Leadership doesn’t put a 1 talent person in charge of a 5 talent area of responsibility. You have to have the right people on the bus and they have to be sitting in the right seats.
Good leaders have to have thick skins and be able to handle criticism well (deserved and undeserved) and not take it personally (as hard as that is).
Sometimes members of an organization will try to usurp the responsibilities of the leadership and weak leaders will let them. Don’t be weak or your organization will not respect your leadership.
Leadership protects its members. Occasionally at our business a client will verbally beat up on our employees. Contrary to the adage “a client is always right” they are not always right and if a client cannot correct their behavior they can be someone else’s client.
Sometimes leaders find themselves involved in sexual misconduct and ruin their own reputation and cast a shadow on that of the organization. I have had sexual advances from both men and women. It’s ridiculous to think I am that weak. I’m not… but some are.
When there’s a problem good leaders always try to understand the other person’s view point.
Where there is group leadership a good leader never does anything on his own. He always consults with the other leaders.
A good leader looks and assumes the best in others and is not quick to assign a negative motive in others.
Those are just a few things I’ve learned along the way. I hope they help.
A few thoughts about the Lord’s prayer. The prayers found in Matthew and Luke are similar but not exact. The prayer found in Luke is shorter.
The prayer found in Matthew was an extension of his famous “Sermon on the Mount” and seemingly to correct a problem. The problem of public and grandiose prayers to impress others with the prayer’s seeming spirituality. In other words… to show off. Pride in prayer vs. humility in prayer.
The prayer found in Luke was a prayer post “Sermon on the Mount” and was given at the behest of Jesus’ disciples so they might be taught to pray like the disciples of John the Baptist did.
Both prayers contain teaching moments. In Matthew, Jesus uses the prayer to teach on forgiveness. And in Luke, Jesus seizes on the opportunity to emphasize that all they have to do is ask (in prayer) and God will give.
Both prayers are prayers for Jews. They pre-date the coming of the Kingdom, which is prophesied to occur during the lives of the disciples (Mark 9:1). So technically it would be incorrect to pray for a Kingdom that would come when it has already come.
These prayers are frequently memorized and recited in the assemblies of Christians. There is no example of that in the New Testament. A quick google search states that there are 46 prayers recorded in the New Testament. With the exception of the two previously discussed none of the other 44 hold to the form or content of the Lord’s Prayer.
I think that’s significant because Jesus did not want his disciples to recite memorized prayer over and over again but to pray the concerns of our hearts as they are touched by the problems and concerns and gratitudes found in our lives.
I still find it beneficial to recite with other Christians the exact words of Jesus in prayer but it should never substitute for what prayer was intended to be.
Becoming wise is a choice. The first thing one has to do is realize its benefits and its worth and then make it the focus of life. Proverbs 8
Wisdom can be gifted from God. James 1:5
We learn wisdom by experience… your experience and the experience of others like your parents and the old. Proverbs 29:15. Job 12:12
We learn wisdom through hard work. Proverbs 14:23.
Becoming wise is a partnership with God. You can’t do it by yourselves.
Seek after wise friends. Typically older people, parents, church elders/teachers/preachers. Go to church. Make it a habit to read Gods word. Make it a habit to read the writings of spiritually wise people.
Remember the opposite of wisdom is stupidity. Ignore God, ignore your parents. Ignore the Bible. Don’t go to church. Be lazy. Hang around with stupid, destructive people. Seek after pleasure.
There are a lot of stupid people in ther world... don't be one of them.
It’s easy to be stupid and poor but it takes effort to be wise and wealthy.
