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I participate (most years) in a Career Day at one of the local High Schools. Of course I am there to promote Veterinary Medicine. Along the way, I have told them that they are at a point in their lives where they are going to be making some really momentous and life changing decisions at a time when they are perhaps the least qualified to do so. Things like getting married, furthering their education, freedom to drink alcohol, etc.
Then I tell them that the career they choose can shape them as a person. For instance, as a Veterinarian, wherever I go people want to talk and visit with me and thank me, etc. Why? Because I have helped them with what is sometimes the most precious thing they have… their pets. That kind of continual positive reinforcement has a shaping effect.
On the other hand there are careers that can be less fulfilling. Consider what it would be like to be a divorce lawyer and day after day see people at their worst. Or a prison guard or working in the tobacco industry. Think how that might negativity shape you.
Another thing to consider is that some careers have a high suicide rate, other careers are hard on families and have a high divorce rate.
Christianity has a shaping effect as well. Leading a good life, a life-long commitment to a spouse, sober living, treating others kindly no matter how they mistreat you has a tremendous shaping affect. As I look back at my life with Julie I see that many extra-ordinary blessings have been showered upon us. I can’t take credit for any of them… they came from God.
Choose to serve God at an early age, never doubt him and live by faith. He will shape you and bless you and when you’re a little further down the road you too can look back and see that God was with you every step of the way.
In Ezekiel 34, God chastises the leaders of his nation Israel by comparing them to bad shepherds. Let’s look at their inactions and actions.
They neglected to…
- Strengthen the weak
- Heal the sick
- Treat the injured
- Bring back the strays
- Search for the lost
Instead they…
- Ate curds
- Clothed selves with wool
- Ate the choice animals
- Ruled harshly and brutally
As a result the flock was scattered and ravaged by wolves. God promised to punish the leaders of Israel and take care of the flock personally. He also promised to provide a true shepherd after the lineage of King David who was and is, Jesus Christ.
Jesus is still the chief shepherd of his people but he has ordained minor shepherds over each local flock of Christians. God expects these human shepherds to strengthen the weak, heal the sick, treat the injured, bring back the strays, search for the lost and rule gently and with kindness.
God loves and highly values his flock of people and expects the same from his shepherds.
All of the congregations I have attended have been very careful about the use of the church building. The rationale goes something like this… the church building, property, etc. was purchased with the Lord’s money and therefore can only be used for spiritual purposes. Then a distinction is made between spiritual things and social things making them mutually exclusive.
This is primarily done to prohibit eating in the building but would also include any other so-called social activity such as weddings, funerals, selling girl-scout cookies, recreation (a kid throwing a football, etc.) and such like. In fact, in many congregations announcements of a social nature… like congregational picnics or other types of get-togethers are prohibited.
Consider Ephesians 2: 10… “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them (good works)
What are these good works? Frequently in the scriptures good works would include taking care of widows and orphans, enjoying meals together, sharing possessions, various forms of hospitality and even the sewing and making of garments for each other. Make no mistake each of these scriptural examples are social and as such would be prohibited activities in many of the congregations I have attended.
What kind of sense does this make? In the church building we are to teach one another responsibilities and encourage each other to have strong social relationships and yet the performance of these activities are forbidden in the building? It makes no sense… none.
The church and all its resources, including its building, should be used to help Christians grow spiritually and we cannot grow spiritually without socially interacting with each other inside the building and outside the building.
One of the ways God describes his people is as a flock of sheep… not as a gaggle of geese or a herd of cattle for instance.
The human/animal bond between sheep and a shepherd is very advanced. The sheep are dependent upon humans… much more so than geese or cattle would be.
The sheep’s best method of defense is to “flock” together… to circle up and depend upon each other for defense. Of course the best defense for sheep is a caring shepherd.
Sheep have economic value to the shepherd. The shepherd doesn’t just have sheep because he likes sheep. Their wool can be gathered to make fabric, they provide milk which can be converted to cheese and butter and of course they provide meat.
The church is compared to a flock of sheep because of their dependency upon the great shepherd Jesus Christ and also because of their dependency on the human shepherds of a local congregation/church.
Christians like sheep depend upon each other for their defense against Satan and his agents and of course depend upon their shepherds for defense.
Christians like sheep have an economic value to their owner. God doesn’t just have Christians around because he likes Christians. Christians have a spiritual economic value to him. In Ephesians 2:8-10, God saves us by his grace, (the free gift of Jesus Christ) but we were created (in a relationship with Jesus Christ), to perform good works.
God provides shepherds to his flock so they can be spiritually nourished through his word. That spiritual nourishment builds faith and faithful Christians in turn live sacrificial lives through the performing of good works for the benefit of other Christians and the world.
In this New Year work hard to attend every service you possibly can because in that “flocking” together we build relationships and find opportunities to serve each other. Get involved with the congregation. We grow together by shared experiences. Cast fear and doubt away and remember what Jesus told his disciples… if you just had a little bit of faith you could move mountains.
Let’s move a few mountains in this upcoming New Year.
I have failed at growing Avocados for many, many years and that’s not an easy thing for me to admit because I fancy myself as a bit of a Horticulturist. I would buy an Avocado tree which costs about $50… plant it, water it and fertilize it. Invariably in relatively short order it would die and I would be very frustrated and vow never to waste another $50 on an Avocado tree. Eventually though, because I’m an optimist, I would try again but had the same results.
Finally I did some research and understood that Avocado trees grow up in a forest where they are shaded and protected and that tropical forests get consistent rainfalls. You see we live in South Texas and those young trees were getting scalded by the sun and I couldn’t water them as much as they liked.
So I bought another Avocado tree and I planted it under some larger trees put it on a drip irrigation system. Voila! That tree is into its third year now.
Growing Christians… first of all every human being in this world is a little bit different and some are a whole lot different. When they step out of the waters of baptism they all have the same basic needs like an Avocado tree has basic needs… soil, water and sunlight… but those needs have to be in the right proportions for that specific individual.
Every new Christian has to become grounded in God’s word so they can know what God expects of them. In addition, every new Christian needs to build a social relationship with other Christians so they can learn from good examples. And they need these things in the right ways and in the right proportions.
You might lose a new Christian if you over/under fertilize or over/under water him. You might lose a new Christian if you set him out in the hot South Texas sun and don’t have older more mature trees to protect him.
Christians like Avocado trees need to be monitored on a regular basis… look for wilted and dropped leaves. You might think your irrigation system is working only to find out that the batteries have failed.
You can’t just hand a new Christian a Bible and tell him to attend every church service he can and figuratively pat him on the bottom and turn him loose. Care, protection and monitoring must be given to every single individual Christian.
You can lose a $50 Avocado tree from time to time but woe be to the one who loses a new Christian due to laziness and neglect.
Here are a few notes that I’ve written in my Bible over the years
- The branch that bears the most fruit bends the lowest.
- The central feature of Satan’s power is pride.
- Is a religious practice consistent with who God is and with his character?
- How we understand the Bible depends on the lens we look through… It cannot be understood? Old Testament is of little value? Is the New Testament a pattern?
- The first Law of physical life is self-preservation. The first Law of spiritual life is self-sacrifice.
- Most denominations are the same morally and only differ doctrinally.
- When we withhold joy we reveal a darkness of heart.
- Anger distorts reality, creates extreme emotions and leads to harmful behavior.
- When we’re justified it’s like we have never sinned.
- Good deeds, without confession, is self-promotion.
- The oldest son had not been sick with sin, had not lost his reputation and had not lost his self-respect… his younger brother (the Prodigal Son) had.
- God’s grace was the free gift of Jesus Christ.
- God’s grace; over emphasized by some, under emphasized by others and misunderstood by many.
- Two ways people become believers… through logic and through emotion. The reality is we need both.
- Baptism is not the finish point… it’s the starting point.
- Because I can only do a little… I do nothing.
- Service is manifested in menial things.
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Luke 19:41-44 tells of Jesus entering Jerusalem where he would be crucified in less than a week. As he enters he starts crying… not for himself but for the citizens of Jerusalem. As he entered he saw children playing, mothers tending their children, old men sitting at the city gates, and people busily engaged with living their lives.
But Jesus saw something else, he saw about 40 years into the future and saw what the Roman soldiers would do to these very same people… besieging the city, starving the people, slaughtering the men, raping the women, bashing in the heads of the young children, and carrying the few survivors into captivity.
The prophetic vision of this horrible calamity caused Jesus to cry but also caused him to want him to help them. His help started with offering faith to them. Faith that he was the son of God. To those who believed in him he gave ample warning of when to get out of town and leave Jerusalem and save their lives.
He also sent his Apostles for 40 years after he died to work miracles and teach. The reality is that when the Roman soldiers surrounded Jerusalem to destroy it, the only people left in the city were those who totally rejected him.
God sent the Roman armies to punish Jerusalem and the Jewish system for crucifying his only Son. It was a well deserved punishment and yet Jesus, as he viewed the happy people of Jerusalem, cried for them.
I have to believe that as Jesus looks at us today he still cries for those who are going to end up in the fires of Hell. Ample warning has been given and the punishment will be well deserved but he still sheds tears for those condemned souls… as should we.
Let’s do the best we can to reach Heaven but let’s also, like Jesus, care so much about others that we do whatever we can do to persuade them.
