Our tongue is a terrible weapon when it is not voluntarily bridled by the Spirit of God. From this same mouth comes praises for my Lord and curses for my fellow believers. Are you kidding me? What a terrible disconnect there can be when we are not constantly conscience of being directed by the Spirit.
The Church aught to be the safest place in this world. It is filled with connected followers of Jesus Christ who are each walking in the Spirit and desiring to grow into the fullness of Jesus. But faith is a process of growth which means each of us are at different levels of understanding and relationship. We have those who are strong and those who are weak; those who are mature and others who are immature. This is the reason that love is the foundation of the Kingdom because we cannot exist as the Church without it.
Love is something that should be a constant thought, something we measure all our actions and words against, desiring to increase in it's application. Our measuring rod is Jesus. He empowered us and set the example. He gave us the standard when he told us, his followers:
"This is my commandment : love each other just as I have loved you." (John 15:12)
Not one of us is perfect in this but we must at least begin with the understanding that this is not a suggestion from Jesus; love is a must. When we fail in it we must own up to it, repent and open ourselves up to correction and increase. Paul the apostle made it clear that this is a foundational matter that everything else rests on:
"If I speak in tongues of human beings and of angels but I don't have love, I'm a clanging gong or a clashing cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and I know all the mysteries and everything else, and if I have such complete faith that I can move mountains but I don't have love, I'm nothing. If I give away everything that I have and hand over my own body to feel good about what I've done but I don't have love, I receive no benefit whatsoever." (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)
Paul is saying that no matter what he has and what he does, if love is not the foundation he has nothing and he is nothing. That should be a sobering thought for us. How often do we coast through our day with no thought about the impact of our actions and our words on the people in our day?
Jesus made it clear that we can't just say that we love him, that love must be conveyed in our obedience. Love is a thing of action: "If you love me you will obey my commandments" Jesus says to us his followers.
The two commandments he gave us are simply put: love God with your entire being, with all that you have, with all your passion and love others. John the apostle told us that if we do not love our brothers and sisters we do not love Jesus. So we can't obey one commandment and ignore the other; they go hand in hand.
Now we turn back to my opening statement that the Church aught to be the safest place in this world. No matter our maturity level, we all start with the same foundation, love. Because love is the root of everything we do, we support and encourage each other. When one of us fails, we are all there to help them back to their feet. Paul put it to the Church this way:
"We who are powerful need to be patient with the weakness of those who don't have power, and not please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbours for their good in order to build them up." (Romans 15:1-2)
You should read all of Romans 15. In fact, if we go back a bit we find this in Romans 14:
"Who are you to judge someone else's servants? They stand or fall before their own Lord (and they will stand, because the Lord has the power to make them stand)." (v. 4)
This is the reality we aught to be living in the Church. Now a days it seems everyone is on a witch hunt to discover some fault in every leader in the Body of Christ. The Word of God does not give us that authority, and in fact comes against it. It is eating away at the foundation of love. Jesus does not need our help in correcting leadership; he is quite capable of dealing with them himself. Instead, we should be concentrating on growing in love and power so that Jesus may be glorified in us.
The Church aught to be the safest place in this world.
Showing posts with label master. Show all posts
Showing posts with label master. Show all posts
Friday, February 26, 2016
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Blessed In The Doing Not In The Knowing
I have no idea what we are doing as Christians these days. It shouldn't be as complicated as what we are making it out to be. We don't have to invent anything or try anything new. Why we can't simply do what Jesus did is beyond my comprehension. It seems that we only want to use the gospel as a suggestion and not the example it was given us to be. What am I going on about? Check this out, from Jesus' mouth:
For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. (John 13:15-17)
Jesus gave a wonderful illustration of servant-leadership which is the basis of the Kingdom of God. He set the example and then said, now do as I have done. But his words encompass more than this one simple act. These ares his last moments of instructions as the shadow of the cross has already fallen on him. It is a summary of all that he taught: Do as I have done. And look at what he says, "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them."
We can go to college or university and study everything that has ever been written about the Word of God and yet fail to enter the Kingdom because we have not known enough to do the Word. Jesus spent three years with his disciples for a reason, that they would learn from him and do the same thing, which they did. When we look at the likes of Peter and then later Paul, we see how their lives followed that of the Master. So what don't we understand about this?
If we want to follow Jesus then we need to know Jesus, what he taught and the example he set. We need to be possessed by the Spirit in power just as he was. We have to love the unlovable just as he did. We have to go to them and not wait for them to come to us. We have to tell everyone that the Kingdom is at hand, to repent and to receive Jesus Christ. We need to let go of any claim we have on this world and operate from the Kingdom. We have to be surrendered morning, afternoon and evening to Father's will, seeking nothing for ourselves and always for Father's glory. Then we will be blessed.
"You should do as I have done to you." We are not isolationists. We don't remove ourselves from those who need Jesus. We give ourselves wholeheartedly to the mission of salvation. We put all our resources to that aim. If we are doing any less then we are not following Jesus' example. If our needs come before our neighbour's or our Father's will then we are not following Jesus. Anything less than our all is falling short of the example he set for us. It is simple but no one said it would be easy. It requires total surrender each and every day with no time off. "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." It will cost you everything but you will be blessed in the doing, not in the knowing.
For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. (John 13:15-17)
Jesus gave a wonderful illustration of servant-leadership which is the basis of the Kingdom of God. He set the example and then said, now do as I have done. But his words encompass more than this one simple act. These ares his last moments of instructions as the shadow of the cross has already fallen on him. It is a summary of all that he taught: Do as I have done. And look at what he says, "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them."
We can go to college or university and study everything that has ever been written about the Word of God and yet fail to enter the Kingdom because we have not known enough to do the Word. Jesus spent three years with his disciples for a reason, that they would learn from him and do the same thing, which they did. When we look at the likes of Peter and then later Paul, we see how their lives followed that of the Master. So what don't we understand about this?
If we want to follow Jesus then we need to know Jesus, what he taught and the example he set. We need to be possessed by the Spirit in power just as he was. We have to love the unlovable just as he did. We have to go to them and not wait for them to come to us. We have to tell everyone that the Kingdom is at hand, to repent and to receive Jesus Christ. We need to let go of any claim we have on this world and operate from the Kingdom. We have to be surrendered morning, afternoon and evening to Father's will, seeking nothing for ourselves and always for Father's glory. Then we will be blessed.
"You should do as I have done to you." We are not isolationists. We don't remove ourselves from those who need Jesus. We give ourselves wholeheartedly to the mission of salvation. We put all our resources to that aim. If we are doing any less then we are not following Jesus' example. If our needs come before our neighbour's or our Father's will then we are not following Jesus. Anything less than our all is falling short of the example he set for us. It is simple but no one said it would be easy. It requires total surrender each and every day with no time off. "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." It will cost you everything but you will be blessed in the doing, not in the knowing.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
On Being A Boss
A lot of people aspire to be a boss, a leader, someone in charge. When I was younger I always thought it would be the ultimate freedom with no one to tell me what to do. It isn't that I wanted power over other people but instead I wanted to be free from people having power over me. It wasn't until I became a boss that I realized a couple of things. First, being a boss is more about responsibility than privilege. Second, we always have someone to whom we have to answer.
Those to whom God calls and anoints for leadership, any leadership, in the Body of Jesus, he also holds to a greater accountability. We know that apostles, evangelists, prophets, pastors and teachers will all be judged more severely and will have to give account for everything God gave to them to invest for the Kingdom. But so too will each elder, deacon, Sunday School teacher, worship leader, band member and anyone else with any responsibility over anyone else. It is also true for any Christian given responsibility in the world:
And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him. (Ephesians 6:9)
When Paul says "in the same way" he is referring to what he just finished saying to the salves. There has to be an attitude that we are serving the Lord. There must be an attitude of respect, fear, and sincerity. We should be afraid to do any harm to anyone because, even if they are not saved, they are the objects of God's love. If an employee must show respect and serve sincerely, as if they are serving the Lord, how much more someone with responsibility over someone else?
We need to always keep in mind that we have to have Jesus' attitude and he said that he did not come to be served but to serve. Even when we are the boss we need to have a servant's heart, caring for those for whom we are responsible. If we saw them as Jesus would we act toward them any differently? This is even more so when you have responsibility over a fellow Christian.
Being the boss of a Christian is probably the hardest thing to do. We have such high expectations for each other and when we fail to meet those expectation it can affect they way we treat each other. It is hard not to judge. This is the verse I try to keep in mind:
Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. (Romans 14:4)
The Lord will get us all there in the end, no matter our level of maturity or revelation. Meanwhile we are to respect, fear, be sincere and love each other.
Bosses have to remember that we all serve the same Lord and he is Master of us all. It is good to remember that he has no favourites From the greatest evangelists to the worse sinner, God loves us all. It is because of that love that we must show respect to all human life. How can we mistreat the objects of God's affection? How can we have poor attitudes toward those for whom Jesus went to the cross? How can we allow something like being a boss interfere with our greater responsibility of being vessels of God's love?
It is a beautiful thing when it all flows together, slave respecting master and master respecting slave, but it doesn't always go that way. It doesn't matter. How a boss is treated cannot affect the responsibility of the boss to treat the employees well, showing them respect and love, serving them as if he is serving Jesus. We are all accountable to the same Master. Serve him well.
Those to whom God calls and anoints for leadership, any leadership, in the Body of Jesus, he also holds to a greater accountability. We know that apostles, evangelists, prophets, pastors and teachers will all be judged more severely and will have to give account for everything God gave to them to invest for the Kingdom. But so too will each elder, deacon, Sunday School teacher, worship leader, band member and anyone else with any responsibility over anyone else. It is also true for any Christian given responsibility in the world:
And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him. (Ephesians 6:9)
When Paul says "in the same way" he is referring to what he just finished saying to the salves. There has to be an attitude that we are serving the Lord. There must be an attitude of respect, fear, and sincerity. We should be afraid to do any harm to anyone because, even if they are not saved, they are the objects of God's love. If an employee must show respect and serve sincerely, as if they are serving the Lord, how much more someone with responsibility over someone else?
We need to always keep in mind that we have to have Jesus' attitude and he said that he did not come to be served but to serve. Even when we are the boss we need to have a servant's heart, caring for those for whom we are responsible. If we saw them as Jesus would we act toward them any differently? This is even more so when you have responsibility over a fellow Christian.
Being the boss of a Christian is probably the hardest thing to do. We have such high expectations for each other and when we fail to meet those expectation it can affect they way we treat each other. It is hard not to judge. This is the verse I try to keep in mind:
Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. (Romans 14:4)
The Lord will get us all there in the end, no matter our level of maturity or revelation. Meanwhile we are to respect, fear, be sincere and love each other.
Bosses have to remember that we all serve the same Lord and he is Master of us all. It is good to remember that he has no favourites From the greatest evangelists to the worse sinner, God loves us all. It is because of that love that we must show respect to all human life. How can we mistreat the objects of God's affection? How can we have poor attitudes toward those for whom Jesus went to the cross? How can we allow something like being a boss interfere with our greater responsibility of being vessels of God's love?
It is a beautiful thing when it all flows together, slave respecting master and master respecting slave, but it doesn't always go that way. It doesn't matter. How a boss is treated cannot affect the responsibility of the boss to treat the employees well, showing them respect and love, serving them as if he is serving Jesus. We are all accountable to the same Master. Serve him well.
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