Titus 2:2
"Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance."
I remember what it was like this time of year in 1982 when I was working on my first Masters Degree, in education. I was finishing up assignments for my professors at the same time I was assigning end of semester projects for my students. Interesting perspective.
Efficiency was imperative; on both ends. I appreciated, so much, my profs who were the best teachers. These were the classes where I really understood what they were trying to teach me and how it applied to what I was trying to do. Even when I'm a business major studying education and taking a history class. That history prof taught me a lot, not only about history, but how to read, process information, summarize and communicate the important facts to the rest of the class. Invaluable to a teacher.
I was impressed with the importance of helping my students mine the pearls from among the sand in the classes I was teaching. I wanted them to learn more than the subject matter, but also how to read, process information, summarize and communicate the important facts back to me.
That kind of immediate application sticks.
So, "old men" (Titus 2:2), are you teachable? And, by now, are you teaching?
Heb 5:11-14
"We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."
It's amazing how being a student will improve your teaching skills. And, how teaching will improve your learning skills.
I've known way too many old men who grew a lot (spiritually) as teenagers and in their early 20's. They grew a little more in their 30's. But something happened within them when they arrived in their 50's and 60's and they stopped learning. And, this is typically the age when we look to men to be leaders and teachers. If you've stopped learning you have also hamstrung your ability teach.
Deut 4:1
"Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you."
Deut 5:1
"Hear, O Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them."
The Hebrew word used in 4:1 as "teach" is the same word used in 5:1 as "learn". The 2 processes are inseperable. The biblical definition of the process is, if the learners aren't learning then the teacher isn't teaching.
Hmmm. So, in order to be considered a good teacher, my students have to be learning. And, the only way to know if they are learning is if they are making better decisions than they were before.
And, in order to be a good teacher, I have to be a good student. Which means, someone is teaching me well enough that I'm making better decisions.
I need people in my life who are learning from others and in turn are investing in me. I need to be taking what I'm learning and in turn investing it in others. Almost sounds biblical, doesn't it?
Too many men short-circuit the process and check out of being students. But, when they do that they have retarded their ability to teach. How effective are they really?
So, old men, are you teachable? Are you seeing evidence in your life in the form of making better decisions today than you did last year?
Old men, are you teaching anybody right now? By now you ought to be teachers of deeper spiritual issues. Have you mastered them? Who's learning from you in such a way their life is marked by better decisions today than they were making a year ago?
Can you imagine a church where every man is learning and teaching?
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Grace is a Chaser
Purity. We cannot make ourselves pure. In fact, no one is pure. Except...
Rom 3:21-24
"But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."
Mark 7:15
Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'
LIkewise, nothing going into a man can make him clean, either. There is nothing a man can do to make himself pure. The only thing we can do, which is quite enough, is to have faith that God, in his grace, has made us pure.
And, as Paul wrote to Titus, those that have no faith, not only cannot do anything to make themselves pure, everything they do, even what would be considered good by moral standards, is corrupted and no good.
This changes everything. The best work by the worst person is no good at all. The worst work by a good person, that is, one who has been declared good by God, is a good work. Someone who is declared good is motivated entirely differently than they were before they were declared good.
God won't let a declared good man go down the path of disobedience without chasing him and catching him. Jonah. God said, "Go up to Nineveh." Jonah ran down. He ran down to Joppa. Down to the pier. Down into the hold of the boat.
God chased him and caught him. So, Jonah thought suicide would be the best response so he had the sailors throw him down into the water. This is the ultimate in cowardly copouts. Rather than face the wrong deed and make it good, quit. God chased him into the water and wouldn't let quit.
Rather than allow him to drown, God had the big fish swallow him. And, literally, in the belly of the fish Jonah had his "come-to-Jesus" meeting.
Jonah, in his repentance, said this, "Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs." (2:8)
He realized that unbelievers, who cling to idols are never chased down by those idols the way God chased him. He did not deserve to chased. In his mind he deserved to be let go and die. Not only did God see to it that he lived, he lived the abundant life that God offers all who believe.
Jonah got another chance. Grace. Followers of Jesus, those who believe, those who have been made pure by God who do bone-headed things that hurt people are chased down by God and given another chance. We get the chance to repent, atone and restore.
As leaders we need to do all that we can to help people recognize that they have been caught by God and are given another chance to do things right. Remember, their rightness or wrongness does not make them pure. They already are.
We are not God. We cannot become the issue. We must direct people to deal with the issue as God convicts them. Still, they are pure because God made them pure. Their actions, though questionable, are all part of the process God takes us through to grow us up.
Since purity is a declaration of God it changes how we view the actions of of brothers in Christ. Most who are running would get to point where they would rather be let go. But they won't be. The Holy Spirit is a chaser. He might use one of us in the process, but make no mistake, God is the chaser.
Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit that grace that could be theirs. Thank God that grace is a chaser. He will never let us go.
Rom 3:21-24
"But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."
Mark 7:15
Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'
LIkewise, nothing going into a man can make him clean, either. There is nothing a man can do to make himself pure. The only thing we can do, which is quite enough, is to have faith that God, in his grace, has made us pure.
And, as Paul wrote to Titus, those that have no faith, not only cannot do anything to make themselves pure, everything they do, even what would be considered good by moral standards, is corrupted and no good.
This changes everything. The best work by the worst person is no good at all. The worst work by a good person, that is, one who has been declared good by God, is a good work. Someone who is declared good is motivated entirely differently than they were before they were declared good.
God won't let a declared good man go down the path of disobedience without chasing him and catching him. Jonah. God said, "Go up to Nineveh." Jonah ran down. He ran down to Joppa. Down to the pier. Down into the hold of the boat.
God chased him and caught him. So, Jonah thought suicide would be the best response so he had the sailors throw him down into the water. This is the ultimate in cowardly copouts. Rather than face the wrong deed and make it good, quit. God chased him into the water and wouldn't let quit.
Rather than allow him to drown, God had the big fish swallow him. And, literally, in the belly of the fish Jonah had his "come-to-Jesus" meeting.
Jonah, in his repentance, said this, "Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs." (2:8)
He realized that unbelievers, who cling to idols are never chased down by those idols the way God chased him. He did not deserve to chased. In his mind he deserved to be let go and die. Not only did God see to it that he lived, he lived the abundant life that God offers all who believe.
Jonah got another chance. Grace. Followers of Jesus, those who believe, those who have been made pure by God who do bone-headed things that hurt people are chased down by God and given another chance. We get the chance to repent, atone and restore.
As leaders we need to do all that we can to help people recognize that they have been caught by God and are given another chance to do things right. Remember, their rightness or wrongness does not make them pure. They already are.
We are not God. We cannot become the issue. We must direct people to deal with the issue as God convicts them. Still, they are pure because God made them pure. Their actions, though questionable, are all part of the process God takes us through to grow us up.
Since purity is a declaration of God it changes how we view the actions of of brothers in Christ. Most who are running would get to point where they would rather be let go. But they won't be. The Holy Spirit is a chaser. He might use one of us in the process, but make no mistake, God is the chaser.
Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit that grace that could be theirs. Thank God that grace is a chaser. He will never let us go.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Acceptable by God's Standards
"All is pure to those who are pure. But to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their minds and consciences are corrupted." (Titus 1:15 NET)
So, are you a 'meat-eater' or a 'vegetarian'? Remember Romans 15:7?
"Receive one another, then, just as Christ also received you, to God’s glory." NET
Those who ate meat ridiculed and disrespected those who did not. They didn't because they were convicted that it was irresponsible and ungodly. I'm sure they made a very convincing case for their spiritual health and physical health. After all, meat carried many illnesses and the chance of becoming ill after eating it was greater than if you abstained.
The vegetarians resented those who ate meat believing that they were immature and irresponsible. But the meat eaters believed Paul was literally correct when he wrote Titus 1:15 and 1 Corinthians 10:23-33
"Everything is permissible"-but not everything is beneficial . "Everything is permissible"-but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.
Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it."
If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if anyone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience' sake— the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved." NIV
Think about the things that divide us. There are those significant doctrinal differences and sinful activities. Then, there are those things that shouldn't but do anyway.
Should we fight to keep prohibitions of the use of alcohol and tobacco in or out of our church constitutions? Should we argue and divide over whether or not the rapture will occur before, during or after the tribulation? Then what about the large number of Christians who don't believe there will be a rapture at all?
One of our highest priorities is to be unified. We are not supposed to be uniform, however. As leaders, we must not only maintain peace but promote it. And, our promotion sometimes will test our ability to accept those who don't do things the way we do them.
Can we be the model church by not requiring everyone model their behavior after 'me'? And, leaders fight fiercely for our freedom in Christ so that each one of us can live our lives as the Holy Spirit directs.
All this to God's glory.
So, are you a 'meat-eater' or a 'vegetarian'? Remember Romans 15:7?
"Receive one another, then, just as Christ also received you, to God’s glory." NET
Those who ate meat ridiculed and disrespected those who did not. They didn't because they were convicted that it was irresponsible and ungodly. I'm sure they made a very convincing case for their spiritual health and physical health. After all, meat carried many illnesses and the chance of becoming ill after eating it was greater than if you abstained.
The vegetarians resented those who ate meat believing that they were immature and irresponsible. But the meat eaters believed Paul was literally correct when he wrote Titus 1:15 and 1 Corinthians 10:23-33
"Everything is permissible"-but not everything is beneficial . "Everything is permissible"-but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.
Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it."
If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if anyone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience' sake— the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved." NIV
Think about the things that divide us. There are those significant doctrinal differences and sinful activities. Then, there are those things that shouldn't but do anyway.
Should we fight to keep prohibitions of the use of alcohol and tobacco in or out of our church constitutions? Should we argue and divide over whether or not the rapture will occur before, during or after the tribulation? Then what about the large number of Christians who don't believe there will be a rapture at all?
One of our highest priorities is to be unified. We are not supposed to be uniform, however. As leaders, we must not only maintain peace but promote it. And, our promotion sometimes will test our ability to accept those who don't do things the way we do them.
Can we be the model church by not requiring everyone model their behavior after 'me'? And, leaders fight fiercely for our freedom in Christ so that each one of us can live our lives as the Holy Spirit directs.
All this to God's glory.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)