Take Me To Your Leader

1 Corinthians 1:10-17, CEB - Now I encourage you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Agree with each other and don’t be divided into rival groups. Instead, be restored with the same mind and the same purpose.  My brothers and sisters, Chloe’s people gave me some information about you, that you’re fighting with each other.  What I mean is this: that each one of you says, “I belong to Paul,” “I belong to Apollos,” “I belong to Cephas,” “I belong to Christ.”  Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in Paul’s name?  Thank God that I didn’t baptize any of you, except Crispus and Gaius, so that nobody can say that you were baptized in my name!  Oh, I baptized the house of Stephanas too. Otherwise, I don’t know if I baptized anyone else. Christ didn’t send me to baptize but to preach the good news. And Christ didn’t send me to preach the good news with clever words so that Christ’s cross won’t be emptied of its meaning.

In today’s passage, we see one of the primary reasons Paul wrote this first letter to the church in Corinth.  He hears a report that people have divided themselves up into factions, each faction following a different leader.  Of course, Paul calls this out as nonsense and calls them to unity.  We read it and we wholeheartedly agree with Paul.  Division is counter-productive.  All the leaders that people are following have one leader – Christ Himself.  We agree this is true.

Problem is, eons later, we still do the same thing.  There are tens of thousands of Christian denominations now.  My current denomination is, as I write this, dividing up into at least two more.  Three of the five churches I have been appointed to in my time as pastor have a congregational split in their history.   Our human tendency is tribalism, gathering ourselves in little communities that set themselves apart, and many times against, other communities.  The word “human” in that last sentence is the key here.  The more human our leadership is, the more prone we are to this toxic tribalism. 

Paul spends the first four chapters of this letter explaining how it is supposed to work.  If you have time today, I encourage you to read them, but I’m going to summarize them here.  The best and wisest leaders that humanity has to offer are only able to scratch the surface of the amazing depth and genius of God’s wisdom.  Human leaders called by God are called to play specific roles for a specific time.  No one leader can convey, teach, and or empower a community to live out the full gospel revealed to us in Christ.  As soon as we begin to place all our trust in one such leader, we have put Christ into an infinitesimally small box.   

                Listen to Paul in chapter 4:1-5 (CEB):

So a person should think about us this way—as servants of Christ and managers of God’s secrets.  In this kind of situation, what is expected of a manager is that they prove to be faithful.  I couldn’t care less if I’m judged by you or by any human court; I don’t even judge myself.  I’m not aware of anything against me, but that doesn’t make me innocent, because the Lord is the one who judges me.  So don’t judge anything before the right time—wait until the Lord comes. He will bring things that are hidden in the dark to light, and he will make people’s motivations public. Then there will be recognition for each person from God.

Leaders are, at best, simply stewards of the wisdom of God.  The Lord Jesus is the One who reveals the wisdom, not the leader.  So we all, including all who lead, are followers of Jesus.  The constant is Jesus; the human leaders will always change.

                I’m reminding myself of that as I begin to prepare to move to another church.  My prayer is that Holy Spirit has used me reveal a little bit of the wisdom of God.   I pray that I’ve watered some seeds that my predecessors had planted and planted a few seeds that others will water after I’ve moved on.  I trust that I leaders have done the same in the new place where I’m going.  But in the end, I love the way Paul says it in 3:6-7:

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow.  Because of this, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but the only one who is anything is God who makes it grow.”

Don’t participate in division of any kind among God’s people.  It is foolishness.  There’s nothing wrong with having leaders of which you’re particularly fond (I have those too).  However, if you so identify with those leaders that you are no longer able to submit to others, you have departed from God’s wisdom.  Don’t do it. 

 

Question:  Spend some time reflecting on gems of wisdom that you’ve received from leaders throughout your life and looking forward to that continuing to happen for the rest of your life.

 

Prayer:  God, thank You for faithful leaders.  Help us to be faithful to those we would lead and help us to always be followers of You first.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for unity in the church today.

 

Song: Take Me to Your Leader – Newsboys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RClBXAUPwOE  

Gideon and the Midianites

Judges 7 - So Jerub-baal (that is, Gideon) and his army got up early and went as far as the spring of Harod. The armies of Midian were camped north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength. Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain and go home.’” So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight.

But the Lord told Gideon, “There are still too many! Bring them down to the spring, and I will test them to determine who will go with you and who will not.” When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the Lord told him, “Divide the men into two groups. In one group put all those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like dogs. In the other group put all those who kneel down and drink with their mouths in the stream.” Only 300 of the men drank from their hands. All the others got down on their knees and drank with their mouths in the stream.

The Lord told Gideon, “With these 300 men I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites. Send all the others home.” So Gideon collected the provisions and rams’ horns of the other warriors and sent them home. But he kept the 300 men with him.

The Midianite camp was in the valley just below Gideon. That night the Lord said, “Get up! Go down into the Midianite camp, for I have given you victory over them! But if you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah. Listen to what the Midianites are saying, and you will be greatly encouraged. Then you will be eager to attack.”

So Gideon took Purah and went down to the edge of the enemy camp. The armies of Midian, Amalek, and the people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts. Their camels were like grains of sand on the seashore—too many to count! Gideon crept up just as a man was telling his companion about a dream. The man said, “I had this dream, and in my dream a loaf of barley bread came tumbling down into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent, turned it over, and knocked it flat!”

His companion answered, “Your dream can mean only one thing—God has given Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite, victory over Midian and all its allies!”

When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship before the Lord. Then he returned to the Israelite camp and shouted, “Get up! For the Lord has given you victory over the Midianite hordes!” He divided the 300 men into three groups and gave each man a ram’s horn and a clay jar with a torch in it.

Then he said to them, “Keep your eyes on me. When I come to the edge of the camp, do just as I do. As soon as I and those with me blow the rams’ horns, blow your horns, too, all around the entire camp, and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”

It was just after midnight, after the changing of the guard, when Gideon and the 100 men with him reached the edge of the Midianite camp. Suddenly, they blew the rams’ horns and broke their clay jars. Then all three groups blew their horns and broke their jars. They held the blazing torches in their left hands and the horns in their right hands, and they all shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”

Each man stood at his position around the camp and watched as all the Midianites rushed around in a panic, shouting as they ran to escape. When the 300 Israelites blew their rams’ horns, the Lord caused the warriors in the camp to fight against each other with their swords. Those who were not killed fled to places as far away as Beth-shittah near Zererah and to the border of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.

Then Gideon sent for the warriors of Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh, who joined in chasing the army of Midian.  Gideon also sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down to attack the Midianites. Cut them off at the shallow crossings of the Jordan River at Beth-barah.”

So all the men of Ephraim did as they were told. They captured Oreb and Zeeb, the two Midianite commanders, killing Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. And they continued to chase the Midianites. Afterward the Israelites brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was by the Jordan River.

 

This is our last day with Gideon.  We’ve been exploring Gideon’s struggle with trusting God.  Well, he finally gets it right here.  He quickly follows the Lord’s instructions this time even when it seems like bad advice – facing the thousands in the Midianite army with just 300 men.   Gideon finally learned the bedrock truth.  It doesn’t matter how many there are on the Lord’s side; whose side the Lord is on is what matters.

So my simple and straightforward message to you today is to remind you that the Lord is on your side.  God’s plans are for you to eventually triumph.  I don’t know what it will look like.  Gideon’s victory is almost comedic, while others victories are rather dramatic.  I don’t know the timing, but I know that your victory is secure.  You’re not outmatched; your challenge is outmatched.  You don’t need more to win; God can do it with even less than you have now.  The question is whether you will march toward that challenge knowing it is not you that will get the job done but the God who fights with you.  Time to move!

 

Prayer:  Lord, Help me move forward with the confidence that you move forward with me, Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for those who are weary and need strength today.

 

Song:  Lauren Daigle - Trust In You

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv-SXz_exKE

Deborah

Judges 4:1-10 - The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died.  So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim.  Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years.

At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel.  She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment.  She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun.  I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.’”  Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.”  And she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.  Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and ten thousand warriors went up behind him; and Deborah went up with him.

 

Today, we circle back from the time of the exile (Esther) to the time before Israel had Kings.  After Joshua led the Israelites into the promised land and they defeated all the enemies there, the Israelites were led by people called Judges (hence the name of the biblical book).  There is a predictable pattern for each judge that led Israel.  The Israelites did evil and strayed from the covenant with God.  This would lead to them being defeated by enemies and becoming captives.  They would cry out to God once more and God would send them a deliverer, a judge.  Most of the judges were deeply flawed people themselves, but God used them anyway.  Only two of the judge’s stories are told without referring to any negative character traits.  One of them was Deborah. 

Just the existence of a female leader in the Old Testament is miraculous.  For all the men in Israel to acknowledge her leadership and for men to later include her in the story of the history of the judges says volumes about how exceptional Deborah must have been.  While it is still true in many segments of our society that women have to excel over their male peers in order to be noticed or celebrated, for Deborah to have taken a place in this written history of ancient Israel, she must have been incredibly impressive.  

So read Deborah’s story in Judges 4 and then read her song of victory in Judges 5.  Deborah brought peace to the Israelites for forty years.  Her story is often overlooked.  I have to confess that I have overlooked it in the past.  But today, I celebrate Deborah and I take time to celebrate great women leaders like her that often get overlooked – people like Harriet Tubman (the only black woman to ever lead an American military regiment into battle), Mother Teresa, Marie Curie, Rosa Parks, Ada Lovelace (first computer programmer), Margaret Thatcher, and many, many others.  Perhaps you are aware of some truly exceptional women in your own life that you have overlooked.  Maybe you could remedy that today.

 

Prayer:  Lord God, thank you for your Spirit that has manifested itself powerfully in so many women throughout history and in our own lives.  Help us place the same value on them as You do.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the significant women in your life today.

 

Song:  Helen Reddy – I am Woman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rptW7zOPX2E