Leaders & Coaches & Mentors – Oh my!

Thoughts on the Sabbath School Lesson for 9.8.12

I have a set of dishes that I brought back from Germany with me that I only use on very special occasions.  The dishes were pretty expensive and, I think, beautiful, but I use them maybe three times a year. Most of the time they sit in a cabinet and collect dust. When I do bring them out, I worry about breaking a piece. Now, the dishes my family uses everyday aren’t nearly as pretty or expensive, but they can take the everyday knocking around of being used and washed and such. Which set of dishes are the most useful? Are they any less useful if they get chipped or dinged? No, not really, they just keep doing what they were made to do, dings and chips and all.

God’s not looking for fancy, fragile dishes that He can only use once in a while, “He's looking for rough-and-tumble clay pots—the kind that can be used everyday. He's looking for the kind of pots that don't need to be tucked away in a china closet, but can be sent out into a crash-bang world, carrying within them the life of Christ. The church was never meant to be a china cabinet, where precious pieces could be safely stowed out of harm's way. The church was meant to be a working kitchen, where well-worn pots are filled again and again to dispense their life-giving contents to a thirsty world.”[1]

Being a Christian isn’t a spectator sport; there aren’t even any bench-warmers. We may not realize it, but even within our own church families, we all have things to do.

“And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.  Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:12-18

Now, I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a mom or dad giving her or his kids of list of things to remember to do while she (or he) is away, doesn’t it? This is Paul’s list of reminders to his little church in Thessalonica – the one with which he only got to spend three weeks. He’s not talking to them about spreading the gospel; he’s reminding them how they should treat each other, inside the church.

I think sometimes, we forget that we have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters in the church and because of that, our ultimate mission of telling the world the truth about Jesus suffers.

So, the first thing that Paul reminds us to do is to appreciate our leadership. (Ah, no eye-rolling!) Paul didn’t say we were exempt from “esteem[ing] them very highly in love” only if we thought they were doing a good job, if we agree with them, or if we liked them as individuals. He said “for their work’s sake” – just because they are our leaders.

What do you think that means? Well, I think it certainly means that we pray for our leaders, but I also think it means that we don’t complain about them to each other. That can be hard sometimes, can’t it?

Paul’s not done yet. He reminds us to “warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.”

So, is this the time to sit with our friends and “discuss” those folks who seem to be struggling? “Did you see those kids running up and down the hallways during potluck? Disgraceful!” Is this the time to tell those folks just how they should be doing things?

I think we’ve all had the experience of having someone come up to us in the middle of our difficult moment and tell us just how we should be doing things. It wasn’t very helpful was it? And, it didn’t bring us any closer to the person who was giving the instructions, did it? In fact, we probably still have a little hard place in our hearts for that person and his (or her) lack of empathy.

Our job isn’t to get mad at, gossip about, or give a piece of our minds to baby or struggling Christians. Paul tells us to gently educate the folks who seem to be out of line and to help the people who are “weak” or “fainthearted” to be stronger so they can eventually stand on their own.

Some might call that being a mentor or a coach, but it might be just being brothers and sisters in Jesus – just treating each other like Jesus treated people when He was here.

Now, even if we’re not actively involved in leading or mentoring or coaching at the moment, we still have instructions from Paul to follow: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks;”

I love those verses! Have you ever noticed how just doing those three things can turn your whole day around? I remember when I flew home from Germany for the last time. I had a sixteen month old and I was eight months pregnant. We were moving back to Texas, but I had to fly home a couple of months ahead of time, so I was by myself. The morning I flew out of Germany, in June, there was frost on the ground. When I got off the plane in Dallas, it was 102 degrees. It had been a 12 hour flight. My mom and my aunt met me in Dallas and then drove me home to San Antonio (Yes, I could have flown, but I refused to get on another plane – I was eight months pregnant, give me a break!).

Anyway, we piled everything in my aunt’s van and headed for home…another six hours away. I was exhausted; my son was way past exhausted and tired of being contained in a car-seat. I thought we’d never make it. And then something amazing happened. My mom and aunt began to sing hymns – every hymn they knew. Pretty soon I was singing along and we were home before we knew it. The trip wasn’t a burden anymore. It was a wonderful time of praise to our Savior. Rejoicing, praying and giving thanks are a powerful mix.

“[As a child] Jesus carried into His labor cheerfulness and tact. … Often He expressed the gladness of His heart by singing psalms and heavenly songs. Often the dwellers in Nazareth heard His voice raised in praise and thanksgiving to God. He held communion with heaven in song; and as His companions complained of weariness from labor, they were cheered by the sweet melody from His lips. His praise seemed to banish the evil angels, and, like incense, fill the place with fragrance. The minds of His hearers were carried away from their earthly exile, to the heavenly home.” (Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 73.)

I want to be like Jesus and be a blessing to others, don’t you?

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[1] Bryan Wilkerson, "Unbreakable?" PreachingToday.com

God and Abraham

I heard a speaker who was pretty tough on Abraham for doubting God when God told him he was going to be the father of many nations. I don’t know if I can be that hard on Abraham. I mean, it was really a case of, “Who are ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?” Right? Abraham knew the earthly reality of the situation: Sarah was just plain too old to have kids! I think he wanted to believe what God told him, but he could only get as far as his human brain would take him. He forgot that God doesn’t have to color inside the lines. Very simply, Abraham limited God, and in doing so, cost himself and Sarah a lot of happiness, not to mention, the world a lot of peace!

Do you ever think about that? All the problems in the Middle East, even the 9/11 attack, can be traced back to Abraham and Sarah trying to help God keep His promise for a son. Did God need their help? Does God need our help to keep His promises to us? I have a hard time with that…I want to help! I want to speed things up! So I run out in front of God and smack into a brick wall. One of these days, I’m going to quit trying to help God give me what I think I need. But until then, I can read the story of Abraham and Sarah and be reassured that even when I lack the faith that God wants me to have, He still loves me. Even when I get out in front of Him and mess things up, He will keep His promise. In Abraham’s case, not only did God keep His promise, but He came and told Abraham face to face! Isn’t God wonderful?

God keeps all kinds of promises; the promises we like and the ones we don’t like so well. And this next part of Abraham’s story is about that other kind of promise.

Remember, Lot picked Sodom because it looked like the most comfortable part of the landscape. He did not want to have to work too hard. He wanted an easier life. And that got him in trouble. In Patriarchs and Prophets, Ellen White says that few things are more dangerous to the human heart and soul than a life where there is not want. “Idleness and riches make the heart hard that has never been oppressed by want or burdened by sorrow.” (p.156) She goes on to describe the people of Sodom:

There is nothing more desired among me than riches and leisure, and yet these gave birth to the sins that brought destruction upon the cities of the plain. Their useless, idle life made them a prey to Satan’s temptations, and they defaced the image of God, and became satanic rather than divine. Idleness is the greatest curse that can fall on man, for vice and crime follow in its train. It enfeebles the mind, perverts the understanding, and debases the soul. Satan lies in ambush, ready to destroy those who are unguarded, whose leisure gives him opportunity to insinuate himself under some attractive disguise. He is never more successful than when he comes to men in their idle hours. (pp.156-157)

Man, she could be describing people today! That’s the kind of people that Lot chose to live and raise his children with. I don’t believe Lot was a bad guy. I mean, he had lived with Abraham long enough to learn the right way to live and I think he tried to hang onto that as Sodom became more and more corrupt and evil all around him. Again, from Patriarchs and Prophets, I read that he was eager to protect the two strangers that came to warn him about Sodom’s destruction, even though he didn’t know who they really were or why they had come to Sodom. He had learned many of Abraham’s lessons. Those lessons may have been what made the difference between him being left to die in Sodom and being rescued by the angels.

Unfortunately, Lot’s children and wife were harder to convince. Maybe because they had not had the opportunity to learn directly from Abraham; maybe because Lot was not as good a teacher; but it may have been just the fact that their beliefs and convictions had been worn down by living in the middle of this sinful place. It just didn’t look that bad anymore. Remember the story of the frog? If you put a frog in boiling water, it will hop right out. But, if you put a frog in cool water and then slowly turn up the heat, he’ll stay right in the water and get cooked.

Lot’s older daughters didn’t want to leave their husbands. In fact, they laughed at their dad’s efforts to save them. His younger daughters and his wife didn’t want to leave their comfy house, their friends and their sisters/daughters. They wanted to stay where they were.

How much like them are we? We want to be saved, as long as it’s not too inconvenient for us. When I was in junior high, I remember praying that Jesus wouldn’t come back until I’d finished high school, and then in high school, I wanted Him to wait till I’d graduated from college. I wanted to go to heaven, but after I’d had my fun. Am I the only one who felt that way?

Thank goodness God saves us in spite of ourselves, like He did Lot and his family. The angels took them by the hand and literally pulled them away. Would Lot and his family have left without that extra pull? Probably not. Even so, they didn’t go far enough. They ended up in another evil little town. Mrs. Lot didn’t make it at all. Ellen White says,

“If Lot himself had manifested no hesitancy to obey the angels’ warning, but had earnestly fled toward the mountains, without one word of pleading or remonstrance, his wife also would have made her escape. The influence of his example would have saved her from the sin that sealed her doom.” Patriarchs & Prophets p 161

I want to set the right example for my family. What about you?