If you can smile and make conversation on a Sunday morning and are willing to volunteer to help, chances are someone will eventually ask you to lead. How do you know if you’re ready? Just smiling and putting up your hand surely aren’t the qualifications. Then again, a Christian is someone who admits that they’re a sinner in need of God’s grace, so you probably don’t have to be perfect to be a Christian leader. In the case of an elder, the lines are drawn pretty clearly in Scripture. We looked last time at the first of those qualifications: integrity. Today, let’s consider self-control from 3 different angles.
What should you do if you’re asked to serve as an elder? Do you decide on the basis of related work experience? Is there an x-factor you should know about? Is it a question of who has the strongest opinions or whether you think you could make better decisions than the current elders? The Bible gives a clear benchmark, and the starting point is integrity. But it’s not just a requirement of elders. It’s the goal of all discipleship and should characterize every believer. We all need to work on integrity whether we’re ever asked to becoming leaders or not. The Christian version of integrity is slightly different than how people typically conceive of it, though. Let me explain.
Japan isn’t known for its level of English proficiency, but there’s a 3-word phrase that will elicit a knowing smile from almost any Japanese person wherever you go in the country. The phrase is, “Boys, be ambitious,” and it came from the farewell address that William Smith Clark made after an 8-month stint as head of the Sapporo Agricultural College in 1877. Today, there are statues of Clark bearing the phrase and a painting in the state capitol building in Sapporo with a full text of his speech. Clark was a devout Christian but is the phrase by which he’s remembered Christian? Should a Christian be ambitious? Or was this just an export of American capitalism? I think the answer is yes and no, depending on how we define the term. Let me explain.
Every so often, something will happen to trigger a national conversation about injustice against Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Sometimes, it’s the disappearance or death of an Indigenous woman that doesn’t seem to have been adequately investigated. Other times, it’s a dispute over a land claim. This summer, it was the reports of the graves of Indigenous children associated with residential schools that brought the conversation to a head. When this happens, people search for ways to respond. For some, that has meant anger or vandalism. For others, politicization or indifference. And some have responded with hashtags, T-shirts, and land acknowledgements. Over the last number of months, I have sought to listen. I’ve listened to the partners we support in Indigenous ministry. I’ve listened to the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. I’ve read the Calls to Action. And I’ve tried to ask: How should we respond? Let me share what I’ve heard.
When you first start reading the Bible, it’s all so new that just taking it in can be overwhelming. As you begin to read more consistently, though, you can’t help but notice that stories about Jesus are often repeated in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In fact, Jesus’ teachings are often repeated also. As you wonder why, you might be told that the gospel writers are each giving an account of the event from their own perspective like witnesses to a traffic accident. And that much is true, but the reality is a little more complicated, and it affects how you should read what they’ve written. Let me explain.
Christians love the Parable of the Prodigal Son. And why wouldn’t we? There’s drama, loss, family tension, crisis, and reconciliation – all the ingredients of a great story! While it’s one that we love, there are lessons that we seem to keep missing when we read it. Jesus’ parable wasn’t just told as a beautiful illustration of the gospel. It was told in response to the grumbling of the religious elite over his eating and drinking with sinners (Luke 15:1-2). There are 3 lessons we can’t afford to miss.
So, you’ve decided to read the Bible. You open the passage. You read it a couple of times and you notice some interesting things. Your curiosity takes over. Why is that there? Why is it phrased that way? Why didn’t they say this instead? Before you know it, you’ve spent the entire time you had set aside for Bible study going down rabbit holes and, in the end, learning very little about what God was likely trying to teach you. I had an experience like this yesterday. And it reminded me how critical it is to look for the right things and ask the right questions as you read the Word of God. Missing the forest for the trees is a real danger in Bible study and it’s one that we can all avoid. Let me explain.
Have you ever wondered how much confidence you should put in the four gospel accounts that open the New Testament? Are they just legends? Should we read them as reliable accounts of what Jesus actually did? Could they have preserved Jesus’ teachings after such a long time? These are questions I asked when I first began to investigate Christianity, but a course that I’m taking in the gospels with Wayne Baxter this term has given me greater clarity in understanding them. Let me share what I’ve learned.
It’s hard not to be cynical in our world today. Internet ads make ridiculous claims to unwary consumers. Fake testimonials promote bogus products. Glory-seeking preachers claim miraculous healings. One by one, the frauds are exposed, but they’re replaced by new ones just as quickly. Not surprisingly, objective, rational people are left scratching their heads. Why can’t people be more critical? Why don’t they check the facts? Why won’t they listen to science? Enter the gospel stories. While they contain some good teaching and moral advice, the claims of miracles make them hard for a rational person today to take seriously. Walking on water? Feeding the 5,000? Giving sight to the blind? What do you do with these?
I was speaking to someone recently and I could see that they were struggling to understand what felt like mixed signals in the Bible. On the one hand, there are verses that speak of believers as being clean, washed of their sins, forgiven, and made holy. On the other hand, there are verses that speak of God being grieved by our sins and disciplining us for them. When the Bible speaks of our forgiveness and cleansing is God just trying to inspire us? Or when the Bible speaks of the ongoing presence of our sins is God just trying to scare us? When God sees His children is He shaking His head in frustration? Or is He graciously looking away from the areas where we still falter? How should believers understand God’s attitude toward them when they sin? Let me suggest that there are two hats that can help us make sense of the Bible’s competing descriptions of God’s attitude toward us.
