Haman's Fall Was Inevitable

I have been reading through the book of Esther in my personal devotions. Yesterday I was fascinated by one verse in chapter 6. In case you have forgotten the story told in Esther, Haman, an enemy of the Jews, had plotted to commit genocide against God's chosen people. Haman had a special hatred for one particular Jew, named Mordecai, who refused to honor him as he wanted to be honored.

In chapter 6 the King realized that Mordecai had once done him a great favor that had not yet been rewarded, so he called Haman in and told him to go honor Mordecai for the unrewarded deed. Though Haman hated Mordecai, he had no choice but to do what the King commanded, but loathed every moment of it.

When Haman got home that night he whined to his family about how he had to honor Mordecai that day, the very Jew who had refused to honor Haman. I am sure he was expecting sympathy from his friends and his wife. But their answer to him was startling. That answer is recorded in Esther 6:13 "If Mordecai, before who you have begun to fall, is Jewish, you won't overcome him, because your downfall is certain."

I find it amazing that Haman's friends, who were no friends of the Jews, recognized that the Jews were special and that Haman would not be able to stand against them. Matthew Henry writes in his commentary that "they plainly confessed that the Jews, though scattered through the nations, were special objects of divine care. Miserable comforters are they all; they did not advise Haman to repent, but foretold his fate as unavoidable." Whether Haman's friends had access to the Old Testament or not, they clearly understood the teaching of Genesis 12:3, where God promised Abraham, "I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

Almost since the beginning of Jewish history as a people, there have been those who sought to destroy them. Time and time again their people have been persecuted, often with great enthusiasm (see a list of Jewish persecutions here). But through God's supernatural protection, they have survived. This is something that we should take to heart in our modern world in which the Jews have somehow become the "bad" people of the Middle East. Though I do not always agree with the tactics that the nation of Israel uses against her enemies, I am not fool enough to put myself on the list of her enemies. For all their faults and misguided ideas, the Jews are still God's chosen people and if we stand against them, our fall is inevitable.

(Note: picture above is from: http://www.kidstime4jesus.org/bible_lessons/my_bible_first/lessons/mbf_lesson13.html)

For more devotionals like this one, consider Touching the Footprints of Jesus. 

Helping the Poor VS. Salvation

I heard an interesting comment on the news this morning. The commentator was talking about Pope Francis and his emphasis on compassion for the vulnerable. In the banter back and forth between the various commentators, this fellow said, "It's just Christianity 101. The basis of Christianity is to help the poor." Obviously this commentator is not a theologian, nor was he an official spokesperson for Pope Francis, so we cannot read too much into what he said. But I do think he has expressed a common idea that many people have, which is that the primary purpose of the church is to help the poor and needy.

While I agree that helping the poor and vulnerable is a key part of how Christianity demonstrates the love of Christ to others (James 1:27, John 13:35), it is not the "basis" of Christianity. The basis of Christianity is about what Christ has done for us. Christianity 101 is that people, by nature and by choice, are messed up. The Bible calls this sin, but if we do not like the word sin, we can call it whatever we want to. All we have to do is watch the nightly news to see the depravity of people, so the reality of sin is all around us, even if we do not like to use the word. But Christianity 101 also says that God loves us despite how messed up we are. God's love is more powerful than man's sinfulness. Christianity 101 goes on to teach us that our messed up condition must somehow be fixed. After all, could a loving God really leave us in our messed up condition? This idea that sin must be atoned for is where our concept of justice comes from. Innately, we know that there is a consequence for bad actions and a price to be paid when a wrong is done. One does not have to be a theologian to understand that. Since thousands of years of human history have clearly proven that we are incapable of fixing our messes ourselves, God sent His Son Jesus to earth to show us a better way to live. Jesus then offered Himself up as the ultimate sacrifice for our sin, thereby satisfying the nature of justice, as well as setting an example for daily life. That is Christianity 101.

Before my readers jump to conclusions and leave harsh comments on this post, I point out once again  that I am not saying that helping the poor and the needy is unimportant. But I happen to think it is Christianity 201, not 101. A person must first understand themselves before they can really help others. A person must first come to grips with their own pitiful situation before they can help someone else with theirs. A person must first find the love of God in their own life before they can adequately give that love to someone else through a compassion that helps, instead of a patronizing attitude that actually hurts.

Perhaps the problem with much of what the church is doing is that we have attempted to help the poor and needy without first finding the help that God gives in our own lives. Perhaps instead of starting with the church's mission of helping the poor and needy, we must FIRST find a peace in our own lives that will empower us to more effectively help the poor and needy. Perhaps we must FIRST learn to walk before we learn to run. Perhaps we must FIRST actually enroll in Christianity 101, before we move on to Christianity 201. Then maybe the church will become what it is meant to be, a place for both spiritual peace and compassionate charity. Either one without the other is an incomplete picture of what the church is supposed to be.

For more devotionals like this one, consider Touching the Footprints of Jesus. 

Entering His Gates With Thanksgiving - A Meditation on Pslam 100

Psalm 100
¹ Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! ²Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! ³Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. ⁴Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! ⁵For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Verse 1 - Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!

•          David wrote this Psalm as a prayer of thanksgiving to God.
•          David began by telling people they should make a joyful noise to the Lord.
•          Most of us get far more excited at a football game than we do at sharing all the things God has done for us.

Verse 2 - Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

•          David tells his readers that they should serve the Lord with gladness.
•          What are some ways that we can serve the Lord?
•          Is it possible to serve God without gladness? Yes, but what a terrible way to live one’s life.
•          David tells his readers to come into God’s presence with singing. Music is an important part of our lives. Christian music makes us feel closer to God.
•          One thing that can help our singing be more worshipful is singing songs that we can sing TO God, not just ones that we can sing ABOUT God.

Verse 3 -Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

•          God is the Lord of the universe. Lord means master, ruler, or controller.
•          We live in a world that has worked very hard to tell us that God is either not real, or that He is weak and not really in charge of the universe.
•          It is important to know that God is real and that He is Lord over all things because when we forget that, we tend to think we are in control of everything. Life has a way of reminding us again and again that we are not in control. So if we try to be, we will be constantly disappointed.
•          The Bible teaches both in this verse and in many other places that God made us. This is different than what most of us have been taught in school. We are the special creation of a mighty God not the accident of a muddy glob!!!!

Verse 4 - Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

•          When we come before the Lord, we should come with thanksgiving and praise. There is a difference between thanksgiving and praise. Thanksgiving is being grateful for what God HAS DONE FOR US. Praise is being excited about WHO GOD IS.
•          We should be thankful to God for the many things he has done for us.
•          We should praise God just for being who he is.

Verse 5 - For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

•          David wanted his readers to know that the Lord really is good. Sometimes we doubt the goodness of God when bad things happen to us that we do not understand. But God is always working for our good, even when it does not seem like it.
•          We know God is always working for our good because God’s love is steadfast.
•          Steadfast means it holds true no matter what.
•          Sometimes our love for God goes up and down depending our how we feel or what may be going on in our lives. But God’s love for us NEVER waivers. God’s love endures forever.

Conclusion:

•          We should pray prayers of thanksgiving to God. To do that well, we must:
        •          Serve the Lord with gladness
       •          Come into the Lord’s presence with singing.
       •          Remember that God is the Lord of all things.
       •          Give the Lord thanks and praise even when we do not understand what is happening to us.
       •      Never doubt God’s goodness, for His love for us endures even when our love for Him waivers.

How to Develop Leaders in the Church

Recently I was training a group of pastors in how they could train leaders in their churches. I thought I would share a few of those ideas with the rest of my reading audience.

There are basically two types of leaders needed in the church.

1.     Task Oriented Leaders

These are people whom we can assign a specific task to do and they will do it well. (Examples: cleaning the building, setting up sound equipment, preparing communion, overseeing the nursery, etc.) Many people do not want to have to think about all the behind the scenes strategies, budgets, policies and procedures that it takes to operate a church, they just want a job to do and will do it well if we train and empower them. Though some of these people may in time learn how to become more than just task oriented leaders, many will not, and we should accept that.

2.     Decision Making Leaders

These are people whom can help us provide more strategic leadership to the church, such as deacons or elders. They have the ability, and the willingness, to think deeply and provide feedback and suggestions for the overall direction of the church. Though they may start off as task oriented leaders, it becomes obvious that they can, and will do more. In fact, most of these types of leaders will not stay in a church if they are ONLY used as task oriented leaders. Though we must be cautious about people who are control freaks, most people in this category are not.

Regardless of which type of leader we need, we can follow the same pattern for how to develop them:

1.     You watch me do whatever it is that I want you to do

2.     You assist me in doing whatever it is that I want you to do

3.     I assist you in doing whatever it is that I used to do

4.     I watch you do whatever it is that I used to do

5.     I release you to keep doing what I used to do so I can go do something else

The key to transitioning from one step to the next is honest evaluation and discussion. Practice does NOT make perfect. Practice, followed by evaluation and adjustment, produces ongoing growth, which leads to mature leaders.

What is Negotiable?

My friend David Wesley Gould posted this statement on his Facebook page: “In our belief system, when the negotiable becomes non-negotiable, it won't be long before the non-negotiable becomes negotiable.” I thought it was an interesting statement, and since David and I come from very different denominational backgrounds, I wanted to hear the rest of the story. I asked David to give me the context that his statement emerged from.

David went on to explain that he had been involved in a fairly vigorous online conversation with some colleagues from his denomination about the role of women in ministry. His denomination ordains women for any office, a practice that David thinks should be done with great care and not just to be avant garde. The denomination is officially egalitarian, but since most of their churches would never hire a female pastor, David believes they functionally fall into the complementarianism category. But this post is not actually about women in ministry. What it is really about is how churches, and sometimes whole denominations, can get their focus off course on what is really important, which is what led to David’s comment about what is negotiable and what is non-negotiable. Let me explain.

David shared how in the course of the conversation, one person declared that women in leadership is a “cornerstone” of the denomination, and “not up for debate.” David recalls that “Others began to jump in, and suddenly, people were saying that woman’s ordination was one of our core beliefs.” While it is clearly an important issue, regardless of which side of the debate we fall on, is it really a cornerstone of the denomination? It is really a core belief? Since I am not part of David’s denomination, I do not know for sure, but somehow, I would think that the Gospel should be the cornerstone of ANY denomination, more than the gender of the pastor.

What David found interesting about the discussion he took part in is that at the same time that this discussion about women in ministry was going on, there was also discussion by some in the denomination that they should open the door for those who would see the Bible (primarily the Old Testament) as merely a story-telling narrative, compiled from various writers who may or may not have been giving historical accounts, but certainly wove in their own cultural stories into the main story. David concludes that “basically the inerrancy of Scripture is on the table for review and dismissal (negotiable), but allowing women to pastor is now an essential (non-negotiable) doctrine.” David sees that as a real problem, and made the statement on his Facebook page to express his frustration. I find myself in agreement with David’s concern.

What we decide is negotiable, or non-negotiable, really is important. If we focus on the wrong things and make them non-negotiable, we may find ourselves fighting for a cause that in the end does not make a significant or eternal difference. (For the record, I believe that God reserves the office of pastor for males who meet the biblical qualifications, but that belief is not a “cornerstone” of my faith.) On the other hand, if we give up the fight on issues that are indeed crucial to our faith, then in the end, we will lack the ability to make a significant or eternal difference because we will no longer be teaching the truth. Lord, help us know which issues are truly the cornerstones of our faith and which issues are perhaps important, but secondary.

The Gospel of the Walking Dead

Many people in our nation are fascinated with the AMC series, The Walking Dead. If you have not seen it, it tells the story of the a group of ordinary people fighting for survival in the midst of a world-wide zombie apocalypse. Due to the violence in the show, I am unable to recommend that everyone watch it, but for die hard zombie genre fans, it is a must see.

Though the show is not particularly religious, every so often it will include a religious theme. Though in my opinion, the screen writers' view of religion is a bit warped, I suspect that it is an accurate portrayal of how the ordinary person on the street who is only vaguely connected with religion feels. For example, I noticed that in season two, episode one, the characters went into the "Southern Baptist Church of Holy Light." Since I am a Southern Baptist, that got my attention. But once inside the church, I noticed it was decorated more like a Catholic church, including an almost life-sized crucifix of Jesus at front. Since a Southern Baptist church would NEVER have a crucifix of Jesus still on the cross, it was a glaring theological error. Obviously the screenwriters were lumping all religion together without any understanding of theology. But should that really surprise us? The church has not done a good job in recent years of communicating what we believe to those outside the church. Therefore, it makes sense that those outside the church do not understand something so basic as why Jesus is no longer on the cross.

But God, in His sovereignty, has not left non-believers without a witness. In the very same episode, a key character in the show, whose young daughter had gone missing in a forest full of zombies, prays and asks the Lord to take any punishment the little girl deserved and give it to the mom instead. Though slightly awry in its focus, this mother was expressing the biblical concept of propitiation. I doubt the writers realized they were teaching a Gospel truth that Jesus did exactly what that mother asked for on the cross. For it was on the cross that Jesus took all our iniquities, struggles, problems and failures on Himself and traded us all of His righteousness and purity. I thought it was intriguing that the screenwriters could not get a simple thing like Jesus no longer being on the cross in a Baptist church right, but could at least hint at the much more complicated concept of Jesus taking our sins upon Himself. Only God could have caused the screenwriters' minds to work such a deep idea into an otherwise unredeemable show.

Let us pray that the God of Heaven, whom is calling many to Himself, will continue to work in the hearts of non-believers to reveal the truth of the Gospel to them in ways that no one could have ever guessed.

Dr. Terry W. Dorsett is a church planter in New England. He also writes books and leads seminars on how to help churches be more effective in their ministries. Check out his resources at:
http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terry-W.-Dorsett/e/B00405U4NY/

Honestly Honest

This is a page out of my children's Bible puzzle book, Bible Brain Teasers: Fun Adventures through the Bible. It would make a great Christmas gift for children and grandchildren and can be ordered from Amazon.com at this link:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/125778532X
All the proceeds from book sales supports our family's efforts to plant churches in New England.