CAN WE AVOID THE PITFALLS OF HINDSIGHT?

Yesterday as I sat in Sunday School my iPad sounded an alert that drew my immediate attention. As I looked down the flashing notification read these words “Joe Paterno Dead at 85″. The news was not stunning, nor was it especially personal, and yet it was a reminder of the testimony we craft with our time.

Image by Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press. At Beaver Stadium, fans left tributes to Joe Paterno, a coach who stressed academics. Linked Article By PETE THAMEL Published: January 22, 2012 New York Times

Paterno’s legacy at Penn State and in NCAA  football will no doubt for a indefinate amount of time testify to football greatness. With all kinds of physical records set, championships, and even the intangible effect of his positive influence on generations young men whom he coached Paterno’s legacy is assured. The time and effort he gave the people of Happy Valley testifies to some core values of loyalty, tenacity, and victory.

Even so, can anyone forget the events of the past few months? The legacy crafted through years of hard work must be measured amid a fellow coach’s sexual assault scandal and Paterno’s own dismissal due to a lack of action. The New York Times today offers this quote from Paterno in an article by Pete Thamel today,  “With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more”. In this last chapter of his life Paterno has testified, as Thamel rightly calls it, to a tragic weakness in the way he handled himself in this instance.

Can any of us avoid a similar tragic weakness in the way our time testifies to our priorities? Examine with me a passage to which you may not often turn in Exodus 31:12-17. In this passage the Lord tells Moses to command that the people of Israel observe a Sabbath. Seeing this as an Old Testament passage than no longer applies, many may pass right by this text thinking that it has not importance for a New Testament believer. Whoa! Don’t just pass by this passage without seeing at least three principles on how our time testifies to the state of our heart.

 

VOTE IN THIS WEEK’S POLL!

 

BLESS YOU IS MORE THAN AN REACTION TO A SNEEZE

Considered a polite response to a sneeze, the phrase “God bless you” is attributed to Pope Gregory the Great, who said it to people who sneezed during a bubonic plague. Aside from the idea of protecting against the spread of disease, “blessing” someone after they sneezed originated from the erroneous beliefs that the soul escapes the body during a sneeze and the heart momentarily stops as well. Therefore, saying “God bless you” was a way of welcoming the person back to life. Read more: Common Superstitions at WomansDay.com - History of Superstitions - Woman's Day

This Sunday past, my message came from the book of Genesis chapter 12:1-3. Our church is in the middle of a eight to ten week examination of what the Bible teaches concerning evangelism, particularly what the Old Testament saints proclaim as the promise God made to them concerning a Savior. It is this promise, that I am convinced we are to be proclaiming to the world as fulfilled in Christ Jesus.

Even so, as I prepared the message last week, I was engaged by the little phrase in the text, “I will bless you”. So often in my life after someone sneezed, before I thought about it, I blessed them. Most of the time I end a conversation with that little phrase. Even so, as I consider my blessing of them now, I can hardly say that my blessing did them any good. The Lord’s blessing of Abram was not that sort of blessing. The Lord God brought Abram to a new land. He created for him a family and a heritage. The Lord God secured for Abram righteousness all due to his simple faith in the Lord’s promises. The Lord God really blessed Abram!

Reading the next phrases in Genesis should be convicting. In Abram’s case, God promised that he would be made a blessing, even to every family from earth, Abram would be a blessing. Abram’s new blessed nature was so distinctly connected with God that to curse this man was to incur the curse of God. To bless this man was to incur God’s good favor and blessing. This makes me think twice about flippantly promising blessing on someone merely for expelling air from their nostrils.

 

ELECTABILITY, FRONT-RUNNERS, AND BABEL LIKE THAT

Ballot Results from the Iowa Caucus 2012

Last week I sat and watched eagerly as the Iowans caucused around GOP candidates. It quickly became apparent that three types of voters were going to be represented in those meetings. While results from the New Hampshire primary have not as of my writing this come in, I am certain that those results will not have a major effect on what needs to be shared here. You see in this time of year perhaps better than at any other time we see the call for us to unite around a candidate who can win. The conventional wisdom makes the case that unless people do coalesce around a candidate early,  there is no hope for the cause in the upcoming election. Further the candidates take these votes as indications of the popular support for their platforms even though the majority of the time the primary elections are more indicative of financial support or the all elusive commodity, electability.

How should a believer understand this process? Further, should a Christian succumb to the pressure to coalesce around a candidate whom they may not ideally support but are convinced he is electable? Though my expertise is not in elections nor is it in politics, allow me to offer a spiritual eye to this process and to what should follow. First, elections are not so much about voting our convictions as they are about selecting the candidate who most closely shares those convictions. Therefore, elections require that we first know our beliefs and convictions. Second, primary elections are not at all about electability. Primary elections are more about setting the agenda for the debate ahead by supporting those candidates who share our convictions and vocally argue them before the people. Thirdly, coalescing around an electable front runner is the responsibility of the nominating conventions not the primaries. Therefore we should not begin to coalesce until the nominating conventions arrive.

 

A Referee’s Look at Church is a Team Sport

Recently I completed Jim Putnam’s book Church is a Team Sport. For several years this book has been on my shelf, beckoning me to take the time to crack open its pages and mine from it principles to unify the church I serve as God’s team. Immediately as I began reading I could not mistake the obvious implications that this book offered for discipleship and shepherding God’s flock.

The greatest to read this book, as well as to pass it on for the edification of others can be seen in the very accessible title of the work. The book continues page after page reminding the reader that the greatest reason for ineffectiveness of the church is that too many churches do not play as a team, do not know the rule book, do not have regular practice, and do not know the game plan, etc. In the same way, this book takes a few core principles and makes it plain that a biblical church will function as a team with coaches (pastors and leaders) who ensure that the team (members) contact the missing, leads people seeking the Lord to follow him, and personally prays for the sick. These very basic principles are often referred to as a shepherding or discipleship.