DAY 288 - Me First!

Matthew 20:20-21, 25-28 (NIV) ²⁰ Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. ²¹ “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” ²⁵ Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ²⁶ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Philippians 2:5-8 (NIV) ⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: ⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; ⁷ rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!

How do you feel about being a servant? The servant image in our society seems to be both positive and negative. After all, we hear our leaders say that they want to be “public servants,” and they do. But most of them like the perks of power that go with such noble service.

The image of a servant is not entirely bad, but there is a nagging negative to it. A real servant, without the perks, seems weak and spineless, unable to get ahead, naïve, lacking in self-esteem. The key for understanding the kind of servant we are to be is Jesus Himself … just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.

This is crucial. We are to be a servant in the way that Jesus was a servant. We do not understand the meaning of that word unless we understand it from Him. Jesus served people, but He was not a people pleaser. He took the needs of people seriously, but they did not set the agenda for His service. He fed the poor and hungry, but said they need more. They needed good news that would inspire them to a new life, and He gave that to them. He acted responsibly toward people but seemed to feel no obligation to them. He healed those who came to Him, but He did not try to heal everyone in the region. He never seemed to worry about people taking advantage of Him. He was known for serving the poor, but He served the rich and powerful as well.

Jesus wants to set us free from needing to be upwardly mobile in the ranks and calls us to be a servant that we might also be free … and to give his life as a ransom for many. The word ransom for us usually means ransom money given to a kidnapper. In Jesus’ day it was the money paid to free a slave. Jesus wants to ransom us from a mind-set that keeps us in bondage. He wants to give us a new way of seeing and doing life. You shall be a servant.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 6, 1994

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 287 - The Art of Care-Fronting

I Corinthians 4:14-21 (NASB) ¹⁴ I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. ¹⁵ For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. ¹⁶ Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. ¹⁷ For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ Now some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹ But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant but their power. ²⁰ For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power. ²¹ What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

When we look at the life of the early church we see people who were often confused about what obedience meant. It is no accident that more than half of Paul’s letters were written to correct this confusion. Paul writes that he does not write to make them ashamed, but to admonish them as beloved children. The word Paul uses is noutheteo, to place in the mind, and translators hunt for the right English word. It can mean to warn, to train, to counsel, or to care-front. Care-front is the way we confront one another in a caring and loving way. Proverbs notes the confronting nature of love in 27:6, better are the wounds of a friend than the kisses of an enemy.

There is within many of us something that resists this kind of accountability to each other. But, some questions are just too close to our own brokenness for us to see the right answer. Am I a people pleaser? Do I use people rather than build them up? Am I nursing a “justified” resentment? Am I being true to Christ in the way I am treating my spouse, my children, in the way I am doing my work? In the way I am managing my money and my care or lack of care of my health?

Answers come from the people who know us the best and love us still. This is the responsibility the Christian community has to one another. Care-fronting is a way of helping one another recognize the deceit of self-centeredness and to move in the direction of being more faithful to Christ.

The church needs to be a community where people hold themselves accountable to God and to one another. Today, there is agreement in principle, but often there is almost no agreement in practice. Care-fronting gives us the wisdom and the power to be faithful in daily living and to experience Christ’s faithfulness to us.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope February 13, 1994

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 286- If You Love Me Listen To Me

Luke 8:5-8, 18 (NIV) ⁵ “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. ⁶ Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.” When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”  ¹⁸ Therefore consider carefully how you listen.

Romans 10:14-17 (NIV)  ¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” ¹⁶ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” ¹⁷ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

Relationships require listening, and faith in Christ and relationship with Him come as we listen. Paul says faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. Over and over again the Scriptures emphasize the importance of listening to God.

If listening is the way relationships begin and grow, it is also true that we resist listening. So Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower. Some do not hear because their hearts have been hardened. They have heard too many false advertisements; they have been jilted by too many fickle lovers. Some do not hear because their hearts are shallow. They want quick results to their hearing and when it does not come they shut down their listening. And some do not hear because their hearts are too cluttered by noise and the busy-ness of the world.

The good news of the parable is that the Sower continues to sow. The persistence of our resistance is met by the persistence of God’s continuous speaking. Hearing comes as a gift and it can come at any time, but Jesus says that we are most likely to hear when we persist in our effort to hear, even if our effort seems to bear no results. This persistence in hearing is called meditation. We do not have to be spiritual giants to meditate. We do not have to learn an advance skill to listen, to be quiet, to allow a little stillness into our soul.

Have you ever had something to say to someone that you knew would be good and helpful, but they refused to listen or hear you? That is the way Jesus pictures us. Hearing means an awareness of and confidence in Him. Faith in Christ and relationship with Him come as we listen.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope January 30, 1994

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 285 - Do Not Neglect The Gift That Is In You

I Timothy 4:14-15 (NIV) ¹⁴ Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. ¹⁵ Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.

II Timothy 1:6-7 (NIV) ⁶ For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷ For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

Do not neglect your gift … the word is charismata, a grace gift. As each has received a grace gift to carry out the ministry of Jesus Christ, use it. Carrying out the ministry of Jesus Christ helps us to be who God intended. We are made to share in the work of Jesus Christ in all that we do: in our responsibility to our family, in our responsibility at work, and in our responsibility to love and care for people.  The things that we do that give us deep and lasting pleasure usually involve the use of our gifts.

Do not let the pressures of the world push the awareness of your gifts out of your mind and heart. Do not neglect the gift that is in you. Neglect comes from giving in to the pressures of the society around us, what family expects, what our boss is asking of us, what our spouse wants from us, what our teacher is telling us to strive for, what our friends hope we will be and do, what the media is telling us that we need. These are pressures around us to neglect our gifts, but they have no power over us unless we give in to these demands and expectations. Do not let the pressures of the world push the awareness of your gifts out of your mind and heart. Lacking a sense of giftedness and call we become burdened and burned out. Without a sense of purpose we become driven and determined.

Then in his second letter to Timothy, Paul says the same thing in a more positive way when he says that we are to fan into flame the gift of God, to stir up the fire of life within us. It is not enough simply to resist the pressure. We must be pro-active against it. And the only way to do that is to stay close to the flame who is Jesus Christ. Jesus inspires the awareness of our gift. If it is the pressure of the world around us that causes us to neglect our gifts, we need another world, a community that does not try to mold and manipulate according to its design, but a Christian community that seeks to clarify, to correct, and to confirm our gifts.

Attend diligently to these things. The athlete and the artist both submit their gifts to discipline if they are to be developed. Begin with what you already feel gives God and you pleasure. It may or may not be easy but it will be worth the price. It may or may not help you earn money, but it will be worth your life. Stay close to the flame in a Christian community. Do not neglect the gift. Rekindle the gift.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope January 16, 1994

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 284 - A Gift for the Common Good

Ephesians 4:11-16 (NIV) ¹¹ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. ¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶ From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

I Peter 4:11 (NIV) ¹¹ If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Christian community happens when there is a meeting and melting together of the gifts we have received from the life of Jesus Christ. Not until and unless we have that kind of sharing can we experience the reality called community. We have a challenge in our effort to be community, and the problem has to do with pressures that encourage isolation and conformity.

When we look at the thirty or so different gifts mentioned in the New Testament we can begin to sense and see the different ways different people contribute some measure of Christ’s gift to the community in general and the community called church. Christian community pulls us out of isolation and instead of pressuring us into conformity, demands that we contribute the diversity of our gift for the common good. In fact, this diversity is vital for the health of the Christian community. As we contribute the measure of our gift, we measure up to the life of Jesus Christ. Like pieces of a puzzle, we come together contributing our part and display a more complete picture of the life Jesus Christ.

It is not false humility to think that it is hard for us to be like Christ individually, and is probably a fairly accurate reading of our human frailties. But when we come together, and each contributes some portion of gifts, we become a community where the living Christ can be met, worshipped, and served. Not only do we display the life of Christ more completely as a community than as isolated individuals, but a strange reciprocity takes place. We give and we receive all aspects of His life.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope January 23, 1994

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 283 - Concerning Spiritual Gifts

John 14:12-14 (NIV) ¹² Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

I Corinthians 12:1, 12-18, 25-26  (NASB) Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. ¹² For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. ¹³ For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. ¹⁴ For the body is not one member, but many. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. ²⁵ so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶ And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

Fifty days after the Resurrection the disciples began learning that they could do the works that Jesus did. And, like Jesus, the disciples began to draw people into a new kind of community where they discovered a new relationship to God and to one another. Peter called this ability to do the work of Christ the “Grace Gifts.” Paul used various names, but tended to call this ability “Spiritual Gifts.”

Concerning spiritual gifts, I do not want you to be unaware. How aware are we about spiritual gifts? Do we know what they are and what they do and how they are meant to be used? There is much we do not know, but this much we do know: there are a variety of gifts, a variety of ways to use them, and a variety of times and occasions when these gifts are needed, but always it is the same Spirit, the same Lord, the same God being served. These are some of the things we know about spiritual gifts, but possibly the most important is this: to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. If you are committed to Jesus Christ, He has committed some part of His present ministry and work to you, as He wills.

As we give from the gifts of the Spirit, we receive back. We receive that illusive gift called fulfillment. Fulfillment comes not because what we are doing is special or glamorous or highly profitable. We receive fulfillment because we are doing what we were created and designed to do. We are doing what fits us and it fills us full. We each have a gift, and we have a need to put that gift to use not only for the common good, but for our good.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope January 9, 1994

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 282 - Tyranny of the Tangible

Matthew 6:24-33 (RSV) ²⁴ "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. ²⁶ "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? ²⁸ And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' ³² For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.  
 

Jesus speaks directly to how we view money when He says we cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon may have been a Babylonian god, and in Jesus’ day mammon was a nickname for money and wealth, referring to the power of money. Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” Do we believe Him? I am not sure we can always recognize when we are trying to serve both God and mammon. Money has a way of sneaking into our life so slowly that almost unconsciously we come to depend on it rather than on God. “Do not be anxious,” Jesus said. The word literally means “torn apart.” And that is what happens when we try to serve God and mammon. When worry and conflict over money enters our life, it is a symptom of a divided heart. Worry and conflict about money is a red flag over our life warning us that something is wrong in our spirit. We are split and divided in our devotion.

You cannot serve God and mammon. It is not a command. It is simply a statement of fact. Faith is a confidence in God that believes the promises of God. Little faith means that our confidence is not big enough to include money. This little faith is an inner attitude. It is a mind-set that colors not only the way we see God but the way we see money.

A faith that is big enough is simply one that includes confidence in God in the way we deal with money. This is the confidence we see in Jesus. He lived freely and openly, without anxiety over money. He did not grasp at the things money could buy but allowed those gifts to come to Him as God intended. Do we have a faith big enough to include God in the management of our money for His glory and for our soul’s satisfaction? It is not an easy task but it is not a worrisome task either. If we are going to use a lot of energy over money how better to use it than seeking God’s guidance.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope October 31, 1993

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell