Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many. I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble. Hold on to instruction; do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life. Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way. For they cannot rest until they do evil; they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble. They eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble (Proverbs 4:10-19).

Many years ago as a Boy Scout, I forgot my flashlight and had to make my way at night across a ridge and through a valley while returning to the main camp. Once down in the valley, there was barely any moonlight. It was difficult, even impossible, not to make wrong turns and become lost. It was a nervous and harrowing hike—and I was very glad when I saw the light of the dining hall in the distance. The memory of the small amount of fear and danger of that evening, when I might have lost my way, has never left me. Imagine then the terror a person might feel in the vast wastelands of the ancient world.

Life is a series of choices. Sometimes in unclear situations, day in and day out we decide what course of action we are going to take—what path we are going to follow—in a variety of situations. The character of our decisions depends not only on what we know but also upon our experience and our character. C. S. Lewis describes the importance of the decisions we make this way:

[E]very time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part that chooses, into something a little different than it was before. [1]

Choices are important, because our choices determine who we are and what kind of person we are going to be now and in eternity.

This morning, we are talking about the importance of choices—and in particular about the importance of the fundamental choice we make concerning how we will approach life. Proverbs describes the basic decision we make in life as a decision among fundamental path we might take to guide our life. There are basic choices we all make in life. Those basic choices determine, for better or worse, our future. [2]

The Two Paths.

 One constant theme of wisdom literature is that we all make a fundamental choice concerning how we will live and what will guide all the choices we make in life. Everyone has a basic orientation in life. We have a basic way of seeing the world. Human beings always make motivated decisions. That is to say, we decide what to value and what to do based upon our perception of the advantages and disadvantages of a particular choice. We normally choose the path we think will lead to our happiness, one way or another. Many of the motivations for our choices are unconscious and may involve our human brokenness. Consequently, it is important for us to be conscious of our motivations and control them.

Wisdom literature presumes that there are basic orientations we all have that guide our decision-making. Often, this basic orientation is described as a decision between two paths or ways of life. Sometimes, these two ways are described as the choice between the Path of Wisdom and the Path of Foolishness. On other occasions, they are described as the Path of the Righteous and the Path of the Wicked. On occasion, they are described as the Path of Light and the Path of Darkness. Finally, frequently the two paths are characterized as a Path of Life and a Path of Death. The first path (the path of wisdom) leads to life, wholeness and happiness; the other path (the path of foolishness) leads to frustration, failure, and death.

Psalm 1 is a kind of poetic meditation on the two paths. It reads as follows:

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.

 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

Psalm 1 beautifully portrays the results of two paths. Those who love wisdom and righteousness are like trees in a fertile field by a stream of water growing strong, healthy and fruitful. Those who love the way of wickedness and foolishness are like grass planted in the desert. When the winds of life blow, they dry up and die. Our basic choices in life matter because our ultimate happiness depends upon our basic choices.

Listen to the Voice of Wisdom.

Years ago, I had an opportunity to backpack across Europe. One day in Athens, I had an experience that has impacted my life in a big way. For some reason, I was left alone for a long time. I sat on a bench in a museum and stared for close to an hour at a statute of Athena, the Greek Goddess of Wisdom. Athena, if you know of her, was a lovely maiden and an athlete—a huntress as well as the patron of wisdom in Greek culture. The ancient artist who carved the statute I was looking at did a wonderful job. Athena was presented with one arm and hand outstretched as if offering someone standing across from her a gift. The brilliance of the sculptor was shown in the expression on her perfectly lovely, composed face. Somehow, despite portraying Athena as quiet, calm, and composed, he or she left an impression of sadness upon her face, as if the goddess were offering the human race a gift she knew they would not take the gift of wisdom.

Over and over again in wisdom literature, two ladies are portrayed as vying for the attention and devotion of the human race. The two ladies are Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly. For example, in Chapter 9 of Proverbs, Lady Wisdom is pictured as preparing her home for a party:

Wisdom has built her house; she has set up its seven pillars. She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. She has sent out her servants, and she calls from the highest point of the city, “Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she says, “Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and you will live;  walk in the way of insight” (Proverbs 9:1-6).

This image of wisdom as a lady crying out from a prominent place in an ancient city urging human beings to follow her path and enjoy the riches she offers appears over and over again in wisdom literature (Proverbs 1:20-33; Proverbs 8:1-11). Even more frequently in Proverbs, wisdom is portrayed as a parent urging a child to follow the path of wisdom and good behavior. Always, financial security, honor, peace, long life, and blessing are promised to those who follow the path of wisdom and resist the always-popular path of foolishness and immoral behavior.

Do Not Listen to the Voice of Folly.

There is another lady Proverbs presents to us over and over again. It is the voice of Lady Folly. Lady Folly is portrayed as a seductress, luring human beings into a life of infidelity, violence, foolishness, darkness and evil (See, Proverbs 5:1-23; 7:1-27; 9:18-18). Proverbs 9 is interesting because it begins with a description of Lady Wisdom and ends with the following description of Lady Folly:

Folly is an unruly woman; she is simple and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way, “Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she says, “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!” But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead (Proverbs 9:13-18).

In this little passage, Lady Folly is seen seducing passers-by into a life of thievery. In other passages, she is pictured as enticing human beings into a life of infidelity (Proverbs 7:1-27). In still other passages, folly is seen as enticing a person to violence (Proverbs 1:10-19). In all cases, the result is pictured as punishment, destruction, and death: physical (See, Proverbs 1:18; 2:18-19; 7:27; 9:18) and moral (4: 19; 6:33).

I am afraid that the voice of Lady Folly is loud in our society—so loud that she often drowns out the voice of wisdom and reason. The media constantly portrays the pleasures of illicit sex, and seldom pictures the ruined lives that too often result. The media often glorifies violence as a solution to human problems, and seldom pictures the terrible results violence always brings with it. [3] The media often glorifies illegal behavior and a person who takes advantage of others because of their intelligence, and seldom the human suffering that results in real life. We may think we have outgrown the wisdom of the ancient world, but the voice of Lady Folly is the loudest voice of all in our culture today—and listening to her seductive voice ruins many lives. Unfortunately, the young are always the most vulnerable to the voice of Lady Folly.

Walk on the Path of Life.

This has been a Great Banquet Weekend, so I could not help myself from sharing the picture I have on the screen for the final slide this morning. Just as I was finishing the first complete draft of Path of Life last fall, we had a Great Banquet at Camp Pinecrest. One evening, it rained, and then the sun came out. Several of us had just left the Dining Lodge when we turned around and saw the loveliest rainbow you can imagine. It seemed to cover Camp Pinecrest. Kathy took a picture from a bit down the road entering into the campground looking towards where the guests were located with a tree, which could be the Tree of Life illuminated in the background. You could see the road leading towards this vision of life. I wanted to use it as the cover for the book, but the publisher thought it was too busy. Nevertheless, to me it symbolizes the Path of Life.

We all want our children and grandchildren to have happy lives. Almost all parents want their children to avoid some of the mistakes they have made. Unfortunately, our society is not taking the steps that are necessary if our hopes and dreams are to come true. We have come to believe that it is easy to make good decisions, that if we live pretty much like our friends and neighbors we will find the joy and happiness we seek. Unfortunately, the evidence is to the contrary. Americans today are more worried, have more emotional problems, are in more financial bondage, and feel less hopeful about the future than ever before. The key is to stop being like everyone around us and to start being like Jesus—to start being attentive to the voice of the wisdom of the ages in Christ. It is true, as Jesus said, “…wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).

It is easy to walk on the Path of Foolishness, at least at the beginning, and hard to walk on the Path of Wisdom, at least at the beginning. However, in the end, it is hard to walk the path of foolishness and it leads to a kind of death and destruction. The Path of Wisdom, on the other hand, leads to life. In Deuteronomy, Moses asks the people whether they will choose to follow the Lord or other gods. He describes the choice they will make as a choice between life and death, and then urges them to “Choose Life” (Deut. 30:19). We all make fundamental choices. Wisdom literature urges us over and over again to “Chose Life.” [4] It this message we need to give to our families, our friends, our nation, and our world in these troubled and dark days.

[1] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (London, England: Collins Fontana Books, 1952), 82.

[2] Most of this sermon is taken from my book, Path of Life (Eugene, OR: Wipf&Stock, 2014).

[3] See, G. Christopher Scruggs, Centered Living/Centered Leading: The Way of Light and Love (Cordova, TN: Shiloh Press, 2010). The Bible and Tao of ancient China warn frequently about the danger of violence.

[4] Moses puts it this way, “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live (Proverbs 30:19).

“The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom, and Humility comes before honor” (Proverbs 15:33).

Many people misunderstand what wisdom is. Many people think of wisdom as something highly abstract or metaphorical. Wisdom is not abstract knowledge. Wisdom is the practical ability to face and overcome the daily problems of life. Wisdom is about making good decisions, avoiding evil or foolishness, working hard, saving money, caring for children and parents, living simply within one’s means, facing unfairness, suffering, and death, and not expecting too much of life. It means living in the present, learning from the past, and keeping an eye on the future. There are two words we must understand if we are to begin the quest for wisdom: We must understand what it means to fear the LORD God, and we must understand what it means to be humble.

How can we become wise? What is the first step we must take? Proverbs begins with an epitaph, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and understanding” (Proverbs 1:8). Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy one is insight.” This morning’s Old Testament verse reads, “The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor” (Proverbs 15:33).

The first of two words we need to think about is “Fear.“ Wisdom begins with recognizing that we are not God, and we must respect the One who is God, the Lord of the Heavens and the earth and the Creator of all things visible and invisible. Modern folks have a problem with the idea of “fearing God.” A better translation of the Hebrew in this context is something like “Deep Awe and Respect”. For example, I have always had a fear and respect for electricity. When I was a child, I got a pretty bad shock putting my hand in a socket. We want our children to be afraid of touching a hot iron, or a burner, or an electric socket because we have a deep respect for what can happen if they do not have a healthy understanding of what heat or electricity can do.

Years ago. one hot late July or early August day, I was part of a tie-gang repairing rail near a siding just outside of Black Rock, Arkansas. We were replacing worn out tie-plates with new plates and spikes. The foreman left us for a while, and we were working and goofing-off not watching where we were or where we were going. Normally trains knew where repair gang was, and the foreman had a radio to warn him when we needed to get off the rails. For some reason, the warning failed. I don’t know why.

In any case we were working along ahead of a curve when all of a sudden a freight train going full speed came out of what we thought was nowhere. You never saw a bunch of guys move so fast in all of your life! I was near the front of the group, and I will never forget hearing that horn, looking up, and seeing a train pulled by four engines going all out come straight at us around that bend. For a second, I was frozen with fear. Looking up and seeing that train on the rails that day was frightening because we knew what would happen if we did not get ourselves and our tools off the track and away from the danger of being hit by a moving object of such speed, weight and power.

God is like that train: we cannot move God, change God, or avoid God. God the source of all the power in the universe, and only a fool does not respect that power. Our only and best choice is to go with the power and wisdom of God; we cannot change it.

The second word we must understand is the word, “Humility.” Over and over, the Bible teaches us that humility is important. Wisdom literature and the New Testament tell us that, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6; I Peter 5:5). Many people, including many Christians, have a bad feeling about the word “Humble.” That is too bad because humility is one of the most important virtues a person can have. Humility is remembering who and what we are.

The Latin word for “Humble” is the same word from which we get out word, “Humus”. Humus is basically dirt. Those who know the creation story of Genesis know that humans were made of the dust of the earth. The name “Adam” comes from a Hebrew word meaning “dust” or “dirt.” At graveside services, we say “Words of Committal,” which go something like this: “We commit our dear departed to the earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” It is a reminder that we are all made of dust, and it is to dust we will all return. This recognizes our human condition.

Humility, then, is remembering who we really are: frail, fallible, bent, and sinning human creatures—all of us. We are not gods, and we cannot become gods. We are just men and women, creatures of the dust. We cannot see all ends, and we often do not know the consequences of what we are doing. We make terrible mistakes. We even make terrible mistakes when we are trying to do our best because we are as the hymn has it, “frail creatures of dust and feeble as frail.”

Humility is necessary for us to learn anything. Humility is a fundamental stance towards creation and others that admits that we do not know everything. We don’t even know enough to keep ourselves out of trouble without a bit of grace and good luck. The first thing we must learn before we can learn something new about anyone, including people we have known for years, is admit we don’t know everything and we need to know more. To be humble is to be teachable; and, if we are not teachable, we are proud and certainly going to get ourselves in trouble.

We know a lot about a lot of things in the modern world. However, I am afraid that our scientific success has made us proud and foolish. For example, we have thought as a nation that we know more than the ancients and God’s word about money, so we have borrowed our nation to the point of national ruin. We thought that we knew more than God and God’s word about sex and sexual relations, so now we live in moral wilderness in the midst of an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases that grows daily in the face of all the drugs and all the penicillin and other drugs we throw at it. As Paul says in Romans, “Thinking ourselves wise, we have become fools” (Romans 1:22). In almost every area of life, the modern world is arrogant and foolish—and increasingly dark. I often say that wheh the history of the modern world is written, it will be called “The Age of Arrogance.”

There is no way of knowing for sure if our nation and culture will escape the spiritual and moral wilderness in which we find ourselves. One thing for sure, we will not succeed in sustaining our culture and society unless we learn and relearn the two basic principles of wisdom: A Deep Respect for the One who is the Creator and Sustainer of all things and the humility to understand that we are not gods and we cannot become gods. We are “frail creatures of dust and feeble as frail.”

Copyright 2014 G. Christopher Scruggs

This Post is from a Sermon of September 21 &28. 2014 Drawn from the book, Path of Life.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul speaks of God’s “hidden wisdom.” Different cultures have different definitions of wisdom for practical purposes, but none of them can conceive of the hidden wisdom of the cross. Thus, Paul says in I Corinthians:

Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,  but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.  Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,  so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord (I Corinthians 1:22-31).

Both the Greek and Hebrew notions of what was rational and wise excluded God from saving the world through a great act of self-giving love. In both cases, the notion that an All Powerful, All Knowing God would condescend to be abused and crucified would never occur to them as being rational. Nevertheless, God chose to act in this completely unexpected way to save the world. In so doing, God revealed a wisdom–a wisdom of self-giving love–that the world would never have imagined possible.

The same thing is true in our day and time. Those who are wise and powerful increasingly feel that they may retain and use their power by any means that allows them to advance their agenda. This is true on the left and on the right. Increasingly, those in power and those seeking power believe they are entitled to do whatever it takes to advance their agenda, no matter who gets hurt, what happens to the poor or the middle class, whatever the impact is on families and local communities. Possessed of unbounded arrogance and pride, they follow an ideological agenda irrespective of human consequences.

God has another way. His way is a way of self-emptying. His way is a way of humility. His way is personal in the extreme. This is why when He came to dwell among us he could say, “My kingdom is not of this world.” His kingdom comes into this world one person at a time. It cannot be brought in by law, by regulation, by executive order, by militia, or by armies. I can only be brought into the world by personal acts of self-giving love. This is why in Ephesians Paul could say, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not your own doing; it is a gift of God, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The way of arrogance and false pride is excluded by grace. If those in authority began to feel that their power, position, wealth, and influence were the result of grace, the unmerited favor of the One Who Is and Will Be, they would act from a different premise and in different ways than they do. The world would begin to be healed by humility, a sense of service, and self giving love. We know that this is true because, when God determined to institute his Kingdom, it is the path He chose.

The purpose of this blog is not to sell books, but this post is about two writing endeavors connected to the search for the wise and loving life. This spring, I published a book, Path of Life The Way of Wisdom for Christ Followers. Our congregation decided to turn the book into an eight-week sermon series and church-wide experience. Therefore, I wrote a companion book, Path of Life: A Devotional Study Eight Weeks Living out the Wisdom of God. The devotion was designed to allow those who don’t want to read the book an opportunity to experience its basic lessons by reading no more than one page per day for eight weeks. 

At the very beginning of Path of Life I make a comment that I believe is true: The biggest cause of human misery is a lack of love in early life. Time and time again the pastors of ours and other congregations see the results of people not receiving unconditional love at an early age. However, the second biggest cause of human misery we see is poor decision-making. Unfortunately, the weakness of American families combined with our cultural lack of respect for elders and for the experience of prior generations result in people making seriously flawed decisions in a number of important areas of life.

Path of Life is a sixteen-chapter book that seeks to introduce a reader to the importance of wisdom literature and the need to seek wisdom in every day life. The chapter headings are as follows:

Chapter One: What is Wisdom?

Chapter Two: The Source and Use of Wisdom

Chapter Three: The Heart Attitude of the Wise

Chapter Four: A Real, Personal Wisdom

Chapter Five: The Parental Voice of Wisdom

Chapter Six: The Two Ways

Chapter Seven: The Faithful Lover

Chapter Eight: Where Wisdom Grows

Chapter Nine: The Life of Self-Control

Chapter Ten: The Life of Labor

Chapter Eleven: Life in Community

Chapter Twelve: Does Wisdom Matter?

Chapter Thirteen: The Problem of Suffering

Chapter Fourteen: The End of Understanding

Chapter Fifteen: One Greater Than Wisdom

Chapter Sixteen: Wisdom and our Time

The eight-week study looks at Biblical wisdom in a number of areas and seeks to help people with a number of questions of life. It begins with orienting us to the importance of faith, a humble spirit, and respect for God as the only way we will ever achieve true wisdom.

The second week focuses on choices. We all make a few basic choices in life concerning what kind of people we will be and what we will value. These choices determine our character. Wisdom literature urges human beings to choose the path of faith, wisdom and righteousness as fundamental anchors for all decisions.

The third week concentrates on relationships. To be human is to in relationship with other people. One key to happiness and fulfillment is to have healthy relationships with honest, honorable people.

The fourth week covers wisdom and work. Hard work is essential for happiness and security in this life. However, Biblical wisdom warns against placing our confidence in possessions and devoting our entire lives to accumulating wealth. To live wisely and well, we must learn to work, to save, and to give.

Week Five covers the virtue of generosity. How we manage our money is an important part of life, and we cannot manage our finances in a Christian manner without developing the virtue of generosity.

Suffering is an inevitable part of human life. Week Six focuses on the Book of Job and on a Christian response to the problem of suffering. How we confront suffering is important to whether we find a kind of happiness as Christians that the world cannot provide.

Where and how can a person find meaning in Life? The book of Ecclesiastes is about the problem of meaning and purpose in life. What gives life meaning? Accomplishments? Work? Pleasure? Honor? Wealth? Week Seven deals with the problem of the meaning of life and how we can find meaning in out day-to-day lives.

Finally, in confusing, chaotic, and difficult times, people have always sought to understand the future. People as questions like, “How will my life end?” and “Where is human history going?” Week Eight focuses on the Book of Daniel and the wisdom we get from thinking about the end of our lives and of history. If we cannot know, as Jesus says, the day or the hour of our own death or of the end of history, what can we know that will give us faith and courage to confront the problems of our day and time.

Naturally, no one book or one Bible study can answer all the questions people have about how to live wisely. Learning to live wisely is the work of a lifetime. What a single book can do is set out a basic orientation to the search for wisdom and seek to answer a few fundamental questions. These books are designed to help people begin a lifetime journey on what wisdom literature calls the “Path of Life.”

“I ask the Father in his great glory to give you the power to be strong inwardly through his Spirit. I pray that Christ will live in your hearts by faith and that your life will be strong in love and be built on love” (Ephesians 3:16-17, NCV).

What does it mean to live by faith? It is not enough that we believe that there is a God, read God’s word, and ask God for help in our prayers. God wants to live in us. Paul prays that God will live in the hearts of believers. By “heart” Paul means he desires God to live in our spirits, in the center of our personality, in the core of our human will and desire. God does not want us to know about him. God wants us to become like him—as seen in the wisdom, love, and mysterious hidden power of Christ Jesus.

I don’t remember very much about my seminary Greek. One thing I do remember is the term “Spherical Dative.” A Spherical Dative (“If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation, the old has gone—behold the new has come” (1 Corinthians 5:17) connotes that we live in the sphere of something or someone else. To be within the sphere of something is to be within the penumbra of its power, for good or for evil. Applied to Christ, it connotes that believers live in the sphere of Christ’s wisdom, love, and power, so that the wisdom and love of God permeates our being.

We just returned from Ireland on a pilgrimage to the home of St. Patrick. St. Patrick puts the point of this meditation this way in the famous “Breastplate of St. Patrick:

Christ with me.

Christ before me; Christ behind me.
Christ in me.

Christ beneath me; Christ above me.
Christ on my right; Christ on my left.
Christ when I lie down. Christ when I sit down.

Christ when I arise,

Paul says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27). This is an awesome vision and promise. When Christ is in us, the glory of God is in us. The hope we have for ourselves and for our children—abundant life here in this world and eternal life in heaven—depends on Christ living in us. We do not necessarily experience this glory today, but we live in expectation and hope of the day in which we will in fact live “in Christ” and Christ will be “in us.”

Here we have a paradox of the Christian faith: We live in Christ/Christ lives in us. This may also help us understand the paradox of human freedom. We live in the sphere of God’s wisdom, love, and power. God is in and all around us. As we come to Christ, we now are able to consciously, from the core of our being, cooperate with God’s great, wise and loving purposes. We are in God; and, God is in us. We are free human actors, but we are free human actors gradually being transformed into the image of God—and paradoxically into the persons we would choose to be if we were not warped by sin and selfishness.

Questions for Feedback and Thinking:

Do you sense that Christ is with you, before you, behind you, in you, beneath you, above you, on your right and left, with you when sleeping, sitting, working, walking, etc.? What difference would it make in your life if that were true?

Copyright 2014, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

Moses’ father-in-law was astounded and said, “What you are doing is a really bad idea! You and everyone else are going to wear out! Being a leader of so many people is too difficult for one person. Here’s some adviceGod will bless you for obeying. Be the people’s representative and bring their disputes before God.You also need to teach them God’s word, showing them the way to behave.In order to make time for this, select capable people who fear God, are trustworthy, and who hate dishonest gain. Make them leaders over groups of various sizes. Have them decide most things, so that you only have to deal with hard problems. Then, your work load will be lighter, because others are sharing it. If you do this as God commands, you will be able to stand the strain of leadership, and everyone will be better off” (Exodus 18:17-23, Author’s Paraphrase).

Wisdom is essentially the practical ability to react to concrete situations in ways that enhance human life and the functioning of human societies. Leaders, in every area, need wisdom. Most of us don’t necessarily think of management and organization being an act of wisdom, but they are. A good leader understands his or her organization and how to structure it effectively. Many groups fail because of faulty organization.

Unfortunately, churches are not exempt from this truth. One of the jokes I hear at nearly every church leadership and church growth seminar I attend goes like this, “All over America there are thousands of churches organized to grow rapidly–if ever the year 1950  comes around again.” As a church leader, I have seen churches with complex, committee-heavy organizations that simply cannot adapt to the rapidly changing religious environment of our time. Worse, sometimes I think that I am one of those caught in an old paradigm of church leadership and organization.

The text for this blog is from Exodus Chapter 18. It concerns a visit Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, made to see him while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Perhaps to show his father-in-law how busy he was, Moses allowed Jethro, who himself was a tribal leader and a priest of God, to see him working day and night leading Israel. At this point, Moses was personally settling every dispute and making all decisions.

Moses was a prime candidate for burn out. He was the leader of a huge number of people wandering around the desert. Israel was the size of a fairly large city, certainly large by the standards of the ancient world. God had used Moses mightily in freeing his people from captivity. Moses stood up against Pharaoh, and against the Jews themselves, as he freed them from captivity. You can imagine that Moses was tired by the time the people crossed the Red Sea. Nevertheless, he kept on going. He worked Morning to night. He was the chief political leader of Israel, the chief judge of Israel, and the chief religious figure of Israel. By the time Jethro came to visit him, Moses was undoubtedly tired and near burn out. He needed to hear the words of Jethro, “What you are doing is not good” (v. 17). When I retranslated it, I almost translated the phrase, “What you are doing is completely crazy!”

Not long ago, I was driving around a strange city with another pastor, lost in a rainstorm, looking for a home neither of us had driven alone to before. It took a while to get our bearings. Leading into today’s environment, in business, in government, and in the church is a lot like driving in a strange city on a rainy, dark night.

During that long drive we talked about our churches and about the future of the American church. We talked about the endless books on leadership and the endless array of programs and possibilities among which pastors and church leaders must choose. Along the way, one of us made this comment, “The one thing we can know is that forming small groups will be the right decision no matter what else is right.”

In the army, the primary unit is what is called a “Squad.” a squad is about ten to thirteen people usually led by a non-commissioned officer. Squads are combined into platoons. Platoons are combined into companies. Companies are combined into battalions, and so on, until an army, however large, is created. The largest army is composed of these small groups of men and women led by young officers and enlisted men. These units determine the success and failure of the entire army. They are its fundamental unit of action.

About thirty years ago, churches, pastors, and church leaders recognized that vital churches are essentially made up of small groups usually between three and twelve people, who commit for a period of time to work together to become better disciples or perform some ministry. [1]  This should be nothing new. Jesus mentored and discipled in small groups. He spent time with Peter, James and John, a small group of three, and he spent time with the Twelve. It was in these intimate, small group times that he revealed himself most powerfully to those who would lead the church when he was gone. From what we know of Paul, his ministry was primarily one of traveling with a small group of companions and entering cities and forming small groups of Christians in the places they visited. The early church was a church of rapidly multiplying small groups.

In reality, in order to grow as disciples, people need to be in close relationship with a small number of people with whom they can share their Christian walk and Christian struggles. People need to have friends with whom they can share life at a deep level. In my book, Path of Life, I share how this need begins to be met in healthy family life, then in other social relationships, including the church. In the end, our civilization will be rebuilt by small groups of Christians sharing their lives in light of God’s Word in Jesus in little communities of wisdom and mutual love.

In recent weeks, I have had the opportunity to think about what matters in ministry and in the church. There is a temptation for church leaders , myself included, to focus on visible accomplishments.. By that standard, Jesus was a failure. What he accomplished that changed the world was changing the lives of a few men, who would take his message to the ends of the earth. If Jesus could focus on a small group, is suspect so should we.

Jesus was wise enough to focus his energy and attention on a small number of people with whom he shared himself as much as shared information. Jesus did preach to crowds. He did spend time in larger groups. Nevertheless, Jesus focused his energy on a small group of disciples. If Jesus adopted this strategy to found the church, we should think carefully about spending a lot more of our time and energy on small groups.

Leaders have to make fundamental decisions about how to move a group of people into a better future. Some of these decisions are organizational in nature. In the church, the fundamental unit is the small group, whether we call it a Prayer Group, a Bible Study Group, a Mission Team, a Ministry Team, or whatever. A good church organization focuses first on these groups and how to make and keep them healthy. This is the first principle of wise organization.

[1] Jeff Arnold, The Big Book of Small Groups (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Press, 1992, 1.

Copyright 2014, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:5-7, NIV)

The Importance of Cities to God

Recently, I heard Tim Keller, the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City and prolific author, speak. He spoke to a small group meeting urging pastors and church leaders to take seriously our call to plant churches in the great cities of the world. “Cities,” he said, “are important to God.” [1]

Today’s cities are large and complex. The size and complexity of our cities can make us oblivious to what a city is. In the ancient world, cities were primarily places of safety. A basic ancient difference between a city and a town was the existence of a wall. Ancient cities were walled, and so people were safe. When we work for the peace of our city, we work for it to be a safe place for us, our families, our friends, our co-workers, and everyone else that works in a city.

From the most ancient times, cities were also places of culture. Alexandria in Egypt, Babylon in Iraq, Athens in Greece, Troy in Asia Minor, Rome in Italy, these were places of beauty and culture. When we seek the peace of our city, we make of it a place of safety, cultural growth, excitement, prosperity, and peace. We want it to be a place where people can find good jobs, build houses, raise families, and prosper.

Christians are “Exiles” in any Earthly City

When Jeremiah 29 was written, some of the Jews already had been been transported from their homeland, most of them from Jerusalem, to Babylon. In Babylon, they had to live as exiles in a strange city. It is hard to live in a foreign land, especially at the beginning. First of all, there is the disorientation and fear that goes with not knowing a language. Even if one speaks the language, there are customs and habits an outsider find hard to adjust to in the beginning. The people of a different land may have a different religion or no religion at all.  Finally, a stranger finds it hard to navigate a city. A newcomer don’t know where the grocery stores are, where the banks are, where to get common needs met. It is difficult to adjust to a strange city in a strange land.

The Bible speaks of Jews and Christians as being “strangers,” “sojourners,” “pilgrims,” and “exiles” in a strange land, wherever we live. The word “exile” is an interesting and even threatening word. An exile is someone who can’t return to his home country for one reason or another yet is not a citizen of the nation in which he or she is actually located. An exile lives in a legally precarious situation all the time. In most nations, such a person has limited if any civil rights. They may be limited in the amount or types of property they can own. They may lack access to public services. The Jews were exiles both in Egypt and Babylon. They understood that exiles live in an uncomfortable situation most all of the time.

The Bible says that Christians should look at ourselves as exiles in this world. Our true home is heaven, but we can’t go there just now, just as the Jews could not return to Jerusalem. Peter puts it this way:

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us (I Peter 4:11-12).

Among other things, Peter is saying that First Century Christians were never going to be completely at home in this world. They lived among people whose customs and values, morals, and world-view were different than theirs. In response to this situation, Peter says, “Just be such a great person that those among whom you live see your good life and thank God for you, even though you are different.”

I think if Peter were here today, that is exactly what he would say to us. He would say, “You American Christians, and especially American Protestants, are used to being in the majority and being in control. Things are changing in your country. What you need to do is recognize that you are now in the same situation we were in with respect to the pagan Roman world. The way to endure is remember that you are an exile and a foreigner even in your own land. Stay faithful. Live like a Christian. Don’t be afraid to be different. Keep the faith. Pray for your city and nation. Finally, lead such pure and good lives among the people that everyone is glad you are part of the culture. Be content to be an exile, because you have an eternal home.”

Pray and Work for the City

How do we do this? As Jeremiah says, we pray for the city. We work to make our city more prosperous and peaceful. We build homes, and we look after our neighborhood and businesses. We get involved in community organizations that work to make our city a better place. We share Christ and the love and wisdom of God with our friends and neighbors. We live as exiles, but not in a religious ghetto of our own making. We live in the city and we become engaged in it culture and life, all the while remembering we are exiles.

American Christians are accustomed to being at home in our culture. We were cultural leaders. The denomination to which I belonged for much of my life loved to point out how many Congressmen, Senators, Presidents, and Judges had been Presbyterian. Since the end of the Second World War, slowly but surely, America has become more and more secular. Today, our culture is a giant mission field. We cannot, if we are wise, engage that mission field the way we engaged our culture in the past. We have to engage our culture in with self-giving love, the same love that God showed for the world when, as John says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his One and Only Son, what whosoever believes in him should have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Look Forward to a City to Come

There is a tendency to look backward and to seek to return our culture, our city, and our nation to some point in the past where we feel we would be more comfortable. It is important to remember that time has only one direction, and it is forward. History has only one direction, and it is forward. We need to study the past, honor the past, and seek to preserve what is most precious about the past of our families, businesses, neighborhoods, city, nation, and culture. However, we must remember that we can’t return to some imaginary point in history when things were better for us, or our families, culture, race, or whatever.

God is taking the world forward. God is moving history to that day when Truth and Love will rule and there will be a Peace that will never end. God even says that our future involves a city—not a city as we know it but a heavenly city. Here is how John describes that city:

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:1-4, NIV).

One reason for God’s people to pray and work for our cities, all the while remaining faithful to God as revealed in Christ, is that we are meant to be the presence of a City of Peace  unearth today–foretaste of a city yet to come.

[1] Tim Keller, Why Cities are Important to God (Pamphlet from Sermon of November 7,1993.

Copyright 2014, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

As a fellow elder, witness of Christ’s suffering, and partaker in his glory, I, Peter, encourage elders as follows: Feed your flock, looking over them not because you must, but because you want to serve other people; not for what you get out of leadership, but with a servant spirit; not out of arrogant pride, but with humility. If you lead in this way, when Jesus, the Chief Shepherd, appears you will receive an eternal crown of glory (I Peter 5:1-4, GCS translation).

During the 1970’s, an executive for AT&T wrote a leadership book entitled “Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness.” The book was a culmination of Greenleaf’s years as an executive and his interest in leadership. In the book, he developed a theory that servanthood is the key to real, authentic leadership. In so doing, he was sharing in secular terms a notion of leadership that began with Jesus–a vision of leadership that, in my view, is not sustainable without faith in the God of Wisdom and Love revealed by Christ. Greenleaf’s interest in leadership began in college when a professor spoke these words: “There is a new problem in our country. We are becoming a nation that is dominated by large institutions—churches, businesses, governments, labor unions, universities—and these big institutions are not serving us well.” [1] If a lack of true, transforming, life-enhancing leadership was a problem in Greenleaf’s youth, it is a worse problem today.

The notion of “servant leadership” would never have emerged without the revelation of Christ nor can it be sustained without an underlying Christian World-View. Why do I believe this? If you look at contemporary leadership in business, government, churches, universities, and other institutions, one is struck by the following paradox: leaders often mouth concern over those they lead but seldom actually serve their best interests in humility. There is a lot of talk about “servant leadership,” but very few actual servant leaders. A good bit of the time, so-called “Servant Leaders” talk about servant leadership, while all the time receiving exorbitant salaries, abusing the symbols of power and influence provided for them by their institution, and making decisions and engaging in behaviors completely at odds with the best interests of the members, shareholders, stakeholders, citizens they reportedly serve. Often, they engage in a despicable tradeoff: “You give me power in return for my promise to serve your best interests, a promise I do not intend to actually keep.” Worse, some of these leaders are what I would call demonic leaders who engage in this tradeoff: If you will give me power, I will do things that will not improve your life. In fact I will do things that may cost you your job, your sense of security, or your sense of self-respect.”

In order to develop and sustain servant leadership, there must be leaders whose character is formed in such a manner that they are wiling to suffer for those they lead. By “suffer,” I mean servant leaders must constantly be willing to exercise self-denial and self-control, seeking the best for those they lead and resisting every temptation to manipulate or take advantage of them. Without the notion implicit in Christian faith that self-giving love is the way to true leadership and wholeness both personally and for those one serves, it is almost impossible to sustain a servant posture in the face of the temptations that leadership always brings. Christians have a ministry as they serve humbly, with a servant spirit, in whatever form of leadership to which they are called.

For many years, I had the privilege of being mentored by a person with great leadership ability, yet never or rarely misused his power. There are many stories people tell about this person. One involves a day on which he and a local mega-church pastor were to be honored as outstanding community leaders. The other pastor arrived in an expense “power suit,”  surrounded by a retinue of assistants. My friend arrived in khaki’s, all alone, and sat in the back of the room until his name was called. He was actually embarrassed to be honored. Over and over again, my friend would warn me not to think more highly of myself than I ought and to avoid getting carried away with leadership. One of this most telling observations went something like this: “Do not emulate those pastors who take themselves too seriously and get too involved in high profile, self aggrandizing ministries. They always come to a bad end.” Most of the time, he has turned out to be right.

[1] Robert K. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 1977), 1.

Copyright 2014, G.Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “‘In the last days, God says,
 I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions, 
your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, 
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below, 
blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” (Acts 2:14-21).

This post is a about reaching the next generation of young people for Christ. It focuses on what is called the Millennial Generation, but it applies to most young people today from about twenty to forty years of age. There is no question but that Christians face a tremendous problem reaching the next generations for Christ. America seems to be traveling down the same road that Europe followed following the Second World War.

Fortunately, The challenge we face is not as big as the challenge the first church gathered in the Upper Room in Jerusalem on Pentecost morning! They were just a few provincial Jews from Galilee, some women and a few men. They had no real formal training. Few of them had ever traveled further than the short journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. They did not have the problem of a weak church out of step with the culture. They had the problem of no church at all.

In the Upper Room, they waited for the Power of the Holy Spirit, just as we must wait. We also have to pray and wait for the Spirit with open hearts willing to reach out to people God puts in our path. We have to be willing to reach out to those who are trapped in sin and brokenness, who are different, who are outsiders, who have different customs and traditions. We have to wait and pray not hoping that God won’t come so we don’t have to change, but hoping that God will come so we will change and receive the blessings God has for us.

We Worship an Unpredictable God.

Most people, young and old, expect things to stay the same. The Old Testament name for God translates, “I Am that I Am” or, “I Will Be What I Will Be.” The Name God chose for himself before Moses on Mt. Sinai reveals God as the inexhaustible source of everything that is, was, or ever will be. Therefore, it is not surprising that God embraces change. God is a God who is deliberately bringing about the future in surprising, unexpected and mysterious ways—ways we can hardly imagine.

In Acts 2, Peter quotes from the Prophet Joel, who prophesied that, when the Last Days come—that is the long awaited “Day of the Lord,” God would pour out his flesh upon people in a new way (v. 17). Not just adults, but sons and daughters would prophesy (v. 17). Not just prophets and especially religious people, but young men as well would see visions, and old men would dream of the future (v. 17). God’s Spirit was not going to be the province of one sex. Instead, the Spirit was going to be poured out on men and women alike (v. 18). There were going to be wonders and disruptions and strange signs like those that accompanied the Jews leaving Egypt (v. 19-20). In the midst of all this change and disruption, anyone who calls upon the God would be saved. Before human history is over, God intends to do a lot of unpredictable things. Peter is proclaiming to the crowd that the day of the Lord has now come. A new era is beginning. We are a all a part of that New Era in which God intends to use everyone to reach the world with the Gospel of Love.

Loving a New Generation.

There is no question but what it is God’s desire that every generation of Christians be reached. Unfortunately, recently American Christians have not been good at reaching young adults, what sociologists have called “Millennials,” or young people who entered adulthood right around the beginning of the new Millennium. Today, the oldest Millennials are about 35 or so and the younger Millennials are in their late 20’s.

Millennials are the first generation to grow up in Post-Christian America. They are the first generation to live all their lives in a nation where having babies is a personal choice, birth control is common, abortion is frequent, sex is always on television, in movies, and in the media, and the technology to communicate information and images is in their pockets. This is the first generation that has always relied on media and technology for information and communication.

Around half of Millennials grew up for a part of their young life in a home in which one parent was missing. Because of the prevalence of two income households, Millennials are a generation that spent a great deal of their childhood alone. This is the generation that first heard the term “latch key kid” used for a large number of children. Scholars say that his is a generation that has not known stable family and community relationships, and is hungry for them.

My generation, sometimes called “the Boomer Generation,” saw the beginning of this phenomenon. We also saw the beginning of another phenomenon: Our parents, the Builder and Silent Generations, built institutions, public and private. During the Viet Nam War, for the first time in American history, a generation began to mistrust institutions. As Boomers became cultural leaders, our children became the first generation that never trusted the institutions of our society and was educated not to do so. Therefore, this generation is hard for institutions to reach, including churches.

For those of us who grew up going to church with our parents before the Cultural Revolution, it is hard to recognize that more than half of the next generations grew up never, or almost never, going to church. What they know of churches is largely what the media tells them, which is that churches are harsh, legalistic, judgmental, and mostly led by white, abusive males. In order to overcome this stereotype, it is important that churches go out of their way to welcome and empower young people and shows them God’s love. We must be interested in them, not just interested in their coming to our church.

Millennials grew up with technology. They instinctively use the Internet for communication and information. They love to tweet, post, and text. Many of us are not as tech savvy as our children and/or grandchildren. Using technology wisely is a part of reaching the next generation that is really important. This will impact everything from how we structure worship and write sermons to what kind of discipleship materials we use, to how we communicate information.

Perhaps as a result of the technological revolution, and perhaps as a result of media saturation, this is a “post-printing press” generation. Older adults primarily learn from reading. This is a generation that is used to getting its information visually from the media. It is a generation in which posting on Instagram is as popular, or even more popular than posting text on Facebook. Anyone who has used social media knows that experts encourage posting pictures and not just text because of the difficulty of getting people to read just text.

We are the People God will Use.

By now a lot of readers are thinking, “I am not qualified for this. I don’t even want to do this! I am happy just as things are.” I feel this way a good bit of the time. I am sixty-three years old. I am an old dog not too crazy about learning new tricks.

We don’t know much about the disciples. Paul indicates that they were all married. I suppose this means that they had children. We have every reason to believe that Peter, Andrew, James and John were successful business people. Matthew was a wealthy tax collector with a mind for business. Paul was a Pharisee and moving into a position of power in Israel. I suppose none of the apostles wanted leave Israel and go to the ends of the earth. I’m certain they did not want to be around Gentiles, eat unclean food, and die far away from home. Nevertheless, they went in the power of the Spirit and along the way a lot of things they were accustomed to changed.

Reaching a New Generation.

To reach another generation, we must be willing to change and embrace a series of challenges and paradoxes. Here are just a few:

• We must be willing to change how we do things, without compromising the Gospel.
• We must be willing connect emotionally with people, while still communicating the cognitive, truths of Christian faith and life.
• We have to be willing to make our ministries accessible and relevant to new generations using the communication styles they are accustomed to using.
• We need to emphasize relationships, including mentoring relationships. In a world of technology people want and need deep personal relationships. In a world where people live alone, isolated, and away from family, we need to provide a place of healthy, stable, relationships.
• We need to be real not slick. We don’t have to change who we are; we need to be interested in a new generation, tolerant of generational differences, and ready to embrace Millennials with God’s love.
• We need to be mission and ministry focused. This is a generation that wants to serve as well as learn.

One of the young people who helped with this sermon made this comment: “We can’t just want young people to come to our church so it won’t die. We have to want them to come and build something new.” [i] One of the most successful congregations in reaching young people is a pretty traditional Reformed congregation. It has a lot of small groups, what they call “Life Groups,” which are led by young people. It has a community garden, run by young people. It even has a worship service led by Millennials. The older church members did not decide to do these things. Young people decided to do these things, and the congregation, young and old, encouraged them. It did not shame them into doing what they were doing. It opened its arms and welcomed them to do what they desired to do.

May it be so with our churches.

Copyright 2014, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved.

[i] I have consulted a variety of sources, including Paul Fritz, Ten Keys to reaching Young People (December 2002) and an entire issue of Presbyterians Today entitled, Young Adults: Their Vision for the Church Special Millennial Issue A Guide for Young Adult Ministry (May 2014). Several of the young people of Advent were shown an early version of the sermon. They made many good comments, and I want to thank them for those comments. The sermon could not have been written as it was without them. I also need to thank the Long Range Planning Task Force and the Communication Task force for their comments, which I have tried to embed in the text. David Shotsberger, Don Kerns, Dan Eubanks, Coenraad Brand, and Cindy Schwartz did not see an advance copy of the text, but they have been working on how Advent reaches a new generation for a long time. Their work and advice is appreciated.

I did my Doctor of Ministry degree at Asbury Seminary. Part of the reason has to do with an experience of a friend of mine who went to college there and an experience he had. On February 3 1970, the students gathered for chapel as they normally did. The service was scheduled to last for one hour. Instead, it lasted for 185 hours, 24 hours a day for a week. It began with a time of testimony in which one student after another came forward to talk about their Christian life. Gradually, students and faculty members found themselves weeping. People formed small groups in the chapel and began to confess their sins to one another, ask for forgiveness, pray and sing. The President of the Seminary, Dr. Kinlaw, was out of town and both fearful and skeptical about what was happening. When he returned, he went to the chapel, which seats 1500 people. Before he left, he was convinced.

My friend remembers people praying all night in dorm rooms, confessing sins, and sharing deep hurts with one another. News of the revival traveled around the nation, and people flocked to little Wilmore, Kentucky. When the service was over, students from Asbury shared their story in other places, and sometimes revival broke out there as well. Many of the students who were present went on to become pastors, missionaries, and church leaders. Those who were present testified that they could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. Dr. Kinlaw put it this way:

“[Y]ou may not understand this, but the only way I know how to account for this [the revival] is that last Tuesday morning, about 20 minutes until Eleven, the Lord Jesus walked into Hughes Auditorium, and He’s been there ever since, and you’ve got the whole community paying tribute to His presence.”

Here I am, Send Me.

This post is a look at the events of Pentecost with an eye to the renewal and revival. If you are not a Christian, you may be wondering, “What is Pentecost?” Pentecost is fifty days after Passover. The Jews celebrate it as the “Festival of Weeks.”  The Festival of Weeks celebrated the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, which was thought to have occurred fifty days after Passover. The symbolism of the coming of the Spirit at the Festival of Weeks is important. On Sinai, God gave the law to Moses. At Pentecost, God gives the Spirit that enables us to fulfill the Law because we have been given new hearts, as the prophet Jeremiah foretold (Jeremiah 31:33).

Here is the way it is described in Acts 2:

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tonguesas the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” (Acts 2:1-12).

Promise of the Spirit.

Acts begins with the resurrected Jesus meeting with his disciples. For forty days after the resurrection, Jesus spoke with his disciples (Acts 2:3). One time when they were together, Jesus told them not to leave the city of Jerusalem but to wait for a gift—the Gift of the Spirit God would give them (v. 4). John the Baptist foretold that while he, like your pastors, baptized people with water, the Messiah would baptize with the Holy Spirit (v. 5). The disciples thought that Jesus might be telling them that the Kingdom of David now would be reestablished (v. 6). Jesus told them they were not to know the future (v. 7). Going on, Jesus promised that they would receive the power of the Holy Spirit; and when they did, they would witness to him in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (v. 8). Then, Jesus was taken up into heaven, after which two men appeared and promised them that Jesus would return (vv. 9-10).

There is a temptation to think that God needs help from us to accomplish his will. This is especially true of those of us who are by nature active, busy, and inclined to the view that “God helps those who help themselves.” While it is true that God often helps those who help themselves, this truth can blind us to a greater truth: All real progress comes from God and is based on the promises of God.

In the Old Testament, the prophets often judged the Jewish people because they tended to seek alliances with other nations, and especially with Egypt—a nation that had enslaved them (Isaiah 30:1-3). God does not want us to rely on our programs, our abilities, or ourselves. He wants us to rely on Him. As we pray for our families, our friends, our colleagues at work, and our neighbors, even about our own hopes and dreams, it helps to remember that, in the end, what happens is in the hands of God.

Preparation for the Spirit

After Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples gathered together in the Upper Room in Jerusalem and for a period of days prayed constantly (Acts 1:12-16). Along the way, they discerned that they needed to replace Judas Iscariot who had betrayed Jesus and committed suicide (Acts 1:26). [2] Of course, the most important thing they did was pray.

As you can imagine, many people wondered about what caused the great Asbury revival. At least one skeptic wondered if somehow the administration and faculty had manufactured it. Here are some facts. First of all, there have actually been several revivals at Asbury. In the instance of the 1970 revival, as the President noted in his comments, there are always people praying for revival at Asbury. It is a Christian school and there are many charismatic students present as well as strong Christian children of Methodists and others. In addition, several months’ earlier, groups of students began praying for revival. They were usually groups of six, and each group of six recruited others to pray. They did pray for revival. They also prayed for one another, for forgiveness for sins, and for all those things for which people normally pray. [3]

Some years ago, there was a famous revival in Wales. The Welsh Revival was a part of the greater Methodist revivals of the 19^th Century. Once again, there were faithful preachers preaching and faithful people praying for revival. One evening, a young man who had received a mighty calling from God went to his own church. He asked a few people to stay after the meeting and visit with him. He asked them to pray. Here are the specific things he asked them to do:

• First, he asked them to confess their own sins and ask for forgiveness from God.
• Second, he asked them to remove from their own lives anything that was not in accordance with God’s will.
• Third, he asked them to be totally yielded to the power of the Holy Spirit.
• Fourth, he asked them to publically declare their faith in Christ.

There are things that preceded true revival: and prayer, confession, repentance, changed lives, and sharing the Gospel are the most central elements of all.

Proof of the Spirit

Revival and renewal by the power of the Holy Spirit is a tricky thing. Being Americans, we want a kind of visible proof. We think that revival would mean our church would grow; our lives blessed financially, our families healed and the like. These things do happen. However, they are not in themselves proof of God’s presence with a group of Christians. The proof is lives changed. The proof is people changing their lives.

At the end of this chapter of Acts there is a short description of what happened next. First of all, about 3,000 people were saved on Pentecost (Acts 2:41). Second, we are told that something just as wonderful happened. Acts 2:42 and following records:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:42-47).

The proof of revival is a return to simple Christian faith. The proof of revival is deep fellowship, including table fellowship among Christians. The proof of revival is wonderful, unusual, healings occurring—things we cannot explain. The proof of revival is a new generosity. The proof of revival is changed lives.

Where Do We Go from Here?

A lot of Christians are worried about the state of Christianity in America just now.  Here is what I hope we can remember from this post:

• First, we have a promise from God that he will send his Spirit if we wait and pray.
• Second, we know that God only sends his Spirit in response to prayer, confession, changed lives, and changed behavior among Christians.
• Third, we know that we await that moment when God pours out his Spirit upon our congregation.
• Finally, we know what to look for—Changed Lives and our first of all.
• Amen.

[1] A Revival Account Asbury 1970 The Forerunner (March 31, 2008). My account is based on this article at www.forerunner.com/forerunner/X0585_Asbury_Revival_1970. Dr. Kinlaw’s story is on U-Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qOqitIKUNs.

[2] People often have questions about this vignette as well as about why it was necessary and if it was a mistake. Almost certainly, the disciples felt that their number (twelve) symbolized the renewal of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Therefore, it was necessary that someone be elected to replace Judas to return the number to twelve. Those who believe they acted unwisely generally believe Paul (Saul of Tarsus) was, in fact, God’s choice to complete the twelve.

[3] It is a bit more complicated than I have recounted. I suggest anyone interested hear Dr. Kinlaw’s 37-minute explanation of what happened at the U-Tube site mentioned above.

“ A Man’s wisdom gives him patience; it his glory to overlook an offense” (Prov 19:11).

Do you see a man skilled in his work?  He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men” (Proverbs 22:29).

In just a few days, we will celebrate the 70^th anniversary of D-Day. In this post, I am honoring the soldier who led the invasion of Europe.

Along the journey of life, we all need a few heroes. I was born in 1951, just before Dwight David Eisenhower became President. I remember 1956 and “I Like Ike” buttons. His smiling, confident face was the face of America during my childhood. A few years ago, I decided to read a bit about people who made the 20^th Century what it was for better or for worse. Winston Churchill was probably the “Man of the Century” since he was an important figure in World War I, World War II, and in the postwar period. He was a politician, leader, writer, historian, painter, and general Renaissance Man. His biography is worth reading.

My personal favorite, however, is Ike. Ike was born in Texas but grew up in Kansas. He embodied those virtues we connect with small-town America. He was hard-working, straightforward (unless he was bluffing in poker, politics, or war), and one of the greatest managers who ever lived. Military historians and theorists argue about his generalship. I only note that he was the leader of the greatest successful amphibious invasion in history. He led the greatest army of our history in the successful defeat of one of the most evil regimes in human history—Nazi Germany. The decision to launch D-Day was one of the most difficult decisions of World War II or any war before or since. Whatever his critics say, Ike’s deeds speak for themselves.

While at West Point, Ike injured his knee. It was disappointing. He could not play football or baseball as a result. During World War I, he never made it to Europe. He was too useful in training soldiers for combat. After the war, he spent many years as a staff officer, including difficult years as the Chief of Staff for Douglas MacArthur. He once noted that he spent a lot of time “Studying acting under MacArthur,” who was a difficult boss.

By the late 1930’s, Eisenhower was convinced he would retire as a forgotten Lt. Colonel. He never retired. Generals of the Army are on permanent active duty. (It is little known that, after he retired as President, he gave up his presidential retirement and was reinstated in his military rank. He was buried in a simple military uniform with his insignia of rank. Although he reached the highest office of the land, he thought of himself as a soldier who became President. )

As interesting as his military career is, this post is about his character. Why was Ike, out of all the generals of World War II, elected President? What made him different?

First, there is that button, “I Like Ike.” Eisenhower was likable. People liked him because he liked people. While he was a soldier, his home was often called “Club Eisenhower.” He was popular, affable, and friendly.

Second, Eisenhower had natural grace. Unlike Patton and MacArthur, who grew up sophisticated and privileged, Ike was from a humble, almost poor background. Nevertheless, he was a gentleman. He never lost the common touch.

Third, he worked hard. His capacity for work was legendary before and after World War II. As President, he often hid behind an image of an almost out-of-touch grandfather. Those who served under him knew differently. He was a master at hiding his true influence. (A habit some contemporary politicians might emulate.)  He was a wonderful manager of people, situations, armies, and institutions.

Fourth, he was a shrewd judge of people and situations. He was a great poker player, so good that he gave it up at times when it would have hurt his career. Many of the people he worked with were difficult, and some were more powerful than he was. Nevertheless, he prevailed because of his ability to read people and situations.

Finally, he never let his ego get in the way of what was best for the group. Patton, Montgomery, and other soldiers were sometimes disrespectful and tried his patience, but he never let his personal irritation interfere with what was best for the nation. He was a master of self-control.

Ike was not perfect. His temper was legendary. As a soldier, he sometimes sought solutions to international problems that today we would regard as flawed. None of that matters as far as his character is concerned. He was a great human being and a great American—a hero worth emulating.

Some years ago, I ran across two magazine covers. On the cover of one was Ike in his military uniform at the end of the war. On the other cover was the picture of one of the then most powerful people in America. Ike’s face was that of a man who worked hard, dared the odds, faced adversity, and succeeded after a life of preparation, work and adversity. His was the face of a man. The other was the face of a common politician whose fundamental character was even then suspect. Both men served as Presidents of the United States. Only one was the face of a person of deep and abiding character. Not a perfect man, but one to be trusted and emulated. That is why I like Ike.

I am a bad golfer. This is not surprising, since I seldom play golf and never practice. While I was in High School, my brother and I played golf just often enough to learn the basics of the game. I never played in college. Since college, I have only played occasionally in tournaments for various charities or church events. Even my closest friends do not like to play with me because I am terrible. My failures as a golfer are all traceable to a series of defects: I don’t regularly think about golf, learn about golf, practice golf, or play golf.

Golf is a skill, not a science. A person has to play golf to be good at golf. A person has to play with a variety of other people, watching how they play the game and learning from them. A person has to practice driving at a driving range. Most of us need lessons from someone who has played longer and is better than we are. We call these people “Golf Pro’s.” They are really good, so good that they can make a living playing and teaching people to play golf. When you do take a lesson with a Golf Pro, you don’t go into a classroom. You go onto a golf course or a driving range.

Life is a lot more complicated than golf. Therefore, it should not surprise us that the primary way Americans train young people to face the challenges of life—sending children to school—does not work well. Going to school gives a person mental skills and head knowledge. It does not teach a person how to play the game of life successfully. In order to learn to live successfully, we need to be mentored by someone who has lived life successfully. Ideally, that person would be a parent, grandparent, or other person who loves us deeply and is willing to put up with our foolishness and failures until we can take care of ourselves.

Children, especially, need more than teachers. They need “Life Pro’s.” Along the journey of life, we all need to be mentored by “Life Pro’s” from time to time. We need to play the game of life for a time with someone who has played longer than we have played, is a better player, and can show us how to play the fame of life successfully.

We all need mentors: in business, in family, in child-raising, in saving for retirement, and in every other area of life. Trial and error, as important as it can be from time to time, is not a good way to learn how to live. The problem with trial and error is that there are a lot of errors we can make. Some of them ruin our lives for a long time or even forever. A person who repeats every foolish behavior of human history in order to learn how to live will almost certainly never attain a happy life.

Just to give two examples: it takes the average woman five years to recover from a bad marriage and divorce—if they do recover at all. Assuming there were a few unhappy years before the divorce and for a period of time after the divorce life is hard,  the average divorcee will suffer over ten percent of her life just as a result of a bad marriage. Better to have avoided the entire experience.

In our church, we have ministered to more than one young person who ended up psychologically damaged as a result of a bad drug trip. Better to avoid mind-altering drugs altogether. (I try to avoid politics, but this casts grave doubt upon with wisdom shown by those states that are legalizing such drugs.)

Wisdom literature and the historic manner in which  most children were raised until the modern era were based upon this  insight: Children need to be mentored by prior generations so that they do not repeat the foolish life damaging, happiness destroying mistakes past generations learned to avoid.

Copyright 2014, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

Thus says the Lord: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it’” (Jeremiah 6:16).

Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many. I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness. When you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble (Proverbs 4:10-12).

Recently, the American Secretary of State got into trouble on a trip to Africa with the following comment, “This is a time here in Africa where there are a number of different cross-currents of modernity that are coming together to make things even more challenging. Some people believe that people ought to be able to only do what they say they ought to do, or to believe what they say they ought to believe, or live by their interpretation of something that was written down a thousand plus, two thousand years ago. That’s not the way I think most people want to live.” In these words, Kerry reflects both the strengths and the weakness of modernity and its prejudice against traditional societies and beliefs. I think he did this unconsciously; and as a Catholic Christian, I think he probably did so without any intention to denigrate Christian faith.

The modern world began with the Protestant rejection of Church tradition as a source of religious truth separate from Holy Scripture. It was not ling before the suspicion of modernity was turned upon Scripture itself. By the dawn of our post-modern era, the critical fervor of modernity had been turned towards every source of authority. Among moderns and post-moderns traditional wisdom is used only to support what we choose to believe on other grounds, including personal inclination. The results have been chaos.

On the other hand, a mindless traditionalism can lead to a rejection of reason and of the entire notion of progress. A mindless tradition rejects any attempt to move beyond a current cultural, moral or religious state. Can a life be crafted that finds a moderate spot between these two extreme positions? I think the answer is “Yes.”

Traditional wisdom does not necessarily mean “traditional prejudice.” It can and most of the time does mean, “Respect for the accumulated experience of the human race.” This kind of respect is not a dead respect, never questioning, never asking questions of context or proper adaptation. It is a respectful listening for those who have gone before. It means seeing ourselves as having inherited a tradition, a culture, and a moral tradition that we both live within and adapt to our environment. It means understanding that those who went before us faced many of the same problems we face, and we do not have to repeat their mistakes.

There is a line in the movie Groundhog Day that sticks in my memory as an illustration of the importance of traditional wisdom. Having discovered that he relives Ground Hog Day over and over again, Phil decides to take a drunken drive on railroad tracks, saying “It’s the same thing every day, Clean up your room, stand up straight, pick up your feet, take it like a man, be nice to your sister, don’t mix beer and wine ever, Oh yeah, don’t drive on the railroad tracks.” As he swerves onto the tracks, one of his drunken companions says, “Phil, that’s one I happen to agree with.” Modern people want to follow only the rules that they happen to agree with at the moment. Unfortunately, the moral universe does not work that way with the result that the modern and post-modern people are often trapped in perpetual adolescence.

Our only escape is to recover a respect for the old paths. Interestingly, when we do recover this respect, we find  a new, richer, creativity and life than we could every have discovered if we had remained trapped in perpetually relearning lessons a thousand generations of human experience have already validated.

By the end of the Second World War, Germany was in chaos. For a time, the parents and family of Dietrich Bonhoeffer did not know whether he had lived or died. There were conflicting reports. Eventually, however, it became known that he had been killed. So tragic was his death, and so many were his friends, that on July 27, 1945,  three months after the end of the War in Europe, a memorial service was held in London. His friend and leader in the British church, Bishop Bell, preached at the service. Here is just a piece of what he said:

He was quite clear about his convictions, and for all that he was so young and unassuming, he saw the truth and spoke it out with absolute freedom and without fear. When he came to me all unexpectedly in 1943 at Stockholm as the emissary of the Resistance to Hitler, he was, as always, absolutely open and quite untroubled about his own person, his own safety. Wherever he went and whoever he spoke with—whether young our old—he was fearless, regardless of himself, and with all, devoted his heart and soul to his parents, his friends, his country as God called it to be, to his church and to his master.

Bell ended his sermon with the words, “the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.”

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer was about to be executed, the prison doctor happened to see him. Years later, he penned this description:

I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer … kneeling on the floor praying fervently to God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the few steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.

Bonhoeffer fearless hope extended to the gallows and the grave. Bonhoeffer had a resurrection faith, faith that whatever might happen in this world, God is in control and can be trusted to vindicate his people in this world or the next.

When the disciples experienced the resurrection, they were changed. Before Jesus died and was resurrected, the disciples often misunderstood his message and mission. After the crucifixion, they fled and went into hiding. Then, the women returned with the news of the empty tomb, and Jesus appeared to Peter, then John, then to those on the road to Emmaus, then to the Twelve as a group over a period of forty days, and finally to as many as 500 followers (See, I Corinthians 15:3-8). After this experience, the disciples were filled with courage and with hope for the future.

Scholars compare this behavior to that of other followers of charismatic leaders once they die or removed from leadership. Ordinarily, people fairly quickly return to their prior pattern of life. In many cases, the process is almost immediate. The members of the Sanhedrin thought that Jesus death would result in a scattering they had experienced before where there were Messianic claims. Our soldiers and others in Germany after World War II experience the rapidity with which Hitler and the Nazi’s had very few followers. The same dramatic decline in support was experienced after the death of Stalin. In the case of Jesus, his influence over his disciples seemed to grow, not diminish, not just immediately but for the rest of their lives, and even during periods of heavy persecution.

The resurrection makes a difference. The resurrection is both a symbol and an assurance of hope. It means that this life is not all there is. It means that our defeats and discouragements are not the end. It means that we can know that God is for us, even if the world and circumstances seem against us. It means we can have courage and hope. We can stand up for what we believe to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

“If anyone would come after me, he or she must deny themselves, take up a cross and follow me” (Mark 8: 34, author’s paraphrase).

“When God calls a man, he bids him come and die”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship). (In what follows have been primarily guided by Eric Metaxes, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet Spy (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010), 504-534).

This past Wednesday was the sixty-ninth anniversary of the death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Easter Sunday 1945 came on April 1^st. By April 1945, World War II was nearing its end. East of Berlin, the Russian Army was beginning its final thrust. To the West, Allied armies had crossed the Rhine River and were barreling towards the Elbe River, which was their final strategic objective. At Buchenwald Prison, the thunder of American artillery could be heard in the distance. The war could not last much longer. If only the prisoners could hold out a little longer, they would live. Some time that day, it was announced that certain prisoners, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer, would be leaving. Two days later, sixteen people left in a wood-fed van. Smoke filled the back of the van, nearly suffocating those on the journey. In Berlin, the diaries of Admiral Carnaris were discovered on April 4^th. The diaries contained information implicating Bonhoeffer in the conspiracy of high-ranking German intelligence personnel to kill Hitler and make peace. Hitler was incensed, and set in motion the events that resulted in Bonhoeffer’s death.

On April 8^th, the Sunday after Easter, Bonhoeffer led the little band of prisoners in a worship service from the Isaiah 53, As Bonhoeffer finished the service a Gestapo officer entered with the words, “Prisoner Bonhoeffer, get ready to come with us.” These words always meant an execution. He said goodbye to his fellow travelers with a final word, “This is the end. For me, the beginning.” He was executed the next day at Flossenburg Prison. He was thirty-nine years old at the time of his death.

Years earlier, Bonhoeffer wrote a book entitled, The Cost of Discipleship. In it, he coined the phrase, “When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die.” In April 1945 that phrase came true for the young man who had returned to Germany years earlier to share the suffering of the German people and work for the overthrow of the evil regime of Adolph Hitler.

Bonhoeffer’s life and death are a testimony to the unfortunate truth that the blood of martyrs nurtures the church’s life. At the time he died Bonhoeffer was a promising young theologian with a brilliant future ahead of him. World War II interrupted that brilliant future. His friends knew that he was more than a brilliant theologian. They saw a man of exceptional faith and character who had returned to Germany to share in the suffering of the German people, despite the fact that he had been taken from Germany because he was in danger as a perceived enemy of the Nazi Party. Had Bonhoeffer not returned to Germany, fought the Nazi’s party, been imprisoned, and died, he would today be remembered as a brilliant, little read, German theologian. His courage and willingness to suffer made him a martyr to the Christian faith and a person of international, intergenerational influence among Christians and others.

In The Cost of Discipleship when Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, “When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die,” he means that the cross is the place where we die to ourselves, our agendas, our plans, our hopes, our dreams, our needs, our wants, in order that the world in which we live and work may be given new life. We die to ourselves when we begin to live for others. We are crucified when we begin to sacrifice our own plans, programs, ideas, needs, etc. for the plans, programs, ideas, and needs of others.

When Bonhoeffer speaks of cross bearing, he makes an important point: God never forces us to carry a cross. Cross carrying is different from the consequences we suffer for mistakes or because of the evil others do to us. These things are not cross bearing. They are the results of the fact that we live in a fallen world. Cross bearing comes when we voluntarily put to death our personal desires and agendas in order to do the will of God. Here is how Bonhoeffer describes this moment of decision: “When the disciples are half-way along the road of discipleship, they come to another cross-roads. Once more they are left free to choose for themselves. Nothing is expected of them, nothing forced upon them. So crucial is the demand of the present hour that the disciples must be left free to make their own choice…..” (Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship).

Dietrich Bonhoeffer had a choice whether he would return to Germany where he was already seen as an enemy of the Nazi government. He had a choice as to whether he would continue to speak out against Hitler. He had a choice whether he would work for German intelligence carrying messages to the West from the German resistance. Each of those choices entailed an increasing risk of the death he eventually suffered. He chose to bear the Cross of Christ in Nazi Germany. God did not force him to do it. Nor will he force us.

Copyright 2014, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved