It seems rather ironic that so soon after Easter we should head back into a prayer in the gospels that immediately proceeds the betrayal, denial of and crucifixion of Jesus
But then this is how the gospels operate – we see new truth in the light of the cross
Prior to the cross so much of what Jesus said sounded like he talked in riddles
Some of his closest followers probably though he was a bit weird at times
Through the cross Jesus’ words and became aha moments
Through the cross – riddles become truth
This morning we are looking at the final prayer of Jesus before he went out to the Garden of Gethsemane.
It’s a prayer not only filled with tension at what is about to happen but also about the tensions of following Jesus.
Discipleship
Jesus’ prayer for us, his desire for us is pretty much that we continue his mission. In Matthew 28 he commissions his disciples – US to go and make disciples,
here in John 17 as they gather round to share the last supper he prays for them as he sends them out into the night
A night when they’ll be separated from him –
This prayer is like the last will and testament of what Jesus wants to see his followers become.
On the night he spoke this intimate prayer to his Father but with his followers listening in I suspect it didn’t make much sense – after the events of that Easter weekend, after the ascension, as they moved on in the mission I suspect it would have made more and more sense.
It’s a prayer but it’s also instruction
Not about how to do the mission
But about whom we need to be – how we need to relate to each other and to the world o live with tensions.
Tension One
You don’t have to be a scholar to realize that there are three uneasy tensions in this prayer –
In verse 9 Jesus says
“I pray for them but I do not pray for the world”
That’s kind of a weird prayer isn’t it?
John 3:16 Jesus says For God so Loved the …….. (world) that he gave his only son that
His prayer seems to be contradictory – on one hand we are talking about God loving the world on the other but I am not going to pray for it…
How do we make sense of that?
God loves the world – he created it, he brooded over it, but at the same time he sees what it has become,
The world as we know it is not what God intended
Look at it like this
John 3:16 – Jesus is talking about the created world the world he made – that is what he wants to redeem
John 17 – it’s the world we have created,
- the political systems that are corrupt,
- the way we have exploited our neighbor in the name of greed
- the way we pollute the planet
Our world is a world that on one hand is blessed with the finger prints of God, but on the other decaying, dying,
In Revelation 21 one of the final images of John’s vision is of a new earth because the old has passed away – God’s kingdom has come so not only the world God created that god created that reflects his Glory – everything does.
So while Jesus does not pray for the world, he does leave us to be part of that world and that’s our second tension,
Tension Two – We are in the world
In verse 11Jesus goes on to say, I am no longer in the world but they are in the world –
How do we live in a world that is corrupt and dying – clearly with the presence of Evil and remain safe?
How do we handle being in the world but not of the world?
I guess most of us are aware of the two extreme of Christianity
Liberalism – where anything seems to go
And fundamentalism – where nothing goes –
One extreme embraces everything of the world – one shuts itself off from the world.
Living in tension is not easy – so when you think about it moving to the extremes is the natural thing to do –
I mean if the world is an evil place there are two responses move into the Christian ghetto – which I guess is fundamentalism at a pinch or
Ignore the fact the world is an evil place and baptize everything and say it’s from God – which is liberalism at a pinch.
On one hand we can have lots of fellowship with one another and await the Lords return on the other we can look at the world through rose colored glasses – and when someone does something evil we’ll say it’s not evil they are just expressing themselves
But does mission exist in either of these two worlds?
How do we be Salt and Light?
Well from what I have seen the people who are called to be salt in the ghetto look as though they have been sucking lemons.
For liberalism – well we all no what too much salt does in a diet
As for light, well fundamentalism recognizes that the world is a dark place but when you are called to be light you probably blame the dark for being dark.
Or should we blame the light for not shining on the dark.
Liberalism tends to respond to the call to be light by turning off the light and groping around in the dark
I don’t think Fundamentalism holds the answers for how we are to live for Jesus
Shutting yourself off avoiding everything that isn’t Christian is not being Christ Like
Nor do I think Liberalism is the answer either…
Liberalism tends to be absorbed by everything
Jesus calls us to a middle way in but not of the world
Don’t run away from the world – engage with it but don’t compromise
That’s the middle way – that’s what Jesus prayers for us to be.
If we are going to do carry on the mission of Jesus we can’t do it from the ghetto, nor can we do it if we have no good news to offer.
We need to follow the middle way
Tension three - Unity
Now were talking about Mission about being called to carry on the task of Jesus – telling people the Good News but here’s the rub
If you walk into this world by yourself you’re going to end up a casualty – You may not realize it but the world hates our message – we call our message Good News – the gospel – but the reality is that to a world that is set in its ways it’s not Good News.
So when Jesus says in John 17:14 that the world he means it.
John’s Church knew this too well –
They were persecuted for their beliefs – driven out of the synagogues
John himself was imprisoned on Patmos for his beliefs.
“Hated” – yes you can expect that
But God has a plan to help us survive – even to help the message spread- it’s called Unity – it’s called community, because there is strength in numbers
When two or three come together Jesus is with us and the Church becomes an irresistible force for good
When the world sees us working together it starts to think these Jesus fella’s or not so bad – it actually becomes soft to our message
Community/Unity is part of God’s plan for surviving in this world – if we are to go out and not hide, if we are to go out and not be absorbed then we need to do that together
But that doesn’t mean we have to be uniform – we don’t have to all look the same.
In the God head we have perfect unity – so much so that the Son, Father and Spirit can describe themselves as one – yet three persons. The Father is not the Son the Son is not the Spirit- unity yes uniform NO
Jesus did not take a cookie cutter and make us all the same
We will argue,
we will disagree
but our unity comes in our love of Jesus – if you love Jesus and I love Jesus well we have something on common we can be united in Christ.
The first disciples were unified because of Jesus not because of themselves – there were fishermen, tax collectors, revolutionaries, brothers who though with each other but there focus was on Jesus – that unified them.
When Jesus ascended the point of unity became the one Spirit that was sent from God – the Holy Spirit unites us.
Its God desire for us to be one – but the practicalities of it is not that easy.
Though the Spirit is at work so is our humanity – community doesn’t just happen
We can’t just all turn up on Sunday morning and expect to be community – it doesn’t work like that
It has to be worked at
Prayer
In Leviticus 16 there are instructions for the priestly duties on the Day of Atonement –
If you know the Exodus story Moses at the commands of God brings the people of Israel out of captivity in Egypt.
In order to be the people of God the people of Israel under the leadership of Moses establish a covenant relationship with God at Mount Sinai
On the one hand the covenant promised life to all who obeyed it, and, on the other hand, it pronounced a curse upon all its transgressors.
The Day of Atonement was then like a get out of jail free day – an opportunity to find forgiveness for the inevitable that you will mess up.
On that Day according to Leviticus 16:17 the high priest was to perform the ritual of purification –
For himself
For his family
For the whole community
In the same way in this prayer Jesus follows the same shape
For Himself
For his Disciples – his earthly family
For the Whole Community for the Whole Church
When we say Jesus is the great High Priest we mean it – not only in the sacrifice he offers in his own life, body and blood but in the way he prays for us
Roman’s 8:34 tells us that the Jesus who dies and was raised is seated at the right hand of God pleading with God for us.
So in John 17 he starts a process that he continues into eternity – pleading. Praying intercessing for us.
In the cross he has fulfilled the requirements of the Covenant
– becoming the scape goat for our actions,
– the perfect sacrifice for our sin.
But his high priest role still continues – in prayer
If you are ever tempted to say no one ever prays for me – know this
– I may forget,
– the prayer chain may forget,
– Peter may get too busy
– and even Derek the most organized man in the world may forget
– but Jesus doesn’t – he prays, he pleads, he intercedes – he is our great high priest.
In his death and resurrection Jesus is the perfect realization of the Day of Atonement
In prayer he is our great high priest
So while the life of a disciple is filled with tensions we can hold fast to the fact that Jesus is praying for us
Don’t take them out
Deliver them form the evil
That they would be one
While Pre Easter we might read this prayer and focus upon the sacrifice through the lens of Post Easter – that side of Jesus ministry is finished, but prayer continues, his mission continues in us and because it continues in us – we need him praying for us.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Lifeshapes - the Circle
THE CIRCLE - learning
Power of symbols - what does this symbol mean (SLIDE NIKE TICK)
Three circles what does that mean (SLIDE THREE CIRCLES)
More Symbols (SLIDE MCDONALDS M)
In our culture we tend to learn and remember things using symbols
The Nike tick is rich with meaning over the years Nike have told us heaps about their product through a simple tick
We Learn more by what we see rather than what we hear – life shapes –
Life shapes is about using the power of symbol – giving the symbol meaning and learning some pretty simple Discipleship skills.
First symbol is a circle. (SLIDE LEARN)
In looking at it we will find answers to some of these questions...
How do we learn?
How do we know when God is at work in our lives?
How does God guide us?
How can I grow closer to God?
Will I ever change?
We are bombarded day and night by experiences – some good some bad, it’s as if our life is a series of events that pile up on each other - the question is God saying anything to us through these events or are they just a random collection of coincidences?
Is God trying to communicate with us through these ordinary things of life?
When you think about it – He must be.
One of what I believe the basic understanding of being a Disciple of Jesus is that not only do we learn from scripture but scripture forms and shapes us so we learn form life too
So that if we are disciples then Jesus will be or want to disciples us through these events and experiences
We need to be people who are able to hear and see what God wants us to learn then, and to be willing to act and learn form experiences
What that means is that we need to bale to hear Jesus voice in the midst of our life and to be able to engage with what he is saying in these ordinary things.
There is an old saying that we learn form experiences – that is not strictly true we learn because we have decided to learn form them – that requires us to take the experiences look at them and make some decisions based upon what has happened.
Prime example driving in a car in the wet – you skid on a corner and loose control
- that’s an experience
- you learn from it by – adjusting your speed next time
o Putting more grippy tires on your car
o Not driving in the wet
o Doing defensive driving so that when your back end goes you know how to respond
Just carrying on driving is not learning from an experience.
How you learn from it is be in its simplest form observing what happened – the car skidded
And changing something so it doesn’t happen again
Or if it does happen you have more control...
The process of learning from life is always pretty similar – observe, react.
Being a disciple is no different – if life gives you experiences then we should pretty much guarantee that in there God wants you to learn how to react accordingly
That’s discipleship – learning how to live in response to the one we are following.
Events when filtered through our understanding of God then can teach us.
Scripture shapes us – because it from the scriptures that we meet and understand Jesus
But Life also shapes us as we respond in ways in which Jesus would or how Jesus shows us to respond.
The more we reflect, the more we grow, the more confident we can be in life’s experiences
Viv Grigg – I want you humility, it comes through being broken again and again and allowing God to rebuild you again and again – his life experiences made him humble – he could have juts turned around and said Nuts to you God when the first painful experience came around – he didn’t because the God revealed to him in scripture – Jesus doesn’t walk away – that gave him peace – that grew his confidence.
So how does the circle work?
Some people view life as a passage of time (SLIDE LIFE)
Greeks differentiate this view of time (SLIDE CHRONOS AND KAIROS)
But remember we said that life is also a series of events
In the following passage what sort of Time is Jesus talking about? (SLIDE BIBLE BIT)
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come”, he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:14, 15)
Time – kairos – not just the passage of time but an event in time (SLIDE EVENT)
So it’s an opportunity to learn (SLIDE KAIROS)
Positive or negative
You’ll recognize it by the impact it has on you
E.g., loosing a job, gaining a promotion
Signal opportunities to grow
What Kairos moments have you had in your lives?
The Kairos moment is the space and place in which you enter the ‘circle’ – hopefully they are opportunities for growth
Kairos Time is like - entering God’s gym
THE IMPORTANT thing about them is that you do not stay as you are, YOU NEED TO GROW…
Going back to the scripture we saw earlier (SLIDE BIBLE BIT)
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come”, he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”
We saw it was Kairos Time.
There are some other words to make a note of (SLIDE KINGDOM)
The kingdom (God’s presence, God’s rule) is within reach for all of us!
What do we do about it?
How do we reach it?
How do I find God?
We need to according to Jesus
Repent (metanoia) =Change your mind, a process of transformation
Believe (Pistis) =Step out in faith, something you are sure about
Put that in terms of the circle (SLIDE KAIROS TIME)
REPENT SIDE OF THE CIRCLE (SLIDE REPENT SIDE)
OBSERVE – look at your life, hoe have you reacted to the situation, emotion, what are your thoughts about it - BE HONEST
REFLECT – think about the observations you have made – process them, why did you react like you did. –NOTE easier for introverts to do this
DISCUSS – invite other in, chat about it with others, obviously in many cases this will need to be someone you can trust. When working with young people the best way to build trust is to be open with them – watch your barriers though
In Matthew 6 Jesus does just this – Sermon on the Mount – cost of being a disciple – its decision time for the listeners.
He make an observation - Look at the birds of the air, look at the flowers of the field,
He asks them to reflect on this observation do they worry?
The question would prompt discussion…
We cannot stop here; we must learn to believe (SLIDE BELIEVE)
Repentance is an internal thing,
Belief is external it is action in light of a new way of behaving
PLAN – strategy for recognising the problem and embracing a proper way to act – this is not about thinking – we have done that- it’s about action. Without a plan we will intend to put thing right but fail miserably – the road to hell is paved with the best intentions
ACCOUNT – someone to hold us accountable – internal repentance has an outworking in faith – as the scriptures say confess your sins with one
ACT – Action, do something about it
(SLIDE FULL CIRCLE) Often people go half way round the circle. We are good at reflecting but often don’t change because we are not accountable and don’t act
Parable of the wise and foolish builder (SLIDE MATTHEW)
Matthew 7:20-27
Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
[21] "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [22] Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' [23] Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
[24] "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. [25] The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. [26] But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. [27] The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."
What I think it is saying is that repentance - Lord, Lord, without action or belief is not real repentance
Wise - put what they hear into practice – built on a solid foundation
Foolish – don’t put them into practice – no action – disaster……
Practical example
Me and soccer – event was a kairos moment
Observe – what did I do – lost my rag, blew my stack
Reflect – why did I do it – bad mood, took the game too seriously, forgot about the fun
Discuss – talked about it with those who were there, accepted their criticism
Plan – put something in place to stop it happening – a cool down period, asked people to tell me if I was being too serious, apologised privately and publicly
Account – team held me accountable.
Act – changed behaviour
AN UPDATE….
LIFE IS LIKE A SLINKY – full of Kairos moments (SLIDE SLINKY)
Power of symbols - what does this symbol mean (SLIDE NIKE TICK)
Three circles what does that mean (SLIDE THREE CIRCLES)
More Symbols (SLIDE MCDONALDS M)
In our culture we tend to learn and remember things using symbols
The Nike tick is rich with meaning over the years Nike have told us heaps about their product through a simple tick
We Learn more by what we see rather than what we hear – life shapes –
Life shapes is about using the power of symbol – giving the symbol meaning and learning some pretty simple Discipleship skills.
First symbol is a circle. (SLIDE LEARN)
In looking at it we will find answers to some of these questions...
How do we learn?
How do we know when God is at work in our lives?
How does God guide us?
How can I grow closer to God?
Will I ever change?
We are bombarded day and night by experiences – some good some bad, it’s as if our life is a series of events that pile up on each other - the question is God saying anything to us through these events or are they just a random collection of coincidences?
Is God trying to communicate with us through these ordinary things of life?
When you think about it – He must be.
One of what I believe the basic understanding of being a Disciple of Jesus is that not only do we learn from scripture but scripture forms and shapes us so we learn form life too
So that if we are disciples then Jesus will be or want to disciples us through these events and experiences
We need to be people who are able to hear and see what God wants us to learn then, and to be willing to act and learn form experiences
What that means is that we need to bale to hear Jesus voice in the midst of our life and to be able to engage with what he is saying in these ordinary things.
There is an old saying that we learn form experiences – that is not strictly true we learn because we have decided to learn form them – that requires us to take the experiences look at them and make some decisions based upon what has happened.
Prime example driving in a car in the wet – you skid on a corner and loose control
- that’s an experience
- you learn from it by – adjusting your speed next time
o Putting more grippy tires on your car
o Not driving in the wet
o Doing defensive driving so that when your back end goes you know how to respond
Just carrying on driving is not learning from an experience.
How you learn from it is be in its simplest form observing what happened – the car skidded
And changing something so it doesn’t happen again
Or if it does happen you have more control...
The process of learning from life is always pretty similar – observe, react.
Being a disciple is no different – if life gives you experiences then we should pretty much guarantee that in there God wants you to learn how to react accordingly
That’s discipleship – learning how to live in response to the one we are following.
Events when filtered through our understanding of God then can teach us.
Scripture shapes us – because it from the scriptures that we meet and understand Jesus
But Life also shapes us as we respond in ways in which Jesus would or how Jesus shows us to respond.
The more we reflect, the more we grow, the more confident we can be in life’s experiences
Viv Grigg – I want you humility, it comes through being broken again and again and allowing God to rebuild you again and again – his life experiences made him humble – he could have juts turned around and said Nuts to you God when the first painful experience came around – he didn’t because the God revealed to him in scripture – Jesus doesn’t walk away – that gave him peace – that grew his confidence.
So how does the circle work?
Some people view life as a passage of time (SLIDE LIFE)
Greeks differentiate this view of time (SLIDE CHRONOS AND KAIROS)
But remember we said that life is also a series of events
In the following passage what sort of Time is Jesus talking about? (SLIDE BIBLE BIT)
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come”, he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:14, 15)
Time – kairos – not just the passage of time but an event in time (SLIDE EVENT)
So it’s an opportunity to learn (SLIDE KAIROS)
Positive or negative
You’ll recognize it by the impact it has on you
E.g., loosing a job, gaining a promotion
Signal opportunities to grow
What Kairos moments have you had in your lives?
The Kairos moment is the space and place in which you enter the ‘circle’ – hopefully they are opportunities for growth
Kairos Time is like - entering God’s gym
THE IMPORTANT thing about them is that you do not stay as you are, YOU NEED TO GROW…
Going back to the scripture we saw earlier (SLIDE BIBLE BIT)
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come”, he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”
We saw it was Kairos Time.
There are some other words to make a note of (SLIDE KINGDOM)
The kingdom (God’s presence, God’s rule) is within reach for all of us!
What do we do about it?
How do we reach it?
How do I find God?
We need to according to Jesus
Repent (metanoia) =Change your mind, a process of transformation
Believe (Pistis) =Step out in faith, something you are sure about
Put that in terms of the circle (SLIDE KAIROS TIME)
REPENT SIDE OF THE CIRCLE (SLIDE REPENT SIDE)
OBSERVE – look at your life, hoe have you reacted to the situation, emotion, what are your thoughts about it - BE HONEST
REFLECT – think about the observations you have made – process them, why did you react like you did. –NOTE easier for introverts to do this
DISCUSS – invite other in, chat about it with others, obviously in many cases this will need to be someone you can trust. When working with young people the best way to build trust is to be open with them – watch your barriers though
In Matthew 6 Jesus does just this – Sermon on the Mount – cost of being a disciple – its decision time for the listeners.
He make an observation - Look at the birds of the air, look at the flowers of the field,
He asks them to reflect on this observation do they worry?
The question would prompt discussion…
We cannot stop here; we must learn to believe (SLIDE BELIEVE)
Repentance is an internal thing,
Belief is external it is action in light of a new way of behaving
PLAN – strategy for recognising the problem and embracing a proper way to act – this is not about thinking – we have done that- it’s about action. Without a plan we will intend to put thing right but fail miserably – the road to hell is paved with the best intentions
ACCOUNT – someone to hold us accountable – internal repentance has an outworking in faith – as the scriptures say confess your sins with one
ACT – Action, do something about it
(SLIDE FULL CIRCLE) Often people go half way round the circle. We are good at reflecting but often don’t change because we are not accountable and don’t act
Parable of the wise and foolish builder (SLIDE MATTHEW)
Matthew 7:20-27
Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
[21] "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [22] Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' [23] Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
[24] "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. [25] The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. [26] But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. [27] The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."
What I think it is saying is that repentance - Lord, Lord, without action or belief is not real repentance
Wise - put what they hear into practice – built on a solid foundation
Foolish – don’t put them into practice – no action – disaster……
Practical example
Me and soccer – event was a kairos moment
Observe – what did I do – lost my rag, blew my stack
Reflect – why did I do it – bad mood, took the game too seriously, forgot about the fun
Discuss – talked about it with those who were there, accepted their criticism
Plan – put something in place to stop it happening – a cool down period, asked people to tell me if I was being too serious, apologised privately and publicly
Account – team held me accountable.
Act – changed behaviour
AN UPDATE….
LIFE IS LIKE A SLINKY – full of Kairos moments (SLIDE SLINKY)
Lifeshapes - the Triangle
Last week we began to look at the balanced life that is needed for authentic discipleship.
We saw how work and rest were as equally as important
God has given us work to do but he also called us to rest –
I guess part of being human is that we are involved in the act of creation through our work but also in recreation of ourselves body soul and spirit as we rest, reflect on God’s work and wait on him.
At the end of Matthews gospel he tells the disciples to go and make disciples of all nations – that is work
But the next action we see the disciples doing is going up to an upper room where they wait for the Holy Spirit SLIDE
Work and rest.
Create and recreate
Were continuing to look at the balanced life today – in particular the balance in relationships
In Genesis 1:26 SLIDE
Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness…
I guess that fact that we are made to create and recreate are a way in that image is fleshed out in us
Just as on the seventh day God rested from the work of creation so God has made us with that same rhythm in how we operate…
But there is more to that image than just how we work rest and play
The God we are created in is trinity – Father Son and Spirit – three persons but of one substance
For those who were here last week you’d probably remember this icon that I used during communion
Remember I said that icons were not paintings of reality but windows to the mystery of God – and how they use everyday figures in a manner that portrays the reality of God.
Nothing is by chance every brush stroke has meaning
The colour blue which is the base rob colour for the three figures reflects the common nature – but the outer colours of the robs help us understand the different out workings of God
Namely as
God the Father
God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit
Within the God head there is relationship
One of the ways in which people are beginning to recognise that the image of God work it’s way out in us is that we are built for relationship – we are built to be in community
From the earliest days of human existence humans have formed themselves into relational groups that mutually support each other – the village, the tribe.
But that relationship is not just about people it’s also how we relate to God too.
In Jesus we see this relationship lived out to the Max –
He demonstrates 3 relational dimension of his life–
Luke 6:12-19 SLIDE
One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
In Luke 6 Jesus modelled the following relationships SLIDE
• UP to his Father
• IN with his close friends
• OUT to people not in the community
This brings us to our next shape, the triangle
Each point reflects something of the relationship
Firstly he related to god the Father in an upward dimension UP
Again and again we have Jesus drawing away to be with the father in rest, prayer, worship and solitude
But Jesus relationship also had an inward dimension IN
He related intimately with the people around him the disciples was a model of the first cell group – they were family he would talk through concerns with them share with them
And finally Jesus also modelled an outward dimension OUT
He ministered to the crowd – he had compassion on the crowd he wasn’t just concerned with the inner circle – but when ever there was a need he gave of himself to meet that need
Jesus modelled not only the balanced life of work and rest but of healthy 3 dimensional relationships
It was God calls us to do also SLIDE
Micah 6:8
Ask the question, “What does the Lord require of you?”
Answer, “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”
Three dimensions in text
Do justly (what is right for others) – OUT – witness and service - MISSION
Love Mercy – IN –loving others - COMMUNITY
Walk Humbly – UP – submission to God – WORSHIP/PRAYER
Here is the thing I have seen time and again people, churches, youth ministries, Children’s ministries, and cell groups tend to do two dimensions well. And often fail with the third – which leaves many thinking is their more – is that it, is this is all my Christian faith is about? Well the simple answer is yes there is more – for you there is another dimension to your existence – but you’re probably going to need to work at it.
As I said the Natural human tendency to do two well – which means we fail to reflect God and we get frustrated.
Look at it like a ring road with three sets of traffic lights SLIDE
Traffic moves smoothly if they are all on green – but as soon as one is red or the lights are out of sink with each other you have traffic jams – you get flustered – you cease to grow in your faith and in fact you probably stagnate.
Community fuels Mission
Mission fuels worship.
Worship fuels Community
Important for individuals – Zoe - UP, Jon - IN
But it’s equally as important for Churches
THE BARREL growth principle SLIDE
Water sinks to the level of the lowest hole
We will only grow as much as our weakest aspect
Jesus had three dimensions to his life.
An upwards relationship with God his Father,
An inward relationship with his disciples
And an outward relationship with the world around him.
We need to have a focus of all three to fulfil our purpose and identity and make life whole.
I hope you can see that in terms of your faith you are probably struggling in one are
So how do you overcome – change?
Maybe you need put the Triangle in light of the circle
Throw it into the learning circle – maybe this is a Kairos moment for you
Observe – Worship Sucked
Reflect – No Fuel to do the other stuff – yet we have great musicians
Discuss – Where is the blockage coming from? Well probably from me – worship wasn’t my thing so as so often happens in leadership it isn’t the group’s thing either – whether they like it or not
Plan – We need to introduce new leaders into the worship, I need to be come a worshipper
Account – met regularly with people to talk worship
Act – We worshipped - TOGEHER
It took off we went form being a two dimensional group to a group whose worship fuelled mission whose mission fuelled community whose community fuelled worship and people grew in their faith.
Here at nativity we are hopefully addressing some of these short comings seeing where the traffic lights are and over the coming months – and I think we have already begun we’ll challenge those blockage – hopefully for us as a Church but hopefully also for us as individuals
If we are going to call ourselves disciples we need to
Love as Jesus loved – Up dimension
Live as Jesus lived – In dimension
Do as Jesus did – Out Dimension
We saw how work and rest were as equally as important
God has given us work to do but he also called us to rest –
I guess part of being human is that we are involved in the act of creation through our work but also in recreation of ourselves body soul and spirit as we rest, reflect on God’s work and wait on him.
At the end of Matthews gospel he tells the disciples to go and make disciples of all nations – that is work
But the next action we see the disciples doing is going up to an upper room where they wait for the Holy Spirit SLIDE
Work and rest.
Create and recreate
Were continuing to look at the balanced life today – in particular the balance in relationships
In Genesis 1:26 SLIDE
Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness…
I guess that fact that we are made to create and recreate are a way in that image is fleshed out in us
Just as on the seventh day God rested from the work of creation so God has made us with that same rhythm in how we operate…
But there is more to that image than just how we work rest and play
The God we are created in is trinity – Father Son and Spirit – three persons but of one substance
For those who were here last week you’d probably remember this icon that I used during communion
Remember I said that icons were not paintings of reality but windows to the mystery of God – and how they use everyday figures in a manner that portrays the reality of God.
Nothing is by chance every brush stroke has meaning
The colour blue which is the base rob colour for the three figures reflects the common nature – but the outer colours of the robs help us understand the different out workings of God
Namely as
God the Father
God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit
Within the God head there is relationship
One of the ways in which people are beginning to recognise that the image of God work it’s way out in us is that we are built for relationship – we are built to be in community
From the earliest days of human existence humans have formed themselves into relational groups that mutually support each other – the village, the tribe.
But that relationship is not just about people it’s also how we relate to God too.
In Jesus we see this relationship lived out to the Max –
He demonstrates 3 relational dimension of his life–
Luke 6:12-19 SLIDE
One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
In Luke 6 Jesus modelled the following relationships SLIDE
• UP to his Father
• IN with his close friends
• OUT to people not in the community
This brings us to our next shape, the triangle
Each point reflects something of the relationship
Firstly he related to god the Father in an upward dimension UP
Again and again we have Jesus drawing away to be with the father in rest, prayer, worship and solitude
But Jesus relationship also had an inward dimension IN
He related intimately with the people around him the disciples was a model of the first cell group – they were family he would talk through concerns with them share with them
And finally Jesus also modelled an outward dimension OUT
He ministered to the crowd – he had compassion on the crowd he wasn’t just concerned with the inner circle – but when ever there was a need he gave of himself to meet that need
Jesus modelled not only the balanced life of work and rest but of healthy 3 dimensional relationships
It was God calls us to do also SLIDE
Micah 6:8
Ask the question, “What does the Lord require of you?”
Answer, “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”
Three dimensions in text
Do justly (what is right for others) – OUT – witness and service - MISSION
Love Mercy – IN –loving others - COMMUNITY
Walk Humbly – UP – submission to God – WORSHIP/PRAYER
Here is the thing I have seen time and again people, churches, youth ministries, Children’s ministries, and cell groups tend to do two dimensions well. And often fail with the third – which leaves many thinking is their more – is that it, is this is all my Christian faith is about? Well the simple answer is yes there is more – for you there is another dimension to your existence – but you’re probably going to need to work at it.
As I said the Natural human tendency to do two well – which means we fail to reflect God and we get frustrated.
Look at it like a ring road with three sets of traffic lights SLIDE
Traffic moves smoothly if they are all on green – but as soon as one is red or the lights are out of sink with each other you have traffic jams – you get flustered – you cease to grow in your faith and in fact you probably stagnate.
Community fuels Mission
Mission fuels worship.
Worship fuels Community
Important for individuals – Zoe - UP, Jon - IN
But it’s equally as important for Churches
THE BARREL growth principle SLIDE
Water sinks to the level of the lowest hole
We will only grow as much as our weakest aspect
Jesus had three dimensions to his life.
An upwards relationship with God his Father,
An inward relationship with his disciples
And an outward relationship with the world around him.
We need to have a focus of all three to fulfil our purpose and identity and make life whole.
I hope you can see that in terms of your faith you are probably struggling in one are
So how do you overcome – change?
Maybe you need put the Triangle in light of the circle
Throw it into the learning circle – maybe this is a Kairos moment for you
Observe – Worship Sucked
Reflect – No Fuel to do the other stuff – yet we have great musicians
Discuss – Where is the blockage coming from? Well probably from me – worship wasn’t my thing so as so often happens in leadership it isn’t the group’s thing either – whether they like it or not
Plan – We need to introduce new leaders into the worship, I need to be come a worshipper
Account – met regularly with people to talk worship
Act – We worshipped - TOGEHER
It took off we went form being a two dimensional group to a group whose worship fuelled mission whose mission fuelled community whose community fuelled worship and people grew in their faith.
Here at nativity we are hopefully addressing some of these short comings seeing where the traffic lights are and over the coming months – and I think we have already begun we’ll challenge those blockage – hopefully for us as a Church but hopefully also for us as individuals
If we are going to call ourselves disciples we need to
Love as Jesus loved – Up dimension
Live as Jesus lived – In dimension
Do as Jesus did – Out Dimension
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Sermon for Good Shepherd Sunday
This Sunday is Good Shepherd Sunday –
It seems odd in our ever changing region to celebrate good Shepherd Sunday – after all in the five years I have lived in the top of the south I’ve scene the landscape change from sheep to grapes – we should really be celebrating Vineyard Sunday… Actually next week Sunday is about Vines but getting back to this week….
I struggle with rural images – having grown up in a small town of 55,000 I ain’t scene many sheep, and I don’t think I’ve ever scene a shepherd in the flesh
So for those of you like me who are rather disconnected from the rural images of sheep and shepherds I Should point out what Good Shepherd Sunday is about
It is not a study of sheep farming methods throughout the age – though I am sure that would be interesting
Nor is it an appreciation Sunday for those who work hard on the land supplying the country and the world with sheeppy products – though again that might be a good idea
It is a Sunday where we actually explore Leadership –
I am not sure whether you have noticed this or not but Leadership seems to have been the obsession of the Church in the 21st century
A Major reason behind this obsession is I think the belief that; “Everything Stands or Falls On Leadership”
When business fails it’s the CEO being hung drawn and quartered – admittedly with a fat redundancy cherub.
When a sports team fails – it used to be because of the players - now they loose because the manager failed…
The Church is probably no different more often than not when the leadership fails the Church fails in her mission
And I think we are only too aware that these are tough times – as Peter pointed out at the AGM we have gone through 13 significant personnel leadership changes in the last 13 months.
We have had a crisis in stable leadership
Thankfully as a church you have been able to whether some of the storms.
The story of – Judges 17:6 seems:
“In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes”
Thankfully in our context what is right in people’s eyes is largely what God would have us do.
As a church you have over the last few years largely done the right thing
-and for that you need to be applauded.
But there is another crisis that faces the Church
Figures out in the UK say that if the Church of England continues in its rate of decline than by 2050 there will be no one left to blow the candles out.
In our context while our decline is not as potentially traumatic as the C of E we do still have a crisis – we are not growing – and for a church like our with the resources we have that’s an issue
And if the saying is true that Everything Stands or Falls on Leadership
Than we have a Leadership crisis still.
But I believe we also have the resources to overcome this crisis – to grow again
– not just in numbers or bums on seats
– that’s easy growth
All we need to do is either put on the best show in town
Or change our counting strategy move from bottoms on seats to knees on kneelers and we can grow 100% overnight
The fact is we still face a crisis – we are failing to make disciples.
Strangely enough crisis in leadership is nothing new for the people of God…
The OT is chock full of leadership crisis’s,
And when it’s not about the leaders it about how the people have fallen away from God – why? Because the leadership failed…
Today in our reading we have Jesus offering a model of leadership to the people of God – because of a crisis.
He offers two contrasting approaches – that of the Good Shepherd and that of the Hired Hand.
To really understand the Good Shepherd you need to understand the hired hand and I guess the reason for the hired hand running.
In scripture he runs because of the threat of wolves – there is a story with that story.
John was writing the gospel for a church in crisis
While we can’t possibly know the whole situation John was working in we know that he was selective about what he includes – as he says in 21:25
“There are also many other things that Jesus did: if every one of them was written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”
I guess when your time is short you want to make the main thing the main thing and For John what he includes in his gospel are the main things for his community of faith so he records Jesus words for the issues that speak to his community.
One issue we know about from history is persecution- in the early days of the Christian faith – followers of Jesus were scene as part of the synagogue – the early followers were largely Jews – and so Christianity was scene in terms of being a Jewish sect.
As you might expect when you realize who Jesus was and is
– namely God made flesh you are going to start rubbing people up the wrong way in the synagogue
– To the average Jew that’s just not possible.
– God is one
– Messiahs don’t die
– And how could Jesus be God if he hung around with sinners
The Christians then were basically excluded from the club.
And because of that exclusion they were not trusted by wider society
– They were seen as a cult
Rumors spread,
Christians were cannibals because they ate the body and drank the blood of their leader
They also would not recognize Caesar as Lord – because Jesus is Lord
That can just sound like a trait statement but in the world of the Bible that was rebellion.
Subsequently the church came under attack and persecution – So while Jesus is talking about the wolves of the Pharisees attacking the sheep,
John uses the story to warn the Church of the Wolves of Rome attacking the sheep too.
When persecution comes the hired shepherds run for the hills rather than stay and defend the sheep.
When crisis come the leaders of the Church then they are to make a choice about how they should lead either as a good shepherd or to run away, like a hired hand.
While we don’t know whether John had experienced Persecution when he was writing the Gospel we do know its something that John would experience first hand –
Revelation was written while he was on the island of Patmos
– because of persecution,
– because he had spoken out the word of God,
– Because he had stood by the sheep.
So who is the hired hand?
On one hand it’s the Pharisees
But its also a back handed swipe at Church leadership that run away in the face of persecution – when crisis emerges
On the other side of the image Jesus offers the model of the Good Shepherd
When you think about it Shepherd and leadership are not really two words that go together.
Though a Shepherd leads the sheep is a worth while observation –
I mean let face it we can all be as dumb as sheep at times.
And After 13 years of youth work I can tell you that most teenagers have heard instincts – if one does it they’ll all do it – regardless of how stupid it appears
In the ancient world Shepherds were at the very bottom of the status in the ancient world.
They were uneducated, illiterate, dirty, smelly, rough and irreligious men.
In our context I suspect the image of the shepherd we are most familiar with is the great southern
– The grumpy,
– beer in hand,
– One word answers don’t really inspire many people to follow – even if we are dumb as sheep.
It’s hardly the model of leadership that you would want your Church leaders to aspire to.
There are of course some aspects of the image of a Shepherd that fit well
Jesus knows us as the Shepherd knows his sheep,
Jesus protects the sheep
Jesus searches for the lost the way the shepherd searches for his lost sheep,
So while there is much we can learn from some of our rural images of Shepherds and even by giving the image the adjective Good it’s still an odd image of leadership…
Yet this is the image that Jesus draws on when he talking about those who lead and protect the Church – God’s people
But the kind of shepherd that Jesus is describing is not a normal shepherd.
It’s the Shepherd that Ezekiel talks about In Ezekiel 34 – not some smelly, illiterate, misfit of society who is banished to the outskirts of the city.
This is the Good Shepherd –
As God Says in Ezekiel 34:15
“I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed and I will bind up the injured and I will strengthen the weak.”
This is the God Shepherd that promises to seek and save.
This is the model of leadership Jesus is describing.
So what does that look like?
For the Church that has emerged out of one crisis of lack of stable leadership into another crisis of how we do mission we need to take on the mantle of being shepherds
– Good Shepherds who model ourselves after Jesus.
But since leadership is not only a function of those who get paid but a function of all God’s people as we lead in families, workplaces, schools or where ever we offer our witness to the world the model of the good Shepherd is for all of us.
In times of crisis with God‘s people he again and again brings them back to this model of leadership -
Good shepherd-leaders build relationships with people and people follow because they know and trust them.
They are not distant and isolated, not strangers.
Good shepherd-leader exercises influence with people by setting an example for people to follow.
Good shepherd-leaders are not selfishly focused on building themselves up.
Instead they focus on building other people up, helping them to grow and live a full life.
Good shepherd-leader serves people sacrificially.
This is sometimes the hardest thing to do – it’s hard to give and give, but just because we are called to give sacrificially doesn’t mean we are meant to be abused either Don Dickson or a dozen eggs.
Good shepherd leaders don't run away when the going gets tough.
Good Shepherds are Mission Shaped, they recognize that the people in the sheep are not the only people that matter – but that God is at work in the world beyond the sheep pen of the Church.
I Hope you can see Leadership in the Church of God is a huge responsibility
For John’s church when the going got tough the tough scarpered meanwhile he was left to rot on the island of Patmos
Having been involved in leadership in the Church for over ten years I can understand why sometimes they run
I may not have had my life threatened for the gospel but sometimes the needs of God’s people can threaten your sanity
And though it’s a pleasure to serve you at the same time it’s not always easy giving out when all you hear back is a lot baaaah’s
So, on this good shepherd Sunday Pray for us who are in leadership if we are to lead you through this crisis in God’s mission to draw in other sheep than we are going to need:
Your support,
Your love,
Your patience,
And your help…
It seems odd in our ever changing region to celebrate good Shepherd Sunday – after all in the five years I have lived in the top of the south I’ve scene the landscape change from sheep to grapes – we should really be celebrating Vineyard Sunday… Actually next week Sunday is about Vines but getting back to this week….
I struggle with rural images – having grown up in a small town of 55,000 I ain’t scene many sheep, and I don’t think I’ve ever scene a shepherd in the flesh
So for those of you like me who are rather disconnected from the rural images of sheep and shepherds I Should point out what Good Shepherd Sunday is about
It is not a study of sheep farming methods throughout the age – though I am sure that would be interesting
Nor is it an appreciation Sunday for those who work hard on the land supplying the country and the world with sheeppy products – though again that might be a good idea
It is a Sunday where we actually explore Leadership –
I am not sure whether you have noticed this or not but Leadership seems to have been the obsession of the Church in the 21st century
A Major reason behind this obsession is I think the belief that; “Everything Stands or Falls On Leadership”
When business fails it’s the CEO being hung drawn and quartered – admittedly with a fat redundancy cherub.
When a sports team fails – it used to be because of the players - now they loose because the manager failed…
The Church is probably no different more often than not when the leadership fails the Church fails in her mission
And I think we are only too aware that these are tough times – as Peter pointed out at the AGM we have gone through 13 significant personnel leadership changes in the last 13 months.
We have had a crisis in stable leadership
Thankfully as a church you have been able to whether some of the storms.
The story of – Judges 17:6 seems:
“In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes”
Thankfully in our context what is right in people’s eyes is largely what God would have us do.
As a church you have over the last few years largely done the right thing
-and for that you need to be applauded.
But there is another crisis that faces the Church
Figures out in the UK say that if the Church of England continues in its rate of decline than by 2050 there will be no one left to blow the candles out.
In our context while our decline is not as potentially traumatic as the C of E we do still have a crisis – we are not growing – and for a church like our with the resources we have that’s an issue
And if the saying is true that Everything Stands or Falls on Leadership
Than we have a Leadership crisis still.
But I believe we also have the resources to overcome this crisis – to grow again
– not just in numbers or bums on seats
– that’s easy growth
All we need to do is either put on the best show in town
Or change our counting strategy move from bottoms on seats to knees on kneelers and we can grow 100% overnight
The fact is we still face a crisis – we are failing to make disciples.
Strangely enough crisis in leadership is nothing new for the people of God…
The OT is chock full of leadership crisis’s,
And when it’s not about the leaders it about how the people have fallen away from God – why? Because the leadership failed…
Today in our reading we have Jesus offering a model of leadership to the people of God – because of a crisis.
He offers two contrasting approaches – that of the Good Shepherd and that of the Hired Hand.
To really understand the Good Shepherd you need to understand the hired hand and I guess the reason for the hired hand running.
In scripture he runs because of the threat of wolves – there is a story with that story.
John was writing the gospel for a church in crisis
While we can’t possibly know the whole situation John was working in we know that he was selective about what he includes – as he says in 21:25
“There are also many other things that Jesus did: if every one of them was written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”
I guess when your time is short you want to make the main thing the main thing and For John what he includes in his gospel are the main things for his community of faith so he records Jesus words for the issues that speak to his community.
One issue we know about from history is persecution- in the early days of the Christian faith – followers of Jesus were scene as part of the synagogue – the early followers were largely Jews – and so Christianity was scene in terms of being a Jewish sect.
As you might expect when you realize who Jesus was and is
– namely God made flesh you are going to start rubbing people up the wrong way in the synagogue
– To the average Jew that’s just not possible.
– God is one
– Messiahs don’t die
– And how could Jesus be God if he hung around with sinners
The Christians then were basically excluded from the club.
And because of that exclusion they were not trusted by wider society
– They were seen as a cult
Rumors spread,
Christians were cannibals because they ate the body and drank the blood of their leader
They also would not recognize Caesar as Lord – because Jesus is Lord
That can just sound like a trait statement but in the world of the Bible that was rebellion.
Subsequently the church came under attack and persecution – So while Jesus is talking about the wolves of the Pharisees attacking the sheep,
John uses the story to warn the Church of the Wolves of Rome attacking the sheep too.
When persecution comes the hired shepherds run for the hills rather than stay and defend the sheep.
When crisis come the leaders of the Church then they are to make a choice about how they should lead either as a good shepherd or to run away, like a hired hand.
While we don’t know whether John had experienced Persecution when he was writing the Gospel we do know its something that John would experience first hand –
Revelation was written while he was on the island of Patmos
– because of persecution,
– because he had spoken out the word of God,
– Because he had stood by the sheep.
So who is the hired hand?
On one hand it’s the Pharisees
But its also a back handed swipe at Church leadership that run away in the face of persecution – when crisis emerges
On the other side of the image Jesus offers the model of the Good Shepherd
When you think about it Shepherd and leadership are not really two words that go together.
Though a Shepherd leads the sheep is a worth while observation –
I mean let face it we can all be as dumb as sheep at times.
And After 13 years of youth work I can tell you that most teenagers have heard instincts – if one does it they’ll all do it – regardless of how stupid it appears
In the ancient world Shepherds were at the very bottom of the status in the ancient world.
They were uneducated, illiterate, dirty, smelly, rough and irreligious men.
In our context I suspect the image of the shepherd we are most familiar with is the great southern
– The grumpy,
– beer in hand,
– One word answers don’t really inspire many people to follow – even if we are dumb as sheep.
It’s hardly the model of leadership that you would want your Church leaders to aspire to.
There are of course some aspects of the image of a Shepherd that fit well
Jesus knows us as the Shepherd knows his sheep,
Jesus protects the sheep
Jesus searches for the lost the way the shepherd searches for his lost sheep,
So while there is much we can learn from some of our rural images of Shepherds and even by giving the image the adjective Good it’s still an odd image of leadership…
Yet this is the image that Jesus draws on when he talking about those who lead and protect the Church – God’s people
But the kind of shepherd that Jesus is describing is not a normal shepherd.
It’s the Shepherd that Ezekiel talks about In Ezekiel 34 – not some smelly, illiterate, misfit of society who is banished to the outskirts of the city.
This is the Good Shepherd –
As God Says in Ezekiel 34:15
“I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed and I will bind up the injured and I will strengthen the weak.”
This is the God Shepherd that promises to seek and save.
This is the model of leadership Jesus is describing.
So what does that look like?
For the Church that has emerged out of one crisis of lack of stable leadership into another crisis of how we do mission we need to take on the mantle of being shepherds
– Good Shepherds who model ourselves after Jesus.
But since leadership is not only a function of those who get paid but a function of all God’s people as we lead in families, workplaces, schools or where ever we offer our witness to the world the model of the good Shepherd is for all of us.
In times of crisis with God‘s people he again and again brings them back to this model of leadership -
Good shepherd-leaders build relationships with people and people follow because they know and trust them.
They are not distant and isolated, not strangers.
Good shepherd-leader exercises influence with people by setting an example for people to follow.
Good shepherd-leaders are not selfishly focused on building themselves up.
Instead they focus on building other people up, helping them to grow and live a full life.
Good shepherd-leader serves people sacrificially.
This is sometimes the hardest thing to do – it’s hard to give and give, but just because we are called to give sacrificially doesn’t mean we are meant to be abused either Don Dickson or a dozen eggs.
Good shepherd leaders don't run away when the going gets tough.
Good Shepherds are Mission Shaped, they recognize that the people in the sheep are not the only people that matter – but that God is at work in the world beyond the sheep pen of the Church.
I Hope you can see Leadership in the Church of God is a huge responsibility
For John’s church when the going got tough the tough scarpered meanwhile he was left to rot on the island of Patmos
Having been involved in leadership in the Church for over ten years I can understand why sometimes they run
I may not have had my life threatened for the gospel but sometimes the needs of God’s people can threaten your sanity
And though it’s a pleasure to serve you at the same time it’s not always easy giving out when all you hear back is a lot baaaah’s
So, on this good shepherd Sunday Pray for us who are in leadership if we are to lead you through this crisis in God’s mission to draw in other sheep than we are going to need:
Your support,
Your love,
Your patience,
And your help…
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