daily java

Daily Java:

One day the LORD said to Moses, “Climb one of the mountains east of the river, and look out over the land I have given the people of Israel. After you have seen it, you will die like your brother, Aaron, for you both rebelled against my instructions in the wilderness of Zin. When the people of Israel rebelled, you failed to demonstrate my holiness to them at the waters.”  (Numbers 27:12-14)

Today Moses gets his walking papers. He is through now, ready to be retired. The Israelites have wandered for almost forty years. A whole generation has died because of their sin and disobedience – they refused to believe God cold help them take the Promised Land and rebelled against him and Moses.

Joshua and Caleb and their families are still alive (Numbers 26:64), but everybody else is gone. Their children are ready to claim this promise of God.

These are a people who have never known anything but nomadic existence and now they are ready to become land owners.

But Moses is not the one to lead them. For one thing, he is getting old and there needs to be someone younger and able to keep up with the upcoming battles.

And besides this, Moses is the only leader they have ever known. In their eyes, he is God and the absolute authority of God. There needs to be someone else come in to lead them to new places. He has been in charge for so long that he represents the old. There needs to be the new to bring them to the new land.

He chooses Joshua, a man that has helped him with what he has done for years now. Joshua was capable enough in the sight of God that he was even allowed to accompany Moses up Mount Sinai when everyone else was forbidden to even touch it. He has been there for all the major decisions and has acted as Moses’ second in command for almost half a century.

Moses is to lay his hands on Joshua in front of the whole assembly and appoint him their new leader.

You wonder how Joshua felt. For his whole life, he had been living in the shadow of the great Moses, the lawgiver and ruler of the nation of Israel. Now he will be the one in charge. And what is more, Moses will not be there to give him advice. Moses is leaving.

It would be a scary thing for Joshua and for the nation. Moses has been, for all practical purposes, their king for forty years. It has been his power and God’s power through him that has kept them in line for so long. Everything he said was absolutely the word of God.

And now he is going. As God tells him, he made a mistake and sinned at one crucial point. It seems small to me, but to God it made a big difference. Moses had taken it on himself to bring water from a rock instead of speaking to the rock like God had told him. God gave the water anyway, but it hurt Moses.

I don’t know why exactly. Moses was not sinless, but at the same time, he was definitely old guard. The Israelites needed new guard, someone who was younger, to lead them.

And he was Joshua. He would become their leader. And he would try his best to fill the sandals of what Deuteronomy called the greatest man who ever lived, who knew God face to face.

daily java

Daily Java:

Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. She knelt respectfully to ask a favor. “What is your request?” he asked. She replied, “In your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.” But Jesus answered by saying to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?” “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!” Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. My Father has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.” When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  (Matthew 20:20-28)

People were always asking Jesus for things. And many times, what they wanted was an inside tip, or a favor that benefited themselves. The apostles were no different.

The apostles were also jealous of each other in this new relationship and were afraid that they might miss out on some kind of power in the new kingdom.

Jesus had just gotten through telling the apostles that he was going to Jerusalem soon to be put to a rather brutal death. They heard it as it went in one ear and out the other. That wasn’t because they were stupid, but rather, it was more on the order of denial.

They had already decided how the kingdom would probably be laid out. Jesus would be the warrior king and they would all be his generals. They would have command over large armies themselves and would have a lot of power. People would respect and love them.

Now the problem was, which of them was going to be in charge of the others. After all, Jesus needed at least one five star general. James and john decided to strike while the iron was hot. Since Jesus is talking about all this maybe ending and (at least in their minds) the kingdom being established, they needed to get the authority thing settled right now.

This passage has James and John’s mother asking Jesus for the positions of leader for her sons. Mark 10:35 has James and John themselves. More than likely, they took their mother along because they knew Jesus liked her or something. It is also hard for a guy to turn down a sweet old woman.

So she asked: would you a do me a real big favor? Jesus said, what is it? She said, let my sons be in charge of all the other apostles in your kingdom.

What a coup for her sons. They had sneaked around all the other apostles and now would be the undisputed leaders of the group. Surely Jesus couldn’t turn down their mother.

Instead Jesus asked: are you sure you know what you are asking? Are you ready to drink from the cup of suffering I am about to drink from?

James and John assured him that they were able. They would be the noble apostle leaders that everybody knew were strong and courageous, standing beside their leader in whatever happened next. Of course, they had no idea what would happen next, and quite frankly, neither did their mother. If she had known, she would have grabbed then and run.

Jesus answer was: well, stick around and you will drink from it alright. But he also said he didn’t have the power to appoint leaders like that. That belonged to God. The Father had prepared these things.

Then it kind of turned on the two apostles. The rest got mad when they found out that James and John had tried an end run around them to get control. There was always within the apostles a tension. Jesus had already kind of singled Peter out, but there was no clear cut leader of the twelve, except for Jesus.

Jesus then tells them that their attitude is that of the world. People in the world fight over control and people in the world that are in control abuse it.

But this new kingdom will have a different paradigm. The leaders will be servants, and the servants will lead. When it comes down to it, Jesus came to serve and to sacrifice even his own life. He had already sacrificed his deity and his place in heaven until the end, as 1 Corinthians 15 says.

And if he did it this way, and he is the undisputed Leader, then how could his followers do any different?

The sad thing is, they did this one more time, on the day before his death. And not only that, but people have tried for two thousand years to be “in charge” to the point of even tearing up the church to get control.
How it probably hurt then and how it probably does today.

daily java

Daily Java:

Now, however, Israel is led by drunks
      who reel with wine and stagger with alcohol.
 The priests and prophets stagger with alcohol
      and lose themselves in wine.
They reel when they see visions
      and stagger as they render decisions.
Their tables are covered with vomit;
      filth is everywhere.
“Who does the Lord think we are?” they ask.
      “Why does he speak to us like this?
Are we little children,
      just recently weaned?
He tells us everything over and over—
   one line at a time,
      one line at a time,
   a little here,
      and a little there!” (Isaiah 28:7-10)

The picture would be a funny one if it were not so serious. A bunch of drunks who are leading another bunch of drunks are mad because they are not taken seriously by the rest of the world or by the Lord.

“You know, we are grown men. He thinks he has to tell us everything again and again.”

It is a bit like Jesus’ comment about the blind leading the blind. So ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch (Matthew 15:14).

The bad thing about these people is that they think they are normal. But they are not.

In a world where the morally bankrupt lead, where the liars and thieves are considered leadership material, where those whose lives are completely off kilter are made role models and guides, it is no wonder the people suffer.

The only way that the Kingdom of God could endure was if it was based on One who was perfect, who never did anything wrong. And the only person who could have done that was one from God.

If God had based his church, his faith process on anyone else than Jesus, it would have fallen quickly. Even Abraham, the father of the faithful, the one who stands as the beginning point of all the children of God, was a moral failure if you look at his life wanting perfection. At one point, out of fear for his life, he lied about whether or not he was married to Sarah. Not a big thing, but it does tend to show a real character flaw.

King David, a massive figure in the Old Testament, couldn’t keep his hands off women who were not his wife and even killed a man to hide an affair.

I could go on, but the point is, if you make your faith dependent on a person, no matter how good that person is or was, you are making it on a shaky foundation. Sooner or later, a flaw will emerge and when it does, it will shake the foundation of your faith.

If nothing else, the people in the past are dead. In John 8, those around Jesus kept bragging about the fact that they were children of Abraham. Jesus’ comment: Abraham is dead. Yes he was a great man. But he is gone. For a church to truly prosper, it must have a living leader.

And it must have a leader who is capable of leading. Those who are not capable of leading should not lead.

The only real leader is Jesus. He alone is the one capable of being the foundation of our faith.

daily java

Daily Java:

After some time Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit each city where we previously preached the word of the Lord, to see how the new believers are doing.” Barnabas agreed and wanted to take along John Mark. But Paul disagreed strongly, since John Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in their work. Their disagreement was so sharp that they separated. Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed for Cyprus. Paul chose Silas, and as he left, the believers entrusted him to the Lord’s gracious care. Then he traveled throughout Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches there.  (Acts 15:36-41)

Both Paul and Barnabas were men full of the Spirit of God. They were both holy men. They both had a command of scriptures that was amazing and both were great teachers. And they both were dominant personalities.

John Mark had come along with them in Acts 13 as an assistant, and then evidently got homesick or something and went home. When Paul and Barnabas were ready to go again in Acts 15, Barnabas wanted to take John Mark again. However, Paul didn’t. He viewed John Mark as an unreliable helper.

The argument got so strong that they split up. Barnabas took John Mark and Paul took a man named Silas. This great dynamic duo of godly men had an argument and split up their partnership.

This did two things.

First, it says that no matter how great the men, no matter how full of the Spirit and the grace of God, people are still people. They have arguments and problems and they deal with them in ways that are sometimes not the best.

Paul was the kind of guy that you either went full bore or you went by yourself. If you were not as fixated as he was, he had no time for you. That is not to say he didn’t love those he preached to. But when he had an assistant, he wanted one he could depend on and he had no time for undependable people.

Rather than take an undependable person with him, he split up a great evangelistic team.

Barnabas, on the other hand, was willing to take the gamble. After all, it was he who went and got the unknown Saul and brought him along. They were Barnabas and Saul, then Barnabas and Paul, now Paul and Barnabas. Barnabas evidently didn’t mind his pupil becoming the leader. He was a good man who tried to help others. And because of him, Paul the apostle was a perful teacher.

Nobody is perfect, not even the great apostle Paul. He figured it out later, though. In 2 Timothy 4:11, he says: Only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with you when you come, for he will be helpful to me in my ministry. I don’t know who grew, Paul or Mark. But whatever went on, sooner or later, Paul recognized John Mark’s value.

Second, sometimes God works through odd ways. Instead of one group going one place, now there were two groups of dynamic evangelists.

When Paul and Barnabas split up, each going his own way, it made two groups preaching the gospel. And twice as much was getting done.

Good things can come from bad things if God is at work in them.

daily java

Daily Java:

When the Temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” “We have never heard anyone speak like this!” the guards responded. “Have you been led astray, too?” the Pharisees mocked. “Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him? This foolish crowd follows him, but they are ignorant of the law. God’s curse is on them!” Then Nicodemus, the leader who had met with Jesus earlier, spoke up. “Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?” he asked. They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Search the Scriptures and see for yourself—no prophet ever comes from Galilee!” (John 7:45-52)

The Jesus in the book of John was rather confrontational. He didn’t mind at all making people mad. But he also didn’t mind giving them oblique answers that left them confused.

Those in charge of things often begin to perceive themselves alone as qualified for being in charge. They feel they alone have the temperament or education or sometimes, just plain discernment.

In their eyes everybody else should be happy to be led. When those who should be led begin to question the decisions of the would-be leaders or their interpretations of things, the leaders become angry.

The religious leaders in Jesus’ day were no exception. They had studied the law, they had been to seminaries and had been taught the law by others who knew what they were talking about. And they had the credentials to prove it.

When people began to disagree with them, it was always the people’s fault. After all, they were united in how they felt about Jesus. Or at least the ones who thought that way were. And if you disagreed with them, you were disagreeing with people who new better than you.

That culture of specialized gnosticism is rampant in America today. Those who would be in charge just know better than everyone else. And the American ideal, that anyone can rise to power and lead the country, no matter their educational background or their family line, doesn’t agree with what those who would lead think.

Whether it be the light bulbs we use or the food we eat or the cars we drive, someone always wants to tell us what to do. and when we disagree, they always bring up their qualifications.

But those qualifications do not always matter. Sometimes educated people are wrong. And these people were wrong.

Simply because all of the Pharisees, the conservative religious leaders did not like Jesus didn’t really mean anything. Jesus represented a threat to their power and they misconstrued this as meaning that he was a threat to God as they saw him: in their corner.

How they thought was paramount to everything else, including the truth.

When people think like this, there is not a whole lot to do. in America, we vote them out of office and replace them with someone with more sense. In this situation here with Jesus, he just ignored them and went on about his business: seeking and saving the lost.

Sometimes that is all you can do.

daily java

Daily Java:

Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him. But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew human nature. 25 No one needed to tell him what mankind is really like. (John 2:23-24 NLT)

Everybody likes a good sideshow. It is a fact. Everybody likes to be amazed and entertained. And on one level, Jesus provided that.

He always had something happening. He always was doing something interesting. He always had something good to say. They even enjoyed his skewering of the Jewish leaders. He was entertaining.

And there were some who also believed in him. They saw the things he did and heard the things he said and believed that he was from God.

The problem is: people are fickle. One moment they love you, the next, they will turn on you with a vengeance.

Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart know that. Both made a mistake – and it was a rather large one, to be sure – but the minute people found out, they were gone from their affections. Ten minutes before the revelations of the problems, they were the greatest people in the world. ten minutes afterwards, they were the butt of jokes in almost every situation.

Of course, they deserved some of what they got. But they went from top to bottom in no time.

Jesus knew this. Something like it even happened to him a couple of times. In John 6, he had fed people and they had seen his miracles and thought he was great. Then he told them the things he did in verses 53-56 about eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the son of man and they were through.

In John 8, they were listening it him and he told them that he had come from God. All of a sudden, it was time to stone him. He barely got away.

On the Sunday before he was killed, they were ready to proclaim him king of Israel. The next week, they screamed for his blood.

They loved him and followed him as long as he did what they wanted him to do. When he deviated from it, they were finished with him. It made no difference that he was the same guy.

They wanted entertainment and someone dedicated to making them happy. The last thing they wanted was for someone to challenge them with words from God.

All pastors know this. In many churches, pastors are sometimes only a few minutes away from being fired. In one church I was acquainted with, the pastor had been there eighteen years. He was summarily fired on a Sunday night because one of the elders felt he had made a disparaging remark.

The tide can turn so quickly for anyone in a position of authority. One minute they love you, the next they hate you.

I was talking in a Wednesday night devotional several years back. I had bought a new car, a black Mustang with T tops. It had begun to own me and I mentioned that things did not matter. One of my best friends felt I was talking about his Amway venture (which tends to get its adherents into a materialistic mindset) and got mad. I didn’t even have him in mind, but I suppose it hit something he was already thinking about.

He almost, in spite of his wife telling him he was acting silly, quit being my friend, even though we had been friends for a couple of years.

And more ad nauseum could be recalled. A church will love you to death when you come, and then something will happen, some small thing that irritates a prominent member, and it will be through.

Jesus irritated the prominent members. He knew he was going to and he knew he would.

He had just cleared out the sellers of animals from the temple, and had made a lot of people mad. Then he told them he would rebuild the temple in three days after they destroyed it.

He was speaking of himself and the temple that was his body, of course. And he spoke obliquely, as he did often, so that those who wanted to understand would, but those who didn’t care wouldn’t (Matthew 13:12-14).

What he had to say was vital, but the more education and the more tradition rested in one’s heart, the less they would want to understand what he said.

His understanding of their human nature wasn’t supernatural. Anyone in any degree of leadership understand that.

And anyone with any sense will remember it as he or she goes into a leadership role.

daily java

Daily Java:

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13)

It is hard to be a leader in the church and to have people look up to you. So many want it but they want it for the prestige and not for the work. It has long been my contention that I look askance on anyone who campaigns for a leadership position in a church.

That is not to say that I do not welcome volunteers and people who desire to lead. 1 Timothy 3:1 has the apostle Paul writing: Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. In other words, it is good to want to be a leader. But it is when that desire is  overwhelming and you can tell it is for the wrong reasons that it becomes bad.

Leadership is a delicately balanced thing. There is the responsibility that so many do not see, and the knowledge that you have to be careful in your leading.

I have been pastoring for 37 years, an astonishingly long time to me. It seems just yesterday that I began. During that time, I have learned so much and yet, at the same time, feel I have so much to learn.

If I had it to do again, I would be a pastor again. There would be things I would do differently than before, but that life situation and marrying my wife again I would do.

Thank God for leaders.

daily java

Daily Java:

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35).

Jesus came as a servant. Philippians 2 tells us that. And since he came as a servant, he calls on us, his followers to be a servant.

It is easy to try to jockey for position in any organization. That is pretty much normal. People want to be president and vice-president and leaders of all kinds.

The problems come when the desire to help in the organization, the desire to serve, to make a difference, takes a back seat to the desire for prominence.

The need for the badge is often greater than the need for the service.

As a Christian, though, we serve a servant. We are servant servers, assistant servants, if you will. We are, in the long run, far below one who came as a servant.

The context of the passage above is funny.

They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” (9:33-37)

It wasn’t very long before this that Jesus had been transfigured before Peter, James and John. They had seen him in his glory appearing with Moses and Elijah. They had heard the voice of God say that Jesus was the one they were to worship. They had seen his power and his glory.

Then they started arguing. It could be that the other apostles were jealous of Peter, James and John. They would like to have seen it and it could very well be that the three bragged about it or at least hinted that it put them in a stronger spiritual state.

That happens a lot among church leaders. One has some kind of experience and the rest wish they did. Or one is a natural leader and another wishes he could be. Or one is the pastor of a church and another wishes he could be in charge. One is more spiritual and another wishes he cold be recognized as the spiritual one.

After a while, the desire to be in charge is so great that the one who wishes he was in charge will tear up the group rather than accept the leadership of the other.

Jesus turns to the apostles and asks what they were arguing about. They are too embarrassed to say because they realize they were acting like fools. Jesus pulls a child in front of them. They had a lot of people following Jesus besides the apostles. He says that you have to be like a child to be in the kingdom as a leader.

On the last day of his life with the apostles, they are having dinner. Jesus gets up and goes around washing the apostles’ feet, doing what is normally a servant task. When he finishes he tells them that they call him Lord, yet he is the servant.

To follow him, we put aside all desire for prominence and glory in position and we serve.

Position in the kingdom is not determined by position in the church. He is King and Lord and Leader. Before we can do anything of any real importance, we must first recognize that we are servants of a Servant.

He is the One who makes us great.

moses as a leader

Moses returned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”  (Exodus 5:22-23)

You feel the Lord has told you to do something and that you have his blessing. Then when you do it, everything falls apart and the people you have gone to to do this “great thing the Lord told you to do” are mad and wish you had never come. “We were fine until you came,” they say.

And you wonder why. Why did the Lord tell you to do this and then it just explodes in your face?

God came to Moses and told him to lead his people out of Egypt where they were currently slaves. Moses didn’t want to in the first place and tried everything he could think of  to change God’s mind. Finally Genesis 4 records God becoming angry at Moses for his stalling. Just go and do it, God says.

Moses does and makes things worse for the Israelites by his proclaiming the Lord’s deliverance. Their response to his God-inspired help: “May the LORD look upon you and judge you! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” (5:21).

It is no wonder why Moses says to God, why? Did you send me here just to cause trouble?

It doesn’t say so in the text, but it appears that Moses and Aaron had been there for a while, maybe even for a couple of years. They could not have caused the unrest they did by just walking into town and getting motel rooms. By now they should have been building a group of people ready to go. But his talking has evidently caused enough unrest that Pharaoh personally intervened.

And Moses looked like a jerk. And he wasn’t happy, his people were not happy and Pharaoh sure wasn’t happy to have his production halted.

Sooner or later it turned out well. Moses spoke to Pharaoh, Pharaoh needed some verification and there were the ten plagues. The Israelites left, Pharaoh changed his mind and his soldiers were killed and the Israelites came to their promised land through a series of major divine interventions.

One of the bad things about all this was no matter how hard Moses worked, his people never really appreciated him. They venerated him, they almost worshiped him, they were scared to death of him; but at every opportunity they complained about the way he was leading them.

As far as they were concerned, he couldn’t do anything right.

We see him, and history sees him as a great and God-inspired leader. He is universally recognized as one who was great. Yet his own people had nothing but complaints about him.

There are things that you feel strongly that God has called you to do, yet they never work out. It seems like there has been all but an angel with a flaming bulletin given you to do something. Yet it ends badly.

And the people to whom you came with such high hopes are angry because you changed their situation.

Not long after Moses began his leadership, he faced a serious leadership opposition effort. God dealt with it by removing the people involved. In this case, by death.

Then Moses was left with the ones who, if not committed to him, were at least resigned to him as their leader.

In many ways, Moses died thinking he hadn’t done some of the right things. Here was the best man who ever lived. Deuteronomy 34:10-12 says, Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

But he had nothing but trouble, he led a congregation for forty years to where God wanted them and for his trouble heard nothing but whining and griping.

Just because you are in the will of the Lord does not mean that it will be a bed or roses. Sometimes, what you get most of is the thorns.