Musing – Are we supposed to conduct programs?

Hebraic Musing – Are we supposed to conduct programs?

Did the Bible tell us to develop a “program” with methodology and training and assignments to disciple new believers, to greet at the door, to usher people to their seats, to tend to the children, to learn how to be a teacher, to learn how to witness, etc.?  If it is a sanctioned and promoted church program, then the church administration/leaders might find themselves assessing the effectiveness by counting members who sign up and attend the programs.  Unfortunately it’s too easy to forget to look for purposeful results of program(s).

A church program is a resource that has content already created, ready for use by churches – sometimes short-term, sometimes long-term.  How can these programs become problematic?  ** 

Have you seen programs which allow church members to escape responsibility for ministry?  Have you heard comments or attitudes like -- “That’s the job of the greeters”, “Our soup kitchen does that”, “The evangelism team…”, “the missions department…”, “the worship team…”, “the counselors…”, “Housekeeping… takes care of that”?  Maybe I am stepping on toes, but I thought Our Lord expects all of us to be doing all those activities?  Do we have to have attended a program or have a designated role in order to do those things?

Let’s discuss one of the many packaged “program” topics as an example – Discipleship. How is the role of “discipling” described in the Bible?   In the NIV the word “Disciple” appears 29 times and only refers to the individual followers of Christ.  The verb form is not found as an instruction to us.  BUT the word “Teach” appears 121 times and “Teaching” appears 89 times in addition.  Examples:

·      “Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching.” Prov. 1:8 

·      “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”  2 Tim 2:2  

·      “They never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.” Acts 5:42 

·      “Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, …, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children…” Titus 2:3-4  

·      “… encourage the young men to be self-controlled.  In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech…” Titus 2:6-8 

And the typical “Missions Program” encourages contributing; but “Go into all the world…” is in red letters.

How many other “programs” does the church have that allow Christians to be absolved from doing what God has commanded us and encouraged us to be doing? 

A dear friend told of the time she was in a Bible study and shared insights she received while reading the Bible.  A woman in the group said “Thank you for sharing your insights with us because now I don’t have to read the Bible myself since you’ve done it for me.”

Points to ponder

Does being in a program or team excuse one
                             from responsibility for other ministry(s)?

How much time and effort is spent meeting and organizing instead of DOING?

Know that I am not opposed to “Programs” as long as they do not become a substitute for DOING.
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James 1:22

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd,                                  March 29, 2016

Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith”  “Biblical Marriage”
“Musings v.1 – A Victorious Life”   “Musings v.2 – The Torah and New Testament”
Weekly “Hebraic Musings”      www.InsightsByYosef.com

**  From Five Problems with Church Programs   -  Thom Rainer    November 9, 2015

Musing – Does your “Avodah” determine who are you becoming?

Musing – Does your “Avodah” determine who are you becoming?

Most of life is spent making or doing things and we call it our “work.”  And many of us “worship” on Sunday.  Why did God use the same Hebrew word “Avodah” for both “work” and “worship”?

The Hebrew letters for Avodah  hdwbu ) (R to L) Ayin Veth Vav Daleth Hei.  These characters symbolically translate to “See & Know” the “House” is “Secured” to the “Door” to “God’s breath.”

Avodah is first mentioned in Gen 2:4-5 “… God made the earth … and there was no man to work the ground”

And in Joshua 24:15 “…But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." 

And in Exodus  8:1 God said “…Let my people go, so that they may worship me.” 

What is our attitude when we “work”?  I’m reminded of the three bricklayers who were asked the question “What are you doing?”  The first responded “I’m laying brick.”  The second answered “I’m building a wall.”  And the third said enthusiastically “I’m building a cathedral.” Could it be that our work shapes us because it is an expression of our worship?  Our work is of value.  Our loving Father God cares about our work because he delights in the results of the work of His children. Why do parents enjoy watching their children doing creative things, like building a Lego house?  Our work transforms us. We become who we are because of what we do; our work shapes us because it is an expression of our worship.

Years ago while working for a lower-limb prosthetics company, we realized we had negative motivation in the workplace.  When I asked employees “What do you do here?” the typical response was “…making money for the owner.”  That attitude did not exude motivation!  We changed that cultural answer to “Helping people walk” and thus their avodah became more of a combination of both work and worship. 

The Psalmist in Psalm 115:4-8 says “But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak,…  Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” The Psalmist’s concern was that those who make and worship idols will become like them.  Instead of fully alive human beings who are living images of the Living Creator God, they are becoming less-than-human caricatures like the inanimate pieces of rock and wood used in their work of idol-making.

It is all too easy to believe and behave as though our work and our workplace are disassociated from any kind of worship. We can easily find ourselves practicing the absence of God!   

The Psalmist also reminds us of what is at stake in our work. If we are to become fully human, we must learn to worship the Living God rather than letting our work focus us on less worthy worldly ends.  We risk abdicating our God-given humanity by de-basing how we practice our work.  No doubt, discerning who and what we are worshiping requires continual refocusing of our worship while at the “work” place.  Only our Living Loving Creator Father God is worthy of both our worship and our work.

Points to ponder

Is our work done simply to make a profit, to make money?  Why do you work?

How does your work shape the person you are?

How is your work an expression of worship? Who or what do you worship at work?

How well do we take Sunday into Monday?

“For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.” Heb. 3:4

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd,                                  March 22, 2016

Author: “Hebraic Insights”  “Biblical Marriage” “Musings v.1 – A Victorious Life”
“Musings v.2 – The Torah and New Testament” Weekly “Hebraic Musings”   www.InsightsByYosef.com

Inspired by *Life for Leaders - Daily Devotional from info@depree.org.

According to Wikipedia – Avodah (Hebrew:  hdwbu ‎), is a Hebrew word, literally meaning "work". In a modern context, usually refers to business-type activities … and, more traditionally, serving God.  In its original, traditional sense, "avodah" was applied to sacrifices offered in the Temple in Jerusalem. … to describe the epitome of a sacrificial rite i.e., the … service of The High Priest on Yom Kippur.

Musing – How might Holiness not get the respect it deserves?

Hebraic Musing – How might Holiness not get the respect it deserves?

Sometimes we don’t appreciate something until we face the possibility of losing it; or worse yet, not until it’s already gone.  It’s easy to overlook what is holy about certain things, like the Sabbath, a Torah scroll, a certain prayer, a certain holiday or a relationship. Think about what holiness actually means – “setting something apart as special, consecrated to God.”

You have things in your life that you want other people to set apart as special, like your birthday or anniversary. You hope your friends regard the time you spend together as special. You hope your spouse regards your marriage as holy and pure and special and wants to keep it that way.  How do you feel when other people don’t respect those times; when they don’t consider them holy, important or special?

How often do we think about what God considers special to Him?  What does He regard as holy, sacred, pure?  What does apathy feel like to Him when someone says “There’s nothing special about that, isn’t it just arbitrary?”  Or “It’s silly for some people to think of that as holy.”

Consider the things that help you experience moments of holiness.  It might be saying grace around the family table, a quiet and intimate moment with your spouse, sharing time with your friends at church meetings, or the goosebumps, “Jesus bumps”, you experience when singing certain songs or being in prayer for something.  How does God feel in those holy moments? How important are those times to Him?  It is easy to forget we are made in His image.  And since we have emotions then He also must have emotions. Selah! We serve an emotional God!  Does He want us to guard and protect those sacred moments because they are an important part of His sacred relationship with us?

The Levites were servants of the priests. They did manual labor and guard duty. Their role was to protect the holy things and holy people. They ensured that there would be a place set apart for people to draw near to God.  People felt the holy presence of Almighty God because of their service. The Levites experienced the awe and knew that God was more real than daily work.  Regarding the tribe of Levi “They are to perform duties for him and for the whole community at the Tent of Meeting by doing the work of the tabernacle” Num. 3:7 NIV

Often it is ordinary things that matter. Someone sets up coffee. Someone puts out serving spoons. Another leads a prayer. Another plays an instrument. There is order among the people who fulfill these roles.  People have their assigned places in a church body as well as in their family and the community.

Almighty God took redemption to the next level and He did it with something greater than the Tabernacle. Instead of a tent with His Presence cooped up inside, He sent His Son as a man with God’s Glory dwelling in Him. God took up humanity and resided among us. He personally took charge of the cure we needed by creating a place for holiness to dwell – in each of us!

In the meantime, we wait.  We are servants caring for the holy times, places and things that are special to God.  We have duties to fulfil to God and to our fellow believers.

Points to ponder

Does holiness apply to things?  Or to places?   Or to people?   Or to times?

What might God consider as Holy, but we have ignored?

What is Holy to God in our daily activities?

♫ Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!  All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. ♫

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd,                                  March 15, 2016

Musing – What is I S I S?

What are Christians like?  Spirit led Christians exude certain qualities: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control because of the incredible role-model of Jesus who gave His life for us.  Thus Christians strive to be a giver and a blessing to others in this world.   

Realistically, the majority of those who are called Christians could be called “nominal” Christians -- they know little of God’s Word and do not strive to follow the tenets of the Bible wholeheartedly.  At funerals, these “nominal” Christians speak of loved ones going to heaven, but their lifestyle on earth is not very distinguishable from that of non-believers.  But the Born-again, devout, “evangelical” Christians are referred to as “fundamentalists” who base their faith and lifestyle on the Old and New Testament teachings. In fact, sometimes they are referred to as “Radicals” by other Christians!

What are Muslims like?  A Muslim is a believer in the fundamental Islamic precepts brought to the world in the seventh century by Mohammed who believed he heard Allah, whom he calls his God.  Many Muslims are not really interested in being “religious”; they know they were born Muslim and therefore claim Islam as their religion.  They know little of the precepts of their faith, don’t go to the mosque, don’t pray five times a day and don’t look forward to a once-in-a-lifetime religious sojourn to Mecca.  But a person who is a devout, “fundamental”, follower of Mohammed loves and studies the Koran and Islamic holy books and endeavors to live each day of his life as a disciple of his “one and only true god, Allah.”

The similarity!  Both Christians and Muslims have a segment that is “Fundamental” or “Radical.”  

So what produces a peace-loving Muslim, versus a violent or radical one?  In the same way that Christians are referred to as “fundamentalists”, the same adjective can be applied to devout Muslims. The term “radicalized” Muslim means he/she is a “fundamentalist.”  Why?  According to a January article “IT’S NOT ISIS, IT’S ISLAM” by Shira Sorko-Ram, their belief system is based on “mainstream Islam.” They are obediently following “original Islam” based on an “early Islamic” belief of the three pillars of Islam.  Those are the Koran, the Hadith (stories about Mohammed) and the Sira (biographies of Mohammed).  So the more devout a Muslim becomes, the more he/she adopts the lifestyle of their role-model, Mohammed, and studies and practices the chief doctrines laid out in the written words of Islam which are:

1.         The penalty for leaving Islam is death. Freedom of religion is not an option with Islam.

2.         Human rights for women are all but non-existent.

3.         The goal of Allah and all true Muslims must be to conquer all nations to create a global caliphate (a world super nation).

4.         Sharia will be the law for all human beings.

5.         The sword is to be used, if necessary, to reach these goals.

6.         Every Muslim is obligated to spread Islam. Devious methods are obligatory when necessary. These tactics are particularly suitable to the methods of the Muslim Brotherhood.

7.         Although there is no promise in Islam that a Muslim will be selected to go to heaven, there is one exception: If a Muslim becomes a martyr while fighting for Islam, he is guaranteed a place in heaven, with the well-known hope of 72 virgins at his service, and “eternal virginity” for women martyrs.

8.         The Jihadist is stimulated in this world by the knowledge that the women he captures in war are his sex slaves. (Part of the great attraction of ISIS.)

9.         Christians and Jews must convert to Islam, pay a tax or be killed.

10.     No new buildings of any other religions can be built.

The Muslims-in-name-only cannot successfully argue against these Islamic standards because it’s all written down in clear and forceful language in the books they are expected to believe as sacred.

Points to ponder

Can we be worshiping the same god if we have such contrasting
fundamental differences in how we are called to live and behave?

Why does our government insist on calling them ISIL instead of ISIS?  Do you know why?*

I pray that the truth will set us free

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd,                                  March 8, 2016

Author: “Hebraic Insights”  “Biblical Marriage” “Musings v.1 – A Victorious Life”
“Musings v.2 – The Torah and New Testament” Weekly “Hebraic Musings”   www.InsightsByYosef.com

*    The difference --- According to ABC2 news – “ISIS, which stands for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, originally began as an offshoot of al-Qaeda. It got its name after it invaded Syria in 2013.   ISIL, which stands for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, refers to the terrorist group spread throughout the Middle East. The Levant is a geographic term that refers to Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Jordan.  President Barack Obama referred to ISIL when he addressed the nation…”  

Note that when he refers to the group as ISIL which includes the land of Israel, the sovereignty of the State of Israel is denied.