Apprenticeship

November 27, 2012

“He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you..”  (Matthew 4:19)

In the seventies I attended a meeting where the business executives of a large city asked the vice president of a large shipyard to explain why his shipyard was continuously given the contracts to build large aircraft carriers.  They had just been awarded a contract to build a large carrier and the next highest bidder was $38 million above them.

He said that he could answer their question with one word: apprenticeship.  He explained that a student in a university absorbs information for many weeks and then is asked to show that they remember and understand that information.  After doing that for four years they are given a degree and we declare them educated.  But unless they specialize in something that equips them for a specific job they are often educated people who can’t do anything.  In the shipyard, however, they put a person in the classroom for two weeks and in the shipyard for two weeks and after doing that for five years they build aircraft carriers.

I believe it is helpful to define what we mean when we call ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ. A synonym for the word disciple is “apprentice.” A disciple is an apprentice who is learning what they are doing and doing what they are learning.  Apprenticeship and discipleship are essentially the same concept.

To paraphrase and summarize, Jesus offers a covenant contract to those who profess to believe in Him.  That contract has two parts.  He promised, “You follow Me.  That is your part.  I will make you.  That is My part.  You follow Me.  That is your responsibility.  And I will make you.  That is My responsibility.”

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Posted by Dick Woodward

The Price of Ingratitude

November 22, 2012

“… although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were they thankful…”   (Romans 1:21)

In the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the believers in Rome he gives a resume of the fall of the human race.  Paul does the same thing Moses did in the third chapter of the book of Genesis.  They both describe the fall of man as it was and as it is.  By that I mean they are not merely describing an historical event in the past but they want us to understand what is happening in our culture right now.

In Paul’s account of the fall of the human race he traces the origin of our fall to two things: we did not glorify God as God, and we were not thankful.  He then continues to describe how God gave us up to what we wanted and we became guilty of every imaginable kind of sin.  As he vividly describes what happened to the human race after God did not give up on us but gave us up to what we wanted, the result became what Paul described as “all unrighteousness.”

If you track with Paul as he itemizes what he means by “all unrighteousness” it’s intriguing to realize that all that horrible sin began with the hard reality that we were not thankful.  There are so many exhortations and prescriptions in the Word of God for us to be thankful but here in the first chapter of Romans is a great warning about the price of not being thankful.

Like it was and like it is, appreciate the value of an attitude of gratitude.  And, like it was and like it is, do not underestimate the price of an attitude of ingratitude.

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Posted by Dick Woodward

Adversity and Prosperity

November 16, 2012

“In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: surely God has appointed the one as well as the other”   (Ecclesiastes7:14)

Many devout people are confused about prosperity.  Some preach and teach a prosperity theology that is pure heresy.  It could only receive a hearing in a place like America.  It will not receive a hearing in places where devout people suffer poverty and persecution because they believe.  Others believe we should feel guilty when we experience prosperity.

Solomon writes that in the day of prosperity we should rejoice and know that our God has given us all things richly to enjoy.  And he informs us that in the day of adversity we should consider the profound reality that God has made the one as well as the other.  A truth that means much to me is that God is our personal Mentor and He does His most effective mentoring when things are difficult for us.

Now that I am old I spend time looking back over a long life.  As I reflect on my relationship with God over more than eight decades I realize that my times of spiritual growth have been times of adversity and my times of spiritual regression and stagnation have been times of prosperity.

Paul wrote that he knew how to be abased and he knew how to abound.  He presented a challenge to us.  That challenge is that it takes more grace and wisdom to know how to abound than it takes to know how to be abased.

If you are enjoying prosperity I hope you do not feel guilty but rejoice.  If you are experiencing adversity let it be a time of effective mentoring from God and a time of growth for you.

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Posted by Dick Woodward

A Profile of Vision

November 9, 2012

“Where there is no vision the people perish.”  (Proverbs 29:18)

When God wants to do a great work there must be a person with a vision.  They must also have a plan because where there is no vision the people perish and where there is no plan the vision perishes.  Since the vision and plan must be shared, that means there must be a vision caster.  In response to the vision caster there must be keepers of the vision who will preserve and propagate that vision.

The greatest example of this in the Bible is Jesus Christ. He was the greatest vision caster this world has ever seen. He had a vision and a plan. In one of many places, He shared His vision and His plan when He gave His Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). His disciples were, and are, the keepers of His vision.  They have preserved and proclaimed His vision for two thousand years. If you are an authentic disciple of His today you are commissioned to be a keeper of His vision.

The man who led me to Christ and mentored me in Christ and the ministry for thirty years had a tremendous vision for foreign missions.  For most of the time he was mentoring me I had missions in my head but not in my heart.  He once told me with tears that if he could take his heart out of his chest cavity and place it in mine if it would give me a heart for missions he would do it. I’m so grateful that before he went to be with the Lord in answer to his prayers he saw me become a keeper of that vision of Jesus Christ.

If you are His disciple are you a keeper of His vision?

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Posted by Dick Woodward

Difficult Relationships

November 6, 2012

“And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in meekness correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”   (2Timothy2:24-26)

We might label these words Paul wrote to Timothy: “How to relate to a difficult person.” We all need this teaching because we must all deal with difficult people.

According to Paul the difficult person to whom we are relating has been taken captive by the evil one and we cannot free them.  We can maintain three fruits of the Spirit (gentleness, meekness and patience), which keeps the door open for God.  We then earn our hearing and place before them the Word of truth they need to hear. We must not quarrel because that opens the door for the evil one and closes the door for God.

When they acknowledge the truth of God’s Word they experience repentance, and escape from the captivity of the evil one.  This is not a matter of teaching or preaching.  It is not having the last word or winning the argument.  This is becoming a conduit through which almighty God sets people free who were not free.

To repent means to think again or to have a change of mind, heart, will and direction.  It is a work of God you cannot perform.  Only God can use His Word and you His servant to make this happen.  In an attitude of prayer and in dependence upon God and His Spirit are you willing to be a conduit of this miracle?

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Posted by Dick Woodward