The First Christian Church Disciples of Christ is located on East Church Street near the Berryville Town Square. Worship Services are at 11:00 AM on Sunday. Bible Study at 1:15 PM Tuesdays.
On Sunday, March 28, following morning worship, members of First Christian Church of Berryville, AR, voted to approve the recommendation of the Official Board that the Rev. John Turner and the Rev. Judy Turner be called as pastoral leaders of First Christian Church of Berryville. The church will sign an indefinite-term contract for their services with Christview Ministries, an organization which the Turners founded and continue to operate.
The Turners have previously served the congregation two and one-half years as interim Transformational Leaders. Their primary tasks were to lead the congregation in spiritual renewal and to develop a mission, vision, and plan for the congregation’s future. The mission that emerged is summarized as, “Building a community of hope through Jesus Christ.”
The Turners’ new focus will be to lead the congregation in developing ministries that bring Christ-based hope into the lives of people in Carroll County and beyond. The ministries should serve one or more of three goals: (1) drawing people to Jesus, (2) becoming more like Jesus, and (3) doing the work of Jesus.
John Turner said, “By adopting the mission, vision, and plan statements on March 7, the congregation officially declared that they are ready to move forward in creative ways. When they followed that up on March 28 by calling Judy and me to continue in leadership, they expressed tangible commitment to the forward momentum we are experiencing. We are proud to be part of what is coming into being through First Christian Church.”
John will focus on keeping the mission, vision, and plan moving forward. His passion is to use his Bible teaching skills to make sure that everything in the life of the church is on solid scriptural grounding.
Judy Turner will focus on developing spiritual leaders to carry out the mission. Her passion is to use her spiritual formation, spiritual guidance, and spiritual encouragement gifts to help people discover and live out their divine callings.
Judy said, "We already see God at work in our congregation as people discover their spiritual gifts and use them in reaching out to change lives and make life better in our community. We especially see God at work in children and youth ministries and the Community Garden. We believe these ministries will continue to grow, and other ministries will develop. We are excited about the future of this church."
15 He (Jesus) said to them (his disciples), “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it…. 21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he (Jesus) turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” 24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
The title of this sermon kept growing. I first titled it, “Jerusalem Was a Double Must.” I thought a bit and added a third and then a fourth reason that Jesus had to go to Jerusalem. In rapid succession, Jerusalem became a Triple Must and then a Quadruple Must. I decided to stop thinking then, because this needs to be a much shorter than usual sermon. But, if I accomplish it, I want credit from the Preaching Olympics judges for landing a Quadruple Must in approximately half the usual time.
Must Number 1: Jesus had to go to Jerusalem to validate his kingdom ministry. Jesus had been traveling through Galilee and surrounding territories demonstrating that God reigns and teaching what we must do to be citizens of the kingdom of God on earth. He had healed the sick, restored the lame, the blind, and the deaf, cleansed lepers, cast out evil spirits, and even raised the dead. He had walked on water, stilled storms, and fed the multitudes. He had brought hope to the hopeless, uplift to the downtrodden, and inclusion to the outcast. Jesus’ kingdom ministry led Peter and the other disciples to conclude that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. But the recognized religious authority for the people of God was the Jerusalem Sanhedrin. It was composed of priestly Sadducees and scribal and rabbinic Pharisees. For the most part, they saw Jesus as watering down the demands of holy living, as ripping the fabric that held society together. In fact he was raising the bar, pointing to a higher standard of righteousness, challenging his followers to be faithful to their marriage vows, truthful in their speech, generous to the poor, loving toward their enemies, and forgiving of those who had sinned against them, but the recognized authorities could not see that. When they rejected him, they did not understand that they were destroying their own authority and granting authority to Jesus and his followers. The new center of divine authority would not be fixed in Jerusalem, but would be wherever two or three gathered in his name to celebrate and proclaim his gospel. If Jesus had not gone to Jerusalem to validate his kingdom ministry, the world mission of the church and its kingdom outreach to you, to me, and to your neighbor down the street would not be. He had to go to Jerusalem to accomplish it.
Must Number 2: Jesus had to go to Jerusalem to die for our sins. Last week we sang the great modern hymn, “In Christ Alone.” Perhaps some of us paused in wonder at the unmodern phrase, “Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied”! What’s up here? We would rightly be offended if we understood the phrase as portraying God as some sort of angry pagan god who had to be placated with blood. Rather, we should understand the phrase as saying that God has a perfect plan for us, a plan that we would become who we were created to be, his loving children fit to share his reign of love over the creation. Because we are not that, God is rightly wrathful against the sin in our lives that holds us back from our created destiny. Jesus’ self-giving love on the cross displays the perfect righteousness that we should have. By God’s mercy, he allows us to be covered in Jesus’ righteousness, by his sacrificial blood, if you will, while we grow toward consistency with that love.God’s wrath is simply the flip side of the coin expressing the truth that God in his love will not settle for less than the best for us. Our sin, our departure from God’s perfect plan for us, has a cost that must be covered and ultimately corrected. Jesus’ loving and obedient death on the cross is a vital part of that covering and correction. He had to go to Jerusalem to accomplish it.
Must Number 3: Jesus had to go to Jerusalem so that he could be raised as the firstborn from the dead, the reigning heir of the new creation. As important as the cross is, it points toward a higher goal, a perfect new creation, a new heaven and a new earth, the restoration of all creation to the purpose for which God created it. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the first manifestation of that future perfection. The risen Christ is the first citizen of the new and eternal creation that will be. We do not yet see what we will become, but we know that when he appears at the end of history, we who believe in him will be made like him and will reign with him eternally. He had to go to Jerusalem to accomplish the resurection.
Must Number 4: Jesus had to go to Jerusalem to set the pattern for our lives as his disciples. The New Testament wants us to understand that, as disciples of Jesus Christ, two things are simultaneously true. (1) We are Spirit-empowered agents of the kingdom of God and of the gospel of Jesus Christ; as such we cannot ultimately lose; cannot finally be defeated; nothing can separate us from the eternal loveof God in Christ Jesus; we live in the light of the resurrection. (2) We are in this world as servants who are not better than our master. As he suffered, so might we. We live in the shadow of the cross. Only his suffering pays the cost of sin, but our faithful suffering may help someone believe in Jesus, may help them see the integrity and the reality of the good news of the kingdom. In this world of sin, suffering and victory, victory and suffering, cannot be fully separated. Suffering is not defeat. For the true believer, it is an identification with Jesus, an identification that also connects us to his resurrection. In Christ we can do all things, both suffering and victory, because of what he has done for us. He had to go to Jerusalem to accomplish it.
Conclusion: Jesus had to go to Jerusalem:
1.to validate his kingdom ministry,
2.to die for our sins,
3.to reveal the resurrection life of the new creation, and
4.to define the path of our discipleship.
It is a quadruple must. At the beginning of this sermon, I joked about this sermon landing a quadruple must. But, moving from sermons to real life, the fact is that Jesus is the only one in all history who has ever perfectly landed this particular quadruple must. Our Lamb has conquered. Let us follow him...in the way of the cross and the resurrection, in the way of the kingdom of God on earth and the new heaven and new earth, in the way of suffering and victory, in the way of temporary sorrow and ultimate joy! Amen! May it be so!
Barbara Hale talked about the 9 Ways to Grow Spiritually
We worked on spiritual disciplines in small groups and also had time alone with God.
We enjoyed sunshine on the deck while Jennifer Hudspeth talked with us about self -image.
Candy Scheller talked with us about prayer.
More food and fellowship
Amanda Frame talked about spiritual honesty and sharing faith.
We lit a candle to represent what we'd gained during the retreat, and placed a gift bow near the candle to represent the gift we are offering to God as a result of this time of spiritual growth.
Packing up to go home, we realized we'd brought a lot of stuff!
We had the RPS challenge between Genesis and Josiah. Josiah won but forfeited. So Genesis led us in prayer over our food and victory for the girls to eat first. WOOHOO!!! We had some late stragglers come in to chow down after we started putting up the food, but all was well. We got their tum tums taken care of.
We had 26 kids last night, with several new kids and Kodee was back!!!! Half of our Tiger Twin Duo. We were very happy to see her.
We took up an offering for James, our sponsored child from Haiti. And made a couple of announcements.
We heard a lesson last night about HOPE. We also talked about making a decision for Christ. That by not making a decision is just the same as saying no Lord.
That just because you grow up knowing about God does not automatically make you a Christian, but it's a conscious decision that WE as individuals have to make. A decision to say yes Lord.
We had one youth give his life to Jesus last night. The angels in heaven were rejoicing!!!! So, Corey Miller aka Squishy.... meet everybody. Everybody, meet Squishy..... Now we have a group hug!!!!! Corey is interested in going through the baptism class, and we are trying to set up a good time with John and Judy.
Man!!!!! Serving God is amazing.
We closed the service in prayer and had an amazing response to God's word.
The old wooden cross at the north end of the church’s community garden before being painted.
Dumbo Paints the Cross
One of our more mentally challenged members—come to think of it, we only have one—parked his old vehicle right next to the wooden cross near the Community Garden and unloaded a ladder so that he could whitewash it. He made a quick job of it because he had appointments, and because he wanted to take advantage of the slim ray of sun that showed up for a few minutes yesterday. He finished quickly, threw the ladder and paint can into the back of the van and…
…spun his wheels in the mud right down to the axels. I may have mentioned that this person isn’t the brightest bulb in the chandelier.
He got his jack out—he is now very late—and jacked the van up, put boards under the tires and…spun his wheels some more. Sinking, sinking, and sinking.
One definition of insanity is to do the same dumb thing over and over again. Which our boy did. Jack-spin. Spin-jack. Etc.
While this was going on he felt extremely sorry for himself. Midway through it all, however, he realized that all his toil and strife was happening at the foot of the garden’s old cross. The moral of the story is that he compared his current suffering with the suffering of our Lord on the cross and quietly and peacefully felt calm and grateful for what was now just a moment’s frustration.
At this point our slow friend walked over to Randy’s Towing and, with the aid of a truck and a brighter mind, he was out of the mud in a jiffy. Randy did not accept any money. “I like that garden,” he said.
Anyway, if you drive by on Church Street look over towards the garden and admire the newly painted cross. A lot is beginning to happen, and happens, on this little piece of dirt.
Sunday, March 28, 11:00 AM: Palm Sunday at First Christian Church, with the choir presenting, "Christ is Risen! Alleluia!"
Thursday, April 1, 7:00 PM: Berryville Alliance of Churches Maundy Tursday Service at the Berryville United Methodist Church
Sunday, April 4, Easter Sunday: 8:00 AM Berryville Alliance of Churches Early Service, First Presbyterian Church 9:00 AM Sunday School Classes for all ages at First Christian Church 10:00 AM Easter Brunch at First Christian Church 11:00 AM Easter Worship Service at First Christian Church 12:00 PM Egg hunt for children on the lawn of First Christian Church
This is a poem sent by Wilson Moore in response to Sunday's sermon, "Building on the Rock"
A Bag Of Tools
Isn't it strange That princes and kings, And clowns that caper In sawdust rings, And common people Like you and me Are builders for eternity? Each is given a bag of tools, A shapeless mass, A book of rules: And each must make- Ere life is flown A stumbling block Or a stepping stone.
We listen as Jesus concludes the greatest sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount, with these words: Matthew 7:21-29 “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. 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?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ 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. 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. 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. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
We Begin Building a Solid Foundation by Believing the Truth Building out lives on a solid foundation begins with what we believe. Beliefs determine behavior, our choices, our values. We basically have two choices: believe what Jesus says, or believe what our world says. Rick Warren asks, “Have you ever been sick in bed for a day and watched a day’s worth of talk shows? That will really make you sick. I had the flu a while back and wrote down some talk show myths. They are projected as truth: 1. All your problems are somebody else’s fault 2. This world owes you happiness 3. You’ll be happy if you get whatever you want 4. You can have it all 5. You shouldn’t have to wait for anything 6. Having enough money will make you secure 7. There is never any reason to feel guilty 8. Pornography and perversion are innocent 9. Because you’re God, the answer lies within you.”
The Broad Way and the Narrow Way Try building a life on those beliefs…and what do you get? Disappointment, with a lot of broken dreams and broken relationships, lots of pain and regret, enslaved to addictions. Jesus says there is a broad way that looks attractive, and many take that way. But it ends in destruction. Jesus invites us to, “Enter by the narrow gate”, which is Jesus Himself. And take the narrow way that is not the world’s way. Get to know Jesus. Walk with Him every day as He leads, and you will live in Truth. The Truth will set you free, and you will not miss out on anything. You will discover the life that really matters, the life truly worth living. We only have two options; we either build our lives on what the world says or what Jesus says.
The World’s Way or Jesus’ Way: Which is More Reliable? Which do you think is more reliable? Have you noticed that what the world says is truth keeps changing, shifting, like sand on the seashore? We look to science for truth, but science textbooks are outdated almost as soon as they are written, because of new discoveries. Have you noticed that lists of what foods are good for us and which are bad for us keep changing? We were once told that coffee and chocolate were bad for us. Now science has discovered ( hurray for science! )That chocolate is good for us, and even coffee! 73 million Americans are baby boomers, born between 1948 and 1964. How many baby boomers do we have here? I remember seeing a book on the shelf in my childhood, Dr. Spock’s Baby Book. Next to the Bible, that was the best-selling book of all time. Probably that book was in your home too. A generation was raised on Dr. Spock’s advice. But when Dr. Spock was in his seventies, he held a press conference and said, “Oops. I was wrong. That’s not the best way to do it. I’m sorry. Never mind.” No wonder there are so many dysfunctional people in America!
In a world where something’s changing every day, you don’t want to put your faith in something you can’t depend on tomorrow. Jesus says, “Though all heaven and earth shall pass away, yet my Word shall remain forever.” We can absolutely trust that as we follow Jesus, as we put His words into practice, we will discover Life in the Kingdom of God.
We Can Know About Truth and Never Apply It in Our Lives The strange thing about us humans is we can hear words of truth, words of guidance for our lives, and never apply them. We can be like the students my daughter deals with as she teaches English at a university. Every semester there is a student who signs up for the class, shows up the first day, and says, “Do I have to buy a textbook?” Carissa has learned to give the first exam early in the semester so that some students will have the shocking realization that they have to read the assignments and take in what they’ve read.
We can hear Jesus’ words and never really put them into practice in our lives. Jesus says the wise person is one who hears these words of His AND puts them into practice. What would you say about a person who spent thousands and thousands of dollars studying to be a doctor, went to college and medical school, but never practiced medicine, never saw a patient, never even put a bandage on a wound? Is he a doctor or a fool? What would you say about a soldier who trained for combat but when he found himself in battle, didn’t apply a thing he’d learned, didn’t even put on his helmet, let his weapon just lie on the ground while he walked blithely out into the midst of enemy fire? Is he a soldier or a fool?
What would you say about a person who has listened to the words of Jesus as he preached the greatest sermon ever preached? (And think about who is speaking these words : Jesus is God, who knows the purpose of human life, because He created us in the first place, and who knows how to live this life fully, abundantly, perfectly, because He came and did it!) What would you say about the person who hears Jesus say, “Don’t worry because your heavenly Father will take care of you,” and yet remains consumed with worry? What about the person who hears Jesus say, “Love your enemies”, yet continues to nurture bitterness and hatred in her heart toward those who have hurt her? What about the person who hears Jesus say, “Judge not, lest you be judged,” but continues to regard others as worthless who don’t meet his standards? What about the person who hears Jesus say, “You cannot serve two masters, you cannot serve God and money,” yet continues to do whatever it takes to get more money? What would you say about the person who hears Jesus say, “Seek first the Kingdom of God”, yet doesn’t change any of his priorities in life? Is that person a Christian or a fool?
Hearing AND DOING What Jesus Says Ultimately Matters “Oh,” we might say, “Is that going to be on the final exam? I didn’t know He actually meant for us to live this way.” When we stand before the Lord of the universe at the end of time, or at the end of our earthly lives, whichever comes first, what will the Lord say? I cannot imagine anything more terrifying than for Him to look at me and say, “I don’t know you.” “But Lord, I came to church and I even gave money. I did things for you… “ He might look at me with great sadness and say, “But you never got serious about being my follower. You listened to my teaching, but you never applied it. You never really made me Lord of your life. You did the right religious things, but for the wrong reasons. It was all about appearances, so people would think you were a good person. But you never let me change your heart. I’m sorry, I don’t know you.” I can’t imagine the utter desolation of hearing those words from Jesus, “I don’t know you.”
The Good News But the good news is we have this day, this moment, to repent, to turn, from all the ways we’ve been building our house on the sand and start building our house on the rock, Jesus. We can turn from living by what the world says, and discover life in the Kingdom of God. We can ask Jesus to be in charge and seek to walk with Him daily. We can ask His Holy Spirit to help us live beyond worry, anger, lust, lying, greed for money and things, judging others. We can make progress in loving as God loves. We can start living in the unshakable Kingdom of God. Maybe we made the commitment to follow Jesus, but we’ve gotten distracted or stuck, and barely gotten beyond just laying the foundation for our lives of discipleship. I once saw a foundation laid and the house starting to be framed, but then it just sat there for years. Maybe we’ve gotten stuck in disappointment or grief, or worry, anger, or we’ve been pulled away from what really matters as we let the world establish our priorities and set our agenda.
Today, wherever we are, we can repent, turn toward Jesus and take the next step with Jesus. Then we can consistently choose to walk with Him today, tomorrow, the next day, doing what He says. Then, at the end or our lives, or at the end of time, whichever comes first, we can hear Jesus say, “Hello, Judy, David, Ben, Mary Ann, Erica. …..(your name), Welcome home.”
7:1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye…. 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
According to Jesus, we disciples are to be neither judgmental nor naïve. To put that in positive terms, we are to be both merciful and discerning. That sounds like a challenging balance to maintain. If we are walking a tightrope, it is no better to fall off on one side than on the other. If we fall off on the right side, it is to little purpose if we shout on the way down, “At least I didn’t fall off on the left side.” One disciple may say, “I may have been judgmental, but at least I wasn’t naïve.” Another disciple may say, “I may have failed to be discerning, but at least I was merciful.” But it avails nothing. Jesus wants both. He wants us not to fall off at all…on either side. We are to be discerning and merciful, merciful and discerning. As we strive for the right balance, there are three key terms in Jesus’ teaching that demand our attention.
Term 1. Judge: Jesus says, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged.” As Jesus uses the term, judging is making a negative assessment of another person’s ultimate worth and eternal destiny based on his or her present faults while giving no attention to one’s own faults. Jesus warns that this approach will catch up with us. God will judge us with the standards that we have applied to others.
When we judge, we are usurping the role of God, but God is still present, God sees, God remembers, and God has not resigned his position. We will one day stand before him and be judged. Guess what standard he will use for us! This reality calls us to approach our lives and relationships with a certain humility, compassion, mercy, and spiritual honesty.
As we have worked our way through the Sermon on the Mount, we have taken spiritual inventory. How are we processing the anger in our lives? How are we approaching our sexual or romantic lives? How much do we live our lives with genuine integrity? How are we doing with dedicating our material resources to serving the kingdom of God? How are we measuring up to the standard of godly perfection? Anyone who comes through this inventory without having plenty of personal work to do just is not paying much attention.
We all have at least a latent desire to fix the whole world, to set things right, to play God. Jesus is telling us to start with ourselves. When our understanding of our own inner spiritual dynamics has been put to the test by tackling our own sins, then we might actually turn out to be of help to someone else, if they invite our help. And they might invite us to help if they see that we are not judging them.
Term 2. Hypocrite: “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.”As Jesus uses the term, a hypocrite is an actor playing a role, more concerned about appearances, impressions, and reputations than about reality.
If we are obsessed with how we are coming across, it is hard for us to learn anything. When our daughter was a pre-schooler, I tried to help her friend, whom we will call Samantha, learn to read. Samantha was a performer, an actress, completely obsessed with how she was coming across, what response she was getting from her audience. She was bright enough; she could memorize her lines, but, as far as she was concerned, her lines had no relationship to the words on a page. I was not able to teach her anything. As she matured, she eventually learned to read, but I assume that came only as she learned to get her attention off how she was coming across long enough to take in what was on the page. I am not saying that Samantha was a hypocrite; I am just pointing out that her focus on how she was coming across interfered with her learning. The point of comparison follows.
As it is with learning to read, so it is with our moral and spiritual development. We make progress only when we get our attention off how we are coming across so that we can really grapple with putting together the foundational pieces of godly living.
If we go through life focused on our own reputations, it is not likely that we will have very satisfactory relationships. If we expect our spouse, our children, our neighbors, our friends, our church, to constantly enhance our reputations, chances are that not a few of them will resent it and will resist our expectations. Children seem especially resistant on this score. They come equipped with excellent hypocrisy detectors, and they soon catch on if we are more concerned about what others think of our parenting than we are about how they are actually thriving.
Sometimes, the generational rebellion against hypocrisy can go the opposite direction. My great grandparents were students of scripture, faithful church members, Sunday school teachers, and good neighbors. As they aged, they took in my great grandfather’s bachelor nephew, twenty years younger, to help them run their farm. It was a good and happy relationship. When my great-grandfather died, there was not a good alternative for either survivor but to keep the arrangement in place. As my great grandmother had never learned to drive, her deceased husband’s nephew became her driver. My great grandmother’s daughter-in-law, I’ll call her Aunt Hazel, was much concerned about appearances. I do not know if it had occurred to her that the sooner she could get the nephew out of the house, the sooner she, her husband, and family might get into the house, but that was a possible additional motive. She went to my great grandmother and told her that her living arrangement was a great scandal to the whole neighborhood and must be stopped. My great grandmother thought about it for a time, and then announced to the family that, as she and her deceased husband’s nephew did not want to be a scandal, they had obtained a marriage license. So far as I know, all the family and neighbors, and church members, except for Aunt Hazel, were delighted, and for some of them the delight was slightly heightened by Aunt Hazel’s sputtering humiliation. Perhaps some of them too had been victims of her concern for appearances. Hypocrisy does not usually work out well in the end. It is best to root it out early on.
Term 3. Recognize: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits.” As Jesus uses the term, to recognize is to see who person really is. While we are not to judge, we are to recognize, to discern. Jesus said that we will recognize truly godly people by the fruits of their living, not by appearances and reputations, but by real productivity. Godly people, people of spiritual depth and maturity, people of compassion and mercy, people of wisdom and discernment, will leave a trail of good fruit in their tracks.
Let’s take my grandmother as an example. Like her mother, she was a godly church woman and Sunday school teacher, but she added touches of good-humored, broad-minded compassion and skill in human relations that were extraordinarily fruitful. She spent much of her adult life living with her husband in a tiny, one bedroom telephone office where they not only raised my mother, but also by turns a couple of nieces, the extra bed being a fold-down by the switchboard. She was in many ways, the human center of her small town of Bluff City, Kansas.She would talk easily with anyone, rich or poor, respectable or scandalous, sober or drunk, and treat them all the same. Two generations of young people saw her as the embodiment of acceptance, wisdom, and guidance. When she was terminally ill, and in such pain that she could not sleep, she sat up at night writing letters of encouragement to young people that she knew to be going through hard times. When she died, the funeral home in Anthony, Kansas, had to set up speakers outside so that those who wished to attend the service but could not get in, could at least hear it. She never had any significant money, never cared a whit about appearances, but she was one of the most fruitful people I ever knew.
Acceptance, mercy, and compassion are good, godly qualities, but Jesus also wanted his disciples to be careful about who they selected as spiritual leaders, guides, and models. He warned them against leaders whose spiritual lives were not fruitful.We are not to judge people for their faults. We are to be merciful and compassionate to people who have fallen short of Christian standards.But we also are to be careful about who we select as our spiritual leaders.
At First Christian Church, we welcome into our fellowship everyone who wants to learn about Jesus and about following him. We welcome into our membership everyone who professes Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Lord and Savior of the world, who has been baptized into union with him, and who wishes to be part of our fellowship and mission. But Jesus wants us to be careful, discerning, recognizing, about selecting our leaders because he loves us and does not want us to be led in the wrong direction.
In this passage, Jesus is warning against false prophets, who disguise themselves as good sheep, but are really destructive wolves. But his warnings apply to other leaders besides prophets: evangelists, preachers, pastors, elders, Sunday school teachers, and so forth. No leaders are perfect or without fault, but we want our leaders to be established on the solid foundation of sacred scripture, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. We do not want leaders who teach false doctrine. We want our leaders to be subject to the moral teachings of the New Testament, and if they fail, to be duly repentant. We do not want leaders who break New Testament moral rules and remain unrepentant. We want our leaders to be moving in the right direction, growing in all of the 9 ways. We do not want leaders who are complacent about their walk with Christ. We want our leaders to be developing discernment about the difference between essentials and nonessentials, about what is clear from scripture and what is debatable, about when we must be united and when we can allow diversity. We do not want leaders who ride off on their speculative theological hobby horses in ways that are divisive of genuine believers. We want our leaders to learn how to hold important lines without being unnecessarily offensive. We do not want them unnecessarily driving people whose faith or morality does not yet measure up out of hearing range of the gospel. We want our leaders to understand the priority of expressing the redeeming love of God in effective ways to lost and broken people. We do not want leaders who do not care about broken people. We want our leaders to be humbly merciful and compassionate
Now, none of us will perfectly measure up to what we want in our leaders. All of us are unworthy. All of us require grace and mercy. All of us are on a journey, but a spiritual leader should at least know our need for help, should know the direction of the journey, and should be willing to learn, learn, and learn some more. With that kind of leader, Jesus can work with extraordinary patience and great results.
