Tag Archives: leadership

They Will Respect My Son!

Christian Life, , ,

THEY WILL RESPECT MY SON!

“Jesus told another story to the people. ‘A man planted a vineyard. He handed it over to farmhands and went on a trip….In time he sent a servant back to the farmhands to collect the profits, but they beat him and sent him off empty-handed….’

“Then the owner of the vineyard said,’…I’ll send my beloved son. They are bound to respect my son.’

“But when the farmhands saw him coming, they quickly put their heads together.’…This is the heir! Let’s kill him and have it all to ourselves.’ They killed him and threw him over the fence…

‘What do you think the owner of the vineyard will do? Right. He’ll come and clean house. Then he’ll assign the care of the vineyard to others…’“.’” Luke 20:9-15. (The Message).

What a daring story! Although Jesus was not afraid of outright exposure, which He sometimes used to strip off the masks of the religious frauds who tried to make out that they had impeccable religious performance records, a story like this one did the job just as well. Since parables were a rabbinical device to be heard or read for identification, they would have had to get the point, which did nothing to endear Jesus to them!

There is both symbolism and character portrayal in this parable. The vine was often used in the Old Testament as a symbol of Israel. “I will sing for the one I love a song about His vineyard: My loved one has a vineyard on a fertile hill…” Isaiah 5:1 (NIV). “Israel was a spreading vine; he brought forth fruit for himself. As his fruit increased, he built more altars; as his land prospered, he adorned his sacred stones.” Hosea 10:1 (NIV).

Both Isaiah and Hosea saw Israel as God’s vineyard, planted in their own land and tenderly cared for but treacherously unfaithful to their Creator.

In this story, the focus is on the leaders of God’s ‘vineyard’. The owner entrusted his vineyard to caretakers while he was away. He expected the farmhands to care for it faithfully and to give him the profits which rightfully belonged to him. Instead, the farmhands treated the property as though it were theirs and drove off any attempt to retrieve what was his.

What an exposure of the attitude of Israel’s spiritual leaders! They treated the people, not as a trust, but as their possession, teaching them falsehood and leading them astray so that they could maintain power over them. They resented Jesus’ intrusion because His passion was to show His people what God was really like and to set them free from these unscrupulous overlords.

They respected neither the prophets who were sent to challenge their power and their false teaching, nor the Son Himself who came from the Father to set the record straight and to restore His people to the Father. They had only one intent – to kill the Son so that they could retain the power to dominate His people.

Spiritual leadership is a sacred trust from God and those who are appointed to lead are both responsible and accountable to God because the people are His. What happens to them is the outcome of who leads and how they lead. Leaders and people are bonded together for one purpose – to be a reward for the sacrifice Jesus made to rescue us from the clutches of the devil and to reconcile and restore us to the Father.

“Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account…” Hebrews 13:17a (NIV).

Israel’s religious leaders forgot their sacred trust and were treated accordingly. To those of us who lead comes the reminder that we do not own the people. Our task is to be faithful imitators of our Rabbi so that we can attach them to Him, not to ourselves, for the eternal reward is His, not ours.

Our reward will be to hear His words, “Well done, good and faithful servant…”

Be Careful Who You Follow

Christian Life, ,

BE CAREFUL WHO YOU FOLLOW

(Jesus) quoted a proverb: ‘Can a blind man lead a blind man?’ Wouldn’t they both end up in the ditch? An apprentice doesn’t lecture the master. The point is to be careful who you follow as your teacher.” Luke 6:39,40 (The Message)
Wise counsel! Be careful who you follow as your teacher. Some people are leaders and others are followers; perhaps the majority are followers. Why do people choose to follow who they follow? Is it because the leader is clever, rich, beautiful, handsome, successful, or popular? Something elevates another in our eyes and so we follow but with very little regard to where they are leading us. The focus is on the present. We are dazzled by appearances and set off after them because we aspire to being like them.
Believers in Jesus are just as prone to follow all kinds of spiritual leaders, those who are eloquent, or appear to be blessed because they are wealthy, or successful because they run big churches or because they have spectacular ministries.
In Jesus’ day, it was the religious boffins that people followed, those who appeared to be far more “holy” than the common people. There was no shortage of visible religious performance from them, for example, from the Pharisees. However, Jesus questioned their destination. “If you are following them as your teachers, do you know where they are going? What is the end result of what they are teaching you?” He urged people to examine their fruit. Is it good fruit? Did their teaching bring them into greater bondage to keeping rules and “doing” stuff, or more freedom to love, trust and worship God?
Jesus called the religious leaders blind. Why? Because they had no idea where their teaching would land them and they were unaware that their destination was “the ditch”. What makes such leaders blind? The Apostle Paul gives us the answer in 2 Corinthians 4:4 – “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of glory of Christ who is the image of God.” They refused to accept the truth that Jesus is the Son of God and the way to the Father. They created their own way which they thought would take them to God but instead led to judgment because they believed that God would receive them on their terms.
Jesus declared categorically, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6. How do we know He spoke the truth? How do we know we can trust Him? He predicted His own death and resurrection and pulled it off. That should be enough to convince us that He spoke the truth! He said that if we believe in Him, entrust ourselves to Him and follow His way, He would give us eternal life and take us to the Father.
When we choose who we are going to follow, we need to look carefully at where that allegiance is going. Is the person we are following trustworthy? Is he/she capable of delivering on their promises, even if they have said nothing? What is the expected outcome of their way of life?
Sound counsel indeed! Be careful who you follow as your teacher. They are going somewhere. Do you want to go with them?