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Mentor and protégé

Paul’s exhortation to the church addressed to Timothy does not pass for our modern exclusive leadership training. Actually, leadership training does not exist in the bible.

The phrase in Paul’s speech in 2 Tim 2:2, “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses”indicates that the instruction was an open one. Some people have different understanding of the verse. However, no matter how we choose to comprehend it, it wouldn’t negate the truth that the exhortation was to the church and not those handpicked for leadership.

Jesus never took the apostles or his disciples aside to teach them how to lead others but how to serve Mark 9:35. He never taught them the psychology of humans since He never intended to relinquish leading or shepherding the people to His apostles or disciples. He always taught them God’s heart; His will for all men to be saved (not Calvinism) —and served. He showed them the general doctrine to be taught to all who truly know Him. Those whose hearts truly know Christ will pick it and follow on with God Hosea 6:3, 10:12, Jer 4:3.

The end part of Paul’s statement in verse 2 of 2 Tim 2, “entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” highlights what should be seen in those to pass on this “open knowledge” not “secret knowledge”. The key dispositions of the people are these;

*A life of faithfulness to God not to Paul

*Willingness to continue to learn ways to be more loving, obedient to Christ and joyfully serving others through the gospel.

This kind of faithfulness was Paul’s emphasis. In other words, not to selfish folks, but Christians (those who are selfless and eager to pass same knowledge they have freely received to others without demanding payment and or allegiance to themselves but to Christ). This is different from the mentor and protégé practice in the circular and religious systems.

In the gathering of the Church, to recognize the gifts in more matured believers and be drawn to benefit from it is perfectly scriptural. Therefore, to give due respect to such persons is highly advocated but to become their protégé is not scriptural Matt 23:8.

In the bible, particularly the New Testament, it was the matured Christians that saw the grace and faithfulness in the lives of younger believers and the areas of lack they can fill in their lives. So, they drew them closer. Paul and Onesimus in Philemon 1, Acts 18:25-26, 12:25.

However, the matured always recognized that they too stood to be blessed with the calling in the lives of those they had drawn into closer relationship for the work of Christ not their ministries 2 Tim 4:11. This is quite different from the mentor and protégé system where, the protégé submits their resume officially or unofficially for consideration by the mentor who sees him or herself as master having a disciple who owes him or her allegiance. The allegiance becomes the main criteria for passing those who are interested to serve their vision—though, it’s put smartly in scriptural terminology.

The relationship that Priscilla and her husband Aquila had with Apollos,  Elijah and Elisha and Paul and Timothy is far from the mentor and protégé humanistic invention.

Only Christ should have us as His protégés or disciples and, —“you all are brothers” Matt 23:8. Paul and Timothy was referred to as servants of Christ and the church in Phill 1:1. For Timothy to be a servant of Christ and the church, he did not have to first be a protege  or serve Paul.

Every believer has a spiritual gift which, those with ministry gifts also benefit from and yet, it doesn’t make them protégés. The counsel of scripture is, “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” Eph 5:21, 1 Pet 5:5. The ministry gifts equip those who operate in it. They also benefit from the safety of the spiritual gifts in the body to which God has set them Eph 4:16, 1 Cor 12:7. John and Paul’s statements in John 1:9-10 and Gal 1:8 echo’s it, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting” and “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.” Gal1:8, Acts17:11NLT.

Reading verse 8 of Galatians 1 carefully, you’ll notice that Paul is saying that the words they were inspired to preach is Christ himself or, their words were the voice of Christ. The implication is this; if the churches know the Lord’s voice, then, even if he (Paul) or anyone else came with another word, it is not to be received John 10:4-5. For this reason, as seen in 1 Cor 7:12, Paul always made it clear when he spoke from himself and not from the Lord.

The concluding statement of verse 8 of Galatians 1 indicates that God—not us, will be instrumental to those bringing their own words as if it were Christ’s to be accursed.

Paul never saw himself or others as above being derailed. How important that the Holy Spirit resides in every believer!

All believers are encouraged to grow in Christ by interacting with the other spiritual and ministry gifts in the fellowship of saints. In this interaction within and outside of one’s immediate community of faith, no one should be the disciple or protégé of a fellow believer. To use Jesus’ example of having twelve Apostles or many disciples to support the unscriptural practice of having a protector (mentor John 17:12) and the protected (protégé) is to say the least absurd.

Believers are to be equipped generally not specifically. True believers grow in Christ through fellowship with God, Christ and the saints by the power of the Holy Spirit.

When a believer has the privilege to give his or her time specifically to help another believer (for a season) to sharpen his or her comprehension and walk with Christ, it doesn’t obligate the helped believer to work in the gospel with the one who helped him or her. And, it shouldn’t turn the helped believer to the puppet of the one who God used to bring the help.

The Christian life is holistic not specialistic—as such, no individual in the body of Christ can supply another believer all he or she needs to fulfill their destiny. This truth will be appreciated if we understand there is a huge difference between our destiny and our ambitions. All Christians share one destiny which is eternal life but, ambitions run wild 1 Tim 6:12. God fulfils our destiny by taking us through His Way and ways if we’re willing Eph 4:1, Isa 1:19. Blindness and tragedy occurs when we accept His Way but refuse His ways because we want to fervently pursue our good ambitions. Misunderstanding the difference between our destiny and our ambitions is what drives us into the mentality and practice of mentor and protégé relationships.

It is true that mentor and protégé relationship can foster success in a particular specialty e.g., an architect seeking to advance in his field  may be better off going to a more experienced and acclaimed architect who shows interest in him or her than going to an academic institution to acquire just a certificate. The additional benefit of profitable experience, contacts or networks the mentor creates is not likely to come from the institution of learning. But, if he or she is seeking to advance the entirety of his or her life as a Christian, the place to go is to God who holds her destiny in His hands. This is the reason all who become believers in Christ are added to a gathering of the saints.

We’ll continue in another post to examine and meditate on the subject

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

Maranatha!

Life experience or experience with God

experiences

 

Though our experience with God happens within the context of our life experiences, it is not exactly the same thing. Life experiences shape us in a different way than our experience with God.

Experiences of life help shape the majority of people who pass through this world and accounts for why our world is fast decaying in God’s perspective and that of His people. Some good has come out of the life experiences of man such as having learnt how to do many things differently to improve man’s existence on earth. However, when it comes to the way man lives with his fellow man, hardly can it be said there has been improvement.

The reason for the lack of improvement is highly related to what man takes out of his life experience with others. Even for many Christians, this is still true.

The Bible clearly says that the heart of man is desperately wicked and highly deceitful Jer 17:9. Given that what man does visibly comes from this same heart of wickedness and deceit, I guess it is no surprise that man’s experience with his fellow men is but wicked—and deceitful.

Most times, when statements like, “I have learnt my lesson” are made, both by Christians and non Christians, it is usually in reference to— I have learnt how to deal with man better. Better in the sense of I now know what man is like and I must deal with man according to man’s fallen nature.

The essence of this short article is to encourage Christians to rather deal with man by our experience with God. To non Christians it is an invitation to come accept Christ—without whom it is impossible to participate in God’s divine nature. The Christian’s experience with God starts with regeneration of the heart, the sprinkling of the mind with Christ’ Blood and imputation of righteousness. The importance of this initial experience cannot be overemphasized. It is the foundation upon which God calls anyone to deal with life and its experiences.

Without the foundation of God’s nature made alive in man, men may pretend to be good until pushed beyond the limit of human goodness. But, when God’s nature is made alive in man, heaven’s ministration comes upon the heart—sanctifies the mind and empowers it continually to participate in divine living like the Lord from Heaven (Christ Jesus). It is on this basis that the will of God in heaven is done on earth. It has no limitation, for that which is impossible with men is made possible in man by God.

So then, as Christians our light or good (that is Christ) shines before men only when we let our experiences with God govern us. Then, praise is given to God in heaven by men on the earth Matt 5:16. Let us be reminded, those nicknamed “Christians” in Antioch got the name because; they displayed Christ’s nature and not just their belief in Him Acts 11:26. By the Holy Spirit, their lives were a blessing to those of the household of faith and to all men.

What can you say has truly shaped the person you are—is it your God experience or life experience?

So, who are we reacting to according to what they deserve and not according to Christ’s grace? Think soberly about it. The soberness this creates in our hearts can’t fail to lead to repentance, forgiveness—and ultimately, reconciliation unless, we have become reprobates.

Think also about this; God is the One who forgives first and seeks reconciliation with sinful man. This is how I know that God is spiritual and full of love. How do you and I show we are spiritual and having the love of Christ in our hearts not our mouths? The spiritual man ought to be first in good deeds and serving others. Let him who will be the first be the servant (not leader) of all men Mark 9:35. Do you agree with Jesus?

Have a blessed fruitful day

Maranatha!

Rejoice Always

Rejoice in the Lord

The Christian antidote against sleeping—that is, being spiritually idle and near death, is to watch and be sober at all times. How? It is by rejoicing always in the Lord.

How do we rejoice always in Him? It’s being spiritually minded Rom 8:6. How do we do that? It’s by thinking or looking to Jesus always Heb 12:2.

How can we look to Jesus Christ always?

It’s by meditating on His nature that is in us 2 Pet 1:3. This is the reason, He has given us great and precious promises so that, we might participate in His nature in us 2 Pet 1:5-7, Phil 4:8. The same joy that was set before Christ which helped Him endure all things and pleased His Father is the same joy set before us Rom 8:17.

Now, Christ is glorified and seated at God’s right hand and we, in Christ, are seated in glory–what an unstoppable joy! Joy flowing down from heaven and reaching back to heaven! A supernatural joy!

The Philippine Church was rich in love, prayer and eagerness for the advancement of the gospel. Their love for Jesus went beyond theory to them actually giving from their resources for the gospel of Christ their Saviour. But, it appeared they lacked discernment of the advantage of rejoicing always in the Lord. Their rejoicing was intermittent and as such, they flagged when they faced opposition from those that troubled them.

Therefore, Paul exhorted them thus; “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice”. Phil 4:4.

Of what advantage was “rejoice (or be glad) in the Lord always” to them, in the face of their troubles and for us today? The answer is vital for the Church upon whom the end of time have come. The knowledge that the things which happened to Israel (the people of God of old), are the same things the Church (new creations in Christ) are facing today is crucial.

We have to walk a path (His way) we have not known before just like the Israelites of old.

Many times, they were overwhelmed, deviated from the One leading them in the journey and neglected good friendship with the compass (Torah) given to them by God. This made them carnal minded people rather than God minded people. For these reasons, they had seasonal joy.

Because they didn’t persist in the joy of their God, they were immensely weakened and their lives were threatened individually and corporately. No strength was left in them to face their enemy who instigated other nations against them.

Given the individual and corporate loss of joy and the attacks on them, they could hardly remember one another’s needs (physical and spiritual well being) since each one focused on his or her survival. With their joy gone, physicalism took them over.

But, God in His love for them as always, brought His word through Nehemiah, Ezra the priest and scribe and the Levites—“The joy of the Lord is your strength” Neh 8:10. His word delivered their minds from the bondage of physicalism. As a compass, His word encouraged them to walk the path to their destination (destiny) which far exceeded matter. This flooded them again with light.

Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians, “rejoice in the Lord always” is doubtless, birthed by his experience and knowledge from the Old Testament that, joy or rejoicing in God gives strength to His people. Rejoicing always, always infuses God’s kind of strength to His people. The Philippine Church needed it and, the end time Church needs it even more.

Meditate on this: the joy of the Lord is our strength individually and corporately. While many of us who are in Christ and in different gatherings of His people know that prayer is a source of strength, few are aware of the enormous strength joy generates in us.

Paul, speaking to the Philippine saints said, “Always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy” Phil 1:4. Earlier, he had exhorted them to “rejoice always in the Lord” and as if to emphasize its importance, he repeated it in the same sentence, “again I will say rejoice”.

To rejoice, we must hold Christ dear in our hearts with all He has done for us.

And of a necessity, we need to grow in grace and obedience to Him while relentlessly wrestling against sin which attempts to make mockery of Christ’s work in us. We should not be like the hypocrites who battle outward sins in others but neglect the sins in their own hearts.

How do we wrestle against sin and glorify Christ in our own hearts? By casting down sinful thoughts that come through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. When we fail to cast-down wrong thoughts, they make us submit to them, enslave us and act as our master rather than Christ our new Master 2 Cor 10:5 KJV, Rom 12:2.

What happens when we fail to arrest sinful thoughts—give in to sin and are enslaved? Well, that brings us back to rejoice in the Lord which leads to repentance.

Even in a bad spiritual state, still rejoice in Him—in His ever abiding presence to deliver and save from the miry clay and to set you and I on Him, the Rock of Holiness, righteousness and salvation!

Remember, the instruction is for us to rejoice always! It is in the failing to rejoice and yielding to guilt, shame, hypocrisy, denial and covering of sin that we completely lose strength. This could lead us to give in to living in sin— an abomination that causes desolation in our lives and our gatherings.

Nothing that stands in opposition to God and us His people, can defeat us if we will only rejoice in Him as He is rejoicing over us Isa 62:5.

We are more than conquers through Christ Jesus—the Lord who lives in us Phil 4:13. Therefore, rejoice then in Him and again I will say, rejoice always! For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

In conclusion, be reminded you are to rejoice in the Lord always as an individual.

This is the patterned order—find your rejoicing in the Lord not in Christian communities. Then, take your joy in Him and join with others who’re rejoicing in Him. The result will be fellowship with God, His Christ and one another in the power of the Holy Spirit 1 John 1:3. This is real Church—the bride of Christ Jesus.

May His grace and peace lead you to abound in joy in the Holy Spirit. Amen

Maranatha!

Unity and Peace

unity and peace

The Church came about by one baptism, one faith, one Lord and one hope. It is another way of saying that God has already given the body of Christ unity and peace Eph 4:4-5.

Everyone who is in Christ is in unity with His body and having God’s kind of peace (John 14:27) in him or herself. This unity and peace is maintained or lived out by the individual parts daily by submitting to Christ who is the Head of His body. But, if we choose to rather submit to self, we will be resisting the God of love and peace 2 Cor 13:11. And, by resisting Him, we invite the devil automatically to come in with all manner of his evils because he is the master of the flesh or self James 3:16.

All of the nature of Christ promotes unity and peace. His heart of love, mercy and grace made him humbly submit to His father’s will.

Without a new heart and mind (the heart and mind of Christ), death reigns. Unity and peace becomes a mirage. This is why God’s word to His prophets has been, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” Heb 10:16. This is the covenant of regeneration and sanctification. A new creation covenant!

New creations in Christ are a people of love, mercy and grace—that is the gospel. The gospel transcends the beauty of understanding who Christ is to actually participating in His nature. It is by participating in Christ’s nature that the Church stands in unity and peace.

Two people with the same understanding of Christ can fail to stand in unity and peace if they fail to submit to Him. For example, two Christians can disagree over a matter and go their separate ways. Then, Christ instructs them not to slander each other privately or publicly but if both or one refuse(s) to obey or submit to Him, they then break their spiritual unity and peace and defile others.

From the above example, it is clear that the disagreement is not the cause of the disunity and lack of peace but the disobedience to Christ.

Praise Worthy Example

The incident with Paul and Barnabas was written down for our example. It was not published then as a way of resolving their disagreement. They did not slander each other to gain support to themselves though their variance was so sharp to warrant them walking with Christ separately. However, they submitted to Christ and did not break their unity and peace through speaking evil of each other. Therefore, when the Holy Spirit prompted Paul to ask Barnabas to send John Mark for the work of Christ, Paul obeyed, Barnabas obeyed and Mark refused not the work of Christ on account of Paul’s previous opinion of him. This beauty of submitting to Christ is impossible without God’s amazing grace (power).

For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace John 1:16.

Love, mercy and grace demand we relentlessly help one another grow in our understanding of Christ (Truth) and to correct one another’s misunderstanding of Him since we all don’t arrive at His proper knowledge at the same time. However, in doing so, if we permit selfish ambition, His purpose to bring us all to the unity of the faith and of His knowledge and stature will be defeated.

So then, let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual up-building Rom 14:19. How is this accomplished? The Spirit of God gives us the answer in Rom 12: 1-2. We are to submit our soul (emotion, desire, will etc) to His. A people not willing to do so will be charged with breaking the covenant of life and peace Mal 2:5-7.

Those who are in Christ have one commandment which they MUST keep and it is this; Submit to God and resist the devil. This is how to love God and others. Submit to God, He loves it and rewards it. Submit to others, everyone loves it and appreciates it. Resist the devil on behalf of others by not submitting to do to others what he wants. This is love!

Do not retaliate evil with evil but with good. By this, evil will continue to be distinct and reserved for punishment while, good will continue to bring unity, peace and praise to God Matt 5:16.

It is only in submitting to the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus) that we please one another in a godly way. Pleasing one another outside of submitting to Him is compromise that earns us earthly union and peace which is temporal.

God’s desire is for the Church to maintain the unity and peace that follows her into eternity. Brothers and sisters in Christ, husbands and wives, friends etc, God wants us to be eager to maintain the Unity of the spirit in the bond of peace Eph 4:3.

Therefore, you and I are daily being prompted by the Holy Spirit to walk in accordance to that unity by which we’re baptized into Christ. By His grace, we bear with one another in love by walking in humility, gentleness and patience towards all men Eph 4:2.

You are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, and God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God—who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light 1 Pet 2:9NLT.

Maranatha!