Leading By Circular Logic

Friday, October 20, 2023

And now, a word to you who are elders in the churches.  I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ.  And I, too, will share in his glory when he is revealed to the whole world.  As a fellow elder, I appeal to you:  Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you.  Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God.  Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example.  And when the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honor.  In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders.  And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  1 Peter 5:1-5

Apostle Peter addresses elders, leaders in God’s church, with instruction on how to lead.  This instruction is mostly about the attitude of a leader.  Note the words the big fisherman uses about the tenderness with which a church leader leads the flock entrusted to him:  care…watch over…lead by example.  And then Peter closes the door on the matter with the fact that humility covers all of it.

There are two caveats we must add to this leadership seminar of Peter’s:

1.    Leaders cannot lead this way unless followers follow this way.

2.    True followers will follow if leaders lead this way.

Every instruction God ever gave is predicated on the truth of God’s creation.  Those upon whom God places His call to lead in the church must respond to God’s call by leading selflessly, caring for the flock without pursuing personal gain.  Those who follow must respond, expecting to follow.  It’s a form of “circular logic” and requires trust (faith) in all directions.

Circular logic (or circular reasoning) is most often defined in a pejorative, or belittling sense.  With those for whom logic is the only acceptable pathway, the idea of faith must never cloud the issue.  That person would say about God, prove to me that God exists.  Believers answer that without faith (defined as a blind-leap without proof) it is impossible.  But if you believe (trust) He is real, you will have all the proof you need.  Another way to express that is from the atheist view:

An atheist says:  I won’t believe in God until I see Him.

A believer responds:  You’ll never see Him until you believe.

This same issue is true in the Leader/Follower issue Peter presented in his epistle:

Skeptical Christian:  I won’t trust or follow unless that leader is proven worthy

God’s Word replies: Have faith and by your faith I’ll make that leader worthy.

For You Today 

Is faith a form of circular logic? 

Absolutely!  

It begins with:  

In the beginning God…

It flows through:  

For God so loved…that He gave…

It ends full circle with:  

Even so, come Lord Jesus…

Circular logic may make the hair stand up on the back of a scientist’s or philosopher’s neck, but faith begins in the heart of a human being, created by God, for His glory and our good.  It won’t float in this world’s view, but for those who respond in faith, they will see God face to face.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Title Image Pixabay.com  Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

The Glorious Needle in the Unfathomable Haystack

Thursday, September 29, 2022

O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!  Your glory is higher than the heavens.  You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength,
silencing your enemies and all who oppose you.  When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?  Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.  You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority—the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents.  O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!  Psalm 8:1-9

The Psalmist (in a big stage whisper) wonders aloud about how God could possibly be concerned about us humans.  Calvin, the precocious (some would say “obnoxious”) kid proclaims he’s SIGNIFICANT, just before allowing he’s quite small, compared to the universe.

Calvin and Hobbes is one of my many favorite cartoon strips.  That may be due to the author’s[1] theological bent which always catches my eye, and most often my admiration. 

I admire (and often envy) the way the creator of this ‘toon can present a complex Biblical theme on the meaning of life, with just four-panels and a precocious, self-absorbed six-year-old.  That may be because the creator, Bill Watterson, modeled the main characters, the boy, Calvin, and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes, after a preacher and a moral, wondering cynic.  You gotta love it!

In the first and third panel, Calvin looks into the sky’s East, then West, as if he’s searching the whole of the heavens.  In the second panel he announces with certainty his significant place (as only a six-year-old can proclaim from his sandbox).  In the fourth, and final panel, Calvin concludes, and allows that he might be just a piece, a speck of dust in the big pile of the puzzle, and not the magnificent centerpiece his first statement demanded.

This is the ongoing human struggle for identity and perspective on the significance and purpose of life.  I suppose if I had Bill Watterson’s ability to get to the nub in so short a presentation (it only takes eight seconds to read), I guess my sermons would be a lot shorter, and my congregation would always beat the Baptist brethren to the local restaurants on Sunday.

For You Today

There will never be a test to pass on Sunday’s sermon.  So, here’s a delicious short-thought to ponder:  When the sermon is spoken this Sunday, whether you take notes, or not, take note of just one salient, provoking, life issue your pastor presents, and contemplate, think-deeply, and measure it against your life.  Take it home and see what God says to you in prayer that day, or the rest of the week.  And then find some way to put into action whatever God brings into your life that next week.  You may not have a stuffed tiger that will talk back to you like Calvin’s Hobbes, but the Holy Spirit will lead those who seriously seek the Lord.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

We Mortals and How to Cure a Cosmic Headache  and When a Child Speaks

[1] Images:  via Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] ©Bill Watterson named the characters Calvin (for John Calvin, 16^th century theologian) and Hobbes (for 17^th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes).  For much more background information see Wikipedia here.

Exuberance and Exhaustion

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator.  Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.”  Remember him before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is dim to your old eyes, and rain clouds continually darken your sky.  Remember him before your legs—the guards of your house—start to tremble; and before your shoulders—the strong men—stoop.  Remember him before your teeth—your few remaining servants—stop grinding; and before your eyes—the women looking through the windows—see dimly.  Remember him before the door to life’s opportunities is closed and the sound of work fades.  Now you rise at the first chirping of the birds, but then all their sounds will grow faint.  Remember him before you become fearful of falling and worry about danger in the streets; before your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom, and you drag along without energy like a dying grasshopper, and the caperberry no longer inspires sexual desire.  Remember him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when the mourners will weep at your funeral.  Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken.  Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well.  For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.  “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless.”  Keep this in mind:  The Teacher was considered wise, and he taught the people everything he knew.  He listened carefully to many proverbs, studying and classifying them.  The Teacher sought to find just the right words to express truths clearly.  The words of the wise are like cattle prods—painful but helpful.  Their collected sayings are like a nail-studded stick with which a shepherd drives the sheep.  But, my child, let me give you some further advice:  Be careful, for writing books is endless, and much study wears you out.  That’s the whole story.  Here now is my final conclusion:  Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty.  God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.  Ecclesiastes 12:1-14

In every old man or woman there is a child awaiting release; a tribute to the memory of days when waking up would be without assorted pains, joints adjusting, and thoughts of:  what new ailment might there be on the menu today?

Solomon, or someone who knew him very well, wrote this part of Ecclesiastes.  And he contrasts the energy of youth, with the depletion of old age.  It can be depressing, especially if you’re closer to the end than the beginning. 

Yet, in it all, there is a sense of refreshing about the teacher’s conclusion, which gets down to the nub of what’s important, fearing God, and trusting all to His judgment.  He says God will judge all the good and bad, whether hidden or open.  Once again the contrast between youth and the aged is evident; youth are busy doing things, making their mark, full of energy and hope.  The old are winding-down, remembering, evaluating their lives, both good and bad, regrets and satisfaction.  The youth are on display; the old are watching reruns.  And God judges us all.

For You Today

Whether your life is flowing like spring water, or your well’s rope is broken along with the drawing bucket, life is the same…live it as God gives you breath, and give it to others as God blesses your strength.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic explore some of these:  Something Better and Remembering Before You Can’t

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com     Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Washing Away Our Sins

 

Friday, March 4, 2022

“Moses himself told the people of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people.’  Moses was with our ancestors, the assembly of God’s people in the wilderness, when the angel spoke to him at Mount Sinai.  And there Moses received life-giving words to pass on to us.  “But our ancestors refused to listen to Moses.  They rejected him and wanted to return to Egypt.  They told Aaron, ‘Make us some gods who can lead us, for we don’t know what has become of this Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.’  So they made an idol shaped like a calf, and they sacrificed to it and celebrated over this thing they had made.  Then God turned away from them and abandoned them to serve the stars of heaven as their gods!  In the book of the prophets it is written, ‘Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during those forty years in the wilderness, Israel?  Acts 7:37-42

At our house there are two kitchens.  The house was smaller when we originally moved in, but an apartment was added when my parents came to live with us.  The second kitchen is near where I study, so the dog sleeps there too.  (I know, I know, the preacher studies in the doghouse…let’s get past that).

Being near where I study, the coffee pot also resides in that kitchen.  And so, I wash the coffee cup there.  Occasionally I make a mistake with what is stored where.  I discovered one of those faux pas  this week.  The discovery was because I was confused as to why the dish soap wasn’t working well.  It was weaker and too fragrant for dish soap.  I investigated the label and realized my goof. 

Ever since I gave Mr. Wellie a quick bath a few weeks ago, I’ve been washing my coffee cup with doggie soap.  I can only guess I absent-mindedly (imagine that) replaced the dish soap with doggie soap.  For Wellie’s sake I hope he isn’t allergic to dish soap.

So, how does that help us with Paul’s message about Israel’s sins, and how God dealt with them?

Well, can you imagine needing to wash your pet elephant, and you get everything ready….forty bath towels, several gallons of elephant soap (you can get it on Amazon), and the scrub brush…that tiny red toothbrush you got from the dentist visit?  A toothbrush to scrub an elephant?  Pretty ridiculous, eh?  But there’s the (ahem) rub; just as you wouldn’t use a tiny toothbrush for the huge job of cleaning an elephant, you don’t bring watered-down personal philosophy to scrubbing the stain of sin from your soul.

That was the main issue in Exodus…Moses was given life-giving words from God, and the Israelites were rejecting the message.  Their homegrown philosophy took over when they asked Aaron to make them a gold idol to do the work that only divine blood could accomplish.  Paul said God turned away from them, shunned his deeply-loved people, abandoned them to the astrological gods they’d chosen over the one who had parted the waters and fed them in the wilderness.  They had replaced their faith in the one, true, living God, for a gold statue they could see, but could never save them.

For You Today

Just like you don’t bring a fly-swatter if you’re going to hunt monster dragons, or doggie soap to  wash your coffee cup, there is only one genuine way to deal with washing away sin in human beings – faith in Jesus Christ who died for you.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title image: Russell Brownworth (own work)   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©    

Circle of Life

[1]

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge!  How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!  For who can know the Lord’s thoughts?  Who knows enough to give him advice?  And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back?  For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory.  All glory to him forever! Amen.  Romans 11:33-36

With all due humility and respect to the popularity of Walt Disney, Tim Rice, and Elton John’s Circle of Life song in the movie, Lion King, what they give us is merely wisdom from the underside of things here on earth; they don’t begin to scratch the surface of the circle’s source.  The real circle of life begins and comes round to Heaven.

The apostle Paul rarely stuttered like Moses.  When the little, ugly student of Gamaliel, (Paul may have been a slow learner, but he turned-out to be quite a scholar) wrote his letter to the Roman Christians, his small, twisted stature, poor eyesight, and thorny side faded into the background as he gave us an eternal glimpse into our beginning and ending.  Bowing to the omniscient wisdom of JHWH, Creator of all, the apostle unfolds the simplest, most profound truth about the circle of life:  it begins with God, continues to exist because of God’s will and power, and does not simply repeat until it destroys itself…but returns unto God bringing glory, honor, and unending praise to its Maker – quite a circle!

In the movie the little lion cub, Simba, is destined to be the king after his father, Mufasa passes from the scene[2].  Dad teaches the young prince that, while they chase the gazelle and eat them, eventually lions also die, return to the soil to become the grass, which the gazelle eat.  That is Mufasa’s circle of life, sometimes you’re the windshield; sometimes you’re the bug!

But God has a much higher plan than live – deteriorate – die – rot in the ground to become fertilizer for the savannah grass, and be re-born as a well-fed antelope (only to be eaten by the next generation of lions).  With that existential philosophy (even less appealing than Akuna-matata), you’ve got nothing more to look forward to than the African proverb that whimpers:

Every morning a gazelle awakens to the reality that he must outrun the fastest lion or be eaten today, while every lion awakens to the reality that he must outrun the slowest gazelle or starve today.  Either way the dawn brings running.

And that’s the whole difference between philosophy and theology; with man’s philosophizing circle all you get is running, and someday being outrun. 

When it’s theology – God thought – it’s about living; we are created by Him, and we live for, and in His good and glory, and eventually go to Him, the giver, sustainer, and purpose of all life.  That’s a circle you can live with!

For You Today

You were created with a higher purpose than retirement to become gazelle food.  With a Creator and Savior like that, what’s not to love? 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com        Unless otherwise noted, Scripture used from The New Living Translation©

[2] Image:  By Абдырашит Сатылганов - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0