PREAMBLE:
To say that I am happy to be invited to share my thoughts on the subject of “Jesus’ Model of Leadership” with you on this auspicious occasion is to say the least: I feel greatly honoured. Thank you for this opportunity.
At Church of Christ, Nsukka, Enugu State where I serve the Body of Christ, we have for the past three months plus focused our study lens on the person and work of Jesus Christ. Like Apostle Paul, our desire is to “Know Jesus and the power of His resurrection,” to share in the fellowship of His suffering so that we can be conformed to His own image (Philippians 3:10). Consequently, it becomes very interesting that Jesus is considered the focus of study on leadership. Jesus is a perfect study on leadership. He presents to us and cuts for us a perfect image of a purposeful leader. He is our perfect model.
With no wish to sound wordy, we can say without fear of contradiction that Jesus came to do much more than become our Vicarious Sacrifice: He came to become our model – to show us how to live, lead and become effective followers. When leaders lead well, followers will follow well (cf. Judges 5:2).
The role of leadership in any organization cannot be overemphasized. If this is so, then the place of effective leadership becomes unarguably an essential one. There is a widespread abuse of leadership in most organizations and societies. This is the case where there are corrupt and incompetent leaderships. The scourge of incompetent and ineffective leadership has eaten deep into the fabrics of our communities. I am afraid that the trend has gradually found their way into the Body of Christ.
I am not here as an authority but as a concerned Nigerian and Christian to proffer solutions towards effective leadership in the Body of Christ and in the wider Nigerian society; leaderships that are people-oriented, purposeful, dynamic and visionary.
Leadership is the principal virtue of governance. Great nations are what they are because they have great and effective leaderships. The reason Nigeria and the rest of Africa are where they are today is principally because of lack of effective and purposeful leaderships. Purposeful leadership is goal-oriented, altruistic and possesses character. The moment Nigeria and indeed Africa are able to address their leadership needs they will take quantum leap into their destinies. As far as the leadership burden remains unaddressed, we will keep going round and round; taking one step forward and three steps backward.
Youths are our hope and future. They are bridge between past and future. Because youths are the future of any nation, it has become most appropriate that this youth’s program is being organized around the theme of leadership with quest to examine the leadership model of the world’s greatest leader – Jesus Christ.
CONCEPTUALIZING LEADERSHIP
It was Cicero, a Roman sage who posited that any subject should be properly conceptualized so that everyone would come to understand the subject of enquiry. In view of this, it would be most appropriate that we venture into the universe of definitions of the chief concept: leadership.
Bernard Montgomery, a British Field Marshal conceives leadership as the, “Capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character that inspires them.”
Eagle 8 (2008:10) states that a “Leader is anyone who occupies a position of authority and is responsible for managing people in order to achieve the goals of the unit, department or organization. Today, leadership is desperately in great demand. Families, businesses, churches, countries and global associations are in need of effective leaders. An effective leader manages, but not every manager is a leader. The more managers an organization can convert to leaders, the more successful it will be.”
Manfred de Vries, an INSEAD Professor of Leadership opined: “Your business can have all the advantages in the world – strong financial resources, enviable market position and state-of-the-art technology but if leadership fails, all of these advantages melt away.”
From the foregoing, it can be easily seen that leadership is the principal thing. It is the glue that holds everything together. The moment it fails, the center cannot hold again. Leadership is a catalyst. An anonymous writer had opined that leadership is enabling a group to engage together in the process of developing, sharing and moving into vision, and then living it out.
Collins English Dictionary (1998) defines leadership as the ability to lead. Peter Drucker of the Drucker Foundations affirmed that the only definition of a leader is someone who has followers and that to gain followers require influence. John Maxwell in His 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership states that “Leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less.”
Warren Bennies is of the opinion that leadership is a function of knowing oneself, having a vision that is well communicated to one’s followers, building trust amongst colleagues, and taking effective action to realize one’s own leadership potentials. An anonymous writer stated that leadership is the process of influencing the behaviour of other people toward group goals in a way that fully respects their freedom.
The consensus of leadership literature suggests that leaders have vision, are individuals who attract followers, are people who share their visions with their followers, and enable the group together to achieve their common goals.
Key terms in definitions of leadership include but not limited to exertion of influence, motivating and inspiring people; helping others to realize and maximize their potentials; leading by example, selflessness and making a difference.
UNDERSTANDING LEADERSHIP
Without sound leadership, chaos results (Judges 21:25). Leadership keeps guard over the led (Hebrews 13:17). There are religious leaders (John 3:1; Ephesians 4:11-15; Galatians 2: 9; I Timothy 3) as well as political leaders (Judges 11:6, 9; Romans 13:1-3).
Leadership could arise out of personal desire or as a result of invitation. One can offer himself for a leadership position (I Timothy 3:1ff) and can also be invited by others to lead them (cf. John 6:15). In each of these, one has to weight his motives in the balances.
It should be stated that absence of good people offering themselves for service is the bane of our societies. Also, good leaders being rejected on the basis of their inabilities to flex awesome financial muscles or on the basis of tribal affiliations and educational attainments are another. Good leaders can come from any where and may not brandish higher educational qualifications. Great leaders across recorded history were not necessarily men and women from wealthy backgrounds; they were not necessarily people who were overly educated; not overly endowed with oratory: they were not people who spoke with the finesse of grammarians and erudition of scholars. However, they were people of integrity, visions and altruism.
We must appreciate the fact that evil thrives when good men and women do nothing. Because nature abhors vacuum, when good leaders do not offer themselves for service, bad ones would. Roy Roper observes that when those who are supposed to be where they are supposed to be are not there, then those who are not supposed to be there will be there.
BRIEF BIBLICAL HISTORY OF LEADERSHIP
Leadership is as old as man himself. When God created the first pair, He made one to be head and the other to be subservient (cf. Genesis 3:16; I Corinthians 11: 3). Man as a social and political animal likes a well-organized systems of things and so he began to organize (Genesis 11:1-5).
In the evolution of leadership, the nature of man made the strong to rule over the weak (Mark 10:42-45). Halley’s Bible Handbook (1965:82) noted that, “Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord (Genesis 10:8-9) was historically reputed as the first community leader. His leadership started as a hunter to protect his people from the menace of wild animals. He was also said to have headed the ill-fated “Tower of Babel’s” enterprise. Nimrod also built Babylon as the capital of his leadership. Babylon was for a long time regarded as the “Land of Nimrod.” This city was the first civilized people and nation. This was but a powerful testimony to Nimrod’s visionary and dynamic leadership.
CHURCH LEADERSHIP
Church leadership, although, a form of corporate leadership is not entirely like every other corporate leadership. In secular corporate world where staff and management have stakes with the result that the success or failure of such corporate bodies have direct bearing on their take-homes and investments, everyone injects enough efforts to make things work out.
Because corporate management is profit-oriented, staff have timetables, deadlines and the philosophy of an “Honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay” prevail. In view of the fact that management has every right to “hire and to fire,” every member of staff is expected to perform. Failure to do so earns the recalcitrant staff or member of management a sack. Every member of staff is expected to be fraternally cohesive. Their cohesion or lack of it would tell on the corporate image and goal of the particular establishment. Wrangling and rancour among players in any corporate institution or organization are detested and frowned at.
In secular corporate organizations and management, things are prescribed and everyone is expected to perform to the letter. To sustain this, the management is expected to be tough, merciless and hard drivers. Corporate chiefs are scions of Machiavelli. However, in the Church it is not so (Mark 10:42-43).
Church leadership/management can only thrive in an atmosphere of commitments on the part of the leadership as well as the followership. The principle by which Church leadership thrives is persuasion and not coercion. Because most members do not have much at stake materially but spiritually and eternally, their levels of commitments cannot be counted at all times. This, however, is where the problems of Church leaderships lie.
JESUS MODEL OF LEADERSHIP
Jesus was a Visionary Leader, Master Strategist, Excellent Team Leader, Servant Leader, Shepherd, Trainer and Encourager. Jesus chose a team of twelve men with varying degrees of strengths and weaknesses and bonded them together into a fraternally cohesive team. He influenced many diverse people during His earthy ministry but forced no one to follow Him. His charisma, simplicity, vision, integrity, teachings and compassion were His leadership secrets.
Jesus’ model of leadership can be summarized in the following terms: Servant Leadership, Transference of Vision (Mentoring), Humility, Compassion, Accountability, and Creation of Emotional Bank.
SERVANT LEADERSHIP (MATTHEW 20:20-28)
Jesus’ model of leadership came to the fore when His disciples were bickering over who would be the greatest when His reign would commence. Matthew 20:20-28 tells us about this. They had thought that a leader was one who would be served but Jesus showed them that a true leader is actually one who serves, using Himself as a case study.
J. L. May in his excellent treatise on Jesus’ Leadership Style had these to say:
Jesus was good at turning things right-side-up. The disciples’ perceptions of a great leader came from the business and government models that were popular in their culture. Even in modern cultures, these are still the most prevalent models of greatness and success, but that perception is upside-down to the way God has ordained leadership…Great leaders… are not measured by how many serve them, but by how many they serve.
Servant leadership is at the heart of leadership. No wonder when late Nigerian President, His Excellency Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was sworn in as President in 2007 he had pledged to be a Servant Leader, and of course this endeared him to so many people within and outside the shores of Nigeria.
Servant Leadership is different from servant hood. All Christians, not just leaders, are called to be servants, serving each other (Galatians 5: 13).
Servant Leadership means serving to lead and leading to serve. It is an altruistic and community-oriented kind of leadership. This will require setting aside personal gains, making sacrifices by considering the needs of others above the direction we may prefer for ourselves (Philippians 2:3-5).
Servant Leadership is principally not a particular style of leadership, rather, it relates to the motivation behind a leader’s thoughts, words and actions. He means what he says and says what he means.
Some people may suggest that servant leaders are weak. Far from it: servant leaders are not weak, rather, their strengths are demonstrated in their willingness to consider the needs of others first. Their strengths are channeled into service. They are fair, firm and friendly. They are humble. Humility is defined as strength under control. In the real sense of the word, ‘dictators” are weaklings who camouflage their weaknesses, fears and insecurities by their aggressions, bossy attitudes and greed.
A servant leader says “Yes” to God and to the yearnings of the people and “No” to himself when personal desires conflicts with communal needs and interests. He places community’s interests above personal interests.
LEADERSHIP AND TRANSFERENCE OF VISION (I CORINTHIANS
11:1; II TIMOTHY 2:1-2)
Transference of vision is otherwise referred to as ‘Mentoring’ in the corporate world. He transferred His vision by mentoring His disciples (also known as His Apostles). Jesus’ model of leadership was to groom three (Matthew 17:1; Galatians 2:9), then twelve, seventy, one hundred and twenty and then the multitude
Leadership is all about transference of vision and the capacity to translate vision into reality. Real leaders are ordinary people with extra ordinary determinations about visions and goals they want to reach.
Jesus vision was to reach the world with the Gospel message (Matthew 28: 18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Acts 1:8). He called men to Himself and transferred that vision to them and today they have done much more than He had done (John 14: 12).
An anonymous writer had written that Jesus did not try to reach all the masses with the Gospel. Even if He had wanted to, the task would be too big. Rather, He concentrated on a few selected ordinary men who were with Him and to who He gave both verbal instructions and constant examples, preparing them through their time with Him to do the same.
Through mentoring (Transference of vision), Jesus sought to replicate Himself in His disciples (Matthew 10:24-25). In time, His own disciples spoke the way He did and those who knew them could see Jesus in them and through them (Matthew 7:29; Acts 4:13).
HUMILITY (JOHN 13:1-17)
As a model leader, Jesus was humility personified. He re-defined leadership through His humble dispositions. His humility is both challenging and humbling, not to talk of inspiring. He never asserted Himself. He was not bossy and did not engage in psychological demeaning of the personalities of His own followers.
Philippians 2:5-11 x-rays for us His humble dispositions. He never dressed better than His follower and no one could distinguish between leaders and followers (Matthew 26:47-9).
John 13 is a classic exhibition of Jesus’ model of leadership. Humility is the ability of keeping one’s social and leadership positions under him and not allowing same to get over him by getting into his head, thereby making him look down on others, especially those he is leading.
CREATED EMOTIONAL BANK (JOHN 6: 66-60)
Creating an emotional bank and depositing huge resources therein was Jesus another excellent model of leadership. He gave His disciples strong senses of belonging, direction and fulfillment. His Emotional Bank Account (EBA) with each of the 12 Apostles was so much that in an event of challenge and crisis, they had no other option than to pitch tent with Him.
Leaders would do well to emulate Jesus’ model of leadership by creating emotional bank accounts with those they are leading. This they would do by constantly affirming, encouraging, supporting, and showing care and concern. I assure you that when these are done, enough goodwill will follow the leader.
COMPASSION (MATTHEW 9:36; 15:32)
Compassion is rendered, “Come share my passion.” Compassion is putting oneself in the shoes of others, especially those that he is providing leadership for. It is creating leadership with a human face. You can never be a good leader if you are not constantly putting yourself in the situation of others. Mix with them, visit with them, listen to them, watch them at work and at play. If you do these, you would become a compassionate leader.
ACCOUNTABILITY (JOHN 17:1-17)
Accountability was the watch-word of Jesus’ leadership model. He knew where He came from, His mission and the fact that after His work was accomplished that He would go back to where He came from. He was passionate about providing leadership and accomplishing the purpose for which He was sent, so much so that towards the end of His sojourn gave one-on-one account of His stewardship to God.
Good leaders are accountable to God and to the people they are called upon to lead and not to themselves, their families and cronies.
Christian leaders must as a matter of fact make accountability their watchword (II Corinthians 8: 20 - 21), especially in relation to finance. Money matter matters. Faithfulness in handling money matters is a must virtue (II Kings 22:7; cf. II Kings 12:10-15). If you get that right every other issue will fall in place!
JESUS’ MODEL OF LEADERSHIP: MAKING APPLICATIONS
Since we have noted a couple of Jesus’ model of leadership, it would be appropriate for us to use them as springboards to measure our own leadership skills and principles, vis-à-vis how the Body of Christ should be led and how we can make a difference in the wider human society when called upon to lead. We begin with the Church: her leaders.
MINISTERS, ELDERS/DEACONS, CHURCH AND EFFECTIVE
LEADERSHIP
Ministry is the work that the Lord has entrusted into the care of the
Church because the Church is His Divine Orientation Agency (Ephesians 3:10). The impression that has been created in the minds of many for a long time now is that the work of Ministry is that of the exclusive preserve of the preacher and the eldership. This is totally wrong. The Scripture reveals that the work of the preacher is that of “Technical Adviser” (Ephesians 4:11) while the actual work of the Ministry is left into the hands of the “Saints” (Ephesians 4:12).
Ministry thrives when God’s people are adequately oriented, encouraged and equipped for the work of service coupled with the willingness of every member of the Body of Christ to volunteer himself/herself (Psalms 110:3;Psalms 68:11). What the Minister and the Eldership should do to ensure effective leadership in their given localities is to employ Samsonic principle of setting his instruments on fire to set the community afire (Judges 15:5). Effective leadership in the Ministry revolves around five keys: Association, Initiation, Consultation, Delegation and Coordination.
By Associating themselves with members of the Church, leaders who have flair for effective leadership is/are ennobled to discover both real and felt needs of the Church and Ministry and then Initiates programs of action to meet those needs either for spiritual or numerical growth and edification or Kingdom enlargement. He/they then Consults with the Body (There is need for the leader(s) to carry everyone along in decision-making processes) after which people are Delegated to points of needs while the leadership Coordinates the various activities of the Church. In the Church, everyone is a “minister.” That is to say that everyone must fill a need of and in the ministry. Effective Leadership for effective Ministry, therefore, is located in one’s ability as a leader to know how to use human instruments to meet given needs at given times.
QUALITIES OF EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP (MATTHEW 24:45)
Qualities of effective leaders are scattered on the pages of the Holy Writ. Each leader, however, must have been a time-tested Follower (I Timothy 3:10; Acts 16:1-2). It stimulates the followership as it seeks to give the led senses of belonging, direction and fulfillment.
Effective leadership provides among other things:
1.“VISION”: Vision is clear direction.
A visionary leadership knows the past and the present so well that
it can lead the Church well into the future (cf. Matthew13: 52). Lack
of vision is dangerous for a people (Proverbs 29:18).
Visionary leadership must be pregnant with the vision to accomplish
the mission of the great commission. Insight and foresight should
be the hallmark of a visionary leadership (Ecclesiastes 2:14d). Lack
of vision is the bane of ineffective leadership (Isaiah 9:16;
Matthew 15:14). Effective leadership knows the way, shows the way and
leads the way.
2. PROVIDE SPIRITUAL STABILITY:
This is done by providing balanced proper spiritual diets (Hebrews 13:
9; Matthew 24: 45). The power to feed is the power to lead (Ezekiel
34:1-4). This can also be done by providing conductive spiritual, learning
and worship environments. When this is done, the result would be
breathtaking! The congregation so spoken of and where there is
an effective leadership would have “ACTS 9:31 EXPERIENCE”:
1. “Enjoy peace”
2. “Strengthened within” (cf. Ephesians 3:16)”
3. “Progressing in the fear of the Lord”
4. “In encouragement of the Holy Spirit”
3. PEOPLE OF MORAL AND DOCTRINAL INTEGRITY (I Timothy
4:16).
Jesus Christ our Lord left us a legacy in these areas (Acts 1:1). The morality of leaders should never be questioned (I Timothy 3:7). Doctrinally, leaders must be men who have the rimer of the Word; sound in the faith, holding the mystery of the Faith with pure conscience (I Timothy 3:9).
4. SHOULD BE MATURED PERSONS (I Timothy 3:4a; Proverbs 16:32).
Leaders must be emotionally matured (Titus 1:7c). They must also be spiritually matured (I Timothy 3:6; Hebrews 5:14). Man management is not business management. On the other hand, “No man is man enough until he is man enough to man his own mind.” Cool headedness is the word.
5. ABILITY TO MANAGE INTERNAL CONFLICTS (II Corinthians 7:5).
Interpersonal and church/preacher squabbles have their hindering effects. Although, conflicts, sometimes are necessary (I Corinthians 11:19) but when it degenerates into open brawls, accusations and counter-accusations; cold-warism and et cetera, it becomes counter-productive and does more harm than good. When members of the church fight among themselves and often precipitated by “Crusades of calumny” before none-members, the result would be poor image promotion and no sane person would want to identify himself or herself with “Saber–Rattlers!”
WAYS OUT OF SABBER – RATTLING:
1. Learn the art of conflict management (Genesis 13:7-11; Proverbs 17:14).
2. Foster interpersonal sharpening (Hebrews 10: 24; Proverbs 27:17; Isaiah 41:6f).
3. Be your Brother’s keeper (Genesis 4:9b).
4. Strike a spiritual chord in each other (Romans 14:19).
5. Cultivate the culture of “Worship” (Wording and shipping to each other) and not “Warship” (Warring and shipping to each other).
6. MUST BE VERSATILE IN KNOWLEDGE AND DYNAMIC IN THEIR
WORK, TEACHINGS AND PROGRAMS (Matthews 13: 52).
“Versatility”- Those who do not know their history are condemned
to repeat it (I Corinthians 10:6-12). “Dynamism”- Variety is said to be the spice of life. This is very true of leadership. If leadership must stand the test of time and make the necessary positive impacts it must make, it must be dynamic.
7. MUST POSSESS THE ATTITUDE OF “GIVE AND TAKE”;
SPIRIT OF SPORTSMANSHIP; ALTRUISM. (John 3:30;Philippians 4:2;
2:3-4).
The attitude of, “If I do not rule I will ruin”; “If I am not at the helm of affairs, I will be at the heels”; “If my opinion is not accepted, none else will hold any water” is a destructive. Must avoid Diotrophesic mentality and self-will (III John Vs.9-11; Titus 1:7b). Must avoid the temptation to politicize the affairs of the Church - taking members to oneself and pitching tents against others (cf. Acts 20:28-30).
WHAT THE LED ARE EXPECTED TO DO TO ENSURE EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP
It should be noted that leadership is partnership: It is the marriage of the minds of both leaders and followers. There can be no good leaders if there are bad followers and vice-versa. Therefore, if you want to see changes in the leadership of your congregation, be involved, lend a hand, make inputs and encourage the involved.
The led should realize first and foremost that leaders are humans and not
angels. They can be vulnerable and are in their persons not fallible. They have flaws; they can make mistakes. Do not expect a perfect human beings and leaders (Ecclesiastes 7:20).
Do not accuse a leader in a way unbecoming (I Timothy 5:19). Be investigative. Do not accept allegations against a leader line, hook and sinker Acts 17:11; cf. Acts 18:24-26). Give them support and encouragement (Galatians 6:4-7). Give them recognition as well (I Timothy 5:19; I Thessalonians 5:12-13). Sow the seeds of encouragement in your leaders and you will get it back in torrents of good leadership (Prov.11: 25).
CHRISTIAN YOUTHS AND FUTURE LEADERSHIP
This generation of Christian youths is the future leaders of the Church. Without the active participation of the youths in most Congregational activities and decisions the Church of tomorrow will definitely lack leaders.
Leaders are both born and made (cf. Matt.19:12). Naturally, a leader-to-be must express his desire to be involved in leadership (cf. I Timothy 3:1). He then begins to see himself as such and then works towards acceptance (I Timothy 3:10). The Lord is seriously looking for committed persons to fill the
vacuum (cf. Ezekiel 22:30).
The Lord, however, cannot commit Himself, His business and His people into the hands of just any person (John 2:24) but persons who are considered faithful (II Timothy 2:2).
A future leader must be a person of sound morality (II Timothy 2:22a). Our Lord is looking for young persons of sound moral and spiritual integrity (II Timothy 2:19-21). Would you become that future leader?
The things expected from future leaders are:
(i). Being committed to the things of God (Luke 2:49; John 2:13-17).
(ii). Not allowing rooms for a let down (I Timothy 4:12).
(iii). Joseph, as a youthful leader demonstrated sound moral
integrity (Genesis 39:9), Daniel, Meshach, Shedrach and
Abednego demonstrated both moral and doctrinal integrity (Daniel
1:8) while Timothy demonstrated willingness (Acts 16:1-2).
SUMMATION
There are so many issues involved leadership. So far, we have considered the leadership models of Jesus and saw that He everything a leader should be. We equally made applications. It is my earnest hope that the time we have spent in the course of this discourse is well invested and that we would do well to employ them to better our lots and that of the leadership of our various congregations, families, communities and nation will be greatly improved.
Thank you and remain eternally blessed in Jesus’ name!
Script by:
Evangelist Hilary Johnson Chukwuma Chukwurah
(Minister) Township/Campus Church of Christ
14 Agbugwu Lane, off, University/Market Road.
P.O.Box 351, Nsukka. Enugu State, Nigeria.
E-MAILS: hilaryjohnsonc@yahoo.com
hilaryjohnsonc@gmail.com
PHONE: 234-08039596919
REFERENCES
Collins’ English Dictionary. USA: Collins’ Publishers.
Eagle 8 (2008). “Essence of Leadership.” Lagos: The Guardian
Newspapers Ltd., March 3, Page 10.
Halley, H. H. (1965). Halley’s’ Bible Handbook. Michigan, USA:
Zondervan Bible Publishers.
Vries, Manfred (2008). ). “Essence of Leadership.” Lagos: The Guardian
Newspapers Ltd., March 3, Page 10
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
LET THE MIND OF CHRIST BE IN YOU - PHILIPPIANS 2:1-5
EXORDIUM:
Some of Apostle Paul’s remarkable statements are found in New Testament’s book of Philippians. One of them is Philippians 3:10 where he stated what could well be regarded as Christian’s Mission Statement, to wit, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…”
In Philippians chapter 2, we come face-to-face with Apostolic Appeals and exhortations by one of the most practical Christians through the instrumentality of God’s Holy Spirit, to wit,
Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy; fulfill my joy y being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus….
What an awesome reminder of what we are called to be and to do: BE LIKE CHRIST and to POSSESS HIS MINDSET!
“…Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…” Here, Holy Spirit of God enjoins us to have the Attitude and the Mindset of Christ Jesus. Attitude determines Altitude in the spiritual enterprise we are all involved in and Mindset is the foundation of Character. When we sow the Mind of Christ into our beings we reap the Character of Jesus in our lifestyles.
Someone might ask, “Which attitude or mindset are we talking about here?” As we page through the Word of God, we will encounter some of these attitudes and mindsets of Jesus Christ. However, one of the most outstanding mindsets of Jesus Christ was His positive and conquering attitude; the attitude of possessing one’s possessions. Jesus had the mindset of conquering His world (cf. John 16: 33; Matt. 28:18; cf. Psalms 2:7-8; Phil. 2:9-11). We would also do well to conquer the worlds of our situations and circumstances; favourable and unfavourable. We are called to be victors and not victims of life.
Welcome to this exciting study on, “Let The Mind of Christ Be in You.”
OUTLINE OF STUDY
1. Jesus Had the Mindset of Service and Sacrifice (Matt.20:28).
a). We are called upon to be like Him (I John 3:16-17).
2. Jesus Had the Mindset of Victory Over the World (John 16:33).
a). Faith is our victory (I John 5:4).
b). We must have victory over every difficulty of life (Rom. 8:37).
c). It is only in winning that we can be crowned (Rev. 3:21).
3. Jesus had the mindset of obedience (Heb.10:4-7).
a). We are Christians only when we obey (John 14:15).
b). God values obedience more than sacrifice (I Sam. 15:22).
c). The Lord is the epitome of obedience, setting for us examples
(Heb. 5:8-9).
4. Jesus Had the Mindset of Being consumed by the Needs of God’s House (John 2:14-17).
a). Paul had this same attitude (II Corinthians 11:28).
b). Those who have this kind of mindset seek for the good of God’s
house (Psalms 122:9).
5. Jesus Had the Mindset to Become the Light (John 8:12; John1: 4; 12:35-36; John 9:5).
a). We must remain as lights (Matt. 5:14, 16; Phil.2:15).
b). As Jesus was, so we are to be (I John 4:17; cf. I John 2:6).
6. Jesus Had the Mindset of Doing the Work of God (John 4:34).
a). There is a kind of food that perishes and one that does not
(John 6:27).
b). The work ethics of Jesus is the best that the world has ever
known (John 9:4).
c). We, therefore, must work the works of Him who created us.
7. Jesus Had the Mindset of Putting Into Practice What He Taught (Acts 1:1; I Tim. 4:16).
a). We need to emulate our Lord Jesus by calling on others to follow
our examples even as we follow His (I Corinthians 11:1).
8. The Lord Jesus Was Full of Grace and Truth - That Was A Mindset (John 1:14, 16).
NOTE: Grace empowers (I Corinthians 15:10).
I. Two things characterized Jesus’ life - Grace and Truth.
1. Grace - what is it? (Rom. 4:4-5). It is receiving the good that one does not deserve (cf. Rom. 12:20).
a). Possessing grace should make a difference (Titus 2:11-12).
b). The grace of God makes it possible so that God does not deal
with us as our sins deserve (Psalms 103:12-13).
c). The grace of God made it possible that we should have access
into the presence of God (Heb. 4:15-16; Romans 5:1-2).
d). As recipients of grace we should be dispensers of same.
II. There are many faces of Truth (Proverbs 23:23).
i). Truth as God’s Word (John 17:17).
ii). Truth as a Way of Life (I Peter 2:21-22; Colossians 3:9).
iii). Truth as an Act of Worship (John 4:22).
9. Jesus Had the Mindset of Mental Empowerment (Luke 2:52).
1. a). Get wisdom (Proverbs 4:7, Prov.18:15, Prov.3:13-22).
b). There are two types of wisdom: wisdom of God and of the
world (2 Tim 3:15, James 3:13-17).
c). Wisdom comes trough study and prayer (II Tim. 2:5; 1 Tim.
4:13; James 1:5).
d). Intellectual development is an important aspect of life.
2. Favour with God and Man (Luke. 2: 52b).
Jesus had favour with God and Man.
a. He was not alone, Samuel did (1 Samuel 2:26).
b. This meant that both lived right before God and Men (cf. II Cor. 8:21; Rom 12:17).
c. The growth of the early Church was tied strongly to members enjoying Divine and Human favour (Acts 2:47).
d. Favour is a cultivated art. How then can one generate these favours?
i). By marrying kindness and truth (Proverbs 3:3-4).
* Kindness is an important trait in one’s life (Prov. 19:22).
* What you make happen for others in kindness, God will
make happen for you in return (Proverbs 11:24-25; Luke
6:38).
ii). Obedience to the Word of God (Wisdom Proverbs 8:34-35).
10. Jesus Had the Mindset of Dispensing Goodness (Acts 10:38).
a). As Christians, we are recreated in Christ to do good works
(Ephesians 2: 10).
i). The word, “Recreate” points to the fact that we are “New
creature” only in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17). Having put off the
“Old man” (Colossians 3:10).
ii). In Christ we find “Re-mission” (Acts 2:38 KJV).
*After creation, humans became marred (cf. Jeremiah 18:1-6; II
Samuel 14:14) but Christ came to give back to humans what
we lost through sin. To accomplish this, man has to be
Recreated in Him (Christ).
*The purpose of this re-creative work of Christ is that we
should be as He was (cf. Titus 2:14; I John 4:17).
(b) Jesus went about doing good (Acts 10:38).
i). In the same vein, we have to manifest the knowledge of
Christ to people wherever we go (II Corinthians 2:14-17).
(A kind of MTN…. Yhello! Wherever You Go!)
ii). Jesus did “great works” but we are called to do “greater
works” (John 14:12).
iii). What does “good work” accomplish?
i. They bring glory to God (Matt 5:16; Col.1:10).
ii. Enriches our lives and testimonies (I Tim. 6:18).
iii. Sets us out for emulation (Titus 2:7; 3:8).
iv. Muzzles the mouth of evil speakers (I Pet. 2:13).
11. Jesus Had the Mindset of Compassion (Matt. 9:35-36).
a). Compassion, by my own definition is, “Come, share my passion.” Compassion is the feeling of pity backed with the willingness to help. It is a spiritual economic law of Effective Demand, which is defined as “Willingness backed up with the ability to pay.” Spiritually, this law say that Opportunity plus Ability equals to Responsibility and Accountability (Galatians 6:9-10). Therefore, if I have an opportunity to do and the ability to do it, then it translates to responsibility on my part and I will stand to give account of it to God.
Compassion is feeling another’s person’s feeling. Compassion characterized of Jesus’ life (Matt.14:14; 15: 32; Mk. 8:2-3).
b). The compassion of our Lord spread to all and sundry (Matt.
20:34). His compassion caused Him to reach out to people in difficult situations (Luke 7:11-16; John 11:32-35).
c). Human beings of godly extraction irrespective of race, social, political, economic and spiritual leanings have demonstrated compassion to others.
i). Pharaoh’s daughter (Exodus 2:6).
ii). Israelite leaders (II Chronicles 28:15).
iii). Job (Job 29:13).
iv). Good Samaritan (Luke 10:33-34).
v). Unbelievers on others (Acts 28:2).
d). Christians are encouraged to become people of compassionate dispositions (Philippians 2:1-2;I Pet. 3:8).
12. Jesus Had the Mindset of Counting Time (John 7:6).
a) The problem of mankind is the lack of appreciation of the need to know their time (Ps 90:12).
b) Knowledge of how brief our times on earth are would determine how well we live in the present (I Cor.7: 29-31).
c) So, how much time do we still have left? (Eccl.9:12; Eccl.8:5-7).
d) Jesus knew the time that was left for Him and what He ought to do.
13. Mindset of Fulfilling All Righteousness (Matt. 3:15)
a) To “Fulfill” is to make complete (cf. I Thess. 3:10; cf. Matt.5:18).
b) If Jesus had not been baptized He would have been incomplete before God, but He had to be baptized in other to be complete before God. Rejecting baptism is rejecting God’s purpose for one’s life (cf. Luke 7:29-30). If you have not been baptized into Christ, avail yourself of this opportunity. Baptism for non Christians is not to “Fulfill all righteousness” but for the remission of one’s sins (Acts 2:37-39; Acts 22:16; I Peter 3:21).
c) It is the will of God that all of us be complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:4) WHY?
i. Because there are people whose works, lives and obedience are not complete before God. (Revelations 3:2).
ii. There are lacks in people, which they must complete or make-up (Mark10: 21).
iii. What is the one thing that you lack or the things that are lacking in you? God wants to perfect it (I Thessalonians 3:10).
d) Some people think that perfection is not possible, but it is God’s Will and expectations for and from all of us (I Thessalonians 5:23-24; Matthew 5:48).
e) God is at work in us to bring about the doing of His Good Will (Philippians 1: 6; 2:13).
f) What then are we to do? Purge ourselves “from all defilements of body and spirit to be able to perfect holiness in the fear of God” (II Corinthians 7:1)
14. Jesus Had the Mind-Set of Non-retaliation (Matt. 26: 51-52).
a) Retaliation is pleasurable because it appeals to the base and weak sides of man.
b) One of Victor Ulojiofor’s novel published in Macmillan’s Pacesetters Series was titled, “The Sweet Revenge.” Fact is, there is nothing sweet about revenge. It is beastial and foolish to retaliate. It was late Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi who stated, “If we return eye for an eye, the world would soon go blind.”
c) By the very nature of Jesus, we are taught to let go and let God (I Peter 2:21-23; Hebrews 12:3).
i). Our Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated that the best response to
wrong is goodness (Luke 22: 50–51).
ii). This principle of non-retaliation was graphically demonstrated by
Prophet Elisha through the King of Israel (II Kings 6:21-23).
iii). Sometimes, the people we respond to with love to their wrong
doings against us do not appreciate our large heartedness
(cf. John 18:10, 26) but this should not deter us (Rom. 12:21).
d). By our calling as followers of Jesus Christ, we are not called to
employ “Fire for fire” (I Peter 3:9). Praying “Holy Ghost Fire”
against “our enemies” is Unchristian (Luke 9:51-56).
i). When we do not engage in revenge we demonstrate our godly
characters while those who engage in attacks on our persons
show that they are evil (cf. I Sam. 24:1-19; vs.12-19).
e). The Lord forbids His people from rejoicing over their known
enemies misfortune (Prov. 24: 17–20).
15. Jesus Possessed the Mindset of Treading Softly In Other
Peoples’ Affairs (LK. 12:13–4).
a) The man is the text seemed to have made a good request from Jesus to come and settle a family misunderstanding. But a closer look at the text reveals that the man was trying to rope Jesus into what was not good. His words, “…Ask my brother to DIVIDE…“makes it clear that he was wrong and wanted to bring Jesus into wrong.
b) The Word of God is clear regarding how a dead man’s property should be shared among his children. (Deuteronomy 21:15–17).
c) It is evident that this man wanted to make Jesus break the law of God and endanger his relationship with others. But He was wise enough not to, but made the man to understand that He would not meddle into what did not concern Him (Luke 12:14).
d) Jesus possessed wisdom (Luke 2:52; Matthew 11:18). We are called to posses same to avoid unnecessary conflicts with others in life (Matthew 10:16).
e) There are people who get involved in what they cannot fully explain why they are involved (Acts 19:32-33, 40; cf. vs.23-41).
f) We are counseled to, “Mind our own businesses” (I Thess. 4:11).
g) This means not to get involved in matters do not bear directly on us (Proverbs 3:30).
h) Not to do this is to court trouble (Proverbs 26:17). Jesus knew this and avoided it. May we know it and avoid it, too.
CONCLUSION:
Do you have the mind of Christ? Do you strive to have the Mind of Christ? A review of the above discussion points and personal examinations of our hearts would determine if we do have the Mind of Christ or not.
May the Lord enable us to have the Mind of Christ and be like Him in all things.
SCRIPT BY:
Evangelist Hilary Johnson Chukwuma Chukwurah.
Township/Campus Church of Christ,
14, Agbugwu Lane Lane, Off,
University Market Road, P.O.Box 351, Nsukka-410002, Enugu State, Nigeria. West Africa.
E-MAIL: hilaryjohnsonc@yahoo.com
Hilaryjohnsonc@gmail.com
PHONE: 234-08039596919; 08182820677
Some of Apostle Paul’s remarkable statements are found in New Testament’s book of Philippians. One of them is Philippians 3:10 where he stated what could well be regarded as Christian’s Mission Statement, to wit, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…”
In Philippians chapter 2, we come face-to-face with Apostolic Appeals and exhortations by one of the most practical Christians through the instrumentality of God’s Holy Spirit, to wit,
Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy; fulfill my joy y being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus….
What an awesome reminder of what we are called to be and to do: BE LIKE CHRIST and to POSSESS HIS MINDSET!
“…Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…” Here, Holy Spirit of God enjoins us to have the Attitude and the Mindset of Christ Jesus. Attitude determines Altitude in the spiritual enterprise we are all involved in and Mindset is the foundation of Character. When we sow the Mind of Christ into our beings we reap the Character of Jesus in our lifestyles.
Someone might ask, “Which attitude or mindset are we talking about here?” As we page through the Word of God, we will encounter some of these attitudes and mindsets of Jesus Christ. However, one of the most outstanding mindsets of Jesus Christ was His positive and conquering attitude; the attitude of possessing one’s possessions. Jesus had the mindset of conquering His world (cf. John 16: 33; Matt. 28:18; cf. Psalms 2:7-8; Phil. 2:9-11). We would also do well to conquer the worlds of our situations and circumstances; favourable and unfavourable. We are called to be victors and not victims of life.
Welcome to this exciting study on, “Let The Mind of Christ Be in You.”
OUTLINE OF STUDY
1. Jesus Had the Mindset of Service and Sacrifice (Matt.20:28).
a). We are called upon to be like Him (I John 3:16-17).
2. Jesus Had the Mindset of Victory Over the World (John 16:33).
a). Faith is our victory (I John 5:4).
b). We must have victory over every difficulty of life (Rom. 8:37).
c). It is only in winning that we can be crowned (Rev. 3:21).
3. Jesus had the mindset of obedience (Heb.10:4-7).
a). We are Christians only when we obey (John 14:15).
b). God values obedience more than sacrifice (I Sam. 15:22).
c). The Lord is the epitome of obedience, setting for us examples
(Heb. 5:8-9).
4. Jesus Had the Mindset of Being consumed by the Needs of God’s House (John 2:14-17).
a). Paul had this same attitude (II Corinthians 11:28).
b). Those who have this kind of mindset seek for the good of God’s
house (Psalms 122:9).
5. Jesus Had the Mindset to Become the Light (John 8:12; John1: 4; 12:35-36; John 9:5).
a). We must remain as lights (Matt. 5:14, 16; Phil.2:15).
b). As Jesus was, so we are to be (I John 4:17; cf. I John 2:6).
6. Jesus Had the Mindset of Doing the Work of God (John 4:34).
a). There is a kind of food that perishes and one that does not
(John 6:27).
b). The work ethics of Jesus is the best that the world has ever
known (John 9:4).
c). We, therefore, must work the works of Him who created us.
7. Jesus Had the Mindset of Putting Into Practice What He Taught (Acts 1:1; I Tim. 4:16).
a). We need to emulate our Lord Jesus by calling on others to follow
our examples even as we follow His (I Corinthians 11:1).
8. The Lord Jesus Was Full of Grace and Truth - That Was A Mindset (John 1:14, 16).
NOTE: Grace empowers (I Corinthians 15:10).
I. Two things characterized Jesus’ life - Grace and Truth.
1. Grace - what is it? (Rom. 4:4-5). It is receiving the good that one does not deserve (cf. Rom. 12:20).
a). Possessing grace should make a difference (Titus 2:11-12).
b). The grace of God makes it possible so that God does not deal
with us as our sins deserve (Psalms 103:12-13).
c). The grace of God made it possible that we should have access
into the presence of God (Heb. 4:15-16; Romans 5:1-2).
d). As recipients of grace we should be dispensers of same.
II. There are many faces of Truth (Proverbs 23:23).
i). Truth as God’s Word (John 17:17).
ii). Truth as a Way of Life (I Peter 2:21-22; Colossians 3:9).
iii). Truth as an Act of Worship (John 4:22).
9. Jesus Had the Mindset of Mental Empowerment (Luke 2:52).
1. a). Get wisdom (Proverbs 4:7, Prov.18:15, Prov.3:13-22).
b). There are two types of wisdom: wisdom of God and of the
world (2 Tim 3:15, James 3:13-17).
c). Wisdom comes trough study and prayer (II Tim. 2:5; 1 Tim.
4:13; James 1:5).
d). Intellectual development is an important aspect of life.
2. Favour with God and Man (Luke. 2: 52b).
Jesus had favour with God and Man.
a. He was not alone, Samuel did (1 Samuel 2:26).
b. This meant that both lived right before God and Men (cf. II Cor. 8:21; Rom 12:17).
c. The growth of the early Church was tied strongly to members enjoying Divine and Human favour (Acts 2:47).
d. Favour is a cultivated art. How then can one generate these favours?
i). By marrying kindness and truth (Proverbs 3:3-4).
* Kindness is an important trait in one’s life (Prov. 19:22).
* What you make happen for others in kindness, God will
make happen for you in return (Proverbs 11:24-25; Luke
6:38).
ii). Obedience to the Word of God (Wisdom Proverbs 8:34-35).
10. Jesus Had the Mindset of Dispensing Goodness (Acts 10:38).
a). As Christians, we are recreated in Christ to do good works
(Ephesians 2: 10).
i). The word, “Recreate” points to the fact that we are “New
creature” only in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17). Having put off the
“Old man” (Colossians 3:10).
ii). In Christ we find “Re-mission” (Acts 2:38 KJV).
*After creation, humans became marred (cf. Jeremiah 18:1-6; II
Samuel 14:14) but Christ came to give back to humans what
we lost through sin. To accomplish this, man has to be
Recreated in Him (Christ).
*The purpose of this re-creative work of Christ is that we
should be as He was (cf. Titus 2:14; I John 4:17).
(b) Jesus went about doing good (Acts 10:38).
i). In the same vein, we have to manifest the knowledge of
Christ to people wherever we go (II Corinthians 2:14-17).
(A kind of MTN…. Yhello! Wherever You Go!)
ii). Jesus did “great works” but we are called to do “greater
works” (John 14:12).
iii). What does “good work” accomplish?
i. They bring glory to God (Matt 5:16; Col.1:10).
ii. Enriches our lives and testimonies (I Tim. 6:18).
iii. Sets us out for emulation (Titus 2:7; 3:8).
iv. Muzzles the mouth of evil speakers (I Pet. 2:13).
11. Jesus Had the Mindset of Compassion (Matt. 9:35-36).
a). Compassion, by my own definition is, “Come, share my passion.” Compassion is the feeling of pity backed with the willingness to help. It is a spiritual economic law of Effective Demand, which is defined as “Willingness backed up with the ability to pay.” Spiritually, this law say that Opportunity plus Ability equals to Responsibility and Accountability (Galatians 6:9-10). Therefore, if I have an opportunity to do and the ability to do it, then it translates to responsibility on my part and I will stand to give account of it to God.
Compassion is feeling another’s person’s feeling. Compassion characterized of Jesus’ life (Matt.14:14; 15: 32; Mk. 8:2-3).
b). The compassion of our Lord spread to all and sundry (Matt.
20:34). His compassion caused Him to reach out to people in difficult situations (Luke 7:11-16; John 11:32-35).
c). Human beings of godly extraction irrespective of race, social, political, economic and spiritual leanings have demonstrated compassion to others.
i). Pharaoh’s daughter (Exodus 2:6).
ii). Israelite leaders (II Chronicles 28:15).
iii). Job (Job 29:13).
iv). Good Samaritan (Luke 10:33-34).
v). Unbelievers on others (Acts 28:2).
d). Christians are encouraged to become people of compassionate dispositions (Philippians 2:1-2;I Pet. 3:8).
12. Jesus Had the Mindset of Counting Time (John 7:6).
a) The problem of mankind is the lack of appreciation of the need to know their time (Ps 90:12).
b) Knowledge of how brief our times on earth are would determine how well we live in the present (I Cor.7: 29-31).
c) So, how much time do we still have left? (Eccl.9:12; Eccl.8:5-7).
d) Jesus knew the time that was left for Him and what He ought to do.
13. Mindset of Fulfilling All Righteousness (Matt. 3:15)
a) To “Fulfill” is to make complete (cf. I Thess. 3:10; cf. Matt.5:18).
b) If Jesus had not been baptized He would have been incomplete before God, but He had to be baptized in other to be complete before God. Rejecting baptism is rejecting God’s purpose for one’s life (cf. Luke 7:29-30). If you have not been baptized into Christ, avail yourself of this opportunity. Baptism for non Christians is not to “Fulfill all righteousness” but for the remission of one’s sins (Acts 2:37-39; Acts 22:16; I Peter 3:21).
c) It is the will of God that all of us be complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:4) WHY?
i. Because there are people whose works, lives and obedience are not complete before God. (Revelations 3:2).
ii. There are lacks in people, which they must complete or make-up (Mark10: 21).
iii. What is the one thing that you lack or the things that are lacking in you? God wants to perfect it (I Thessalonians 3:10).
d) Some people think that perfection is not possible, but it is God’s Will and expectations for and from all of us (I Thessalonians 5:23-24; Matthew 5:48).
e) God is at work in us to bring about the doing of His Good Will (Philippians 1: 6; 2:13).
f) What then are we to do? Purge ourselves “from all defilements of body and spirit to be able to perfect holiness in the fear of God” (II Corinthians 7:1)
14. Jesus Had the Mind-Set of Non-retaliation (Matt. 26: 51-52).
a) Retaliation is pleasurable because it appeals to the base and weak sides of man.
b) One of Victor Ulojiofor’s novel published in Macmillan’s Pacesetters Series was titled, “The Sweet Revenge.” Fact is, there is nothing sweet about revenge. It is beastial and foolish to retaliate. It was late Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi who stated, “If we return eye for an eye, the world would soon go blind.”
c) By the very nature of Jesus, we are taught to let go and let God (I Peter 2:21-23; Hebrews 12:3).
i). Our Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated that the best response to
wrong is goodness (Luke 22: 50–51).
ii). This principle of non-retaliation was graphically demonstrated by
Prophet Elisha through the King of Israel (II Kings 6:21-23).
iii). Sometimes, the people we respond to with love to their wrong
doings against us do not appreciate our large heartedness
(cf. John 18:10, 26) but this should not deter us (Rom. 12:21).
d). By our calling as followers of Jesus Christ, we are not called to
employ “Fire for fire” (I Peter 3:9). Praying “Holy Ghost Fire”
against “our enemies” is Unchristian (Luke 9:51-56).
i). When we do not engage in revenge we demonstrate our godly
characters while those who engage in attacks on our persons
show that they are evil (cf. I Sam. 24:1-19; vs.12-19).
e). The Lord forbids His people from rejoicing over their known
enemies misfortune (Prov. 24: 17–20).
15. Jesus Possessed the Mindset of Treading Softly In Other
Peoples’ Affairs (LK. 12:13–4).
a) The man is the text seemed to have made a good request from Jesus to come and settle a family misunderstanding. But a closer look at the text reveals that the man was trying to rope Jesus into what was not good. His words, “…Ask my brother to DIVIDE…“makes it clear that he was wrong and wanted to bring Jesus into wrong.
b) The Word of God is clear regarding how a dead man’s property should be shared among his children. (Deuteronomy 21:15–17).
c) It is evident that this man wanted to make Jesus break the law of God and endanger his relationship with others. But He was wise enough not to, but made the man to understand that He would not meddle into what did not concern Him (Luke 12:14).
d) Jesus possessed wisdom (Luke 2:52; Matthew 11:18). We are called to posses same to avoid unnecessary conflicts with others in life (Matthew 10:16).
e) There are people who get involved in what they cannot fully explain why they are involved (Acts 19:32-33, 40; cf. vs.23-41).
f) We are counseled to, “Mind our own businesses” (I Thess. 4:11).
g) This means not to get involved in matters do not bear directly on us (Proverbs 3:30).
h) Not to do this is to court trouble (Proverbs 26:17). Jesus knew this and avoided it. May we know it and avoid it, too.
CONCLUSION:
Do you have the mind of Christ? Do you strive to have the Mind of Christ? A review of the above discussion points and personal examinations of our hearts would determine if we do have the Mind of Christ or not.
May the Lord enable us to have the Mind of Christ and be like Him in all things.
SCRIPT BY:
Evangelist Hilary Johnson Chukwuma Chukwurah.
Township/Campus Church of Christ,
14, Agbugwu Lane Lane, Off,
University Market Road, P.O.Box 351, Nsukka-410002, Enugu State, Nigeria. West Africa.
E-MAIL: hilaryjohnsonc@yahoo.com
Hilaryjohnsonc@gmail.com
PHONE: 234-08039596919; 08182820677
PILLARS AND CATERPILLARS IN THE CHURCH
I am going to approach the topic assigned me in the form of a rhetorical question. It is a question all of us would do well to prayerfully and introspectively ask ourselves after thorough inward searches.
The question is - “Are you a Pillar or a Caterpillar?” You know, a word is enough for the wise. Sometimes, titles of subject matters are in themselves enough messages for contemplative persons. There are topics we are not expected to discuss. They are meant to be foods for thought. The import are located and maximized when we sit down, in the inner recesses of our private meditations, regurgitate them and practically chew chord as most herbivorous animals would do. To me, this is largely what this topic entails.
However, since I have asked to discuss it, I can only try my best. Nevertheless, each of us has an answer to it because it is a personal matter. I can only ask God for grace in seeing to it that I only serve as an instrument to make us think about this matter as we ought to.
Once again, welcome to this discussion time!
As I passed through a Record (Music) Shop one day, I overheard a “Christian” musician popularly known as Sister Rosemary Chukwu singing and in the course of her song asked, “Are you a Pillar or a Caterpillar?” This question has remained a powerful food for thought to me. I have thought about this question, tried to analyze it and in the course of doing all these asked this question over and over. I have asked: “What is a pillar and a caterpillar?” I have equally tried to give this question a human face because she was asking if I am a pillar or caterpillar. I realized also that in between these two is another word that is somewhat similar – Counter-pillar?
In view of these, we all need to individually ask ourselves: “Am I a Pillar, Counter-pillar or Caterpillar?” In other words, we all need to ask ourselves if we are Builders, Neutralizers or Destroyers. These basically are what the words imply.
OUTLINE OF DISCUSSION
PILLARS IN THE CHURCH
A pillar is defined as bulwark, “A strong supporter of something.” In other words, a Pillar is a “Strong support.” Incidentally, while the Bible regards the Church as the Body of Christ it also refers to the Church as a “…Pillar and ground of the Truth” (I Timothy 3:15). Stated in another way, without the Lord’s Church on earth today, Truth would have long ceased to be heard anywhere on planet Earth. As a Divine Institution, the Church is the Pillar of Truth - the only ally that Truth has. While other churches are counter-pillars and caterpillars of the Truth, the CHURCH OF CHRIST remains the only place where the simplicity of Truth as taught by Jesus Christ, practiced and preached by Apostles and early New Testament Christians is still held sacrosanct.
Someone might argue that there are vestiges of truth in other churches. That I agree. However, I am reminded of what T. Clement Jr. (1999:16) said, “Those who set a truth apart, have truth in part and from the truth depart.” The CHURCH OF CHRIST is a Pillar of Truth.
Interestingly, too, Apostle Paul while writing to Galatians in Galatians 2:9 referred to James, Peter and John as “Pillars.” If these men can be seen as pillars, it, therefore, means that human beings and Christians can be pillars of their families, communities, societies in which they live and in the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is to say that the Church of Christ where we belong cannot function effectively as Pillar and ground of the Truth if there are no human pillars such as were Apostles James, Peter and John.
Pillars are supporters. Am I then a supporter or destroyer of the work of God where I am?
“Pillars of the Church” refers to those strong supporters of the Church. They are great supporters of Truth and of good works. We find such people in Phoebe who was a great pillar of the Church that was at Cenchrea. Apostle Paul commended her greatly (Romans 16:1-2). Dorcas was a Pillar in the early Church. Through her good works, she demonstrated her commitment to Kingdom business as she was reaching out to others within and outside the Church in her locality, so much so that when she died, early Disciples of Jesus could not accept her death but implore the Lord through His servant to raise her up (Acts 9:36-43).
Joseph, whom early Christians renamed, “Barnabas” meaning, “Son of Encouragement” was such a great supporter (Pillar) that he was moved by what moved the Church. His contribution to the cause of the kingdom business was what led to him being named, “Son of Encouragement” (Acts 4:36-37). Mary Magdalene, Joanna (wife of Chuza) and Susanna were women who were pillars of Jesus’ Ministry because they provided support for Him through their personal means (Luke 8:1-3).
These were great Pillars in the work of the Lord and among early Christians without whose support, encouragement, positive efforts and sacrifices the battle of the Lord and the work of the Lord would have suffered. Moses, Aaron and Hur proved to be great Pillars when Israel fought a decisive battle with Amalek. In fact, without the efforts of these men the battle would have been lost (Exodus 17:8-13).
Some of the Sterling qualities of Pillars are that they are people who love the Lord and are committed to the growth and development of the Church. They are selfless and are not self-opinionated, and do not politicize the affairs of the Church.
As there were Pillars in the early Church so there are Pillars in modern day Congregations of the Lord’s Church. Can we be counted among Pillars of the Lord’s Church today?
COUNTER-PILLARS IN THE CHURCH
I wouldn’t know if there is any word in English Language called, Counter-Pillar but I do know that a “Counter” is anything that is false and opposite that which is true such as we have in counterfeit money or products.
Counter-pillars in the Church are the greatest sources of discouragement and setbacks. They rise up against the Truth, are always in opposition to right things and causing the work of God to retrogress. Counter-pillars are those who turn the good things of God and the work of the Church upside down. These are the people that Apostle Peter (II Peter 2:2) and Apostle Jude (Jude verse 4) had talked about. These are people who bring shame to the Gospel (II Cor. 6:3) and are usually ashamed of the Gospel (cf. Rom. 1:16). They discourage people from knowing Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour consequent upon the way they live, comport themselves and approach the work of the Lord including issues bothering it. Seeing them, unbelievers and those outside the Church would say, “If this is what it means to be a Christian and member of Church of Christ, please count me out.”
Helmut Thielicke quoted by Philip Yancey in his book, What So Amazing About Grace? (1997:34) made observations about such people:
The devil succeeds in laying his cuckoo eggs in a pious nest …. The sulphurous stench of hell is as nothing compared with the evil odour emitted by Divine grace gone putrid (sour).
Counter-pillars are not the vocal types and are not overly aggressive. However, their activities run contrary to the efforts made by Pillars. Their efforts are geared towards neutralizing the good efforts of others. Jesus said of such people, “Whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Matthew 12:30). These are the people who specialize in turning Saints into Sinners (cf. Matthew 23:15). When souls are converted they would work hard at reconverting those who have been converted.
Are you reconverting the converted? Are you a counter-pillar?
We find these people parasiting on the morality, spirituality and commitments of others.
CATERPILLARS IN THE CHURCH
A caterpillar is a destroyer in all respects, whether one is referring to an insect or machinery – they perform the same work of destruction. Caterpillars were the subject of divine discourse in Joel chapters 1:4 and 2:25.
Those who follow such people end up suffering the shipwreck of their faith and souls (I Timothy 1:19-20). Spiritual caterpillars are those who topsy-turvy (turn-upside-down) the faith of others (II Timothy 2:16-18). These are modern Pharisees and Saducees who are devourers - not only do they devour people’s resources (Luke 20:47) but also devour their spiritualities and moralities (II Timothy 3:5-6).
Strictly speaking, Diotrephess was a Caterpillar in the early Church. He possessed the attitude of, “If I do not rule, I will ruin”; “If I am not at the helm of affairs, I will be at the heels”; “If my opinion is not accepted, none else will hold any water” (III John Vs.9-11). These are destructive attitudes which point to Caterpillars in the Church. We must avoid Diotrophesic mentality and self-will (III John Vs.9-11; Titus 1:7b). We must avoid the temptation to politicize the affairs of the Church - taking members to ourselves and pitching tents against others (cf. Acts 20:28-30). If this happens, it is a sign that we are caterpillars where we are.
If a person can build his or her own marriage, standing as a pillar therein and another can destroy his or her own marriage, standing as a caterpillar therein (Proverbs 14:1), then it behooves us to understand that some people are Pillars, others are Counter-pillars while the rest are Caterpillars. The difference is in where we are and our attitudes at any given point in time.
CONCLUSION
Are you a Pillar, Counter-pillar or Caterpillar? Jesus desires to make out of each of us a Pillar in the House of His Father (Revelations 3:12). If the character traits of “Counter-pillars” and “Caterpillars” best describe your life, why not retrace your steps by removing the prefixes, “Counter” and “Cater” so that “Pillar,” which is what God wants us to be would remain?
God bless us as we do this in Jesus’ name. Amen!
SCRIPT BY:
Evangelist Hilary Johnson Chukwuma Chukwurah
(Minister) Township/Campus Church of Christ
14 Agbugwu Lane, off, University/Market Road.
P.O.Box 351, Nsukka. Enugu State, Nigeria.
E-MAILS: hilaryjohnsonc@yahoo.com
hilaryjohnsonc@gmail.com
PHONE: 234-08039596919
The question is - “Are you a Pillar or a Caterpillar?” You know, a word is enough for the wise. Sometimes, titles of subject matters are in themselves enough messages for contemplative persons. There are topics we are not expected to discuss. They are meant to be foods for thought. The import are located and maximized when we sit down, in the inner recesses of our private meditations, regurgitate them and practically chew chord as most herbivorous animals would do. To me, this is largely what this topic entails.
However, since I have asked to discuss it, I can only try my best. Nevertheless, each of us has an answer to it because it is a personal matter. I can only ask God for grace in seeing to it that I only serve as an instrument to make us think about this matter as we ought to.
Once again, welcome to this discussion time!
As I passed through a Record (Music) Shop one day, I overheard a “Christian” musician popularly known as Sister Rosemary Chukwu singing and in the course of her song asked, “Are you a Pillar or a Caterpillar?” This question has remained a powerful food for thought to me. I have thought about this question, tried to analyze it and in the course of doing all these asked this question over and over. I have asked: “What is a pillar and a caterpillar?” I have equally tried to give this question a human face because she was asking if I am a pillar or caterpillar. I realized also that in between these two is another word that is somewhat similar – Counter-pillar?
In view of these, we all need to individually ask ourselves: “Am I a Pillar, Counter-pillar or Caterpillar?” In other words, we all need to ask ourselves if we are Builders, Neutralizers or Destroyers. These basically are what the words imply.
OUTLINE OF DISCUSSION
PILLARS IN THE CHURCH
A pillar is defined as bulwark, “A strong supporter of something.” In other words, a Pillar is a “Strong support.” Incidentally, while the Bible regards the Church as the Body of Christ it also refers to the Church as a “…Pillar and ground of the Truth” (I Timothy 3:15). Stated in another way, without the Lord’s Church on earth today, Truth would have long ceased to be heard anywhere on planet Earth. As a Divine Institution, the Church is the Pillar of Truth - the only ally that Truth has. While other churches are counter-pillars and caterpillars of the Truth, the CHURCH OF CHRIST remains the only place where the simplicity of Truth as taught by Jesus Christ, practiced and preached by Apostles and early New Testament Christians is still held sacrosanct.
Someone might argue that there are vestiges of truth in other churches. That I agree. However, I am reminded of what T. Clement Jr. (1999:16) said, “Those who set a truth apart, have truth in part and from the truth depart.” The CHURCH OF CHRIST is a Pillar of Truth.
Interestingly, too, Apostle Paul while writing to Galatians in Galatians 2:9 referred to James, Peter and John as “Pillars.” If these men can be seen as pillars, it, therefore, means that human beings and Christians can be pillars of their families, communities, societies in which they live and in the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is to say that the Church of Christ where we belong cannot function effectively as Pillar and ground of the Truth if there are no human pillars such as were Apostles James, Peter and John.
Pillars are supporters. Am I then a supporter or destroyer of the work of God where I am?
“Pillars of the Church” refers to those strong supporters of the Church. They are great supporters of Truth and of good works. We find such people in Phoebe who was a great pillar of the Church that was at Cenchrea. Apostle Paul commended her greatly (Romans 16:1-2). Dorcas was a Pillar in the early Church. Through her good works, she demonstrated her commitment to Kingdom business as she was reaching out to others within and outside the Church in her locality, so much so that when she died, early Disciples of Jesus could not accept her death but implore the Lord through His servant to raise her up (Acts 9:36-43).
Joseph, whom early Christians renamed, “Barnabas” meaning, “Son of Encouragement” was such a great supporter (Pillar) that he was moved by what moved the Church. His contribution to the cause of the kingdom business was what led to him being named, “Son of Encouragement” (Acts 4:36-37). Mary Magdalene, Joanna (wife of Chuza) and Susanna were women who were pillars of Jesus’ Ministry because they provided support for Him through their personal means (Luke 8:1-3).
These were great Pillars in the work of the Lord and among early Christians without whose support, encouragement, positive efforts and sacrifices the battle of the Lord and the work of the Lord would have suffered. Moses, Aaron and Hur proved to be great Pillars when Israel fought a decisive battle with Amalek. In fact, without the efforts of these men the battle would have been lost (Exodus 17:8-13).
Some of the Sterling qualities of Pillars are that they are people who love the Lord and are committed to the growth and development of the Church. They are selfless and are not self-opinionated, and do not politicize the affairs of the Church.
As there were Pillars in the early Church so there are Pillars in modern day Congregations of the Lord’s Church. Can we be counted among Pillars of the Lord’s Church today?
COUNTER-PILLARS IN THE CHURCH
I wouldn’t know if there is any word in English Language called, Counter-Pillar but I do know that a “Counter” is anything that is false and opposite that which is true such as we have in counterfeit money or products.
Counter-pillars in the Church are the greatest sources of discouragement and setbacks. They rise up against the Truth, are always in opposition to right things and causing the work of God to retrogress. Counter-pillars are those who turn the good things of God and the work of the Church upside down. These are the people that Apostle Peter (II Peter 2:2) and Apostle Jude (Jude verse 4) had talked about. These are people who bring shame to the Gospel (II Cor. 6:3) and are usually ashamed of the Gospel (cf. Rom. 1:16). They discourage people from knowing Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour consequent upon the way they live, comport themselves and approach the work of the Lord including issues bothering it. Seeing them, unbelievers and those outside the Church would say, “If this is what it means to be a Christian and member of Church of Christ, please count me out.”
Helmut Thielicke quoted by Philip Yancey in his book, What So Amazing About Grace? (1997:34) made observations about such people:
The devil succeeds in laying his cuckoo eggs in a pious nest …. The sulphurous stench of hell is as nothing compared with the evil odour emitted by Divine grace gone putrid (sour).
Counter-pillars are not the vocal types and are not overly aggressive. However, their activities run contrary to the efforts made by Pillars. Their efforts are geared towards neutralizing the good efforts of others. Jesus said of such people, “Whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Matthew 12:30). These are the people who specialize in turning Saints into Sinners (cf. Matthew 23:15). When souls are converted they would work hard at reconverting those who have been converted.
Are you reconverting the converted? Are you a counter-pillar?
We find these people parasiting on the morality, spirituality and commitments of others.
CATERPILLARS IN THE CHURCH
A caterpillar is a destroyer in all respects, whether one is referring to an insect or machinery – they perform the same work of destruction. Caterpillars were the subject of divine discourse in Joel chapters 1:4 and 2:25.
Those who follow such people end up suffering the shipwreck of their faith and souls (I Timothy 1:19-20). Spiritual caterpillars are those who topsy-turvy (turn-upside-down) the faith of others (II Timothy 2:16-18). These are modern Pharisees and Saducees who are devourers - not only do they devour people’s resources (Luke 20:47) but also devour their spiritualities and moralities (II Timothy 3:5-6).
Strictly speaking, Diotrephess was a Caterpillar in the early Church. He possessed the attitude of, “If I do not rule, I will ruin”; “If I am not at the helm of affairs, I will be at the heels”; “If my opinion is not accepted, none else will hold any water” (III John Vs.9-11). These are destructive attitudes which point to Caterpillars in the Church. We must avoid Diotrophesic mentality and self-will (III John Vs.9-11; Titus 1:7b). We must avoid the temptation to politicize the affairs of the Church - taking members to ourselves and pitching tents against others (cf. Acts 20:28-30). If this happens, it is a sign that we are caterpillars where we are.
If a person can build his or her own marriage, standing as a pillar therein and another can destroy his or her own marriage, standing as a caterpillar therein (Proverbs 14:1), then it behooves us to understand that some people are Pillars, others are Counter-pillars while the rest are Caterpillars. The difference is in where we are and our attitudes at any given point in time.
CONCLUSION
Are you a Pillar, Counter-pillar or Caterpillar? Jesus desires to make out of each of us a Pillar in the House of His Father (Revelations 3:12). If the character traits of “Counter-pillars” and “Caterpillars” best describe your life, why not retrace your steps by removing the prefixes, “Counter” and “Cater” so that “Pillar,” which is what God wants us to be would remain?
God bless us as we do this in Jesus’ name. Amen!
SCRIPT BY:
Evangelist Hilary Johnson Chukwuma Chukwurah
(Minister) Township/Campus Church of Christ
14 Agbugwu Lane, off, University/Market Road.
P.O.Box 351, Nsukka. Enugu State, Nigeria.
E-MAILS: hilaryjohnsonc@yahoo.com
hilaryjohnsonc@gmail.com
PHONE: 234-08039596919
POVERTY - A CHOICE OR A CHANCE?
To say that I am happy to be here today to share with you on the thorny issues of poverty is to say the least: I am greatly honoured. God’s Word in II Peter 1:3 states that we are empowered with knowledge of things that pertain to this life and also things that pertain to godliness. In other words, so long as we exist in this existence, the knowledge of God’s Word helps us to consider issues that bother around our earthly existence, aware that the well-being of our societies equally translates to our well-being on planet earth. Therefore, to refuse to be bothered with affairs of this life is a lame attempt at living in fantasy as an escape from reality.
We must remain earthly useful as well as Heavenly useful. The function of our material well-being is a factor our spiritualities (III John v. 2). To be earthly useful and Heavenly useless is not good and to be Heavenly useful and earthly useless is equally not proper.
Consequently, issues of poverty should concern us because not only is ignorance deadly (Proverbs 29:18), feeling unconcerned over the well-being of others is characteristically unchristian, ungodly and inhuman. This explains why I am happy that youths of this Congregation have deemed it most appropriate to raise the bar as you have decided to confront the issues of your present as well as your future by deciding to invite us to share on the subject matter of POVERTY: A CHOICE OR A CHANCE? It is said that those who do not know their history are condemned to repeat them.
Thank you again for the topic assigned to me!
Poverty: A Choice or a Chance? What a question! A voice-over, advertising the release of a Nigerian Box-Office home movie, Tea and Coffee while describing the pains, embarrassments, deprivations and humiliations associated with a life of indigence tearfully remarked, “God punish poverty.”
Honestly, if poverty is a spirit, it is a cursed one. No one in his/her right frame of mind would desire to be poor because poverty is not good as far as earthly existence is concerned. Poverty is a pain in the neck of those who were either born into it, are living in it or have experienced it at one time or the other in their lives. Poverty is not something you would wish your enemy, except for the fact that if he is economically empowered, could use same to foment trouble for you.
The sight of a poor person is usually not a pleasing thing. A materially poor person goes through a lot of deprivations. He does not eat well and often goes to sleep many an uncountable days, not knowing the pleasure of a good night’s sleep because he wakes up intermittently at night by the gnawing pains of an empty stomach. He wakes up many mornings not knowing exactly where his/her next meal could come from and when. Poverty is better imagined than experienced.
Rather than live in a well furnished apartment, a poor person makes do with a ramshackled accommodation. He lacks access to quality healthcare and a good education. What some take for granted are luxuries a poor person cannot afford.
Poor people are always relegated to the background and are denied say, even in matters which principally concerns them. They are always at the receiving end of others. Poverty is wicked because it dehumanizes those in its grip. Most poor people die earlier than they should have died.
CONCEPTUALIZING POVERTY
Succinctly stated, poverty is the state of being poor. Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines poverty as a “State of being poor; conditions of abject or extreme poverty. Lack of something or of poor quality.”
Poverty refers to lack of physical necessities, assets and income (Chambers, 1998:28). It is a subset of the general conditions of deprivation whose dimensions include poverty, social inferiority, isolation, physical weakness and vulnerability; seasonality, humiliation and powerlessness.
Among Economists, poverty has often been defined as a situation of low income or low consumption. This implies that the poor are almost living in a squatter and do not have access to basic needs of life such as food, clothing and decent shelter. Thus, those who are poor are often hungry: having not much to eat. They dress shabbily and live in poorly constructed, poorly furnished and unfinished buildings.
Poverty also means lacking the minimum income necessary for survival and physical efficiency. People are regarded as poor when their measured standards of living in terms of caloric intake, square meters of shelter per person, so much clothing per person and so on are low.
CLASSIFICATIONS OF POVERTY
Poverty is classified into three major categories, namely, Abject, Relative and Material Poverty (Ihenetu, 1998:66). Under Abject Poverty are those who are unable to provide for physical subsistence, especially basic things like food, clothing and shelter. According to Ihenetu the lives of those in Abject Poverty are characterized by real and inadequate care for children; illiteracy, poor sanitation, disease and a zero propensity to save money. The number of people in this category of poverty constitutes the highest amongst other poverty-stricken people in societies across the globe today.
The second category of poverty is Relative Poverty. Those in this category are people who can afford three square meals a day but are unable to fully satisfy their needs as others in their social statuses. In his own view, Killick (1981) asserts that Relative Poverty is about people’s inabilities to furnish themselves with a seriously acceptable minimum standard of living. However, he sees some problems in poverty as relative deprivation. In his view, poverty will always be with us, because there will always be some who are relatively deprived no matter how affluent they seem by absolute standard. It also implies that poverty will be found in practically all countries no matter how rich.
The third category of poverty is Material Poverty. Those under this category are people who are able to feed well but would not acquire properties as their peers (Ihenetu, 1998:67). He concluded that among all groups, Abject Poverty is more critical to find immediate solutions to.
It should be stated that poverty can be alleviated but not eradicated.
Poverty can also be categorized into “abstract” and “concrete.’ There is poverty of the mind (lack of ideas and solutions to given problems and situations); poverty of attitude (one who is devoid of virtues of life and imbued with vices); spiritual poverty (Lacking in strong spiritual relationship with God and with His Son Jesus Christ).
One could be rich materially but poor towards God (Luke 12:20).
Poverty could be a state of the mind. Examples abound of materially wealthy people who think that they are poor. On the other hand, someone might be materially poor but feel wealthy inside of him/her.
It is equally important to state that poverty and wealth are multifaceted, meaning, that one could be poor in the area of possessing money but rich in having children, land, and et cetera. Some people might have money but are poor when it comes to having children of their own.
ORIGIN OF POVERTY
Originally, there were no poor or rich people. Everyone had what they needed. They did not know what poverty was until mankind sinned and were driven out of the Garden of Eden. Poverty came as a result of sin. God had placed a curse on man to the point that his food would be guaranteed by his physical efforts coupled with the fact that he was also driven away from the Garden God had ordained for him and for his family (Genesis 3). Interestingly, however, poverty as a curse can be broken by reason of hard work and Divine mercy (Genesis 27:38-40).
POVERTY: A GLOBAL PROBLEM
Poverty remains the rallying force of popular consensus. It was confirmed by Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), a UN agency on Tuesday, September 14, 2010 that nine hundred and twenty million people in the world were at the risk of dying of hunger and that every six seconds a child dies of hunger. This was cheering news considering that by 2009 over one billion two hundred million people were living in the same condition of poverty.
Poverty as a social problem is a deeply embedded wound that permeates every dimension of culture and society. It includes sustained low levels of income for members of a community. It also includes a lack of accesses to services like education, markets, healthcare and lack of decision-making abilities.
World Bank (1995:15) reports that it is often not difficult to recognize the poor in any given society. They have meager income. They are often illiterates and in a poor health; they have a short life span, and have no potentials for affluence, although this can be achieved through providence This implies that those who are poor are merely living on subsistence as they do not earn much with which to improve their living standards and that they have little or no opportunities of being adequately educated. Furthermore, because they are not socially disposed to health facilities they often die at relative young age.
Poverty is highly visible in various local communities across the world. The abject poor cannot afford to live in the reserved areas of our cities because of their financial deprivations and so find abode in shrines and ghettos where living conditions are terrible.
Perhaps the most valid generalization about the poor is that they are proportionately located in the rural areas and that they are primarily engaged in agriculture and associated activities. About two-third of the very poor in our communities scratch out their livelihood through subsistence agriculture, either as small farmers or as paid farm workers. The remaining of one third are located in rural villages (engaged in petty services) and on the flings and marginal areas of urban cities where they engage in various forms of self-employment such as street hawkers, trading, petty services and small scale commerce, sometimes prostitution. It has been estimated that an average of about 15 to 80 per cent of all target poverty have low level of living, low level of productivity, large family size and high rate of dependency; low skills and employment; dependence on agriculture for a living and vulnerability (Koji, 1993: 30).
In spite of Nigeria’s enormous resources: land, oil and gas; forestry, et cetera, the incidence of poverty is high (Obadan, 1996:19). Poverty is serious and extension to differing degrees in all parts of the country and within all the states. At present, only very few people are living in affluence. This group constitutes about 20% of the population. This means that about 80% are unable to satisfy their basic needs.
The income gap between the very rich and the poor widen daily. The dilemmas confronting the poorest people become difficult to achieve between the struggle for existence today and privation tomorrow. Such a choice adversely affects their quality of life, health, sense of worth and productivity. Simply stated, poverty is a cankerworm.
Today, millions of Nigerians live in absolute poverty. This is the number of people who are struggling to survive on meager incomes. The incidence of poverty is very high and is highly visible in the country. Essentially, the poor have meager income; they are often illiterate and in poor health, they have a short life span. They are unable to have access to basic necessities of life, such as food, clothing and decent shelter; they are unable to meet social and economic obligations. They lack skills for gainful employment and sometimes lack self-esteem.
The general conditions of deprivations for most Nigerians are due to meager incomes and inadequate access to basic necessities. The persistence of poverty is due to low income level and low marginal propensity to save.
EFFECTS OF POVERTY
Poverty is a blatant attack on human dignity which many face in daily life. Each of these aspects of poverty overlaps: unemployment and poor income; illiteracy, hunger, ill-health, inadequate shelter and social services do not strike randomly; they usually visit the same persons, the same families, the same shanty towns and slums; the same marginal and rural areas.
Illiteracy is bred by lack of schooling leading to difficulty in having decent income, finding jobs and poor diet. All of these mean fragile health.
IS POVERTY A CHOICE OR A CHANCE?
This is a hard question and a difficult nut to crack. Succinctly stated, poverty is both a chance and a choice.
For some people, poverty is a choice but for others, it is a chance. Anyone born into squalor has no choice. He is only a victim of circumstance of his/her birth. However, he/she has the choice of remaining poor or working hard to break free from the shackles of poverty. He could do this by developing a vision for himself/herself through hard work, prayers and Divine intervention.
Poverty can be a choice when one through neglect (Do not neglect the day of small things, Zechariah 4:10; cf. Job 8:7), laziness (Proverbs 24:30-34), prodigality (Luke 15:13), rascality and squandermania plunges himself/herself into poverty.
We have seen people rise from pit of poverty to the pinnacle of wealth. On the other hand, we have seen people descend from the pinnacle of wealth to the pit of poverty. These, sometimes happen either by choice or by chance. We must understand that in the vicissitudes (ups and downs) of life the only thing that is permanent is change (Ecclesiastes 9:11). A wealthy man today could become a poor man tomorrow and vice-versa.
Therefore, the question of poverty being a chance or a choice is dependent on a number of factors. The answer could be either a resounding ”Yes” or a Compound “No” depending on the angle one approaches the subject matter.
CAUSES OF POVERTY
Causes of poverty are traced to history, colonialism, war and conquest and above all bad governance and corruption. Prolonged natural and man-made disasters such as drought, floods, wars, environmental degradation, et cetera are also causes of poverty. These are also factors that maintain this poverty as a social problem. Other factors are ignorance, disease, apathy, dishonesty and dependency. Poverty exists and is caused. Some other factors are indicated as causes of poverty. These include:
1. Inheritance.
Many are born into poverty. In other words, they inherited poverty. They have no choice and could do nothing about it. However, they have a choice to remain poor or to break free from it. Those who have a protest mentality would likely change their situations but those who said, “Well, this is where I was born and this is where I will live and die” leaves themselves no other choice.
2. Inability to take advantage of opportunities.
GNLD describes the Word, POOR as “Passing Over Opportunities Repeatedly.” It is said that “opportunity only knocks twice.” In his classic, The Richest Man in Babylon, George S. Classon (1998:18) observes that, “Opportunity is a haughty goddess who wastes no time with those who are unprepared.” In world of business, however, opportunities do not get the chance to knock before they are allowed in. People should take opportunities seriously. Those who want to succeed in life do not wait for opportunities to come to them. They study their environment and locate opportunities. Opportunity counts for so much in life. Whenever you encounter an opportunity, you need to grasp it with both hands and submit it to your will.
3. Spiritual manipulations.
There are forces in operation in the spiritual realm. We have heard of witches and wizards. Often, people’s destinies are tied in by others, vowing that those so tied would never see the light of good life. In some people’s lives are placed “Scepters of wickedness” (Psalms 125:3). A scepter is a symbol of authority; it is like coming to a portion of land and hoisting a notice that says, “This land belongs to so, so and so person; do not trespass.” People out of spiritual wickedness can set out to manipulate others.
4. Laziness.
Laziness is a major cause of poverty. Show me a lazy person and I will show you a poverty-stricken individual. God’s Word says a lot about laziness and lazy people that if we focus on it time and space would fail us (Proverbs 26:13 -16; Proverbs 6:6-11).
5. Enjoyment without restraint.
Any one who cannot learn to delay gratifications is a perfect study in poverty. Do not eat everything you see and buy everything you desire. Learn to say, “No’ to certain things. Delay your gratifications.
6. Lack of savings culture.
Lack of savings culture coupled with excessive borrowing (indebtedness) compound the problems of poverty amongst the poor.
7. Human influences and factors.
Human influences such as wars, bad governance, conquest and above all corruption. Lots of human influences and factors are indicated as causes of poverty.
WAYS OUT OF POVERTY
1. Realize that material poverty is not good.
The first step out of poverty is the appreciation of the fact that it is not good. This is akin to what the Prodigal son did (Luke 15:17). When you realize that something is not good for you, then the desire to get out of it would arise to make you get out of it. There were a number of things God said was not good. Bachelorhood and spinsterhood are some of them (Genesis 2:18). I am sure that God has said the same of poverty, which explains why He had said what He said in III John verse 2.
2. Have a protest mentality.
Protest Mentality is a mindset that says, “I do not like where I am; I want change.” Jabez was one man who disliked who he was and where he was. Therefore, he protested to God. He told God that he did not like his situation and that he wanted change. God answered him (I Chronicles 4:9-10). Poverty can make you not to serve God the way you want to serve Him because of the limitations it places on you. Say “No” to poverty as we should “Say No” to worldliness (Titus 2:11-12).
3. Prayerfulness
Protest mentality cannot have much effect without going to God in
Prayer. Prayer moves the hand of Him who moves the world. The
foundations of the world are in God’s hands and all He needed to do
to change one’s situation is to move slabs up or down. He makes people
rich and He can make you one (I Samuel 2:7-8).
When President Barrack Obama wanted to become a Senator of the
United States of America he went to a man in Chicago whom he
believed could help him and said, “Make me a Senator because I
know you can.” He was made one! God can do far exceedingly much
more than we can ever think or imagined (Ephesians 3:20).
If God could make a Prime Minister out of a prisoner in Joseph, then
we can be sure that he can make “Somebody” out of a “Nobody.” When
you go to God in prayer He can literally “Awaken Himself for you and
enlarge your dwelling place” (Job 8:5-7, 21).
4. Work hard to break the burden and bondage of poverty
Poverty is actually a burden which workaholism can break (Genesis 27:40). Someone had remarked: “Pray as if everything depends on
God and work as if everything depends on yourself.” Nothing replaces hard work. When you work hard, you will go places (Proverbs 22:29; Proverbs 13:11b).
5. Get education (Just learn how to read and write).
All you need to succeed in the world of work is your ability to read and write. Higher education certainly has its own advantage. Ability to read and write combined with common sense (“Common sense is not common”). In entrepreneurship we say that we must constantly train our minds to “Learn, unlearn and relearn”). Open your mind to new ideas and seek for ways to translate your ideas into services or products.
Part of your education would be to learn wealth creative principles:
learning how to build a Kobo and grow it to Naira, et cetera.
6. Learn a trade and be good at it.
One of the problems of the poor is their inabilities to find employment. This problem would not arise if one learns a trade and is good at it. Someone had said, “Build a better mouse trap and the world would beat a path to your door!” Someone had also remarked, “If you are a sweeper, sweep as if no one else can; sweep in the same way as Michelangelo painted pictures.”
7. Acquire a skill that others need.
Closely related to “Learning a trade and being good at it” is acquisition of skills. Acquire a skill that others need. In other words, seek to be a solutions’ provider. Every one of us born into this world was born to provide solution to people’s variegated needs. God does not make nobodies, every person that God created is created to be somebody. Look around you to see what people need; become a bridge to that need and you would build an empire there from!
SUMMATION
Talking about Poverty: A Choice or A Chance? is a pretty hard thing to do. It is my earnest hope that today’s presentation has at least tried to answer the question and also provided insight into how to come out of poverty so that we can really live meaningful lives. It is important to appreciate the fact that Jesus, our Lord had done something in this regard (John 10:10; II Corinthians 8:9).
As a global problem, poverty is fought at all levels. It would be appropriate to start fighting it where we are.
Solomon’s prayer in Proverbs 30:7-9 is most appropriate here:
Two things I request of you (Deprive me not before I die): remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither POVERTY nor RICHES – feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny Thee, and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God.
In all seriousness, God’s Word declares that “It is better to be a poor man than to be a liar.” (Proverbs 19:22b).
May God richly bless us as we seek to do His Will in Jesus’ most precious name! AMEN!!
We must remain earthly useful as well as Heavenly useful. The function of our material well-being is a factor our spiritualities (III John v. 2). To be earthly useful and Heavenly useless is not good and to be Heavenly useful and earthly useless is equally not proper.
Consequently, issues of poverty should concern us because not only is ignorance deadly (Proverbs 29:18), feeling unconcerned over the well-being of others is characteristically unchristian, ungodly and inhuman. This explains why I am happy that youths of this Congregation have deemed it most appropriate to raise the bar as you have decided to confront the issues of your present as well as your future by deciding to invite us to share on the subject matter of POVERTY: A CHOICE OR A CHANCE? It is said that those who do not know their history are condemned to repeat them.
Thank you again for the topic assigned to me!
Poverty: A Choice or a Chance? What a question! A voice-over, advertising the release of a Nigerian Box-Office home movie, Tea and Coffee while describing the pains, embarrassments, deprivations and humiliations associated with a life of indigence tearfully remarked, “God punish poverty.”
Honestly, if poverty is a spirit, it is a cursed one. No one in his/her right frame of mind would desire to be poor because poverty is not good as far as earthly existence is concerned. Poverty is a pain in the neck of those who were either born into it, are living in it or have experienced it at one time or the other in their lives. Poverty is not something you would wish your enemy, except for the fact that if he is economically empowered, could use same to foment trouble for you.
The sight of a poor person is usually not a pleasing thing. A materially poor person goes through a lot of deprivations. He does not eat well and often goes to sleep many an uncountable days, not knowing the pleasure of a good night’s sleep because he wakes up intermittently at night by the gnawing pains of an empty stomach. He wakes up many mornings not knowing exactly where his/her next meal could come from and when. Poverty is better imagined than experienced.
Rather than live in a well furnished apartment, a poor person makes do with a ramshackled accommodation. He lacks access to quality healthcare and a good education. What some take for granted are luxuries a poor person cannot afford.
Poor people are always relegated to the background and are denied say, even in matters which principally concerns them. They are always at the receiving end of others. Poverty is wicked because it dehumanizes those in its grip. Most poor people die earlier than they should have died.
CONCEPTUALIZING POVERTY
Succinctly stated, poverty is the state of being poor. Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines poverty as a “State of being poor; conditions of abject or extreme poverty. Lack of something or of poor quality.”
Poverty refers to lack of physical necessities, assets and income (Chambers, 1998:28). It is a subset of the general conditions of deprivation whose dimensions include poverty, social inferiority, isolation, physical weakness and vulnerability; seasonality, humiliation and powerlessness.
Among Economists, poverty has often been defined as a situation of low income or low consumption. This implies that the poor are almost living in a squatter and do not have access to basic needs of life such as food, clothing and decent shelter. Thus, those who are poor are often hungry: having not much to eat. They dress shabbily and live in poorly constructed, poorly furnished and unfinished buildings.
Poverty also means lacking the minimum income necessary for survival and physical efficiency. People are regarded as poor when their measured standards of living in terms of caloric intake, square meters of shelter per person, so much clothing per person and so on are low.
CLASSIFICATIONS OF POVERTY
Poverty is classified into three major categories, namely, Abject, Relative and Material Poverty (Ihenetu, 1998:66). Under Abject Poverty are those who are unable to provide for physical subsistence, especially basic things like food, clothing and shelter. According to Ihenetu the lives of those in Abject Poverty are characterized by real and inadequate care for children; illiteracy, poor sanitation, disease and a zero propensity to save money. The number of people in this category of poverty constitutes the highest amongst other poverty-stricken people in societies across the globe today.
The second category of poverty is Relative Poverty. Those in this category are people who can afford three square meals a day but are unable to fully satisfy their needs as others in their social statuses. In his own view, Killick (1981) asserts that Relative Poverty is about people’s inabilities to furnish themselves with a seriously acceptable minimum standard of living. However, he sees some problems in poverty as relative deprivation. In his view, poverty will always be with us, because there will always be some who are relatively deprived no matter how affluent they seem by absolute standard. It also implies that poverty will be found in practically all countries no matter how rich.
The third category of poverty is Material Poverty. Those under this category are people who are able to feed well but would not acquire properties as their peers (Ihenetu, 1998:67). He concluded that among all groups, Abject Poverty is more critical to find immediate solutions to.
It should be stated that poverty can be alleviated but not eradicated.
Poverty can also be categorized into “abstract” and “concrete.’ There is poverty of the mind (lack of ideas and solutions to given problems and situations); poverty of attitude (one who is devoid of virtues of life and imbued with vices); spiritual poverty (Lacking in strong spiritual relationship with God and with His Son Jesus Christ).
One could be rich materially but poor towards God (Luke 12:20).
Poverty could be a state of the mind. Examples abound of materially wealthy people who think that they are poor. On the other hand, someone might be materially poor but feel wealthy inside of him/her.
It is equally important to state that poverty and wealth are multifaceted, meaning, that one could be poor in the area of possessing money but rich in having children, land, and et cetera. Some people might have money but are poor when it comes to having children of their own.
ORIGIN OF POVERTY
Originally, there were no poor or rich people. Everyone had what they needed. They did not know what poverty was until mankind sinned and were driven out of the Garden of Eden. Poverty came as a result of sin. God had placed a curse on man to the point that his food would be guaranteed by his physical efforts coupled with the fact that he was also driven away from the Garden God had ordained for him and for his family (Genesis 3). Interestingly, however, poverty as a curse can be broken by reason of hard work and Divine mercy (Genesis 27:38-40).
POVERTY: A GLOBAL PROBLEM
Poverty remains the rallying force of popular consensus. It was confirmed by Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), a UN agency on Tuesday, September 14, 2010 that nine hundred and twenty million people in the world were at the risk of dying of hunger and that every six seconds a child dies of hunger. This was cheering news considering that by 2009 over one billion two hundred million people were living in the same condition of poverty.
Poverty as a social problem is a deeply embedded wound that permeates every dimension of culture and society. It includes sustained low levels of income for members of a community. It also includes a lack of accesses to services like education, markets, healthcare and lack of decision-making abilities.
World Bank (1995:15) reports that it is often not difficult to recognize the poor in any given society. They have meager income. They are often illiterates and in a poor health; they have a short life span, and have no potentials for affluence, although this can be achieved through providence This implies that those who are poor are merely living on subsistence as they do not earn much with which to improve their living standards and that they have little or no opportunities of being adequately educated. Furthermore, because they are not socially disposed to health facilities they often die at relative young age.
Poverty is highly visible in various local communities across the world. The abject poor cannot afford to live in the reserved areas of our cities because of their financial deprivations and so find abode in shrines and ghettos where living conditions are terrible.
Perhaps the most valid generalization about the poor is that they are proportionately located in the rural areas and that they are primarily engaged in agriculture and associated activities. About two-third of the very poor in our communities scratch out their livelihood through subsistence agriculture, either as small farmers or as paid farm workers. The remaining of one third are located in rural villages (engaged in petty services) and on the flings and marginal areas of urban cities where they engage in various forms of self-employment such as street hawkers, trading, petty services and small scale commerce, sometimes prostitution. It has been estimated that an average of about 15 to 80 per cent of all target poverty have low level of living, low level of productivity, large family size and high rate of dependency; low skills and employment; dependence on agriculture for a living and vulnerability (Koji, 1993: 30).
In spite of Nigeria’s enormous resources: land, oil and gas; forestry, et cetera, the incidence of poverty is high (Obadan, 1996:19). Poverty is serious and extension to differing degrees in all parts of the country and within all the states. At present, only very few people are living in affluence. This group constitutes about 20% of the population. This means that about 80% are unable to satisfy their basic needs.
The income gap between the very rich and the poor widen daily. The dilemmas confronting the poorest people become difficult to achieve between the struggle for existence today and privation tomorrow. Such a choice adversely affects their quality of life, health, sense of worth and productivity. Simply stated, poverty is a cankerworm.
Today, millions of Nigerians live in absolute poverty. This is the number of people who are struggling to survive on meager incomes. The incidence of poverty is very high and is highly visible in the country. Essentially, the poor have meager income; they are often illiterate and in poor health, they have a short life span. They are unable to have access to basic necessities of life, such as food, clothing and decent shelter; they are unable to meet social and economic obligations. They lack skills for gainful employment and sometimes lack self-esteem.
The general conditions of deprivations for most Nigerians are due to meager incomes and inadequate access to basic necessities. The persistence of poverty is due to low income level and low marginal propensity to save.
EFFECTS OF POVERTY
Poverty is a blatant attack on human dignity which many face in daily life. Each of these aspects of poverty overlaps: unemployment and poor income; illiteracy, hunger, ill-health, inadequate shelter and social services do not strike randomly; they usually visit the same persons, the same families, the same shanty towns and slums; the same marginal and rural areas.
Illiteracy is bred by lack of schooling leading to difficulty in having decent income, finding jobs and poor diet. All of these mean fragile health.
IS POVERTY A CHOICE OR A CHANCE?
This is a hard question and a difficult nut to crack. Succinctly stated, poverty is both a chance and a choice.
For some people, poverty is a choice but for others, it is a chance. Anyone born into squalor has no choice. He is only a victim of circumstance of his/her birth. However, he/she has the choice of remaining poor or working hard to break free from the shackles of poverty. He could do this by developing a vision for himself/herself through hard work, prayers and Divine intervention.
Poverty can be a choice when one through neglect (Do not neglect the day of small things, Zechariah 4:10; cf. Job 8:7), laziness (Proverbs 24:30-34), prodigality (Luke 15:13), rascality and squandermania plunges himself/herself into poverty.
We have seen people rise from pit of poverty to the pinnacle of wealth. On the other hand, we have seen people descend from the pinnacle of wealth to the pit of poverty. These, sometimes happen either by choice or by chance. We must understand that in the vicissitudes (ups and downs) of life the only thing that is permanent is change (Ecclesiastes 9:11). A wealthy man today could become a poor man tomorrow and vice-versa.
Therefore, the question of poverty being a chance or a choice is dependent on a number of factors. The answer could be either a resounding ”Yes” or a Compound “No” depending on the angle one approaches the subject matter.
CAUSES OF POVERTY
Causes of poverty are traced to history, colonialism, war and conquest and above all bad governance and corruption. Prolonged natural and man-made disasters such as drought, floods, wars, environmental degradation, et cetera are also causes of poverty. These are also factors that maintain this poverty as a social problem. Other factors are ignorance, disease, apathy, dishonesty and dependency. Poverty exists and is caused. Some other factors are indicated as causes of poverty. These include:
1. Inheritance.
Many are born into poverty. In other words, they inherited poverty. They have no choice and could do nothing about it. However, they have a choice to remain poor or to break free from it. Those who have a protest mentality would likely change their situations but those who said, “Well, this is where I was born and this is where I will live and die” leaves themselves no other choice.
2. Inability to take advantage of opportunities.
GNLD describes the Word, POOR as “Passing Over Opportunities Repeatedly.” It is said that “opportunity only knocks twice.” In his classic, The Richest Man in Babylon, George S. Classon (1998:18) observes that, “Opportunity is a haughty goddess who wastes no time with those who are unprepared.” In world of business, however, opportunities do not get the chance to knock before they are allowed in. People should take opportunities seriously. Those who want to succeed in life do not wait for opportunities to come to them. They study their environment and locate opportunities. Opportunity counts for so much in life. Whenever you encounter an opportunity, you need to grasp it with both hands and submit it to your will.
3. Spiritual manipulations.
There are forces in operation in the spiritual realm. We have heard of witches and wizards. Often, people’s destinies are tied in by others, vowing that those so tied would never see the light of good life. In some people’s lives are placed “Scepters of wickedness” (Psalms 125:3). A scepter is a symbol of authority; it is like coming to a portion of land and hoisting a notice that says, “This land belongs to so, so and so person; do not trespass.” People out of spiritual wickedness can set out to manipulate others.
4. Laziness.
Laziness is a major cause of poverty. Show me a lazy person and I will show you a poverty-stricken individual. God’s Word says a lot about laziness and lazy people that if we focus on it time and space would fail us (Proverbs 26:13 -16; Proverbs 6:6-11).
5. Enjoyment without restraint.
Any one who cannot learn to delay gratifications is a perfect study in poverty. Do not eat everything you see and buy everything you desire. Learn to say, “No’ to certain things. Delay your gratifications.
6. Lack of savings culture.
Lack of savings culture coupled with excessive borrowing (indebtedness) compound the problems of poverty amongst the poor.
7. Human influences and factors.
Human influences such as wars, bad governance, conquest and above all corruption. Lots of human influences and factors are indicated as causes of poverty.
WAYS OUT OF POVERTY
1. Realize that material poverty is not good.
The first step out of poverty is the appreciation of the fact that it is not good. This is akin to what the Prodigal son did (Luke 15:17). When you realize that something is not good for you, then the desire to get out of it would arise to make you get out of it. There were a number of things God said was not good. Bachelorhood and spinsterhood are some of them (Genesis 2:18). I am sure that God has said the same of poverty, which explains why He had said what He said in III John verse 2.
2. Have a protest mentality.
Protest Mentality is a mindset that says, “I do not like where I am; I want change.” Jabez was one man who disliked who he was and where he was. Therefore, he protested to God. He told God that he did not like his situation and that he wanted change. God answered him (I Chronicles 4:9-10). Poverty can make you not to serve God the way you want to serve Him because of the limitations it places on you. Say “No” to poverty as we should “Say No” to worldliness (Titus 2:11-12).
3. Prayerfulness
Protest mentality cannot have much effect without going to God in
Prayer. Prayer moves the hand of Him who moves the world. The
foundations of the world are in God’s hands and all He needed to do
to change one’s situation is to move slabs up or down. He makes people
rich and He can make you one (I Samuel 2:7-8).
When President Barrack Obama wanted to become a Senator of the
United States of America he went to a man in Chicago whom he
believed could help him and said, “Make me a Senator because I
know you can.” He was made one! God can do far exceedingly much
more than we can ever think or imagined (Ephesians 3:20).
If God could make a Prime Minister out of a prisoner in Joseph, then
we can be sure that he can make “Somebody” out of a “Nobody.” When
you go to God in prayer He can literally “Awaken Himself for you and
enlarge your dwelling place” (Job 8:5-7, 21).
4. Work hard to break the burden and bondage of poverty
Poverty is actually a burden which workaholism can break (Genesis 27:40). Someone had remarked: “Pray as if everything depends on
God and work as if everything depends on yourself.” Nothing replaces hard work. When you work hard, you will go places (Proverbs 22:29; Proverbs 13:11b).
5. Get education (Just learn how to read and write).
All you need to succeed in the world of work is your ability to read and write. Higher education certainly has its own advantage. Ability to read and write combined with common sense (“Common sense is not common”). In entrepreneurship we say that we must constantly train our minds to “Learn, unlearn and relearn”). Open your mind to new ideas and seek for ways to translate your ideas into services or products.
Part of your education would be to learn wealth creative principles:
learning how to build a Kobo and grow it to Naira, et cetera.
6. Learn a trade and be good at it.
One of the problems of the poor is their inabilities to find employment. This problem would not arise if one learns a trade and is good at it. Someone had said, “Build a better mouse trap and the world would beat a path to your door!” Someone had also remarked, “If you are a sweeper, sweep as if no one else can; sweep in the same way as Michelangelo painted pictures.”
7. Acquire a skill that others need.
Closely related to “Learning a trade and being good at it” is acquisition of skills. Acquire a skill that others need. In other words, seek to be a solutions’ provider. Every one of us born into this world was born to provide solution to people’s variegated needs. God does not make nobodies, every person that God created is created to be somebody. Look around you to see what people need; become a bridge to that need and you would build an empire there from!
SUMMATION
Talking about Poverty: A Choice or A Chance? is a pretty hard thing to do. It is my earnest hope that today’s presentation has at least tried to answer the question and also provided insight into how to come out of poverty so that we can really live meaningful lives. It is important to appreciate the fact that Jesus, our Lord had done something in this regard (John 10:10; II Corinthians 8:9).
As a global problem, poverty is fought at all levels. It would be appropriate to start fighting it where we are.
Solomon’s prayer in Proverbs 30:7-9 is most appropriate here:
Two things I request of you (Deprive me not before I die): remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither POVERTY nor RICHES – feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny Thee, and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God.
In all seriousness, God’s Word declares that “It is better to be a poor man than to be a liar.” (Proverbs 19:22b).
May God richly bless us as we seek to do His Will in Jesus’ most precious name! AMEN!!
Monday, February 28, 2011
EDUCATION: POWER AND PURPOSE
TEXT: DANIEL 9: 1-3; 6:3
Daniel 9:2
In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of
Daniel 6:3
Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm
KEY THOUGHTS:
An all-round qualitative education combined with an excellent spirit will mark a Christian out. God wants His children not to be Heavenly useful and earthly useless or to be earthly useful and Heavenly useless. Rather, He wants His children to be Heavenly useful as well as earthly useful, which explains why Christians must embrace education and posses excellent spirits so that they can excel in whatever they do on planet earth (Proverbs 22:29).
EXORDIUM
One of the greatest inventions of man is education. Education or lack of it is what makes the difference between an enlightened mind and an illiterate; between a stone aged man and a modern sophisticated man. Education is pivotal to mankind’s general development. It lays the foundation upon which man’s continuous search for meaning and relevance in a dynamic world is achieved.
Education is man’s response to God’s injunction to, “subdue the earth…rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). Education has led to exploits, revolutions and tremendous advancements in every aspect of human endeavours – agriculture, healthcare, space science, technology, etcetera.
It should be acknowledged that while some people are using their education to better the world and provide solutions to mankind’s innumerable problems, others are using their education to destroy the world by creating more problems.
EDUCATION DEFINED
Education is schooling, study, instruction, apprenticeship and tutelage (Acts 22:3; cf. Acts 19:9). Until the world is no more education will not cease because many people will keep devoting themselves to books (Eccl. 12: 12). Education is not only acquired by attending a conventional educational institution, it could be acquired through non-formal means. There are people who went to school but are illiterates because even though they passed through the four walls of educational institutions they have nothing to show other than mere paper qualifications. However, there are people who do not have limited access to conventional education but have continued to enlighten their minds. Therefore, continuous reading and study are the keys to a beneficial education.
GOD’S PEOPLE AND EDUCATION
In Biblical times, God’s people recognized the power of education and so took advantage of it. In fact, some of God’s greatest servants were men and women of sound academic orientations. Two examples here would suffice:
Moses – (Acts 7: 22). His learning empowered him for God’s service. He led God’s people for 40 years and wrote the Pentateuch – Genesis to Deuteronomy and part of Psalms.
Apostle Paul – He was a thorough bred, he had attended the
GOALS OF EDUCATION
While returning from my first “Garri business” trip at Orie, Nunya, Isuikwuato L.G.A., Abia state on Tuesday, October 29, 1996, I wrote the following lines which I captioned, “The Goal of Education.”
Education is not intended to make us proud but to humble us. The goal of education is to make us self-propelling, self-sustaining, independent, resourceful and visionary. Any education which makes us proud, carrying ourselves with the air of nothingness (vain glory, Phil. 2: 3a), looking down on others as ‘Nothing bazobas’ is no education at all. Any education that makes anyone look down on small beginnings (Zech. 4:10; Job 8:5-7 is no education at all. True education trains the mind, heart, and hands; it teaches us to see worth in little things.
THE GREATEST EDUCATION
The greatest education acquired by man is received at “Jesus’ college,” an arm of
Why were these so? The Word of God is the chief means of instruction and learning. It assures you of insight (Psalms 119: 97-100). Any education that does not recognize God as the epicenter is a useless education. Unfortunately, many people through their education do not recognize God (I Cor. 1: 21a).
Some Christians after exposure to higher secular education suddenly finds the world alluring enough to leave God’s boat of salvation and some use their education to change the church so as to suit the world. All these are wrong.
CONCLUSION
Education, what a sweet experience! Daniel “understood by books and distinguished himself,” Moses was “educated in all the arts and sciences of the Egyptians,” Apostle Paul was so educated that a king described his education as “Excessive,” etcetera.
All of us who are heaven-bound must endeavour not to become “Heavenly useful but earthly useless” by not getting education. On the other hand, those of us who are educated should avoid being “Earthly useful and heavenly useless.” We must balance the equation. It was Aristotle, a Greek sage who said, “The roots of education are bitter, but the fruits are sweet.” Hebrews 12:11 affirms that “No discipline (study) at the moment is enjoyable but later becomes sweet.”
May God power our education. As we send forth our graduating students away from this great university, it is our prayers that they will excel and use their education to enhance the fortunes of their families, communities, our nation and our world. Above all, that the
May God richly bless all of us in Jesus’ name!
HILARY JOHNSON CHUKWUMA CHUKWURAH
Township/Campus
Lane, off,
Nsukka,
PHONE: 08039596919; 08182820677.
E-MAIL: hilaryjohnsonc@yahoo.com;
WOMEN SILENCE IN CHURCH: IS IT TOTAL?
INTRODUCTION
The issue of “Women Silence in Church” in course of our corporate worship as congregations has been with us for quite a long time now. The reason this is so is because we have a healthy respect for God and for His revealed Word, the Bible. Again, we are a distinct people whose desire is to do the Will of God.
It is a thing of great joy in that while other churches in Christendom are contending with ordaining “Women as Clergy” our interest in the role of women remain whether women should speak in church or not. It is because of this healthy attitude towards the Word of God that I remain happy and blessed to be a member of the
I Corinthians 14:34-35, indeed is one of the “difficult passages” of scripture that Apostle Peter spoke about in reference to Apostle Paul’s writings (II Peter 3:16). I Corinthians 14:34-35 talks about “Women being silent in churches because they are not allowed to speak.” The bones of contention lie in the words, “Silent” and “Speak.” The question therefore is, “This ‘Silence:’ Is it total?” If it makes reference to absolute silence, it means that it is wrong for Christian women to utter a word in the assembly. They are not even supposed to open their mouths in Church to say, “Amen” when prayers are offered, sing as we are enjoined in Ephesians 5:19 to “Speak” to ourselves in “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs….” Also, women would not be allowed to answer questions in the gathering of the Church as was in the case of Saphira in Acts 5:1-11. As it obtains in some congregations that take attendance of their members every Lord’s Day, women would not be permitted to answer when their names are called. Why? Because the Bible enjoins women to remain silent!
So, we again ask, “Is this silence total or partial?”
Understanding I Corinthians 14:34-35 is to understand gender roles in the Church of our Lord. Two distinct genders exist within the Body of Christ – males and females. To the males God has bestowed the responsibilities of providing leadership while to the females God has assigned the roles of being led. We would have loved to ask God why this is so, but who are we to ask God a question (Romans 9:20)? Perhaps, the answer to this lay in what happened in the Garden of Eden which Apostle Paul had alluded to in I Timothy 2:13-15 and I Corinthians 11:3, 8-9.
Throughout Scripture leadership in both family and spiritual matters have always been men’s affairs. However, socially, politically and in organized corporate organizations (private sectors), the case may be different as was the case of Deborah in Judges 4:4. Notice that Deborah was neither a religious leader nor a family head. Being a judge was either political or civil in nature.
While selecting His Apostles, Jesus never appointed a woman as Apostle. Also, when mention was made of qualifications of Elders and Deacons, women were excluded as no qualifications pointed to them. The term, “Deaconess” used in reference to Phoebe in Romans 16:1-2 does not in anyway refer to a leader but as a “messenger of the Church at Cenchrea.” It was through her that Apostle Paul had sent his epistle to Christians in Roman while she was on a business trip to the city of
Women were never authorized or appointed to leadership positions over their male counterparts anywhere in Bible as far as spiritual and family affairs were concerned. This probably was the problem in the Church at
That said, the contentious word in I Corinthians 14:34-35 is “silence.” The question again is, “What “Silence”? What does “silence” of I Corinthians 14:34-35 mean? To examine and possibly understand what this “silence” and “speak” are all about, let us begin to examine some New Testament passages where references were made of women in the Church.
a).If there were women prophetesses who probably exercised their
gifting in the Church, would they be violating the command to be
silent? (cf. I Corinthians 11:5).
b). If they were to be silent, would it be absolute silence? If the, “If all
prophesy….” of I Corinthians 14:24 would include women, would
they not be violating the plain instruction to be silent?
c). Were women in congregations expected to be without any element of
sound? This, obviously is not what this injunction suggests.
a). Would asking a brother or preacher questions that bother Christian
woman outside the Church hall not be a violation of this law?
b). Was this instruction to “remain silent” only for Christian women who
were married? Contextually, it seemed possible since the single,
divorced and the widowed were not mentioned.
WHY WERE WOMEN COMMANDED TO KEEP SILENT?
I Corinthians 14: 34, 35 is sandwiched between verses that forbid confusion and disorder (I Corinthians 14:33, 40). I, therefore, submit that what these women were doing was asking questions (the specific speaking) in the assembly of their husbands in such a way that both precipitated teachers. Under the guise of wanting information, they likely were asking pointed questions that were designed to put the service-leaders on the defensive.
This problem was peculiar to the Corinthian Congregation going by Paul’s allusion to “Your women” (I Corinthians 14:34a). The overall context – of this concluding portion of 1 Corinthians 14 – suggests that there was a definite problem in the Corinthian church, and it had to do with aggressive women. Some of these Corinthian sisters were asserting themselves, speaking out in such a manner as to challenge the role of the males in public, speaking out in such a way to similarly cause confusion. This is the paramount lesson found in I Corinthians 14:34, 35.
Women today can also create confusion in the assembly and be guilty of not being in subjection to their husbands by confusion and also resulted in lack of subjection to their husbands. These "women" were not all the women at
Therefore, to simplistically and arbitrarily keep verses 34, 35 out of their context and contend that there is contained in these verses a blanket requirement of the silence of women in the assembly is to defeat and ignore Paul's original application of I Corinthians 14:34, 35 and make the passage collide with a number of other matters.
WHAT DO THE WORDS, “SILENT” AND “SPEAK” MEAN?
The Greek word translated, “Silent” in I Corinthians 14:34 is “Sigao.” It is used 19 times in Greek Old Testament (Septuagint) and about a dozen times in the New Testament. It means to “keep one’s peace” (Exodus 14:14). It is used also in the New Testament in this manner, “To keep silent, hold your peace” (I Corinthians 14:28, 30).
To “speak” in I Corinthians 14:35 does not refer to just making any sound but the act of taking the floor to address the audience or Church, which I Timothy 2:8, 11-12 forbade. Simply stated, “Speak” here refers to teaching.
Wayne Jackson in his article, “Is I Corinthians 14:34-35 Applicable Today?” quotes Professor H. P. Hamann as having written:
If we have the same writer in both letters writing on the same matter, we have the right to allow one text to explain the other, and especially to let the clearer or more definite throw light on the less precise. So 1 Tim. 2 is the key for the understanding of 1 Cor. 14 (1976, 8).
He then makes the following comparison between I Corinthians 14:34-35 and I Timothy 2:11-12.
A Comparison: 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12
| I Corinthians 14:33-34 | 1 Timothy 2:11-12 |
| “it is not permitted unto them to speak” (34) | “I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man” (12) |
| “let them be in subjection” (34) | “but to be in quietness” (12) |
| “if they would learn (mathein) anything” (35) | “Let a woman learn (manthaneto)” (11) |
| “let them ask their own husbands at home” (35) | “in quietness with all subjection” (11) |
| “as also saith the law” (34) | Adam and Eve in creation and sin (14, 15) |
CAN A WOMAN ASK QUESTIONS DURING ASSEMBLY?
From Paul’s statement in I Corinthians 14 it was obvious that there were separate classes because of his reference to, “If the whole Church should come together in one place….” (I Corinthians 14:23). As obtains in some congregations today, there were divided classes such as new converts, adult and children classes, etcetera (cf. Titus 2:2-6). In these classes, a woman who was taught can ask her questions.
When a woman wants to ask question, she must seek permission. When she is granted permission to ask a question, and she does so with modesty and with the proper respect for her teacher, there is nothing on earth wrong with her framing that inquiry. Does anyone imagine that just because a student poses a question in class, or makes a comment, in the public school system, that he or she has somehow usurped the role of the teacher?
SUMMATION
From the foregoing, therefore, it is my submission that the “silence” of I Corinthians 14:34-35 does not mean absolute silence and that the “speaking” that women were also forbidden from does not refer to wordless silence, rather it refers to the act of speaking to a Church gathering where a woman elects in herself and assumes authority by herself to lead the Congregation against God’s natural law.
HILARY JOHNSON CHUKWUMA CHUKWURAH
Township/Campus
Lane, off,
Nsukka,
PHONE: 08039596919; 08182820677.
E-MAIL: hilaryjohnsonc@yahoo.com;
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