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
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
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;
Thursday, August 12, 2010
CHRISTIAN YOUTHS AND THEIR CHOICE OF CAREER
ONE-DAY YOUTH SEMINAR ORGANIZED BY AMENYI CHURCH OF CHRIST, AWKA, ANAMBRA STATE HELD SATURDAY, MAY 29, 2010 UNDER THE GENERAL THEME, “CHRISTIAN YOUTHS AND THE CHANGING WORLD.”
SPEAKER: EVANGELIST HILARY JOHNSON CHUKWUMA
CHUKWURAH.
EXORDIUM:
Christians are part of a larger community of people. What affect others affect them. They live under the same economy and are influenced to some degree by the political manipulations of political gladiators at whatever levels of analysis there are. They buy from the same markets and attend almost the same educational institutions that others attend. In spite of the fact that “…they are in the world but not of the world” (John 17:14-16) mantra, Christians, as long as they live on planet earth are affected by global events. They must ‘survive’ as long as they exist while awaiting the redemption from heaven. The world was created by their Heavenly Father who owns the world and everything that are in it (Psalms 24:1). God has given them earth to take care of as He Himself is busy taking care of the celestial realm (Psalms 115:16). They firmly believe that God’s Will is to be done here on earth as it is done in Heaven (Matt. 6:10).
Biblical evidence points to the fact that Christians should make the world a better place and to strive to become useful to themselves. They must “occupy till” Jesus returns (Luke 19:13). In view of this, Christians must endeavour to become earthly useful as they strive also to become heavenly useful; not heavenly useful and earthly useless or earthly useful and heavenly useless. They strive to ensure a balance of terrestrial and celestial equations. To achieve this, education and choosing a career path, also known as ‘choice of career’ are pivotal.
SPEAKER: EVANGELIST HILARY JOHNSON CHUKWUMA
CHUKWURAH.
EXORDIUM:
Christians are part of a larger community of people. What affect others affect them. They live under the same economy and are influenced to some degree by the political manipulations of political gladiators at whatever levels of analysis there are. They buy from the same markets and attend almost the same educational institutions that others attend. In spite of the fact that “…they are in the world but not of the world” (John 17:14-16) mantra, Christians, as long as they live on planet earth are affected by global events. They must ‘survive’ as long as they exist while awaiting the redemption from heaven. The world was created by their Heavenly Father who owns the world and everything that are in it (Psalms 24:1). God has given them earth to take care of as He Himself is busy taking care of the celestial realm (Psalms 115:16). They firmly believe that God’s Will is to be done here on earth as it is done in Heaven (Matt. 6:10).
Biblical evidence points to the fact that Christians should make the world a better place and to strive to become useful to themselves. They must “occupy till” Jesus returns (Luke 19:13). In view of this, Christians must endeavour to become earthly useful as they strive also to become heavenly useful; not heavenly useful and earthly useless or earthly useful and heavenly useless. They strive to ensure a balance of terrestrial and celestial equations. To achieve this, education and choosing a career path, also known as ‘choice of career’ are pivotal.
EDUCATION
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 person; between a stone aged man and a modern 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, health, 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 problems.
By definition, education is schooling, studying, instruction, apprenticeship or tutelage (Acts 22: 3; cf. Acts 19:9). Until the world is no more, education will remain a focal point and a deciding factor because many people will keep devoting themselves to books and learning(Ecclesiastes 12: 12).
Education is not only acquired by attending conventional educational institutions, it could be acquired through non-formal means. There are people who went to school but are ‘illiterates.’ 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 have limited access to conventional education but have continued to enlighten their minds; continuous reading and learning, therefore, are the keys.
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 person; between a stone aged man and a modern 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, health, 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 problems.
By definition, education is schooling, studying, instruction, apprenticeship or tutelage (Acts 22: 3; cf. Acts 19:9). Until the world is no more, education will remain a focal point and a deciding factor because many people will keep devoting themselves to books and learning(Ecclesiastes 12: 12).
Education is not only acquired by attending conventional educational institutions, it could be acquired through non-formal means. There are people who went to school but are ‘illiterates.’ 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 have limited access to conventional education but have continued to enlighten their minds; continuous reading and learning, therefore, are the keys.
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:
i. 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 parts of Psalms.
ii. Apostle Paul – He was a thoroughbred, he had attended the Gamaliel University (Acts 22:3). In fact, great men recognized in Paul a great academic (Acts 26:24).
* Paul was a great lover of books (II Timothy 4: 13). The evidence of his wide exposure to education is there for all of us to see – he was the most evangelistic (cf. I Corinthians 15:10) as well as the most prolific (having written about 13 out of 27 New Testament books).
* Physically speaking, Paul was “small in stature” but his writings were thunderbolt (II Corinthians 10:10).
III. 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, Philippians 2: 3a), looking down on others as ‘Nothing bazobas’ is no education at all. True education trains the mind, heart, and hands; it teaches us to see worth in little things.
IV. THE GREATEST EDUCATION
The greatest form of education that can be acquired by man is received at “Jesus’ College” an arm of Divinity University. It does not matter whether you are lettered or not, your association and adherence to the “Curriculum of Studies” offered there makes you stand out (John 7: 15; cf. Acts 4: 13).
Why were these so? The Word of God is the chief means of instruction and learning; it assures 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 Corinthians 1: 21a). It is a sad fact that some ‘Christians’ after exposure to higher secular education suddenly find the world alluring enough to leave God’s Boat of Salvation while some of use our education to change the Church so as to suit the world. All these are wrong.
CHRISTIAN YOUTHS AND THEIR CHOICE OF CAREER
The term, Choice of Career is what is referred to as “Choosing a Career Path.” There are two factors that should be considered in the choice of a career, namely:
1. Would I be seeking paid employment?
2. Would I be seeking to be my own boss by building my own business?
If your career path is in the area of paid employment, you must factor in the fact that we are operating a knowledge-based economy where the much you know and what you can do with your hands and knowledge as well as the expertise you are bringing with yourself count. Nigeria is gradually moving away from government owned and operated enterprises to a private sector owned, operated and led economy. In other words, no one will employ you principally because of who you know but because of what you know and what you can do with what you know. No private sector will employ a liability; they employ those who they consider to be assets. In view of these, the more knowledge you posses in a given discipline or across disciplines, the more marketable and indispensable you will be to an organization or organizations requiring your services. You must strive to acquire skills and have hands-on-experiences in your choice of career. I suggest that in addition to whatever skills you must possess you should endeavour to acquire skills in ICT (Information and Communication Technologies).
On the other hand, if you want to be your own boss (becoming an entrepreneur) by establishing your own business, you must take into consideration the need to be mentored by others as you understudy those who are in similar line of business. Attend Workshops, Seminars and trainings to widen your scope of understanding of the business, corporate politics, management and other operational issues. At the center of this should be ideas.
Entrepreneurship is venturing. You may decide to venture into buying and selling; agro and agro-allied services such as poultry and animal husbandry; provision of services such as maintenance; sales representatives, manufacturing and distribution, etcetera.
Entrepreneurship is ideas-driven. You must be a person of great and varied ideas. Your ideas and abilities to translate your ideas into concrete products or services are your Unique Selling Points (USP). Ideas, you must have heard, rule the world and people of ideas are the movers and shakers of economies all cross recorded history. The evidence is everywhere even in contemporary dispensation.
Related to idea generation and implementation is brainstorming. Brainstorming is the process of generating large pool of ideas for business. To determine the acceptability or workability of your ideas you must engage in SWOT (Strength Weaknesses, Opportunity and Threat) analysis of each business ideas you generated. You must also subject them to thorough macro and micro-screenings. To ascertain the marketability of your business ideas, you need to ask yourself the following questions:
1. Is there availability of market?
Is there a market for the product or service? By this we mean those who can patronize your idea.
2. Is there availability of skills?
Can you locate labour easily? By this, we mean being able to find workers, those who would help you translate your ideas into concrete products.
3. Is there availability of product and process technology?
Are there machineries for production of goods and services?
4. Is there availability of raw materials?
The raw materials needed to produce your goods or services are they easily accessed?
5. Is it in line with Government’s priority?
Is your line of business in government’s policy directive, government’s priority list? In other words, do government policies favour it? This is important because policy somersault can be very devastating.
6. Do I have the Strategic Fit?
Do you have the core competence of management and staff to produce
goods or service and bring same to market?
7. Is there in-built ease of implementation?
Will you have little or no difficulty in getting your job done?
8. What are the Risk exposures?
What is the risk exposure of this your business idea? That is your ability to know the problems you are likely going to encounter in the course of doing this business. You need to understand that business is considered good when the risks associated with it are less.
9. Is it Profitable?
This we mean gain or loss definition by market share.
10. What is the Cost/Benefit?
This is the summation of practically all other factors mentioned and
provides an overall impression regarding the desirability of any given
business idea.
11 How can I Strategically position my business, product or service?
This is your ability to position your business where it can be easily located and accessed.
SUGGESTED IDEA AREAS FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURES
In their book, Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Ikeme, et al (2009: 100-101) suggested areas that prospective entrepreneurs should focus attention on. These, they stated are only suggestions, which should be improved upon.
1. Services – provision of services of all types, car wash, auto repairs, and training; educational provisions for drop-outs, adults, preparatory classes such as conducting lessons for people, which may likely grow to become full blown educational institutions, etcetera.
2. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) - software design, engineering and development.
3. Agribusiness – poultry and poultry feed production; animal husbandry and cash crops production.
4. NGOs - Floating NGOs that are targeted at solving different societal problems.
5. Communication – printing and publishing, consultancy, etcetera.
6. Crafts – designs, weaving, carving, etcetera.
7. Sales and marketing – providing services for manufacturers, manufacturers’ representatives, etcetera.
8. From waste to wealth – refuse disposal, human waste disposal, scraps (metal and aluminum), etcetera.
Writing on, The Lure of Entrepreneuring, Sunny Obazu-Ojeagbase, one of the foremost promoters of entrepreneurship in Nigeria in his well published monthly magazine, Success Digest of February, 1998 edition, page 47 wrote this timely piece as he asks and challenges us: “Have you ever been in the vicinity where human waste is being emptied from a septic tank? Right, you’ve got it: it’s not a nice place to be around! What with flies and the foul smelling odour that fill the air. The people providing the important service of emptying septic tanks have a nice slogan that puts the reward of their job in a sweet-smelling perspective. They say, ‘Owo igbe kii run,’ which means that ‘human waste money does not smell.’ And I agree with them absolutely, it doesn’t! But I have been thinking. Suppose there is a product in the market which can be poured into a septic tank and, a few hours later, dries up the excreta, wouldn’t it be nice? Imagine the septic tank being emptied without everyone in the neighbourhood feeling the discomfort of foul smell for as many hours as the exercise lasts. ‘That will be wonderful,’ did you say? Well, you have the opportunity of bringing that product to the marketplace. And all home owners in Nigeria, if not in ECOWAS, will be grateful to you for bringing a badly needed product within their reach. How can you go about it? Your first step is to find a chemist who can come up with the right formulation (or you could come up with the formulation if you know how to) that will accomplish the task described and, pronto, you are on your way to becoming a millionaire!
“Of course, it is not as simple as I’ve put it. There is a lot of hard work and persistence before you can reach that promise land. But it is worth the effort. Just remember, nothing good comes easy! So, get cracking, and I’ll see you at the top some day soon!”
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SPIRITUALITY
The path of entrepreneurship is the path to personal financial independence. Every major company aside governments’ owned enterprises are efforts in entrepreneurship. It allows you time to worship God, attend Church programs and activities. You are your own boss; you are in control; you call the shots!
PEOPLE AND THEIR CAREER CHOICES
There are various career choices as there are different kinds of human beings on planet earth today. People are admitted into various universities to study any of the following:
· Accounting.
· Banking and Finance.
· Computer Science.
· Engineering.
· Medicine/Surgery.
· Mass Communication.
· Law.
· Political Science.
· Economics.
· Food, Nutrition and Dietetics.
· Sociology, Psychology and Anthropology which qualifies them for career in the Armed
forces.
· Theatre Arts.
· Education.
· Nursing, Midwifery, Health Sciences, Laboratory Technology.
· Pharmacy.
· Optometry and Dentistry.
· Library Sciences and Secretarial Administration.
· Aeronautics.
· Metallurgical and Materials’ Engineering.
· Information and Communication Technologies.
· Social Work.
· Agriculture and Agricultural Economics.
· Wood Works and Allied products.
· Cosmetology.
· The list goes on!
CAREER IN MINISTRY
While people kill themselves over these disciplines, only a negligible few consider a career in Ministry – becoming preachers of the Word of God; preparing men and women for the Kingdom above. The question therefore is, “If all of us are going into secular professions, who will preach?” Amos 8:11-12 foresaw a time when there will be a famine of the Word. When all of us abandon Ministry, a time will come when we will not have people to preach to us the undiluted Word of God.
· Theatre Arts.
· Education.
· Nursing, Midwifery, Health Sciences, Laboratory Technology.
· Pharmacy.
· Optometry and Dentistry.
· Library Sciences and Secretarial Administration.
· Aeronautics.
· Metallurgical and Materials’ Engineering.
· Information and Communication Technologies.
· Social Work.
· Agriculture and Agricultural Economics.
· Wood Works and Allied products.
· Cosmetology.
· The list goes on!
CAREER IN MINISTRY
While people kill themselves over these disciplines, only a negligible few consider a career in Ministry – becoming preachers of the Word of God; preparing men and women for the Kingdom above. The question therefore is, “If all of us are going into secular professions, who will preach?” Amos 8:11-12 foresaw a time when there will be a famine of the Word. When all of us abandon Ministry, a time will come when we will not have people to preach to us the undiluted Word of God.
DANGERS, PITFALLS AND RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH CAREERS
Time would not allow me to state categorically all the risks and pitfalls associated with each career but we should be aware that each career choice comes with its peculiar threats to our Christian Faith. The pitfalls of some are defined by their immoral undertones, the glitz and glamour associated with them, the caliber of people we meet in the course of our careers; to others, the pitfalls lie in their material attachments and overt economic empowerments. These, ordinarily should not pose as threats as we can turn their threats into opportunities to make the Gospel and Doctrines of Jesus Christ known. However, the problem may lie in our individual predispositions to them.
We, therefore, must hedge ourselves against those things that will rob us of our faith, integrity, moral purity and commitment to the cause of Christ. We must be like:
1. David who said, “In my prosperity, I shall never be moved.” (Psalms 30:6).
2. Daniel and his friends who took personal decisions not to “Defile themselves with the portions of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine with which he drank….” (Daniel 1:8).
3. Moses, who though was in Government House (Palace) and was next to the throne of Egypt chose not to “enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” and to suffer with the people of Christ knowing that the future was greater and more glorious than today (Heb. 11: 24 -26).
Our Lord Jesus Christ had warned that our lives do not consist in the abundance of the material possessions we have (Luke 12:15). I Corinthians 15:19 warns that we are miserable only when we think that earth life is all that there is. I Corinthians 7:29-31 states that this present life should not be relied on as everything is being topsy-turved.
CONCLUSION
All of us who are heaven-bound must endeavour not to become “Heavenly useful and 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. Therefore, I urge all of us going by Scriptural admonition to, “whatever you do, do that to the glory of God.” (I Corinthians 10:31-32).
Choose you career but do not let your career choose you. Do not marry your career at the expense of your Christian faith and commitment.
Get educated! Define your career path!! Do not loose your faith and commitment to Jesus and His Church!!!
God bless you!
REFERENCES
Professor Alex I. Ikeme, Dr. (Mrs.) V. C. Onu, Robert Ezeanwu and Hilary
Johnson Chukwuma Chukwurah. (2009: 100-101). Creativity,
Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Nsukka: Center for
Entrepreneurship and Development Research.
Obazu-Ojeagbase, S.(1998).“The Lure for Entrepreneuring.” SuccessDigest.
Lagos: Success Attitude Development Centre, SADC.
PARABLES OF LOST SHEEP, LOST COIN AND LOST SON
2010 ANNUAL LECTURESHIP OF NIGERIAN CHRISTIAN BIBLE COLLEGE, NCBC, UKPOM, ABAK, AKWA IBOM STATE HELD ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 2010
SPEAKER: EVANGELIST HILARY JOHNSON CHUKWUMA
CHUKWURAH
EXORDIUM:
It is indeed an honour to stand before you tonight to make a presentation on three outstanding parables of Jesus Christ. These parables are located in Luke chapter 15 verse one through verses thirty-two. These parables occupy a whole discourse, considering the fact that it took Jesus a complete chapter to relate.
Parables have been described as earthly stories with heavenly meanings. Parables were perfect media for Jesus to convey significant messages across to mankind. They were windows through which people could see through to the inner houses of their intended meanings. Jesus had told Nicodemus that if he could not understand earthly statements, he would not be able to appreciate the heavenly when related to him (John 3:12).
Jesus used parables to a great advantage. It was Chinua Achebe in his famous Things Fall Apart who wrote that parables are oil with which elderly people eat words.
Luke 15:1-32 is one passage of scripture that is loaded with parables – all speaking of one thing; pointing to one direction – God’s concern for His creatures. It contains three parables:
1. Parable of the Lost Sheep.
2. Parable of the Lost Coin
3. Parable of the Lost Son.
We can, therefore, say that Jesus moved from concerns with material to spiritual; from objects of less value to object of greater value. It bespeaks His mission to earth, which was to “Seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) accentuating the greatest love statement ever uttered: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son” (John 3:6).
CONCEPTUALIZING PARABLES
George Fyler Townsend in the preface to his translation of Aesop's Fables, defined "parable" as "The designed use of language purposely intended to convey a hidden and secret meaning other than that contained in the words themselves, and which may bear a special reference to the hearer or reader."
A parable is a brief, succinct story, in prose or verse, that illustrates a moral or religious lesson. It differs from a fable in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as characters, while parables generally feature human characters. It is a type of analogy.
The word "parable" comes from the Greek "παραβολή" (parabolē), the name given by Greek rhetoricians to any fictive illustration in the form of a brief narrative. Later it came to mean a fictitious narrative, generally referring to something that might naturally occur, by which spiritual and moral matters might be conveyed.
A parable is a short tale that illustrates universal truth, one of the simplest of narratives. It sketches a setting, describes an action, and shows the results. It often involves a character facing a moral dilemma, or making a questionable decision and then suffering the consequences. As with a fable, a parable generally relates a single, simple, consistent action without extraneous detail or distracting circumstances.
JESUS USES OF PARABLES
As a Master-Teacher, Jesus sure knew how to communicate. He employed the use of images and concepts, which drove home lessons He wanted His audience to take home with, ponder over and internalize. One powerful medium which He utilized greatly was parables. He used parables to teach Kingdom principles. This much He had made plain in Mark 4:30 when He stated, “… To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it?”
Like the rabbis of His time, Jesus used simple word-pictures, called parables, to help people understand who God is and what His Kingdom or Reign is like. Jesus used images and characters taken from everyday life to create a miniature play or drama to illustrate His message. This was Jesus most common way of teaching. His stories appealed to the young and old; poor and rich; to the learned and unlearned as well. Over a third of the Gospels by Matthew, Mark, and Luke contain parables told by Jesus.
Jesus loved to use illustrations to reach the heart of his listeners through their imaginations. These word-pictures challenged the mind to discover anew what and who God is like and moved the heart to make a response to God's love and truth. Like a skillful artist, Jesus painted evocative pictures with short and simple words.
CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF THE THREE PARABLES
The opening montage of Luke 15 gives us insight into why Jesus told these three parables. It was a case of “tax collectors and sinners” against “Pharisees and the Sadducees.” The later were grumbling against the former. It was a situation in which the righteous complained against the unrighteous.
To show God’s uncanny concern for the lost, Jesus told the story of the Lost Sheep. The 99 sheep in the pen were not in danger of being devoured by predators but the lost was – Jesus through His first parable was appealing to the reasoning of the righteous, saying in essence – The lost need repentance but the righteous do not. They also convey to the hearers and readers (in our own case) how the lost should be treated.
SYNOPSIS OF THE THREE PARABLES
The Lost Sheep
The Lost Sheep just wandered away. Perhaps, something caught his attention. He went to look at that article of interest and on and on it wandered farther and farther away from its shepherd. Obviously, there were predators outside the sheepfold who were waiting anxiously for any straying sheep because their dinner would not be complete without a sheep. We are warned in I Peter 5:8 that there is a predator roaring like a lion seeking whom he may devour. In other words, the strayed sheep was in danger of being devoured by both its enemy and the enemy of the shepherd.
What would a good shepherd do? Forget about the lost sheep and go on living as if nothing of significance has happened? Or should he leave the ninety-nine secure sheep in the sheepfold to go in search of the lost one until it is rescued? Good reasoning dictates that the later is the better option.
Jesus, obviously wanted this parable to serve as the launch pad for the last two: Lost Coin and Lost Son.
The Lost COIN
The housewife who lost a coin faced something of an economic disaster, since the value of the coin would be equivalent to her husband's daily wage. What would she say to her husband when he returned home from work? They were poor and would suffer greatly because of the loss. Her grief and anxiety turned to joy when she found the Lost Coin.
NOTE:
If men in Jesus’ audience could identify with a shepherd who lost his shepherd considering that most of them were by occupation shepherds, women in Jesus’ audience could identify with their fellow woman who lost a day’s wage, it would also not be difficult for fathers to identify with a father who lost his son to the alluring life outside the “family love and care” in search of meaning in the “wild world” of sin and prodigality. Of a truth, we are each faced with “dazzling sights and tempting sounds” which should ordinarily assault our spiritual and moral sensibilities (II Peter 2:7-8) but are unfortunately attractive to a larger percentage of our people.
The Lost SON
The third parable is about a man who had two sons. The younger son asked his father for money. The son wanted to receive immediately the money that he would receive after the father’s death. Then the son went away into a far country. He wasted his money in bad habits and wrong behaviour.
The lost sheep just wandered away. The lost coin is like the careless sinner. He does not know that he is lost. But the Lost Son decided to go away. He meant to do it. At last, everything went wrong for this son. He had no more money to buy food. He went back to his father. He wanted to be like a servant to his father. But the father was watching for his Lost Son. The father had always hoped that his Lost Son would come back. The father saw his Lost Son approach. So, the father ran to meet his son. He organized a great party because of the return of his Lost Son.
THE LOST SON: THE CLIMAX OF THE THREE PARABLES
Jesus in Matthew 6:26 had asked rhetorically, “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more valuable than they?”
In Luke 13:10-17, when a ruler of a synagogue had complained over Jesus’ healing of a woman in whom a “spirit of infirmity” had laid claim on asked, “Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound – think of it – for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond, on the Sabbath?” (Vs. 15-16, NKJV).
What do these signify? Obviously God was more interested in humans that He is of birds of the air, donkeys, oxen, coins, et cetera. This explains why the Parable of the Lost Son is the Climax of the three parables. The previous two parables were to lay the ground work upon which to build the superstructures of the Parable of the Lost Son.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son has been called, the “Pearle and Crown of all Parable” and “Evangelium in Evangelio” meaning, “The Gospel within the Gospel”
This parable focuses on man’s generation, his degeneration and regeneration. It is a graphic description of man’s downward journey and his upward journey back to God. In the parables of the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin Jesus was concerned with conversion of sinners but in the Parable of the Lost Son He became concerned with restoration of fellowship.
The major theme of this parable seems not to be so much the conversion of the sinner, as in the previous two parables of Luke 15, but rather the restoration of a believer into fellowship with the Father. The main difference being that the owner went out to look for what was lost in the first two (Luke 15:1-10), whereas in this story the father waited and watched eagerly for his son's return. We see a progression between the three parables from the relationship of one in a hundred (Luke 15:1-7), to one in ten (Luke 15:8-10), to one in one (Luke 15:11-32); demonstrating God’s love for each individual and His personal attentiveness towards all humanity.
From Lost State To Recovered State
The story bothered around two sons: one was the assuming but the other was unassuming; one was self-serving but the other was concerned with the father’s concerns. In Matthew 21:28-31 Jesus told another parable of two sons: one disobeyed and repented but the other pledged allegiance but never acted on his pledges.
In Luke’s account of the Lost Son, we see a son applying for assertion of his fundamental right of independence: his right to the inheritance, which the father readily obliged. In this we see that we all have our rights to inheritance and that God does not in any way interfere with our personal decisions to live our lives the way we want as He had created each person as a free moral agent.
Having received his own share of the inheritance, “he went into a far country” where he was not able to manage his new found freedom and ended up squandering his resources on loose living with people of easy virtues. That decision led to disaster. Obviously, decisional disaster attracts moral and spiritual disasters, thereby paving way for natural and eternal disasters. We are all accountable to ourselves and to God for the choices we make. When we make the choices we make, we should be ready to face the consequences.
What the Prodigal Son had refused to do for His own father, the harsh realities of his own circumstance forced him to do for a stranger who dehumanized him by making him take care of animals which his culture forbade (Luke 15:15-16; cf. Lev. 11:7-8). Even these unclean animals seemed to be better off than he was at this point. This is a picture of the state of the lost sinner or a rebellious Christian who has returned to a life of slavery to sin (2 Peter 2:19-21). It is a picture of what sin really does in a person’s life, when they reject the Father’s will (Hebrews 12:1, Acts 8:23).
Sin always promises more than it gives, takes you further than you wanted to go, and leaves you worse off than you were before. Sin promises freedom but brings slavery (Romans 6:21).
HOPE IN THE HORIZON
Luke 15:17 is like an oasis in this desert of anguish and despair. Bible says, “But when he came to himself (to his senses)….” It brought the cheering news that the Lost Son had begun to reflect on his condition and realized that even his father's servants had it better than him. His painful circumstances helped him to see his father in a new light and brought him hope (Psalm 147:11, Isaiah 40:30-31, Romans 8:24-25, 1 Timothy 4:10).
This is reflective of the sinner when he/she discovers the destitute condition of his/her life because of sin. It is a realization that apart from God there is no hope (Ephesians 2:12, 2 Timothy 2:25-26). This is when a repentant sinner “comes to his senses” and longs to return to the state of fellowship with God which was lost when Adam sinned (Genesis 3:8).
The son devised a plan of action. Though at a quick glance it may seem that he may not be truly repentant, but rather motivated by his hunger, a more thorough study of the text gives new insights. He is willing to give up his rights as his father’s son and take on the position of his servant. Regardless of the motivation it demonstrates a true humility and true repentance, not based on what he said but was willing to do and eventually acted upon (Acts 26:20). He realized he had no right to claim a blessing upon return to his father’s household, nor did he have anything to offer, except a life of service, in repentance of his previous actions.
Self-realization is the first step to restoration because self-discovery leads to self-recovery and Self-realization would always lead to self actualization. He became man enough to go back to his father. He proved that he was a “child” when he requested for his own share of the estate but by his repentance he had showed that he had come of age.
The rest, as they say, is history: he went back to his father and rather get rebuked, he got a warn embrace. Rather than receive rejection, he received a grand reception meet for a royalty that had gone on an expedition! This is indeed ironical – how could the father be so unconditional in his demonstration of love and forgiveness? Surprisingly, however, that is the way our Heavenly Father is!!! It is called GRACE – Unmerited favour – God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
THE SPIRITUAL PRODIGALITY OF THE OBEDIENT “HOME” SON
The father dealt with two lost sons – one lost to sin and spiritual slavery, the other lost to his self-serving and righteousness.
It is instructive to state that the man’s two sons were lost to different aspects of prodigalities. The original Prodigal Son was lost because of what he did while the good home boy was equally lost because of what he had failed to do, thus providing a fresh insight into James 4:17 ”…to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
While the Prodigal Son represented “Tax collectors and sinners” in Luke 15:1 the good home boy son represented “Pharisees and Sadducees” who could not share with Jesus the joy of the return of the prodigals. They had bad attitudes, forgetting that Jesus was sent not for the righteous but for the unrighteous since it was only the sick who were in need of physician not the healthy (Mark 2:16-17).
The older brother’s focus was on himself and as a result there was no joy in his brother’s arrival home. He was too self-consumed with issues of justice and equity that he failed to see the value in the fact that his brother had repented and returned. He had a right to be angry and to feel the way he felt but he went too far. He had an attitude problem.
It is a tragedy to have sound moral, social and spiritual characters but posses wrong attitudes towards others. This was the attitude of the Pharisees and Sadducees who have been described as those who were “Far-to-see” and those who are “Sad-to-see.”
However, after correcting the false impressions that had formed in the mind of his good-home-boy son, the father reaffirmed his position and commended his obedience, telling him that what he had was all his (Luke 15:31). For every one who serves God and has not indulged in any act of prodigality, spiritual or moral rascality, this is a promise to claim.
In Luke 15:32 the father prevailed on his “good son” to join every member of the family in rolling out drums for celebration. We should celebrate because angels and the Host of Heaven are celebrating the return of the prodigals (Luke 15:7, 10)!
APPLICATIONS FOR PARENTS AND CONGREGATIONS
Obviously, every parable has its moral lessons and applications for us who are alive in the land of the living today. I like to make applications for individuals, parents and congregations.
INDIVIDUALS
For every prodigal son or daughter who is wallowing in one form of prodigality or another, God is saying, “It is time to come home!” Do not allow yourself to pass through the “School of Hard Knocks” as the Prodigal king in II Chronicles 33:10-13 and Prodigal Son of Luke 15:11-32 did. Now is the acceptable time and today is the day of salvation (II Corinthians 6:1-2; Hebrews 3:7-8).
Your Heavenly Father is anxiously and sleeplessly waiting to welcome you home, embrace you and celebration your spiritual regeneration.
PARENTS
The present-day story of the Prodigal Son is one of the most heart-wrenching experiences for a Christian parent. Helplessness can turn to hopelessness and hopelessness can turn to despair. Often, the more a parent tries to return a child to Christ, the more the child runs away from his Christian roots. The “prodigal experience” (the emotionally-charged relationship between a Christian parent and a rebellious child) is a universal challenge to Christian faith. We can all identify with this situation. What needs to be done for our children have been done yet they decide to go away.
The story of the Prodigal Son in the Gospel of Luke is familiar to all of us. In part, it’s the story of a rebellious son who rejects his father’s upbringing. Prideful and strong, the son heads-off to a far-away land, leads a wild life of adventure, and squanders everything of value (literally and spiritually). Not until he’s confronted with failure and despair, does he return home, repentant and willing to do anything to win back his father’s favour.
To parents who are going through experiences with prodigal children (sons or daughters), you must take courage in the fact that your prodigals will return. Do what the father in the story did: keep praying, keep looking out for the return of your prodigals. There is hope that he or she will one day return to his/her senses and return to you.
Sometimes, our prodigals try to prove to us that one’s sound spiritual and moral upbringings are not insurance against prodigalities (Prov. 22:16; cf. II Chron. 33:3; II Kings 18:5-7). These can happen until they hit rock-bottom and learn from the “School of Hard Knocks.” Do not fight with your prodigal. Leave hi/her to his/her choices but do not stop to pray for your prodigal. Pray that your prodigal would encounter a life-threatening but life-changing experience that would bring them on their knees and hunger for reconciliation with their God (II Chron. 33:11-13; Luke 15:14-17).
CONGREGATIONS AND CONGREGATIONAL LEADERSHIP
The crux of Jesus’ Parable of the Lost Son was how God responded to His own Prodigals (in which case, all of us) and how we should respond to our own prodigals.
The “Now, Now”; “Fast Food” and “Wait-and-Take” mentalities are largely responsible for prodigalities and rascality amongst God’s people in any era. A prodigal is a wasteful person. There are people who waste their moralities by “sowing wild oaths” and those who waste their spiritual heritage by seeking for help where none is to be found.
The Father’s response to the son’s return should teach us how to respond to those who are disfellowship from the Fold. No conditionalities. No panel was set up to investigate their true repentance. No mourners Bench was set aside to ascertain the genuineness of his repentance. All that the father needed was the return of the son and his acknowledgement of his folly.
COMMUNITY CONCERN
As the community of the saved, this parable gives us a glimpse of the heart of a true shepherd, and the joy of a community reunited with its lost members. Shepherds not only had to watch over their sheep by day and by night; they also had to protect them from wolves and lions who preyed upon them, and from dangerous terrain and storms. Shepherds often had large flocks, sometimes numbering in the hundreds or thousands. It was common to inspect and count the sheep at the end of the day. You can imagine the surprise and grief of the shepherd who discovers that one of his sheep is missing! Does he wait until the next day to go looking for it? Or does he ask a neighboring shepherd if he might has seen the stray sheep? No, he goes immediately in search of this lost sheep. Delay for even one night could mean disaster leading to death. Sheep by nature are very social creatures. An isolated sheep can quickly become bewildered, disoriented, and even neurotic. Easy prey for wolves and lions; of false prophets and false teachers! Let Galatians 6:1-2 be our guide.
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION AND CELEBRATION
Both the shepherd and the housewife "search until what they have lost is found". The father of the prodigal waited until his son returned. Their persistence paid off. They instinctively shared their joy with the whole community. The restoration of the prodigal son ended with a festive party celebrated by the whole community. What was new in Jesus' teaching was the insistence that sinners must be sought out and not merely mourned for. God does not rejoice in the loss of anyone, but desires that all be saved and restored to fellowship with Him. That is why the whole community of heaven rejoices when one sinner is found and restored to fellowship with God.
APPEAL
Let us leave off the attitudes of keeping our returned prodigals at arms-length, suspecting their motives and not believing that their return is for any good. Let us stop making them feel like “strangers” that they are not; giving them sense of rejection, telling them that they are not really welcomed. Rather, let us as the father of the prodigal call for spiritual celebrations, go to our wardrobes to get the best robes, rings on their fingers, sandals on their feet and adorned them with these precious items. Let us kill the fattened calves and celebrate because the “dead” have come back to life and the “lost have been found!”
Thank you!
Evangelist Hilary Johnson Chukwuma Chukwurah
Minister, CAMPUS/TOWNSHIP CHURCH OF CHRIST,
14, Agbugwu Lane, off, University Market Road, P. O. Box
v 351, Nsukka - 410002, Enugu State, Nigeria.
PHONE: 234-08039596919.
E-MAIL: hilaryjohnsonc@yahoo.com;
hilaryjohnsonc@gmail.com
SPEAKER: EVANGELIST HILARY JOHNSON CHUKWUMA
CHUKWURAH
EXORDIUM:
It is indeed an honour to stand before you tonight to make a presentation on three outstanding parables of Jesus Christ. These parables are located in Luke chapter 15 verse one through verses thirty-two. These parables occupy a whole discourse, considering the fact that it took Jesus a complete chapter to relate.
Parables have been described as earthly stories with heavenly meanings. Parables were perfect media for Jesus to convey significant messages across to mankind. They were windows through which people could see through to the inner houses of their intended meanings. Jesus had told Nicodemus that if he could not understand earthly statements, he would not be able to appreciate the heavenly when related to him (John 3:12).
Jesus used parables to a great advantage. It was Chinua Achebe in his famous Things Fall Apart who wrote that parables are oil with which elderly people eat words.
Luke 15:1-32 is one passage of scripture that is loaded with parables – all speaking of one thing; pointing to one direction – God’s concern for His creatures. It contains three parables:
1. Parable of the Lost Sheep.
2. Parable of the Lost Coin
3. Parable of the Lost Son.
We can, therefore, say that Jesus moved from concerns with material to spiritual; from objects of less value to object of greater value. It bespeaks His mission to earth, which was to “Seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) accentuating the greatest love statement ever uttered: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son” (John 3:6).
CONCEPTUALIZING PARABLES
George Fyler Townsend in the preface to his translation of Aesop's Fables, defined "parable" as "The designed use of language purposely intended to convey a hidden and secret meaning other than that contained in the words themselves, and which may bear a special reference to the hearer or reader."
A parable is a brief, succinct story, in prose or verse, that illustrates a moral or religious lesson. It differs from a fable in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as characters, while parables generally feature human characters. It is a type of analogy.
The word "parable" comes from the Greek "παραβολή" (parabolē), the name given by Greek rhetoricians to any fictive illustration in the form of a brief narrative. Later it came to mean a fictitious narrative, generally referring to something that might naturally occur, by which spiritual and moral matters might be conveyed.
A parable is a short tale that illustrates universal truth, one of the simplest of narratives. It sketches a setting, describes an action, and shows the results. It often involves a character facing a moral dilemma, or making a questionable decision and then suffering the consequences. As with a fable, a parable generally relates a single, simple, consistent action without extraneous detail or distracting circumstances.
JESUS USES OF PARABLES
As a Master-Teacher, Jesus sure knew how to communicate. He employed the use of images and concepts, which drove home lessons He wanted His audience to take home with, ponder over and internalize. One powerful medium which He utilized greatly was parables. He used parables to teach Kingdom principles. This much He had made plain in Mark 4:30 when He stated, “… To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it?”
Like the rabbis of His time, Jesus used simple word-pictures, called parables, to help people understand who God is and what His Kingdom or Reign is like. Jesus used images and characters taken from everyday life to create a miniature play or drama to illustrate His message. This was Jesus most common way of teaching. His stories appealed to the young and old; poor and rich; to the learned and unlearned as well. Over a third of the Gospels by Matthew, Mark, and Luke contain parables told by Jesus.
Jesus loved to use illustrations to reach the heart of his listeners through their imaginations. These word-pictures challenged the mind to discover anew what and who God is like and moved the heart to make a response to God's love and truth. Like a skillful artist, Jesus painted evocative pictures with short and simple words.
CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF THE THREE PARABLES
The opening montage of Luke 15 gives us insight into why Jesus told these three parables. It was a case of “tax collectors and sinners” against “Pharisees and the Sadducees.” The later were grumbling against the former. It was a situation in which the righteous complained against the unrighteous.
To show God’s uncanny concern for the lost, Jesus told the story of the Lost Sheep. The 99 sheep in the pen were not in danger of being devoured by predators but the lost was – Jesus through His first parable was appealing to the reasoning of the righteous, saying in essence – The lost need repentance but the righteous do not. They also convey to the hearers and readers (in our own case) how the lost should be treated.
SYNOPSIS OF THE THREE PARABLES
The Lost Sheep
The Lost Sheep just wandered away. Perhaps, something caught his attention. He went to look at that article of interest and on and on it wandered farther and farther away from its shepherd. Obviously, there were predators outside the sheepfold who were waiting anxiously for any straying sheep because their dinner would not be complete without a sheep. We are warned in I Peter 5:8 that there is a predator roaring like a lion seeking whom he may devour. In other words, the strayed sheep was in danger of being devoured by both its enemy and the enemy of the shepherd.
What would a good shepherd do? Forget about the lost sheep and go on living as if nothing of significance has happened? Or should he leave the ninety-nine secure sheep in the sheepfold to go in search of the lost one until it is rescued? Good reasoning dictates that the later is the better option.
Jesus, obviously wanted this parable to serve as the launch pad for the last two: Lost Coin and Lost Son.
The Lost COIN
The housewife who lost a coin faced something of an economic disaster, since the value of the coin would be equivalent to her husband's daily wage. What would she say to her husband when he returned home from work? They were poor and would suffer greatly because of the loss. Her grief and anxiety turned to joy when she found the Lost Coin.
NOTE:
If men in Jesus’ audience could identify with a shepherd who lost his shepherd considering that most of them were by occupation shepherds, women in Jesus’ audience could identify with their fellow woman who lost a day’s wage, it would also not be difficult for fathers to identify with a father who lost his son to the alluring life outside the “family love and care” in search of meaning in the “wild world” of sin and prodigality. Of a truth, we are each faced with “dazzling sights and tempting sounds” which should ordinarily assault our spiritual and moral sensibilities (II Peter 2:7-8) but are unfortunately attractive to a larger percentage of our people.
The Lost SON
The third parable is about a man who had two sons. The younger son asked his father for money. The son wanted to receive immediately the money that he would receive after the father’s death. Then the son went away into a far country. He wasted his money in bad habits and wrong behaviour.
The lost sheep just wandered away. The lost coin is like the careless sinner. He does not know that he is lost. But the Lost Son decided to go away. He meant to do it. At last, everything went wrong for this son. He had no more money to buy food. He went back to his father. He wanted to be like a servant to his father. But the father was watching for his Lost Son. The father had always hoped that his Lost Son would come back. The father saw his Lost Son approach. So, the father ran to meet his son. He organized a great party because of the return of his Lost Son.
THE LOST SON: THE CLIMAX OF THE THREE PARABLES
Jesus in Matthew 6:26 had asked rhetorically, “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more valuable than they?”
In Luke 13:10-17, when a ruler of a synagogue had complained over Jesus’ healing of a woman in whom a “spirit of infirmity” had laid claim on asked, “Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound – think of it – for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond, on the Sabbath?” (Vs. 15-16, NKJV).
What do these signify? Obviously God was more interested in humans that He is of birds of the air, donkeys, oxen, coins, et cetera. This explains why the Parable of the Lost Son is the Climax of the three parables. The previous two parables were to lay the ground work upon which to build the superstructures of the Parable of the Lost Son.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son has been called, the “Pearle and Crown of all Parable” and “Evangelium in Evangelio” meaning, “The Gospel within the Gospel”
This parable focuses on man’s generation, his degeneration and regeneration. It is a graphic description of man’s downward journey and his upward journey back to God. In the parables of the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin Jesus was concerned with conversion of sinners but in the Parable of the Lost Son He became concerned with restoration of fellowship.
The major theme of this parable seems not to be so much the conversion of the sinner, as in the previous two parables of Luke 15, but rather the restoration of a believer into fellowship with the Father. The main difference being that the owner went out to look for what was lost in the first two (Luke 15:1-10), whereas in this story the father waited and watched eagerly for his son's return. We see a progression between the three parables from the relationship of one in a hundred (Luke 15:1-7), to one in ten (Luke 15:8-10), to one in one (Luke 15:11-32); demonstrating God’s love for each individual and His personal attentiveness towards all humanity.
From Lost State To Recovered State
The story bothered around two sons: one was the assuming but the other was unassuming; one was self-serving but the other was concerned with the father’s concerns. In Matthew 21:28-31 Jesus told another parable of two sons: one disobeyed and repented but the other pledged allegiance but never acted on his pledges.
In Luke’s account of the Lost Son, we see a son applying for assertion of his fundamental right of independence: his right to the inheritance, which the father readily obliged. In this we see that we all have our rights to inheritance and that God does not in any way interfere with our personal decisions to live our lives the way we want as He had created each person as a free moral agent.
Having received his own share of the inheritance, “he went into a far country” where he was not able to manage his new found freedom and ended up squandering his resources on loose living with people of easy virtues. That decision led to disaster. Obviously, decisional disaster attracts moral and spiritual disasters, thereby paving way for natural and eternal disasters. We are all accountable to ourselves and to God for the choices we make. When we make the choices we make, we should be ready to face the consequences.
What the Prodigal Son had refused to do for His own father, the harsh realities of his own circumstance forced him to do for a stranger who dehumanized him by making him take care of animals which his culture forbade (Luke 15:15-16; cf. Lev. 11:7-8). Even these unclean animals seemed to be better off than he was at this point. This is a picture of the state of the lost sinner or a rebellious Christian who has returned to a life of slavery to sin (2 Peter 2:19-21). It is a picture of what sin really does in a person’s life, when they reject the Father’s will (Hebrews 12:1, Acts 8:23).
Sin always promises more than it gives, takes you further than you wanted to go, and leaves you worse off than you were before. Sin promises freedom but brings slavery (Romans 6:21).
HOPE IN THE HORIZON
Luke 15:17 is like an oasis in this desert of anguish and despair. Bible says, “But when he came to himself (to his senses)….” It brought the cheering news that the Lost Son had begun to reflect on his condition and realized that even his father's servants had it better than him. His painful circumstances helped him to see his father in a new light and brought him hope (Psalm 147:11, Isaiah 40:30-31, Romans 8:24-25, 1 Timothy 4:10).
This is reflective of the sinner when he/she discovers the destitute condition of his/her life because of sin. It is a realization that apart from God there is no hope (Ephesians 2:12, 2 Timothy 2:25-26). This is when a repentant sinner “comes to his senses” and longs to return to the state of fellowship with God which was lost when Adam sinned (Genesis 3:8).
The son devised a plan of action. Though at a quick glance it may seem that he may not be truly repentant, but rather motivated by his hunger, a more thorough study of the text gives new insights. He is willing to give up his rights as his father’s son and take on the position of his servant. Regardless of the motivation it demonstrates a true humility and true repentance, not based on what he said but was willing to do and eventually acted upon (Acts 26:20). He realized he had no right to claim a blessing upon return to his father’s household, nor did he have anything to offer, except a life of service, in repentance of his previous actions.
Self-realization is the first step to restoration because self-discovery leads to self-recovery and Self-realization would always lead to self actualization. He became man enough to go back to his father. He proved that he was a “child” when he requested for his own share of the estate but by his repentance he had showed that he had come of age.
The rest, as they say, is history: he went back to his father and rather get rebuked, he got a warn embrace. Rather than receive rejection, he received a grand reception meet for a royalty that had gone on an expedition! This is indeed ironical – how could the father be so unconditional in his demonstration of love and forgiveness? Surprisingly, however, that is the way our Heavenly Father is!!! It is called GRACE – Unmerited favour – God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
THE SPIRITUAL PRODIGALITY OF THE OBEDIENT “HOME” SON
The father dealt with two lost sons – one lost to sin and spiritual slavery, the other lost to his self-serving and righteousness.
It is instructive to state that the man’s two sons were lost to different aspects of prodigalities. The original Prodigal Son was lost because of what he did while the good home boy was equally lost because of what he had failed to do, thus providing a fresh insight into James 4:17 ”…to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
While the Prodigal Son represented “Tax collectors and sinners” in Luke 15:1 the good home boy son represented “Pharisees and Sadducees” who could not share with Jesus the joy of the return of the prodigals. They had bad attitudes, forgetting that Jesus was sent not for the righteous but for the unrighteous since it was only the sick who were in need of physician not the healthy (Mark 2:16-17).
The older brother’s focus was on himself and as a result there was no joy in his brother’s arrival home. He was too self-consumed with issues of justice and equity that he failed to see the value in the fact that his brother had repented and returned. He had a right to be angry and to feel the way he felt but he went too far. He had an attitude problem.
It is a tragedy to have sound moral, social and spiritual characters but posses wrong attitudes towards others. This was the attitude of the Pharisees and Sadducees who have been described as those who were “Far-to-see” and those who are “Sad-to-see.”
However, after correcting the false impressions that had formed in the mind of his good-home-boy son, the father reaffirmed his position and commended his obedience, telling him that what he had was all his (Luke 15:31). For every one who serves God and has not indulged in any act of prodigality, spiritual or moral rascality, this is a promise to claim.
In Luke 15:32 the father prevailed on his “good son” to join every member of the family in rolling out drums for celebration. We should celebrate because angels and the Host of Heaven are celebrating the return of the prodigals (Luke 15:7, 10)!
APPLICATIONS FOR PARENTS AND CONGREGATIONS
Obviously, every parable has its moral lessons and applications for us who are alive in the land of the living today. I like to make applications for individuals, parents and congregations.
INDIVIDUALS
For every prodigal son or daughter who is wallowing in one form of prodigality or another, God is saying, “It is time to come home!” Do not allow yourself to pass through the “School of Hard Knocks” as the Prodigal king in II Chronicles 33:10-13 and Prodigal Son of Luke 15:11-32 did. Now is the acceptable time and today is the day of salvation (II Corinthians 6:1-2; Hebrews 3:7-8).
Your Heavenly Father is anxiously and sleeplessly waiting to welcome you home, embrace you and celebration your spiritual regeneration.
PARENTS
The present-day story of the Prodigal Son is one of the most heart-wrenching experiences for a Christian parent. Helplessness can turn to hopelessness and hopelessness can turn to despair. Often, the more a parent tries to return a child to Christ, the more the child runs away from his Christian roots. The “prodigal experience” (the emotionally-charged relationship between a Christian parent and a rebellious child) is a universal challenge to Christian faith. We can all identify with this situation. What needs to be done for our children have been done yet they decide to go away.
The story of the Prodigal Son in the Gospel of Luke is familiar to all of us. In part, it’s the story of a rebellious son who rejects his father’s upbringing. Prideful and strong, the son heads-off to a far-away land, leads a wild life of adventure, and squanders everything of value (literally and spiritually). Not until he’s confronted with failure and despair, does he return home, repentant and willing to do anything to win back his father’s favour.
To parents who are going through experiences with prodigal children (sons or daughters), you must take courage in the fact that your prodigals will return. Do what the father in the story did: keep praying, keep looking out for the return of your prodigals. There is hope that he or she will one day return to his/her senses and return to you.
Sometimes, our prodigals try to prove to us that one’s sound spiritual and moral upbringings are not insurance against prodigalities (Prov. 22:16; cf. II Chron. 33:3; II Kings 18:5-7). These can happen until they hit rock-bottom and learn from the “School of Hard Knocks.” Do not fight with your prodigal. Leave hi/her to his/her choices but do not stop to pray for your prodigal. Pray that your prodigal would encounter a life-threatening but life-changing experience that would bring them on their knees and hunger for reconciliation with their God (II Chron. 33:11-13; Luke 15:14-17).
CONGREGATIONS AND CONGREGATIONAL LEADERSHIP
The crux of Jesus’ Parable of the Lost Son was how God responded to His own Prodigals (in which case, all of us) and how we should respond to our own prodigals.
The “Now, Now”; “Fast Food” and “Wait-and-Take” mentalities are largely responsible for prodigalities and rascality amongst God’s people in any era. A prodigal is a wasteful person. There are people who waste their moralities by “sowing wild oaths” and those who waste their spiritual heritage by seeking for help where none is to be found.
The Father’s response to the son’s return should teach us how to respond to those who are disfellowship from the Fold. No conditionalities. No panel was set up to investigate their true repentance. No mourners Bench was set aside to ascertain the genuineness of his repentance. All that the father needed was the return of the son and his acknowledgement of his folly.
COMMUNITY CONCERN
As the community of the saved, this parable gives us a glimpse of the heart of a true shepherd, and the joy of a community reunited with its lost members. Shepherds not only had to watch over their sheep by day and by night; they also had to protect them from wolves and lions who preyed upon them, and from dangerous terrain and storms. Shepherds often had large flocks, sometimes numbering in the hundreds or thousands. It was common to inspect and count the sheep at the end of the day. You can imagine the surprise and grief of the shepherd who discovers that one of his sheep is missing! Does he wait until the next day to go looking for it? Or does he ask a neighboring shepherd if he might has seen the stray sheep? No, he goes immediately in search of this lost sheep. Delay for even one night could mean disaster leading to death. Sheep by nature are very social creatures. An isolated sheep can quickly become bewildered, disoriented, and even neurotic. Easy prey for wolves and lions; of false prophets and false teachers! Let Galatians 6:1-2 be our guide.
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION AND CELEBRATION
Both the shepherd and the housewife "search until what they have lost is found". The father of the prodigal waited until his son returned. Their persistence paid off. They instinctively shared their joy with the whole community. The restoration of the prodigal son ended with a festive party celebrated by the whole community. What was new in Jesus' teaching was the insistence that sinners must be sought out and not merely mourned for. God does not rejoice in the loss of anyone, but desires that all be saved and restored to fellowship with Him. That is why the whole community of heaven rejoices when one sinner is found and restored to fellowship with God.
APPEAL
Let us leave off the attitudes of keeping our returned prodigals at arms-length, suspecting their motives and not believing that their return is for any good. Let us stop making them feel like “strangers” that they are not; giving them sense of rejection, telling them that they are not really welcomed. Rather, let us as the father of the prodigal call for spiritual celebrations, go to our wardrobes to get the best robes, rings on their fingers, sandals on their feet and adorned them with these precious items. Let us kill the fattened calves and celebrate because the “dead” have come back to life and the “lost have been found!”
Thank you!
Evangelist Hilary Johnson Chukwuma Chukwurah
Minister, CAMPUS/TOWNSHIP CHURCH OF CHRIST,
14, Agbugwu Lane, off, University Market Road, P. O. Box
v 351, Nsukka - 410002, Enugu State, Nigeria.
PHONE: 234-08039596919.
E-MAIL: hilaryjohnsonc@yahoo.com;
hilaryjohnsonc@gmail.com
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