A Godly Response: Moderation

“Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin!  You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.”

Habakkuk 2:9-11

Frank E. Gabelein wrote in a Christianity Today article entitled “Challenging Christians to the Simple Lifestyle” (September 21, 1979) the following:

With all the Old Testament says about wealth and prosperity, it sets them in clearly defined perspective.  While not forbidding them, it hedges them about with restrictions and cautions.  They are not to be accumulated just for the sake of getting more and more; they must not be gained by oppression and injustice; they can and do lead to covetousness.  They do not belong to us but to God, who is the ultimate owner of all we have.  Therefore, we are stewards, not proprietors, of our wealth.  In our use of it, we are sinning if we do not reflect God’s strong concern for the poor and the hungry, the weak and oppressed.  What we do with what we have must be in accord with the great command to love God with everything we are and have.

            The follower of Christ must be ever so carefully to live a life of justice and mercy and ensure that who we are, the positions we hold and the possessions we gain are gathered and used as stewards.  Unfortunately, we live in a world where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  The rich and powerful elevate their status in life at the expense of the poor and powerless.  These few verses in Habakkuk expressly denounce building up oneself at the expense of others.

           What is the relationship between justice, greed and a moderate lifestyle?

  As followers of Christ, how would you define a “moderate lifestyle”?

            A comedian once said, “I know in my heart, by pure logic, that any man who claims to be a leader of a church is a hustler if he has two suits in a world in which most people have none.”  How do you respond?

 “They know nothing, they understand nothing.

They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken."  

Psalm 82:5

A Godly Response to the Poor

If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land

the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.

Deuteronomy 15:7-11

            Outlined in these verses is the appropriate, godly response to the poor.  As we read the Old Testament law, it become quite evident that the suitable reaction to the poor is an emphasis on a ‘handup’ out of poverty rather than a ‘handout’.  When a ‘handout’ approach is taken, the poor often are left powerless and dependent upon the giver of the handout.  The dominant of society maintain their place of prominence, while the poor also maintain their place of inferiority and lack of resources and dignity.  When a ‘handup’ is given, the one receiving is given opportunity and access to resources.  A ‘handup’ is empowerment to aid in the solving of one’s own problems and needs.

            Consider the law of the gleanings as found in Leviticus 19:9-10:  ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.  Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen.  Leave them for the poor and the alien.  I am the Lord your God.’

            Among the Sabbath laws we find the command to leave the land fallow on the seventh year.  ‘. . .during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused.  Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave.  Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove (Exodus 23:11).’

            A godly response to the poor includes being openhanded.

            A godly response to the poor includes lending freely.

            A godly response to the poor includes harboring no wicked thoughts towards the poor.

            A godly response to the poor includes giving generously.

Remember there will always be poor people in the land.

What experiences have you been involved in which you have given a ‘handout’?  What experiences have you been involved in which you have given a ‘handup’?  What was the significant difference in these two approaches?

Rescue the weak and needy;

Deliver them from the hand of the

wicked.

Psalm 82:4

The Poor Among You

There will always be poor people in the land.

Deuteronomy 15:11

            Verse four and verse eleven of this chapter appear at first glance to be a contradiction.  “There should be no poor among you”, and “There will always be poor people in the land.”

            Very simply put, God’s intention is that there should be no poor among you.  However, as a result of the Fall and the corruptible, natural spirit of people, there will always be poor people.  A careful examination of the entire chapter shows that there is no contradiction at all.

            It seems today that the poor are everywhere, except where the prominent people of society have excluded them.  Consider this data on United States poverty:

·         The United States has the highest overall poverty rate among advanced economies.

·         Approximately 13.2% of  Americans live below the federal poverty level.

·         Federal Poverty level for a family of 4 (2010): $22,500.

·         Nearly one in four children live in households that struggle to put food on the table. That's 16.7 million children.         

Consider these international statistics:

·         More than 1.2 billion of the world’s pollution lives in inadequate housing.

·         An annual income of less than US$10,000. is more than adequate to describe poverty in most developing countries.

·         For the first time in human history the number of overweight people rivals the number of underweight people (Worldwatch Institute).

·         Prior to the earthquake in Haiti about 75% of population lived in absolute poverty.

·         Prior to the earthquake in Haiti about 80% of the population was unemployed.

            What poverty have you observed in your community?

            The question is not:  Why are there poor?  But, what should the Christian’s response be to the poor?

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;

Maintain the rights of the poor

and oppressed.

Psalm 82:3

No Poor Among You

There should be no poor among you,

for in the land of the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you.

Deuteronomy 15:4

                       

Even before the Fall, Adam was commanded to work the garden and take care of God’s creation.  While undertaking this activity, the earth would yield fruits of human labor.  God the Creator intends that the creation in combination with human effort would produce the necessary sustenance for life.  The original intentions of the Creator have not changed since the Fall of Adam and Eve.

       

It is foreseeable that some families would produce more food than they themselves would need.  What than would happen to the surplus?  Does one try to stockpile it—saving it for harder, leaner times?  Or perhaps sell it or exchange it through bartering?  How does one do this keeping faithful to God’s original intentions and one’s selfish desires?  The point is that the Fall has left mankind with a deep gap between God’s intentions and mankind’s practices.

D. Hughes writes, “The central theme of biblical teaching on economic activity is that everyone should enjoy the benefits that accrue from it.  In this sphere Old Testament law, prophetic pronouncements and the teaching of Jesus and his apostles are very much biased towards the poor.”[1]

In Deuteronomy, God commands his people to be certain that there exists no poor among them.  In other words, God indicates that the heavenly blessings will exceed life’s requirements.  The surplus of God’s people must be freely distributed to the poor.  God’s desire is not that the poor should have to beg and become further indebted to the wealthy of society, but that godly people would see the need and abundantly respond.  Hughes observes that “in the community of God’s people, Israel the rich were to supply freely the means for the poor to work themselves out of poverty.”

Why has our world forsaken God’s intentions?

Are the words of God—“there should be no poor among you”—relevant to today’s world?

What are you personally doing to keep these words of God?

God presides in the great assembly;

He gives judgment among the “gods”;

“How long will you defend the unjust

and show partiality to the  wicked?”

Psalm 82:1-2

---

[1] D. Hughes, God of the Poor, p. 157.

What Difference Does Christ Really Make??

“Faith today is treated as something that only should make us different, not that actually does or can make us different.  In reality we vainly struggle against the evils of this world, waiting to die and go to heaven.  Somehow we’ve gotten the idea that the essence of faith is entirely a mental and inward thing.”—Dallas Willard

I recently began reading the book The Hole in Our Gospel:  What Does God Expect of Us? by Richard Stearns.  Stearns seeks to answer a number of relevant questions pertaining to the Gospel.  Questions such as:  What does God expect of us?  What is the Christian faith about?  What does it mean to be a Christian? How are Christians to live in the world?  What kind of relationship are we to have with a holy God?

Sterns puts forth his thesis in the Introduction as he writes; “The idea behind The Hole in Our Gospel is quite simple.  It’s basically the belief that being a Christian, or follower of Jesus Christ, requires much more than just having a personal and transforming relationship with God.  It also entails a public and transforming relationship with the world.”

What difference does Christ really make in the life of a Christian?  Does the acceptance of Christ into our life, in fact, change our belief system, our worldview?  Does the behavior of the Christian really change?  Do the desires of life change when one becomes a Christian?

What concerns me greatly in recent years is that when life’s issues and crises push hard into the life of the Christian, how do we respond?  It is alarming that, according to The Barna Group, the born-again Christian is just as prone to divorce as the non-Christian.  So what difference has Christ made in the life of the Christian?  Do Christians take better care of themselves physically than non-Christians?  So what difference does Christ really make in the life of the Christian? It is alarming that Christians seem to gravitate toward the same system of values that non-Christians possess.

Sterns postulates that “in our evangelistic efforts to make the good news accessible and simple to understand, we seem to have boiled it down to a kind of ‘fire insurance’ that one can buy.  Then, once the policy is in effect, the sinner can go back to whatever life he was living—of wealth and success, or of poverty and suffering.  As long as the policy is in the drawer, the other things don’t matter as much.  We’ve got our ‘ticket’ to the next life.”

So what difference does Christ really make, if in hard times we revert back to the way of life we lived before we came to Christ?

I am astonished that you  are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all.—Galatians 1:6 – 7

The evidence of a life dedicated to Christ must be observed in the transformation, of not only one’s system of values; but, in one’s behaviors, as well.  One’s system of values must be evidenced in one’s behavior, especially in the hard times of life.  Let us intentionally seek to determine how we should live our lives in Christ.  Let’s walk the walk as we talk the talk!  We all know, however, that walking is a much harder task to accomplish than talking! 

The 10,000-Hour Rule (Part II)

As we move forward with our dialogue concerning:  What does it take for a candidate, cadet, or officer to become an expert in Salvation Army/Christian ministry?  What might the 10,000 hours of intensive practice look like for the individual who desires to become a Salvation Army officer?

First, it is vital to state the purpose of Salvation Army officer training.  The Orders and Regulations for the Training of Salvation Army Officers expresses that the supreme aim is "to develop officers possessing such Blood and Fire spirit that they will be enabled to sustain and advance the interest of The Salvation Army."  The National Statement of Training Goals states that the program should produce Salvation Army officers who:

1.      Know God, evidenced by holiness of heart, purity of life, prayer, witness, service, sacrifice, nobility of character and quality of living.

2.      Know themselves, their strengths and how to direct them, their weaknesses and how to overcome them, their potentials and how to develop them.

3.      Know their mission, understanding the implications of God's call to officership, understanding the nature and mission of The Salvation Army, understanding their commitment to it and their place within it, both men and women together, sharing the burden of the world's sin and suffering, desiring above self, comfort, recognition, and all else the glory of God and the salvation of the world.

What will the 10,000 hours resemble in the training of Salvation Army officers utilizing the three pillars outlined in the earlier post?

Achievement is talent plus preparation.  How would the 10,000 hours be calculated?  The current training program is comprised of three components:  Pre-Training, Training and Continuing Education.  I have calculated the Pre-Training program liberally to be comprised on 250 hours (50 hours for the course, 50 hours for mentoring and coaching by the corps officer, and 150 hours of corps level experience) during the year prior to entering the School for Officer Training.  The Training program can be calculated at 8 hours average per day for six days per week (48 hours per week) times 95 weeks equals 4,560 hours over the 22 month training period.  This is a conservative estimate encompassing spiritual formation, in-class hours, field training, worship, and summer assignment.  I further would calculate the probationary period of officership (first 5 years) as the Continuing Education program.  This five (5) years of experience can be calculated as 1,000 hours per year.  This equals 5,000 hours.  For some it will be more, or others less depending on the type of experience gained and the level of praxis (study, practice, dialogue and reflection, study, practice, dialogue and reflection, etc…).

This calculation, of course, must be individualized.  Does the candidate, the cadet, and the officer excel at each training level—making the most of the time and opportunities presented?  Or do they simply move through the motions at each or any level of these training programs?  Is the first five years of officership a continuation of an intense training?  Is the officer exposed to field practice in their appointment which builds upon the prior training received?  Is our field experience building upon the prior training through intense study and practice during this time period (first five years of officership)?

Opportunity.  Each newly commissioned officer is given opportunity through their appointment.  Is (s)he presented with new experience while being mentored and coached by a highly functioning, experienced officer—a mentor or coach who will guide, instruct, correct, allow for practice and experimentation during this on-the-job training period?  This, furthermore, is an extremely impressionable time period in which new officers need an expert (a seasoned “blood and fire” officer) who will listen, advocate and provide spiritual guidance and encouragement.

Divine Providence.  This involves being in the right place, at the right time, with the right people.  We do not trust in luck or coincidence, but believe that our Heavenly Father is actively involved in where we serve and with whom we serve as His salvific purposes unfold. 

May we seek to be in tune with the Heavenly Father so that we can make the most of every opportunity presented to us.  May our lives and work be blessed as we serve the Lord!

The 10,000-Hour Rule

A spirited debate has existed among psychologists for at least several generations regarding the question of whether expertise in a given field is gained through innate talent or intensive practice and experience. Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers seeks to discover why some people succeed far more than others. Gladwell argues that the true story of success is much more complex than innate talent. He postulates the theory, with abundant supporting research, that one’s rise to top of any given field is determined by what is described as the “10,000-Hour Rule.”

This theory is based largely on a study by K. Anders Ericsson. According to Ericsson, Prietula and Cokely, new research shows that outstanding performance is “the product of years of deliberate practice and coaching, not of any innate talent or skill.” In their article, entitled The Making of an Expert, they outline three key factors that underlay elite performance in a given domain. These factors are deliberate practice; outstanding coaching, feedback and mentoring; and a significant investment of effort over time (typically ten years or more).

Gladwell claims greatness or expertise requires far more than a God-given talent. The 10,000-Hour Rule is centered upon three pillars. The first is that achievement is talent plus preparation. Researchers have largely agreed on what they believe is the number for true expertise: 10,000 hours.

Daniel Levitin in his book This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession writes: “The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert—in anything. In study after study, of composers, basketball players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again. Of course, this doesn’t address why some people get more out of their practice sessions than others do. But no one has yet found a case in which true world-case expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that needs to know to achieve true mastery (197).”

Obviously, ten thousand hours is an extraordinary amount of time that requires an encouraging and supporting team to achieve. 10,000 hours is roughly 3 hours a day times 10 years. Furthermore, not all hours of practice or experience are equal. This level of practice must be deliberate, intentional. It requires not simply monotonously repeating tasks and experiences, but building upon previous knowledge and experience. This is what is called scaffolding in education where strategies are developed and implemented to assist learners to succeed through support and experience by activating prior knowledge, building new experiences based upon past successes and failures, providing clear direction, clarifying purpose and expectations, and establishing momentum. The 10,000 hours must, therefore, be intense moving from one level of understanding to new heights of knowledge and experience at each new level.

The second pillar is opportunity. If one is to achieve the 10,000 hours of intensive practice to become an expert, there has to be some kind of opportunity for this practice to take place. This will often take the form of family or friends who will enable the expert-in-training to be able to escape some of the pressures of every-day life to embark upon a journey toward expertise. Normally top achievers also work closely with teachers, coaches or mentors who have reached high levels of performance themselves. This expertise requires individuals who will give of themselves and share their positive successes and painful failures of the past to motivate and guide.

The third pillar is luck. Or in our circles, we would describe this as divine providence. Gladwell illustrates this point by examining the formative years of Bill Gates and several others. The computer savvy Gates succeeded in part as a result of an incredibly lucky series of events—connecting with the right people at the right time in the right location.

What does this have to do with becoming a Salvation Army officer?? Everything!! The question before us is simply this: What does it take for a candidate, cadet, or officer to become an expert in Salvation Army/Christian ministry?? There are a number of great-hearts in The Salvation Army today and in the years past. I can name a few and you probably can, as well. How did they become the experts in ministry they are today?? And who influenced them and how??

In the next blog, I will seek to contextualize the 10,000-Hour Rule to expertise in Salvation Army/Christian ministry. What might the 10,000 hours of intensive practice look like for the candidate, cadet, Salvation Army officer??