The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States "Young minister, tough situation, and a recipe for success" for Friday, 3 February 20171 Timothy 1:3 As I counseled you when I was leaving for Macedonia, stay on in Ephesus, so that you may order certain people who are teaching a different doctrine to stop. 4 Have them stop devoting their attention to myths and never-ending genealogies; these divert people to speculating instead of doing God’s work, which requires trust. 5 The purpose of this order is to promote love from a clean heart, from a good conscience and from sincere trust.
4:8 For although physical exercise does have some value, godliness is valuable for everything, since it holds promise both for the present life and for the life to come. 9 Here is a statement you can trust, one that fully deserves to be accepted 10 (indeed, it is for this that we toil and strive): we have our hope set on a living God who is the deliverer of all humanity, especially of those who trust.
11 Command these things and teach them. 12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because of your youth; on the contrary, set the believers an example in your speech, behavior, love, trust and purity. 13 Until I come, pay attention to the public reading of the Scriptures. 14 Do not neglect your gift, which you were given through a prophecy when the body of elders gave you s’mikhah. 15 Be diligent about this work, throw yourself into it, so that your progress may be clear to everyone. 16 Pay attention to yourself and to the teaching, continue in it, for by so doing you will deliver both yourself and those who hear you.
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On his second missionary journey, the apostle Paul met a younger man named Timothy (cf. Acts 16:1-4). Timothy became one of his most trusted associates, one Paul trusted to lead some of the churches he planted, and to continue leading them after Paul was gone. Such a large responsibility must have frightened Timothy at times, especially in the light of his youth (1 Timothy 4:12). But Paul urged him to lead with confidence and trust in God.
• In God’s sweeping story in the Bible, we see that God used people who might have been thought too old (e.g. Abraham, Moses) and others who might have been thought too young (e.g. Jeremiah, Timothy). If you are on the younger end of the age spectrum, do older people ever intimidate you, making you afraid to offer your gifts and insights? If you are on the older end of the spectrum, what helps you resist the urge to look down on younger Christians whose thinking or music may be different than you’ve been used to?
• What examples of either spiritual courage or timidity are parts of your family’s spiritual legacy? In what ways have parents, grandparents and other important people given you confidence to fearlessly value and use your God-given strengths? What effect have they had on you? How can you mentor and encourage someone who is younger than you are?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, as I live in this age-conscious culture, remind me that from your eternal view, age is one of the least of your concerns. Empower me to live without fear, now and in all the years of earthly life that are left for me. Amen.
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I believe we all have divine assignments--things we are uniquely gifted to share or teach based on our talents, personality, and life experiences. Our life is one big teaching moment after another. Those we encounter are observing who we are, whose we are, and how we behave. We are teaching through our expressions, words, and actions. Every moment is a teaching moment.
In Paul’s letters to Timothy, he is mentoring Timothy on how to teach the gospel, lead a church, and be an example of living in faith. I see this letter as timeless. The addressee could now be you and me. It contains rich instruction and holds wisdom to help us in our divine assignments.
“The goal of instruction is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.” (1 Tim 1:5)
Teach from a place of love. This means do our homework and soul-work before we have an audience. For us, this may look like starting our day in prayer or sacred study. Align with God before going out into the world. If we do this each day, we will naturally calibrate our hearts to a place of good conscience. Our expressions, words, and actions will come from a place of love. And, because we are practicing our faith each day, we will exude a sincere faith to others. What we then teach will come from a pure heart, and our life becomes a blessing to everyone we encounter.
While physical training has some value, training in holy living is useful for everything. It has promise for this life now and the life to come. (1 Tim 4:8)
God needs us to be participating in a soul-filled training program. And here’s the great news: because you are reading this, you are already in the training program for holy living! Continue to make your studying God, practicing your faith, and finding community with believers a top priority. It transforms this life and ensures our sense of peace about the future. When we are in training to live holy lives, we will naturally be in conversation with others about our faith, and that will lead to profound teaching opportunities for each of us.
Focus on working on your own development and on what you teach. If you do this, you will save yourself and those who hear you. (1 Tim 4:15-16)
Keep growing while you are teaching. Here’s the cool thing about divine assignments: God is growing us as we serve others. You will never be fully prepared, educated, credentialed, or confident to say “yes” to your divine assignment. There is always doubt. There is always something you think you should do first. It always requires leap of faith! If you need to, re-read the call stories of Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah or Mary, Jesus' mother. They all had doubt. You will too. So let’s keep working on developing our courage, but not let that stop us from beginning to teach and share our gifts, faith, experiences, and learning with others. As Paul says, this work “will save yourself and those who hear you."
I came into ministry as a second career. I can empathize with Timothy’s fears as a novice faith leader. I wasn’t young in age, but I felt young in my experience and knowledge of how to do ministry. I had great fear about saying yes to my calling and still do. I quickly realized I couldn’t do it alone. To get started, I needed teachers, and I needed God to show up with words, give me courage, and prop me up on stage. To maintain that courage, I have to be very intentional to do the work each day to purify my heart, center my thoughts on love, study deeply, and align my purpose as an instrument of God’s love. This is endless work--that is why it is called a spiritual practice. You are studying and practicing today. And because of our practicing, we are more likely to live into the full potential of our divine assignments. Let’s consider what God is calling us to teach today and follow Paul’s advice!
GINGER ROTHHAASGinger Rothhaas will graduate from Saint Paul School of Theology in May 2017. She is currently serving as a pastoral intern in Congregational Care and for the Saturday 5 pm worship service while Pastor Katherine Ebling is on maternity leave. She loves to learn, teach, and meet our congregants for coffee and spiritual conversation!
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"The divine definition of true success"
Saturday, 4 February 2017
Isaiah 52:13 “See how my servant will succeed!
He will be raised up, exalted, highly honored!
14 Just as many were appalled at him,
because he was so disfigured
that he didn’t even seem human
and simply no longer looked like a man,
15 so now he will startle many nations;
because of him, kings will be speechless.
For they will see what they had not been told,
they will ponder things they had never heard.”
53:1 Who believes our report?
To whom is the arm of Adonai revealed?
2 For before him he grew up like a young plant,
like a root out of dry ground.
He was not well-formed or especially handsome;
we saw him, but his appearance did not attract us.
3 People despised and avoided him,
a man of pains, well acquainted with illness.
Like someone from whom people turn their faces,
he was despised; we did not value him.
4 In fact, it was our diseases he bore,
our pains from which he suffered;
yet we regarded him as punished,
stricken and afflicted by God.
5 But he was wounded because of our crimes,
crushed because of our sins;
the disciplining that makes us whole fell on him,
and by his bruises* we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, went astray;
we turned, each one, to his own way;
yet Adonai laid on him
the guilt of all of us.
7 Though mistreated, he was submissive —
he did not open his mouth.
Like a lamb led to be slaughtered,
like a sheep silent before its shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
8 After forcible arrest and sentencing,
he was taken away;
and none of his generation protested
his being cut off from the land of the living
for the crimes of my people,
who deserved the punishment themselves.
9 He was given a grave among the wicked;
in his death he was with a rich man.
Although he had done no violence
and had said nothing deceptive,
10 yet it pleased Adonai to crush him with illness,
to see if he would present himself as a guilt offering.
If he does, he will see his offspring;
and he will prolong his days;
and at his hand Adonai’s desire
will be accomplished.
11 After this ordeal, he will see satisfaction.
“By his knowing [pain and sacrifice],
my righteous servant makes many righteous;
it is for their sins that he suffers.
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Rabbis debated who Isaiah’s fourth “servant song” was about. The first Christians had no doubt—they quoted this song more than any other verses to describe Jesus’ redemptive suffering. In Jesus, the early Christians saw, God’s servant succeeded by taking the world’s evil and hatred onto himself and through what looked like failure to human eyes changed it into a redemptive force. No passage in the Hebrew Scriptures spoke more eloquently to those early Christians—and to every generation of Christians since—about the meaning of Jesus’ death. As the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology said, “God’s power is at its greatest not in his destruction of the wicked but in his taking all the wickedness of the earth into himself and giving back love.”*
• Jesus set the stage for the way New Testament writers applied Isaiah 53 by quoting part of the passage and applying it to himself (cf. Luke 22:37). It all came true in Jesus’ saving death and resurrection, they said. What does Jesus’ way of succeeding in defeating evil as the Suffering Servant tell you about how God defines success? What kinds of evil have you faced? How can Jesus’ example guide you toward the path of genuine success at those times?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you succeeded through self-giving love, through suffering for others and giving your life to offer me life. Reshape any flawed notions of success I may have, and help me to truly succeed by the same divine standards that you did. Amen.
* T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner, ed. The New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000, p. 222.
Family Activity: Collect a backpack, some large, heavy rocks and a few thick markers. As a family, invite each person to try on the empty backpack, and feel its lightness. Next, ask everyone to take two stones and a marker. Have each person think of something they are not very good at or something they have done wrong and write it on one rock. Pass the backpack around asking each person to share what they wrote and place it in the backpack. Talk about how the backpack is feeling heavier. Now, invite each person to take their second rock and write on it something they do well but can sometimes be difficult to do. Pass around the backpack again with each person sharing what they wrote on the second rock, and placing their rock in the backpack. Have each person try on the backpack again. Discuss how at times both our failures and our successes can feel heavy or burdensome. Read I Peter 5:7 and Matthew 11:28-30[I Peter 5:7 Throw all your anxieties upon him, because he cares about you.
Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all of you who are struggling and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.[Matthew 11:29 Jeremiah 6:16] 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”[Complete Jewish Bible]I Peter 5:6-7 So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.
Matthew 11:28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”[The Message]]. Thank God for helping us carry our burdens.
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Prayer Requests – cor.org/prayer Prayers for Peace & Comfort for:
•Cheryl Highfill and family on the death of her husband Stephen Highfill, 1/21
• Laura Wingfield and family on the death of her mother Jean Ross, 1/17
•Katie Sloan and family on the death of her husband Robert Sloan, 1/16
•Rick Butterfield and family on the death of his father Richard J. “Dick” Butterfield, 1/14
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The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
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