The Eccentric Envoy
Scriptures John 1, Matthew 3
The Great Flood:
INGERSOLL 12:5-29
5 In the forty second year of Bim's life on the twenty seventh day of the eleventh month - on that day all the springs of the great sump pump burst forth, and the floodgates of the drainage pit were opened. 6 And water seeped into the basement for twenty four. 7 On that very evening, after the twenty third hour, Bim returned from work. And upon entering the place of his dwelling, he came upon his wife who was sore distressed. 8 And his wife said unto him, "I have been to the basement. And I have seen the basement. And the basement is flooded. And it is not good." 9 So Bim went to the basement and looked upon the face of the waters and saw that it was so. And Bim was sore distressed. 10 Bim wept. 11 There was a sound like unto the sound of many angry hornets. And the sound thereof came from the dryer. Bim said to himself, "I shall go to the fuse panel and I shall say to the dryer fuse in the midst of the other fuses .... "Come out from among them and be seperate!" 12 And a voice spake unto Bim asking, "What about the current?" And Bim said, "But this is a basement. The waters are not even flowing. What current?" And the voice said unto him, "The electrical current, you idiot!" 13 And when he came to his senses, he realized there might be electrical current upon the waters. 14 So Bim reached down and touched the waters and found that there was no current upon the face of the waters. 15 And another voice spake unto him saying, "Take off your sneakers ... for this is soggy ground." And Bim removed his sneakers from his feet. 16 And it came to pass as he was about to step into the waters he thought, "If I had faith, I could walk upon the waters and would not touch the waters. And then if the current should course through the waters, I would be safe." 17 And so, mustering up all of his faith, he stepped out believing he would not sink into the waters. And he stepped out . . . and sank into the waters. 18 Oh well . . . it was worth a try.
19 And it came to pass that as he made his way through the waters thereof, he beheld a pillar of smoke rising from the other part of the basement. 20 And there were, coming from within the smoke, a multitude of sparks and fire like unto . . . a multitude of sparks and fire. 21 And at the bottom of the pillar of smoke a power bar lay in the water. And the waters which lay between the plug contacts were boiling furiously and the arcing was sending forth the sparks and the fire. 22 And Bim reached up and unplugged the power bar so as not to become smitten. 23 And this was good. 24 And to make a long story less long than if it had been made to be longer, the landlord was called who, in turn, called the plumber who, in turn, came unto Bim's dwelling place and replaced the failing sump pump. 25 And by now it was the third hour of the morning of the following day. 26 Eventually, the waters upon the surface of the basement receded . . . like unto a receding hairline. 27 And it came to pass in the days that followed that Bim and his wife had one steeenking mess to clean up. 28 And something told them that the whole thing would turn out for good. 29 And that would be good.
People are incredibly unique and the way that they see things is as unique as their own perceptions and life experiences.
1. Roots -sent from God
q He was a P.K.
q Incredible birth story
q A cousin of Christ
q Sent from God
q Prophesied by Malachi (3:1, Isa. 40)
q After the order of the O.T. prophets who always anointed their kings
q He was compared to Elijah
Consider
q We have a tendency to isolate people who threaten the status quo
q God has a tendency to anoint people who threaten the status quo
q People who are called or anointed for leadership often have a difficult time “fitting in”
2. Role - came as a witness
q He understood his place –
q Seemed to have a life verse.
"Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”" (John 1:22-23, NIV)
[1]
q Didn't fit the mould of his father - ministry in the wilderness. Often God chooses unlikely people for special roles. Unless we can see through the eyes of God we will ignore his message and his messenger for lack of ability to see. Most often we are blinded by the pride of presumption. Even as parents we are guilty of presuming that God has or wants to reproduce us in our children – almost as though we have a second chance to repeat the past and eliminate the mistakes that we made. This attitude becomes a wedge in families as they struggle to exist together.
I read the other day about the American musician George Gershwin. He idolized Irving Berlin. Gershwin was a struggling composer, getting about $35 a week in New York City's tin-pan-alley, and Berlin noticed him. He offered him a job as his musical secretary at three times $35 a week. But he said, "George, I advise you not to take this job, because if you do, you will become a second-rate Irving Berlin. But, if you say to yourself, "I, George Gershwin, am unique, and I'll be nobody else but George Gershwin, you can become immortal." And that was exactly what he did.
A while back, I watched the life story of Willie Mays on television. He is one of the greatest athletes baseball has ever produced. But he wasn't always like that. He idolized Joe DiMaggio. He watched how DiMaggio stood, how he walked, how he swung the bat, how he ran; he tried his best to be another DiMaggio. Finally, some wise coach said to him, "Willie, you have great ability. Don't be like anybody else. Be yourself." And he became Willie Mays. If you were to name the greatest baseball players in the history of baseball, no list would be complete without the name of this man who became himself.
q Short lived contribution - had disciples leave him to follow another. A person can become intoxicated with public attention and a false sense of importance.
q As Jesus increased - he decreased.
To me this indicates incredible character.
Consider
q Understanding your God-given role will bring peace and fulfillment to your life.
1. I am the Called One and the anointing to help and direct others is upon me alone.
2. I've got something special and unique from the Lord that nobody else has. It's up to me to deliver my revelation to the world.
3. Nobody else can do the job I do as well as I.
4. No matter what time of day or night it may be, I must always make myself available to meet all the needs of all others.
5. Jesus expects me to give up all my rights to privacy, rest and recreation if I am to serve Him fully.
6. In order to serve God with my whole heart, I must put my family second to my ministry.
7. I've given my children to the Lord so that the Holy Spirit can teach and guide them because I have no time to do this in my life as a Christian worker.
8. God has called me to help certain people. If it weren't for me they would be in pitiful shape.
9. It's my Christian duty to provide all the answers and solutions to the people God has called me to help. If I don't, consequences are on my head.
10. Others should recognize my calling and be of help and support me in the work God has called me to do.
11. If someone is less spiritual than I, they have NO right being in the ministry; furthermore they have no right to be more succesful than I.
q Have you asked God for a life verse?
"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead." (Philippians 3:7-11, NIV)
[2]
q Your giftedness is linked to your uniqueness. Sometimes our differences cause us to be able to see solutions that others miss.
According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington recently was faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night, the maintenance man would remove them and the next day, the girls would put them back Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man....
She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night. To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.
There are teachers, and then there are educators...
q Don’t miss your season
3. Restrictions - not the light
q An effective servant has as clear an understanding of his/her limitations as he does his/her strengths
Cal Thomas found himself called a "Christian leader" by a leading Christian magazine and he wondered what that meant ("Dear God, Please Don't Let Me Be a Christian Leader," Fundamentalist Journal, May). More speaking engagements? Perhaps an appearance on a Christian talk show?
"It would certainly give me the right to start putting Scripture references under my signed name in books I have written. I would surely sign more Bibles, which I find a curious practice since I didn't write that Book."
Thomas wonders if we have reversed things. God's strength is made perfect in weakness. "In a church I once attended, there was a man of tremendous faith. His wife is an alcoholic. His daughter has psychological problems. He was often poor in health. Yet, week after week, he never complained. He always smiled and asked me how I was doing. He faithfully brought to church a young blind man who had no transportation. He always sat with the blind man, helping him sing the hymns by saying the words into his ear. That man was a 'Christian leader' if ever there was one."
q Our success often contributes to our failure. The Peter Principle.
"The employee who in a hierarchy tends to rise to the level of his incompetence is the Peter Principle at work. The concept was promulgated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter, who has listed ten famous historical persons who personify the principle: Socrates, Julius Caesar, Nero, Alexander Hamilton, Benedict Arnold, Ulysses S. Grant, George Armstrong Custer, Warren G. Harding, Adolf Hitler, and Richard M. Nixon."
Men strive to succeed only to find their achievement crumble about them. When will we learn that true power and success only comes when we surrender our lives in obedience to God.
-- Adapted from The Peter Principle
q There comes a time when we have to turn things over to others and walk away. This is the ultimate test of character – trusting what we have built and established to someone else. It represents the premier struggle of one generation of leadership in any given church - the willing ness to trust the future of the church to people who do not seem to measure up to our criterion.
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[1] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[2] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
