Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
@#$%
@#$%
Scratching the Surface
of
Advice/Counsel
(A
Brief and Incomplete Guide to Good Advice/Counsel)
David: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and light to my
path.”
Solomon: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do
not lean on your own understanding. In
all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.”
Jesus: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does
them will be like a wise man who built his house of the rock…The house did not
fall because it was founded on the rock.”
Paul: “See to it that no one takes you captive by
philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition…not according to
Christ…All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, reproof,
correction, and training in righteousness.”
Here’s another way of putting it: “The only advice/counsel
worth our attention is advice/counsel consistent with Jesus as the perfect
pattern for life and ministry according to the Bible as the unparalleled
witness to Godly advice/counsel.”
Or as one saint said while echoing Paul’s urging (“Imitate
me as long as I imitate Jesus!”),
“Always compare everything I say to God’s Word. My wisdom is useless. Only God’s truth is valuable…Evaluate
everything any human says and weigh it against Scripture” (cf. Isaiah 5:20,
Matthew 7:15ff., 1 John 4:1ff., and related texts).
Now that’s/He’s good/Godly advice/counsel!
Whenever you hear/read anything from anyone about
following Jesus, pay attention to it/them as long as the ultimate source is Jesus
by the book.
Within the aforementioned context, I’ve received some good
advice/counsel over the years.
My parents have been helpful in many ways in a Proverbs
1:8 kinda way.
James Brown – a founder of one of the most persuasive
renewal movements in the PCUSA – noted a reality for/in undershepherds
aka pastors that inhibits/enables revival, “Nothing can happen through you that
has not first happened to you!” Or as a
salty old missionary blurted, “You can’t give away what you ain’t got for
yourself!”
Bob Imm – an elder in Pennsylvania – warned (slightly
paraphrased), “Don’t get into a tinkling contest with a skunk!” Or as a shrink for corporate executives in
North Carolina explained, “You are not responsible for what others say and do;
but you are responsible for what you say and do and how you respond to
what others say and do.”
Harold Mante – my home pastor – cautioned moments after I
was ordained, “Don’t learn how to use the ditto machine!”
Martha Young – the first African-American elder in a large
North Carolina church – urged, “You love ‘em and let God judge ‘em; and love
‘em enough to tell ‘em that God’s coming back to judge ‘em!” I like how Frederick Buechner observed, “A
prophet’s quarrel with the world is deep-down a lover’s quarrel. If they didn’t love the world, they probably
wouldn’t bother to tell it that it’s going to hell. They’d just let it go.” I like how Mr. Rogers used to say, “I love
you just the way you are and too much to leave you just the way you are.”
Hans Kung: “The agenda for the church is “to discover what
is permanent…originally meant, before it was covered with the dust and
debris of two thousand years…This is not another gospel, but the same ancient
gospel rediscovered for today!”
Old priest to young priest in Bernanos’ The Diary of a
Country Priest: “Salt stings on an open wound but saves you from
gangrene.”
Dorothy Haglage – a Kansas City elder and a founder of
Presbyterian Elders in Prayer – “Tell people to tithe at least or you’ll
be cheating them of what God can do through and for them.”
Here’s something that I’ve heard many times: “Sometimes
it’s better to talk to God about some people than to talk to some people about
God.”
When I asked a Trappist monk named Daniel how he could
know so much more about the Bible than me considering I had so many more
academic credentials than him, he responded with a smile, “I asked God what it
means.”
A first hint of spending too many years in books about the
book instead of the book itself came from seminary mentor John Robertson of
Belvidere, New Jersey who seemed to beg, “Don’t separate yourself from God by
degrees.”
Then there’s something that I’ve distilled from scratching the surface of the Bible:
“Remembering you’re going to live a lot longer with Jesus than anybody else
makes establishing life’s priorities a no-brainer.”
William Barclay was right: “The best that we have to offer
is professional plagiarism; rephrasing, reminting, and reporting what’s already
in the book so plainly and simply.”
Annnnnnnd here’s the best advice/counsel that I’ve
ever received from the only One who really, really, really knows what’s best
for me/you/everyone: “Come to Me.”
Jesus.
He is the perfect pattern for life and ministry from here
to eternity by the book.
It’s like His Revelation through John in the third
verse of the first chapter that provides the perfect path for everyone:
“Read…hear…keep…the words of this prophecy.”
Jesus by the book.
The best because it’s/He’s the
only Godly advice/counsel.
@#$%
Blessings and Love!
2 comments:
You preached about the Trappist monk when in Kansas City and said that he said, "I asked Jesus and Jesus told me." Jesus said, "I and the Father are one."
We personally knew Dorothy Haglage and my wife called on new visitors after church. Her giving exceeded what the IRS allowed to deduct each year so she had unused carryover deductions when she died. She REALLY got the benefit then!
My mother said the Lord was so gracious to her in her investments that she was not able to give it away fast enough! She REALLY got the benefits too when she went to meet her Investment Counselor face to face. May we in the new year open our arms in expectation of the outpourings of blessings from the windows of heaven!
Excellent advice! And a very blessed, prosperous 2014 to you and the family at First! May this year give you much harvest for your labors of love in His fields! Fresh oil! Fresh vision! Fresh Rhema! Fresh Anointing!
Love you!
Post a Comment