Joshua 3.7-17 Crossing into the promised land

Matthew 23.1-12 Humble yourselves

When I first started preaching, I preached using both an Old Testament and a New Testament lesson bonding them together as spirit. I got away from this because the modern world is more New Testament-focused. People want to hear about Jesus, not about God. As someone who knew God before I knew Jesus, I have always found this troubling.

I am in a period where I wonder if I have fallen victim to catering to the masses. If we only do one scripture reading it is easier to keep the service within the preferred time slot and still include all the extra stuff that has been pushed into our services and prioritized over the message.

A problem that can easily arise is that if I only look at one piece of scripture, it is easier to bend my will or my thought process to it. I realized this as I wrote my sermon for next week, which I will be preaching in Harbor Springs. I have also realized that I’m not doing enough Bible study. By concentrating my efforts on one passage instead of two or three, I’m not getting a complete message.

Sometimes in life we need to look up close, and sometimes we need to take a step back. So for the next few weeks at least, I’m taking a step back. My focus is the Old Testament piece but I’ll be using the Gospel reading to accentuate when it says. Essentially, I’m going to be using the Bible Jesus read, melding it with the lesson Jesus taught from it, and bringing in a present-day perspective. Probably the way I should always preach, but I’m not always the best at following rules.

What stood out to me on my first pass through the Joshua passage was that twelve men had to be selected, one from each tribe in order for God’s plan to work. Everyone had to be represented. It didn’t matter the size, breadth, or talent of your tribe. Each tribe had representation and was essential for the water of the Jordan to part.

Good leadership includes everyone’s voice. No matter how big, no matter how small. Good leadership is to do as what we say we believe, not as we are currently doing…

Our passage from Matthew elaborates on this concept of leadership to “do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as the do, for they do not practice what they teach.”

I want you to take a step back with me now and honestly look at your church and yourself.

We live in a world where we “watch our language around children.” If we are having conversation with language our children shouldn’t be hearing, what are we doing versus what are we teaching?

We post signs on our churches that say “all are welcome” and “come as you are” but is that really true? Are we really welcoming or is there gossip, bickering, and dissension in our pews? Conflict in our committees over who is more important?

Welcoming is more than just saying hello or opening a door. It is creating a sustained environment of peace that makes people feel comfortable and safe free of complaints and arguments filled with Christian love and productive, meaningful conversation amongst its members, as if they really and truly care and know one another. Welcoming is respectfully greeting one another by name and appropriate title. Welcoming is a clear demonstration that a church takes on one another’s burdens.

Welcoming is leadership is not one person’s responsibility but all. All exalt themselves, all are humbled. All show up to help in whatever way they can. Welcoming includes all.

Every last tribe of God’s leadership being involved is necessary for a church, community, or corporation to survive. Each differing voice valued for their perspective and talent. When united together, any enemy can be driven out because God is there. The waters will part, the mountains will crumbled, every knee shall bow down.

If your church isn’t thriving, it’s probably because you are leaving someone out. You are not welcoming someone’s voice. One of your church’s tribes is not being represented. The old, the young; the meek, the strong; the goofy, the funny, the intellectual, the artistic; the logical, the free-spirited; the conformist and the non-conformist; the progressive, the conservative; the right, the left, the diagonal, and non-directional. Every voice. Every tribe, gathered together for one purpose: to worship and obey God.

Dissent isn’t a problem until it’s taking place behind closed doors and behind the backs of others. Dissent isn’t a problem unless it is whispered rather than clearly stated. Dissent isn’t a problem unless it is opinion without substance or stubbornness without logic. We are called to use our voices kindly, lovingly, and productively together. We are called to both speak and to listen. For each voice at least 11 others need to be heard.

We are called to follow that which we are taught and not to follow the examples set before us. To live as God has commanded us to live and God has shown us to live through Jesus Christ. What this means for us as a society can be ambiguous. History and the Bible both teach us that all too often the majority opinion is wrong. It is wrong because it caters to the majority and excludes God’s valuable unique points of view. It excludes the smaller tribes.

Matthew elaborates on this exclusion. We are not to lay the burden upon the shoulders of others. All those shoulds we place on other people. They should be acting a certain way. They should be doing certain things. They should believe what we believe. They should… whatever. Do not place your should on others shoulders.

Do not do things so that they may be seen and recognized by others. As God commands us not to create idols, part of this commandment also holds true into putting our name on things. Wanting recognition and thanks for the things we do. If you are sitting around irritated because someone hasn’t thanked you for something you did for them, it is time to check your shoulds.

We are not to choose the place of honor. We are not to claim the best seats as our own at the expense of others. We do not know all they have done because hopefully we followed the last step and they aren’t going around bragging about it!

In this statement, I present a challenge to all you church people. What makes the best seat in the church? Obviously, it isn’t the front row because no one sits there. Is the best seat the one you are the most comfortable with? The one closest to the exit? The one you think you cannot be seen in? Bad news. I see everyone. I watch you as you preach. I react to your responses and your indifference. That’s largely why the sermon I write is never the one I preach: I see you. I hear you. I feel you.

We are not teachers but we are all students for all have knowledge and expertise to share no matter how old, how young, or how little you know about them. Everyone is a student. No one knows the heart, mind, and soul of Jesus Christ except for Jesus Christ himself. No one knows the heart, mind, and soul of God but God themselves. No one on earth has the knowledge or skills to be your only instructor.

I love leading Bible study and hate it at the same time. It’s terrifying! No matter how much I study there will always and should always be someone in that room who knows something I do not know and may ask a question I am not prepared to answer. Because I don’t have all the answers! No matter how much it might look like I do.

What I love about Bible Study is that the best answers come from the inexperienced, not the experienced. The experienced Bible Study attendees give me lame, vague answers that typically involve useless colloquialisms with no substance. Inexperienced Bible Study goers don’t have a lot of Scripture memorized, so the answers they give come from the purity of their heart. As if from the mouth of a child, especially once they learn there is no right answer, even if someone else who is more experienced thinks there is, because someone taught them an answer long ago.

They ask questions like: Why does Paul’s story of his enlightenment keep changing? Why don’t the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke match? What happened to Lazarus after he was resurrected? Where did the wise men go? How is Jesus both a babe and a 2 y/o when they arrive? They ask the questions others have been told to accept there is no answer to and give us an opportunity to talk about possibility. How does a mother lose her child while travelling? Fun questions.

Each tribe of God has its own perspective and its own questions. Each tribe has their own answers. Each tribe is experiencing life differently. Only by including all of them in every aspect of our servant leadership can we ever come to know God’s plan.

So I ask you all, you church people who have decided the back pews are the most comfortable and have laid claim to them as your own: do your leadership committees actually look like your church? Better yet? Do your leadership committees actually look like the church you WANT to become?

Are there children? I can’t count how many churches I go to that lament over not having children in their church yet they give them no space in their committees to find out why. Would you want to go where your voice is not valued? Where others decide what they think you should want? Probably not.

Are there different cultural groups? Different economic groups? Different needs represented? Are there different ages and perspectives or all you all of one main and want to maintain the status quo? Do you get upset if not every vote is unanimous? Bad news. If every vote is unanimous, you don’t have enough voices represented. Time to recalculate. You’re missing at least one tribe. Those voices against your ideas are essential to growing and adapting.

We teach all are welcome and all are God’s children. We teach everyone matters and has a place. We teach that leaders are servants and the humble will be exalted. We teach that we function in a representative democracy where committee members represent the needs and desires of the people.

We practice exclusion and discrimination. We practice some voices need not be heard and don’t matter. We practice the best seats are for those who pay for them. We practice that we voice our opinions not those of whom we represent. We do not practice what we teach.

We are not called to be leaders but servants. We are not called to be teachers but students. We are not called to be exalted but to be humbled. Today, you are called out on your hypocrisy that you might have an opportunity to open your eyes, ears, and heart to God that all tribes be represented in not just God’s kindom but in your church. That all will cross over the river Jordan together, united in leadership as one people, one voice, under one God. Amen.