The Anti Hero

I remember as a kid watching some of the afternoon sitcoms that were on everyday after school. The one thing that was not hard to determine in these afternoon shows was who the hero was. It was always the guy/girl who stood for what was right and did the right things. They were the ones who fought evil. Another thing was, that as kids we wanted to be the good guy or girl.

Man -a lot has changed since I was a kid.

We have kids shooting in the schools and kids biting each other (the new "Vampire" fad). I remember when people who shot other people for no reason were "bad" - now they are thought of as heroes. I also remember when vampires were bad..they represented evil and death and now they are heroes.

We played games like connect four, monopoly, backyard football, and baseball. We loved hide and seek and chase. Now the kids have shoot-em up games and things that are bad for their little minds.


The point to all of this rambling is that we live in a culture that seems to place a high value on people that are far from heroes. Well to top it off, in the parable we are about to read, it seems as if Jesus is doing the same. He calls a bad guy a very shrewd person. Shrewd just means intelligent in practical things. Then he says to his disciples and to us that we need to learn a lesson from this guy. Let's read from Luke 16



Lk 16:1 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.
Lk 16:2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’
Lk 16:3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg—
Lk 16:4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’
Lk 16:5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
Lk 16:6 “ ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’
Lk 16:7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ “ ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
Lk 16:8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.
Lk 16:9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
Lk 16:10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
Lk 16:11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?
Lk 16:12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
Lk 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

From the get go, this parable looks like the writer must have made a mistake. At first it seems as if Jesus, the Son of God, the perfect one, is actually upholding a dishonest manager as a hero. Could Jesus be wrong? We all know that it was Jesus who, in the Sermon on the Mount, gave us a moral compass that none of us could follow. He went from outward acts to actually dissecting the heart of all of us in this sermon...so could Jesus be anti- hero or could he be trying to teach us all something by praising this guy's actions.

Let's see.

First of all, let's look at where we think this guy is being dishonest. It is clear that he is dishonest because he cancels some of the debt that the debtors owed his master. If he canceled the debt that they owed him we would all be with him. It would be no doubt that this guy was doing what was right. That is not the case. Let's dig a little deeper and really see if this guy was being dishonest or was he trying to make up for his dishonesty as a manager. Let's look at the Mosaic law.

Lev 25:35 “ ‘If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you.
Lev 25:36 Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you.

It was against the law to charge a fellow Jew interest. Maybe this manager is trying right a wrong that has been done. Maybe there is some repentance going on here. Maybe it is an attempt to live out the rest of his days being honest. Maybe the bad guy is becoming the good guy. Maybe in his love for money and desire to be rich, he was at one time using people and now he was just trying to make it right.

There are a couple of things said about this manager that may lighten things up a little. Jesus says that this guy was too weak to dig. Could it be that he had an inside job all of his life and just couldn't handle the outside work? Don't know but from reading the parable, my conclusion would be that this manager was about to face death. Maybe he was old or possibly some sickness had set in.

We do know this, this parable is talking about a time when we will give an account to God for how we handle what He has given us. God has given this man some friends and he used them and now he is making it right. Maybe this guy was about to give an account for his life. I don't know but the question we have to deal with is this:

ARE YOU READY TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT FOR WHAT GOD HAS GIVEN YOU?

Are you serving the gifts or are you serving the Giver? Do you worship the gift or the Giver of all Good Gifts?

Don't know why the master commended this guy for what he did. What we do know is this, God is going to reward us for how we deal with people. So are you willing to make some wrongs right with the people God put in your life? When you do and when I do we put God where he belongs... Lord of our lives.

I guess the reason this parable means so much to me and I see the importance of getting our relationships in order before we give an account to God is because I saw it modeled from my Dad. My dad had a very tough life and he learned not to show compassion because it was never shown to him. He hardly ever said "good job" or "I am proud of you" and rarely spoke the words "I love you". My dad passed away about 5 years ago. He was a good man and at the same time he did things that I thought he could have done differently. I guess what I am saying is that we didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things. That sometimes resulted in disagreements. For a while I rebelled and did what I wanted to do and he just didn't like it. During that rebellion our relationship kind of grew apart. We never hated each other, but I just stayed away. During that time I was called into the ministry and I knew that this distance with my dad was wrong. We began to talk more and do things together. Even then, I needed for my dad to say that he was proud of me... but he didn't.

When dad got really sick and I knew that his time was coming to an end here on earth, my attitude changed even more. I just wanted to be his best friend and I didn't want to lose him. I didn't care if I ever heard the words that I longed for. I just wanted him. February 12, 2006 I was at church and my mom called me to come home to see him. I was at church that night doing a youth fund-raiser. I rushed over and he was in bad shape. Shortly after that my wife and two kids made it over there. I remember him calling my son over to the bed and asking him if he was still going to be a preacher. Brain responded with a yes. The next words that came out of his mouth set me free. He told MY son,

"You just take after your dad and you will be a good man of God."

That was the same as my dad saying to me in that moment, Calvin I am proud of you. Now, I thought for a long time that he said that for me. He didn't. He said it for him. He knew he was leaving and like the good manager in the parable, he needed to take care of this relationship. He was being shrewd. He taught me something. What matters here is how you deal with the people God has entrusted you with. Maybe that is what Jesus was teaching and this manager was really a hero.

My question is this, ARE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS ALRIGHT? Want to be a hero? Start at home. That little boy or girl may need to hear what you think they already know. It may be that grown boy or girl that needs to here it. Just say the words Good job, I am proud of you, and I love you. When we do that we are trustworthy in God's economy.

In Him

CW

That Can't Be Right

Probably everybody that reads this page is from America. If not you more than likely know what the American Dream is. You do everything right so that one day you will be at the top of your ladder. I don't know what ladder you are climbing but you better make it to the top because we live in a society that believes that second best is not good enough. We raise our kids to believe nothing can be accepted from them if they are not the best. The top of their class, the one who scores the most goals, the one who is the prettiest or the most handsome. Now we all probably don't say it this way but we all convey the message that you are better if you are on top of the ladder. So we, and our kids, go from ladder to ladder trying get to the top. If I can't get to the top of one ladder then I will move to the next one is the attitude we have.

Many of us spend our entire lives on earth trying to hop ladders so we can get on top of one of them. That is what success is to us. That is what we are taught to do in our homes, schools, and even our workplaces. Don't be yourself as a kid just be who I want you to be. Don't you dare be second best in school. Cheat, take steroids, get a surgery, just do whatever it takes to be #1. Then for adults it is that same attitude of, do whatever it takes to get noticed and promoted. It can go in all different directions from here. It can go to lying, to slander, to adultery, even to the point of neglecting the people we love.

Do you know why? The American Dream. That is it in a nutshell. We should be thankful that we live in a country in which we can all make it. We can make it to the top if we are willing to pay the price that it takes. But don't you ever think that is the key to happiness or the key to becoming a great leader.

Now lets go back 2000 years. Lets go back to the person who paid the price to give us our ultimate freedom. He had a group of followers that he was giving a leadership lesson to. These men were known as his disciples..12 of them (pretty interesting guys, read about them), that had a very bad misconception about success. My honest opinion is that they had a good reason to have that misconception. You see they had been taught all of their lives that you get to the top no matter what. Whatever ladder you are climbing then get to the top of it. Now they thought they were about to be on the most powerful ladder, the one with the most success and power that any Jew could have. They thought Jesus came to rescue the Jews from Rome. If that happens then they would be next in charge. Look at the story.

Mt 20:20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
Mt 20:21 “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”
Mt 20:22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered.
Mt 20:23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
Mt 20:24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers.
Mt 20:25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
Mt 20:26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
Mt 20:27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—
Mt 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The principle, the thing that we must apply is this..we have to become last. Do you know what Jesus does in this statement. He shatters all of what the American Dream is all about. He takes this thing that is the very reason we get our education, the very reason we go the extra mile at work, the very reason we go ten years to college and he shatters it with one statement. You think that being a great leader is being on top of that ladder then you are wrong. If we want to be great leaders then we have learn how to serve others. Man I didn't go to school to hear that. I wanted to be boss and now Jesus turns this thing upside down.

Now how do we apply that in our lives. Start simple..start with your spouse. Serve him/her and quit being a taker. Let them make decisions and feel important. Then go to your children and serve them. You are called to be a leader in your home. It doesn't matter if you are Mom, Dad, or older brother/sister you are called to lead somebody in your family. The best way to lead them is by serving them according to what Jesus said here.

It moves from the home to the workplaces and to the churches. The way to lead anybody is by serving them. The thing that is so hard is that we have to serve them no matter who they are or what they have done. Wouldn't it be a lot easier to just perch up on top of that ladder that we took all of our lives to climb and then tell people what to do. That is a whole lot easier because up their I don't have to know you and I don't have to touch you and I don't have to deal with your problems. Up their nothing gets relational. Up on top of that ladder I am untouchable and I am in charge. What Jesus was saying is this....up their on top of that ladder..you are very unsuccessful in leading people. Get down to bottom rung and serve people..that is what leadership is about...that is very upside down in the world we live in.

THE QUESTION IS THIS .....ARE YOU SERVING THE PEOPLE THAT HE HAS PUT IN YOUR LIFE? IT COMES DOWN TO THIS..YOU ARE EITHER SERVING OTHERS OR YOU FEEL LIKE YOU OUGHT TO BE SERVED BY OTHERS.

This is Thursday and last night after Brian and I got back from Six Flags, he was in one foul mood. His little sister was bugging him to death and he was just downright moody. I went to his room to break up the fight and I ask him what the problem was. His response was that she was just following him everywhere he went. She Want quit following me. I ask him and reminded him of the fact that he spent the last two days on my heals and it was as if I couldn't breath because he was following so close. He then told me something that I will remember the rest of my life. After I ask him what the difference was in her following him and him following me he said this, "You don't mind me following you." What he was saying was that he was selfish enough not want his sister to follow him and I didn't have that attitude with him. Leadership is all about the right attitude. If you don't have a servant attitude then people will get on your nerves and you will hurt them.

You see in being a Pastor, I ask a lot of people to follow me..my vision, my plans, my goals and it goes on and on. When they don't follow just right then they are the blame...don't we all do that. If something goes wrong with the business or the church it is the followers fault. What I learned last night was that it all depended on the attitude of the leader. Brian had a bad one and I for once had the good one. That is not always the case for me. Sometimes I want people to follow me because of my position, after all I climbed that ladder. Jesus says serve them and you will become great. It is all about the attitude of the leader.

Mt 20:26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
Mt 20:27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—
Mt 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Do have the same servant leadership attitude that Jesus had and says that we need? That is kind of a tough pill to swallow. But when we don't LEAD WITH A SERVANTS ATTITUDE , we place ourselves in a higher position than Jesus did and eventually you look behind you and no body is following. That becomes very dangerous grounds for us. The simple thing to do and the simple way to apply this is just to be a servant. Start at home

What Is 7/24 Livin?

After Jesus got through with the only sermon we have recorded by Him, He left the words posted in Matthew 7:24 .“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock."



He is giving those people who listened to them a principle to live by. It is not good enough to just listen or read the Word of God. They have to move to a higher level in their walk with Him. The challenge is to every man or woman that calls themselves a Christ Follower or disciple. We have to move beyond just going to church to hear a good sermon. We have to move beyond just reading the Bible to accomplish our task of finishing in a year. We have to move beyond reading our Bible to get a check for the day. If our faith is going to stand we have to apply what the Bible says 7 days a week 24 hours a day. That means when it comes to our marriages we apply the Word of God. When it comes to our work and school and retirement lives, we have to..you guessed it...apply the Word of God in those areas. When it comes to living life and making everyday choices..we have to...man this hurts...apply the Word of God. That is how we can know that when life is tough we can still stand. HE GOES ON IN THE NEXT FEW VERSES AND GIVES A WARNING.....

Mt 7:25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
Mt 7:26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
Mt 7:27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

He is pretty much straight to the point.....you want to live a life of stability then it is simple APPLY MY TEACHINGS TO YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE. You want a life that is unstable then it is simple JUST READ AND LISTEN AND NEVER APPLY MY TEACHINGS TO YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE.

The ? is this. How do I apply the Word of God to my life? How do I make choices that cause my faith to be stronger and not shaken easily? Hopefully we can answer those questions each week for you. Just some insight to begin with, Maybe it is easier than you think. We have to go in with the right attitude when we approach the Word of God. We can't go in with the attitude that my children have when they come to me.

I have a five year old daughter and when she comes to me she wants all of her questions answered right away. Why is sky blue today? What does it thunder? Why do dogs look different than we do? Why? Why? Why?........we need to go to the Bible and ask What instead of Why. What are you saying to me in this passage? What do you want me to understand? What do you want me to change about my attitude or behavior? We need to ask What?

I have an eleven year old son. He approaches me differently. He never asks Why? He knows all the answers and he wants me to confirm what he thinks he already knows. We can't go to God's Word to confirm what we think is right. We have to go to it willing for Him to show us where we are wrong. It goes back to asking What?

What is 7/24 Livin? It is going through life applying these wonderful words of life. It is being willing to be molded everyday. It is admitting when we fail and allowing God to pick us up. It is simply being doers of the Word and not just hearers.

Living by Matthew 7:24 is the catalyst of our faith. Not living by Matthew 7:24 puts us on very shaky ground.

check us out next week as we begin to look at some of those hard areas to make this principle a reality in our lives

In Him
CW