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May 25, 2006
Hammer. To. Head.
I don't know who this Stephen Van Dop guy is at Vineyard Columbus, but he brought the word. A word that I've heard many times, I know, but it just seems especially poignant right now. Based on the text of Matthew 5:17-20:
Jesus says, "I make no ranking among the commandments; they all stand as God's commands in our lives. If you're interested in living out life as it was meant to be, you need to live out all the Law and the Prophets, to all the commands that I've given to you."And as Jesus makes this point, he presses it one step further by focusing in on teachers, and leaders, and parents. He speaks to those of us, as he spoke to those kinds of people back then, who have influence over someone else. Whether they're younger, or whether they're a peer, he speaks directly to those of us who have the capacity to educate other people, or to lead other people in some capacity - or as a parent, to raise up children - and he gives us a warning that we dare not miss.
He says, "If you neglect the least of these commandments," - using the language of Jewish leaders of the day, do you see that? - "if you neglect the least of these commandments, even if you neglect the lightest of the light category, and you undermine the faith of someone younger in the faith, you're in trouble with God. You're in trouble with God!"
You see, Jesus understood that followers of leaders, students of teachers, children of parents - while they pay attention to the words that we say, what really makes the mark on their life is what we do. Oh sure, they listen to our words, and our words are important, but what they're really looking for - those who follow us, those of you who are teachers, leaders, parents, what they are really looking for is whether our actions are matching up to our words. When there is a mismatch, when that fails to occur, we run the risk of washing them right off of the very foundations of their faith, of participating in a destructive act in their life.
I can't be reminded of that enough. None of us can, really.
Posted by Chuck at May 25, 2006 10:18 AM
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