See one, do one, teach one

^1-2Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

(Ephesians 5:1-2 The Message)

Have you ever heard the saying, "See one, do one, teach one"?  In nursing school, that seemed to be the method they used to help us connect between what we were learning in the books and what we'd actually see, hear, smell, feel, etc., in caring for our patients.  For example, we'd listen to lectures on the diseases of the heart.  That lecture would be complete with signs and symptoms of irregular heartbeats, swelling in the extremities, and other "signs" that the heart may not be working as well as it should be.  In our clinical setting, we'd be asked to take care of patients with "heart conditions" so that we could begin to see what we have learned, recognize how the symptoms manifest, etc.  See one, do one - then teach one.  The last part of the learning process was being able to interpret what we were observing, teach it back to our classmates, and then we'd finally have a full picture of what we'd learned.

I think that kind of process is what Paul had in mind when he is telling us that we need to watch what God does and then do it.  We often don't really take time to "see" what God does - because we aren't really paying attention to the example he sets for us.  For some reason, we "like" the good stuff he does - like sending his Son to die for our sins, forgiving us without us having to jump through all kinds of hoops, etc.  Yet...we miss the fact that we are to "learn" from what he has done, is doing, and will do in our lives!  See one, do one, teach one!  God uses the same method!  We see his grace, we experience his grace, then we are expected to extend his grace!

How do we learn - we keep company with the one doing the teaching.  I think I learned more at the bedside with my instructors than I ever did in the classroom.  Just observing how they spoke with the patients, how they handled the examination, what they listened for, where they poked/prodded, etc., gave me a better understanding than all that stuff in those shelves of books I poured through nightly.  Oh, don't get me wrong - the book time was invaluable, but it was the actual "walking alongside" my instructor that helped me to "connect the dots".  That is how it is with our Christian walk, too.  The "book learning" (time in the Word on a consistent basis) is creating a set of understood precepts that will aid us in our walk.  Those precepts help us make right choices (right assessments).

In fact, without the right precepts to guide us, our assessment of what is in front of us may be quite wrong!  Remember, we learn by also "seeing" the example in action.  It is in the extension of God's grace that we come to appreciate the aspects of grace.  The concepts of grace are taught in scripture.  These are concepts like obtaining favor when our deeds would suggest something entirely unfavorable; being embraced in tender mercies when our attitude would suggest that we can do everything on our own; or being ever ready at our defense when our attentiveness to attack has become more like inattentiveness.

The precepts God lays out in scripture are "foundation" to doing - living by the example we see, hear, and have experienced repeatedly.  God's love was not cautious -  it was extravagant and without measure.  God's love was not selfish - it was extended even when we did not realize our need for it, regardless of how we acted toward it.  God's love was no limited - it was before time, will be throughout time, and will be forever in time; there is no end to his love.  With that type of example before us, Paul reminds us to take what we learn in the Word, begin to "model" those precepts/principles in the way we have seen it modeled by Jesus, and then become ambassadors of these precepts/principles to others.  See one, do one, teach one.

We imitate what we behold - are we "in the presence" of Jesus enough to have him as our primary example?  We are guided by what we put into our minds - are we really getting into his Word and allowing it to get into us frequently enough to allow it to change our thinking?  We learn by doing - are we applying what it is we are learning?  It is in the application that the greatest learning begins to "cement" in our lives.  Until I heard that first heart murmur myself, I really did not understand what it sounded like.  Now, I can hear the faintest murmur with skill.  How did I learn that?  I studied the books to know WHERE to listen.  I watched the experts to know HOW to listen.  I practiced what I was taught until I understood WHAT it was I was listening for.  It was a process - as is this thing we call our Christian faith.  A process of seeing one, doing one, then teaching one.  

We don't stop at seeing and doing - it is in our imitating of Christ that we are teaching the next one to do the same.  See Christ in action in your lives!  Do what he has done - love extravagantly, extend grace without being asked, and be available to meet the needs of others.  Teach Christ's love by your example.  In doing so, you are fulfilling the role for which God has created you!  See one, do one, teach one! 

Line upon line

11-14 God's readiness to give and forgive is now public. Salvation's available for everyone! We're being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life. This new life is starting right now, and is whetting our appetites for the glorious day when our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, appears. He offered himself as a sacrifice to free us from a dark, rebellious life into this good, pure life, making us a people he can be proud of, energetic in goodness.

(Titus 2:11-14)

Titus is a teaching of Paul written directly to Titus as instruction on how to live as a godly man and to lead the church members with wisdom.  What we know from reading the first chapter is that Paul is concerned that Titus will establish local churches in Crete, ensuring that good leaders are in place who will be able to lead the people into right living.  Then he reminds Titus of the importance of mentoring relationships.  Older men and women, well-established in their faith, being solid examples for younger men and women to look up to.  Why is this important?  It is because we learn best by the example we see. 

Paul now begins to sum up the crux of the letter with these words we have in our passage today.  God's readiness to give and forgive is public knowledge!  Sometimes we think the things of God are hidden from us, but the scripture tells us differently.  God is ready to give - sometimes we just have to be ready to receive!  He is ready to forgive - sometimes we just have to be ready to repent! 

Paul's focus is on developing as Christians.  This Christian experience is more than a moment-in-time experience.  We grow fresh in our connection with Christ each day.  Paul's emphasis is on "being shown" how to turn our backs on the old stuff of our sinful life and to embrace the good stuff of the life in Christ.  That implies that we don't just "get it" - we need to be shown - we need examples.  I know this is true for me - an example speaks louder than any words in the "instruction manual".  I think that is why those modular furniture packages come with pictures, not just words!

A picture speaks louder than words!  What we can perceive through observation cements the words to an actual lifestyle - seeing right choices lived out helps us understand the truths we may be struggling with.  That takes it from being "ethereal" to being "real".  We have been granted "leaders" in the church that help us make this connection.  Yet, Paul is not stopping with the leaders.  He reminds Titus that the church also needs to be filled with "mentors" - older men and women who can lead by example.

I don't know who you have in your life that acts as a mentor for you, but the truth is that you need someone!  When we need to understand forgiveness, we benefit so much from the evidence of a lifestyle that shows the results of walking in forgiveness.  To see another embrace forgiveness, despite the ugliness of their past sin, and then to walk in freedom that forgiveness produces allows us to "connect-the-dots" of God's grace, our repentance, and his restoration. 

Did you know that scripture says that we learn "line upon line, precept upon precept"?  Yep, it does.  Guess what another word for mentor is?  Yep, you guessed it - preceptor!  So, if we really want to learn what God has in store for us, we would do well to align ourselves with preceptors who can help us learn "line upon line, precept upon precept"!  In turn, we become that preceptor to another who needs an example to follow.  If you don't think of yourself as an example today, just wait - - - God is making us into the best example of his grace we could possibly imagine! 

The strength of a leader

² When good people run things, everyone is glad,
   but when the ruler is bad, everyone groans. 

(Proverbs 29:2)

Much can be said about "good leaders", but the most frequent thing you will heard mentioned about "solid" leadership is the fact that people have no problem "getting behind them" in loyal support.  Good leadership does not mean that everyone agrees with every decision that is made, but that they can apply themselves to the vision of that leader and move forward in faith that the plans will accomplish the end result.  We find leaders in every area of our lives - at work, in our homes, in the community in which we reside, and over countries. In fact, we often fill the role of leaders in some arena of our lives. Leaders play an integral part in "directing" our future. Therefore, the leader must lead with integrity, passion and purpose - but the leader must also lead with interest in others, compassion, and openness of heart/mind.

I have been interviewed for leadership positions and in turn, have interviewed others who will fill positions of leadership.  One of the "questions" you often hear posed is "tell me about your most influential leader".  This question usually elicits a litany of character traits that exhibit commitment to the people they lead, an ability to create vision, genuine trust, etc.  All of these are positive traits.  No one ever says, "Well, my most influential leader ruled with a heavy hand, carried a big stick, and never wanted our input into decisions."  

Leadership qualities are exemplified in various people who stand as examples for us in scripture.  Here are but a few:

• Job - a husband, father, rancher, and friend of many.  When "misfortune" fell his way with his business, family, and fortune, he trusted God to bring provision to both his household and his "hired" workers.  He knew in his heart that God both provided the increase and allowed for the decrease - if that was true, he'd provide for the increase once again.  He kept his focus squarely on God's faithfulness through all his "down-turns".  Things may have appeared pretty bleak on the outside, but God was still on the throne in is life.
• Peter - an apostle in the New Testament church and a disciple who had followed Jesus during his earthly ministry.  Most think of Peter as a little bit of an impetuous man - acting without thinking.  That may have been the start of his "leadership" as a disciple of Christ, but it certainly was not his end.  Toward the end of his ministry, we see Peter moved by the needs of the beggar at the Temple Gate - moved enough to veer from his intended path to meet the needs of the man before him.  He connected with people, even when he did not see eye-to-eye with them as in his visit to the house of Cornelius (a Centurion leader, a non-Jew).  He allowed the "connection" between people who had needs, plans, and desires.
• David - a shepherd boy, called to be King over the land.  As a shepherd boy, he learned the importance of protecting those that you had been appointed to lead (his sheep).  Without his care and attention to their needs, he'd lose them to the "competition" (those pesky predators just waiting in the wings).  As King of Israel, he continued his "watchful care" over those he was called to "shepherd".  Yes, without question, he made mistakes along the way.  He displayed his humanity in those mistakes he made, but more importantly, he displayed his ability to admit he was wrong.  A trait not to be overlooked in a solid leader.

These are but three examples of leaders and their leadership traits.  The three things I really want us to see is that we can all be called to leadership at one point or another.  The qualities we demonstrate, the connections we make, and the honesty we maintain in those relationships will either ensure safety for those we lead, or create a slippery-slope for them to traverse.

Not only do we need to align ourselves with good leaders, but we need to be good leaders ourselves (in whatever arena of leadership we are in).  There are people that will either be elevated to realize their potential because of our "leadership", or they will be diminished in their purpose through the lack of connection we make.  Mentors are leaders - and we all mentor in one way or another.  The example we set may be just what another needs to realize their full potential in Christ.  

Rewriting the Title Page of our Lives

19-21Saul spent a few days getting acquainted with the Damascus disciples, but then went right to work, wasting no time, preaching in the meeting places that this Jesus was the Son of God. They were caught off guard by this and, not at all sure they could trust him, they kept saying, "Isn't this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem among the believers? And didn't he come here to do the same thing—arrest us and drag us off to jail in Jerusalem for sentencing by the high priests?"  ²²But their suspicions didn't slow Saul down for even a minute. His momentum was up now and he plowed straight into the opposition, disarming the Damascus Jews and trying to show them that this Jesus was the Messiah.

(Acts 9:19-22)

Saul of Tarsus - the persecutor of the New Testament church - is now dedicated to the work of Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit.  He was called to be God's personal representative to the non-Jews (those with no real knowledge of the one true God), the kings (those with power and influence), and to the Jews (those that crucified Christ).  You would think that the believers in Damascus would be delighted to see Saul's transformation.  Yet there is skepticism and a sense of unease as he launches into his ministry.

Most of their initial mistrust of Saul was due to their "perception" of who Saul WAS - he had been well known as the persecutor of believers.  Their mistrust was based on how they HAD known Saul - not on how he WAS behaving in the present.  We sometimes have the tendency to judge the book by the cover.  We know certain things about an individual and then we just don't look any farther.  We allow the things we know about them to give us what we embrace as our TOTAL impression of that individual.  We might even say that based on what little we know, we give them a "title" - like "persecutor of the church" was a title Saul had come to be acquainted with.  There is always a danger in limiting our perception of an individual based on what we know of them in the past.  The danger is that we will never discover the potential of Jesus in them if we always just perceive them under the "title" of their past.

The believers of the day met in meeting places - like small groups in homes of other believers - they did not have many large meeting places like we think of as the churches in our neighborhoods today.  Saul kept with this tradition at first, and launched out to meet as many of the Damascus disciples during his first few days of being a believer in Christ.  Then, we are told, he went right to work with the ministry calling God had given him.  Saul was known as a zealous man - he certainly would embrace the call of God to bring people to Christ as much as he had embraced his misguided belief that the church was "against God".  Saul wasted no time.  One of the tendencies we see with new converts to Christianity is that they are excited about the work Jesus has done in their lives.  They want to share how much grace has touched their lives.  This was the case for Saul, as well.

Look at Saul's enthusiasm - but don't forget to see the reaction of those who knew Saul as the persecutor of the church.  They were reluctant to believe this life change was real.  They almost wanted to not have him in their meeting places because they were fearful this was a trick on his part.  This did not stop Saul - he launched himself into the ministry of sharing the good news about Christ's grace and love as intently as he did all things with his life, plowing head-on into the opposition he encountered.  That opposition was first those within the church that did not fully trust the change they saw in him, then the Jews that stood in total opposition to the New Testament believers and their message of grace.  

The following verses in this chapter begin with a few words common to us in story-telling:  "Now, back in Jerusalem..."  The story is focused on what Saul is doing in Damascus, but then we move to the reaction of the disciples at Jerusalem.  This gives us insight into how widespread the fear of Saul was at that time - even the disciples there did not trust that the change in Saul was real.  But...one man would make all the difference in changing their view of Saul.  That man was Barnabas. 

Barnabas was a Levite - of the line of priests in the Jewish faith that served in the Temple ministry.  He was now a "converted Jew" - one who had embraced the Messiah and had become a follower of Christ.  He was a native of the land of Cyprus - a landowner there.  We find that he sold his land and used the funds from that sale to assist in the work of the church (Acts 4:36-37).  It is quite possible that Barnabas was a long-time acquaintance of Saul - perhaps even "buddies" in the school of Jewish education known as Rabbinical teaching.  

When Saul comes to Jerusalem, it is rough sailing for him - his reputation precedes him.  As is often the case, living "beyond" our reputation is often one of the highest hurdles we will take!  Saul needed to be embraced by one that the other disciples and believers would look up to and trust - Barnabas was that man.  Scripture tells us that he "took Saul under his wing", introducing him to the apostles, and "standing up for him".  If there is one thing that every new convert to Christianity needs, it is someone who will take them under their wing for a while.  That bond and support made all the difference in the acceptance of Saul as a "changed man".  It helped others see him beyond his "reputation" and understand the work God was doing in his life.

Theirs would be a long relationship - Barnabas and Saul traveling throughout the land, preaching the good news of Christ's grace and establishing new churches.  At first, Barnabas is the key player - introducing Saul (now known to them as Paul) to the apostles, church leaders, and believers in Jerusalem, then inviting him to assist him in a full year's missionary work in the region of Antioch.  Before long, Paul began to know the calling on his life - it was that of a missionary.  I cannot help but wonder how much Barnabas influenced the early ministry of Paul, helping him rise to the place that he would be commissioned as a missionary in the New Testament church.

The relationships we form are often the very thing we need to "rewrite" the "title page" of our lives.  No longer was Saul known as the "Persecutor of the Church" - now he was "The Missionary to the Gentiles".  Today, as you consider those who have taken you "under their wings" as mentors, coaches, and simply as positive examples by which you come to learn what it is to live as a Christian, offer a special word of thanks to God.  They are God's gift to us to help us "rewrite" the "title page" of our lives!