In this present age, any well-meaning parent is more than a little concerned about how their children are going to turn out as adults. Parenting has not been easy in any age, but in our current setting, the challenge can seem insurmountable. Thank God for the principles outlined in his Word! No matter how formidable the task may appear, God’s ways still work. Rest assured that the message of Proverbs 22:6 remains true: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Many helpful principles could be shared, but to keep the article both brief and practical, let’s look at four key “beatitudes” of parenting.
Be Spiritual
Children know their parents, and know them well. They are quite aware of just how spiritually motivated you really are. Our children were in their teens when we were first seriously discipled in our marriage and family. Theresa and I made it a practice of sharing very openly with our children about what we were learning and changing about ourselves as individuals and as mates and parents. Even though our children have been away from home now for years, and have families of their own, we still share our struggles and desires to grow with them by phone. Our consistent emphasis on growing spiritually has done much to encourage the same in them. As has been said, attitudes are more caught than taught.
Be spiritual in what you talk about in the home. An old joke in my former church stated that most members had “fried preacher” and “roasted elder” for Sunday lunch! Sadly, that was often true, and more sadly, it is too often true even in our churches. After our daughter, Renee, was grown, she made an amazing statement in a marriage workshop class our whole family was doing together. She stated that she never remembered Theresa and me being negative about our schedules and schedule changes. Her memory may have been too kind, but I’m thankful that she remembers her time with us in that way. How about you? How positive are you in talking about the church and its leaders?
Also, be spiritual in your marriage. When Sam and Geri Laing once spoke in Boston to parents of teens, I was surprised at how much they emphasized this point. A poor marriage example damages children in many ways, including their view of whether God’s principles bring happiness or not. Please take this one seriously. Once our daughter as a teen was considering seriously whether she wanted to remain a disciple, and the telling point in that decision was our marriage. She told her mom that she wanted a marriage like we had and knew that she would never have one like ours outside the kingdom. Praise God that Theresa and I have worked so hard to keep our marriage exciting and growing over the years since we became disciples! Now Bryan and Renee have their own marriages, and our example of striving to keep growing has been a very important part of their view of marriages generally.
How you handle conflicts with your mate, how free each of you are with each other to freely express your opinions and hurts sets the tone for the openness or lack thereof on the part of your children. If you don’t respect your mate, the kids will not either, and they won’t respect their mates once they marry. Build a spiritual atmosphere in the home by having consistent spiritual talks, quiet times and discipleship times with your children. It will pay huge dividends in time and in eternity.
Be Humble
Humility is one of the qualities that God loves and rewards most, and nowhere is this quality more important than in the family. Read these Scriptures carefully: “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2). “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time” (1 Peter 5:5-6). God opposes the proud and so do others, especially our own children!
Be humble about your sins. An old adage says that people cannot see your humility until you allow them to see your humanity (though your own vulnerable sharing of same). I remember counseling a couple whose teen said of them: “mother can never be wrong; dad apologizes very quickly but doesn’t change.” Sadly, some parents never say “I’m wrong; I’m sorry; please forgive me.” When we became disciples, we started asking our children consistently what they saw in our lives that needed to change, what we have done to hurt them and what we needed to apologize for. We still do this periodically just to make sure our example is what it should be and to make sure that even something small is unresolved between us.
Be humble in seeking the evaluation and help of other disciples regarding your family dynamics. When we first became a part of a discipling ministry, we were so grateful for the help of the young singles that discipled our children. We made them a part of our family, and often asked them what they were seeing in our family dynamics that needed to change. Of course, we were able to help them in the ways that they needed help on a maturity level.
Ask spiritually mature couples to come in to help evaluate your relationship and family atmosphere. I remember on several occasions having others in to help us work out impasses between us and our children. In order to do this, you will have to be humble enough to avoid becoming uptight about how your children may make you look. We can put undue pressures on them, to make us appear a certain way. We can try to live our lives through them, which is a way of rejecting who they are as persons. Humble out and get help—lots of it. It has been my experience in counseling families that most married couples are more defensive about their parenting roles than about their marriage roles. Please fight that prideful tendency and just be humble. The dividends will be wonderful.
Be Calm
Raising children, especially through the preteen and teen years, is at times like walking through a mine field! Remaining calm is the only way to avoid unexpected explosions! Emotions begat similar emotions—whether calm or the opposite. “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1). Read 2 Timothy 2:23-26 carefully and thoughtfully. Thankfully, I came to a conviction about remaining calm at all costs when Renee was still in High School. It was very difficult, since that had not been my pattern in parenting through many years. Yet, it worked wonders in both of us. Renee followed my example and learned to communicate with me with reasoned calmness, in spite of the emotions inside that were trying to come out in worldly ways.
At times when dealing with sensitive subjects, Theresa chose to write the children letters, which helped lower the emotional challenges. We worked as a team by deciding which of us might be the best one for a certain type talk with them. While the one chosen carried the conversation, the other simply prayed. We have learned to keep our emotions in check and to act rather than react. Our children have imitated this and are now doing a much better job of relating to their young children than I did to them when they were young. My regrets are being replaced by the joy of seeing worldly cycles broken by God’s power.
Be a Friend
Being a friend to your children means that you listen much more then you talk, and you especially fight the natural impulse to lecture. “The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out” (Proverbs 20:5). The most important parenting principle is to disciple the heart, not simply the behavior. Before you can disciple the heart, you must know what is in it. To find that out, you have to establish and maintain an atmosphere of openness in which the child can feel safe enough to express their honest feelings to you without fear of negative reaction from you. Hence, listen not lecture.
Find the right time for each child, the time when they will more naturally be talkative. When Bryan came home from school, he was a typical male in that works were few. However, at night around bedtime, he would talk if we were there to listen. Renee, on the other hand, walked in the door after school talking profusely. So, we had to make time to listen when they were most prone to want to talk. Children need times just to hang out with you—help them with their homework; have special fun times to build memories. Above all, have faith in them. “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (Proverbs 17:17). Don’t give up on them, no matter what difficult stages they may be going through. Once when Theresa was struggling with faith that she could be effective evangelistically, Renee (when still a teen) gave her a mustard seed of faith. Theresa shared the same with her through the years, helping her to stay in the spiritually battle.
Being a friend means that you give “sandwich” type corrections – the challenges are encompassed on either side with compliments and encouragements. Paul followed this pattern repeatedly in his letters. Friendship to children also means that you allow them to have choices that are age appropriate. Failure to do this ultimately results in rebellion. Your job as a parent is to gradually replace your “parent” hat with a “friend” hat. Without question, the most rewarding stage of parenthood is when your children are grown and all of you say (and feel) that you are the best of friends. By God’s grace and forgiveness, our children’s grace and forgiveness, we can all enjoy that if we follow the above “beatitudes” of parenting. The Golden Rule of parenting is to love and train your children as you want God to treat you. Let’s do it, and give God all the credit when he blesses our families!
—Gordon Ferguson (November 2001)
Several years following 2003 ushered in a time of unsettledness, upheaval, re-examination and uncertainty within most churches of the ICOC movement. Some things connected with this time have been good, and some have been bad. Without going into the reasons for the upheaval and the judgments of what has been good or bad, suffice it to say that church leaderships have been faced with a major decision about how their various components are going to interface and work together. These components may be comprised of elders and evangelists, or evangelists and a board of directors, or some other combination of leadership groups.
Two mindsets about how these groups interface are reflected in the title, one being a balance of power concept and the other being a team concept. The balance of power concept is well reflected in our government, with its legislative branch, judicial branch and executive branch. Most of our citizens don’t trust any branch in isolation, but have reasonable trust in the three working together, for they form a balance of power—a system of checks and balances that limit any one of these branches from having too much authority and influence.
This concept most closely approximates the mindset that developed among many leadership groups in our movement’s recent history. Elders or boards of directors were urged to stand up more against the evangelists and to limit their power. Certainly, we often had situations in which the evangelists had too much authority, and in which group or team leadership was lacking. This issue was addressed pretty thoroughly in our book, Golden Rule Leadership. Although the evangelist’s one man rule was wrong, other approaches can also be wrong. Since having elders is the biblical ideal, our comments will be addressed to leadership groups involving an eldership, although in churches without elderships, the board of directors may be involved more directly in the “balance of power” approach in their relationship with the ministry staff.
The elder/evangelist relationship is one of the most important aspects affecting the health and effectiveness of a church, and for that reason, Satan has developed a number of plans to hinder it. Providing a historical perspective of elder/evangelist relationships in the Churches of Christ, including the ICOC, might be a good starting place to help understand the challenges. Historically, the ICOC grew out of a campus ministry setting within Mainline Churches of Christ, and ended up with certain baggage from that era. The elders within the Mainline groups were definitely seen as the decision makers for the church, the ones who “hired and fired” the preachers and made just about all of the major decisions for the church – often with little input from the fulltime ministers. Since the elder role was viewed as more positional and authoritative in nature than as functional – with the elders being “over” the ministry people—the relationship between the two types were more often than not adversarial in nature (even if sensed more than spoken).
That is the setting in which I spent most of my early ministry years. In all of my experience in those churches, the elders were by design and function a separate entity from ministers, and did not see themselves as a real team with me or with the ministry leaders generally. That was one of the most de-motivating settings in which I have ever served, and probably the reason that preacher tenure in those churches was decidedly short in the large majority of congregations. The longest I ever survived in one church under that system was four years. Just thinking back to my own experiences in that setting immediately raises my blood pressure and acid production!
Of course, extremes begat extremes, which is exactly what happened in the ICOC in its early days. Evangelists resented the one-sided control exerted by elders, and reacted in the opposite (and equally wrong) direction. The following quote comes from my article “Motivation: Guilt or Grace,” written earlier this year (and now on the phoenixvalleychurch.org web site, as well as other web sites):
Second, leaders of those traditional churches were not to be trusted, for they quite often represented the opposition as persecutors. In those churches, elders were unquestionably the leaders in control, and for this reason they were to be trusted least. The carryover into our movement in terms of mistrusting elders cannot be denied. The highly influential role of elders in the NT church has not yet been duplicated in our movement, although some progress has been made in recent years. The current clamor in the wake of Henry Kriete’s letter has produced more change in the role of the elder than the Bible produced in prior years—to our shame.
Leadership style in our movement is another phenomenon that has been influenced significantly by those campus ministry days. In planting a new church or working in youth groups, including campus ministries, the leader is the “go to” person by design. As disciples age, they must be treated in age-appropriate ways, which should include leaders developing leadership groups instead of remaining one-man, top-down leaders. We have been extremely slow to learn this needed lesson, as the Golden Rule Leadership book emphasizes repeatedly. Without rehashing the point, the campus ministry era influenced our leadership style in ways that simply must be changed if we are to move forward effectively, especially in older, larger churches.
In my Mainline church days, I was an evangelist in an elder-dominated environment, and in my early Boston days, I was an elder in an evangelist- dominated environment. Both are extremes and both are unbiblical, impractical, unproductive and spiritually unhealthy. And both are reactionary in their developmental stages. No sooner than one extreme is thrown out does the other seek to come in. At the present time in our movement, some elderships (or other non-staff leadership groups) are unquestionably following the Mainline extreme, and havoc is being wreaked. We must avoid such extremes, or we will reap the same consequences that some are now reaping.
Being an avid football fan, I can’t help but use a sports illustration of the team concept. My favorite team is the New England Patriots—three time World Champions! (Fans of other teams, please forgive my bias!) The three main roles of this team are reflected in its offense, defense, and special teams. They don’t think in terms of “checks and balances” at all—although they have different roles, and when they are not on the field, they are cheering on the ones who are. The respect they have for one another is obvious, and they are totally supportive of each other. They are willing to play on another part of the team if needed, no matter what their normal role. Their dominant mindset is well reflected in the old saying, “All for one, and one for all!” Shouldn’t those in various leadership roles in the church have this same team mindset?
My first experience in a discipling church was in San Diego back in the mid-1980s. It was certainly the most biblical (and joyous) situation of which I had ever been a part. I came in as lead evangelist when in my early 40s, and soon thereafter was joined by co-evangelist Gregg Marutzky (then in his late 20s). George Havins and Ron Brumley were serving as elders at the time. The four of us formed a leadership team that worked together beautifully. We met weekly, often with our wives, and led the church as a team. Although the elders told me when I agreed to come there that they understood that I would be discipling them, we in fact discipled one another as equals. None of us thought in terms of who was “over” whom. We saw our roles as distinct, but overlapping in many ways. The evangelists focused on leading the charge evangelistically and the elders focused on meeting the needs of the flock. With both perspectives always co-joined, we planned as a team and made decisions as a team. There were no “elders only” meetings and no “evangelists only” meetings, and the elders normally attended the weekly staff meetings.
I believe that the best decision making process is the one that is most inclusive of different perspectives. I have advocated the inclusion of the elders’ wives in elders’ meetings on a regular basis, although the expectation should not be that they attend all meetings. But no matter what, I want to know their female perspectives before finalizing decisions. I feel exactly the same way about getting the perspective of those whose full-time job is ministry. Look at it from their viewpoint. For years, in the absence of elders, the evangelists were responsible for about everything that went on within the church, and were involved in about everything in one way or another. They were certainly involved in making the decisions (often too involved in an exclusive manner, as I argued in Golden Rule Leadership). But that was seen to be their job. They were right in the middle of everything, by design and job description. Now all of a sudden, elders are viewed by many as those at the helm, making decisions into which evangelists may have little input. The evangelists helped to raise up elders, and by virtue of appointment, elders are overnight seen by some as the main decision makers. This approach, left unchecked and unaltered, puts us on a course that bodes significant challenges, if my past experience in this area can be trusted at all.
I spent many months after the Kriete letter trying to get ministry staff people to understand what the members were feeling and why. Those who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, see what the real issues were, I recommended taking off of staff. Some such decisions were very complicated, and tremendously painful to them and to me. In the case of those who understood the issues, or wanted to understand them, I worked (and am working) to try and help them change. In recent months, I feel most compelled to help non-staff people understand what the staff folks are feeling. Whatever any of us did to implement the systemic sins imposed on us from above, we did it with a heart to serve and to see the world saved. Most of us were hurt by the system as much or more than we hurt anyone else as we passed the system’s sins down the ranks. Now we not only have to deal with the hurts imposed from above, we have to deal with our hurts about what we did to others. Yet, we feel called by God to do what we are doing. Those who remain on staff (a small percentage of those on staff two years ago) are serious about changing ourselves and the church. But we continue to feel the mistrust, suspicion of our motives, and sometimes downright disdain from some that we are trying to serve. I don’t think most of us who have not been on staff even begin to understand the pain and discouragement those of us on staff often feel.
I have strongly supported the establishment of biblical elderships, and am very grateful for our group in Phoenix. Having at least one elder/evangelist on the ministry staff is a safeguard toward which all elderships would do well to strive. The connection that this provides with “both sides of the river” is invaluable. I was privileged to work in harmony with both elders and ministry staff in Boston during my later years there. We weren’t perfect by any means, but one thing that elders/evangelists did was to remain united and continue to figure out ways in which they could function as a team. They are still doing that, from what I hear. On the other hand, you can find examples of elderships and evangelists that are anything but a team. The latter case is going to occur when elders allow the vocal minority—in or out of the church—to influence their thinking more than the ministry staff does. Elders who have never served on staff before have the greatest challenge here, in hearing all sides and being even-handed in proceeding. But that is why we are elders—to use our wisdom and knowledge of human nature gained by virtue of our age to help the family of God behave as the family of God. May our Maker help us to accomplish that worthy goal!
—Gordon Ferguson (February 2005)
I recently had an experience and an insight from it that may be very significant to the way we are leading the church. The recent experience was going through the Dynamic Marriage facilitator training program. Although the purpose of this brief article is not to promote that particular program, I will say that all churches would do well to train some people to facilitate this program in their local congregations. I’ve not seen anything quite like it, and as an elder in Phoenix, I will do everything I can to get every married couple in the church to go through these classes. But, on to the insight.
The thought that hit me is very simple but probably pretty profound at the same time. According to the Dynamic Marriage facilitator training, just about all marriages fall into 1 of 3 categories: 25% are good; 50% are stagnant; and 25% are on the verge of breaking up. The trainer said that the 25% good ones are good because the marriage partners in these unions are self-starters. They hear marriage lessons and put the suggestions into practice. They read the recommended books and talk to others and get help. Taking this at face value, about one-fourth of all people are self starters and the remainder are not. From my experiences in life, I would agree that this is likely an accurate figure.
By applying this principle to the church generally, we as leaders (self-starters) may be expecting virtually every member to become a self-starter spiritually. We have said in the past couple of years that people need to take responsibility for themselves and their spiritual growth and not be dependent on leaders. That sounds noble and righteous, but is it actually in touch with reality? What we are really saying to people is “Be like me” (a self-starter). People keep saying things like “I’m not pulled in to relationships.” “I don’t have any friends.” “I am isolated.” We keep replying, “Well, have you initiated with anyone; have you sought out help, etc.” Are we expecting the impossible?
How do the Dynamic Marriage people handle the fact that 75% of all people are not self-starters? They provide very detailed structure, with specific expectations and accountability. Otherwise, that large percentage of people will not get help in their marriages, and many will end in divorce. What did we as a movement provide for our church membership in past years? Detailed structure, with specific expectations and accountability. Was that wrong? No, it was necessary. What was wrong? The types of expectations, accountability and motivation used. Strong directive leadership was not what was wrong; I think it was what was right – another right thing often done in wrong ways.
Our people who are complaining about us not helping them with relationships and other components of the Christian life sound like complainers who won’t take responsibility for themselves. Could it be that they are simply crying out for help—the kind of help that non-self starters always have needed and will likely always need (at least at points in their lives until they reach real maturity)? The ideal is that all disciples should become self-starters, and hopefully with time and good direction to help mature them, many will. But if we don’t lead people from where they currently are to where they need to be, they may never even stay in the church. If many leaders keep leading like they are, the church may well end up with only self-starter type members, and quite long lists of immature or otherwise weaker disciples who have died on the vine.
—Gordon Ferguson (April 2005)
Co-authoring a book like Golden Rule Leadership has been a daunting task. Which of us thinks we have perfected Jesus’ style of leading? Certainly not Wyndham or I. Our primary goal in writing this book was to give insight and input as peers seeking to imitate Jesus, not as experts who have figured it all out. Our intention has been to prompt healthy discussion about leadership style at an important time in the movement. We have striven to be as humble as possible in addressing such an important topic, realizing fully that we are simply works in progress and not finished products.
All leaders are also followers in some settings. Therefore, when we read a book or an article on leadership, we can focus either on (1) how we are leading or (2) how we are being led. Perhaps it should go without mentioning that we should first think about how we lead others, but this is not our tendency, is it? We tend to immediately think about how we have been led, to contemplate whether our needs have been met, rather than contemplating how we may have met (or not met) the needs of those whom we lead.
Another part of the challenge in writing a leadership book is that some readers may respond in reactionary ways. For example, one such response might be anticipated as follows: “That’s how I always thought leadership should be, but it isn’t the way I have been led.” This is a predictable response, but not necessarily the most spiritual. I am reminded of a sermon about the nature of advice that Randy McKean preached soon after he became the lead evangelist of the Boston church. At that time, some leaders considered their advice to be fairly binding, but Randy took exception to that view in his lesson, insisting instead that advice is simply advice unless a specific Biblical statement or principle is clearly involved. Randy summarized his sermon by saying that three types of people would be challenged most in applying his lesson: those who had been wrong about the nature of advice; those who had been right; and those who had been wronged.
We find ourselves in a similar situation regarding the issue of leadership style. If you have led or have been led in less than a Golden Rule manner, your challenge is pretty much the same. Maybe you have been wrong in your exercise of leadership. You will have to be humble enough to admit this, repent and change what you can figure out needs changing. Or maybe you have been right and have seen leaders leading in a non-Golden Rule manner. You will have to guard your heart against self-righteousness, another form of pride. Jesus uttered some very appropriate words for situations just like this: “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone” (John 8:7). Or lastly, maybe you have been wronged by leaders. For starters, I must ask, “Who hasn’t?”
In a recent author interview, Wyndham and I were asked why many leaders have not implemented better leadership dynamics sooner. My comments then fit well here. I wrote:
My children could easily ask this question of me as a dad. It’s a bit of a mystery that those most suited biologically to have children are the least experienced! As parents, we just have to learn as we go and do the best that we can figure out to do at the time. As spiritual parents, the challenge is the same. With our movement having grown fast, bringing fairly inexperienced disciples into leadership roles is a must. Remember that the apostle John started off as a ‘Son of Thunder’ long before he grew into being the ‘Apostle of Love.’ Sure, we have all made mistakes, some serious, as physical parents and spiritual parents. The two most important issues are our intentions and our progress. As a leader, I am not throwing stones, for even at my age (59), I still make mistakes and hurt people. But my intentions are good and my progress is real. Wyndham and I are simply trying to promote such progress by showing where changes are needed, while maintaining a grateful heart for all of the good we have experienced.
One of the greatest things about our movement is that we can look at ourselves and make changes as needed. Our leadership style has varied according to person, place and time. Many leaders have led by Golden Rule principles all along. Similarly, some ministries have been consistently blessed consistently with such leadership. The passage of time has brought changes in leadership style as we have learned from our mistakes. Al Baird wrote an article some years back entitled “A New Look at Authority,” in which he said that we had gone too far in how we applied authority to ordinary discipling relationships. As one of our most respected leaders, he was saying that we had overstepped certain Biblical principles in this area and should correct ourselves, which, in large measure, we have attempted to do. Wyndham and I are trying to prompt a similar result on a somewhat broader basis of leadership style.
Much has been right about leadership in the kingdom, without question. Forceful, visionary leadership is sorely needed in all groups, religious and otherwise, and we are grateful that our movement has been characterized by the raising up of new leaders. The Golden Rule Leadership book is about developing a leadership style and structure that is Biblically based and the most effective possible. In a nutshell, we believe that leadership style must change as congregations change in size and age, and this is the need we are addressing. Varying situations require different leadership styles, which must be selected or adapted to suit these different circumstances at any given time. Effective leadership depends upon many things: awareness of the nature of the task, the make-up of the group and its individual members, the environment in which the group is found, and particularly, the self-awareness of the leaders themselves. Younger and smaller churches will not have the option of working through strong leadership teams, but the leader(s) must strive to raise up other mature leaders who can share the load with them. I am thankful for our strong emphasis in the movement on leadership and “followership,” for God has blessed us in planting churches all over the world. Now we must take it to the next level of growing larger and larger churches, which will demand some paradigm changes in leadership style and structure.
In the end, it is a matter of faith in God⎯truly believing that he is directing us, even through our weaknesses and mistakes. All we can ever do is to do the best we can with our present knowledge and experience, trusting that God will continue to help us learn and change when needed. Paul put it this way in Philippians 3:15-16:
All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
The one thing arguably worse than having poor leadership is having no leadership at all. We are all works in progress, and if we were to wait until we had “arrived” before leading with confidence, none of us would ever lead! We can only do our best, pray about the rest, and trust that God will make up the difference as he continues to mold us.
As is often said, “Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater.” Let’s avoid having a critical spirit regarding past mistakes on anyone’s part. Let’s remain very grateful for all of the good things that have been accomplished. And let’s trust that God is continuing to lead us all. Do we need more Golden Rule leadership? Absolutely. But that will only be possible when we all commit to being Golden Rule followers. Most of us are leaders in some sense, but all of us are followers. Rather than pointing fingers at others, let’s look in the mirror and be the best disciples of Jesus possible. God will surely be pleased with such an approach.
—Gordon Ferguson (March 2002)
First, consider the Old Testament references to the eternal nature of Christ. Isaiah 9:6-7 alone should establish the point beyond any doubt.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
This child who would be born and sit on David’s throne can be no other than Jesus Christ. And yet this child who graced Bethlehem’s barn was to be called “Mighty God” and “Everlasting Father.” The Jehovah’s Witnesses dodge on this passage is that Jesus is “mighty” God but not the “almighty”. However, the same term is applied to Jehovah in Isaiah 10:20-21. Further, Micah 5:2 indicates the ruler who would come from Bethlehem was one whose “goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.” (NASV)
Isaiah 43:10 and 44:6 make it clear that there was no God but Jehovah (“LORD” in NIV). Either the term Jehovah (from the original “Yahweh”) refers to the Godhead (Father, Son, and Spirit), or Jesus is not Deity. The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ claim that Jesus is a lesser god is unscriptural polytheism. A number of passages demonstrate that Jesus is in fact Jehovah. Some people mistakenly assume that Jehovah is a name applied only to the Father. In Jeremiah 23:5-6, however, the righteous Branch from David’s lineage is called specifically “the LORD (Jehovah) our righteousness.” Let’s look at that passage in its context:
“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.”
Consider also the following parallels. Isaiah 45:18-23 states that unto Jehovah every knee would bow and every tongue swear because he was the only God. Philippians 2:11 shows that this event refers to Judgment when all confess and bow to Christ. A comparison of Joel 2:32 and Romans 10:9-13 shows that calling on the name of Jehovah is equated with confessing Christ and calling on him. Since John the Baptist was to prepare the way of Jehovah (Isaiah 40:3-5) and he did prepare the way for Jesus (Mark 1:1-7), Jesus must be Jehovah. Again, Jehovah is said to have created all things (Isaiah 42:5; 44:24), and the same is recorded of Christ (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:16). Thus, Jesus must be Jehovah. Many other such comparisons demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is Jehovah. Compare Isaiah 45:5 with Titus 2:13; Revelation 1:8 with Revelation 22:13-16; and, Exodus 3:14 with John 8:58.
But also there are the claims of the NT. The New Testament contains numerous passages which directly affirm the deity of Christ. Jesus is called “God” in John 1:1; 20:28; Titus 2:13; 2 Peter 1:1 and 1 John. 5:20. The Jews understood that Christ’s claim to be the Son of God meant that he was equal to God in his nature (John 5:18). They had no doubt that his claims about himself were claims to be God (John 10:33). Men may be sons of God by adoption, but Jesus was the unique Son by nature (John 3:16, Philippians 2:6).
It is of course true that certain New Testament passages relegate Jesus to a lesser position than that of the Father (see John 14:28), but this was due to Christ’s temporary fleshly existence. There was a voluntary departure from his pre-flesh glories (Philippians 2:5-8; John 17:5), but his ascension back to heaven changed this temporary humiliation (Ephesians 1:20-21). This lowered earthly role of Jesus concerned his position, not his person or nature. A person in a job setting may have a superior position over another person, but that says absolutely nothing about the one in submission being inferior in nature. The same situation exists in the case of Jesus and his heavenly Father.
A third and final observation about the Deity of Christ involves his reception of worship. Matthew 4:10 clearly teaches that only God is to be worshipped. Men could not be worshipped (Acts 10:25-26; 14:12-15), and neither could angels (Revelation 19:10; 22:8-9). However, Christ was worshipped by both men (Matthew 8:2; 9:18; 14:33; 15:25; etc.) and angels (Hebrews 1:6). Therefore, the only possible conclusion is that Jesus is God. The very foundation of the church is the Deity of Christ (Matthew 16:16-18), and any teaching that would reject this marvelous truth must be firmly and convincingly resisted by the Book of books. Christ is indeed eternal, “the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 22:13).
—Gordon Ferguson (April 2001)
Just about all human beings struggle with faith in God at one point or another. Some struggle nearly all the time and some struggle very seldom. Others have ceased to struggle and just have tried to forget God, or quit believing in him. Regardless of where you find yourself, you are not alone. Many of the Psalms reflect this faith struggle between the writer and God. Nearly all Psalms of this type begin with the struggle and end with faith rediscovered. Psalm 88 is an exception to that general rule, as the alleged writers (the sons of Korah) ended with this dreary, faithless statement: “the darkness is my closest friend.” Have you ever felt like that? I certainly have.
The reasons for our struggles may be both varied and numerous, but the two main sources that produce them are likely either things in the Bible or things in our life that don’t square with what we think God should be doing or allowing. I recently taught the Book of Colossians to the church in Honolulu. Colossians 3:22-4:1 deals with the subject of slavery—by regulating it, not condemning it. As I thought about God’s approach to the topic, I not only found myself repulsed by the idea, but wondered how much more strongly I might be affected if I were a black African American. For most Americans, regardless of race, the slavery era of our nation’s history is a dark and painful era to contemplate. But we can find many other biblical topics that are unsettling and troubling: the annihilation of entire nations by the direction of God in the Old Testament; the existence of a place of punishment called hell; the clear teaching of Jesus that most humans would be lost in eternity; etc.
Besides the biblical issues that may be quite disturbing and difficult or impossible to understand, we have life issues that seem even more challenging to our faith. Among such issues would be the baby born severely handicapped, or stillborn; deadly diseases striking not only the aged, but those in the very prime of life or in childhood; natural calamities killing hundreds or thousands at once; our own lives and family affected by health challenges, family challenges or financial challenges (and maybe a combination of these and other painful possibilities); etc. The old bumper sticker statement, “Life is tough − and then you die” seems more true than not. To me, life often seems very challenging with God; but life without God is too much for me to contemplate.
As I think about the nature and results of such faith struggles, I can see at least four possible outcomes. Going from worst to best, some people give in to the struggles and end up saying something to this effect: “I cannot and will not believe in a God like the one I see in the Bible or in my world.” Thus, they choose atheism—or at least try to. Let’s call this category four. Other people feel much the same, but have a slightly different response intellectually (although not practically). They say, “I cannot and will not serve a God like the one I see in the Bible or in my world. I can’t deny his existence, but I will choose to live as if he didn’t exist.” The term to describe one who comes to this conclusion would be “practical atheist.” He or she lives as if there is no God. We will call this category three.
Most of us find ourselves in one of the two better categories of strugglers. I’m in category two myself, which is to say that I often struggle with my faith in God through the circumstances of life. I have found ways to harmonize to my satisfaction the biblical issues that some have not yet resolved regarding God and his nature, but I don’t always find it easy to harmonize my view of God with my life as it tumbles in. Thus, like the writers of Psalms or the biblical character Job, I find myself questioning how God is running the world, especially my little personal world. The category some folks are in, and I wish I were one of them, is category one, in which a childlike faith seems to rule supreme most of the time. Their mantra is simple: “God is God, and God is good, and since he knows all things and can do all things, whatever happens will work out for my good—somehow, sometime and some way.”
My wife, Theresa, is pretty much like that most of the time. She has what the Bible calls for − a childlike faith. Jesus words in Matthew 18:2-5 ring loudly in my ears (if not always in my heart): “He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ‘And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.’” One of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 131, reads this way as David declares his childlike faith in God: “My heart is not proud, O Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore.” What an upward call that is for all of us!
If we don’t live most of the time in category one, what are we to do? Let’s start at the worst place once more. What if your faith struggles have led you to tout atheism? Honestly, that one isn’t as difficult to deal with as some think. It’s hard to maintain the atheistic position. Too much evidence for the existence of God is readily available. When I was a young man in Graduate School, I had a professor named Thomas Warren, who specialized in debating well-known atheists. Tom had a PhD in philosophy from Vanderbilt University, and developed some ways to refute atheism that made me glad I was on his side of the issue! Along with several thousand others on a university campus, I observed him debating Anthony G. N. Flew from England. Flew believed that the existence of evil and tragedy in the world proved that there was no God, but he was unprepared for Tom Warren, who pretty much obliterated his arguments. Interestingly, although that debate took place decades ago, and Tom Warren is now dead, Anthony Flew renounced his atheism within the past few years. It’s simply a difficult position to maintain when the signature of God is written all over the universe in myriad ways. Only the fool says in his heart that there is no God (Psalm 14:1), and the bigger fool blurts it out for everyone to hear!
Those in category three who refuse to serve God, although they believe he exists, are essentially mad at him for one of many possible reasons, and don’t work through it. In essence, due to their problems with either biblical issues or life issues, they give up on God. Regardless of which type issue is at the root of their frustration or anger, they need to stop and think about some of the ramifications of their beliefs. Although it is not difficult to find reasons to question God and his love, to stay in that position is not only damaging, it is arrogant to the nth degree. In effect, a person in this category is saying, “God, you are not running the world correctly. I may be a mere human, but I can tell without a shadow of a doubt that you are messing up in the way you have done, or are doing, your business of running the world.” Wow—what an colossal assumption! Job was once dangerously near this conclusion, as his family calamities and person pain led him to question God. Actually, he did more than question: he had his case against God developed to the point that he was ready to enter God’s courtroom and take him on, acting as his own attorney. Finally, God had heard enough. Job 38:1-3 says: “Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm. He said: ‘Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’” This was God’s introduction to a little quiz he had for the self-assured Job.
About halfway through the quiz, Job had now heard more than enough, and he stated: “I am unworthy − how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer—twice, but I will say no more” (Job 40:3-5). However, God wasn’t through with the quiz yet, and he continued to go after Job. At long last it was all over, and Job’s final reply, with bowed head and broken heart, was as follows in Job 42:2-6:
I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
For those who don’t figure out what Job discovered about God in this life, it will take but a matter of seconds to figure it out in the next life when they stand in God’s presence. The very thought of meeting God in that state takes my breath away and brings tears to my eyes—literally, as I write this. We need to learn the most important lessons in life before we pass into eternity. I’m drawn to what the old priest in the movie Rudy said to the young football player who was struggling with his faith. He said something to this effect: “Son, I’m an old man now, and I have learned two big lessons in life. One, there is a God, and two, I am not him!” That’s a good starting place, but we need to go one step further. What has kept me out of this category through my struggles is one basic presupposition, and that is that God must be good.
I go out on prayer walks in nature, and see the beauties of creation all around me, and I know that God must be good. Even in the desert of Arizona, I find myself intrigued by the tremendous varieties of plants that not only survive but thrive where rain is all but non-existent. We have a number of different types of Agave plants that sprout huge shafts right out of their middle that often reach 10 feet high. And the shafts are of different configurations, depending on the type Agave. The Century plants near our neighborhood supermarket are startling to me every time I drive by, with those golden shafts reaching up from an 18” high plant 10 feet into the sky. I have taken dozens of photos of these plants, not only because they are mesmerizing to me, but because they shout out loudly, “God is!” “And he is good.”
The creation of the material world just gets me started. Then I think about the wife of my youth, the love of my life, my bride of 42 years. And I break down and weep with gratitude that I serve a God who is good. I go on to think about my two wonderful children and their wonderful mates and our five beautiful grandchildren—and I weep yet more. I then think about others in my physical family whom I love dearly, and then about those in my spiritual family who have blessed my life immeasurably. Oh, yes, there is a God, and he’s a good God—a very, very, very good God. His patience with my faith struggles is astounding. Paul once wrote with the pen of inspiration that Jesus our Lord had “unlimited patience” (1 Timothy 1:16). Unbelievable! Unthinkable! Unfathomable! Listen, if God were not good, I would have been burned to a crisp years ago, and so would you. Sometimes I go out on a long prayer walk for one purpose: just to start at the beginning of my life and thank God for all of the good things during the 64 years since. Sure, there are plenty of bad things, as I would deem them, but I am not so dense or hard-hearted that I miss seeing the hand of God even in those times. God never said that all things in life are good, but he did promise to work them together for good (Romans 8:28). He didn’t say to be thankfulfor all circumstances, but he did say to be thankful in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18), trusting that his promises to make it all come out right will prove true.
You can mark this principle down: those in category two that don’t accept the presupposition that God is good, even in the midst of fighting for faith, will end up in category three—and ultimately reap a whirlwind that they cannot imagine at the outset. No, I’m not in category one yet, with a childlike faith eliminating most of the battles in trusting God. But I want to be there with all of my heart, and I’m trying hard to be surrendered enough to let the God of all goodness and all comfort win those battles for me. As someone once said, “Doubt is not bad if you use it as a shovel with which to dig for faith.” If you are already digging, keep it up. If you have stopped digging, get started again. When your shovel strikes God’s treasure house of faith once more, the idealism once found in you as a little boy or a little girl will once again lead you to skip down a bright, flower-strewn path, hand-in-hand with God! Oh yes—God is, and God is good! You can bet your life on it − this life and the next life.
—Gordon Ferguson (April 2007)
