Perry’s Scope: Christian sermons, lessons, and resources for teachers

God’s intent in giving his word to us is to aid in the transformation of our lives (see Romans 12:1-2). If we are not changed by it, we are probably not practicing it. I came across a story that reminds us of the power of God’s word.

In 1787, William Bligh led the H.M.S. Bounty to the South Pacific. He appointed Christian Fletcher to his second in command. The crew spent six months in Tahiti, living life to the fullest in the newly discovered paradise.

On April 28, 1789, Mr. Christian staged the famous mutiny. He and his fellow mutineers set Captain Bligh and loyal crew members adrift in a small lifeboat. The mutineers immediately began quarreling among themselves.

Christian led the crew back to Tahiti. There they left some of the mutineers and kidnapped women and slaves. They sailed a thousand miles to the uninhabited Pitcairn Island. There the group imploded. They learned to make alcohol from a local plant and lived lives of debauchery. Drunkenness, disease, and murder took the lives of all of the men but one — John Adams (AKA, Alexander Smith).

An amazing thing happened. Smith discovered the ship’s Bible. He began reading it and then began teaching its principles to the women, children, and slaves. The message of Christ transformed their lives. Twenty years later, when the crew of the Topaz disembarked on the island, they found a small, happy, Christian society which was free from crime, disease, murder, and even mutiny.

The power to change did not come through a self-help seminar. It came by the word of God. Maybe we make things too complicated. My dad used to say, “When all else fails, read the instructions.” Maybe we just need to read and follow the instruction manual.

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

 How we Americans love our independence! It is independence that makes us who we are. We have even named some of our cities after it, i.e., Independence Missouri. When we think back on our history, we realize what a great price our “Founding Fathers” (and “Founding Mothers”) paid for our freedom and independence from tyranny. Americans hate being controlled by someone else (I think we fought a Civil War over that issue).

That attitude of independence also spills over into our spiritual lives. We tend to be independent and self-directing. We resist direction from leaders and often resent our preachers and teachers when they tell us what to do. After all, they are just people like me, what do they think they are doing?

I recently read a statement that has given me pause. “God does not create us for INDEPENDENCE, he creates us for INTERDEPENDENCE.” What a powerful reminder of God’s intentions and our needs!

Think of the various Bible scenarios where “people need people.” In the creation God gave Adam a helpmeet named “Eve.” He needed the interaction and encouragement of a person as well as God.

Roll the tape forward to the book of Acts after the church was formed. Even the great Apostle Paul would feel the need for interdependence. He encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, was struck blind, and was told to go into the city. There he encountered Ananias and received his sight as well as his baptism. Later, he would need Barnabas to help and direct him. Even later he would need some of the other disciples’ help to survive and continue his preaching ministry all the way to Rome.

Paul certainly needed help from other disciples. Yet, there is something that God puts in us that also shows our need to be helpers. Paul was trained under the Jewish Rabbi, Gamaliel. He becomes a rabbi himself. As a follower of Jesus, Paul takes his rabbinical training and applies it to the church. He trains disciples like the other rabbis did - just like Rabbi Jesus did. One of those disciples was the outcast, Timothy. Paul took him in and trained him to follow Jesus. He later becomes the lead Minister at Ephesus. He learned his lessons well.

We could go on and on with examples. Jesus had his twelve who had one another and then later their own disciples to train. All through the New Testament we read the “one another” passages and are reminded of how interwoven we must be. We are not independent, we are interdependent.

Somewhere I heard or read that the average person will know fifty people by sight and name. If our church is about fifty, we can know everyone and feel connected. The average church in America is somewhere around 100, twice the number we are able to know on average. Bible classes and small groups then become a crucial part of the interdependence we need. Large church services foster the “independent spirit” where we stand alone, unrecognized and uninvolved in the lives of others.

In the smaller settings we become aware of others. We recognize their needs and serve them. They recognize our needs and serve us. In all of this, we continually point one another to Jesus. We are interdependent, not independent!

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

Jesus, along with other rabbis, loved to tell stories to teach spiritual lessons. One of his stories is the parable of the wheat and weeds (or tares) in Matthew 13:24-30. He follows with his explanation in Matthew 13:36-43. The Hebrew word that Jesus most likely used for “weed” has the same root as the word for “prostitute.” It gives us a little insight into how God feels when we neglect him in favor of other pursuits in life.

This weed looks exactly like wheat - until the grain is formed. Then it is clear that it is not wheat. Its fruit reveals what it is (see also Matthew 7:15-20).

Jesus said that the world is the field. God’s people, along with idolaters live and grow together in the world. We may be similar in appearance but, once again, our fruit reveals the truth about us.

It is not enough to look right. It is not enough to act right. It is not even enough to know the right. We have to be right (through Jesus, of course). The fruit we bear reveals the God (or god) we serve.

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene

The Jews named the territory on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee the, “Far Country.” It was also called the “Decapolis,” which literally means “Ten Cities.” It was in this area that seven groups of pagan people chose to live. Jesus made some trips to the Decapolis in order to advance the kingdom of God. There he fed people, cast out demons (some into pigs), healed, and taught. He showed his disciples that even the “Gates of Hell” could not stop him.

In the story of the Prodigal Son, the son insults his father, receives his inheritance, and goes to the “far country” and wastes what he has. The boy’s father watched and longed for his return. One day, the boy “wakes up” to the realization of how stupid he had been. With a penitent heart, he rises up to return to his father and beg his forgiveness. The father ran out to greet him, took him home, and started a great celebration.

It occurs to me that Jesus also went into another “far country.” No, he did not insult his Father and demand his inheritance. Rather, he went with pure motives. Instead of wasting what he had been given, we went to reclaim what was originally his.

In a way, our world is the far country. All manner of evil abounds here. All manner of wastefulness abides here. The Father sent his Son to reclaim our wasted lives. He longs to see us return; to run out to meet us; and start the grand celebration. In turn, God sends his son’s disciples into this “far country” to initiate the process for others.

Keep The Light Burning!

Perry Greene