A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 29: 21. "Servants & Sons"

Proverbs 29: 21     He who pampers his servant from childhood will have him as a son in the end.

Proverbs 29:21.  Solomon was fair and just.  He was that rare leader who could negotiate with monarchs or arbitrate between two hookers with the equal attentiveness and respect.  But, Solomon was also the elite of the elite.  He was the top of the top 1%.  

Solomon had been born in the palace, the son of the king. But Solomon’s father, David, had been a a working class shepherd and soldier who’d risen from carrying other soldiers’ armor to leading the entire army.  Solomon appreciated the importance of upward mobility.

Solomon enjoyed the lifestyle of the rich and famous.  Yet, he also understood that he had not earned his position as king.  It had been given to him by God, and if not for the grace of God, he would not have been able to hold onto it, let alone prosper in it. 

Solomon understood money, and he valued labor.  He was an elite class leader with working class sensibilities.

So, when Solomon talks about a servant rising to the status of a son, you have to wonder:  Was this a warning, or was it encouragement?

As a warning, the message to bosses and leaders is to not “baby” their workers/followers.  If you excuse them when they’re irresponsible, if you reward them without merit, if you fail to enforce accountability then they will come to depend on you----- for everything.   They become your dependents--- your sons.

You end up with a committee/ board on which no one works but the chairperson.  You end up with an office where everyone gets paid while the supervisor handles all the  actual business.  You end up with a church where if the pastor goes away, so does all the ministry.

The proverb could be a warning.

But……

In Solomon’s day, a son was also a guarantee of security and continuity of the family’s legacy.  In that context, the proverb encourages leaders and bosses to treat their workers like family.   A leader should be so good to her team that as they grow personally and professionally they come to love their leader.  A good leader should treat his people so well that they remain loyal to him and his vision even after he has handed over the reins of power and title.  Thus, the “father’s” mission passes to the “sons,” and the VISION becomes a LEGACY.

The Apostle Paul did this with young pastors Timothy and Apollos (1 Corinthians 4: 6, 14-17).  The Prophet Moses did this with a lay warrior named Joshua (Deuteronomy 34: 9; Joshua 1: 1,2).  Jesus did this with a group of little children whom we call “the disciples” (John 13:33).

So.  Is Proverbs 29:21 a warning against pampering your servant or a word of encouragement to do just that?

Without contradiction, the answer is: BOTH.

Hold your people accountable.  Don’t treat them like babies.  At the same time, treat them well, like a loving, fair, and strong father should.  If you practice the right balance then your organization, your people, and you will profit from your relationship in the short term and far into the future.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

Call  334-288-0577
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme@blogspotcom.

If you enjoy our work, please help support our work in the community. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

WHAT (ELSE) MAMA SAID

In the movies, when a parent leaves an important detail out of their instructions, the results are hilarious.  But, in real-life, when parents give incomplete advice, especially incomplete advice about relationships-----the results are tragic.

How do we know what to tell our children about romance and relationships and what to leave out? 

What do we do if our parents somehow missed giving us the whole story?  
Is there any hope for raising up godly families in a culture where damaged relationships are more common than healthy ones?

The challenging and encouraging answer to these questions are given in a message called  WHAT (ELSE) MAMA SAID.

Listen well.

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---Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com  
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves
If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to:

Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116
 

SEED, SOIL, & SOWING

In church you don’t always get the return that you expected.  You invest time, energy, and yes---- money in church stuff, and you expect to see blessing come back to you.  But, it doesn’t always work that way.  Why?

The answer to that question, and the solution to that concern are all wrapped up in the foundational parable of  Jesus’, the Parable of the 4 Soils.

The message is called SEED, SOIL, and SOWING.

Listen Well.

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---Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com  
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves
If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to:

Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 29: 20

Proverbs 29: 20     Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Proverbs 29: 20.  At some point, someone is going to confront you and ask for your reaction to something that you know little or nothing about.  The demand may be from a reporter shoving a microphone in your face, or a pushy bystander holding a camera-phone, or a peer with hand on hip saying, “Well, So-and-so said that they heard that you said......”

However the query comes, your interrogator will demand that you give an immediate answer.

The Bible calls it a hasty answer, and reflects upon the mentality of those people develop the  habit of giving hasty answers.  Proverbs 29:20 calls such people worse-than-stupid.

The endless cycle of news and the endless supply of supposedly-expert testimony-givers creates pressure to post/text/tweet/blog/give an answer as hastily as possible.  Everyone else has something to say, so you also feel compelled to say------ something. 

The problem is that you cannot speak intelligently when you don’t have the intelligence (in the military sense of “information”) to speak from.  Therefore, to answer hastily is always to answer un-intelligently.  Unintelligent=foolish=stupid.  Once you’ve said/tweeted/posted/ blogged something stupid------ it follows you forever.

The same people who pressured you to give a hasty answer will crucify you for giving a stupid answer.

If you don’t believe me, ask the University of North Alabama football player who got kicked off the team for a hasty (and racist) tweet posted when the President’s speech pre-empted a football game.

Ask Ambassador Susan Rice, who missed out on the nomination for Secretary of State because of a hastily prepared interview about an attack at an embassy.

Ask the kid who will get suspended today for a fight that started when he told her that he would kick his butt after she told him that she heard that he was scared of him and she just wanted to know if he was really scared and all she did was tell him what he said.

If you don’t know the necessary facts, the only intelligent answer is, “I don’t know------ yet.”

“Better to be silent and thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” --- Abraham Lincoln

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

Call  334-288-0577
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves
To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme@blogspotcom.

If you enjoy this blog, please help support our work in the community. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 29: 19. "MORE THAN WORDS"

Proverbs 29: 19     A servant will not be corrected by mere words; for though he understands, he will not respond.

Proverbs 29: 19.  Accountability is an often used but too-seldom applied term in organizational leadership.  What we call accountability is often just reporting. 

At best, reporting shows that your people know what they were supposed to do, but it doesn’t ensure that they did/ will do it.

Reports are the summary and spin that one party gives to his leaders and supervisors.  Reports can clarify questions with numbers and narratives, or reports can cloud results with excuses and empty oration.  Either way, reports are mere words.  REPORTING IS NOT ACCOUNTABILITY.

Accountability begins when the leaders peer into and through the reports and see the actual results.  ACCOUNTABILITY OCCURS WITH LEADERS RESPOND TO RESULTS WITH CONSEQUENCES. 

If a leader never drills down through the ritual of reporting to the spirit and truth of the actual results, then the leader doesn’t have an accurate basis for holding people accountable.    Once they get down to the actual results, leaders have to take the next difficult, painful, courageous, unpopular, and messy step.  They have to apply real results-based consequences.

A cashier who gives back too much change won’t stop giving back too much change because the manager asks him to.  But f the manager retrains the cashier AND docks his pay, the over-changing will stop, or the cashier will quit---- which will stop the over-changing.

A child who screams in the grocery store will not stop screaming because a parent tells her to stop one time. She’ll stop screaming when she has been taught proper behavior and shown that painful consequences follow her parent telling her to stop more than one time.

Many of our families, our schools, our communities, and our churches are corrupt, powerless, and declining because we don’t hold people accountable.  We take reports at face value and never look for the real results.  They say, “Everything fine,” so we ignore the smoke pouring out of the building.  No accountability.

We see the destruction and the decline, but we don’t want to hurt feelings, challenge political strongholds, or risk retaliation; so we leave people the way we found them in the positions where they can do the most harm and accept the empty report that, “God is good.”  No accountability.

From Congress to the county to the local church, we call for committees to write and deliver reports.  But reports are mere words, and mere words are not enough to alter the inertia of failure.  Accountability is the most difficult way, but it’s the only way.

Jesus modeled the practice of accountability.

Luke chapters 9 & 10 begin with Jesus ordaining and appointing 82 leaders.  The 12 apostles and the 70 others were given specific evangelistic appointments and assignments. 

They reported back to Jesus on their work (Luke 9: 10; 10: 17), and Jesus drilled down for spiritual, ministerial, and personal results. 

• How well did they handle the resources/ lack of resources?  (Luke 9: 3-5)
• When put on the spot could they organize and execute a feeding ministry in the field?  (Luke 9: 12-13)
• Had they grown in their understanding of Jesus despite the views of the prevailing culture? (Luke 9: 18-20)
• Could they show actual spiritual results? (Luke 10: 9, 17

When an appointed or potential leader some showed less understanding or less commitment than Jesus required, He applied the consequence of direct Divine rebuke. (Luke 9: 54-55; 9: 62; 10: 17-20)

Reports + Results + Consequences =  ACCOUNTABILITY.

It’s difficult way, but it’s Jesus’ way---- the necessary path of accountability.

---Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

 

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 29: 18

Proverbs 29: 18     Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but happy is he who keeps the law.

I want my children to worship because they grasp something of the greatness of God and they feel honored by ever chance to praise His name.  Still, it’s good for them to go to church just because I say so.

I want my children to be generous and charitable because they realize the depths of Jesus’ love and sacrifice on their behalf.  In the meantime, they can put money in the offering and participate in community service because I told them to, and that’s O.K.

A deep, personal revelation provides the most real reason for living a holy life.  Without that revelation within you, there’s no reason to resist the urges and impulses of your flesh.  There’s no reason, unless you know that the Bible says so.

If you don’t get understand the theology behind the 10 Commandments, it’s O.K. to just take them at face value and be obedient.

It’s good to do what God says just because God said so.

There are times and places in which the revelation of God is scarce in a society (1 Samuel 3: 1; Psalm 74: 9).  Today, some churches reject out of hand the possibility that God still speaks in visions, performs miracles, or calls men & women to prophesy.  In other churches, what are called prophetic utterances are little more than educated guesses and empty promises based on the demographics and body language of the crowd. 

In these settings of prophetic and revelatory void, the people act a fool.  They perform any and every sin they can conceive of because God doesn’t visibly shock them into compliance.

…Scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”  (2 Peter 2: 3, 4)

They’ll tell you to question EVERY thing about your faith and reject EVERY rule and restriction  that you don’t feel is properly proven and justified.    (Interestingly “they” never tell you to question “them” about “their” authority to tell you how to live.”)

If you’re serious about the questions and attentive to the Source of answers, God does show how His way is right and best.   So, it’s O.K. to question your assumptions (and not just your religious assumptions).

But, it’s also O.K., to do what God says just because He said so.

I’ve asked God the hardest questions I had, the ones that stood between me and real faith.  I’ve studied and studied, and I’ve fasted and prayed, and I’ve struggled in my spirit and wrestled with the Holy Spirit; and God has proven Himself right and true and smarter than every alternative we’ve come up with.    He hasn’t answered all of my questions, but He’s answered more than enough for me to trust that He’s right about the other stuff, too.

I’ve come to the point that I’m happy just to obey His Word ------just  because it says so.

In that uncertain time between your question and God’s answer, you have to choose between acting a fool while you figure it out and obeying God even though it doesn’t all make sense. 

Choose to obey God.  Choose to follow the Bible in the meantime.

You’ll be happier for it.

--Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

THE BEST BLOG I'VE WRITTEN----- THAT YOU'LL NEVER READ

A few nights ago while I was waiting for my students in the city jail, I wrote a draft for “The Word to the Wise” blog through the book of Proverbs.  It all just flowed out in a rush of scribbling in longhand. Now, I’m not bragging, but this piece was good.  Way better than what you’re reading now.  Eloquent, moving, inspiring. Re-reading the draft made me tear up a little. 

The next morning I started typing and cross-checking scriptures, and I realized something terrible.

My article was Biblically------wrong.  I had taken the scripture somewhere it wasn’t supposed to go.  To justify my points and conclusions I had taken some unjustifiable liberties with the Biblical text.  I had not encouraged sin or denied right doctrine.  But, what I had written was not what the Bible had said.

Now I must remind you that this draft was ------good.  One of the best I’ve ever composed.

I threw it away.

Preachers and theologians tend to be gifted in the use of words.  Therefore, we are accountable to the Giver of our gifts for how we use/ misuse the gifts He’s given.  

It’s easy to get caught in the flow of language and publish a beautiful and inspiring LIE about the gospel.   It’s so easy, and that’s why it happens so often.

Some of the “Christian” posters and quotes shared across the internet promote behavior that is so exactly the opposite of what the Bible says that I expect my screen to burst into flame.    Some of the “prophetic” declarations and decrees posted online must have been delivered by Martians because no angel would dare bring a message so contrary to God’s word. 

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  (1 John 4:1)

That’s a message not only to the audience but to the speaker because even a true prophet can speak falsely when he/she gets caught up in the moment.   In the 7^th chapter of 2 Samuel, David gets the idea to build a temple to God.  He asks the prophet Nathan for his counsel.

Then Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.” (2 Samuel 7: 3)     

Nathan’s reply was sensible and godly-sounding.  But, Nathan’s reply was WRONG. 

That was not what God had said.

Nathan, a genuine, sincere, called, and anointed man of God had misrepresented God’s Word.   When he checked the Word later that night, God showed Nathan how he’d gone awry.  (2 Samuel 7: 4-16)

What is a prophet, preacher, theologian, writer, blogger, emailer, texter, tweeter, or random Christian copying and pasting online supposed to do when you see from the Word that the thing you’d said is not right with God’ Word?  What can you do when you already put it out there and you don’t wanna look stupid in front of your audience?

You can get over yourself, and you tell the truth.

Nathan marched back to King David’s palace and said, “Umm, David.  About that thing I said that God said about the thing you said you wanted to do for God------- Yeah, I was wrong.”

According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.  (2 Samuel 7: 17)

Sometimes you have to throw a line out of the sermon.  Sometimes you shouldn’t share that cute-sounding quote.  Sometimes you have to throw away a heartfelt composition. 

… let God be true but every man a liar. (Romans 3: 4)

All of us, especially those of us who are called to expound on God’s Word, have to be careful.    We must not let saying what SOUNDS GOOD must take priority over saying what IS RIGHT.

---Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577

Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road

Montgomery, AL 36116

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 29: 17

Proverbs 29: 17     Correct your son, and he will give you rest.  Yes, he will give delight to your soul.

Proverbs 29: 17.  I worry about my children.  I worry about their safety, their academic performance, their career prospect, their marriage prospects, etc., etc.  But mostly, I worry about them growing up to be good people.   I worry that they won’t be as smart, as wise, as strong, as generous, as careful, as confident, as humble, or as spiritually discerning as they need to be to thrive in the world they’ll face.   I worry about this----- a lot.  It keeps me awake some nights.

But, when I teach them something the worry goes away.  When I share a lesson about courage with my son, I have a moment of peace when I think, “Well, I know that he knows that.”

When I explain to my daughter how to think through her goals and walk toward fulfilling them, I sigh a little with relief and I think, “O.K., that’ll help her one day.”

These lessons aren’t always Hallmark moments. 

Sometimes there’s yelling.  (I’m yelling, not my kids.  Hmmph.)  Sometimes there are tears. (That’d be the kids crying.  I don’t cry in front of them except during worship.) Sometimes the teachable moment is “intense.”  But, my purpose is always to teach them, to correct them, to prepare them.

My wife worries that I’m too hard on them--- especially on our son.  (She’s a mama.  She’s supposed to worry about that .)  I’ve even caught some sideways looks out in public when I’ve had to “correct” him.

But what mothers and bystanders don’t see is the way my son looks at me when I pray with him at night.  Those looks bring delight to my soul.

Others don’t see the moments when my son or my daughter come to me and recount an incident in which he/she applied the lessons embedded in my fussing.  They’ll smile.  They sometimes say, “Thank you.”  The younger one will even hug me.  

I sleep in peace on those nights.

As an adolescent I hated how hard my father was, but as a man I understand better his spirit and his concerns.  I know that if he hadn’t been so strong then I would have grown up weaker. 

I remember my father’s eyes when I did things that made him worry that I wasn’t gonna make it (possibly because he might kill me before I finished high school).   When I see my father’s eyes now, I see pride-----and relief.   I’ve heard him sigh when I’ve recounted an incident in which I applied the lessons embedded in his fussing.  It gave delight to his soul.

When your children are wrong, put them in check and teach them better.  Do more than take up for them so that their lives are easier in the present.  Correct them so that they are better people in the future.

It’ll save you from a lot of sleepless nights in the future.  Parent well and when they grow up to be good people, they will give delight to your soul.

---Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

Call/ fax: 334-288-0577
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made by check or money order.

Mail all contributions to :

Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116