The personal blog of Anderson T. Graves II. Education, Religion, Politics, Family, and TRUTH------ but not necessarily the truth you want to hear.
I still love ya' though.
---Anderson
T. Graves II is a pastor, writer, community organizer, and
consultant
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Bailey Tabernacle CME Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
He writes the popular blog: A Word to the Wise at
www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com
---Anderson
T. Graves II is a pastor, writer, community organizer, and
consultant
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Bailey Tabernacle CME Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
He writes the popular blog: A Word to the Wise at
www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com
If you're really
good at something, whatever it is: art, sports, ministry, organizing, . . .
whatever; if you're really good at it, a moment comes when you have to choose
between CELEBRITY & SERVICE.
If you’re an artist
or entertainer, you’ll face a moment when you have a platform from which you
can speak truth. From there you can
direct people to community-changing action.
Or, you can use the aftermath to promote your
album.
SERVICE or
CELEBRITY?
If you’re a servant-leader
who leads and serves well, you’ll get noticed and you’ll get access to
resources, opportunities, and people you’d never imagined. You can use your new access to resolve the
most stubborn problems in the community you serve and empower masses of people
to help their neighbors. Or, you can
become a brand and build your brand while ignoring the people and places you supposedly
serve.
CELEBRITY or
SERVICE?
Acts 8 tells the
story of a celebrity magician named Simon.
Simon got saved and served faithfully as a member in good standing of
the 1st Church of Samaria.
But then, as recorded in Acts 8:14-19, Simon realized that if he could
make folks catch the Holy Ghost, it would be worth a lot of money.
And when Simon saw
that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he
offered them money,saying, “Give me this power also, that
anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” --- Acts 8:18 - 19
The moment came and
Simon chose CELEBRITY over service.
That was the wrong
choice.
Peter said to him,
“Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be
purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in
this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. ---- Acts 8:20 -
21
Simon, the
celebrity, issued a public apology. He
said he’d learned the error of his ways.
Then Simon answered
and said, “Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have
spoken may come upon me.” --- Acts 8:24
I don’t know. That’s the end of Simon’s story in the Bible.
Jesus served 5,000
hungry men with accompanying women and children by miraculously multiplying 2
fish and 5 loaves of bread. It made him
famous.
Then those men, when
they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is
to come into the world.” --- John 6: 14
Jesus didn’t just
have disciples. Now He also had
fans.
His public demanded
that he take a bigger contract, launch a national platform, become the face of
the people.
. . . Jesus
perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king.
. . --- John 6:15a
But Jesus understood
history and human nature. Jesus
understood that when the adoring public didn’t want a king like Jesus; they
wanted Jesus to be a king like the kings they saw online and on tv (or the 1st
century equivalent of online an on tv).
Remember 1 Samuel 8: 4-20.
Jesus declined to be
made their celebrity.
Therefore when Jesus
perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself
alone. ---- John 6:15, emphasis
added.
Jesus didn’t stop
working miracles. He walked on water
that very night (John 6:15 – 21).
He didn’t stop
helping people. The next day, Jesus
healed a bunch of people (Matthew 14:34 – 36).
Jesus chose SERVICE
over celebrity.
Now think about
this: Jesus is the most
famous person in history, BECAUSE
he chose to be a servant instead of a celebrity.
Take a second and
process that. It’s a paradox. Take a sec.
By doing what He had to do to serve the people, Jesus built a platform,
amplified His voice, and expanded His audience.
But He still spent the bulk of his time on the ground, in the trenches,
getting dirty, being genuinely vulnerable and present with the least of these,
His brothers.
In conclusion,
Simon saw the
purpose of God for his life but left his purpose to follow the cameras. Jesus followed his purpose and the cameras
followed Him.
You and I get to
decide: service or celebrity. You may get both, but you can’t pursue
both. Yeah, they say you can. You can’t.
No one can serve two
masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be
loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. ----
Jesus, Matthew 6:24
Oh, wait! There’s
one more thing.
The Bible doesn’t
say what happened to Simon, but we know what happened to Jesus.
When the Servant who
was not seeking celebrity got famous and his fame started shining real bright,
the reigning political celebrities killed Him.
But, as the song
goes, that’s not where the story ends.
The Servant rose and reigns.
Choosing service over celebrity will bring pain. There’ll be seasons where you’ll feel broken
and utterly destroyed. But, that’s not
where your story will end.
Don’t grow weary of
doing well. You will eventually reap
your reward.
So?
What’ll it be?
---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 Miles Chapel CME Church in
Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth
Networking Organization (SAYNO); and director of rural leadership
development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He
has redeemed from the hand of the enemy (Psalm 107:2)
Take the first part
of that verse and read it with a different inflection.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say, ”So?”
Please, allow me to
share an example.
In John chapter 2,
Jesus performed the first public miracle of His ministry by turning water into
wine at a wedding. (Don’t you just love alliteration.) This miracle was instigated by Jesus’ mother,
who was concerned that the happy couple would be embarrassed that the open bar
had run dry.
When Mary broached
the topic to Jesus (whom I maintain did not even want to accompany His mom to
this wedding), the Lord replied, “Woman, what does that have to do with Me?”
Mother Mary said, “They’re
out of wine.”
And Jesus replied, “So?”
There are times when
the most lovingly Christian reply is sarcasm.
Yes. Yes, that’s
what I said.
I’m not talking
about the kind of sarcasm that crosses or straddles the line into verbal
bullying. I’m talking about lovingly and
succinctly responding in a matter that communicates that you really don’t give
a crap what they think because God has made it clear what you’re supposed to
do.
Examine Jesus’
response in John 2 and you’ll notice that it involved:
-No
personal attacks;
-No passive
aggression to destroy the mood of the party;
-No long
justification for his attitude;
-No direct
or indirect efforts to grab attention;
Also, note that Jesus fixed the wedding couple’s wine problem. He did so quickly and rather
anonymously. We know that Jesus didn’t
draw a bunch of attention to Himself because John 2: 9, 10 says that the wedding coordinator thought the bride and groom had pulled the 2nd
batch of wine out of their secret stash.
Saying, “So” doesn’t
mean that you don’t care.
Saying, “So,” doesn’t
mean that you won’t help.
Saying, “So,” means
that you won’t argue.
Jesus-style sarcasm
requires that when it’s all said and done, you’ve DONE a whole lot more than
you’ve SAID.
Saying, “So,” doesn’t
mean shutting THEM up.
It’s means shutting
YOURSELF up.
In fact, a more
literal translation of that opening clause in Psalm 107:2 would read: Let the redeemed of the Lord say.
That’s it. End of sentence. Literally say------- NOTHING.
Maybe Jesus
discerned that the wedding party was too drunk to appreciate a theological
exegesis of the transformation of water into new wine. Maybe Jesus knew He’d just be casting verbal
pearls before drunken swine (so to speak).
There were many
times when Jesus meticulously explained His identity as the Messiah, the Son of
God. But not THIS time.
This time Jesus just
said, “So,” and worked the miracle. And
as far as we can tell from the text, after working the miracle, He said------
NOTHING.
The redeemed of the
Lord are they whom He has redeemed from
the hand of the enemy.
If WE understand who
we are then we won’t waste so much time trying to prove our spiritual credentials
to everybody.
Somebody needs to hear
your testimony, but everybody doesn't.
Everybody doesn’t
need to hear "your story" EVERY doggone time you perform a good work.
Sometimes they just
need sarcasm and service.
Say, “So,” and work
your miracle, and then just shut up.
Let your actions speak
louder than your words.
---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 Churchin Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of
the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership
development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
My spirit is burning right now and I'm trying not to
preach, but here it is:Mediocre
Christianity is a sin.A sin.
Mediocrity means being/ living/ doing about average.
Average!
Do you know what average means?Do you ever think about how pitiful and
insulting it is to give God your average anything?
We hear the word average
and think, “Good and normal.”
Average is often normal, but it’s never good---- at
least it’s never good when it’s applied to things of the God’s Kingdom.
Average is the mathematical synonym for
mediocrity.In fact, the mathematical
term for average is the word mean.In the King James Version , the word mean
has this etymology:
Of things, "inferior,
second-rate," from late 14c. (a secondary sense in Old English was
"false, wicked"). Notion of "so-so, mediocre"
led to confusion with mean
(n.). Meaning "inferior in rank or status" (of persons)
emerged early 14c.; that of "ordinary" from late 14c.; that of "stingy,
nasty" first recorded 1660s
Average is fine in a lot of things (height, shoe
size, age, income), but God doesn’t ask us to give Him what’s average.God commands us to give Him what’s best!
We should not be satisfied with the average, the
middle, the medium, the mediocre in our service to God.
Mediocrity is basically hallway between the very
best and the very worst.On a chart
showing average, half the picture would be what’s bad or failing, half the
picture would be what’s acceptable or passing.Average would be right on the line between the 2 halves.
Picture that chart and consider what you’re doing
when you choose average worship, mediocre offerings, average time, mediocre
planning, medium energy, and just plain regular service in the church.
Mediocre Christianity does not mean that you never
give your best.It doesn’t mean that you
never perform with excellence.But, being
a mediocre Christian does mean that about half of what you give God ------ is
garbage.
Garbage!
We go to church 2 Sundays a month on average and feel
like that’s pretty good.What boss would
accept you showing up to work half the time?
We go to Bible study and Sunday School a couple
times a year or never and thus remain ignorant of God’s Word and ways, but “No
big deal.” But, would you be pleased if
your wife, husband, boyfriend, or girlfriend hadn’t learned anymore about you after
10 years than they knew the day your relationship started?
We show up on Sunday expecting a Dove Award winning
choir led by a Grammy Award winning musician housed in a climate-controlled,
impeccably clean building sitting on a manicured lawn; but we neither tithe nor
give on a consistent basis.In fact,
what you dropped in the offering Sunday is less than the tip you left at
Applebee’s Friday night.Try giving your landlord a tip instead of the rent.Try walking past the bouncers at the club
saying, “Not this week.I don’t have any
change.”
But God’s supposed to find that behavior acceptable
because you still do pretty well--- on average.
Malachi 2:7 You
offer defiled food on My altar, but say, ‘In what way have we defiled You?’
By saying, ‘The table of the Lord is contemptible.’ 8 And when
you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is
it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he
accept you favorably?” asks the Lord of hosts.
Oh, I know.
You give when you can, but you need something to
enjoy for yourself.You come when you can,
but you work hard and you need to rest.You don’t like to drive at night on Wednesday; and in the summer when it
isn’t dark during Bible Study, you want to enjoy the evening while you can
before it starts getting dark early.You
don’t participate in every thing, but you think that you do enough.Looking around, your Christian walk is about
-------- average.
Which is another way of saying that our Christian walk is about half good and about half
garbage.
Now I know that everyone’s not called topreach or to pastor.Everyone’s not meant to be on the staff of a
ministry.But excellence in the things
of God doesn’t mean that you (necessarily) have to quit your job and move into
the church or fly off to be a missionary in Haiti or some nation with a lot of
consonants in its name.
The antidote to mediocre Christianity is simply to focus
on those things you do that you know please God and do those things
consistently and completely.
You know
where the Holy Spirit has convicted you to do more. It’s those areas where you
say, “Yeah, I know I should, but…”Move
your “but” out of the way and just do what you know you should do.
From doing what you SHOULD do, you’ll eventually
grow to the point of doing what you CAN do.And from there, you’ll see God use you to do what you thought COULDN’T
BE DONE.
When you get a church of people walking in such
consistent faith that God regularly does the impossible then you have what the
church was always meant to be------ a place where miracles are the norm and nothing is ---- average.
---Anderson T. Graves II is a pastor, writer, community
organizer and consultant for education and ministry.
To
hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall
Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme@blogspotcom 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
