Ridgell's Originals

The husband is the head of the wife.  And he is to raise his children in the Lord.  That is truth from Ephesians 5:21-6:4.  

I hear a lot of talk about this passage.  Mostly negative.  How it does not mean what it seems to say.  How it cannot mean today what it did then.  How it is abused. 

I thought today it might be helpful to see what God said about how to exercise that authority.  

Love your wives like Christ does the church.  Everything you do must come out of love.  That is a high bar.  But that is the standard we seek when trying to lead our family.  

Give yourself up.  That is what Jesus did for the church.  You come last.  You pour yourself out in love for your wife and kids.  It is not about you.  It is about them.  

Jesus made the church holy.  The most important job you have as the head of your household is to lead them to follow Jesus.  That is your job.  Make sure Jesus is the center of your home.  

Feed and care for your family.  Physical care of course.  Provide for your family.  But also spiritual care.  You are responsible to feed and care for the spiritual needs of your family.  To bring them up in Jesus.

Head of the house.  

God said it.  

Then He told us what it means.

It is all about Jesus.  So be like him.  It starts with you.

Set the example in your family.  Serve.  Love.  Give up your life for your wife and kids.  

The Christian husband and father leads like Jesus.  

What an awesome responsibility.

And one we do because of love.

Love God.  Love Jesus.  Love your wife.  Love your kids.

Be more like Jesus.

It will change everything in your family.

Forever. 

Labels: Family

# posted by Steve @ 6:00 AM 1 comments

Tom Olbricht recently got to go home to be with Jesus forever.  He was one of my Bible professors and I had him for several classes at ACU.  I was not one of Tom's boys.  Every professor had those students that were their guys.  I wasn't really a great scholar like many of my classmates.  Didn't spend hours in the library.  Didn't go to any of the Scholar conferences with Tom -- or any of my other professors for that matter.  Never even went to the Bible majors retreat.  So not really one of his guys.  

But I learned a lot from Tom Olbricht and developed a great admiration and respect for him.

He helped me get a sense of the great stories of the Old Testament.  The themes that were present throughout the Scriptures.  And he did the same for the New Testament.  Showing Jesus in the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles.  And it was surprisingly easy to understand.  Which is amazing because he was an outstanding scholar.  Not just in Bible and Theology.  But advanced degrees in Speech and Communication.  Restoration History scholar.  

He really cared about me for who I was.  I was not going to get a Doctorate.  I was learning so I could share the Bible with ordinary people.  You know, people like me.  He was on my committee when I did my Master's in Restoration History.  I remember during Orals he asked me what I had learned that I would use in ministry.  I always appreciated that. It was OK that I wan't like him. 

We were on a program together a few years ago.  A preacher's retreat.  He talked about Restoration History.  I talked about evangelism.  He spent several minutes of his first presentation talking about me.  How he remembered my enthusiasm for ministry while in college.  How he had kept up with me thru the years.  Even knew about my work with Herald of Truth.  Even said how difficult it was to follow me on the program.  Amazing.

And I did publicly thank him for what I learned from him  Including things I learned that weekend. 

We weren't much alike at all.  He was not who I would have picked as my role model. And I was not who he would have pointed to as one of his outstanding students.

But I learned to appreciate from Dr. Tom how important it is to value the people not like you.  To love them and to celebrate their gifts and work in the Kingdom.

Funny thing -- he was proud of me.  And he did claim me as one of his best students.  And it had nothing to do with academics.  And he ended up being one of my role models.  

We need to be more like Tom Olbricht.

Labels: Death, People, Preaching

# posted by Steve @ 6:00 AM 0 comments

 I believe the Bible is true.  All of it.  I think the Old Testament and New Testament were written by the same God.  And He does not change.  I believe Jesus and Paul agree.  If I think they do not, the problem is not in the Bible.  It is in my understanding of the Bible.

You can understand the Bible.  You.  Read it.  Sure, some things are hard to understand.  But most of it is not.  There are common elements of God's story that are repeated over and over again.  

You can teach the Bible.  Just study it. You do not have to have a preacher explain it.  They can sure help, but they are not essential.  At least professional preachers.  I believe the Kingdom of God is about to explode and that growth will be led by "lay" preachers.  Living rooms.  Small groups.  Maybe the best thing preachers could do is not to try and get everyone to hear them, but to train a bunch of others that have friends that will listen.

If God wanted to be clear about something, He would have made it clear.  Be wary of anyone who tells you God didn't say it but here is what He meant.

If God said it, be very careful about saying He didn't mean it.  

If it comes down to what I believe the Bible teaches, that is more important to me than what any culture, any preacher, or any church believes.  

Those of us who claim to teach God's will are going to be help accountable for what we teach.

I may be wrong.  Obviously I don't think I am wrong, but I could be.  So study for yourself.  Even if I am the teacher. 

I believe God is way bigger than the Bible.  But I do think the Bible is his word.

The Holy Spirit does not contradict himself.  

Neither will Jesus.  Or God.

We don't read the Bible enough.  Kudos to the churches that have Scripture reading in the assembly.

It is not a sermon without the Bible. 

The Bible is the story of God's love for us.  It is not a series of proof texts about doctrine.

The more people get angry about things, the less Bible is in the conversation.

The more arrogant people get about things, the less Bible is in the discussion.

I think the Bible is clear on the core things.  And yes, I believe some things in Scripture are more important than others.  I will draw lines over those things.

We can agree to disagree on some things in Scripture.  Because none of us are right on everything.

Finally, we do not study the Bible enough.  

Let's do better.

# posted by Steve @ 6:00 AM 0 comments

 Church and culture do not mix.  Never have and never will.  And that makes it difficult and stressful to be a community of faith in our world.  Always has been.  Always will be.

Because we are different.  We have a different world view.  We have different -- and often competing -- agendas.  

The church has historically, and I think correctly, believed in unchanging truths.  God. Jesus.  Scripture.  These have been true, they are true, and they will be true.  Of course, the church reflects it's culture to some degree because that is the world in which we live.  But Scripture is clear about choosing God over the world we live in.  Clear about our real kingdom allegience.

Culture changes.  Take American culture the last 100 years and marriage.  Man and a woman.  Only.  For life.  Then same sex marriage.  Now Polyamory is on the way to full acceptance.  There have been cultures where it was acceptable to capture your wife from another tribe or village.  Or buy your wife.  Or have multiple wives.  The church has historically held to monogamous union between one man and one woman as the view seen in the Bible.  

The church has historically upheld the value of human life.  But culture has sometimes endorsed and approved slavery, genocide, and euthanasia.

Culture has always rewarded greed, ego, and lust. Not so among God's people.

So I think the church has three choices.

Embrace culture.  That will often mean teaching what the Bible does not.  It will mean taking political stands.  Supporting the current government powers.  And I have never heard of a church that will admit to this.  But it happens.  See Nazi Germany for one example.  

Accommodate culture.  Do not embrace culture but try to keep a foot in both church and culture.  You see this most often when churches do not overtly endorse the evil things in culture, but they stop teaching about them.  See many of the American churches today.

Or stand against culture.  I don't mean a culture war.  I am not even sure the job of the church is to reform culture.  After all, there has not been a Christian nation in 2000 years.  Even when it was overtly attempted.  See the Inquisition.

And I do not think our battle is against the people of our culture.  The church does want to save the people of this world.  And it is hard.  The church has often failed to live up to our calling.  Both as individuals and corporately.  And we never will get it right.  Because we are not perfect. 

And I think this is the only real choice. 

But we have to try.  And here is what will happen.  People will say bad things about us.  That we are unloving and judgmental.  But our lives will make them wonder.  And it will lead to persecution.  

Just like Jesus said.

So when you worry about what is happening to the culture you are living in... maybe it is just playing out exactly like it always has.

And one last piece of good news.  200 years from now someone may be communicating this exact same discussion.  Because unless Jesus returns, the church will still be here.  And so will culture.  One of them remains the same.  And one of them is ever changing.

Choose wisely.

Labels: Church

# posted by Steve @ 6:00 AM 0 comments

 I call them the Covid warriors.  Groups of people who are under incredible pressure and danger because of the Corona virus.

School teachers.  A whole lot of teachers went back into the classroom this week.  More next week.  And a lot more within the month.  It is hard and a little scary.  Will the virus erupt in my classroom?  Will I get it?  More important, what if my students get it?  And make no mistake, most teachers I know worry much more about their students than they do themselves.  Those in Fine Arts and Athletics.  Many of their students have a lot of their identity tied up in these activities.  Self esteem matters.  And the teachers and administrators are showing up.  Digging in.  While worried about their students, their own family, and their school community.  Most of them putting themselves last.

Nurses.  And other medical personnel.  Doctors and Housekeeping.  Front lines.  In danger.  They worry about bringing it home to their families.  They do outstanding physical care.  But they do a lot of emotional and spiritual care.  Praying over -- and with -- patients.  Holding hands.  Walking out of the room to cry.  And then going in to the next.  And there is a lot of financial pressure of some of our medical people.  No elective surgery means you don't work.  That means you don't get paid.  And they still show up.  They go into hard places.  Putting themselves last.  

Cops.  It is a hard time to be in law enforcement.  Lots of abuse and addiction out there.  Emotions high.  Lots of scrutiny.  Wondering where the next riot will happen.  And most policeman I know don't worry about the scrutiny.  They don't have anything to hide.  They are laying their lives on the line for their fellow citizens.  All our citizens.  Putting themselves last.

Elders and spiritual shepherds.  Doing funerals.  Still going into living rooms where there is spiritual warfare happening.  Talking to people about Jesus.  Holding hands and hugging.  Because people are in pain.  Lonely.  Addicted.  Abused and abusing.  Sick.  Wondering if they are going to catch it and bring it home.  Putting themselves last.

So I love these people who are putting it all on the line for us.  Courageous.  Faithful.  Selfless.

So here are some things you can do for the Covid warriors.

Pray.  Call them up and pray over them.  Show up in the parking lot and pray.  Keep a list handy and pray throughout the day.

Speak encouragement into their lives.  Cards.  Calls.  Texts.  Drive-bys.  Thank them.  

Give.  Call and tell them you are bringing a meal over.  Stick a gift card in the mail.  Mow a yard.  

Let's don't just talk about.  Or debate whose fault it all is.  Or focus on the bad apples in any one group.

Let's do the right thing.  The Jesus thing.  Let's do and be.

Labels: Covid

# posted by Steve @ 6:00 AM 0 comments

 I read a lot of articles from preachers frustrated at the leadership model used by most Churches of Christ.  Almost everyone agrees it is an unworkable model.  Elders leading the church.  Volunteers.  Not theologically trained.  Telling professionals what to do.  

Preachers frustrated at having to convince elders to sign off on programs and decisions.  Then being evaluated/criticized for things over which you have no control.

Elders frustrated because they feel like they are not doing things at all the way the Bible talks about what elders do.  The Bible seems to point to shepherding as the main function of elders.  And teaching.  Being responsible that error is not taught.  But you don't do a lot of those things in our leadership model.  

A lot of really good men quit preaching.  Just can't take it any more.  A lot of really good men resign as elders.  Just can't take it any more.

I used to argue the way Scripture seems to talk about elders would work today in our culture.  

I am not so sure any more.

As long as our churches look like the American business model we cannot have a leadership structure like most churches do. It just doesn't work.  

If we are going to be heavily invested in buildings, a large ministerial staff, a fixed budget, and numerous programs -- then it is hard to see how our model can function.  These kind of things need a CEO that can hire his own staff and run the organization.  Elders should function like a board.  And many churches are moving to that model.  

But that sure doesn't seem like the early church model.  It just doesn't.

So here are a couple of questions we need to ask.

Is the American church model really working?  Are any churches really growing?  And I don't mean going from 200 to 250 while the church down the road goes from 200 to 150.  I don't see that as growth.

Maybe Covid will give us a chance to re-examine what church should look like.  What if we didn't just "leave the building" but actually rethought whether we need buildings?  And if so, what is their purpose?  How would it look to have 10 house churches under an eldership?  What if elders had the responsibility for teaching the Bible to their flock?  And the staff were all primarily evangelists?  

Do we still need a main/senior/lead minister to do all the preaching?  One thing we have all learned during this time is that there is a lot of really good teaching from a variety of preachers available.  Team preaching?

Or do we encourage smaller congregations of 50-100.  I used to buy in to the argument that the last thing most places need is another church.  So don't do church plants.  Now I wonder if we don't need a lot more church plants.  

But I do know trying to put a Acts leadership model on churches modeled after American business is not working.

And when this strange time is over, I don't think we will ever go back to what we were.  I don't think we can.

I am not the only one thinking about these things.  Much smarter people than I am are talking about it.  And there will be some churches/preachers/elders that will figure it out.

And I am optimistic that some of us will see a different model that may lead to explosive growth.  Real growth.  You know ... kind of like they saw in Acts.    

Labels: Church

# posted by Steve @ 7:50 AM 0 comments

Labels: Grandkids

# posted by Steve @ 7:02 AM 0 comments