The pericope that I choose for this reflection paper is Numbers 17:1-13. This pericope is the last in the series of three narratives about the revolt of Israel congregation against the high priest position of Aaron and the leadership of Moses. The first revolt came from Korah. Korah was a member of the tribe of Levi, the same tribe of Aaron (Exodus 6:16-20). Korah’s rebellion is not merely a personal attack on Aaron but also on his appointed-by-God priesthood. The second revolt led by Dathan and Abiram and the 250 other lay leaders defied and rejected the leadership of Moses. These revolted leaders have a very democratic argument, which is the will of the people must have higher authority than the leadership appointed by God. God answers by kill all the leaders and the followers of these two revolted parties. All those events establish the context for the text in Numbers 17:1-13. In this pericope, God instructs Moses to set up one final test in order to show His approval for Aaron’s prietshood. This final test is intended to put an end to the people’s questioning and challenging of the authority of both Aaron and Moses. In this final test, Moses is instructed to take a staff from each tribal leader. The name of each leader is written on his staff. Aaron’s name is inscribed on the staff represents for the Levi tribe. Moses puts all these staves in the Tent of Meeting before the Lord. The next morning, Moses comes to the Tent and the staff of Aaron is sprouted, budded, blossomed and produced ripe almonds. There is something interesting in the way the text describes the staff of Aaron. The text does not simply say the staff of Aaron reaches the final stage of the production cycle and has ripe almond fruit on it. The text lists in det...
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...ope that Jesus will come back in the same way He was lifted into heaven (Acts 1:11).
The message of this pericope for Christian today is very clear that is honoring your spiritual leaders even when they fall short of fulfilling their callings. God gives salvation universally available for all, but God elects some to save and among whom He saves, He calls a few to lead. There are always failures and corruptions waiting to happen in the ministries of whom God calls to lead, that is inevitable. God wants Christian to honor their spiritual leaders not because who they are but because what they do. A true spiritual leader does two main things: preach the Word of God (Hebrews 13:7) and care for the souls of other Christians (Hebrews 13:17). As long as a spiritual leader commits to do these two things, the church as the God’s people ought to submit to his leadership.
“The author Victor Rhee of “Hebrews as a Leader of the Faith Community” enlightens the path way on the subject of leaders in the body of Christ. The title alone brings a certain kind of curiosity to what makes a leader according to the book of Hebrews. If leadership training could have a manual it should be parallel to Hebrews. Leadership today is missing the courage to stand for something that is right according to the word of God. No matter what is taking place in our society beliefs and value system. Leadership has suffered greatly both inside and outside the church, especially in Christian leadership. One of the main points that the author of this article points out is the society woes are the same as ours today. How fitting is this when we need direction for Christian ministry. There is a soul searching event that is taking place for leaders to rise up and be all of what God intended for them in caring the gospel of Christ to the world. Rhee, who wrote the journal points to the characteristics of the author of Hebrews as a leader who will arise for the cause of Christ by illuminating the importance of courage, faith, love, hope , to fight against apostates, and believe in leadership unity when leading as a leader of the Christian faith.
The authors then go deeper than just leading; they speak of being a leader and growing other leaders. One of the greatest challenges leaders today face is training and developing new leaders. Jesus wanted those around him to succeed. He had vision, values, and purpose, he stated them clearly, and did all he could to see they were carried out. In the book Lead Like Jesus we read how Jesus empowered and gave ownership to those around him, concerned more with their success than his own. It highlights that Jesus is the greatest leadership role model of all time, that He mandated Hi...
Primary service is the key. Many view this as a contradiction because the leader is leading and serving. How can a person do both? Good servant leaders are good listeners. The communication between the leader and the follower being served allows the leader to listen to the follower first, in order to understand what the other person has to say and to understand their needs. These leaders practice empathy as well. Understanding what the follower is facing or feeling is comforting to the follower because it validates their importance to another person. The ability to heal a person through care and the concern for a person’s well being is another quality of a servant leader. These are only a few of the characteristics that generate a strong servant leader. Mother Teresa said, “The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.” Her words describe exactly what servant leaders do. Servant leaders serve others willingly because they find joy and pleasure in doing so. The outcome of serving others in this manner is growth and social impacts for a greater good. When there is an improvement in self-actualization, followers improve in their goal reaching or task completion by understanding their full potential to do
Toward the end of his book, Hunter shares a phrase with a similar intent of the four domains of Blanchard and Hodges. He writes: “Thoughts become actions, actions become habits, habits become our character, and our character becomes our destiny.” (Hunter, 1998, p. 167). With this quote in mind, Hunter affirms Blanchard and Hodges’s perspective of servant leadership. Both authors concur that by centering one’s life on the love of Jesus Christ, servant leadership will come naturally. When a leader puts their own selfish needs aside and places their trust in God, they will be empowered to spread Christ’s light to all those they meet. Leading in this way mirrors the way Jesus led because it calls for service as a way of
The resurrection of Jesus is a topic in Christian Apologetic that confirms the faith of a believer. Groothuis submits, “Of all the world’s religions Christianity alone purports to be based on the resurrection of its divine founder. No other religion or worldview makes such an audacious and consequential claim. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus himself predicts his own betrayal, death and resurrection.”1 The Bible reveals the importance of the resurrection in Corinthians 15:14-17, “And if Christ wasn’t raised to life, our message is worthless, and so is your faith. If the dead won’t be raised to life, we have told lies about God by saying that he raised Christ to life, when he really did not. So if the dead won’t be raised to life, Christ wasn’t raised to life. Unless Christ was raised to life, your faith is useless, and you are still living in your sins.”
John C. Maxwell is known for his ability to show how scripture can come alive within the aspects of leadership. In our text book he talks about leading oneself. “Work on yourself before you work on others” and “Work on yourself more than you work on others”. (Maxwell, J. C., Pg. 42) Both quotes denote the idea that our formation of continuous growth depends upon the idea that we must lead our self-first; or in other words, be accountable to the idea that what we say, act, or even insinuate, leads others into believing that our leadership is something to be desired of or not. Accountability is a desired element because of the responsibility it exudes through its definition: “…an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions”. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2015) A leader will make many decisions, and if they are willing to stand by said decision, regardless of the outcome, and then their character will prove out to others that this is a person of honor. Being humble is another way to be accountable to others. Humbleness shows that a leader understands the idea that they do not know everything. A good leader creates a group of mentors around him that will provide guidance and accountability, through both the good and bad times, for the good of leading
Transformational leadership also integrates well with a biblical worldview because both advocate valuing followers as well as leaders, the importance of ethical behavior, the need to forgive and learn from mistakes, and the value of a high moral example. Kouzes and Posner advocate leaders having a “moral authority to lead” (2007, p. 41), practicing personal accountability and working to improve all aspects of their follower’s lives. This others-centered leadership approach fits well in the Christ centered atmosphere of a Christian school.
...s how Jesus wants people to live. When we act as disciples and conduct ourselves as servant leaders it honors God. It may reflect onto others the good will God gave us and lead others to him. It also gives a great internal fulfillment to help others, not because we are getting something out of it but rather that it helped someone else.
In Habel’s structure, the commission is a component of a call narrative. Habel has presented defense for his structure in the comparison of the several call narratives discussed, and provides for the inclusion of the Call of Moses. However, there is some disagreement among scholars as to the validity of the methodology Habel employs including the Moses narrative in the structure. Childs indicates that “Habel’s attempt to find the provenance of the call in the specific practice of commissioning messengers is artificial.” Dozeman supports the assessment of Childs that the text is more rightly the genre of commission rather than call, “since the hero does not assume an office but is given a specific task to perform.” However, Dozeman also indicates that the “genre of commission” is also inadequate in describing the exchange between Moses and God, as, “The commission of Moses (3:9-12) is at the heart of the episode, but the point of focus is the identity of Yahweh (3:1-8 and 3:15).”
In his book Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership, author Alexander Strauch defends a bible-based leadership structure designed to govern the church. He argues that a plurality of elders is biblically modeled, apostolically appointed, and best suited to both the familial nature of the Church and the exclusive headship of Christ over her. He defines eldership in the biblical terms of shepherding and concludes that the primary responsibilities of biblical elders are to nurture the flock on God’s Word, lead well, cover the flock against the destructive antics of false teachers, and care for hurting or drifting sheep. He covers all the major New Testament passages that offer direction and provide guidance on elders. Strauch highlights the importance of structure to the health and holiness of the local church and is clear, ultimately structure determines how things are done in the local church… the point is, the structure of the church both reflects and determines our theology and beliefs.”[3] There are many things to be managed within a church structure, but the overall structure of the church
The Book of Exodus encompasses several of the most significant individuals, as well as events. In the Book of Exodus, Moses was a prominent character that was discussed seemingly throughout the text (Harper 's Bible Dictionary 1952, 655). The Book of Exodus is a segment within the Pentateuch, which covers the first five accounts of the Old Testament. There are three noticeable premises that are accentuated in Exodus, which are deliverance, the covenant, and the Promised Land. The opening section of the Book, which is separated into two parts, is the first eighteen chapters, which review Moses’ lifetime, the dilemmas that the Israelites’ met whilst in Egypt, and the events and plagues that drove the Israelites’ to ultimately depart from Egypt.
The book of Exodus is seen as, the “Second Book of Moses”, as well as the second book in the Pentateuch . The Pentateuch is the first five books of the Old Testament, and is also known as the Torah, or “Law” in Hebrew, which is just one section that makes up the whole Hebrew Bible or Tanak. The Torah consists of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, and is the beginning sections of the Bible. The other two sections are known as Nevi’im, “Prophets”, and Ketuvim, “Writings”. Upon analysis of the book of Exodus, it is expressively important to consider the historical aspects, literary issues, and theological themes that make up such a book.
d. What surprised you about the Book of Numbers? What surprised me about the book of The budding of Aarons staff was a surprise that it is an example of rebellion, when budding is a sign of life. This reminds me of Jesus, where our rebellion is a sign that we need new life, and God gave it and we need only to receive it. The book of Numbers has stories nestled in the census of numbers. Like donkey’s who are smarter then their owners and battles that belong to the Lord and budding sticks with fruit. God has
In society and culture, leadership has the paradigm of a great and powerful person, who makes change in a miraculous and unconventional way. Since the beginning of time, people have completed heroic acts against evil and sin, but in many cases it is those who have the lesser appearance and humble disposition who have established the greatest acts of heroism. In the Bible, the Israelites and Hebrews waited for God to send a high and mighty king to save them from the oppression of the Roman government, but instead they were blessed with a little baby boy, born of poor parents who grew up to be a carpenter, yet won over death giving all humanity the opportunity to save the most important aspect of life; their soul. Leaders are always are depicted as government officials or society’s finest, but it is more important to treasure and follow a leader whose life you can duplicate because of their character, because their life pushes you to be better and elevates you to be a better person. Jesus Christ not only is the greatest leader of the church, but has the greatest life for society and humanity to pursue.
Chung, Y. (2011). Why servant leadership? Its uniqueness and principles in the life of Jesus. Journal Of Asia Adventist Seminary, 14(2), 159-170.