God's take on Social Order w.r.t. prostitution, sabbaths, new agers, elderly, strangers, and business dealings.

Leviticus 19:29-37 – Social Order Basics Part V – Miscellaneous Commands

Free at last. Our self-quarantine period is over. Or is it? The government has asked us to stay home for another month at least. So, we meet with our small groups online and we read the paper, watch the news, do crossword puzzles, play some Scrabble. And we continue to study our Bible, which by the way seems to always have this unique ability to say something about today’s global circumstances. Read on.

The Passage

²⁹ ‘Do not profane your daughter by making her a harlot, so that the land will not fall to harlotry and the land become full of lewdness. ³⁰ You shall keep My sabbaths and revere My sanctuary; I am the Lord.

³¹ ‘Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.

³² ‘You shall rise up before the gray-headed and honor the aged, and you shall revere your God; I am the Lord.

³³ ‘When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.³⁴ The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.

³⁵ ‘You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or capacity.³⁶ You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah (approx. one bushel), and a just hin (approx. one gallon); I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt. ³⁷ You shall thus observe all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them; I am the Lord.’”

Thoughts on the Passage

This passage has some commands that hopefully many of us will not ever need, but that does not mean there aren’t those who need them. The first command here in verse 29 is one of those. God is opposed to the child sex trade (and the entire sex trade for that matter). Exploiting children and adults in that way is to profane them (that is, it is to treat them with disrespect, or irreverence; it pushes them into things which are not sacred as it desecrates their body which is a holy temple of God). The result God says is harlotry (read that as prostitution; others translate it as profligacy or the reckless extravagance or wastefulness in the use of resources). And when we do that, God continues and says, the whole land we dwell in becomes full of lewdness (the quality of being very sexual or lustful in an offensive way, an example of which is asking people for sexual favors on the streets). Do you ever feel that our land has become ‘full of lewdness’? David Guzuk reminds us that this order stemmed from the practice in the old days, especially in Egypt when men gave their daughters as ritual prostitutes at a pagan temple.

In the next verse (30), God reminds us to keep His sabbaths and revere His sanctuary because He is the Lord. Keeping His sabbaths in the way that most of us have been accustomed to (by going to church) has become impossible recently, even forbidden in some cases, but there are other ways to keep God’s sabbath. The point is that we need to do ‘something’ different on that day. Normally, we are to ‘rest’ on that day. But now, resting is what we do almost every day. So, now, we may need to either think of all our days as sabbaths (not what God had in mind even during Covid-19) or come up with other ways of worshipping on our sabbaths – more prayer, more singing, more praising.  And the sanctuary of God (in this case a physical place where we may normally go to meet with God) may take on a difference location, size, or shape – it may be our ‘closet’ or our den or our office.

In verse 31, we are forbidden to turn to mediums or spiritists (maybe today the better word is ‘spiritualist’). God says, you choose them, and you lose. You will be defiled. Period. So many so-called Christians live their lives with one foot grounded in the faith and the other grounded in the ‘new age’ lifestyle, running to check to their horoscopes or to get their fortune read. God says ‘no’.

Then comes verse 32 where God is speaking to those who are not “gray-headed” or “aged”.  So, at my age, that’s not me, although I suppose if there were older people in the house, it would be me. But listen to what he says to those that are younger. He says first, get up earlier than those that are older than you. I’m so blessed to be able to sleep in these days, to be awakened by my daughter making coffee in the kitchen. Now if only we can get the grandkids following in their mother’s footsteps, that would be really nice. Although I must admit, it does happen that they do beat everyone up at least once a year (on Christmas morning). And secondly, God says, honor those that are older. Each one of us can find ways to do that, so we’ll leave that up to your imagination and your circumstances. The point is that God says we are to do those two things because by doing so, we “revere [our] God” for “[He is] the Lord”. And that ‘revere’ does not mean that we do it because we ‘fear’ our God. No, it means we do it because we want to show that we feel deep respect or admiration for Him. We do it because we love Him.

Then God tells us again we are to do no wrong to any stranger we come across. Strangers who live ‘with us’ are to be like those who belong there. And we are to treat them with love. God told the Israelites they were to do this because they once were ‘aliens’ in Egypt. We are to do it because, He adds, He is the Lord our God. What is interesting here is that the strangers in our land need to be viewed as ‘natives’ among us. I don’t know about others, and I can’t definitely speak for God, but to me that means we are to treat them no different than we would treat our own people. The question arises what is our responsibility to those who come to our land and don’t want to be like us and start demanding that they be treated differently? Perhaps that is best left for another topic, another day. But clearly, the Word here is clear – treat strangers in our land the same way as you treat natives. So, yes, give them all the rights of citizens of the land, but don’t change those rights or add to them, just to please them.

Finally, in verses 35 and 36 God tells we are not to cheat anyone in our business dealings. Establish your rules of operation and stick to them. Don’t take advantage of the weak or foolish. Judge fairly, pay fairly, treat fairly.

All these things God says will allow society to exist within a desired social order. Why do these things work? Because He is God who created us to operate in this way. And we follow His commands, because He is ‘the’ Lord and He is ‘our’ Lord. Now, if He isn’t ‘your’ Lord, well, you’re excused, but at your own peril, as the world is finding out, not just now through this Covid-19 experience, but since the beginning of man’s history.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Conflict or Growth Island? Choose Your Destination

Bridges Over Ladders:
Secure growth and fortify profit with millennial employees, customers and members

Author: Kent J. Wessinger, PhD.

Publisher: create2elevate, Columbia, S.C., 2019

I have struggled to understand why one of my children (a Millennial) and a number of my grandchildren view the world, politics, religion, and work, the way they do. Two of my children (both Generation X’ers) have management jobs that require them to work with and depend on Millennials, and I have often listened to their struggles related to that.

Thus, I had good reasons to read this book. I needed help in understanding my children and in helping them too. Kent Wessinger did not disappoint at all. This book got me very excited about what could be done in the home, in the workplace, in the world when it comes to Baby Boomers and Generation X’ers co-existing ‘profitably’, both economically and socially, with Millennials.

The book is laid out so clearly, like a good lecture only on paper, that you cannot miss the key points of what is being conveyed. The author believes in data and he has it in spades.

First, he convinces us why we cannot ignore Millennials as they “mature and assimilate into leadership positions in all sectors for the next 20 years”.  He challenges us to think about what data we’re using to form our opinions, reactions, and dealings with Millennials. His data is based on direct input from over 22,000 Millennials and over 6,000 Non-Millennials. Although many try, not even the staunchest cynic, in the end, can deny data so powerful.

Next he establishes (with data) the incredible difference between how Baby Boomers and Generation X’ers see Millennials and how they see themselves. The resulting conflict is obvious, and the author shows us how it gets in the way of both growth and profit. He helps us understand what attributes associated with earlier generations that Millennials are “valuing” and those they are “rejecting”.  Understanding the latter is critical to sustainable growth at least in the next two decades. His analysis of this ‘rejection’ is so on the money that I just had to underline almost every line of this part of the text.

Wessinger shows what Millennials pursue and how and how they differ from earlier generations.  More importantly he shows us how to live and work with them and that doing so makes us all winners. His data on how long Millennials stay in one job and why they leave and what can be done about it is alone worth the price of the book. Yes, many of us have been doing it all wrong and the author has the proof. While we pursue our bucket lists, we fail to realize that Millennials “define growth through empty buckets”.

There’s also some comfort as the author tells us why we are not to fear Millennials – they are not after our jobs. Using most interesting and real-life stories and examples, Wessinger explains how opportunities are missed, how programs fail, and stupidity often reigns in our attempts to solve problems.  Then he goes on to show us what can be different. As you read the book, its title, Bridges Over Ladders, begins to make great sense. The book is also filled with much wise management advice and key thoughts. One example is the need for us to realize that, “change [for change’s sake] is not [necessarily] growth and rarely makes a difference”. 

While Wessinger is clearly interested in helping us to see Millennials differently – a most honorable objective – he also is practical enough to spend some time dealing with the short-comings of Millennials and what we can do about those.  One such key area is Millennials and Customer Service.  His advice there is invaluable. Another area is their inability to deal with task failure. He helps us with that as well.

Throughout the book, the author speaks of “voice” and its importance.

I honestly cannot recommend this book enough to business leaders especially. This is a must read for all your management staff. But it is also a great resource for parents of Millennials and even the Generation Z’ers that came after them. Finally, I would point out that throughout the book, the author speaks of “voice” and its importance. I believe it is critical to achieving our mutual goals with Millennials and those even younger. At least I found that to be the case as I discussed the book at the dinner table last night with my eldest grand-daughter and her university dorm-mate.  The reward was an unsolicited kiss and hearing her say, “I love you.”

Get one copy for yourself, you won’t regret it. Get several for those that make your business decisions.

  

Ken B. Godevenos, President, Accord Resolutions Services Inc., Toronto, Ontario, October 14, 2019, www.accordconsulting.com

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Who Defines Restoration In The Case of A Wrong?

Leviticus 6:1-7:

¹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 

² “When a person sins and acts unfaithfully against the Lord, and deceives his companion in regard to a deposit or a security entrusted to him, or through robbery, or if he has extorted from his companion, 

³ or has found what was lost and lied about it and sworn falsely, so that he sins in regard to any one of the things a man may do; 

⁴ then it shall be, when he sins and becomes guilty, that he shall restore what he took by robbery or what he got by extortion, or the deposit which was entrusted to him or the lost thing which he found, ⁵ or anything about which he swore falsely; he shall make restitution for it in full and add to it one-fifth more. He shall give it to the one to whom it belongs on the day he presents his guilt offering. 

⁶ Then he shall bring to the priest his guilt offering to the Lord, a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation, for a guilt offering, 

⁷ and the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he will be forgiven for any one of the things which he may have done to incur guilt.”

Thoughts on the Passage

The beginning of chapter six (first seven verses) offers us more instances where the guilt offering is required. (It could easily have been included in chapter five.) And then the rest of chapter six and all of chapter seven deal with instructions on administering the various offerings (The Burnt Offering – 6:8-13; the Meal Offering – 6:14-23; The Sin Offering – 6:24-30; The Guilt Offering – 7:1-10; and The Peace Offering – 7:11-36). The last few verses of chapter 7 (verses 37 and 38) give us a neat Summary of the Offerings.

But our current passage is still talking about other occasions when the Guilt Offering is to be made.

God, through Moses, turns His attention, to business inter-relationships between people.  There is to be no lying between seller and buyer; loaner and borrower; between the person effecting fraud and the victim; etc. The deception can be as a result of one self-admitting it or when on is caught-lying. Confession, restoration (full amount plus 20%), and then the guilt offering is required. Then the forgiveness is guaranteed.

However, I note in verse 7 that the phrase is “forgiven for any one of the things which he may have done to incur guilt”.  It is possible that if I have cheated someone, or stole several things from someone, etc. – that is, I committed several acts of this kind of sin referred to here – then I have to confess each one, make restoration plus 20% for each one, and offer a guilt offering for each one.  This seems to go along with earlier thoughts that God does not just want us to say “forgive me, I have sinned” but He wants us to be fully aware of our specific sins and to repent in each case.  People come to us, especially children, and say, “I’m sorry.”  What is our natural response?  “What exactly are you sorry for?”  And God, in whose image we are made, is like that too.

Matthew Henry points out that we need to observe that while these types of sins relate to our neighbor, they are rightly called sins “against the Lord”. The neighbor suffers the immediate consequence, but the offence is against your neighbor’s Maker – regardless of who your neighbor is what he thinks or does not think of God.

Henry also suggests the concept of the extra 20% to be paid back is to get across the idea that restoration is not restoration until the person receiving it feels his/her loss has been restored.

What is the lesson for us? Well, we know what restoration looks like when we have been wronged, but do we think about what restoration looks like when we wrong others?

Similarly, we as human beings cannot dictate to God what He accepts as ‘restoration’ for our sins agains Him. Only He can set the terms.  And in this case, we can’t meet them.  So, He provided another Way through His own Son.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Very Sound Advice For Generations X, Y, and Millenials

Unemployable:

How To Be Successfully Unemployed Your Entire Life

Author: David Thomas Roberts

Publisher: Self-published, Texas, 2016                                                                     

                              

Very Sound Advice For Generations X, Y, and Millennials

This book is not for those who want to play it safe, have a steady income (when they have a job), or go home and watch TV after a day’s work. It is for risk-takers, people who value freedom over money (but who know they can do better), and like to be responsible for others as well as the bottom line.

David T. Roberts tried working for others and knew that wasn’t for him. And then he went to town trying to set up his own business or two. In the process, he learned some valuable lessons that he shares candidly with his readers. He tells people to not just wish “for toys” that others have but to do something about being able to afford them – and to do it now, not sometime, not tomorrow. He concluded early in life, that “Everyone is created with an equal opportunity to become unequal.” If the reader’s behavior is changed by that statement alone, it’s worth the money he/she paid for the book.

The author believes that if anyone can bring “value to an idea” then he/she is an entrepreneur. The early chapters of the book describe how you can detect if you should work for someone else, or if you should be your own boss. Once that is determined, he then uses a chapter to communicate the pros and cons of education but ultimately ends up saying that whether we like it or not, today’s education systems are geared to teaching us “how to work for someone else, period” and likely turning a person into “a little communist”.

The rest of the book gives us the tools we need to work for ourselves and be “unemployed”.  He starts with the need for us to become financially literate. I love his “Here’s a tidbit: If you make a million dollars this year and you spend one million and one dollars this year, you are broke!” Duh. How much simpler can it get? To this he adds great advice on mortgages and acquiring things for the sake of status.

He throws in some history on the growth of “micro-businesses”, the importance and advantages of “sales” jobs, and from personal experience, teaches us much about networking marketing.  There’s also great and detailed advice for anyone considering a franchise; when a business plan is necessary and when it’s not; why you need to avoid those who would discourage you; where to get valuable personal advice; and where and when to raise money and when not to.

There’s a whole chapter on two important rules in business and ten most common mistakes that result in failure. He tackles the issues of partnership as well as the family business, identifying pitfalls to be avoided. Next he talks about “Renegade Marketing” and social media – but that’s material you’ll need to discover for yourself in Roberts’ book. His last chapter deals with the “taxman” and the role we all have to keep government in check to preserve free enterprise.

The “bonus” is a twenty-six-page glossary of terms which should become second nature to all pursuing the exciting world of being “unemployed”. I’m seriously thinking of giving the book to my grandchildren long before they finish high school.  And even for this baby boomer, the book provided advice that is most critical to success and could be applied to my own “un”-employment as a consultant, long after I retired from working for those other guys.

·      Ken B. Godevenos, President, Accord Resolutions Services Inc., Toronto, Ontario, December 22, 2016. www.accordconsulting.com

Get the book here: http://astore.amazon.com/accorconsu-20

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

No Seven Day Operations (Part One) -- Exodus 20:10b

“in it (the Sabbath of the Lord your God – from the first part of the verse) you shall not do any work, you or our son or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.”
 

As I study this part of Scripture, I ask myself, “Is it any wonder we, as an entire Body of believers, are not being blessed as much as we could be, or that we are not be being the blessing we could be to others when we have tried to do things our way?  We seem to even change what God says about His commandments so that they can be interpreted to allow what we want the meaning to be.”

My intention here is to first look carefully at what the text says about work in relation to keeping the Sabbath, then to raise some difficult questions as to how the text may be applied in our modern lives and their implications.  So, bear with me.

You may well tell me that I am living in the Old Testament (or as a friend of mine says, the Old Covenant) and that I need to get under the New Covenant implying that Jesus said we are no longer under the “law given to the Isralites and later on tablets to Moses”.  But then these same people are not brave enough to state out rightly that they no longer believe in the keeping of the Ten Commandments.  The fact is that you cannot have it both ways.  Either we are intended to keep the Ten Commandments or we are not.  I believe these laws are unique to the believer in God.  While it is true we cannot, in our sinful nature, keep all the laws all the time, we have been given ten laws that we could keep if we wanted to.  We have been given ten laws that, unless we are ready to throw them out the window, we have to focus on keeping.

And if that is the case, then this fourth law that we are to observe says “no work” on the Sabbath.  And just so we do not try to pass our work on to others, God goes on to say no work for your family.  It specifically mentions our sons and daughters.  Our spouses are covered in the “you” part.  And our extended family is covered in the “son or daughter” part.  So no, you cannot use your niece or nephew to do your work for you.

God goes on to say, your servants (read employees today) cannot do any work on the Sabbath.  Some may ask, “Why did God mention male and female servants separately?”  That is a good question and I do not claim to have the definitive answer.  I can only take an educated guess based on a study of some other themes in scripture.  There is no doubt that the culture of the day, including that of the Israelites, was that somehow there was an inequality between the genders.  That was not God’s intention for the two sexes.  The roles He gave each one of them when He created them were somehow misinterpreted and the man became the superior one in his own mind and acted accordingly.  Throughout Scripture, and later as we move into the New Testament, Jesus, made great strides in correcting that perception that man had about his helpmate.  And here in Exodus 20:10, God is pointing out that this commandment of His applies equally to one’s servants (and thus by inference to all members of the family) be they male or female.  It was the Israelites’ job to facilitate that keeping of the Sabbath for all their workers.

The text goes on to say that your cattle are not to do any work either on the Sabbath.  Now we have two ways to interpret that for modern day living for the majority of us.  We can either claim that God mentioned ‘cattle’ because He really considers animals to be very special and certainly places them above inanimate objects, or we can assume He refers to them as representative of what the majority of Israelites used to help them with their primary means of making a living and providing for their families.  The first would make my daughter-in-law, an avid animal lover, very happy.  The second would appeal more to my way of thinking.  Perhaps a third and preferred alternative would be to believe that He had both reasons in mind.  Again we do not know for sure, but let us go with this interpretation.  God says ‘no work’ is to be done by anyone or anything for your enterprise on the Sabbath.  Farming stops.  Manufacturing stops.  Billable hours stop.  That’s what the commandment calls for.

But surely there is an exception for certain types of services?  We will look at that later, but at this point, the direction is pretty clear.   In fact, God goes on to say, that if you have anyone staying with you at your house for a period of time (that is what a sojourner is), they cannot do any work for you or themselves either.

Do we get the idea?  No work period on our Sabbath.  That is what God asks.  Yes, He asked it of the Israelites in the desert.  But He gave it to them in the Ten Commandments and thus He asks it of anyone who believes they should honor and keep these ten laws.  No work period on the Sabbath.

Next we look at some real crucial “but what about” or “but what if” questions as we try to get a ‘faithful’ handle on what God would have us do or not do on the Sabbath.  Our only hope is that “Scripture answers Scripture” when it comes to that, for as far as this text goes, the message is clear.

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[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

Thanks for dropping by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting.  And while you’re here, why not check out some more of our recent blogs shown in the right hand column.  Ken.

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‘Servant Leadership’ is not just for religious organizations -- this book is for business leaders.

‘Servant Leadership’ is not just for religious organizations

Bill B. Flint Jr. has written a book that needs to be read once, put on a shelf, and then read again over and over whenever a “servant leader” thinks he/she is no longer on his/her game.  And no, this isn’t a book written for clergy and missionaries.  It’s a book for anyone who wants to build the kind of company every person dreams of working for and every leader wants to help drive.  The Journey To Competitive Advantage Through Servant Leadership, WestBow Press, Bloomington Indiana, 2011, paperback, 162 pages is that book.

And Flint is not claiming to be a saint.  Far from it, readily admitting his own shortcomings and the errors he’s made over time.  He is now the founder, president and CEO of Flint Strategic Partners in Goshen, Indiana, but his material comes primarily from his over 25 years of experience working in key management and sometimes the top role for privately held, mid-sized, and two Fortune 500 companies.  As one who has followed a somewhat similar path (with large private and public companies, but no Fortune 500 entities) and now consulting, I picked up the book wondering whether there was anything Flint could teach an older pro with about 12 years of experience on him.  I was greatly surprised.

Bill Flint takes you into the mind and the heart of a servant leader.  He helps you understand what servant leaders understand.  He gets you to see what kind of development you’ll need to be one.  He clearly identifies the lessons he’s learned and they resonate well with anyone who has been in leadership for any length of time.  He differentiates between a ‘servant leader’ and a ‘potential servant leader’.  And that’s very useful for anyone on such a journey.  Flint includes a chapter that is worth the price you’ll pay for the whole book in which he identifies ten (10) DNA strands of a servant leader showing you how each is utilized.  He then tackles thoroughly the aspect of relationships and their significance in leadership.

More value comes in his chapter on how a servant leadership must deal with selfishness identifying six related areas one must guard oneself against if he/she is going to be a lasting and true servant leader.

The last part of Flint’s book deals with communications – and I don’t just mean in a peripheral way.  He gives you solid practical advice on how to deal with all types of people you’ll be leading and exactly how to develop and reproduce leadership champions.  Finally, as I line manager, he does something most managers still do not do – he makes a case for more, not less, of a voice for Human Resources in your company or organization.

Bill Flint’s career experience is not the only thing making him an expert on this topic.  His personal faith journey as a Christ-follower also gives him spiritual insights and the edge required to write this book for business leaders based on the principled life of the Master Servant Leader Himself.

-- Ken B. Godevenos, President, www.accordconsulting.com , Toronto, ON.

[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

Thanks for dropping by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.