Servants of Jesus, 1 Corinthians 3:1-9a
Preached 2.12.2006 by Pastor Mark Driscoll
Mentoring
We are given an opportunity to mature by being mentored by people who are strong in our weaknesses.
If you see someone who is mature in an area that you are immature in, rather than being jealous, you should be inquisitive. Saying to someone, “I see your good at this. I’m not. Could you teach me?”, is humility. Example: You’ve got a good marraige we’ve got a bad marraige can we have dinner at your house?….forever?
The goal is to grow in maturity together. Get over your imaturity and give yourself away.
Personal note: The word mentoring sometimes frustrates me. Many people often think of that word as if to say that mentoring is for someone who is going to become some great idol to people. You know maybe like a preacher, singer, political leader, star athelete. I know this is probably wrong but the first thing that comes to my mind is someone like Jerry Johnston who “mentors” people to “greatness” which is often equated with financial prosperity. I have a real problem with this. For several reasons and one being that the Ultimate Mentor did not in fact acheive any great status but was spit upon and killed. This shows me that one of the greatest areas that people are in need of mentoring is humility. Pride is thought to be the begining of all sins and humility is in opposition to it.
As far as being mentored in your weakness goes I must be honest. I am particularly good in this area. Maybe its because I have alot of weaknesses? I’m guessing its because of my life circumstances. I have a strong desire to learn and be mentored. I say this because I see people all around who blatantly cannot shut their mouths and learn. With all this said I also have a very strong desire to mentor. Not that I got alot to offer but that I seem to get a high off that sort of thing.
This is how the sermon ended: Jesus, being God, didn’t come demanding all of his rights (like a baby). He humbled himself, emptied himself to serve us. Jesus said with his life: I didn’t want to be served as a baby I came to serve as a man and give my life as a ransom for many. Giver not a taker, Selfless not selfish, Humble not proud.
Just a dude with a blog that probably shouldn't have one.
[...] A while back I had a few post about mentoring. I was watching a special on the history channel recently about samurai warriors and couldn’t help but think of mentoring and the Christian life. I was interested in how “the way of a samurai” was taught. This “way” was something that was sacred and for the most part before the 1400’s fighting was taught inside a family. After that time warriors then began to branch off training outside their households. By doing so training became a community responsibility. Eventually this open approach created a clearer picture as to who was the strongest in any given style or with any different weapon. The ones that excelled began to look at their talent more systematically. They began thinking about how it is they were able to defeat their opponents. The ones that were known to have a special ability were looked after to mentor the others. The parallels to Christianity I’m about to draw are obvious but I believe even the obvious is meaningless with out initiative. Today our families in America are like the Samurai families before the 1400’s. We are for the most part mentoring within our households. To me this is obvious because you see how one family excels in one specific ability or talent. For example my dad sings well and even though I do not sing as well as he does the interest in music was undoubtedly spread into my life and my brothers. While mentoring within the home is great and what should be happening the Christian community could benefit from being more open and intentional about mentoring relationships as the Samurai. Intentional living and humility is key here. Everyone would benefit. I know that there are many who are open to learning many things but unless it is intentional and systematic as the warriors began to realize they needed to be it is at least less effective. As Christians its important to remember that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood” as it was for the Samurai. The significance being that no matter what you are not waring against other people but against The Fall(the devil), and the only thing you have to assist you in this is not weapons and fists but spiritual gifts and innate God given abilities. We need more intentional mentoring. [...]