October 28, 2017 - Adam Collier

Lessons From Working Within a Hierarchy – Part 3

The third and final lesson from working in a hierarchy is that highlighted in scripture.

Matthew 8:5 And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, ⁶and saying, “^[Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented.” ⁷Jesus *said to him, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” ¹⁰Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.

So the story goes: a Roman centurion has a desperate need, his servant is paralyzed and in need of healing. Jesus offers to come and heal the man but the centurion suggested another idea based on his understanding of who Jesus is. He said “I am not worthy for You to come under my roof”. This centurion also understood deeply how hierarchy works. “I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it”. This centurion understood the infinitely powerful spiritual authority that Jesus had. He knew that all Jesus had to do was to say the word, and some how some way his servant many miles away would be healed.

Within authorities (if they are led well) the words and desires one of the one at the top rules, he (or she) is the greatest one that people rally around. This means two things: 1) go against anyone within that line of authority and we risk the wrath of the one at the top. So be supportive of people within if you want to be supportive of the one at the top and we must be supportive if we want promotion. 2) If we are at odds with the one at the top we will be at odds with everyone loyal to the one at the top.

If you find yourself within a hierarchy (and you want to do well) take care to not violate these rules. Hierarchies are neither inherently evil nor inherently good they are simply tools of unity, they align our efforts, commitment and loyalty under one or a few persons.

Another noteworthy fact is that Jesus never set up a line of authority among his disciples nor did he teach them to do so. Jesus did not want some of his disciples above or below the others. He even seemed to prohibit this when his disciples were wanting to do so.

Matthew 20:24 And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers. ²⁵But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. ²⁶It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant

Find Part I of this series here:

Find Part II of this series here:

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October 21, 2017 - Adam Collier

Lessons from Working Within a Hierarchy – Lesson 2

Almost all of us currently do or will need to participate within a hierarchy. Some hierarchies are very healthy and others are extremely toxic and everywhere in between. I write these posts to share with young people how to do well within hierarchies. I wish I would have realized these long ago when I started working in my company.

The idea that we will be judged entirely based on our merits and performance is rare, its partially our performance but most of the time more than half of our value is based on behaviors that we can exhibit toward the chain of command and/or senior leaders. These behaviors can instantly make us much more valuable in the perception of leadership. If we are disgusted in the senior leadership or are out of step with their vision we can expect to stay stagnant or pushed out until that is resolved.

Lesson 2:

The laws and ground rules (‘culture’) which defines success within a hierarchy is not necessarily based on truth or reality. Often they are based more on the preferences and ideals of the leader at the top. So our value within a hierarchy is defined by our relationship with, proximity and/or loyalty to its leader(s). We must stay on our toes because those culture-rules can rapidly change as the leader changes or as new leaders take over.

October 7, 2016 - Adam Collier

What is the Christian Tithe? Giving in the Ecclesia.

There has always been an inner reservation that I have had about tithing. As if there was something missing from the teachings, something not fully understood by myself and most everyone who is asking for money at church.

For years I accepted the teaching that we are to give 10% +, so we have given 10%+ of our income to our church and I do believed that God has blessed us for that.

But recently (2016) I discovered something in scripture which I think is hidden in plain sight from those who do not fully understand or accept what scripture teaches about the eccleisa (church) gatherings and the nature of the church itself.

2 Corinthians 8, 9 teaches this plainly and Acts 5 displays it for us.

Let’s look at the go-to verse for tithing in the Old Testament Malachi 3:8-10, paraphrased from memory: “will a man rob God?, …you have robbed me in your tithes and offerings…bring all the tithes into the store house so that there will be meat in my house.”

Jesus also said when teaching once “we should do the one without neglecting the other”, referring to tithing, paraphrased from memory.

So I firmly believe that scripture teaches and that Jesus wants his people to be givers of at least 10% of their income. But not out of obligation as some necessary display of loyalty or maturity or as a pre-requisite for more blessings, as it is typically taught (by those who get to manage the money after given).

But a sacrificial giving out of selfless love.

What We’ve Missed About The Tithe

What I think we miss is that the nature of the ‘house of God’ changed dramatically with Jesus Christ. We miss it because almost no one views the house of God this way…right now.

Before Jesus All of the “houses of God” were buildings (the tabernacle and the temples.) But these houses symbolized something greater that was yet to come; it symbolized the ecclesia, poorly translated as church which are the gatherings of people in whom God is living by the Holy Spirit.

The Church today is not a place or a building or a series of buildings, it is the communities of Christians.

To say it another way, the heart of the teaching in Malachi 3:10 concerning the tithe still apply to Christians but the nature of the “storehouse” is now the real thing, it has changed within Jesus Christ. It is no longer a temple building and its organization with rituals symbolizing something in the future. The house of God is spiritual and is a thing that we can have now only in the community of Christians.

The “storehouse” now is the gatherings of Christians, it is one another, we make up the house of God. It is not physical it is spiritual. We are the living stones being built together by Jesus Christ personally (see 1 Peter 2:5). So now we are taught to bring our “tithes” to one another as we gather. We are to give to and receive from one another as we have abundance or need.

The church is not a human organization with pecking orders and with organization charts representing lines of authority. The church better translated community, is the gatherings of the believers.

If this seems crazy, it is explicitly taught in 2 Corinthians 8, 9 please read.

We gather then we bring our supply to as many as have need in the community meetings, some have abundance to supply the lack of others. Then at another time the same ones may need help at other times and in other ways.

Equality Not Heirarchy

The purpose of all this is that there be equality among the gatherings of Christians. Jesus wants there to be equality among us. It clearly and specifically teaches that in scripture. Everyone giving up into a human organization of hierarchy (commonly called our church) ignores inequality.

The money model most churches follow today out of tradition is a hierarchical organization with a dominant clergy at the top who receive tithes and distributes accordingly. With the bulk of the money going to buildings and salaries, NOT to equality among the members.

Giving to existing members is almost a non-issue today, but in 2 Corinthians it was normative and commanded.

In 22 years of church attendance I’ve only seen a handful of times where money was given to existing members who were struggling and there were always strings attached, it was not a loving personal gift, it was more like a rich benevolent father giving to a needy child.

Most of the time they stayed poor and the rich members barely spoke with the poor.

The famous verse “God loves a cheerful giver” is often taken entirely out of its specific context. Which is the giving one member to another for equality! And it is mistakenly used to support tithes flowing up through the organization. This is out of context and borderlines on false teachings.

This is the most common (weekly) example of ‘wrongly dividing scripture’ I have seen. Done almost in every protestant church meeting when its time to collect money.

Unequal Hierarchy Model: green arrows represent flow of money, orange arrows represent flow of teaching/ supposed revelation of the Spirit

The Real Tithes / Giving In the Ecclesia

Another way of saying this is that it is more biblical to give your weekly gift to a struggling brother or sister or family within the church. Than it is to give to a church corporation. This is the real “tithe” now.

If everyone agrees to pool their money and if trusted leadership is distributing to anyone in the congregation for the purpose of equality that would be biblical as well.

God wants equality among his people. This is true in spiritual gifts, referring to us as human body differing parts, yet all are equal. He also wants this equality reflected in our financial lives.

Equal Living Stones make up the house of God, green arrows represent a flow of money, orange arrows represent a flow of revelation of the Holy Spirit. From All and To All.

This happened in the Jerusalem church, in Acts 5 we see all members sharing everything financially in the Jerusalem church. Not because they were forced to, it was not a law or a guilt-laden obligation. But because they willingly chose to. They would even sell their property and bring the proceeds to be shared.

If this all sounds crazy read again 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 repeatedly.

God can still bless his people who give outside of the way it is taught in the New Testament. We saw his blessing was not withdrawn when the Israelites were in Babylon meting in synagogues. BUT God wanted them in Jerusalem building his real house at the time (the temple). And a few even responded to his wishes.

He asked them to return to build how he wanted things, ~2% of the Israelites left Babylon to build God’s real house in Jerusalem (read the book of Nehemiah).

Lets give the way the New Testametn teaches not tradition, lets please the Lord with our giving by doing it his way again.

Eternal Testimonies Ministries

For Those in Pursuit of Jesus Christ

Lessons From Working Within a Hierarchy – Part 3

Lessons from Working Within a Hierarchy – Lesson 2