A Tale of Riding Dead Horses
This is taken from a article in Focal Point, a publication from Denver Seminary. Dr Haddon Robinson gives an illustration of organizations and dead horses. He is playing off the old bit of wisdom "If the horse is dead, dismount". Pretty obvious wisdom but often in these days many organizations don't have a firm grasp of the obvious.
The writer Karen Peterson came up with some alternative strategies that organizations often use to deal with the problem of dead horses.
Change riders (If you can't do the job of riding this horse we'll find someone who can!).
Appoint a committee to study the horse (After all, we mustn't rush to judgment. Perhaps the horse isn't really dead, but sleeping).
Attend a seminar to increase riding ability (When in doubt, blame the rider and question his abilities).
Get a stronger whip (even if this doesn't motivate the horse, it will make the rider feel better!). (My favorite!)
Enroll in a seminar to learn how others ride dead horses (Perhaps if you improve your technique no one will notice that you lack substance).
When there is nothing else to do, remember, the time honored wisdom of desperate organizations: "No horse is too dead to beat!"
Dr. Robinson added a couple of ways that churches and other Christian organizations handle dead horses:
Preach a series of sermons assuring listeners that "this horse is not dead!"
Keep reminding people of how strong the horse looked when it was alive and hope that they won't notice that it has died.
Pray that the dead horse will be resurrected.
Move the dead horse to a new location.
Label anyone who points out that the horse is dead a "heretic" (or a person of "no faith").
The writer Karen Peterson came up with some alternative strategies that organizations often use to deal with the problem of dead horses.
Change riders (If you can't do the job of riding this horse we'll find someone who can!).
Appoint a committee to study the horse (After all, we mustn't rush to judgment. Perhaps the horse isn't really dead, but sleeping).
Attend a seminar to increase riding ability (When in doubt, blame the rider and question his abilities).
Get a stronger whip (even if this doesn't motivate the horse, it will make the rider feel better!). (My favorite!)
Enroll in a seminar to learn how others ride dead horses (Perhaps if you improve your technique no one will notice that you lack substance).
When there is nothing else to do, remember, the time honored wisdom of desperate organizations: "No horse is too dead to beat!"
Dr. Robinson added a couple of ways that churches and other Christian organizations handle dead horses:
Preach a series of sermons assuring listeners that "this horse is not dead!"
Keep reminding people of how strong the horse looked when it was alive and hope that they won't notice that it has died.
Pray that the dead horse will be resurrected.
Move the dead horse to a new location.
Label anyone who points out that the horse is dead a "heretic" (or a person of "no faith").
posted by Mike Rea at 9:26 AM
1 Comments:
This is an email response from a good brother down here, Lee Conway or better known as Chef Lee...
Perhaps the problem isn't so much the horses being dead but the riders. Jn. 15 "If you abide in my word you'll (ride dead horses) and bear much fruit." Programs are just vehicles for a message. If the rider is trusting in his horse for success his focus is off. If the rider is abiding in Jesus, he has life and even an apparently dead horse can be a vehicle through which to bring the message of life.
A person who promotes a program which promotes itself is dead. A person who utilizes the same lifeless program to promote the Kingdom by teaching obedience to the Gospel will bring vitality to that horse. House church for us became a dead horse because our focus was on the horse and one rider in particular. The house church horse is a good horse, it was us riders that brought unhealth.
I think the same is probably true of most horses. Men apart from Christ bring corruption because apart from Jesus we are corrupt. Denominations were once powerful, but are now skeletons of their former self. Princeton, Harvard and other colleges used to train men and women in godliness, now they spew false humanistic teachings. Certain mercy ministries once gave very high percentages of the gifts given directly to the poor, now huge amounts of donations are misappropriated. Christian media used to bring a solid gospel message, now it largely just begs for money. Granted, some horses are swifter than others and some may be prettier looking, but the horse can only deliver what it's carrying and if the cargo is a dead rider the horse can only bring death. And if the Lord says to use a different horse to deliver His message but we, out of our rebellion continue riding the horse of our choosing, again this will bring death but not because the horse is dead but because the rider is in sin and the wages of sin is death. What we are experiencing isn't dead horses but nation wide apostacy. Just some thoughts......
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