08, February 2004
Dakota Community Church
The Essentials
The Essential Characteristics of Conquerors
WEEK TWO: COMPETENCE
Introduction:
None of us wants to be incompetent. We all want to succeed.
In looking at the different conquerors we have studied over the last weeks one thing becomes evident – they were all very competent individuals.
- David was a competent shepherd and king.
- Joshua was a competent leader of men. (Silent marching 7 days)
- Daniel was being put in charge of the entire kingdom.
- Joseph was ruling in Egypt.
Most incompetent people don’t know they are incompetent.
In fact, researcher Dr. David A. Dunning of Cornell University reports that people who are incompetent are more confident of their abilities than competent people.
Dunning and his associate Justin Krueger believe that skills required for competence are the same skills necessary to recognize that ability.
Krueger writes in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, "Not only do [incompetent people] reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it."
That is the way we are spiritually without Christ.
Our sin not only separates us from God, it blinds us to our predicament.
SOURCE: Hank Simon, Catch-22 of Incompetence, Belleville, Illinois. Citation: New York Times News Service, Belleville [Illinois] News-Democrat (1-18-00.)
Has anyone been watching the American Idol TV show?
- How many people are there who are incompetent singers but don’t know it?
- Their shocked faces and angry responses would be really sad if they weren’t so terrible.
How can we increase our level of competence?
1. Play to your strengths.
Romans 12: 3-6
3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.
Five Obstacles to Playing to Your Strengths:
1.) Overemphasizing balance.
It is possible to expend so much energy trying to improve your weaknesses that you wind up under producing in the areas that will lead you to conquer.
2.) Failure to distinguish between authority and ability.
Acts 6: 1-7
1In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3Brothers choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."
5This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
- The disciples had the authority to handle the money; they did not have the ability to do it the most effectively.
- Are you doing things that someone else should be doing?
3.) Failure to recognize incompetence.
When I admitted to Jake and Chris and the rest of the board that I am not a good administrator it was not new information to them.
- Everyone else already knows that you cannot do what you are claiming you can.
4.) Guilt.
Sometimes we get doing things that we are not good at because we wrongly assume that everyone else hates those jobs as well.
We feel guilty having someone else do what we do not enjoy.
- Enter the different gifts in the Body.
5.) Unwillingness to recognize team truth.
We don’t play to our strengths if we fall into the trap of believing we are the team superstars.
2. Stretch past your comfort zone.
Stagnation leads to incompetence. The way we’ve always done it is quite often no longer the way it should be done.
- Just because it was once the best way does not mean it is still the best way.
Illustration:
The Detroit News carried a humorous little story about Bill Cosby’s aged mother that illustrates how useless gifts are unless they are used. She had been raised in poverty, and the family had very little money as Bill was growing up. As a result, she never had modern conveniences and had gotten accustomed to doing things the hard way. When the children were old enough to get jobs, they often gave their mother appliances as Christmas gifts to make her life easier. But she wouldn’t use them. Bill especially remembered that after a while his mother had two or three toasters. But she left them in their boxes and put them on top of the refrigerator. At breakfast she would still do the toast in the oven. If the boys protested, she would say, "Leave them on the refrigerator. I’m used to doing it the old way."
Daily Bread, March 4, 1990.
a.) We need to be self-motivated to stretch.
Once when Alabama was playing Auburn, Coach Bear Bryant sent in his 2nd string quarterback with instructions to run on every play and he had better not pass the ball. Alabama led by three points and only had to run the clock out to win. Three downs in a row Alabama was crushed. On the fourth down with a few seconds left and Alabama ahead the quarterback took the snap. Looking into the end zone he saw his receiver so open the temptation was too great. He threw the ball only to see it intercepted by an All American Safety. Though he was the slowest player on the field the 2nd string quarterback ran down the interceptor and Alabama won the game. After the game coach Dye of Auburn said to Bear Bryant, “How could that second string quarterback of yours run down my All American Safety?” “Simple,” answered Bear, “Your boy was running to score six points – my boy was running for his life!”
- The difference is motivation.
- What is it going to take to get you to stretch? (Heart Attack?)
Illustration:
J.F.K. loved to tell stories about his grandfather, Fitzgerald. When his grandfather was a boy in Ireland, he would walk home from school with a whole group of boys. There were a lot of very jagged, high cobblestone fences. They were difficult to climb and dangerous being 10 –12 feet high so in spite of wanting to go over them the boys were afraid of getting hurt. One day as they were walking home from school Fitzgerald took his cap off and threw it over the wall. The moment he threw it over the wall he knew he had to climb over to get it back because he didn’t dare go home without his cap or he would be disciplined. Throwing your cap over the wall commits you to stretch and do something you wouldn’t normally do.
b.) You are vulnerable when you stretch.
Think about an elastic band, useless until it is stretched but unlikely to break until it is stretched.
- Stretching involves risk.
- Everyone will not be happy that you are going for it.
c.) Stretching never stops.
d.) When you stretch, others are inspired to stretch.
Colossians 1: 9-14
9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
- Does that sound like a stretching process to you?
2Thesselonians 1:3-4
3We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. 4Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
- Is your faith growing more and more?
- Is your love increasing?
- Are you persevering and enduring in tough times?
Then you are growing more competent day by day!
Which in turn should lead you to want to:
3. Pass it on.
You will grow in competence as you transition from learning your strengths and gifts to sharing them and teaching others.
1Corinthians 4: 14-17
14I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. 15Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
Hebrews 13: 1-7
1 Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." 6 So we say with confidence,
"The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?"
7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
- Notice how he speaks of basics of life.
- Marriage
- Money
- Ministry
- Body of Christ
Follow those who set an example in these areas until you are the one setting the example and having followers.
Closing Illustration:
When I was quite young, my family had one of the first telephones in our neighborhood. I remember well the polished oak case fastened to the wall on the lower stair landing. The shiny receiver hung on the side of the box. I even remembered the number - 105. I was too little to reach the telephone, but used to listen with fascination when my mother talked into it. Once she lifted me up to speak to my father, who was away on business. Magic! Then I discovered that somewhere inside that wonderful device lived an amazing person - her name was "Information Please" and there was nothing that she did not know. My mother could ask her for anybody’s number and when our clock ran down, Information Please immediately supplied the correct time.
My first personal experience with this genie-in-the-receiver came one day while my mother was visiting a neighbor. Amusing myself at the tool bench in the basement, I whacked my finger with a hammer. The pain was terrible, but there didn’t seem to be of much use crying because there was no one home to offer sympathy. I walked around the house sucking my throbbing finger, finally arriving at the stairway. The telephone! Quickly, I ran for the footstool in the parlor and dragged it to the landing. Climbing up, I unhooked the receiver and held it to my ear. "Information Please," I said into the mouthpiece just above my head. A click or two, and a small clear voice spoke into my ear. "Information." "I hurt my fingerrr-" I wailed into the phone. The tears came readily enough now that I had an audience. "Isn’t your mother home?" came the question. "Nobody’s at home but me," I blubbered. "Are you bleeding?” "No", I replied. "I hit it with the hammer and it hurts". "Can you open your icebox?" she asked. I said I could. "Then chip off a little piece of ice and hold it on your finger. That will stop the hurt. Be careful when you use the ice pick," she admonished. "And don’t cry. You’ll be alright".
After that, I called Information Please for everything. I asked for help with my Geography and she told me where Philadelphia was, and the Orinoco--the romantic river I was going to explore when I grew up. She helped me with my Arithmetic, and she told me that a pet chipmunk--I had caught him in the park just that day before--would eat fruits and nuts. And there was the time that Petey, our pet canary, died. I called Information Please and told her the sad story. She listened, and then said the usual things grown-up say to soothe a child. But I was unconsoled. Why was it that birds should sing so beautifully and bring joy to whole families, only to end as a heap of feathers feet up, on the bottom of a cage? She must have sensed my deep concern, for she quietly said, "Paul, always remember that there are other worlds to sing in." Somehow, I felt better.
Another day I was at the telephone. "Information," said the now familiar voice. "How do you spell fix?” F-I-X." At that instant my sister, who took unholy joy in scaring me, jumped off the stairs at me with a banshee shriek-"Yaaaaaaaaaa!" I fell off the stool, pulling the receiver out of the box by its roots. We were both terrified--Information Please was no longer there, and I was not at all sure that I hadn’t hurt her when I pulled the receiver out. Minutes later, there was a man on the porch. "I’m a telephone repairman. I was working down the street and the operator said there might be some trouble at this number." He reached for the receiver in my hand. "What happened?" I told him. "Well, we can fix that in a minute or two." He opened the telephone box exposing a maze of wires and coils, and fiddled for a while with the end of the receiver cord, tightened things with a small screwdriver. He jiggled the hook up and down a few times, and then spoke into the phone. "Hi, this is Pete. Everything’s under control at 105. The kid’s sister scared him and he pulled the cord out of the box." He hung up, smiled, gave me a pat on the head and walked out the door.
All this took place in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. Then, when I was nine years old, we moved across the country to Boston-and I missed my mentor acutely. Information Please belonged in that old wooden box back at home, and I somehow never thought of trying the tall, skinny new phone that sat on the small table in the hall. Yet, as I grew into my teens, the memories of those childhood conversation never really left me; often in moments of doubt and perplexity I would recall the serene sense of security I had when I knew that I could call Information Please and get the right answer. I appreciated now how very patient, understanding and kind she was to have wasted her time on a little boy.
A few years later, on my way back to college, my plane put down in Seattle. I had about half an hour between plane connections, and I spent 15 minutes or so on the phone with my sister who lived there now, happily mellowed by marriage and motherhood. Then, really without thinking what I was doing, I dialed my hometown operator and said, "Information Please." Miraculously, I heard again the small, clear voice that I knew so well: "Information." I hadn’t planned this, but I heard myself saying, "Could you tell me, please, how to spell the word ’fix’?" There was a long pause. Then came the softly spoken answer. "I guess," said Information Please, "that your finger must have healed by now." I laughed. "So it’s really still you. I wonder if you have any idea how much you meant to me during all that time...." "I wonder," she replied, "if you know how much you meant to me? I never had any children, and I used to look forward to your calls. Silly, wasn’t it?" It didn’t seem silly, but I didn’t say so. Instead I told her how often I had thought of her over the years, and I asked if I could call her again when I come back to visit my sister when the semester was over. "Please do. Just ask for Sally." "Goodbye Sally." It sounded strange for Information Please to have a name. "If I run into any chipmunks, I’ll tell them to eat fruits and nuts." "Do that," she said. "And I expect one of these days you’ll be off for the Orinoco. Well, good-bye."
Just three months later, I was back again at the Seattle airport. A different voice answered, "Information," and I asked for Sally. "Are you a friend?" "Yes," I said. "An old friend." "Then I’m sorry to have to tell you. Sally had only been working part-time in the last few years because she was ill. She died five weeks ago." But before I could hang up, she said, "Wait a minute. Did you say your name was Paul?" "Yes." "Well, Sally left a message for you. She wrote it down." "What was it?" I asked, almost knowing in advance what it would be. "Here it is, I’ll read it-’Tell him I still say there are other worlds to sing in. He’ll know what I mean’"
I thanked her and hung up. I did know what Sally meant.
Paul Villard
Originally published June, 1966 Readers Digest
