Church Leaders Are First Good Followers

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

This is Super Bowl week and leadership is a great point of discussion. Most people see the quarterback, the most visible player on the team, and automatically assume that they are the leader of the team.  The majority of the time that is true. Other players will take their cue from the quarterback, in their work ethic, their confidence, their approach to the game and their performance on game day. Yet, when the quarterback is having an off day or gets injured or is just not performing well, if the team is going to win, others have to pick up their game.  Ultimately it is a team game. Quarterbacks don’t win games, teams win games.  Peyton Manning and Drew Brees are great quarterbacks, but they are only involved with one-third of the game. They play offense, not defense or special teams.

A church is similar, in some ways, to a football team.

As a Christian, I happen to believe that everything rises and falls on God, humbling ourselves to the realization that it is He who ultimately has the power to make the world go ’round.  But God chooses to work through leaders, people that He chooses for certain roles at certain times.  Now don’t stop reading because you don’t think you are a leader. Every Christian, no matter what station in life, is used by God to be a leader at some point.  We will get into that a little more here in a minute.

Leadership in the church is a fine balance between authority and humility. Those who can walk that tightrope reflect the understanding that no person is truly a leader unto themselves, but is a follower placed in a position of leading others. That may not make sense to some, but when we think though this in light of the Kingdom of God, it makes perfect sense.

First, it is the Kingdom of God. God is the King, everyone else is, well, not the King.

Second, since we are not the King, then we all are servants of the King, taking our cue, our direction from Him.

Third, the King is the one who passes out the rewards for His people who follow His direction.

 Let’s think through our sports analogy here. For the teams playing in the Super Bowl, there is only one goal, win. Defeat the other team, send them home losers, hoist up the trophy and be champions. For one team, they will do that this week. They will take home the Lombardi Trophy and be proclaimed as NFL champions.  The team leaders are those who help them get there- the ones who make the key plays, the crucial catches, the right play calls, the big hit. Those are the players that will make the highlight reel.

The church is not much different. Our leaders are those that help the church achieve the goal- expand the Kingdom, make disciples of all nations, love God and love our neighbor. No matter what position you play, you can be on the highlight reel. We play as team and our goal is not to win a game but please the King.

Listen to Jesus, our leader, as He talked about how important it was to Him to please the Father…

John 8
²⁸ Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. ²⁹ And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”

Jesus was the unquestioned leader of His disciples, yet He tells them, I do what I do to please the Father… always. He exercised authority, He led people, but yet was forthright that He was submitting Himself to the Father. The dynamic, powerful leader was a follower. That is the tightrope for any Christian leader, we have to lead, but at the same time, be aware that more than a leader we are to be a follower. Every Christian is called, as Jesus called His disciples to ‘Follow Me’, to be a person who submits themselves to the leadership of God. God then places you in a position of ministry somewhere in someway within the Kingdom, not necessarily where you choose or what you want to do, but where God desires to use the gifting and skills that He has placed within you.

The church has struggled with the issue from the beginning. Men wanting to insert their own leadership, as if they were actually in charge. The early church struggled with those who wanted to change the way people were saved, “they must be circumcised”. What did the church do?  They sought the leadership of the Holy Spirit. James concludes the matter by saying…

Acts 15
²⁸ For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things

Good to the Holy Spirit… and to us. God first, His leadership determining the theology for the church.

Paul was a powerful and strong leader of the early church. He set out on missionary journeys, faced death, confronted demons, healed the sick… and yet he was submissive to and sensitive to the direction God was giving him…

Acts 16
⁶ Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. ⁷ After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. ⁸ So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. ⁹ And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Notice that Paul tried to do what he wanted to do.  He wanted to go Bithynia, but God said “no”.  Could Paul have just gone anyway, I’m sure he could have. Would he have had the full power and blessing of God that he had enjoyed to this point, no. 

Church leaders come in many shapes and emerge at different times. The pastor, the deacon, the teacher, the committee chairperson are all recognized leaders with positions.  Yet, the Christian who does not hold a position within the church, but has a spiritual influence on their co-workers or neighbors or family members, is still a spiritual leader to the people they influence. The Christian who no one may know by name, is quiet in their mannerisms, yet has held a running conversation with the little lady at the pharmacy counter about Christ… they are a spiritual leader to that person.

Look at some examples…

* God uses Ananias to lead Paul- he prays for him, and Paul receives his sight again. Who was Ananias?  Who knows? But I am sure that Paul remembers his influence fondly. (Acts 9) That is spiritual leadership.

* God uses a young woman to teach his disciples about love- she pours an expensive bottle of perfume and Jesus says that what she did will be remembered forever. By example she leads the disciples, the “leaders” of the early church, to understand devotion and love. That is spiritual leadership.

* God used a prostitute to help Israel achieve military victory- Rahab gives aid to the spies of Israel and ultimately is remembered as a person of great faith. (Joshua 2, Hebrews 11)  That is spiritual leadership.

The idea that only the positional leaders within the church are leaders, the corporate model of looking at the church, has weakened the church as a whole. When only a handful of people are capable, gifted and responsible, then the body as a whole suffers.  Going back to our football analogy, what would happen if the rest of the team stopped playing to watch the quarterback play?  First, the defense, the “enemy” would eat him up. Secondly, who would he have to help him?  Who would block for him? Who would catch his beautiful spirals?  Result=defeat.

The same is true for the church. If we do not each take personal responsibility for being the leader God has designed us to be, then the whole church suffers. Your spiritual leadership, whether it is within the church or at your workplace, is crucial for the body of Christ to be effective. I have come to believe that it is one of the key reasons our churches have become less effective at reaching our communities and our world. 

We are fast to allow others to be responsible for doing all things to lead the church. The pastor is charged with equipping the body for ministry and shepherding the flock, but he is not the only spiritual leader. If the church sits back and says “let the pastor do it”, the body suffers, because we, as a group, have stopped following Christ and lean on one person to do the job of many. On the flip side, if the pastor stops equipping the body and tries to do all the leadership, then he stops leading people to follow Christ and calls them to follow him, and the body as a whole suffers.

If we are going to reverse many of the negative trends the church is facing, it will not come simply because we put together another program. The church has to use all of its’ people, and each Christian has to realize that they are a leader, feel the calling God has given them to be a leader in some place, in some way.

Everything does rise and fall on leadership, but it is not us looking to someone else to lead so we can sit back. It is each of us rising to the role of leadership that God has called us to so that the effectiveness of the Kingdom does not fall. Each person is important to the work of the Kingdom, and God intends to use each person to accomplish His work by following His leadership.

So what place of leadership, what role of leadership, what position of influence has God called you to… to be the Kingdom leader He desires you to be?

Have we confused preferences with righteousness?

My rights. My choices. My vote. My voice. My opinion.

Do these things sound familiar in our culture?  We have groups in our cutlure who are screaming for their voice and views to be heard. We have gay rights, womens rights and labor unions promoting worker rights. We have disenfranchised voters, minority groups, and political parties. We have a media that is run on polls, a web full of blogs promoting personal views and preferences. Expressnig our opionion, no matter how ridiculous or off beat it may be,  has become a personal cross for many people.

Do we also see these same concepts at work in the church?  You don’t have to be around the church long  before you see the same things taking place. Preference seems to be the order of the day within the workings of the church, just like you see in our society.  Ask any worship leader, do people have musical preferences? He will laugh…or cry, but he will affirm that church people have preferences.  Ask any church treasurer, do people have preferences on how the church money is spent?  He might have a panic attack, but he will affirm that church people have preferences.  Ask any pastor who is trying to do something new in a church, do church people have preferences?  He might ball up in the fetal position, but he will affirm that church people have preferences.

So, what’s the big deal? Everyone has preferences, right?

The big deal is that in the church we often confuse our preferences with righteousness. Our preferences have become our standard. The only one who’s preferences are perfect and right is God… and none of us are Him. Let’s take a look at these two concepts.

Preference-

The selecting of someone or something over another or others.

The right or chance to so choose or make personal choices

Righteousness-

holy and upright living, in accordance with God’s standard. The word “righteousness” comes from a root word that means “straightness.” It refers to a state that conforms to an authoritative standard. Righteousness is a moral concept. God’s character is the definition and source of all righteousness (Gen. 18:25; Deut. 32:4; Rom. 9:14). Therefore, the righteousness of human beings is defined in terms of God’s standards. Youngblood, R. F., Bruce, F. F., Harrison, R. K., & Thomas Nelson Publishers. (1995). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible dictionary. Rev. ed. of: Nelson’s illustrated Bible dictionary.; Includes index. Nashville: T. Nelson.

Now, let’s ask again, what is the big deal about preferences? The problem comes when we confuse our personal choices with the morality of God’s perfect character. In other words, “I like” equals “God likes”.  We might say it another way, if I don’t like a certain style, a certain song, a certain way of doing things… then obviously God does not like it either. Worse yet, sometimes people don’t even take into account whether or not God likes it, the only things we care about is that I like or don’t like it.

Some may still be asking, what’s wrong with that?

Let’s take some time to look forward, to the day that we will all face our Lord. Now imagine yourself bowing before Jesus and breaking out into song (with all respect to Frank Sinatra)….

And now, the end is here
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain
I’ve lived a life that’s full
I traveled each and ev’ry highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Regrets, I’ve had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way

I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried
I’ve had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way,
“Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my way”

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows and did it my way!

Now imagine Jesus’ reaction to you… does He applaud?…does He laugh?….does He have a quizzical look on His face? or is He saddened by your thought that doing it your way was so important to you?

When Jesus walked the earth, He made it clear that what He did, what He spoke and the plan that He was fulfilling was not a matter of choice, but a matter of following the Father’s direction. Listen to these words…

John 8   ²⁸ Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. ²⁹ And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” ³⁰ As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.

Simply put, you cannot always do the things that please God, as Jesus did,  and choose all of your preferences at the same time.  Something has to give. Someone has to back off of their “side”. Unfortunately the same thing that is said of God is often said of us- “with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” (James 1:17)  God does not change, in character, in love, in righteousness. Some of us are the same, we never adjust to follow God, we just have our ways and our opinions and that is just the way it is.

When we refuse to bend to God’s rightousness and yet still want to feel right with God, we are left with only one choice– To create God in our own image.  We don’t want to change to be like God, so we change God to be like us. As we mentioned before, God likes what I like, thinks like I think, hates what I hate, tolerates what I tolerate, excuses what I excuse and is happy about what I am happy about…. all the time.

Let’s bring this down to a practical level…

1) In worship…. if we emphasize our preferences:  fight to have the kind of music we like, refuse to sing a song because we don’t like the tune, only give an offering when we feel like it in the amount we want to give, criticize those who don’t dress like we think they should, complain when the service “runs over”…. when we fight to get it our way, who is the worship service really about?  That would be us. When we exercise and enforce our preferences, it stops being about God and starts being about us. Last time I checked God still had the idea that He, and He alone, was worthy of worship and that worship, imagine this, is supposed to be to Him, for Him and about Him.

I was reminded of something this week, which caused me to rewrite this part of the blog. Check out Hebrews 10:19-25. It spells out the priorities that God has set for worship…

* Enter into God’s presence… on His terms, through the person of Jesus Christ

* Draw near to God… not through your presence in church, but through faith. I don’t draw near to God by following man made rules or preferences, but by humbly approaching God in reverence and awe.

* Have your heart clean…you can’t worship on your terms with your sin filling you, be forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ

* Believe… worship is loving God, trusting that He really is as awesome, wonderful, powerful and merciful as He says He is. Faith is not having my wishes fulfilled, it is humbling believing that God has the right to have His way.

* Stir up one another for good works… Here is the killer- if we are enforcing our personal preferences on everyone else, are we really considering anyone besides ourselves?  Are we stirring anyone up to love God more and serve Him more willingly?  No. In fact, whether we realize it or not, our constant complaint and unhappiness because we are not getting our way often makes those around us spiritually miserable and emotionally drained.

* Keep at it…don’t forsake gathering together, even if there is something there you don’t like. Can you imagine what would happen if God took that attitude?  What if God decided not to show up because we were doing something He did not like…let’s ask a simple question, if you are not invited to the party, do you show up?  If worship is about you, God is not invited and He does not share top billing with anyone…

2) Serving God

We are called to serve God “acceptably” (Heb 12:28). If there is an acceptable way to serve God, who gets to set the standards for service? Does the servant tell the Master how he is going to serve?  Does the employee tell the boss what he will and will not do?  Can you imagine walking into your bosses office and telling them, “I know you want me to do this project this way, but I have decided that I am going to do it this way”.  You might be employed at the end of the day, but just barely.

God can call us to do anything He wishes. Anything. Henry Blackaby in Experiencing God says, that when you call Jesus Lord, you give Him the right to your life anytime He wishes.  Somewhere along the way, we have come to believe that serving God is for our pleasure and at our pleasure, God should be happy to accept whatever I decide to give Him… and I will be righteous for it. Friends, we can’t do what we want and then demand that God bless us and give us good standing with Him.

So what is the proper place for our preferences?

First of all, they are subject to God’s commands and character. I can’t say, “well I am just that way”, and expect God to be happy. He calls us all to change and adjust ourselves to His ways and His heart. A preference does not override a command. The problem is we are very aware of our preferences, but often unaware of God’s commands.

Secondly, realize that preferences work within the framework of God’s commands and character. God created each of us as individuals, as such no two of us are completely alike.  God makes it that way and likes it that way. But He expects you to use your individuality to serve Him, not use our individuality to enforce our individuality.

Thirdly, preferences are meant to work with God and with others. We have taken preferences to new heights in importance, seeking to place them above others and God. God has designed the body to work with each other and compliment each other. If your perference is hindering the work of the body, then it is not a matter of everyone changing to adjust to you, but you suppressing your preference for the greater good.

Lord, you have made us all individuals, and we are greater that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. But we confess we have taken our individuality too far, and forsake many of your commands and sacrificed your body, your church, in our pursuit of our own preferences. Forgive us where we have lacked obedience to your ways, where we have confused our preferences with your righteousness. Bless your work within us Lord and help us to be more and more aware of how you wish us to live.