Of Course We're Leaders; We're Men

We're men. We're leaders, right? Of course we're leaders. We're men.

I thought I'd start this post with a little poetry. What'd you think?

Me and the guys I've hung out with throughout my life have had numerous conversations on the topic of leadership. Discussing Paul and Titus prompted another pretty good discussion on the topic. There was Titus, having been sent by Paul, to do what Paul had done in other places.

So, am I really a leader? This is one of those questions that's easy to gloss over making huge assumptions while we move on to the 9th tee box. Okay guys, let's slow down for a minute or two.

Probably the most common answer I give to other guys as well as hear from them is, "Of course I'm a leader. I lead at home." Or, "Obviously, I'm a pastor." Really? Is it obvious?

Here's a better evaluative leadership question that God laid on me. Who's voluntarily doing what I am doing the way I'm doing it primarily because I do it that way?

I'm not talking about creating clones of myself or molding people into anyone's image other than Jesus. This is way simpler than that. I just know there are a number of characteristics in my life that the reason I do them the way I do them is because other men, Jesus-following guys, whom I respect, do them that way. I have put my own spin on these characteristics. But I do them because I've seen these guys do them and I wanted to build these characteristics into my life.

So, am I leading at home? Up until recently I was big enough to make my kids do what I wanted them to do. Now, not so much. They could hurt me, bad (even my daughter). I do have other motivators, but they're at the age when things go much better when they act voluntarily.

Anyway, back to the question at hand. They mow the way I mow. They drive the way I drive. They use a lot of the same words and gestures I use. And, if there's ever a good reason to temper the salty language that's it, isn't it?

But what about the really important stuff? Do they have quiet times the way I do it? Do they worship the way I worship? Do they walk with Jesus the way I walk with him? Do they treat their mother the way I treat her? Do my sons treat their girlfriends and sister the way I treat their mother? It doesn't take long to evaluate my kids' behavior to determine what kind of leader I am at home.

Are we leaders at church? Of course we are. We're all pastors, elders, group leaders, and ministry leaders. We have titles. And, we're men. So, what does having a title have to do with real leadership? There are lots of men who have titles and don't lead. There are lots of men (and women) who don't have titles and are amazing leaders.

At church, who is voluntarily doing what I do the way I do it primarily because I do it that way? Hmmmm. This won't take too long.

Maybe I should stop assuming that just because I'm a man, I have a family, I go to a church and have a title that I'm a leader. Maybe I need to honestly evaluate my life to determine if I exhibit any characteristics that any other guy would want to emulate in his own life?

I'm involved in a lot of stuff. My time gets gobbled up quickly. What environments am I in where I can pass on these characteristics? It's one thing to do good things and do them well. It's another thing to intend to pass them on to other guys.

I think every one of us wants to lead. I know we want to be seen as leaders. But no one will see us as a leader, and they certainly won't follow, unless we take a good look at ourselves first and figure out what these people see when they look at us.

So, men...are you a leader?

When Did We Start Saying 'No'?

What if we just said, 'no'? What if we all got together, collectively, and politely, but firmly told God, 'No, we aren't going to participate in your program anymore."

Beyond the extreme stupidity and foolishness, for arguement's sake, what if?

Would the Church stop growing and die? Would there be no conversions? Would church buildings built for thousands echo through the rafters as only hundreds sang? Would church buildings be sold so other businesses could occupy them like bars and such?

I would think the church would resemble a social club with noble social causes. A certain status would be attached to membership in that case. Appearances would be most important.

Of course, all the above is true and happening throughout the world to many churches. They are dying on the vine. It's not just limited to mainlines but it seems this is where it is happening most. And the church in Europe, where Western Christianity has it roots is fading fast.

These are churches. But, what about the Church? In Matthew 16:18 Jesus looked at Peter and said that he was going to build his Church and not even the gates of Hell would stop it. Yet, a large number of churches have been stopped.

If there's one message that comes from Genesis it's this, God program cannot be stopped. How many times did Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and the boys mess up astronomically? Yet, God always gave them the opportunity and eventually they returned.

And, while they were gone, it didn't mess God up or his program. The only lives and programs they managed to mess up, and they messed them up royally, were their own.

God's grace always allows us to return. We return on our knees. He welcomes us and restores us. What's most amazing to me is the blessings are restored, too. When we walk with God and live our lives in close fellowship the blessings of peace, contentment, fulfillment and assurance are rich and strong.

God richly rewards those who walk with him and serve faithfully. Why would we say, 'no'?

Well, what do you think? Why do we say 'no'? Churches are drying up. Too many American churches are dying. Auditoriums built for thousands now echo with the voices of hundreds. There are few conversions. The number of Americans who claim to be atheist or agnostic has quadrupled since 1990. On an average weekend in 2005 only 17% of Americans attended a Christian church service. That's down 20% since 1990. When young people are asked of their impression about Christianity and Christians the ratio of negative to positive impressions is more than 2:1.

So, when did we start saying 'no'?

I doubt anyone I know personally is foolish enough to look straight at God and voice their opposition. At the same time, I think I know a lot of people who, through their actions, passively, vote 'no'. And, I would begin with myself when I choose to pursue my own way. God, don't bother me right now I want a little 'me' time.

Titus 1 has words like bondslave, entrusted, command, grace and peace.

When God welcomes us back and restores us he re-commissions us. The closer I walk with him the greater blessing I receive. And, he'll take me where I can perform the tasks he commanded me to do. When I walk away on my own, I have this dilusion that I can find greater blessings. The only life I mess up is my own.

I see over and over, in the OT and NT, God is collecting for himself a group of people. He's using people to do the work on his behalf. Those who do the work are blessed beyond measure. He is going to succeed. Why do we say 'no'?

So the real question is, am I going participate or am I in pursuit of a little 'me' time?

I Come Bearing Fruit

I have great friends. I have a neighbor who has a small garden in his backyard. I have another neighbor who rents garden space down by the river. They regularly drop off bags of whatever has ripened on their vines. I have another friend who occasionally drops off bags of whatever he just got done picking himself and loves to share with my family.

I also have a great wife. And can she ever cook! This time of year casseroles and cobblers filled with these fresh gifts from our friends are almost always in her oven . It's a wonder I'm not huge. My gym membership is a small price to pay to be able to enjoy the fruit from my friends' gardens and the talent of my wife's cooking. My stomach is never empty. It's always filled with good stuff! I think I have the gift of eating.

I have another friend who brings me fruit, too. I have bags and baskets full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Like so many, I have prayed for patience many times. What I've come to realize is I already have all the patience I need. Too often, I just leave it in the bag it came in and don't make use of the Holy Spirit's generosity. I have a full bag of patience on the counter and I'm still trying to manage my life on my own.

I have all that I need to live a full life. I just don't take it out of the bag and use it. So, I bring way too much frustration into my own life.

I have enough love for everyone. It's because it's God's love he has given me to share. Yet, I try performing on my own and wonder why people respond to me the way they do.

I have enough self-control for everything I encounter. So, why do I lose it so often? It's because I've left it in the bag.

I have enough peace for whatever life throws at me. So, why am I so stressed at night I can't sleep well? Exactly.

Joy? Again! Kindness? Yes! Goodness? Hello! And, so on.

The cobblers that could be made with the fruit God has given me could satisfy a lot of people. And, if we all, as Christ-followers made full use of the basketfuls that God has given all of us the world would be a different place. Too much of it sits unused in the bag it was delievered in.

If I may be honest, sometimes the Holy Spirit scares me. I don't understand him. I can't wrap my arms or my mind around him. I hear him and I feel him, but on his terms, not mine. That scares me.

The result of all this? I'm afraid to get too close to God because he might ask me to do something that will require more than I can muster. I'll have to use what he's given me. And, I'll have to use it the way he wants it used. It's embarrassing to not have control; humiliating. Submitting to another and admitting subserviance empties me of all my pride and fills me with....Oh wait. Again, isn't that the idea?

I have all that I need to live a full life. In order to be full, my life has to be emptied of my pride. I'm emptied when I have to submit and be subserviant.

When I willingly submit myself (bondslave) to God and perform what he has commanded me to perform applying the gifts he has given me, my life will reach the ultimate in fulfillment.

Hmmm. The way to be full begins with being empty. I'm hungry.

Extraordinarily Inadequate

When it comes to fixing things I'm worthless. Me and tools just don't get along. I've had my van break down in the middle of the night on a highway in the middle of nowhere with my young children fast asleep in the back. That's humiliating. I was at a loss. I didn't have a clue.

We were out with friends when they received a call from one of their daughters. Their 17-year old had a pet rabbit. She loved that rabbit. But something tragic had happened that night and the rabbit was dead and the 17-year old was sobbing.

As it turns out, their 8-year old had a friend over that evening and they were playing with the rabbit even though they had been told to leave it in its cage. The rabbit scratched the young friend and we're not exactly sure what happened next but the rabbit ended up not alive.

So, when my friends arrived home, their 17-year old was sobbing with grief, their 8-year old was sobbing with guilt, and their other daughters were sobbing sympathetically. The young friend was nowhere in sight, he had run home. How do you parent through that? I looked into the teary eyes of my friend, their dad, and the look he had in his eyes was one of total inadequacey.

Commanded by God to be a good father. Entrusted by God with a family. Like Joseph, given a vision of grown children who love the Lord and are serving him as adults. Yet, currently, completely inadequate for the task at hand.

God, help. I surrender. I can't do this.

Isn't that the point. Life takes us beyond our adequacies. Either we fake it or we admit it and cry for help. God speaks. He speaks through his word. He uses other believers to speak into our lives. He speaks directly. We learn and then are sent to the lab to apply it.

Faith is walking ahead as if I really believe I know what I'm doing. I'm not faking it. I trust God will give me the next word I need to say, the next step I need to take, the next question I need to ask or the next answer I need to give.

I am extraordinarily inadequate. God is extraordinary. I better stay close.

Snagged

A few years ago I stumbled across Joel 2:13-14. There I was, minding my own business, skimming a stone across the water of my bible. I really wasn't looking to go deep. It was just your basic, half-hearted attempt at a quiet time. I hadn't been in the OT for a while. So, I thought I'd do God the favor of a quick read through the minor prophets.

Snag. I wasn't going anywhere else anytime soon. We have rose bushes in our front yard. I'm terrible with roses. They require way too much attention. But a couple of times a year I get out and prune off the old buds. That should be done about weekly. Anyway, as I wade into the overgrown bushes it's inevitable; I end up giving about a pint of blood. When your skin gets snagged by a thorn you stop immediately. It gets your undivided attention. When I read these verses I had to stop and unsnag my heart. God had my attention.

"Change your heart, not your clothes." I am a professional clothes-changer. Don't try this at home. I've been around the church block a number of times and I know how to give the appearance of a spiritual life. And, if I do say so myself, I think I'm pretty good at it. Of all the things to be good at, right?

Then, from time to time my heart gets snagged on a thorn. God gets my attention. I thought I had been doing such a good job of covering up what my heart was really about. No one else knew. Why did God have to make such a big deal out of it?

He did it because he loves me. I don't realize the harm I'm doing to myself. He does. So he strategically places thorns in places I'm walking. God loves me so much that he won't let me self-destruct without a fight.

God gets my attention. And Jesus puts on his servant's clothes and dresses my wound so that it heals. Jesus makes me whole again.

I hate verses like this. I love verses like. this. Who knows, he may have pity on me and leave behind a blessing. I can only hope.

Can God Trust Me?

I am entrusting 2 of my kids to colleges. I have expectations of my children and of the schools. If I were to entrust you with my car I would expect you to use it for what it is intended and take better care of it then you do your own.

God entrusted Paul with preaching to reveal his Word in an appointed time. God certainly has expectations of his Word. And, he has clearly expressed expectations of Paul, too.

What about me? According to Acts 1:8 I have been given power for the purpose of being a witness of the Word. Understanding that the Word involves Jesus himself (John 1:1), creation through Armageddon and beyond, the written word, spoken word directly from the Holy Spirit, the life-changing message of the gospel, salvation and every essence of a personal relationship with God. The Word works. It gives life. Do I?

One of us (Jerry) offered the idea that the future of the church is dependent on us. True. Now, let's not overreact here. God does not need us. He could say the "Word" and the work would be done. But he chooses to use us to accomplish is plan. Thus, he has entrusted to us the work of spreading the Word.

There's a lot of this that I just didn't ask for. I didn't ask for the responsibility it was given to me. But, I didn't know to ask for all the benefits of the blessing, either. They were just given to me. How can accept the blessing and not the responsibility? It seems way too easy. I guess that's grace.

I am supposed to be a conduit for all of this. Psalm 67 says, basically, may God bless me so that the whole world knows and they will praise him, too. I am a conduit for the Word and the blessings that go with him. How am I doing? I appreciate my mom and my friends falling all over themselves to assure me I'm doing great (I'm sure they are right now as they read this!) But, what about those who aren't so close? Are they blessed with Life because I am a conduit for the Word?

I suppose what's true for me is also for most all of you reading this. As a body, we'll all demonstrate the Word to people in different ways. Some will speak it. Some will show it. Some will serve it with a lasagna or a freshly cut lawn.

At one point God seemed to think I was trustworthy. It seems he still does. I probably question myself more he does.

Can God trust you?

Where Are My Fog Lights?

The most important promise I've ever made is "to love, honor, and lead; for better or for worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part." Most of the time this is an easy promise for me to keep. Sometimes, however.... And, those times that I just don't feel like it, well, too bad for me. It's not that I can't. It might get hard from time to time. But, I can keep that promise.

God has made a much bigger, more imporant promise to me than I have ever made to anyone else. Any doubts I have about this promise are not because I don't know if he's strong enough. My doubts are based on my inability to figure it out. I don't know what he'll do. I don't know how he'll do it. I don't know if it will really turn out for my best in the long run. So, just in case, I ought to figure something out on my own. You can guess how that turns out.

God has promised me an abundant life for eternity. It's a life of peace, contentment, and joy. These are given in a quantity that far exceed minimal basics, it's abundant. And, all this was given to me the moment I believed. This life is not held aside until I die. I live now. So, why don't I always feel like I have this abundant life? I'm lost in a fog. If it's really here, why can't I see it?

My knowledge needs to grow. Not my knowledge of what, how or how it will turn out; but my knowledge of God needs to grow. I'm missing out on "life" not because God didn't deliver it, but because something is lacking in me. I am my own fog machine. God promised it. He delievered it. It's right here.

It makes sense, if my knowledge of God grows I see more clearly. So, all the time I'm producing my own blinding fog, at the same time I'm trying to find the switch to turn on my fog lights. Why don't I just hang close to God do what He is leading me to do and let the fog clear up?

Oh to live a life where fog lights are unnecessary!

Timing and Fundamentals

Timing and fundamentals are everything. In order to get my golfball to fly as far as I want it to fly and in the direction I intend for it to go I have to apply correct fundamentals and their application has to occur at exactly right time. Therefore, my golfball rarely ends up on the green. Either my fundamentals are flawed or my timing is off. I am absolutely amazed how often I can stand facing the direction I had wanted my golfball to go, staring at the target I intended to land near and be unable to locate any relationship between my intentions, my ball and the target.

I have noble intentions for my life. I have a book of fundamentals and good examples of their application all around me. And, God's timing is perfect. And, yet, how often do I stand staring into space at where I had hoped to end up groping around for any relationship between my intentions, my actions and God's timing. God's word in inerrant. God's timing is perfect. Therefore, we know where the problem lies. Here's hoping I'm not in an unplayable lie.

Before he created the universe, God planned out every detail for all time. Think about that for just a second. Every little thing, and big thing, that happened in your life (and everyone else's) today was put on the agenda for today some time back before God spoke and created light. Sometimes we get behind schedule early in a meeting and that pushes everything on the agenda back. Imagine if God didn't get around to starting a meeting with Adam quite on time and everything after that was pushed back. You think you get upset now when God seems to show up late. But he doesn't. He never does. He's never early, either. Everything plays out when it was planned to play out.

His timing is perfect. He reveals his word to me at exactly the right time. Jesus is the word. Jesus spoke the word. The Holy Spirit speaks the word. I get exactly what I need from God exactly as I need it. All I have to do is apply it.

My fundamentals are flawed. That's why we have a book like Titus. Paul wrote it so our faith, knowledge and godly behavior would grow. As I study this, I hope my life flies straighter and farther than my golfball.

So, how's your ball flight?