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15-Nov-2010

Posted by : David

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Certain Men Came From MacArthur

Category : Leadership, christian culture, church

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Blame James?

In his letter to the Galatian churches (modern Turkey) Paul recounts how certain men came from James to the church in Antioch and led Peter and Barnabas astray (head leaders of the new Christian movement).  But was James the one to blame?

James was (sort of) the chairman of the elders at Jerusalem.  He wrote the letter that tells us that faith without works is dead.  Under his leadership some men got riled up about non-Jews and their obedience to Jewish rules.  Yet, these “certain men from James” misrepresented the Christian faith in spite of James, not because of him.

Under-Cutting Good

And this is often the case with strong leaders.  Their followers, enamored with their leader’s teaching, end up under-cutting the leader’s good intention.  They think their faith is based on Christ, but really they are not looking to the Bible, but what their teacher says, or what they think their teacher would say.

The Current Epidemic

And this is epidemic in the church today, especially among those who say their care most about the truth of Bible.

I have benefited greatly from the teaching of John MacArthur.  I listened to his radio program in college when I traveled 30 minutes to work.  His book, The Gospel According to Jesus, was very helpful to me.  But whenever I run into people who like MacArthur, I usually want to run the other way.  I have experienced many of them to be narrow, petty, and mean towards people who disagree with them.

But it’s not MacArthur’s fault.  This has been happening for centuries: “Each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:13).  Now men, thinking they follow Jesus, are functionally saying, “I follow MacArthur, I follow Piper, I follow Driscoll, I follow Bell, I follow Stanley, I follow Keller, etc..”

Pay the Price | Be Aware

This is one of the prices of leadership: even the people that love us most can do our teaching the most harm.  But leaders must be aware of this dynamic and, like Paul to the Corinthians, squash the factions that come from our influence.

Because in this world, even when we do good, evil is right there with us.

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16-Aug-2010

Posted by : David

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Projection

Category : Leadership

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Do you remember the old slide projectors? They basically have light that shines through a negative, that gets focused by a lens that projects onto a screen.

If you lead an organization or want to lead an organization you must not only be the lens. Because people will want to you to focus their picture of what the organization should look like. They have the light (their motivation) and the negative (their picture of what the organization should be), but the leader has to bring their picture into focus. But if you don’t bring their picture of the organization into focus, then great trouble ensues.

This has been happening in the church from the beginning. Many “insiders” in the new churches wanted people to believe in Jesus and also follow Jewish customs. But the Apostles went to great pains to squash this. Following Jesus didn’t mean trusting Christ and being Jewish. Following Jesus was trusting Christ, period.

Leaders are marked by God to give “the negative,” and the body of believers, with the leaders, act as the lens so the picture of God’s mission for the local church can be clearly seen. And the leaders must protect the local church from anyone changing “the negative.” If “the picture of what should be” is up for grabs then chaos and confusion reign.

This is not to say that changes can’t be made; if the picture is always blurry then the negative might be out of focus.  But if there is sharp focus at times, but not other times, then the processes and people needs to be refocused.  And a clear presentation from the local church is absolutely essential; because the two most precious things in all the world are at stake: the glory of God and eternal joy of humanity.

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11-Aug-2010

Posted by : David

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Why Men Stay Pastors

Category : Leadership, church

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Yesterday I wrote (somewhat cynically) about why men become pastors. Alot of us become pastors for less than holy reasons. But the main question pastors need to ask is, “Why should I stay a pastor?”

When you start dating someone usually you don’t say, “I really like her because of what I can be for her.” No, we usually like the qualities about the other person that directly benefit us.

But when you get married you are making a commitment to do what is best for your spouse, for the rest of your life. You are not making a commitment to “the marriage,” you are making a commitment to do good to the other person, “as long as you both shall live.”

This must be the approach of the pastor as well. Maybe we got into ministry because of what it could be for us. Eventually, though, we need to make a commitment to ministry because of what it is — a commitment to the good of the congregation no matter what.

Pastoring a local church is like a marriage. We aren’t joined with perfect people — and they don’t have a perfect pastor — but when we are committed to each other a great beauty unfolds.

Does this not reflect Jesus commitment to his bride? Jesus’ commitment to his church was costly.  Giving eternal life to all those who trust in Him required Jesus to lay down his own interests and to take up ours.  And Jesus still suffers today for the good of the world; now through his followers.  And Jesus is calling to his leaders to forsake cohabitation with the church — commitment as long as the church meets their needs — and move on to covenant — a commitment to do what is best for the church “as long as you both shall live.”

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19-Jul-2010

Posted by : David

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The Office

Category : Leadership

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When any elected president walks into the oval office for the first time, I am sure they are overjoyed, overwhelmed, and humbled.  They know what that office means.  The elected president is the most powerful individual on the planet.

The day before their inauguration they were just (in the eyes of the law) a citizen.  They couldn’t execute laws with any authority.  They first must step into an office, a position.

And who are the men and women we would want to entrust to that kind of power?  A person who knows that they are subject to the office, the office is not subject to them.  They would know that they have no right to make the presidency into their image, but have their will bent to the magnitude of the office.

This is true also for the office of pastor.  The pastor must live up to, become worthy of, the office, not the other way around.  The pastor must know that authority comes from his office, not his own person.

Some may object that no offices really exist in the Christian ministry.  These are cessationists of a different kind.  Certainly in the first century the office of apostle existed and Paul referred himself back to it constantly.  He tells Titus to appoint elders in the churches in Crete.  Is this to have ceased with the apostles?  Certainly apostles like Paul have ceased because they are no longer direct witnesses to the resurrection.  But the appointing of people into offices of the church still is extremely important.

Because the health of God’s people depends on the men who shepherd them.  And the church is crying out for men who mold themselves to the requirements of the office and not make the office bend to them.

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