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Tempted to Use Political Power

March 15, 2018 /

castle kingdom

As Christians, there is one group of people found in the Bible we like to pick on more than any other. They are the quintessential picture of blind ignorance leading to destruction. Or at least that is how we preachers like to talk about them. Despite their glaring failures, many of the Pharisees and other religious leaders had a noble purpose for their fanatical insistence upon keeping all of the rules and a few extras too. They desired the nation to turn back to God. There were seeking the holiness of God’s people and the restoration of the nation to better times. But their impassioned commitment to righteousness would cause them to be tempted make a most unholy alliance.

In Matthew 4, Jesus is taken by Satan high up on a mountain and shown “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor” (vs. 8). The vision of the kingdoms came with an offer. If Jesus would simply bow down to Satan and worship him, then all these kingdoms and their splendor could be his. Of course, for Jesus to accept this offer would be to try and achieve God’s purposes and plans for the world through a means other than God intended.

For us today, this second testing of Jesus strikes at the heart of any attempt we might make to use the power of the kingdoms of this world to achieve the ends of the Kingdom of God. The kingdoms of this world, yes even our great country, are inherently selfish and focused on their own self-preservation through the accumulation of power, prestige, and splendor.

The Pharisees, in their zeal for God, would attempt to harness the power of Rome to purge the nation of Jesus and his followers. It would be a confederation doomed from the very beginning. But before, we are too hard on them, we must ask ourselves, how often have we failed to learn the lesson of Jesus’ testing and the Pharisees’ failure? How often have we looked to kingdoms of this world to be our savior rather than God alone? Maybe we are not so different after all.

Blessings,
Stephen

Destruction’s Trilogy

September 23, 2014 /

Dear Friends,

Each year I put on a suit and join together with other pastors from my church’s district to participate in a ritual that has gone on for centuries. The ritual of ordination. Each year I listen to a sermon from our General Superintendent charging the newly ordained to the task before them, and reminding each of us who have sat in their place to the enormity of the call we have accepted.

In Joshua 1:6-9, Joshua is receiving his ordination challenge from God. As Joshua takes on the mantel of leadership from Moses three times God says to him to “be strong and courageous.” The first time Joshua is exhorted because the task he is about to embark on is one that is not his own. It is God’s task and plan. Therefore it is God who will see it through to completion.

A second time God says to Joshua “be strong and courageous.” This time with the added words, “Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go” (vs. 7).

Money and GlobeWhy would God bring up lifestyle, the rules, and following the law when Joshua is on the verge of his greatest moment? I believe for three reasons: Money, sex, and power. In nearly every instance of a leader’s failure one or a combination of these three is at its root.

As successes began to occur under him, Joshua would stumble. He let the power he was experiencing go to his head and failed to consult with God. (Joshua 9)

David, King of Israel, would be enticed by the site of another man’s wife. It would cost the man and a child their lives and David’s kingdom would forever be divided. (2 Samuel 11-12)

Hezekiah would show envoys from Babylon all of the treasures in his palace. He was so proud of his wealth he failed to see the destruction his arrogance would bring. (Isaiah 39)

These are only a few examples out of the Bible. Many more could be collected together from the beginnings of history right up to the headlines in today’s news.

What about each of us who lead? None of us are immune to the temptations which come to us from the trio of money, sex, and power. Are we “careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go” or are we leaving ourselves exposed to destruction?

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

Dying on Field

May 27, 2014 /

Dear Friends,

Last week I opened the topic of our citizenship as people of God’s Kingdom. Today I continue these thoughts.

Missionary Graves

Wesleyan Missionary Graveyard in Sierra Leone

Missions has change a lot in the past hundred plus years. There was a time when missionaries boarded ships to head to distant lands knowing they would probably never return to the land of their birth. The symbol of this commitment was what they choose to pack their stuff in. Not a suit case or steamer trunk but a coffin. The pioneers walked away from the privilege and position of their home countries to unite with peoples across the oceans. This is the kind of commitment Paul is speaking of the profound mystery of Christ and the church (read last week’s Milk Can).

Today it is rare for a missionary to die “on field.” Terms and length of commitments have gotten shorter and shorter. Missionaries enjoy phone calls, e-mail, and even the ability to Skype with family. Today one can be a missionary without ever leaving and cleaving to a new people. While this has opened missionary work to many who would never have gone, it can dilute the true depth of Christ’s call onto the life of everyone who calls themselves a Christian. As the German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer says in his book The Cost of Discipleship, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

One does not have to go to foreign lands to follow Christ. For many, a generation ago, the call to leave and cleave meant joining those in the Civil Rights Movement. They marched alongside their African American neighbors and boarded Freedom Buses to lay down their lives to battle injustice.

Today many are being called to identify with and carry the burden of the immigrant in our own nation. Simultaneously giving up and using their position, power and prestige to care for their neighbor. More on the work of our own denomination can be found here: http://www.wesleyan.org/1045/faq-on-immigrants-and-immigration-questions-and-answers

Bonhoeffer would also say being a Christian is about “. . . courageously and actively doing God’s will.” Many times I have prayed those words at the end of The Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” What if God intends to answer that prayer through you and I? What is God’s will courageously and actively calling you to?

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

In Only 4 Months

May 16, 2014 /

Dear Friends,

Nearly every day I pass a storefront sign that reads, “College graduate to store manager in 4 months.” Two thoughts come to mind when I read the sign. “I don’t want to work for that manager.” and “leadershipThe manager of that store must not have any real responsibility if the job can be learned in four months.” However, as I think about it more and more, truth be told, most of our jobs, even mine (but don’t tell anyone) can be learned in four months. The
technical or hard skills of being a leader are not terribly complex. Even so, it does not stop book after book after book being written about them. It doesn’t prevent unending conferences from being hosted.

This is the stuff that excites. The authors and conferences all feed our insatiable desire to find the magic formula to building bigger organizations, larger churches, amassing wealth, influence, position, power, and prestige. The stuff ever leader craves . . .

So a vacuum is left in another area of leadership. One no one wants delve into: The area of the leader’s soul. For those who call themselves “Christian” and use the title “leader” the challenge of the soul is particularly demanding. For it is a call to do more than sacrifice, more than be a servant, it is a call to die.

David McKenna in his book Christ-Centered Leadership: The Incarnational Difference writes of the difference for a Christian leader:

Leadership automatically involves the advantage of position, power, and prestige . . . There is nothing wrong with position, power or prestige in leadership. These are resources needed to fulfill the responsibilities of leadership. If, however, these advantages become vehicles of self-interest or substitutes for character, they can be demonic. Leaders of integrity hold them lightly and use them wisely.
Incarnational leadership asks us to go farther. Imagine seeing a job description for Christian leadership with this expectation: We are seeking a leader with the mind of Christ who has a transforming influence upon followers by being:
. . . vulnerable to human need at the risk of being called weak;
. . . obedient to the will of God at the risk of being called foolish, and;
. . . humble in spirit at the risk of being held in contempt. (45)

For the Christian leader it is a daily struggle to die to the siren songs of position, power, and prestige and to instead ask if I am following the call of Christ. “Once again, the mind of Christ is taking us where we do not want to go. How many Christian leaders are willing to make sacrifices for the sake of Christ as the risk of being considered weak, called crazy, and treated with contempt?” (46)

Jesus was called a drunkard and gluten. John Wesley was scorned and rejected by the church he loved. Billy Graham was ridiculed by the Christian church for much of his career. We look at these men who changed the world and see the end of their life. We fail to see the years of darkness and rejection that defined the majority of their lives. All because of a decision to follow the call of God.

Why do we as leaders, in this modern age, think we somehow get a pass?

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

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Sacrificial Leadership

April 29, 2014 /

Dear Friends,

If there is one book on leadership I could buy for everyone who has the audacity to call themselves a Christian leader is it David McKenna’s Christ-Centered Leadership: The Incarnational Difference.

I first heard of this book, oddly enough, from a tweet by our denominations lead pastor Jo Anne Lyon. I have learned whenever she recommends a book I go out and buy it immediately and read it. Not because she is the boss, but because of her wisdom.

McKenna paints a very different picture of leadership than many of the books we read from the business world. It is not that those books are wrong it is just that they stop short. Short of something that can only be true of one who is a Christian: The incarnation. “Servant leadership is the highest commendable option for the human mind, but sacrificial leadership is reserved for those who have the mind of Christ. The two are worlds apart. (pg. xii)

“Jesus defines Christian leadership:

Power–it has none
You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord is over them and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you.

Prestige–it is least
Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,

Position–it is last
And whoever wants to be first must be your slave,

Purpose–it is self-giving
Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,

Proof–it is sacrificial
And to give His life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:25-27)” (pgs. 4-5)

I have much to learn as a leader. It is a daily struggle to keep my own pride and selfishness from rearing its ugly head. When the inconveniences of leadership interfere with my plans the temptation is always there to choose myself. McKenna said on his eighty-fourth birthday he thought he was finally ready to lead. I doubt I will live long enough to say those words.

What are your thoughts? Is Christian leadership only reserved for those who have the title of “Pastor” or can it exist in today’s secular corporate world? Please post a comment.

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

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