Servanthood

I've never owned a computer or worked on a computer that would accept the word "servanthood" without underlining, highlighting it in order to let me know that the word was not recognized by the dictionary in the computer. Perhaps I've only had "unsaved" computers, which would explain a lot of things, or perhaps those who claim that all computers are evil are on to something.

I've added the word to the dictionary of every computer I've worked on. It seems that computers, just like me and probably you, have to be taught what servanthood is. It doesn't come naturally. But servanthood is the key to leading; it's the key to winning the lost; it's the key to making disciples; and I really believe it's the key to God's heart.

No one can get away from Christ's example of servanthood in John 13 or his statement recorded in two Gospels, Matthew 20 and Mark 10, "the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

I've come to the conclusion, from experience and observation, that of all the attributes studied and needed by leaders servanthood is overlooked.

I was directed by Ed Stetzer's facebook status to read Thom Rainer's blog on March 27, 2010. Rainer is the President & CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources. He is a prolific author and has had a great influence on my thinking, as has Stetzer.

Rainer was commenting on a book he had read about the automakers of Detroit and the mistakes they made. He made four observations about the heads of these companies. All four were noteworthy but the fourth one caught my attention. He said, "Leaders with hubris expected to be served. The CEO's of the big Three didn't get it."

To be honest, I had to look up the word "hubris." It means pride or presumption. Another definition offered referred to the word as a ancient Greek term used in modern English to indicate overweening pride, haughtiness or arrogance....."

Again, I will admit that I had to look up the word "overweening." Never used it before. Don't think I ever remember seeing it in print before either. But when I "googled" the word, I got the following: presumptuously arrogant or excessive." One entry for the word said, "getting a little uppity and needed to be slapped down." I wondered if the word "overweening" helped us coin the nickname "weenie" for some folks. Just wondering..........stay calm.

The picture of these leaders written about by Thom Rainer couldn't be further from the picture of true leadership painted for us by that great artist, Jesus Christ.

Later the same day I was blessed to spend time with two of my former students from our days of Master's Commission in Cedar Rapids. It was a lot of fun. They had just moved to a new place of ministry and were excitedly telling me about their new adventures.

I asked them what was different between the two places of ministry. Immediately both of them responded with the word "servanthood." The entire staff at the new place were servants. They all came up through the ranks of Master's Commissions or similar ministries as their place of training. Serving was a high priority for them.

When I asked them about the previous place of ministry, their comment was that the entire staff couldn't wait to "climb" high enough so they could be served. What they described about those folks was very similar to what Thom Rainer said in his four statement about the leaders of the Big Three Auto Makers.

Perhaps we need to our model. Instead of the corporate CEO's, perhaps be we need to model the CEO of the Universe.

And then after spending more time thinking about my conversation with former students and reading through Thom Rainer's blog, I wondered if the moral couldn't be summed as, "Don't be a weenie!"

Always in Pursuit!

A Principle from the Lord's Prayer

Yesterday I wrote about the principle of spending half of my preparation time on "self-leadership." I know this has challenged some thinking but to be very honest, I've found that it has been very helpful.

It has helped me grow emotionally as well as spiritually. And if I'm growing in those two arenas, it will help me socially as well. I also believe it has been beneficial to my physical well-being as well.

The second principle that I've been challenged by came out of reading some notes in one of my study Bibles on the Lord's Prayer.

The writer of this particular set of notes pointed out six "points" of the prayer. The first three points focused on the glory of God (Our Father in heaven; Hallowed be your name; and your kingdom come) then the second three focus on our personal needs (Give us today our daily bread; forgive us our debts; and lead us not into temptation).

The take away for me was similar to the principle of self-leadership. Just as half of my preparation time should be to make me better prepared, half of my prayer time should be spent on adoration, praise and worship of God.

Unfortunately, I can remember a lot of prayer times that were centered on me and what I needed. And there is a time and place for those prayers and we are encouraged by God to bring our needs to Him. (Part of that is confessing that He is our provider and we are dependent upon Him.)

As a pastor, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the needs of people and the church. These needs, just as our personal needs, can become overwhelming and all consuming to our prayer times. But the "model of all prayers" tells us that we should be spending half of our prayer time in praise, adoration and worship.

Doing this will make a difference in our lives. We will come out of our prayer times refreshed, encouraged and confident instead of fearful, doubtful and full of worry.

Take a week and give it a try. Be a little bit structured in your prayer times. Make sure you spend at least half of your time in adoration, praise and worship to our Heavenly Father. It will make a difference!

Always in Pursuit!

Self-Leadership

I've come across a couple of principles over the past few months that have changed some of my habits. (I know I still have some habits that need to be changed but at least I'm making some progess.) I want to write about one of these principles today and hopefully will write about the second one tomorrow.

I am praying as I write this that someone will be helped but I also know it's just a good reminder for me to write these words out and to take my own inventory on how I'm doing with this.

The principle came from an article by Bill Hybels that talked about the idea of "self-leadership." His proposition was that we need to spend about half our time in self-leadership if we are going to be effective in leading others.

This means half our reading (Scriptures and otherwise) and all the activities that we are part of need to be for the purpose of building ourselves up.

I know that sounds pretty selfish and to be honest, when I first read the article, I wasn't sure I was a fan of what was being said. But after some prayer and careful consideration of my own past and those around me, I was pretty much sold on the idea. The challenge as always, is to put it into practice. One thing I have learned over the past few months is that almost everything centers around leadership.

The thinking behind all of this is that if we don't take care of ourselves, we can't take care of anyone else. Most of us have experienced the pain of knowing that we were not able to take care of those we lead because we didn't have the time to get prepared. We have appointments and "to do" lists that seem to take on a life of their own and grow right before our eyes.

The lie that many of us have bought into is that some how, some way, we will find the time to do all that is needed to be done. And in addition, we will take care of ourselves so that we can continue to give to those we lead. But to be honest, I've seen the opposite happen more. Leaders give out and give out until they have nothing more to give thinking they are being noble and self-sacrificing and doing all that God expects of them. I've been there. I know what it is to have absolutely nothing to give to folks. But I also know what it is to be ready and healthy enough to do what is needed.

There will always be needs that we can give ourselves to. But in order for us to have something to give, we need to make sure that we have done all that we need to do in order to keep ourselves physically, emotionally and spiritually healthy.

Tomorrow I want to write about the second principle discovered and also to marry the two principles together. Hope you will take the time to read those words as well.

Always In Pursuit!

Swindoll's New Testament Insights--Insights on John published by Zondervan

I've never reviewed a commentary before and found it to be an interesting challenge. Of course it helps that Chuck Swindoll was the author. I've never read anything he has written that was not interesting and helpful.

There is so much usable information packed into this volume that it's not something you would want to be very far from during your preparation times for teaching/preaching. But, I also found it very interesting to just read in order to know God better.

I can hear some, who tend to be very scholarly in their approach, wonder just how scholarly this commentary is. Well, since I don't consider myself to be a "scholar" I don't know that I can address that.

For those who feel it essential for a New Testament commentary to contain linguistic helps, each new section Scripture starts off with a listing of "key terms" and spends a little time describing each of these terms from a linguistic point of view. I found those very helpful and noticed these words more so and gained a better understanding of what was being communicated through these terms.

Perhaps one of the most helpful sections are the "Application" sections of the book. Each "block" of Scripture dealt with in the commentary concludes with an Application section which helps bring all that was said into a proper context and brings a fresh understanding of what John might well have been trying to get across.

I would be less than observant if I did not point out to my friends who believe in the continuation of the gifts, that Swindoll does not. There are a few places where his cessationist point of view comes through but He always recognizes the sovereignty of God as well as His goodness, grace and mercy. For example, he does not deny that God is a healer but doesn't think the gift of healing is in operation.

But he may well have dealt with this area of disagreement in his statements regarding John 17:21-23 where he remarks about Christ's prayer for unity among His followers. In regards to unity he says, "Unity is not unanimity. Unanimity requires absolute agreement on every matter, including matter of conscience and matter of opinion. While we must agree on certain crucial matters of absolute truth, we have the freedom to disagree on many matters without having to forfeit love or acceptance. Thank goodness we don't have to agree on everything, or many of the great advances in Christian ministry would never have occurred."

Chuck Swindoll is my brother in Christ even though I've never met him. He has been a blessing to me and to the entire body of Christ. I have nothing but respect for him, his integrity in ministry and the gifts that are resident within him. As a matter of fact, he is a gift to the body of Christ.

I really enjoyed the book and will look forward to adding additional volumes of this series to my library in the days ahead.

It's not a difficult read and would make a great supplement too add to your daily Bible reading; preaching/teaching preparation and just for your own greater understanding and application of God's Word.

Review for "The Gathered AND Scattered Church" by Hugh Halter & Matt Smay, published by Zondervan

The Church in the book of Acts models many wonderful traits for us. They modeled being dependent upon the Holy Spirit AND still being committed to the mission of God.

The modeled worship, ministry (service) evangelism, fellowship and discipleship as well. It's interesting to note they never really focused on only one of these five things but they happened simultaneously as the Church in Acts came together and then went out from their times together.

We are told in Acts 2 that they "gathered" for teaching then "scattered" for ministry. The result of this was the Church was "added to daily." Then the Church began to "multiply." And at one point the word "myriad" is used to describe the number of believers. There was a point where the believers of the Church were described as people who were "turning the world upside down."

These things came about because the Church "gathered" then "scattered." Too often in our 21st century churches our focus in on only one of those things. We are very inward (consumerism) wanting what we want, how we want and when we want.....kind of reminds you of a fast food restaurant, doesn't it?

On the other hand, we can become so consumed with ministry outside the church that we neglect worship, fellowship, discipleship and ministry to one another.

Scattering became a natural response of being gathered. "Gathering AND Scattering" became one.

There is a great section in the book on how to lead a church out of consumerism to becoming a church of "salt & light" in a dark and flavorless world.

The authors made the statement, "Consumerism only exists when it is allowed to exist." This statement reminded me of Zig Ziglar's statement many years ago, "You deserve what you tolerate."

A consumer church can be changed; slowly perhaps but it can be changed. And I think this book will be a great tool to help you make those changes, not only in the church but in your own life.

Another outstanding section of the book was the discussion on "sodalic" and "modalic" structures. The best description of these two forms of structure are: modalic centers around the 99 found sheep while sodalic centers around the one lost sheep. We need both. The shepherd can't pick one over the other.

Consumers lose focus on mission but sometimes we can get so focused on mission we neglect the benefits of gathering. It's not one way or the other. Rather it is "AND." The Church is to be "Gathered AND Scattered."

There are many other things about the book that I liked and was challenged by. The section entitled, "Dying Well" was great as was the challenge to help make others feel as if the survival of the ministry is dependent upon their involvement. Church should not be a spectator sport.

I would highly recommend this book to my friends who lead ministries and encourage them to put it in the hands of their leaders, discuss the book, pray about the ideas presented in this book to see how they might apply to you.

Always In Pursuit!