Being a Healthy Church (in a World Crying Out for


Being a Healthy Church (in a World Crying Out for...

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Being a Healthy Church (in a World Crying Out for Leadership) Rich Nathan November 20, 2011 1 Peter: Living as Resident Aliens Series 1 Peter 5:1 - 6 I’ve recently been reading several books on leadership. One of them is titled Reviewing Leadership. Here is how the book begins: Talk about leadership abounds today. Voices on many sides deplore its absence or mediocrity, betrayal or corruption. The young are suspicious of it, the middle-aged tend to resent it, and the elderly long for it. Articles in newspapers and magazines, material and surveys and reports, and titles of popular and serious books highlight leadership as this era’s most important issue. A growing band of consultants offer advice on developing it, news centers focus on various aspects of leadership continue to appear, and every year a regular round of seminars, workshops, and conferences features well-known experts in the field. It would seem, then, that leadership has become a dominating theme of our culture, one of its pivotal concerns. Every organization is crying out for leadership – from public schools to university athletic departments to elected officials. What you hear over and over again is, “where are the leaders?” Now, it hasn’t always been the case in history that one of the dominant preoccupations of the society was in finding leaders. Have you ever asked yourself why is there so much discussion about leadership at this particular moment in history? Why so many consultants? Why so many books? Why so many editorials and organizations focusing on this one subject, leadership? I think there are three obvious reasons why we, as a society, are spending so much time talking about leadership. People are usually concerned about leadership in a time of crisis. In the aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center, Rudy Giuliani, the Mayor of New York, responded decisively and in most people’s opinion, well, to the crisis. He saw his political stock soar as people in New York City looked for a leader to help them deal with the crisis. So as we deal with the multiple crises of war, and economic recession, and moral decay there is a yearning for leadership. There is a second reason why I think leadership is a topic on everyone’s mind. The interest in leadership usually emerges during a time of rapid change. So many changes are happening in society so quickly – changes in family structure, changes in moral boundaries, technological changes, global economic shifts, © 2011 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org

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radical demographic changes in America. There is a widespread feeling that things are spinning out of control, or at least that things are moving too fast for many people to keep up with them. So in the midst of all of this change, people have a desire for reliable, dependable leaders, who can help us understand what’s happening and how we can navigate all the change. We’re concerned about leadership because our age is an age of continual crisis. We’re concerned about leadership because our age is an age of rapid change. And I think third, there is such a concern about leadership because of the wellpublicized failures of many of our leaders. We live in a time when many leaders who have been entrusted with enormous responsibility in government, in business, in education, in athletics, in religion have committed shocking sexual or financial or moral crimes. If you just want one simple illustration capturing how much young adults in America long for leadership, look at the response at Penn State to Joe Paterno’s firing. When students heard the news of his firing, thousands of Penn State students rioted. I think the feeling on the part of lots of young adults at Penn State was “dads may have left us, politicians have disappointed us, but there is at least one leader that I can believe in, one leader who is dependable and keeps his word to us.” And when that leader was fired, it was too much emotionally for many of the Penn State students to bear. Of course, there have always been good, faithful leaders, leaders who have not been self-interested, leaders of the kind that you never read about in the newspaper. But God knows them. I made a decision to become a follower of Christ at age 18. Most of you know that I came out of a Jewish background; I was an atheist. And then in college I came to faith. My first pastor at the first church that I ever went to was a guy who spent 25 years of his adult life in a bi-vocational situation. He worked in a steel mill and for a quarter of a century he never pastored a church big enough to pay him a salary so that he could leave his job working in the steel mill in Cleveland. When someone talks to me about pastors being greedy, and pastors demanding more and more perks for themselves, I think about my first pastor, Warren Campbell, who for several decades every weekend prepared his Sunday sermon and then Monday morning he went back to the steel mill to work. I was part of Warren’s youth group. And his sold out life to Christ left such an impression on the youth that there were about a dozen of us in that small youth ministry that went on to serve as pastors or as missionaries. But leadership is only one side of the coin of any organization’s health – even if the quest for leaders is one of the dominant themes of contemporary society – leadership is only one side of the coin of any organization’s health whether its

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government, the military, or university, or an athletic team, or a church. Healthy followership is the other side of the coin. There is an interesting journal for people who work in the public sector. It is called The Innovation Journal. The Innovation Journal did a piece on followership and the authors asked this question: But who wants to be a follower? We’ve all had experiences where we were urged to be a leader. Even as children your parents probably told you “Don’t just go along with the crowd. Think for yourself. Don’t just do something because everyone else is doing it.” Being a follower has a really bad rep in our society. Nobody grows up saying, “I really want to be a good follower.” But there is no organization, no business, no team that can function without both healthy leadership and exemplary followership. Think about a Super Bowl winning team. Virtually every Super Bowl winner has an extraordinary group of men who are willing to subordinate themselves for one goal – the goal of winning. You see that in the NBA every year. Just assembling a group of superstars doesn’t win an NBA title. It usually is the team that plays great team basketball – perhaps a star with a bunch of role players that succeeds. I’ve been doing a series from a wonderful little New Testament book titled 1 Peter. As I’ve repeatedly told you, Peter wrote this letter to encourage early Christians who were receiving an extremely negative response from their communities and families because of their newfound Christian faith. And Peter tells these early Christians and he tells us 21st century Christians that we’re not to be conformed to the larger society’s way of doing life. We’re to think differently than all the dominant voices in our culture. Today we would say that we are to think differently than all the radio and TV talking heads who are continually screaming into microphones. Peter says that we Christians are resident aliens. We’re different. And one of the great differences that Christians offer the world is a healthy functioning assembly of people called the Christian church. I’ve called today’s talk, Being a Healthy Church (in a World Crying Out for Leadership). Let’s pray. 1 Peter 5:1-6 1 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief © 2011 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org

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Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. 5 In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.” 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Let’s look together at 1 Peter 5: 1 - 4, 1 Peter 5: 1-4 1 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. Here Peter is talking about: The church’s leaders His fundamental question is what is a Christian leader? What is a pastor of a church? I want to, right at the front end here, and have you apply my comments beyond paid ministry in a church. I want you to apply my comments today to thousands of you who have a role of Christian leadership. You are small group leaders; you are women’s group leaders; you are men’s group leaders; recovery group leaders; children’s ministry workers; leaders in our community center; leaders in our marriage and family ministry, leaders in our urban and mercy ministry, leaders in our worship ministry and so on. There are many, many of you who are leaders. So for simplicity’s sake, I’m going to be narrowing the focus to pastors. But what I’m talking about really can be applied across the board to anyone who is a Christian leader in any dimension of the church or para-church organization. What is a Christian leader? What is a pastor? Let me break the question down the way Peter does into three subordinate questions. First, what kind of person is a pastor? 1 Peter 5:1 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: © 2011 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org

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Then in 1 Peter 5: 2 - 4, what kinds of roles does a pastor have? 1 Peter 5: 2-4 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. What are some of the roles of a pastor in a church? And finally, what are the motivations of a pastor? Peter asks the questions, what is a Christian leader? What is a pastor? So let’s start with the first question: What kind of person is a pastor? 1 Peter 5:1 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Peter says two things here. First of all, A pastor is an elder This term elder was borrowed from Jewish synagogue practice. It was used in Judaism to signify the older men in the congregation who were leaders in the synagogue and in the nation. But in the New Testament, even though the term elder was borrowed from the Jewish synagogues, eldership was not necessarily connected with age. Timothy was a young elder. In the New Testament, eldership primarily deals with a person’s character. There were issues of character and integrity that needed to be in place in order for a person to be an elder. Now, I want to make one comment about the use of the title elder. The New Testament regularly mixes titles up. Sometimes leaders are called elders. The Greek word is Presbuteros = Elders The Presbyterian denomination which has a plural eldership leading the church is named for this Greek word. Another title for leaders in the New Testament is Bishop or overseer. The Greek word for bishop or overseer is

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Episkopos = Bishop Since the Episcopal church has bishops leading the church, they are named for this Greek word. And then there are pastors which also is translated shepherd which I will expand upon in a moment. In the New Testament the term for leaders, elders, pastors, bishops – these terms are often used interchangeably. So, for example, the Apostle Paul when he addresses the Ephesian elders, the presbuteroi, says this in Acts 20:28, Acts 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I just want to make a couple of simple points before moving on. Whole denominations have been formed arguing for one title – elder, pastor, bishop. In the Roman Catholic tradition, priests, bishop, cardinal; and people have split off from one another forming whole new church movements saying their particular church structure is the biblical model – we have elders, we have bishops, we call our leader pastor or reverend – actually none of this should be important to the Christian. Jesus hated titles. Jesus in rebuking the Pharisees said this in Matthew 23. Matthew 23:7 they [the Pharisees] love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have people call them ‘Rabbi.’ 8“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. Jesus thought titles were, at best, irrelevant and at worst, positively harmful, leading people to pride and spiritual one-ups-manship. And my second simple point about elder, bishop, pastor is this – Generally there is an inverse relationship in a church between titles, on the one hand, and the amount of spiritual reality on the other. The less the spiritual reality, the less the real experience of God in the church, the more you see the multiplication of church titles, and rituals, and liturgical forms. The greater the spiritual reality, the more people experience God in the church, the more that Jesus is the focus of the church, the more that a church focuses on the heart of leadership – character, integrity, function - the less the concern of the church on titles and rituals and forms.

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So pastors are called to be elders which is primarily in the New Testament an issue of character qualifications – not gifting or educational credentials, but character, integrity, and trustworthiness. And in answer to the question: what is a pastor? What is a Christian leader? Peter says, A pastor is willing to pay the price of leadership In I Peter 5:1 Peter calls himself, 1 Peter 5:1 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Peter is not just an eye-witness of Christ’s suffering. He is not even just a proclaimer of the message of Jesus’ suffering and death to pay for the sins of the world. Peter is also someone who says a Christian leader must be willing to walk in the footsteps of Christ’s sufferings. 1 Peter 5: 1 - 4 is a text about how to pastor a suffering church, a church of resident aliens, a church that is under stress from the larger society. And we know that the church that Peter was writing to was experiencing tremendous pressure from their communities. 1 Peter 4:12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. The people in the church were suffering. Many of them were being persecuted. Now, when persecution comes to the church, it is the leaders of the church who are most visible to the authorities and therefore most vulnerable. In almost every situation, if you are the pastor or leader of a persecuted church, you will be the first one to be attacked. Governments know the principle that Jesus quoted at his Last Supper. Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. Get rid of the pastor and the leaders and destroy the church. In many countries, and at many times, there has been real danger in being a pastor. One of our church members, a dear friend, was thrown in jail for a substantial period of time last year as the leader of several vibrant Christian home fellowship groups in a country that is closed to Christianity. Now, for his family’s security, I can’t name who he is or where he served. But he instructed his church members in this country that is closed to Christianity, if you are arrested, blame me. Make me the fall guy. You don’t suffer, I will suffer in your place. And that’s what happened. A few church members were arrested; they pointed the finger at him; and, he was thrown in jail for many months. Our church, Vineyard Columbus, because of your generosity, because of your giving © 2011 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org

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has been able to hire legal help for him and free him from prison so that he is now restored and reunited with his family. Jesus said being willing to pay the price in terms of sacrificing yourself for the people is the difference between a pastor and a mere employee of a church. Mere employees when they see danger coming, take off. Pastors, true shepherds are willing to pay the price of leadership. And in my lifetime, when I think about the truly great leaders – Dr. King, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa – they were willing to pay the price of leadership. I want to show you a video of another true leader that most people in America have never heard of. His name is Shabbaz Bhatti, a Pakistani Cabinet Minister, who was the only Pakistani Cabinet member who was a Christian and who fought for the rights of Christians and other persecuted minorities in Pakistan. VIDEO - Shabbaz Bhatti Shortly after Shabbaz Bhatti made this video, he was assassinated. He had pleaded for more security from the government, but the government of Pakistan refused to give him any more security. True pastors are willing to pay the price - the price of criticism, the price of verbal attacks. Just to make this personal for you, I have apparently been blogged against for many years. I’ve been preached against on Christian radio. And over the last decade I’ve received two death threats left on my voice mail. And I’m just an ordinary pastor in a country that respects religious liberty. What is a pastor? A pastor is an elder; a pastor is someone who is willing to pay the price of leadership. What are the functions of a pastor? A pastor is a shepherd Peter says in 1 Peter 5:2, 1 Peter 5:2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them— not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; There are a host of different giftings that people bring to the pastoral office. Some people are great preachers. Some are evangelistic. Some folks bring administrative gifts to bear. Some pastors are wonderful counselors. People become pastors from a wide variety of backgrounds. Pastors have different temperaments – some are extraverted, some are introverted. But no matter what © 2011 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org

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kind of gifting a person has, or what kind of temperament a person has, there is one thing that should be present in everyone who is called pastor. They should have a pastor’s heart. That is, they should have a shepherd’s heart. If a person does not have a pastor’s heart, a shepherd’s heart, even if they’re preachers, or evangelists, administrators, women’s leaders, small group leaders, children’s ministry – if inside they don’t have a pastoral heart, then they aren’t pastors. What I mean by a pastoral heart is a tender sincere intimate loving spiritual concern for God’s people. When I talk about a pastor’s heart, I mean that a pastor ought to have, if he is a man, the heart of a father that wishes to bring people along to Christian maturity. A pastor, or a Christian leader if she is a woman, ought to have the heart of a mother, to nurture, to sacrifice herself, to sacrifice time and life to care for and minister to the needs of God’s people. It is interesting that many of the great leaders in the Bible were shepherds. Same word again, pastors – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Patriarchs of Israel – were all shepherds. Moses was a shepherd. King David was a shepherd when he was called to become king. Jesus calls himself the good Shepherd, who lays his life down for his sheep. God is saying that he wants this heartbeat in every one of his leaders. Now, if you want to understand what exactly shepherds do, so that you can understand Christian leadership better, I would just have you write down in your bulletin Psalm 23 and Ezekiel 34. Psalm 23 and Ezekiel 34 Here is what I get out of Ezekiel 34. Here are some of the actions that derive from the shepherd heart of a leader: Search for the lost sheep. Deliver the captive sheep. Feed the hungry sheep. Rest the weary sheep. Bind up the hurt sheep. Strengthen the weak sheep. Protect the defenseless sheep. Work justice for the abused sheep. And in looking at Psalm 23, Guide the directionless sheep. Restore the tired sheep. Comfort the anxious sheep. Prepare a table for the frightened sheep.

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Can you see why we need pastors and Christian leaders? If someone is lost, if someone is addicted, if someone needs to be taught, if someone is weary or hurt or weak or has lost direction, needs guidance, is being abused, is anxious, is frightened – that’s what Christian pastors are for. A pastor is a shepherd. A pastor is a watchman Again, the Greek word is episkopos. It is a compound word, episkopos = epi and scopos …like a telescope that enables you to see far off, a microscope enables a person to see small things, episkopos is someone who can see over, a person who watches over. Back in the 1st century shepherds would build towers to scan the countryside to get an advance warning for dangers to the flock – a flash flood coming, or predators – wolves, lions, bears. Shepherds would be far-seeing watchmen aware of dangers to the flock. That’s what a pastor ought to be – someone who is concerned about spiritual or moral currents that could sweep people away. A person who is concerned about false teaching that will poison a church. A person who is concerned about folks who are divisive, setting people against each other. A pastor is a watchman. And finally, A pastor is an example Leadership is primarily modeling. Peter says be an example to the flock in 1 Peter 5: 3, 1 Peter 5:3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. The most powerful learning device for an individual is not a message or a book, but an example, a model. People need someone to observe. People need to see Christian teaching fleshed out so that they can say, “Oh, that’s the way that you forgive someone who has hurt you. Oh, that’s the way that you share your faith. Now I see it. Oh, that’s the way you open up God’s Word and teach it.” There is something incredibly powerful about modeling. And being an example, being a model, goes way beyond “here’s how this thing is done.” What being a model does is it communicates to people that doing the Bible is possible. People wonder is it possible to break an addiction? They go to © 2011 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org

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one of our support and recovery groups and they meet folks in that group who had a similar problem, who struggled like they do with issues of sexuality or substance abuse or anger and they overcome that problem. And they say, “Well, this fills me now with hope. If that person can overcome this problem, then maybe I can too.” We wonder is it possible to establish a daily prayer time with all that we have going on. And then we meet someone who is busier than us, who meets with God daily, and we say, “It’s possible.” Is it possible to restore a marriage that is on the rocks for years? One of the most powerful ministries that we have in our church right now is the Begin Again ministry. Couples are taken away for a weekend; they get to hear stories of people like themselves, whose marriages were similarly failing. Perhaps one or the other had an affair. Perhaps there has been constant fighting or little romance for years. On a Begin Again weekend couples hear the stories of folks who were just about to throw in the towel. They were so tired of being tired with each other. But instead of hearing abstract principles – here are five simple steps to having a great marriage – they meet couples who are examples of God’s power to change someone’s life, couples who in their own lives have recovered hope for their marriages. And then they have follow up mentoring with one of the couples. There is so much power if fleshed out examples of another person. We have a really encouraging seminar coming up this week for married couples: Journey to Oneness 4-Week Marriage Seminar beginning on Tuesday, November 22nd at 7:00 p.m. You know, in America culture, marriage is considered a strictly private matter. But the model of a healthy, Christ-centered marriage is a much needed resource to our community. If you would like to learn more about putting Christ at the center of your marriage, consider coming to Journey to Oneness. Being a pastor to me is one of the most demanding jobs that anyone in the world could have. Because it is one of those rare jobs that requires your entire person, and not just a set of skills. I recognized that in the first few months after I made the transition from being a professor at Ohio State, to being a full-time pastor. When you are a professor at OSU, you can be a successful professor, receive tenure, and be an absolute jerk. So long as you keep research grants coming in, so long as you publish in good journals, you will receive tenure. But what is sought for in pastoral work is not a set of skill sets, but you. Every day people are asking you to bring your entire being to bear – your intelligence, your emotions, your spirituality, your character. You cannot live a © 2011 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org

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compartmentalized life as a pastor. Let me put it this way. A doctor can be an adulterer and still be a brilliant brain surgeon. In fact, you might prefer a brilliant, adulterous brain surgeon when you go in for brain surgery as opposed to godly, but incompetent surgeon. The same is true of pilots of a 747. They may be living immoral lives, but be brilliant pilots. You can live a compartmentalized life in lots of professions and still be really successful in that profession. But not so with pastoring. When I think about what sort of model or example a pastor must be, essentially a pastor is called to be a model follower of Christ. They are called to get in line behind their leader, their pastor, Jesus, and follow him. What are the motivations of a pastor? Peter asks what kind of motives should drive a person to become a pastor. Here is what he says in 1 Peter 5: 2-3, 1 Peter 5:2-3 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. In these two verses, Peter gives three reasons not to become a pastor. A person shouldn’t become a pastor because they are compelled. Not compelled A person shouldn’t become a pastor because they view it as a career. Not a career And a person shouldn’t become a pastor because they’re seeking control. Not for control Let’s look at these. First, don’t become a Christian leader because you are compelled to. Now, I do believe in divine compulsion – someone who says, “I wouldn’t have become a pastor other than the fact that God has been pushing me. I wouldn’t be a missionary except I feel compelled by God; this is what God has planned for me in life.” Divine necessity is appropriate. And once someone feels that divine necessity, they joyfully say to God, “If this is what you have for my life, I embrace it. I love it. I belong to you; I’m loose change in your pocket, Lord. I put myself at your disposal.”

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But I think what Peter is talking about when he’s looking at our heart’s motivation and says, not because you must, but because you are willing, I think he is talking about the difference between someone who says, “Do I have to do this ministry,” and someone who says, “I get to do this ministry.” Do I have to go visit a hospital to pray for a sick person? Is it part of my job description? Do I have to hang around the church after services greeting people and praying for them? The person who has a have-to mentality is not a pastor or Christian leader. Do I have to prepare this Bible study? Do I have to open up my home and practice hospitality? Do I have to go the extra mile with someone who is a challenging person? If you have a have-to mentality, you are not a Christian leader. Christian leadership is not a have to, it is a get to. A Christian leader is someone who is amazed that they get to be a leader in God’s church. They say: God, I cannot believe that you knowing all that you know about me that you would allow me to be a small group leader, a woman’s group leader, a support and recovery leader, a children’s leader, a leader in marriage and family ministry, a leader in urban ministry. I can’t believe that I get to do this stuff that I want to do. In looking at motives, Peter says being a pastor is not a career. Not a career 1 Peter 5:2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them— not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; Ministry is not a business. Becoming a pastor is not a shrewd career move. Anyone who is serving on a pastoral staff in any position at all who is working there mainly because they don’t have a good alternative career option ought to immediately quit pastoral work. They’re unworthy of the title of pastor. Pastoring is not a career; it’s a calling. Being a Christian leader is not a career, it is a calling. It is so disturbing to me as a pastor to sit down with a young adult who communicates to me: You know, I really don’t know what I want to do with my life. I’m not sure where I’m headed, so I thought to myself: Why not apply for a job on the church’s staff. I like other Christians. I like hanging out with Christians. I need a paycheck and health insurance. Why not hang out on the church staff for a while. And on the other hand, what I love, what has been a great privilege to me over the last 20 years is hiring people on staff who were making much more money in some other career, but they joined the church staff not because it was a shrewd career move, but because God called them to this.

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Pastoring is not a matter of being of being compelled. Pastoring is not a career. Pastoring is not about exercising power or control. Not for control 1 Peter 5:3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. What does it look like for a Christian leader to lord it over someone? When do you know that a Christian leader is exercising power and authority inappropriately? Here are a few things that I’ve noticed. When a church leader refuses to share power, when a church leader hoards all of the authority and all of the information about the church, it is a clear sign that that church leader has problems with control. Hoarding all of the decisions, refusing to delegate responsibility to others tells me that the church leader doesn’t trust God and God’s Spirit to lead the church. When a church leader can’t hear the opinions of others; when a church leader can’t be disagreed with without accusing the person of disloyalty; when a church leader can’t back down without threatening to quit or threatening to leave, or they appeal to their title or their position, or they bully others, then that church leader doesn’t understand that the church does not belong to them, but to Jesus. When a church leader is threatened by other gifted people so that there is constant turnover on staff because the church leader cannot tolerate another staff person’s rising popularity; who won’t allow one of the young pastors to preach and gain a following. But again, the issue is a distorted view of power and control. Pastors and Christian leaders are not the shepherd of the flock; we are under shepherds. There is one great pastor of the church and his name is Jesus. So let me quickly speak about the church’s followers. The church’s followers 1 Peter 5:5-6 5 In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.”6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Now, Peter could be speaking to the youthful members of the church. In Judaism being a younger person would be being under 30. But he tells everyone

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in the church to be clothed humility. So let me start with the negative and then we’ll finish with a positive. Peter says, Get rid of pride 1 Peter 5:5 In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.” What is Peter talking about by pride? By pride, the Bible is not speaking about healthy, self-esteem. Pride doesn’t mean: take pride in your appearance. Feel positively about yourself. Don’t put yourself down. That’s not the kind of pride that’s in the Bible. Pride is not healthy self-esteem. Pride is inordinate selfesteem. Pride is regarding yourself with unreasonable conceit. Let me share with you what pride is. It is not pride for a beautiful movie actress to believe that she is beautiful. That’s just accurate self-assessment. When a beautiful actress thinks that she is beautiful, she is living in reality. It is pride, however, when a beautiful actress believes that because she is beautiful, she is also a fountain of wisdom about love or about life or about politics. When Hollywood types talk about something other than acting and claim to speak with authority about global politics, about economics, about philosophy, about religion, what you’re listening to is pride. When a scientist speaks authoritatively about science. But when a scientist claims to speak authoritatively about religion or about philosophy, or about ethics, or about the meaning of life what you’re likely listening to is pride. Whenever someone moves away from the discipline in which they’ve been trained, the discipline that they’ve studied for years, and claims to be able to speak authoritatively about whole other realms of life, most of what you are listening to is pride. When a pastor claims to speak authoritatively about science, or areas that don’t involve biblical principles, you are listening to pride. Now, pride, at least in Christian ethics, is seen as the basic corrosive that destroys our relationships with each other. Pride says that I am my own God. I control my own destiny. I call the shots of my own life. And when I see myself as my own God, I not only try to control my life, but I try to control the lives of other people around me. Joan Chittister said, It is pride to want to wrench my world and all the people in it to my ends. It is arrogance to the upmost to insist that other people shape their lives to © 2011 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org

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make mine comfortable. It is arrogance unabashed to think that God must do the same. When I say that someone else must march to my drumbeat and then I extend that and I say, “God, you must march to my drumbeat,” that’s the essence of pride. Do you see any pride in the way you relate to others or the way you relate to God? March to my own drumbeat. Let me control your decisions. Let me control how you answer my prayers or relate to me, God. Our attempts to speak about areas that we know nothing about, our attempt to control each other, and to control God destroys the possibility of community and relationship. But on the other hand, Peter says: Put on humility 1 Peter 5:5 In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.” Humility is the glue that holds the church together. The reason why humility is what is so fundamental to our relationships is because humility limits our place in the universe. Humility says: I’m going to limit my pronouncements to what I really understand. I’m going to limit myself to making proper decisions about my choices, not yours. I won’t try to control your choices or wrench you into my image. Humility says: I will accept my proper place in the universe by not trying to control God’s answers my prayers, or God’s decisions regarding my life or the lives of loved ones. Brothers and sisters, institutions in our society are breaking down. There is a cry for leadership, a hunger for finding someone who genuinely cares, someone who is willing to pay the price, someone who is making a real effort to put their principles into life in their own life. And the way that all of this works together is as people are humbled towards one another in the midst of a society that is gridlocked at every turn, the Christian church really can be what God intends it to be – the only true hope for this world. Let’s pray.

© 2011 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org

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Being a Healthy Church (in a World Crying Out for Leadership Rich Nathan November 20, 2011 1 Peter: Living as Resident Aliens Series 1 Peter 5: 1 - 6 I.

The church’s leaders A. What kind of person is a pastor? 1. A pastor is an elder 2. A pastor is willing to pay the price of leadership B. What are the functions of a pastor? 1. A pastor is a shepherd 2. A pastor is a watchman 3. A pastor is an example C. What are the motives of a pastor? 1. Not compelled 2. Not a career 3. Not for control

II.

The church’s followers A. Get rid of pride B. Put on humility

© 2011 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org

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