The soul that feels "it's no use" needs Good News.

Sin is a least five things.

First, it is common among every living person (Romans 5:12).

Second, we cannot be naive or overly "spiritual", it is attractive. I wouldn't exist if it wasn't. We do what we want to do and when we sin there is a part of us that wants it. Sin's promise of satisfaction is real and it delivers temporarily with horrible repercussions to our consciences, our faith and our loved ones.

Third, it is self-fueling. The tiny drop of pleasure provided by sin leaves us craving for more. Without an alternative, our thirsty souls will return for more. We trifle with this self-fueling to our own peril. Tolkien's Gollum aptly pictures the progressive implosion of our souls. Eventually, our attention will be adhered to the object of our sinful (read God-less) desire.

Fourth, it is, then, horrible. It strips a person of their dignity and it leads them to despise God and use others - the very opposite of the Great Commandment (Matt. 22:37-40). Sin destroys. Idolatry destroys. Unbelief destroys. There is no avoiding the destruction of God's image when we sin. It is anti-God and His purposes. We tend to see only the vilest and fullest expressions of sin as horrible but that is a deceptive device of the devil. Every rape began with a rogue sinful idea. Every murder's root is an undercover bitterness.

Fifth, it is NOT the Christian's master. In Christ, we have been delivered from bondage to sin (Romans 6:6) to walk in "newness of life" (Romans 6:4). But, just as soon as the celebration of our freedom begins, we find that a battle still rages in our soul (Romans 7:14-20). Is this freedom real? How do we experience it? Peter gives us a glimpse in 2 Peter 1:3-4:

[3] His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, [4] by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 

Here Peter tells us that an intimate knowledge of the one who saved us and what he has promised us in salvation is God's means of deliverance.

This session of "How The Gospel Changes People" (Summitview's Leadership Training) entitled "How the Gospel Addresses Sin" unpacks this idea to provide hope for those who are tempted to feel that sin has won and there is no longer any use in trying to resist it (Jer. 2:23-25).

Additional Resources
Teaching Notes
"Kill or Be Killed" - a series of supplementary messages to "The Mortification of Sin" by John Owen
Leadership Training Resources from Summitview

• Notes
• Messages
  

Am I even qualified?

NOTE: Parents you could remove “leader” and “lead” with “parent” and this post would be instantly applicable.

Good leaders ask themselves this question. They ask because, 1) as good leaders often do, they have ventured beyond their natural abilities and, 2) as good leaders, the have humbly listened to the critiques of those they lead.

But there is a danger in this question. While it hangs over our head, we can go passive and wait for some confirmation before giving our whole heart. As a leader, I often find myself hungering for that atta-boy, that unanimous letter of recommendation that will give me permission to courageously take the point. But that isn’t leadership, at least as the Bible defines it.

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (2 Corinthians 3:1–3)

Notice how this issue looms over Paul and how he addresses it.

“You yourselves are our letter of recommendation.”

But isn’t that the problem? Doesn’t that just reinforce the idea that our qualifications depend on what people think of us? Not if we look carefully at what Paul is saying.

The Corinthians are Paul’s letter of recommendation but not in a resume-"facebook-friends"-"twitter-followers"-"linked-in-connections" sort of way. The passage doesn’t say that Paul is written on their hearts, it says that the Corinthians are written on HIS.

Paul’s qualification as a voice of leadership to the Corinthians was that HE LOVED THEM not that they loved him. In fact, there is plenty of evidence that they didn’t love him (which is why they might be tempted to think he was trying to commend himself).

So, when you face insecurity over your qualifications, remember they begin with the answer to a simple question: Do you love the people you lead? Paul's love for the Corinthians was so intense that it became a source of confidence in his own leadership. When criticism rises don’t first defend your actions. Examine your heart. If you those you lead aren't "written" on your heart, start there because your lack of love may be the disqualification you fear.

Additional Resources
The Pastor and Personal Criticism - C.J. Mahaney (this is the first post in a series by C.J. which is applicable to more than pastors)

"I don't want to build a museum"

I may be a little late to the party on this one, but it is worth the watch.

Discovering Roadblocks to the Gospel: Asking and Listening Rightly for 'The Sentence'

The following is a review of Session 3 (listen here) of this year's Leadership Training Class.

They probably stood together in silence. Together they felt the tingle of adrenaline and their breath escape under the pounding of their hearts.  Several hundred thousand Hebrews, calloused, tired, tasting the salt of the ocean spray, with the memory of horses furiously neighing,  stood silent.

It wasn't long before they broke into song about their warrior God, The One who had just rent their understanding with His power to deliver. They sang with the strength of 400 years of prayer answered in a deliverance greater than the wildest imagination.

And days later they believed His deliverance was a sham and they wanted to go back. (Exodus 17)

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said,

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.(Hebrews 3:12–4:2)

The author of Hebrews issues a sober warning here. Like those who witnessed the parting of the Red Sea, those of us who know the Gospel and have seen proof of God’s grace can slip into unbelief. This God-belittling unbelief hardens us to Him and throws our assurance of His love into disarray resulting in anger, anxiety, and despair.

We must hold our original confidence firm to the end
Every biblical instruction implies a challenge. It's hard to hold our original confidence in Christ crucified. It is hard to draw our identity and security from the Cross. There are so many other things to trust in. Things more tangible. Things we can control.

Just as the Gospel comes to us in words, the temptation to stop trusting in it comes to us in words. The battle of our faith (Eph. 6: 11,16) is a battle of messages. Each of us has a specific message, a “sentence” utilized by Satan to tempt us to stop trusting in the Gospel. To see to it that none of us gets hardened by sin's deceitfulness, we must be good detectives of the “sentence” in each others' lives. This session aims at equipping us to ask and listen rightly for our competing messages so we can address each other with specific encouragement in the Gospel.

Additional Resources
Notes from the evening, including sample "sentences" to stimulate your thinking
Crosstalk by Michael Emlet

Fulfill YOUR ministry

H.T. Z

"...beat it into their heads"

This is the truth of the gospel. It is also the principal article of all Christian doctrine, whereby the knowledge of all goodness consisteth. Most necessary it is therefore, that we should know this article well, teach it to others and beat it into their heads continually.

Martin Luther

The Gospel is the Power: An Invitation to the 2010 - 2011 Leadership Training Class at Summitview

And God said, (Genesis 1:3)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1–3)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, (Romans 1:16)

take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17)

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. (Hebrews 1:3)

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. (Revelation 19:11–16)

(all emphases added) 

Light pierces darkness on the wings of words. Stars, planets, moons, nebula, blueberry bushes, cacti, coral, mountains, rivers, puppies, blue whales, leopards, ostriches, and flamingos arrive with words. Your fingers, your mouse, your phone, your kids, and your shoes are held together with words. Words revive, sanctify and preserve once-dead souls. Luther once proclaimed he had "driven the devil away with ink" because the right words are offensive weapons against the Great Accuser. In the end, a sword from the mouth of the final conquering King will strike down every opposition government.

Words matter to God. His power is manifested in syllables. Nothing changes, nothing improves, nothing finds life, indeed nothing exists, apart from His word. And so one of our great collective sins is the cheapening of words. Our unclean lips have perverted words to deceive, flatter, entertain and distract. How many words did you take in today? Chances are you are fatigued under the dead weight of rotting, meaningless words. Words that bring life are the need of the hour.

This year in Summitview's Leadership Training Class we will be considering how God rescues and transforms us as the Holy Spirit delivers words to our hearts, specifically the words of the Gospel. 

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (Romans 3:21–24)

Nothing is more practical or powerful than knowing the Gospel. It is the power of salvation for eternity and for today. Please consider attending these sessions or listening to each one as they are posted here along with any supplemental reading.

LTC 2010-2011
In our first two sessions, we established the groundwork for the year by answering two fundamental questions:
Session 1 - What Is the Gospel? (Romans 3:21-27)
Session 2 - How Is the Gospel An Agent To Change? (Titus 2:11-14) - Notes

The remaining sessions build on this groundwork into more specific application (all take place from 7-8:45pm in the Summitview Auditorium).

Session 3 (November 9th) - Discovering Roadblocks to the Gospel: Asking and Listening Rightly for "The Sentence" (Hebrews 3:12-4:2)

Session 4 (December 7th) - The Role of Prayer and the Holy Spirit in Change (John 16:4-15)

Session 5 (January 11th) - How Gospel-Change Addresses Sin (Romans 8:13)

Session 6 (February 8th) - How Gospel-Change Works with Depression (Phil. 4:4-9)

Session 7 (March 8th) - How Gospel-Change Works in Family Issues (Eph. 5:22-33 and 6:1-4)

Session 8 (April 5th) - The Role of the Church in Sanctification of the Believer (Hebrews 10:19-24)

Session (May 3rd) - Set the Captives Free: How the Changing/Freeing Power of the Gospel Affects Our Evangelism (Titus 3:1-8)

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9–10)

Together, let's journey toward that day.

Alternative Energy for a New City

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5.14–16

It's a simple description of our identity and purpose. Be different. Be distinctive. Be conspicuous. Christ calls his followers to become a city on a hill. It's not hard to understand, it's just impossible to do... apart from God.

How does God create this city within a city? What fuels it's citizens in a way that gives glory to our Father in heaven?

Puritan Richard Sibbes answers it this way:

...grace will become glory, and come forth into the sight of all.

and the Apostle Paul describes it similarly in 2 Corinthians 2:14:

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.

God's grace in Christ transforms people. And, as they live together in allegiance to their Savior King, with the perfect law of love written on their hearts, they become an alternate city. This "city on a hill" lives on the alternative energy of the Gospel and foreshadows the completion of the kingdom of God where love, beauty and joy will exist forever without the destruction of sin. And, because this is all from God, there is no boasting in anything other than His perfect wisdom and sovereign goodness.

This is the mission of the church: To glorify God as we experience and proclaim the transforming power of the Gospel to all people.

For many of us, this sounds like a "nice" little blog post until we think of our own lives. And there, in our deepest struggles, we see things that have not changed and... we believe the Gospel... right? Surely there is something more - some other truth or method must be missing. Yet, Paul boldly summarizes his ministry to build the first-century church by saying that he "decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." (1 Cor. 2:2)

But how does this message affect our lives everyday? How does the death of the God-Man as a wrath-adsorbing substitute for sin change the sexual addict? How does knowing that I am justified before God help me love my wife more completely?

We are trusting God to build solid answers to questions like this in this year's Leadership Training Class (LTC) at Summitview. It is our prayer that, as God teaches us to "hold our original confidence firm to the end," we will better encourage one another to not "be hardened by sin's deceitfulness" (Hebrews 3:12-14).  Our goal? To become a "city on the hill" that reflects the kingdom of God and lifts up Christ the King so He might draw all men to himself (John 12:32).

Tuesday Night, LTC kicked off with a look at Romans 3:21-28 in a message entitled "What is the Gospel?" You can listen to it here. As you listen, pray that God would root the church in these things and amaze us with His power and grace.

Additional Resources
LTC Schedule:
Summitview Community Church Auditorium, 7:00 - 8:45 pm.
Sept. 7: What is the Gospel? (Romans 3:21-27)
Oct. 5: How is the Gospel An Agent to Change? (Titus 2:11-14)
Nov. 9: Discovering Roadblocks to the Gospel: Asking and Listening Rightly for "The Sentence" (Hebrews 3:12-4:2)
Dec. 7: The Role of Prayer and the Holy Spirit in Change (John 16:4-15)
Jan. 11: How Gospel-Change Addresses Sin (Romans 8:13)
Feb. 8: How Gospel-Change Works With Depression (Phil 4:4-9)
Mar. 8: How Gospel-Change Works in Family Issues (Eph. 5:22-33 and 6:1-4)
Apr. 5: The Role of the Church in the Sanctification of the Believer (Hebrews 10:19-24)
May 3: Set the Captives Free: How the Changing/Freeing Power of the Gospel Affects Our Evangelism (Titus 3:1-8)

Losing the Spark, Avoiding Structure: How "movements" die

Ideas, causes, grass-roots efforts, reformations, whatever you may call them, have a life cycle. A central spark ignites a collection of people to focus their energy and sense of purpose in a common direction and then, over time, it seems to lose its luster.  Why? Tim Keller explains that this (almost) inevitable loss of luster may be attributed to the difficulty of leading a new movement and he offers a description of what successful leadership of a movement will require.

David Hurst, a Harvard scholar, summed up how movements become institutions this way — vision becomes strategy, roles become tasks, teams become structure, networks become organizations, recognition becomes compensation. It is wrong, however, to draw such a hard line between the two forms. It is typical in the Christian movement literature to be highly critical of “institutionalism,” for good reason. But the impression is left that all authority, central control, and formal processes are bad for ministry. The reality is more complex.


It is natural for new churches and ministries to try very hard to stay informal, non-codified, and non-centralized. But part of what makes a movement dynamic is a unified vision, and that always requires some codification and control. As time goes on, to maintain the main engine of movement-dynamics – a unified vision — a ministry must adopt some of the aspects of institutions. A strong movement, then, occupies the difficult space between being a free-wheeling organism and a disciplined organization. A movement that refuses to take on some organizational characteristics – authority, tradition, unity of belief, and quality control — will fragment and dissipate. A movement that does not also resist the inevitable tendency toward complete institutionalization will lose its vitality and effectiveness as well. The job of the movement leader is to steer the ship safely between these two opposite perils.

Read the whole thing here.

Additional Resources
Ideas for making this work in the local church

Leadership Fridays: Lessons from Steve Jobs and Apple

My co-pastor forwarded me this piece by Lawson Stone which has some classic quotes from Steve Jobs and thoughtful commentary on Jobs' leadership from a biblical perspective.

An excerpt:

[Jobs on using focus groups to determine product development] 'It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do. So you can’t go out and ask people, you know, what’s the next big [thing.] There’s a great quote by Henry Ford, right? He said, ‘If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me ‘A faster horse.’'

This last is my favorite:

'It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them…'

I always think it’s a little sad when Christian institutions get so confused about their identity and mission that they actually start framing their curriculum and programs based on focus groups and market research, reverently termed “empirical data,” rather than first and primarily consulting their own deepest awareness of God’s call and working in their midst."

Read the whole thing here.

Additional Resources
Powerless But No Chicken

Leadership Fridays: Piggybacking on others' convictions

Its a common malady. Leaders often become leaders because they faithfully embrace the values and convictions of the church. They unite with other leaders and desire to give their lives to the cause. Because this attitude is so rare in the church, it is received wholeheartedly and put to work. Many times there are some outlying concerns, maybe a disagreement about some "small" matter or character issue that needs to be addressed (and most certainly will be after assuming the role) but, because, as Tozer said, the church languishes for men, these things are easy to overlook in someone willing to lead.

But in our hunger for more leaders, we can't move ahead of the Holy Spirit. We need to faithfully investigate why potential leaders are willing. "Why?", it's a critical question. Why does this person embrace the values of the church, desire to unite with other leaders, and live their life for the cause? If we see no evidence of the love of Christ compelling them (2 Cor. 5:14), we will damage their souls by inviting them to lead.

One day they will be faced with the reality that their lives are radically different then they would have been if they had not invested in this role. They will have given up opportunities for career, adventure, financial stability - all manner of things to faithfully serve the church and, if they did it for any thing other than a love a Christ, they will despise the church for it.

Shelli and I call it piggybacking on other people's convictions. We did it. Many folks that lead with us have as well. We do it for identity, for affirmation, for a sense of purpose and we can do it for only so long. We must have at the root of our service a transcendent motivation. Our circumstances will change and often we will experience failure and disappointment. If we aren't doing what we are doing with an other-worldy compulsion, those failures and disappointments will crush us into bitter regret.

Be careful that you are clear about your motivations to serve the church as a leader. You can do the right thing for the wrong reason and, in the end, it will lead to death. Let the love of Christ alone compel your service and you will finish well; let something else and you won't.

Leadership Fridays: Receivers or Reproducers?

I remember standing there in a daze having totally lost my train of thought. I was guest teaching at a church in Colorado. The pastor of the church was one of the "founding fathers" of our association of churches and he was sitting in the front row. For nearly 40 years this man had been teaching the Bible and laboring in Christ's Great Commission. And Dennis is uber faithful and humble. I have never remotely sensed the man "pull rank" with anyone. If you let yourself notice it, his humility is staggering. On this day, the Holy Spirit rattled me with it to the point of disorientation.

While I was teaching, Dennis was faithfully taking notes.

Without question, Dennis had more to say on the passage I was teaching. He had wrestled with it more, lived with it's implications longer and taught through it many times himself. I can't imagine how there was even a shred of novelty in my youthful, naive and idealistic approach to the text.

And that is why I have a long way to grow; I wouldn't have been taking notes. Dennis did. He believed that he would encounter something for his benefit and for the benefit of others. He had a firm conviction that the Word of God wasn't powerless, it didn't return void - God worked as the church examined the Scriptures.

I thought of Dennis today as I read this from David Platt's Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream:

I often ask members of our church if they are receivers or reproducers of God's Word. Let me illustrate the difference. 

Imagine being in Sudan. You walk into a thatched hut with a small group of Sudanese church leaders, and you sit down to teach them God's Word. As soon as you start, you lose eye contact with all of them. No one is looking at you, and you hardly see their eyes open the rest of the time. The reason is because they're writing down every word you say. They come up to you afterward and say, "Teacher, we are going to take everything we have learned from God's Word, translate it into our languages, and teach it in our tribes." They were not listening to receive but to reproduce.

Now journey with me to a contemporary worship service in the United States. Some people have their Bibles open, while others don't have a Bible with them. A few people are taking notes, but for the most part they are passively sitting in the audience. While some are probably disengaged, others are intently focused on what the preacher is saying, listening to God's Word to hear how it applies to their lives. But the reality is, few are listening to reproduce. 

We are, by nature, receivers. Even if we have a desire to learn God's Word, we still listen from a default self-centered mind-set that is always asking, What can I get out of this? But as we have seen, this is unbiblical Christianity.  What if we changed the question whenever we gathered to learn God's Word? What if we began to think, How can I listen to his Word so that I am equipped to teach this Word to others?

This changes everything. All of a sudden the pen and paper come out. Note taking is not the measure of how committed we are to making disciples, but if we are hearing God's Word taught in order to teach others, then we want to get it down as best we can. When we realize we have the responsibility to teach the Word, it changes everything about how we hear the Word. 

It also changes who hears the Word. Now the Word that is being preached in a worship gathering or taught in a small-group setting is subsequently being translated into contexts and spheres of influence represented all across a church. God's Word is no longer being heard in a building; it is being multiplied throughout a community.

Additional Resources
An Interview with David Platt, author of "Radical"

"STOKE"

Leaders and aspiring leaders of Summitview and the Rock,

A leader's demise begins with a dying flame. With multiple responsibilities it's easy to lose focus on the "whys" and focus on the "whats." This distorts our motivation and our work will be improperly motivated for only so long.  If our hearts grow cold, our service becomes lifeless, and our efforts become fruitless. So, for several summers, we have taken a break from the regular Discipleship Team schedule to recharge and refocus together. This summer, we will do the same.

I would like to invite you to "STOKE"; a series of discussions, shared service and shared events designed to bring essential oxygen to the flame. 

(Read more here)

Leadership Fridays: A summary of vision for families at Summitview

I was blessed to look at this again today. It's a summary of our vision and core values as families at Summitview.

I'm posting it as a "Leadership Fridays" post because it reminded me of how critical it is to clearly and consistently remind your "team" of its objectives. What struck me was that this might actually be a little too wordy to remember and I haven't spoken of it in a while. So it's less of a statement of triumph and more of a reminder to diligently stay on target.

GENERATION TRANSFORMATION MISSION
Revealing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world through our families.

OUR CORE VALUES
Every member is growing in a passionate, wholehearted commitment to Jesus Christ (Deut. 6:5) which motivates their love and good deeds (2 Cor. 5:14, Titus 2:11-14). 

Families are teaming together to be involved in the Great Commission. (Matt. 28:19-20)

Husbands are committed to bear the image of Christ (Eph. 5:22-33) by leading their families into a deeper connection with Jesus (John 15:5), the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20) and the Great Commandment (Matt. 22:37-40).

Wives are committed to bear the image of the Church by trusting their God, helping and following their husband’s lead, and loving their husbands and children (Gen. 2:18, Eph. 5:22-33, Titus 2:4-5, and 1 Peter 3:1-6).

Parents are applying Biblical practices and Gospel-centered motives in training, educating and discipling their children. (Prov. 22:6, Prov. 23:13-14, Psalm 127:3-5, and Eph. 6:1-4)

Children are growing in their relationship with God, their obedience to their parents and their service to others. (Eph. 6:1-3, Col. 3:20, Prov. 23:15-25)

Additional Resources
The Family Should Be Valued... For Pointing

"The gospel is... a matter for thought and consideration" -Spurgeon

Some leaders at Summitview will be reading Spurgeon this summer and walking through "Gospel in Life" by Tim Keller (details to come). The goal is to stoke our hearts with the Gospel in such a way that it works out of our lives in every arena - that the Great Commission penetrates all that we do, as opposed to being just another responsibility.

Here is a little sampling from our reading in Spurgeon:

The gospel is a reasonable system, and it appeals to men's understanding; it is a matter for thought and consideration, and it appeals to the conscience and the reflecting powers. Hence if we do not teach men something, we may shout, 'Believe! Believe! Believe!' but what are they to believe? each exhortation requires a corresponding instruction, or it will mean nothing. 'Escape!' From what? This requires for its answer the doctrine of the punishment of sin. 'Fly!' But whither? Then must you preach Christ, and His wounds; yea, and the clear doctrine of atonement by sacrifice. 'Repent!' Of what? Here you must answer such questions as, What is sin? What is the evil of sin? What are the consequences of sin? 'Be converted!' But what is it to be converted? By what power can we be converted? What from? What to?


The field of instruction is wide if men are to be made to know the truth which save. "That the soul be without knowledge, it is not good,' and it is ours as the Lord's instruments to make men so to know the truth that they may believe it, and feel its power. We are not to try and save men in the dark, but in the power of the Holy Ghost we are to seek to turn them from darkness to light.

C. H. Spurgeon, The Soul Winner [11]

Additional Resources (for Summer Leadership Development)

Leadership Fridays: It's unjust to overlook good work

"Can I have honey on my corn muffin?" 

It was chili night at the Majeskis and, in typical fashion, the kids' eyes were first drawn to the pure carbohydrate joy of their corn muffins doused in honey.

"No, sweetheart I want  you to eat your chili first, then you can have the corn muffin." 

This (or something real close) is a common commandment at dinner. One thousand one hundred and thirty seven times prior (approximately) I had reminded the children of this important command and it was about to drive me slightly nuts to do it the 1138th time. That is until I considered the thousands of reminders I have received from my Daddy - reminders much more important and more often ignored.

We finished thanking God for our chili and Whitney (our youngest), began to position her golden prize so it was immediately accessible (whether pre- or post- chili consumption I can't say). At this point Whitney's older brother Maclean, reminded his sister "Whitney, you're not supposed to eat that until you are done with your chili." The squabbling got under my skin and I was just about to launch into the Mac-don't-tattle-just-let-dad-be-dad speech when the Holy Spirit stopped me.

"He is correcting her, so that you will see what you keep missing; he is making the right choice."

Out of shear grace, I turned to that beautiful little boy and said, "Mac, I want you to know that I have seen that you have made a good choice and obeyed daddy. That pleases God buddy." I wasn't prepared for what happened next. Mac literally exploded into a cathartic eruption of laughter and tears. The family was moved and I was deeply convicted. Mac was wound tightly around a simple question, namely, "Does anybody see my right choice?" He was suffering under the tension of that question until the Spirit prompted his dad to answer it.

It was one of the most bittersweet moments I have experienced as a dad. What a joy to see his soul released from that tension! What a burden to see that I had heaped that tension on his little shoulders!

For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. (Hebrews 6.10)

The author of Hebrews is telling us that it would be unjust of God to overlook the love people have shown for his name and it is unjust if we overlook it as well. Who is looking to you with that question; "Do they see my right choice, do they notice me at all?" It is unjust for you to miss it. A good leader, parent, spouse, and friend intentionally looks for moments to celebrate. Look for them and speak words of encouragement. Don't contribute to a pressure to look for answers in sinful ways.

And if you are tempted to believe that there are no grounds for encouragement consider this idea from C.J. Mahaney:

If Paul can say this:

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1.4)

To these guys:

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. (1 Corinthians 5.1)

We have no excuse to miss the evidences of grace in the people we lead.


Additional Resources
You give up a lot, don't give it up for the sake of giving it up.
Shakespeare, suns and a father's weight
Disappointment and the plan of God in a 5 yr-old

Leadership Fridays: A New Middle Road

If our responsibility is to encourage, spur on, shepherd...lead people to follow Jesus, we need to do it first.

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. (John 14.21–24 ESV)

Additional Resources
A Summary of the "Membership, Leadership and Discipleship" series
Leading Yourself - by Dave Kraft at theResurgence

Leadership Fridays: Leaders, you give up a lot. Don't give it up for the sake of giving it up.

From My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers (January 8th):

God nowhere tells us to give up things for the sake of giving them up. He tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having - viz., life with Himself. It is a question of loosening the bands that hinder the life, and immediately those bands are loosened by identification with the death of Jesus, we enter into a relationship with God whereby we can sacrifice our life to Him.

It is of no value to God to give Him your life for death. He wants you to be a "living sacrifice," to let Him have all your powers that have been saved and sanctified through Jesus. This is the thing that is acceptable to God. 

Actually, I don't think any leader gives up things purely for the sake of giving them up. They give them up for the sake of gaining approval or the identity of the sacrificial leader (or some such thing) or they give them up to find life with God.

It is important for us to understand the great privilege that God gives to leaders in the church. We have the opportunity to see God at work in multiply lives - to see evidences of His grace in multiple places. If we hold this view, leadership is a tremendous source of encouragement. Today, consider all that you have seen of God's character; His faithfulness, His grace, His power and His love, because you have taken on the responsibility of a leader. Soon you will discover that you haven't sacrificed a thing.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4.8)

Additional Resources
Grace and the Adventure of Leadership - a stirring message by Mahaney (btw this is the 3rd time I have mentioned it...)

Leadership Fridays: A Summary of "Membership, Leadership and Discipleship"

I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. (1 Timothy 3.14–15)

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, (Ephesians 4.11–13)

Uber-critical to the life and health of any church is an understanding of who we are together, what we are to do and who is responsible to shepherd these things. We open ourselves to division, bad doctrine and wastefulness if these definitions are infused with ideas contrary to Scripture.

Our last Leadership Training Class was a summary of our recent pursuits to define Membership (who we are), Discipleship (what do we do) and Leadership (who shepherds these things). Listen to the message here.

Additional Resources

An outline of the summary (a helpful resource with thorough references)

Two free e-books ("Membership, Leadership and Discipleship" and "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Church")

Do you "feel" called?

Leadership Fridays: Strategic Righteousness

Discussions regarding the idea of righteousness are often associated with what we don't do. This approach is based on the idea that to be righteous is to not lust, be greedy, angry, etc. Something about that shouldn't sit right. The best we can do is to not do... some things? Certainly righteousness is more than that. The change that God desires not inactive, it is productive and proactive. To simply avoid evil and not proactively do good may be the essence of self-righteousness legalism.

This idea from "A Sweet and Bitter Providence" was helpful for me:

"What do a God-saturated man, a God-dependent young woman, and a God-exalting older woman do when they are filled with hope in the sovereign goodness of God? [Referring to Boaz, Ruth and Naomi in Chapter 3 of Ruth] The answer is that they manifest what I am going to call strategic righteousness.

By righteousness I mean a zeal for doing what is good and right - a zeal for doing what is fitting when God is taken into account as sovereign and merciful. By strategic I mean that there is intention, purposefulness, planning. There is a kind of inactive righteousness that simply avoids evil. But strategic righteousness takes the initiative and dreams of how to make things right.

One of the lessons I have learned from this chapter [Chapter 3 of Ruth is that hope helps us dream. Hope helps us think up ways to do good. Hope helps us pursue our ventures with virtue and integrity. It's hopelessness that makes people think that they have to lie and steal and seize illicit pleasures for the moment. But hope, based on the confidence that a sovereign God is for us, gives us a thrilling impulse that I call strategic righteousness."

Now, in my vocabulary, strategic righteousness is just another way of saying leadership. This is what leaders do. As they consider the greatness of God and the sufficiency of the Gospel, their hearts swell into creative, strategic action for the sake of God's glory and the eternal joy of His people.

Has your hope in a sovereign God and his promises in the Gospel stirred in you creative new ideas and initiatives? If so, you are leading. If not... you're not.

Additional Resources
Leadership and the Adventure of Grace (a sermon by C.J. Mahaney - this is a "must listen")