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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
In America these days, our daily news seems to be filled with three consuming priorities:
* First, the ongoing discussions in Washington regarding the impeachment of our President,
* Second, the sometimes raucous and flamboyant statements of politicians in an election year,
* Third, the very serious, expensive, volatile and sometimes life and death issues that our leadership face every day, as they evaluate America’s role in the world and make the decisions which chart that course.
What would happen if the leaders involved in these three priorities would add a more important priority… discerning what God wants to do in and through America in our world, for His glory, and the accomplishment of His global purposes?
We’re reading together Paul’s first leadership instruction letter to Timothy, whom Paul left in Ephesus with the assignment to teach and draw the Christians there to effectively follow Jesus, the Head of His church, as Jesus accomplishes God’s purposes in Ephesus.
Now I have a question for all of us… does God have purposes He wants to accomplish where you live, where-ever you live in our world? And as you look over the landscape of your region, do you see some people of God, who in early 2020, are making it their priority to be fully available to Jesus, for all He wants to accomplish, and are they earnestly seeking to discern what that means for them as they follow Jesus daily? Now think deeply about this for a moment my friends, how different our world would be.
Let’s look together at 1 Timothy 5 beginning in verse 17 today, where Paul writes to Timothy: “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.” What do you think that phrase ‘direct the affairs of the church well’ means? What is ‘the work of the church’ in 2020 in our complex, often dysfunctional world?
What if Jesus came again to be among us physically, bodily so all could see Him, and what if, for 2020 Jesus was the resident leader of your church, would anything change in your church?
What if Jesus met with all the Pastors, Priests and Rabbi’s in your city every week, and gave them each instructions on how best to lead all God’s people in your region to BE and DO what Jesus knows is God’s desire and best for where you live… what would happen if those clergy did exactly what Jesus told them?
Many churches, especially in North America, have become complex organizations and so that phrase “direct the affairs of the church” often requires staff like a big business caring for properties, facilities, complex financial operations, large staffs of people needing management, global outreach through missions, local outreach through many different endeavors and of course ever increasing amounts of technology expertise. That’s why I ask, ‘what if Jesus was the Senior Pastor of your church’?
From the days of Moses when large numbers of God’s people needed leadership, we see how seriously God takes this matter of leadership of God’s people. Throughout the Old Testament we find the stories of God disciplining those in leadership who did not lead well. In some cases it cost them their lives! Numbers 16 is a good example of that. May I give you another memorable example?
Moses, perhaps the greatest leader of God’s people of all time, frequently met with God to discern how God wanted him to lead, and he led well. But do you remember why God did not allow Moses to lead the people into the Promised Land? That heartbreaking story is in Numbers 20. The nearly 2 million Hebrews wandering in the desert under Moses leadership were desperately thirsty. They were again rising up in opposition to Moses’ leadership. Moses went to meet with God and seek God’s guidance.
Once again God gave Moses a miraculous plan. God said “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to the rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water… so Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence… he and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, ‘Listen to me you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?’ Then Moses raised his am and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out and the community and their livestock drank. But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not trust in Me enough to honor Me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” (Numbers 20:1-12)
How does your heart respond to that my friends? Do you see God’s priority is that He is always honored by the leaders of His people, as they trust in Him and follow Him obediently? Do you see Moses took matters into his own hands and assumed responsibility to solve the problem his way by striking the rock, as God had once before instructed him, rather than speaking to the rock, in God’s name, and drawing the people to see God’s glory in a miracle only God could do? Moses was disobedient, even though he had been given clear instructions from God. Moses was angry.
Leadership of God’s people is a high and holy calling with very high accountability to God. Why? Because it is through God’s people that God accomplishes His purposes in our world.
Now watch this carefully my friends. This does not mean God accomplishes His purposes ONLY or even PRIMARILY through the church budget, the church ministries, the church staff, the church campus. Oh no… the true church is the people of God, so this means it is Monday-Saturday, as ‘the church’, the people of God, are scattered by God all over the world in their jobs, their schools, their neighborhoods, their social groups… that is where God is strategically at work accomplishing His purposes in the marketplace, the schools, the medical facilities, the neighborhoods, the courtrooms etc. Do you see that friends?
God’s people, each living in full obedience to Jesus, as we each discern and obediently follow His personal instructions to us by His Holy Spirit at work in us… this is how we BE and DO what Jesus would BE and DO if He were in our shoes everyday, where-ever we live life!! And this is how Jesus accomplishes THROUGH His people, all around the world, the Purposes of God for the good of our world and for God’s glory! Now ponder that my friends!
Now how different do you suppose your community would be, if EVERY Christian in your community lived like that, and every church in your community helped the people in their church learn to live everyday like that?
This is why it’s so important that 1 Timothy 5:17 is happening as Jesus would lead it to happen if He were leader of your church. That’s why the ‘preaching and teaching’ is so important, because God’s Word is where all of us discern what God is saying to us about HOW to be His obedient people, discerning and accomplishing His purposes as the Holy Spirit leads us, each of us, all of us!
I think it might be best to stop right here, and invite us all to spend a few moments praying for the church that you are part of, and all the key leaders of your church who ‘direct the affairs of the church’. I hope through our discussion today, we understand how to pray for these leaders as they are entrusted with the privilege and the God given responsibility, of leading your church in knowing and following Jesus, to accomplish in your community all Jesus wants to accomplish there for God’s glory.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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