In case you missed them, you can catch the previous posts in this series here:
Intro
Part One - I Can't Get No Satisfaction
Keeping Bathsheba Out of Your Bed Part 2
Long ago I worked with a guy who often said, "I need the ministry more than it needs me." While that may seem like a very gracious way of saying that the mission is bigger than any one person, he actually meant that without having to prepare sermons he might not actually read the Bible or seek God. I'm not throwing any stones (at least not heavy ones). God knows I've needed the ministry too.
In a recent job interview, I was asked what my biggest regret was. (I'll be honest... I never give the right "you wanna hire me" answer. I know this about me, so don't tell me this was the wrong answer. Trust me - I know.) I confessed that there were times when I had an unhealthy relationship with ministry. That there were times when I needed to get my paycheck from a church in order to feel good. It was self-esteem, love, accomplishment, even an imitation of godliness. There were times the church served me more than I served the church. Thankfully, my interviewer understood completely and appreciated the honesty. She even confessed to having done the same... I still didn't get the job though.
.png)
Viewing leadership or ministry for what it can give you or what it can do for you is dangerous and can lead to moral failure. Leaders who fail morally either get lazy about building the kingdom and reaching people outside of it, or they feel like the kingdom is for them. We see this in the story of David with Bathsheba found in 2Samuel 11-12.
At the time of year when kings went off to war, we find David walking around the roof of his palace. Now I don't want to read more into that than the passage says, but I will say there is at least one other instance in scripture when a guy was taken to a high place to overlook kingdoms and face temptation. He did far better than David in the situation. What do you think was going through David's mind up there on that roof? I don't think he went up there looking for a hook up. I don't think leaders who fail morally do so with that kind of determined forethought. Like we talked about in the beginning, it's a subtle drift.
No, I think David was walking around feeling really good about what he saw - his kingdom, his people, his accomplishments. The problem is none of that really was his. It wasn't His kingdom. They weren't his people, and I would argue that none of it was an accomplishment to his personal credit. And later when the prophet Nathan rebukes David over sleeping with another man's wife, killing the man and covering it up, he proves this. Nathan told a story of a man who had everything and still took another man's sole possession. David hated the story and vowed to bring justice to the wealthy man for what he did... but David was that wealthy man. God then speaks through Nathan and lists the possessions, the position and the people He'd given David - "and if that had been too little, I would have given you more."
Leadership is stewardship, and more is a gift not an accomplishment.
As leaders, I think we know that... we just drift from that. We work hard so it feels like an accomplishment when things go well - when offerings are up, seats are filled and people follow. But those things are all God's to give, God's to take away, and ours to account for. I doubt that if David had seen Bathsheba as a responsibility he would have treated her like a commodity. I doubt that if he'd seen his resources as a stewardship he would have wasted them like he did Uriah. Human resources ought not be squandered any more than financial ones. I doubt that if he'd seen his own position as a gift from God he would have thought himself to be above the justice he intended to mete out.
Whether leading a church, ministry, business or home, we can avoid the pitfalls of moral failure with regular self-assessment:
Thine - Yours, God - is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Intro
Part One - I Can't Get No Satisfaction
Keeping Bathsheba Out of Your Bed Part 2
Long ago I worked with a guy who often said, "I need the ministry more than it needs me." While that may seem like a very gracious way of saying that the mission is bigger than any one person, he actually meant that without having to prepare sermons he might not actually read the Bible or seek God. I'm not throwing any stones (at least not heavy ones). God knows I've needed the ministry too.
In a recent job interview, I was asked what my biggest regret was. (I'll be honest... I never give the right "you wanna hire me" answer. I know this about me, so don't tell me this was the wrong answer. Trust me - I know.) I confessed that there were times when I had an unhealthy relationship with ministry. That there were times when I needed to get my paycheck from a church in order to feel good. It was self-esteem, love, accomplishment, even an imitation of godliness. There were times the church served me more than I served the church. Thankfully, my interviewer understood completely and appreciated the honesty. She even confessed to having done the same... I still didn't get the job though.
Viewing leadership or ministry for what it can give you or what it can do for you is dangerous and can lead to moral failure. Leaders who fail morally either get lazy about building the kingdom and reaching people outside of it, or they feel like the kingdom is for them. We see this in the story of David with Bathsheba found in 2Samuel 11-12.
At the time of year when kings went off to war, we find David walking around the roof of his palace. Now I don't want to read more into that than the passage says, but I will say there is at least one other instance in scripture when a guy was taken to a high place to overlook kingdoms and face temptation. He did far better than David in the situation. What do you think was going through David's mind up there on that roof? I don't think he went up there looking for a hook up. I don't think leaders who fail morally do so with that kind of determined forethought. Like we talked about in the beginning, it's a subtle drift.
No, I think David was walking around feeling really good about what he saw - his kingdom, his people, his accomplishments. The problem is none of that really was his. It wasn't His kingdom. They weren't his people, and I would argue that none of it was an accomplishment to his personal credit. And later when the prophet Nathan rebukes David over sleeping with another man's wife, killing the man and covering it up, he proves this. Nathan told a story of a man who had everything and still took another man's sole possession. David hated the story and vowed to bring justice to the wealthy man for what he did... but David was that wealthy man. God then speaks through Nathan and lists the possessions, the position and the people He'd given David - "and if that had been too little, I would have given you more."
Leadership is stewardship, and more is a gift not an accomplishment.
As leaders, I think we know that... we just drift from that. We work hard so it feels like an accomplishment when things go well - when offerings are up, seats are filled and people follow. But those things are all God's to give, God's to take away, and ours to account for. I doubt that if David had seen Bathsheba as a responsibility he would have treated her like a commodity. I doubt that if he'd seen his resources as a stewardship he would have wasted them like he did Uriah. Human resources ought not be squandered any more than financial ones. I doubt that if he'd seen his own position as a gift from God he would have thought himself to be above the justice he intended to mete out.
Whether leading a church, ministry, business or home, we can avoid the pitfalls of moral failure with regular self-assessment:
- By asking ourselves if we'll build the Kingdom today by going to war for those who don't know God yet?
- By reminding ourselves that none of this is ours, none of this is for us, and none of this is about us.
Thine - Yours, God - is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. Amen.