Church Leadership

Burlington – Church Leadership 1-14-2023

Scriptures: Ephesians 4:4-5, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 1 Corinthians 12:26-31, Matthew 28:19-20, Matthew 20:22-28, Matthew 25:31-40, John 16:33, 2 Corinthians 3:4-6,

(SLIDE) (Greeting & Prayer).

(SLIDE) As we work our way through this series on what we believe in the Church of God we’re in the subject of leadership today. Specifically church leadership, which isn’t that difficult of a subject, is it. I mean, the bible is filled with the stories of leaders. Almost all of whom failed at some point in time, yes? Except for one, who turned the worldly idea of leadership on its head.

(SLIDE) Last week in talking about membership in the church. We do not have membership here in Burlington, because every blood washed one is welcome. In the Church of God Anderson, we celebrate and practice the ordinations of baptism, communion, and foot washing. We also believe in God’s ability physically heal us, and anointing with oil, but those are things we take on faith, not ordinances. There’s a difference. We looked at this scripture Paul was writing to the church in Ephesus. Ephesians 4:4-5 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

(SLIDE) We also, if you remember, looked at part of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. We had looked at Chapter 12 verses 12-20, but just to refresh our memories here’s Corinthians 12:12-13. 12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. The Holy Spirit, given to us as a gift of God, the helper, as Jesus told the disciples, that will lead us into all truth. And you can see a great example of how all of us here in Burlington fit both that scripture, and the concept of leadership representing Christ in the community this past week.

(SLIDE) You know our fellowship hall downstairs was ok when it was just us meeting together on Wednesday evenings to break bread and share from the word of God. (SLIDE) The way the room looked was just fine when we gathered a month ago to make Christmas cookies to give away. (SLIDE) Nearly everyone last Sunday helped prepare our fellowship hall downstairs for Linda Prichard’s memorial this week. I worked on it all Sunday afternoon after church. Nancy and her aunts, along with Lou Ann Ball worked on it Monday. I was here again on Tuesday and Wednesday morning at 7:30. So as a congregation of believers in Jesus Christ. (SLIDE) As a family, and as leaders in this community, we welcomed around 100 people here on Wednesday. (SLIDE). How will they know us? They will know us by our love. By how we take care of each other. When Paul was writing to the church in Corinth about how we are all members of the same body, the body of the church of Christ, he continues after what we read least week.

(SLIDE) 1 Corinthians 12:26-31 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts.

We’ve previously talked about the Holy Spirit, and briefly touched on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which some denominations use as evidence of salvation within their congregations, but we’ll have that conversation in detail in February. Wednesday while the family and friends were eating and sharing memories of Linda Sue, after changing out of my suit back into black jeans and a turtleneck, I started helping Lou Ann and Nancy’s aunts around the kitchen and fellowship hall.

(SLIDE) You might have noticed then when you entered the lobby this morning. And I overheard something similar to what Tim had said a couple of months ago on a Wednesday evening. “I’ve never seen a pastor do dishes before.” Lou Ann or one of Nancy’s aunts said “I’ve never seen a pastor help like that before.” Now, I must be careful here, because the minute a sermon becomes about me, we’ve veered off track. So, let’s consider this a brief testimony if you will. If we were a large congregation with a hundred or two hundred adults participating every week, then we would have a dozen or so women and men appointed to serve in a leadership capacity over areas such as buildings, finance, adult discipleship, community outreach, global missions. I mean depending on the extent of ministry and reach the Burlington congregation wants to have in sharing the gospel, we can reach as wide and far as the Lord provides. Because we know what Christ commands all Christians to lead in, right? The great commission.

Matthew 28:19-20 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

So, when I hear someone say, in a congregation our size, that they’ve never seen a pastor serve the congregation, it saddens me. I come from a congregation in St. Joseph where all of the pastors served not only the congregation, but each other, the community and the families of those God places before them. I said last week that God didn’t send me here to judge anyone in this room, or watching online even. As Paul said “Christ came to save sinners of whom I am the worst.” I have no call to judge anyone and there would be a line from here to Tekonsha of folks would be willing to tell you what they remember or believe about me to tell you all about my failures.

(SLIDE) In Matthew’s testimony, Chapter 20 after the parable in the laborers in the vineyard, where the last will be first and the first will be last. Jesus tells the disciples for a third time, that he’s going to be killed, and, as it can be with us. Their minds are so full of other thoughts and activities they completely miss what he’s telling them. So does the momma Zebedee, mother of James and John, the sons of Thunder. How embarrassing this would be. Your mom drags you in front of the Lord, and asks that in His kingdom, her sons can sit at the right hand and left hand of the king. (Mom, what are you doing?). Let’s look at his response.

Matthew 20:22-28. 22 Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23 He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” 24 And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

You see, my master’s thesis at Siena Heights, a Catholic University in Adrian founded by the Dominican Sisters in 1919 included research on Transformational Leadership theory. How do leaders effectively and positively motivate their employees and team members to achieve better outcomes for the company, the customers, for themselves, their families, the community at large. When I began my doctoral research I instead used Servant Leadership theory, working with nonprofits across Michigan from Grand Rapids down to Indiana, an over to Battle Creek and Flint. Our region.

(SLIDE) You might be familiar with or heard the name John Maxwell, a prolific teacher and writer. Dr. Maxwell has a bachelor’s degree from Circleville Bible College, a Master’s in Divinity at Azusa Pacific University. By the way their president is named Jon R. Wallace as well. That’s not me. John Maxwell’s PhD in Ministry comes from Fuller Theological Seminary. One of his most often quoted sentences is A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. While that’s not necessarily part of servant leadership theory, it is, don’t you think, a very apt description of the leadership we have from the witnesses who walked this earth with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

(SLIDE) I showed you an image last week, of Christ washing the feet of the disciples after they took communion at the last supper. That very day, earlier Jesus called the disciples to him to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

(SLIDE) So if you see me emptying trash. Washing dishes. Cooking to feed whomever comes into this building. If you see me growing out my hair and portraying Christ, ok, maybe that would be better as portraying Moses these days. And writing this in preparation for this morning brought me to tears, thinking of the sacrifice that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ made for us. The example He sets throughout the eyewitness testimony we have in the gospels is of someone, though in the highest authority and leadership position, turned the idea of leadership upside down. Right? The father, the son and the Holy Spirit are one.

(SLIDE) At any point in time, Jesus could have called down the power of the Most High, the creator of the universe and destroyed His enemies on the spot. He could have killed those, who instead tortured him, and crucified him on a cross. He demonstrated the ultimate level of leadership that you and I cannot possibly replicate. He gave himself as a servant, as a sacrifice, that my sins, that your sins, might be forgiven through Jesus’ death and resurrection. That we might come to a place of having and intimate, personal relationship with the creator God. That by the power of the Holy Spirit we might be able to overcome sin in our lives, and then live a life of service. Just as He calls us to.

Robert Greenleaf is the author and founder of the Center for Servant Leadership which didn’t come about until the 1970’s wrote this. “It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, (more independent) more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?”

Sound familiar? Again, Matthew’s testimony in Matthew 25:31-40 31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

(SLIDE) You can read on your own this week, what happens to those who then complain to the Lord that they never saw him hungry, or thirsty, or naked, or sick, or in prison, or in any other condition that someone needed to be ministered to, but in their busy lives, in their need to hoard their assets, their need for self-gratification, they weren’t able to see what’s going on around them and offer some measure of sacrifice and assistance. Hell is the absence of God’s presence. There are far too many of us living in a temporary hell now on this earth because we are so far from where He wants us to be. We are separated from the God who created us and wants us to have an intimate and personal relationship with us. That He can heal us from pain, and suffering and sin and death. Not always in the way we expect. Yes. Jesus said, in this world you will have trouble, you will have pain and suffering. But take heart, for I have overcome the world. John 16:33. 33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Praise God. In a conversation about church leadership. There is only one leader of our church of our congregation. And it is not me. It is not the board of directors here. It is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen? As a 134 year old congregation we have bylaws. And should the Lord our God bless this congregation to grow again in ways that we need bureaucratic board and committee positions again to accomplish His purposes in this community, this region, the state, our nation and the entire world. Then we can have deeper conversations about what the bible says, some scriptures listed in your bulletin regarding pastors (Eph 4:11), elders (Acts 20:17), overseers (1 Tim 3:1-7), or shepherds (1 Pet 5:1-2). Servant leaders whether men or women, who lead by example (Heb 13:7, 1 Tim 3) and be able to teach sound doctrine (Tit 1,2). That’s not today in the small family of believers that we are. We’re still called to serve each other, and our neighbors, whomever they may be and wherever their walk is currently, without judgment. Amen?

Let’s conclude today with Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth. There most certainly were more than 2 letters, but in 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

(SLIDE) You and I don’t live by the letter of the law. And we don’t look on leadership or behave as leaders the way the world does, using leadership as a means to self-gain, self-profit, wealth, popularity and celebrity. That’s evil. That’s what the enemy does. We look upon leadership by the example of a servant from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a sacrifice that we might have eternal life. That by the power of His Holy Spirit, we might serve others with peace, love, hope and joy that they will come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, believing that God raised him from the dead. What must I do to be saved? What must I do to inherit eternal life? What must we do? Today? This week? To serve as Christ, not asks, but commands us to do. Something to chew on this afternoon and this week in your prayers.