Leadership 2025 2/2
Notes
Transcript
Lectionary Readings:
Psalm 111
2 Timothy 2:8-15
Luke 17:11-19
Sermon Series: Answering the Call (Part 2 of 2) Sermon Title: The Approved Worker's Promise
The Approved Worker's Promise
The Approved Worker's Promise
Sermon Series: Answering the Call (Part 2 of 2)
Good morning,
Last Sunday, we began our series, Answering the Call, as we welcomed new members into our fellowship.
Last week I sppoke about how belonging leads to serving and the foundational promises that bind us together as a church.
We reflected on those foundational promises that bind us together as the Church — promises to pray for one another, to serve together, and to live out a sincere faith that is rooted in Christ’s love.
We said that every believer is called — not just the minister, not just the stewards or leaders, but every one of us — called to a life of worship, service, and witness.
Today, we build on that foundation.
If last week was about the call that belongs to all Christians, today is about the particular call of those who lead — those whom God and the Church set apart for service.
As we prayerfully discern who God may be calling to serve as society stewards, Paul’s words to Timothy give us a vivid image of leadership:
15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.
That’s quite a job description, isn’t it?
An approved worker —
not perfect, but faithful; not flawless, but focused.
Our Methodist liturgy for The Dedication of Leaders and Office Bearers asks three questions — three promises — that together describe what it means to be such a worker.
Focus
Character
Purpose
They speak to the leader’s focus, the leader’s character, and the leader’s purpose.
The Leader’s Focus:
A Divine Vocation in Partnership
The Leader’s Focus:
A Divine Vocation in Partnership
(5 minutes)
The first question our liturgy asks is this:
“Do you believe that you are called by God and the Church to serve?”
That’s not a small question.
It draws the line between volunteering and vocation.
Between doing something because someone asked nicely, and doing something because God called you to it.
Paul says to Timothy, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved.”
Notice who the audience is — not the congregation, not the minister, not the quarterly meeting.
The first audience is God.
That’s liberating.
If my first accountability is to God, then leadership is not about popularity, but faithfulness.
It’s not about filling a gap on the roster — it’s about answering a call from heaven.
When a leader serves with that focus, it changes everything.
It frees us from people-pleasing and opens us to God-pleasing.
And here’s the beautiful Methodist truth: God’s call is always a shared call.
No one leads alone.
Jesus sent disciples two by two.
Paul speaks of his companions as “fellow workers.”
In that spirit, the call of a steward is not solitary.
It is a partnership — a covenant between minister and steward, both serving the same Lord.
The minister vows to be a “faithful shepherd” of Christ’s flock; the steward responds, “And I will help you shepherd. I will stand with you.”
Society stewards are instructed in the Book of Order - to ‘co-operate with the minister’ - in effect becoming an extension of the minister’s ministry…
That’s holy work.
When hard decisions come, the question is not “What will people think?” but “What is God calling us to do together?”
When criticism comes — and it will — we remember: we are here by God’s call, not by the crowd’s approval.
That focus gives courage.
It gives integrity.
It gives joy.
So first: the leader’s focus — a divine vocation in partnership.
Focus
Character
Purpose
The Leader’s Character:
A Disciplined and Unashamed Walk
The Leader’s Character:
A Disciplined and Unashamed Walk
The next vow moves from focus to formation.
The liturgy asks:
“Will you accept the discipline of the Church?”
“Will you be faithful in worship, in prayer, and in reading the Holy Scriptures?”
Now we’re talking about the inner life — about who we are when nobody’s watching.
15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.
Paul says, “Be a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”
An unashamed worker — what a phrase.
It means someone whose life matches their words.
Someone whose public service flows from private devotion.
Someone who can stand before God and say, “Lord, I have tried to be faithful.”
Leadership begins not in the boardroom but in the prayer room.
A leader who doesn’t pray will soon find that meetings become battles instead of blessings.
A leader who doesn’t listen for God’s Word will soon find it hard to speak a word of grace when conflict comes.
As Will Willimon once said, too many church committees are “like tired people arguing about how to wake up the congregation.”
You can’t light a fire in others if you’re cold yourself.
Accepting “the discipline of the Church” doesn’t mean becoming a spiritual robot.
It means living accountably — letting the community of faith keep us honest, reminding us who we are.
It means allowing others to speak the truth in love when we lose our way.
For stewards, this disciplined walk builds trust — and trust is the currency of ministry.
A minister must be able to trust the stewards: to keep confidences, to act with integrity, to be reliable.
When that trust exists, the whole church breathes easier.
The minister can lead without fear; the people can serve without suspicion.
16 Avoid profane chatter, for it will lead people into more and more impiety,
Paul contrasts this with “irreverent babble,” gossip that spreads like gangrene.
A church leader who speaks carelessly, or who carries grudges, can wound deeply.
But a leader of quiet integrity, humility, and faithfulness creates an atmosphere where God’s Spirit can move freely.
When a congregation knows its leaders are trustworthy — oh, then the church can sing again!
They can argue without dividing, decide without destroying, and give generously because they know the money will be used wisely.
That’s the power of character.
So second: the leader’s character — a disciplined and unashamed walk.
Focus
Character
Purpose
The Leader’s Purpose:
A Shared Missional Work
The Leader’s Purpose:
A Shared Missional Work
(5 minutes)
Finally, the last vow brings it all together:
“Will you work with us in the mission and ministry of the Church?”
That’s the why.
Why all this focus? Why this discipline?
Because of mission.
10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
Paul says, “I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus.”
Paul doesn’t serve for comfort or convenience.
He serves for the sake of others.
And so do we.
In Luke 17, ten lepers cry out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
Jesus heals them all — ten lives restored, ten families reunited, ten futures reopened.
But only one — a Samaritan, a foreigner — returns to give thanks.
And Jesus asks, “Were not ten made clean? But where are the nine?”
That one healed man becomes a kind of church all by himself.
The first member of a new worshiping community.
Healing leads to gratitude, and gratitude becomes worship.
That’s what the Church is — a community of healed people who can’t stop saying “thank you.”
And that’s where our stewards come in.
While the minister focuses on Word and Sacrament — preaching, teaching, baptizing, serving communion — the stewards make thanksgiving possible.
They prepare the space.
They welcome the stranger.
They count the offering, keep the building open, ensure that worship can happen decently and in order.
Their ministry is the scaffolding that holds up the proclamation of the gospel.
It’s what turns a building into a sanctuary, a service into an act of thanksgiving.
You might say: the steward provides the place where the Samaritan can come back and say “thank you.”
Minister and steward, both are co-workers in the gospel.
Both endure “for the sake of the elect.”
Both share one purpose: that Christ may be known and loved, here and in all the world.
So the third mark of the approved worker: a shared missional work.
Focus
Character
Purpose
Answering the Call
Answering the Call
(2–3 minutes)
Last week, we talked about the promises every member makes.
Today, we’ve looked at the promises of those who lead —
to answer God’s call in partnership,
to live a disciplined and unashamed life,
and to share in the mission of the Church.
This is a high and holy calling.
But hear this — it is not a call to perfection.
It’s a call to willingness.
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us;
Paul tells Timothy, “If we endure, we will also reign with him.”
Christ doesn’t call the perfect; he perfects the called.
He approves those who show up with open hands and humble hearts.
So who is God calling today?
Who will step forward to be an approved worker — focused on God, shaped by discipline, devoted to mission?
Maybe it’s you.
Maybe God has been whispering, nudging, inviting you into something more.
Friends, leadership in the Church is not about power.
It’s about gratitude.
It’s about saying, “Lord, you have healed me. You have saved me. How can I say thank you?”
May our service, our leadership, our very lives be acts of thanksgiving —
our way of falling at Jesus’ feet and saying, “Thank you, Lord.”
Prayer
Prayer
Faithful God,
our Master and our Maker,
thank you for the high calling to be your co-workers.
Help us to hear your voice,
to serve with integrity,
and to always remember that we serve for the sake of others.
Shape us into workers who have no need to be ashamed,
ready for every good work,
for your honour and your glory,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
