Lead Team Retreat Sermon - Grace to keep going

As most of you know, this past semester was one of the most challenging semesters we’ve ever had as a team. We all had our different various trials, but almost of all of us walked through something hard this semester.

Some of us encountered loss.

Some of us encountered new seasons of life or major change.

Some of us enountered hard family situations.

Some of us encountered hard friend situations.

Money was tight for some (probably most) of us.

The days were long for all of us, and exhaustion was a feeling that we all encountered.

No matter what it was that made last semester hard for you, we all had something that made our life challenging.

In the midst of these challenges, ministry did not stop. Church did not stop. Assignments did not stop. The bridge, and the rest of the church did not stop.

These challenges ended up being added stress on top of our responsibilities rather than something we could stop and deal with.

It seems that so often when things are going good, whether that be in our personal lives, or our ministry, the devil attacks even harder.

When we are faced with these challenges, we have two options: back off or press in.

The choice to back off can seem like the logical one. It is excusable, life is crazy right now, and I will get back to my faith when life calms down.

It seems like the easy and right choice. It is so often our first instinct to back off from the thing that gives us life to deal with the things that are distractions right in front of us.

Think about it. When you have a busy schedule, what is often the first thing to get cut or forgotten?

Most of the time it is our Bible reading and prayer time. It feels like the easiest thing to let go of because its not immediately in front of us.

Our other option in this situation is to press in. These seems counterintuitive because when life gets crazy we normally want to cut the things we need to do down, but we cut outsleves off from the source of life when we do this.

I have often heard it said that the devil doesn’t need to defeat you if he can distract you. That is the enemies greatest tactic to make Christians ineffective. If the circumstances in your life become crazy and everything around you seems to be a level 10 issue, chances are it will pull some energy away from our relationship with God.

This last semester was crazy for all of us, and I think we all saw how it affected our productivity and attitude as a team throughout the semester. There is no doubt in my mind that life will not stop being crazy or having circumstances that are less than ideal.

It is imperitive that as leaders we push ourselves to press in. Our response cannot be to pull back and put ministry on the back burner. This will not yeild the results we want for ourselves, or our ministry.

I want us to take a look 2 Corinthians where Paul talks about encountering situations like these in his own life.

In this passage, Paul is addressing some leaders in the Corinthian church who were both teaching an incorrect gospel, but also were self righteous and boasting about themselves. Paul writes this to correct them and to prove his validity through the things he has endured for the church.

2 Corinthians 11:24–31 CSB

24 Five times I received the forty lashes minus one from the Jews. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. 26 On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, and dangers among false brothers; 27 toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and without clothing. 28 Not to mention other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? 30 If boasting is necessary, I will boast about my weaknesses. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows I am not lying.

In this passage, Paul immediately starts by listing out all of the things he has endured in his ministry. No matter what we went through last semester, I feel confident that none of us have had it as bad as Paul did. Paul was beaten. Paul was stoned. Paul was shipwrecked and stranded in the ocean, and Paul was constantly in danger.

Paul then starts listing things that he suffered through that start to feel a little more relatable.

Paul went through major toil and hardship. This looked a little different for Paul than it does for us, but we will all face toil and hardship as leaders.

Paul went through sleepless nights, which is something we will all encounter at some point in ministry.

Paul felt the pressure of ministry and the concern for the people he was shepherding. If we truly understand the weight of what we are doing in ministry, then we will feel both of those things.

Paul suffered for the ministry, which is what proved his loyalty.

Anyone can claim to be a leader. Anyone can walk in to a place and wear the title of a teacher, or mentor, but it is your actions that prove your leadership.

If people see you endure suffering for the cause, they know you are a real leader. This is what separates a true leader from someone who just wants the title. As we enter this semester, we don’t want to just be people with the title of leader.

We don’t want leaders who just wear the badge. We want leaders whose actions prove their leadership.

Paul did not boast to say “look at me”.

Paul boasted in his suffering to prove that he was committed to the cause. Anyone can be a leader when times are good, but it is in the midst of trials that real leadership shines through.

Paul shows us that a true leader boasts in their weakness. This shows a full dependence on God to be all.

Paul boasts, but he boasts that he knows his heart is in the right place for his leadership. He says that his weakness and reliance on God is what makes him a strong leader.

Great leadership moves forward and endures the trials. Tanner talked last night about being dependent on God, not half and half. If we are fully dependent on God, we know that He will sustain us during the trials. This will empower us to lead through the trials. That is why Paul could confidently boast about the trials he has endured, because Paul knew that it was his weakness and dependence on God that got him through.

The same must be true for us. We will endure trials this semester.

There is no doubt about that because the enemy loves to disrupt a good thing. A full depenedence on God is what will allow us to lead even when life gets crazy.

We then go on to see how Paul responds to his suffering.

2 Corinthians 12:6–10 CSB

6 For if I want to boast, I wouldn’t be a fool, because I would be telling the truth. But I will spare you, so that no one can credit me with something beyond what he sees in me or hears from me, 7 especially because of the extraordinary revelations. Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself. 8 Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. 10 So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul knows that he is committed to the ministry. He knows that he could be accused of being a prideful leader, which is why he says he will spare them from his boasting.

He knows that he has endured a lot through the ministry, and that he has given everything he has to this cause, so his boasting is not in a place of pride.

Paul also mentions how the Lord humbled him by putting a thorn in his flesh and not removing it.

We don’t know what thorn Paul had in his flesh, but we do know that it kept him reliant on God.

If you have done ministry or really anything as a Christian, we know that we all have that one thorn in our flesh. This is that one thing in our life that we think our life would be better without.

This looks different for all of us, but I’m sure we all have that one thing that we would change if we could.

I’m sure like Paul, most of us have also asked God to remove this thing from us, and no matter what our desire is, it is still there.

In the midst of this thorn in his flesh, Paul knew that God’s grace was enough to get him through, even in his weakness.

Paul’s response to all of the hard things in his life is to boast in his weakness.

What does this look like?

It means that we give up control of every situation and let God be God.

We don’t try to change the situations or let them interfere with the ministry we are doing.

Wen boast in the fact that God is sovereign, and it will all go according to His plan. If God’s plan is for me to endure this hardship, then for the glory of God, I will face it head on.

I will have confidence in the fact that the plan for my life rests in God’s hand, and there is no hardship, no struggle, no loss, no anything that can seperate us from His plan for our lives.

Paul ends with verse 10

2 Corinthians 12:10 CSB

10 So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I think this is a powerful way to transition us from what we encountered as a team last semester to what God is going to do through us and in us this semester.

Everything Paul listed in verse 10 is something that we endured as a team last semester.

Not all of them knocked us down, but some of them did knock us off course.

Paul models what leadership looks like in these situations.

When things are tough and we endure things we would never choose for the ministry, take pleasure in those things. Take pleasure in your weakness and the lack of control you have for your life.

Your weakness highlights God’s soveriengty, and it will ultimately make you strong in your faith.

As we encounter this semester, the trials are not going to stop.

Let us be the leaders who prove their loyalty by the things we endure for ministry, BUT, let us also be the leaders who boast in our weakness.

Let us be the ones who set the tone of us being nothing so that God is everything. If we boast in our weakness, we will ultimately see the stong faith that comes from that.

As we go into this response time, I want us all to take a few minutes and think about the things that we need to become weak in. Think about the areas of your life where you have asked God to remove the thorn from your flesh, but He has left it to remind you of who writes your story.

Let’s pray