The Gift of Administration

Introduction

Imagine with me for a moment what church would be like without any organizational structure at all. People come and go whenever they please. while the Pastor is up there preaching everyone jumps in to speak whenever they feel like it and take over, no one knows when or if people will show up for the nursery. Babies are left to cry during the whole service. Children play in the aisles and if they are well behaved they still struggle to understand an adult level sermon. Special music is in promtu and no one practices; so that one person with heart but is tone deaf stands up every service in front of everyone to sing. no one else has an opportunity to serve the Lord by singing because their is no schedule and this person always gets up there before anyone else. Money is constantly being spent and no one really knows how much the church has. The facilities are ignored and breaking. In the chaos, people feel ignored and forgotten.

Some Christians by nature do not like any structure or liturgy in the church at all. Usually its comes down to the fact that they want to do what they want to do without anyone else telling them what to do; but without organization and leadership chaos rules and nothing meaningful gets done. Later when Paul would correct the Corinthian church for their misuse of the spiritual gifts he would make this claim after having given rules of order for their use:

1 Corinthians 14:33 “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.” Confusion here means disturbance or disorder. He would end the chapter with this command: 1 Corinthians 14:40 “Let all things be done decently and in order.” Order in the church reflects the character of the God we serve. If Christians are to reflect the glory of God, Christ’s church must manifest that glory by doing things decently and in order. It is no surprise then that God has specifically gifted some individuals to assist in bringing that order into the chaos. This morning we are going to be looking at the gift of ruling, administrations or governance.

This is our sixth gift of the Spirit so let’s review those we have covered so far. Next week, we will have our mother’s day service, but we will conclude the spiritual gifts in Romans 12 the following week on the same day as our Q/A. I want to remind you to be thinking of questions you might want to ask and if you don’t want to speak up but have a question you can write it down and put it in my box.

As with each of the gifts we will follow our threefold divisions: identity, use and directions.

Identity of the Gift

Romans 12:8 “Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.”

This phrase might strike you as odd in the bible because we have no Kings in the church but Christ and pastors are told specifically not to lord over their people; yet there is a place for some to provide leadership and guidance in the church. At the same time, pastors are specifically called to take oversight of the church. There are two words used to describe this gift here and in 1 Cor 12.

προιστημι- proisteimi- emphasis on managing and presiding over

to exercise a position of leadership

to have an interest in, show concern for- I love this second definition because in our secular, sinful world of crony capitalism those in leadership are often only about the bottom line and their own interests. The rich get wealthier on the backs of hard working Americans and few truly care about their employees. But God has not called leaders in the church to be detached from their people.

1 Corinthians 12:28 “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.”

We see a synonym used for ruling or administration in this passage. The word is κυβερνησισ- kyberneisis- one who is responsible for the guiding and organization from the example of a shipmaster that steers a ship- emphasis on steering and guiding

The word is used in settings like managing your children, elders ruling well in the church and those who are over others. With that definition we can define the spiritual gift of administration as:

The Spirit enabled ability to organize, manage, guide and complete tasks, ministries and functions within the church in order to bring God the highest glory by reflecting His character as a God of order.

Use of the Gift

The bible does not give us a whole lot of examples of the use of this gift on a practical level though it does use this word to describe managing your family and employees underneath you, but within the church there are many areas where someone gifted with this spiritual gift could put their gift into use.

Leading the deacons

Leading outreach and community service ministries

Planning and executing VBS, Missions trips, Nursery ministry, Children’s ministries, Care groups

Secretarial work

Administrative assistant to the pastor

I want to take a slight detour to a passage in Exodus 18:13-26 to see why this gift is so important in the life of the church. Moses was trying to lead the multitude of people all on his own. His father in law, Jethro, saw that it was it was having a negative impact or atleast would eventually. So he advised establishing the elder system in Israel. Interestingly, the early church was structured using much the same system of elders. but notice why he advised this course of action:

You will wear away vs 18- eventually pastors can burn out if they are doing it all alone. According to Barna, 91% of pastors are struggling with burnout and between 38-41% are on the verge of quitting the ministry because of it. Three of the four main causes are high stress, divisions, and emotional turmoil. All three of these can be alleviated with administrators other than the pastor.

This people will suffer because you can’t do it all vs 18- Moses wouldn’t be at his best and those things which fell through the cracks could hurt the people

The work is too heavy for one person vs 18- emotional burden and mental burden- Moses was just sitting there all day long

Things will fall through the cracks vs 18- one person can’t do it all so that means some things weren’t getting done

Endurance vs 23

Peace vs 23

Acts 6 shows the apostles and elders delegating administrative work so they wouldn’t have to take care of it. A good administrator can be relied on so well, that the pastor doesn’t have to constantly follow up behind them. They can truly delegate and trust the person to get it done well.

Directions for the Gift

Paul concluded his word to the rulers with directions for how they are to use their gift. He tells them they are to rule, administrate with diligence.

Diligence-

Swiftness

Passionate commitment to the discharge of an obligation

Why would administrators need to be told to do it with diligence?

Requires intentionality and not casual effort. You can’t just say if it happens it will happen.

Likewise, the work of maintaining something requires consistent effort. You can’t be the type of person who starts well but never finishes the task.

Doing a job well also requires your heart to be in it. If you aren’t passionate about leading it, others will not be passionate about doing it.

Sometimes jobs can stretch on and on forever or they get lost in the planning phase. This passionate commitment causes the administrator to execute their plan with swiftness.

Conclusion

One of the best examples of an administrator is Nehemiah. back in Persia, Nehemiah had served as the cupbearer which might seem like a menial serving boy, but it was a high political position. He was responsible for the King’s safety, had access to the King and was trusted by the King. This gave him influence, authority and resources. Eventually, he heard about the problems in Israel that the people were defenseless and it grieved him so much so that the king noticed. Nehemiah was then trusted and placed in charge of the work of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. From his example we can see some characteristics of administrators who are walking in the Spirit:

They have a vision for what needs to be done Neh 1:1-4

They can share their vision and draw other into it Neh 2:17-18

They pay attention to details Neh 7:66-67

They require faithfulness in those they work with In multiple passages, Nehemiah held the people financially accountable for the work, spiritually accountable for their relationship with god, forced structures of rest during the sabbath, called the people to purity and order and organized their labor.

This gift can also be used in the flesh.

Rulers can become bullies 1 Peter 5:3 “Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.”

Can delegate and then not be involved in the work themselves Romans 2:21 “Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?”

Can be overly harsh with those under them Ephesians 6:9 “And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.”

Can become proud in their position Ephesians 6:9 “And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.”