A King’s Conscience and A Leadership Failure

What rules your decision making? What drives you to the choices you make? These are critical questions for every person and especially critical for leaders. How you answer these questions will likely indicate what the character and outcome of your life and leadership will be.

The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church says of King Henry VIII, “Henry’s conscience often followed where his wishes led.”

Now conscience is an important element of our make up because it, in many ways, is the thing that guides our decisions. We talk about following and violating our conscience as if to do the former is admirable and to do the later is deplorable. However, that depends on what is driving your conscience.

Henry’s conscience was driven by his wishes, and his wishes seemed to be focused on power and pleasure. The result was disastrous. Many heads were lost because Henry allowed his conscience to be ruled by his wishes, including that of Sir Thomas More who was a beloved friend of Henry.

A good leader follows his conscience and insures that his conscience is lead by good desires. A good Christian leader follows his conscience and insures that his conscience is lead by a desire for God, His glory and the good of God’s people.

So, are you lead by a godly and sanctified conscience where your desires are for God and not the flesh? To be so lead is a vital key to effective leadership. To be lead in contrary ways is the the key to disappointment and failure for you and those you lead.

Mandate to the Church – Part Five – Church Discipline

The last time I wrote on this topic I talked about the fact that churches are to practice church discipline because it is commanded of us by God. I also noted that its purpose is for restoration and the saving of souls.

This last point is well illustrated by 1 Corinthians 5:5. Paul’s instruction concerning the handling of a particular man caught in an incestuous relationship with his step mother was that they were to “deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved.”

Paul’s point is that when we discipline a believer in Christ, the act of discipline is a means of sanctification designed to help bring victory of the Spirit over our flesh. Church discipline, a godly rebuke, a humble and caring correction: we ought to covet these things for ourselves and those whom we love.

In addition to the benefit to the one being disciplined there is also a benefit to the church. Paul continues: “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened.” (1 Cor 5:6-7a)

The church must be pure. It must not be defiled by open rebellion against God. The church that coddles sin as a sign of its progressive and tolerant nature is defiling itself and becomes no better than a den of robbers. The church that lovingly and firmly rebukes sin and reproves the sinner to the extent directed by Scripture cleanses itself and signals a love for God and His people, thus demonstrating to the world that God sent Jesus, His Son to save the world.

That is probably the most important point I want to make about church discipline. It is the appropriate action of a loving people. To tolerate sin is to signal a hatred of God and a disdain for the sinner. If we always remember that church discipline is an effort to restore and save a person’s soul we can never go wrong in glorifying God and demonstrating true love to His people and in so doing we preserve the witness of the gospel inherent in the Church.

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three
• Part Four

A Good Question About Christmas!

I just read a blog post by Doug Wolter, which I think you should read. Doug won’t promote his thoughts this clearly, and I respect that, but I think you should take five minutes and read the blog. It is worth the time. Be blessed.

Christmas – A Time of Giving or Receiving by Doug Wolter

You’re Not Qualified!

In his book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't Jim Collins quotes Darwin E. Smith, CEO of Kimberly Clark as saying, "I never stopped trying to become qualified for the job."

The opposite of this mindset is being apathetically content with where you are right now. I used the word "apathetically" because contentment is not wrong at all. In fact, it is one of the keys to personal sanity. But contentment in the present should always be coupled with a desire to be better tomorrow. This is, I think, a major key to success in any area of life.

So, we who desire to be successful should never stop trying to become qualified for the job. We should never stop learning. We should never stop allowing ourselves to be stretched outside of our comfort zone. We should never stop seeking for ways to be better today than we were yesterday. In fact I think this is the personal duty of every individual alive, a strong influence upon success, and a certain key to personal fulfillment

This post is a re-post from Feb of 2008.

Leaders Promote More Leaders

If you are a leader and want to be a better leader then I suggest to you that you will pray for, mentor, train and encourage other people to be leaders. This is not just my opinion. It is biblical.

When Moses appointed the 70 elders there were two men who did not come to the council to be appointed. It is thought that they considered themselves unworthy or unqualified to be elders. Nevertheless, God had the Spirit rest upon them so that they prophesied, which was how God confirmed the 70 elders.

This concerned Joshua. He knew that they would be seen as leaders of the people of God. He approached Moses and said, “My lord, stop them.” Moses’ response was, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:26-30)

Moses wanted everyone to be so affected by the power and presence of the Spirit of God that each of them would be qualified to lead the others and themselves.

Leaders, who truly are leading for the benefit of others and not their own glory, desire that others become leaders themselves. I want to lead you to be a leader of yourself and a leader of others. Is that how you define leadership? Are you a leader? Who are you raising up to be a leader?

Ignore God and Die

It can be very easy to ignore God. Like a child with selective hearing, we can listen to God when He is offering us a blessing and ignore Him when, in our perception, He is restricting or correcting us. But we ignore God to our own peril.

When God first created, He placed Adam and Eve in the garden,

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17 (ESV)

Now, Adam and Eve were clearly listening but only in part. They heard that they would die, but they did not really listen to God. Like so many of us, they heard what it fit there needs to hear, but when a more satisfying idea was presented they ignored God. Satan said,

“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5 (ESV)

He convinced Eve that what she thought God intended for her good was really not for her good and that God was withholding good from her. She believed the lie and chose to ignore God, and while she did not perish at that moment, she and the entire human race died an awful death that day. The very wholeness that she sought to find in eating the fruit was lost to the entire human race.

Don’t ignore God. He truly does want what is good for you, in fact He is storing up goodness for you (Psalm 31:19). Trust Him and receive the goodness. Ignore Him and die.

What are some of the good things God has done for you?

Mandate to the Church, Part Four – Church Discipline

When we talk about church discipline the reaction is varied depending on who is in the conversation. Some are uncomfortable with the idea and even revolt against it. Some are receptive to the idea but too timid to practice it. Some are receptive to the idea and too eager to practice it. Some are simply obedient to God and therefore seek to understand it, look for ways to prevent its necessity and engage in it when necessary.

The final group holds that perspective because they understand why church discipline is so necessary. Those who are convinced that it is necessary are typically better at preventing the need of doing so through sound teaching of new converts and candidates for church membership as well as biblical instruction concerning the responsibilities of each individual to the body.

Let me first say what church discipline is not. It is not simply kicking people out of the church who do not comply with the church’s rules. Sometimes church discipline results in a person being removed from the privileges of church membership, but only as an ultimate measure and even that is discipline not punishment. The two are different.

So why practice church discipline? I will give my first reason today and return to other reasons in the following days.

First, church discipline is commanded of each of us by Jesus.

Matthew 18:15-17 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. NASB95

Note that there is a progression to church discipline and each stage involves showing a person his or her fault. The goal is to seek to win them over – to gain their repentance. Jesus expects me to love you enough that I am willing to seek your purity through the act of confronting your sin. It is a weighty responsibility for all believers but is a command of the Lord that we should obey, albeit with trembling hands and prayerful lips.

Please feel free to share your thoughts with me on the subject.

To gain an understanding of the background to this post please see the previous posts listed below

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three

Michael Horton on the Manhattan Declaration

Today I read Michael Horton’s “A Review of the Manhattan Declaration”, and I found it enlightening. I don’t think his arguments are designed to convince the reader to sign or not sign the document. They did not sway me in either way. They seem to be designed to give the evangelical some clarification on why the document is not a truly evangelical document, which in and of itself is enlightening.

I encourage you to read the review and comment back here on your impressions. Should one be persuaded to sign or not sign by Mr. Horton’s arguments?

• Michael Horton’s “A Review of the Manhattan Declaration
• The Manhattan Declaration

“Crazy Love” and My Sorrowful Reaction

I just finished reading Francis Chan’s book entitled “Crazy Love”. Many people talk about this book and their love for it. Chan states in the last chapter that he hopes his readers walk away “encouraged”. I can’t say that I did, at least not like others.

Chan talks about how the Christian life is to be radical. His overpowering message is that as a Christian I should be radically in love with God such that I would do anything that He calls me to do. Now, I agree and have no problem with that concept. Where it gets tough is in the application.

I found myself angry at times reading this book. Is it right to put such a high standard of devotion on Christianity such that the assurance of many fails? Is true love for God really a love that is not only willing to sacrifice anything for Christ but actually does? It was impossible for me to escape it. After all he was simply repeating the preaching of Christ. The answer to both questions is yes.

My response, as I finished reading, was an overwhelming sorrow. I kept asking myself, “What will it cost me and my family to follow Christ? Am I willing to pay that price? Am I making excuses by waiting for God to call me or should I simply move out in faith?”

Such is the nature of a book like this. It creates questions, which only God can answer. Chan is right to acknowledge that God called no two people to express there love for Him in the exact same way save that they love and obey Him. So, I will seek to love and obey Him for I want nothing more than to serve Him with all my life.

What about you?

I Am A Nobody! What About You?

My pastor preached from the gospel of John yesterday, and last night, as he discussed the testimony of John the Baptist, he hit on a very powerful one liner from The Baptizer.

“A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.” John 3:27

That is a most humbling and comforting statement. Think about it. You and I have nothing that God did not give to us. That is humbling because it confirms the fact that we are completely dependent on another, namely God. This thought and the ability to construct it in sentence form is mine because God gave it to me. Literally, everything that I have comes to me from God.

This is a comforting statement, but only for those who follow Christ and confess Him as Lord and Savior. It is comforting because as a child of God I have a perfect and loving Father who is perfect in blessing me with good gifts and perfect in correcting me with righteous and loving discipline. Everything that I need He can and will give to me, because He loves and redeemed me with a great price.

I am nothing, and that is good, for in being nothing I put God in His rightful place as above everything. What do you think? Do you believe John’s statement and if so, what are the implications for your life? Please share your thoughts.

Blessings, Mark

Unity in the Church – A Sure Path

There is no question that our Lord desires the Church to be unified. However, achieving unity in the church is difficult. We are sinful creatures who are driven by our individual passions, and those passions conflict. As a result, we choose to avoid each other, or we openly fight with each other. In either case, we are not in unity.

The question is, “can we obtain unity”? James says, “yes, you can, but you have to understand why you lack unity and what it takes to achieve unity.” He begins by asking some questions to which he gives the answer.

”What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” James 4:1-3

It is all about personal pleasure. We are guided by our passions, and when our passions are fueled by the motive of personal pleasure, we come into conflict with each other.

It is interesting that James’ answer does not primarily involve changing our passions but changing our activity along with our passions. His instruction to us is to pray; ask God for the things that we want. “You fight with each other because you don’t have what you want, but did you ask for it?” So, one of the reasons we fail to achieve unity in the church is because we don’t ask God to give us what we want; we don’t pray.

However, it does not stop there. Some of us ask but still, we don’t receive. This is where our passions come into play. When our passions are driven by selfish motives (personal pleasure), then our prayers are not answered. Our motives too, must change (Spiritual pleasure must win out). Our motives must be driven by the will of God. “You quarrel with one another and commit murder in your heart, because you do not seek the will of God.”

To achieve unity in the church, the people of the church must pray, asking God for the things they desire in accordance with the will of God. We must be Spirit lead people and people of prayer. This is a sure path to unity.

To Sign or Not to Sign – The Manhattan Declaration

Recently a document was presented to the National Press Club entitled “The Manhattan Declaration”. It is a document written and signed by leaders of the Roman Catholic church, the Orthodox church and Evangelical churches. The aim of the document is to make a statement concerning the collective resolve of these leaders and the other signatories that we “reaffirm” and “defend” such “fundamental truths” as “the sanctity of human life, the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife and the rights of conscience and religious liberty.”

At the time of this post 123,115 individuals have signed this document. However, it has not been without disagreement among evangelicals. If you are still not sure whether you should sign the document, please consider reading the document and the opposing evangelical reasons concerning signing the document. I provide you with the links below.

• The Manhattan Declaration
• Albert Mohler’s reason for signing
• John MacArthur’s reason for not signing

I hope you will consider this issue prayerfully.

Mandate to the Church, Part 3 – Live In Peace

The Church is a blessing. I love her and desire to see her abiding in Christ. Much of the difficulty we see in the Church stems from the fact that the members of the body don’t abide in Christ. It is as if my hand said to my brain, “No, I will touch the fire, regardless of how much it hurts me and the body.” I pray with my Lord that the Church would be one as Jesus and His Father are one.

This goal was Paul’s when he told the Thessalonians, “Live in peace with one another.” He echoed the words of Jesus who said, “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” To be the salt of the earth we must live in peace with each other. Now, peace and unity are things often discussed in the church but not nearly as often achieved.

The first reason for this state is that we are not abiding in Christ in every area of our lives. We hold out things for the self, personal things that we want to protect from the encroachment of our faith, and thus, we put a condition on how we live with one another. We live in peace so long as peace does not interfere with our personal god. The simple answer to dealing with this problem is to kill the self, to mortify the flesh and the desires thereof.

The second reason is more about knowledge and understanding. Often we don’t live in peace with one another because we don’t know what living in peace looks like. In fact, we have created a picture of peace in our minds that is not true. Paul explains to us what peace looks like. I start with the first few pictures found in 1 Thessalonians 5:13-14. Peace can only exist in the Church when the following things are true:

• The unruly are admonished – Church discipline is practiced
• The fainthearted are encouraged – Pastoral care is done
• The weak are being helped – True religion is active
• The governing attitude is patience – We are longsuffering

If we can grasp these things, understand them rightly and practice them well, we will see our selfish motivation die. It would defeat my purpose here to let you walk away from this word looking at the “leaders” in your church saying, “Yeah, they really should be doing these things.” Paul was writing to the whole church, not just the “leaders”. Christ was speaking to all his disciples not just some. These things fall under the realm of responsibility for us all.

It is my hope in the days to come to talk about these things in more detail. I ask that you prayerfully consider them. Pick any one or more of them, and let me know how you would describe them and expect to see them being practiced in the Church. Pray that you would practice them yourself and then do it.

• Part One
• Part Two

Mandate to the Church, Part Two - Love Your Pastor

Previously I talked about appreciating your pastor. I mentioned that we should recognize the heavy burden upon him as he sits under the charge to care for our souls. This recognition leads to an unwillingness to slander or speak ill of our pastor. It leads to a deep appreciation for and a graciousness toward him.

As Paul continues his plea to the church, he takes our treatment of those who have charge over us to a higher level. It is not enough that we appreciate our pastor. Paul says, “We request of you brethren…that you esteem them highly in love because of their work.” Three things must be addressed here. One, what we are to do. Two, how we are to do it. Three, why we are to do it.

What we are to do is esteem our pastor. The word esteem communicates the idea that we are to view our pastor as one who is above us as our leader, governor, or prince. In other words, our actions toward our pastor must be akin to those of a follower to his leader, a citizen to his governor, or a subject to his prince. This is how you are to think of and treat your pastor.

Now, if we were to leave it there, we would miss something very important. Many people are fine with the concept that a follower can disrespect a leader, a citizen can criticize and ridicule a governor and a subject can subvert and even plot against a prince, but not if he loves him. That is how we are to esteem our pastor: with love. It is more than just appreciating him. It is loving him as one who has charge or authority over us. We are to look at our pastors as men whose rule over us is a joy to our hearts.

Some might say, they love their pastor by keeping him humble, but that is not your job. You esteem him with love. Submit to him, even in joy, desiring and praying for his success as God’s under-shepherd. God will humble the man, if humbling is necessary. You esteem with love.

Why must we esteem our pastor with love? Because of his work. Now this word ‘work’ may speak of the things that he does, the output of his life, or it may speak of employment, that with which he is occupied. I tend to think it refers here to the latter. The reason we esteem our pastor in love is because of where God has placed him. He is not your pastor because you choose him. He is not your pastor because he was the best candidate for the job. He is your pastor because God, in his care for you, gave him that office. In recognition of this fact, we should esteem him as one who has authority over us, because God has given him that authority. We should do so in love, because it was in love that God placed him over us.

This is the beginning of the path to unity for God’s people.

Part One

Mandate to the Church, Part One - Appreciate Your Pastor

Over the next few posts I intend to talk about some things that we as Christians are taught to do in scripture as it relates to the body of Christ, the Church. One of the most life changing concepts to ever grasp my heart was the idea that I am a member of a body, accountable to that body and impactful on that body. In other words, when I learned that my character, the health of my soul, has a direct impact on the health of the church, my concern for my own soul became even stronger.

I am grateful for those who teach me how to be a better Christian and how to have a closer walk with Jesus. However, I fear that too often we stop in our thinking at the point of our individual relationship with God and rarely transfer the concept of spiritual growth to the realm of the corporate body. As a result, we “go to church” as individuals, we worship as individuals and we later wonder why we don’t feel more loved by others in the church or have more love for them. We have removed the concept of the body of Christ from Christianity and the Church is suffering the consequences.

For this reason, I address these messages to the church. In fact they were first addressed to the church in Thessalonica by Paul – 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22. Here Paul gives a list of things that the church is to do. They are not suggestions to consider and adopt if you agree. They are imperatives – “do this”. As I read them they seem to be aiming toward the idea that the church is a body and must conduct itself in a unified way, “having the same mind”.

Paul’s first imperative is this: “But we request of you, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction.” 1 Thessalonians 5:12. Here Paul starts with a plea. It is not technically an imperative, but it is followed by a string of imperatives which show that while Paul is pleading for us to do this, he really does expect us to do so.

What Paul wants and expects of the Church first is that we appreciate our pastor. Our pastor is the one who labors for the gospel among us. He has been given charge over us. This means that our pastor has both authority over and responsibility for us. He is told that he will give an account for those under his charge. The spiritual weight upon him is great, and he is yet a man. Therefore, Paul says, appreciate him. The Amplified version helps by telling us to recognize him for what he is, namely one who cares for and is responsible for your soul, one who has the weight of your eternity on his shoulders.

I believe that if we, as the church, look at our pastor in this light, we will be more gracious and even appreciative of him. We will not speak ill of him, rather, we will seek to encourage him with words of affirmation and prayers of intercession. It only makes sense that a church who cares for her pastor in this way is a unified church, one that has put aside all envy, malice and strife.

Recognize and appreciate your Pastor for his burden is great!

A Cure for Despair

What do you do when your soul is in despair, when you have lost all hope and find no reason to carry on? What do you do when you feel it would be better to quit your faith than to continue in it? I really would like to know from you your answer to these questions, so please comment.

I find it interesting that when the Psalmist described his soul as being in despair he said “Therefore, I remember you from the land of the Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.”

In his despair, when his soul was cast down within him he gazed back at the work of God during times of great despair. He remembered how God dried up the waters of the Jordan so Israel could enter the promised land after 40 years of wandering and death in the wilderness. He remembered how God had given Joshua and Israel victory over the Amorities and all the other kingdoms in the promised land. He even remembered how God had protected him from Absalom and given him rest.

In other words, David found that when his soul was in despair his best course was to think about his history with God and the manifold evidences of God’s presence and deliverance in the lives of His people. Somehow, this exercise of remembering brought David comfort in despair. He found solace in thinking about God.

My prayer is that you and I can remember to remember God when we find ourselves most troubled within our souls. How do you overcome despair or find comfort when your soul is cast down within you?

Defend the Rights of the Preborn!

Friends,

Focus on the Family Action has launched a petition urging that any health
care reform proposal respect the rights of the preborn, health care
professionals and our families. Focus Action wants to deliver petitions
to Congress. I just signed and I'm asking you to do so as well.

This is very urgent – please sign today to defend the preborn!

Please go here:
http://www.focuspetitions.com/215/petition.asp?PID=22805498&NID=1

Blessings, Mark

Disappointed and Disillusioned

Are you disappointed in your relationship with Christ? Are you disillusioned by the fact that you don’t feel the presence of God near you? Most of have been there. Many have made an attempt at diagnosing why we are there. But how do you overcome your disappointment? How do you change your outlook to become enamored by Christ and encouraged in your fellowship with him? That is not an easy question to answer. Because it is so personal, I have found that it is a process worked out by God himself in our lives that is very difficult to articulate. However, I found the following quotes from Paul Tripp’s new book Broken Down House very helpful. I pray that you will too. You can follow more quotes from BD House on Twitter.

BDHouse

“Here is a sad truth: Celebrating grace is an act of war. The worship of God doesn’t come naturally to sinners like you and me.”

“It doesn’t take long for us to imagine that perhaps life really can be found apart from Christ.”

“We do the unthinkable: we take grace for granted and stop celebrating the one thing in life that should amaze us for eternity.”

“We have to be committed to fighting for our hearts. We have to remind ourselves daily how quickly we get distracted, seduced, & hooked.”

“We need to warn ourselves again and again against disappointment and the danger of looking for life where life cannot be found.”

There is no easy answer here. Tripp describes grace as an act of war. I think what he means is that living in the grace of God and overcoming despair is hard work. It takes commitment, even when the feeling of God’s presence is absent. It takes lectures and warnings to ourselves in which we tell ourselves the truth about who we are, who God is and what He has done. And we wait, repeating the same steps over and over again, trusting that God in His Providence is using our despair to finish the work he began in us.

Blessings, Mark

SBTS – Resources – Panel - Perspectives on Multi-site Churches

via sbts.edu

I have been thinking about the question of a Multi-site Church vs. Church planting for a while. So, when this panel occurred, my interest was peaked. I found the dynamics interesting in that four of the five men were in favor of the Multi-site church model. I also found it interesting that the appeal for Church planting instead of a multi-site church model was, in my opinion, more compelling and more focused on the question of biblical warrant and the principle of congregationalism.

Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

Posted via web from Taking Heaven by Storm

Missional Leadership

via blogs.lifeway.com

Pastors should listen to this in order to reset their expectations for their ministries. Christians should listen to this in order to better understand the expectations they should have of their pastors and themselves. Both pastors and Christians put non-biblical expectations on pastors.

Posted via web from Taking Heaven by Storm