I have a dear friend who shared with me some thoughts on being a gracious leaders/ overseers of our home fellowships (simple churches, redemptive fellowships, etc.) . This is most timely for me, as I am struggling with a situation in which I feel a brother is being dealt with too harshly. We must learn the art of leading by example and leading with grace and mercy. Always focused on their potential in Jesus Christ and never dependent on us/others for their growth but rather immersing them in the love of God, His truth that we find in the Bible and His Holy Spirits ever leading voice. The love of God is what compels us away from sin and pain. The love of God is what sanctifies us. His truth permeates us so deeply, that it invades even the private parts of our souls.
I have never met any believer or unchurched person who has taken great strides in their walk towards God under the the weight of condemnation or shame brought about by other believers or leaders. I have found it to be the opposite. We must learn to be redemptive leaders that oversee people with a hand of mercy and grace. A gracious gentle voice of encouragement that guides them to the lover of their souls, Jesus Christ the High Priest. The one who has gone before us and will never leave us or forsake us.
May we understand this type of leadership. May we live in community with those are willing to bring others along. Jesus Christ paid the price for my sin. The shame and guilt was felt at the cross by my replacement, Jesus Christ. Why do we continue to leave heavy burdens on the back of those seeking God? I do not know? The lie of Satan is to continue to lead people by bondage and fear rather than love. The love of God is freedom and joy, not shame and guilt.
The below thoughts are from Harold Behr, an apostolic figure who God has graciously brought into my life to help guide me to the lover of my soul, Jesus Christ. Praise God for the Barnabass's in our lives. I hope you find this thought provoking and an encouragement to what you may already be doing.
___
Thursday, March 10, 2005 11:41 AM
undershepherds@googlegroups.com
1 Peter 5:2-3 (MsgB)
[2] Here's my concern: that you care for God's flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously. [3] Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way.
Have you ever wondered how Jesus could gather such a Church of 12 with their questionable and unscrupled pasts? Picture how quickly they would head for the back door in most of our "Churches" in the west today. We can't honestly say that their jealousy, carnality or self serving interests vanished after Jesus called them, for the Scriptures are full examples to the contrary.
No, I want to suggest that that small band of disciples wanted to be around Jesus, and were drawn by the Truth he lived and taught. Even more important then that for you and I to grasp was the "Climate" he cultivated. A Climate of tender hearted Mercy. And so, as undershepherds in his Church today, perhaps we need to reflect upon what kind of climate we create. The natural tendency and practice of church planters (myself included on times past) was to create a conditional atmosphere of mercy. That is, as long as we sense we are maintaining control and people are responding to our direction we'll be gentle and kind. But I have in the past so loudly blew the clarion call of Vision, that I injured some along the way. Consider this;
"Fr. M.A. Couturier (the Dominican apostle of sacred art, not the ecumenist) declared with perfect truth that many Christians "are enclosed in their Church and in their faith as others are enclosed in their Party. They aspire to a totalitarian state: and none of this has anything to do with the Gospel."
In fact, the climate of totalism, which as we know to our own cost can very easily become that of religion itself, is a climate of security purchased by servile resignation under human power: obedience to the authority of might rather than freedom in the climate of life-giving love and mercy.
This, of course, raises a most difficult, not to say most urgent, problem of authority in the visible structure of the Church. There must obviously be some visible authority and there must be some form of law in any institutional structure. This authority and law must be justified, as also the sacraments and the Sabbath are, by being propter hominess. They must serve only to protect and preserve the climate of mercy, or life-giving forgiveness and reconciliation. Hence, authority and power become abusive when they become ends in themselves to which the good of persons becomes subservient: when, in other words, souls for whom Christ died are allowed to be destroyed in order that power may be preserved intact.
The climate of mercy, which is the climate of the new creation, depends on the realization that all men are acceptable before God since the Word was made man, dwelt among us, died on the Cross for us, rose from the dead, and is enthroned in our flesh, our humanity, and in the glory of God. Hence, all that is required for a man to be acceptable before God, and a recipient of mercy, is for him to be a man and a sinner. (I did not come to call the just, but sinners . . . Matthew 9:13; Romans 5:8).
We ourselves are not entitled to be more demanding than God. Whoever is acceptable to Him is, therefore,
acceptable to us, and this is the test of our faith and of our obedience to Him (John 15:12, 17; 12:34-35), that we become to some extent able to be merciful to others as He has been merciful to us, knowing that this mercy is the cohesive power that establishes and manifests the father's love in the living and unified Mystical Body of the Son (John 17:11-12, 21-22)." (This is part of a tribute to Albert Schweitzer written by an obscure monk, aptly titled "The Climate of Mercy)
So it's the totalitarian rule of leadership that destroys souls as it excludes and precludes and functions as a mediator between God and man that cannot be tolerated amongst the simple church undershepherd's approach to oversight.
Rather, all we do as Christ followers, should permeate and be led by the gracious Spirit of Christ. In the end we we will find our fellowships to be "mercy ships".Such is the eschatological climate of the new creation, in which pardon replaces sacrifice,(Math. 9:13) and the whole world is filled with the mercy of God as the waters cover the sea. Note; This starts towards ourselves, our families then the missional fellowship etc etc.
___
I would encourage you to get in on the discussion at undershepherds@googlegroups.com or visit www.simplechurches.net Just request to be part of the group discussion.
Blessings and may we all strive to be gracious overseers of those who God brings into our sphere of influence. It must first begin with our relationship with God, then at home, and then move out from there.
No comments:
Post a Comment