To the church, those who are called to be holy -- Full message

 

Christian Leadership: Calling And Obedience

I'm at a Christian leadership conference and something I heard reminded me of an important thought. In Christian leadership there is a temptation to come up with our own personal plans and schemes—clever ideas we initiate for one reason or another. And we attribute these plans and schemes to God. In other words, we are tempted to dress up our own personal ideas in God language in order to make the ideas credible with those we are leading.

We tend to do this because one of the dangers of Christian leadership is the belief that it is all about accomplishment… our impressive accomplishments, to be more specific. That's what makes us feel good. Accomplishment affirms our self-esteem. I know what it's like to give in to this temptation.

What is hard for us Christian leaders to understand is that it's really not all about our accomplishments. By the way, the previous sentence you just read is actually a repugnant and ridiculous thought for many people in the world of leadership, including Christian leadership.

Please understand I’m not against accomplishment. Accomplishment is a good thing. This is not an anti-accomplishment rant. What I’m trying to communicate, however, is that accomplishment is not the most important aspect of Christian leadership. The most important aspect of Christian leadership is twofold: being called by God and being obedient to God. If a Christian leader is not called to leadership by God and acting in obedience to Him the accomplishments will, ultimately, be hollow.

I’m posting this here because my leadership efforts have been thwarted by my own ego on more than one occasion. So, I need to see this and be reminded of it: Be attentive and obedient to God and let the Holy Spirit bring the accomplishment.

#GLS15

What Does A "Called" Life Look Like?

The Bible tells followers of Jesus to, “lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.” (Eph.4:1) If you are a Christian you have a divine calling to live for Christ.  So, here’s a question:  If you were living every day, like a person who was called to live for Christ, what would your life look like?