Day #171: James 3:1

BACKGROUND:

In the early church, teachers were very important. Both the survival and spiritual depth of believers depended on them. In the church at Antioch, they were ranked in status with the prophets who sent out Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:1). Teachers were the point of contact for all new believers because converts needed instruction in the facts of the gospel, and teachers would build them up in the faith. The problem, however, was that some teachers had the ability to communicate but were driven by very worldly motivations. They would take leading positions in a church, form cliques, and use their teaching positions to criticize others. In this way, they could maintain their position and importance.

In this chapter, James’s immediate concern is with the speech of false teachers who are ruining believers with their uncontrolled tongues. From that immediate concern he launches into the wider area of the use of speech among believers.

James taught that people should not rush to become teachers in the church. Many of his status-conscious readers would have desired the reputable position of teachers in the community. Coming hard on the heels of James chapter 2, one of the most honorable “works” that would immediately come to the Jewish mind would be the position of teaching. James has in mind a greater emphasis on spiritual growth and self-control before someone assumed the role of a teacher. Teachers will be judged by God with greater strictness. Teaching authority carries with it greater responsibility. As works reveal the depths of a person’s faith, so words show the depth of a person’s maturity. The teacher is held to greater accountability because of his or her key teaching role (Luke 12:42-48).

SO WHAT? (what will I do with what i have read today?)

I don't know about you, but everytime I read James 3:1, it sobers me up. It scares me. It reminds me of the high expectation God has for leaders in the church. So today, I’d like to talk with you about six essential vows for spiritual leadership. These are non-negotiables that I believe you will have to commit to if you’re going to be the kind of leader God wants you to be.

Leaders are always defined by the standards they set for themselves. Not standards set by other people, but self-imposed standards. Great leaders always expect more from themselves than they do from their followers and they willingly put forth more effort. That’s a quality of leadership.

If you were to take the phrase “make every effort” and look it up in the New Testament, you would find that phrase is used six different times. When you look at those six usages of that phrase in the New Testament, you’ll find what I call the six vows for spiritual leadership.

First let’s look at the six occurrences of the phrase “make every effort” in the New Testament then we’ll go back through them and examine what implications they have toward being a spiritual leader.

2 Peter 3:14 - “Make every effort to become spotless, blameless and at peace with Him.”

Hebrews 12:15 - “Make every effort to live at peace with all men. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.”

Hebrews 4:11 - “Anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work just as God did. Let us therefore make every effort to enter God’s rest.”

Romans 14:19 - “Let us make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”

Ephesians 4:3 - “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

2 Peter 1:5-8 - “Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; to goodness, knowledge; to knowledge, self control; to self control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive.”

I believe if you will take these six “make every effort” statements and make them personal vows in your life, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive. You will find that these qualities will increase your effectiveness as a leader.


#1. AS A LEADER I VOW TO MAINTAIN MY INTEGRITY

The bottom line, the foundation, of all leadership is integrity. 2 Peter 3:14 says, “Make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with Him.” What does it mean to be spotless and blameless? Does it mean to be perfect? Of course not. Because none of us are perfect. But it does mean to have integrity. How do you maintain integrity if you’re not perfect? By being transparent. By being authentic. By being real and vulnerable. By not hiding your faults. Those who hide their faults, the Bible says, will fail; but those who confess them and forsake them get a second chance. (Proverbs 28:13)

Having integrity also means living what you say you believe. You walk the talk. You don’t just teach it but you model it. And you believe it and behave it. Integrity means telling the truth. Did you know that there is only one letter difference between “truth” and “trust” because those two really do go together? All leadership is built on trust. And trust comes from having the reputation for telling the truth. It comes from consistently telling the truth even when it’s difficult. If you’re going to be a leader, you’ve got to have people trust you. And if you’re going to have people trust you, you must always tell the truth.

That also means that as a leader, having integrity means keeping your promises. You don’t say one thing and then do another. This way you’re able to maintain a clear conscious. When people know that you are a truth teller they then can trust you.

#2. AS A LEADER I VOW TO FORGIVE THOSE WHO HURT ME.

Hebrews 12:15 says, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up.” Why? Because it “…causes trouble and defiles many.” The fact is you will be hurt in ministry. It’s a given. You will be hurt intentionally and you will be hurt unintentionally. You will be hurt by those that recognize that they’re doing it to you and by those who don’t recognize it. You cannot be in ministry and you cannot be a leader without being hurt. If you call the shots you’re going to take the shots. Pioneers always get the arrows. Once you put out your shingle, somebody’s going to start throwing rocks at it.

One of the most deadly diseases for leaders, then, is bitterness. Because if you allow bitterness to grow up in your life it will choke your heart for God, it will choke the spirituality and your love for people until your heart just shrivels.

As a leader, if you don’t make this vow, when you are misunderstood or when you are maligned or when you are criticized unjustly you’re going to be tempted to retaliate and you probably will. But you cannot get away with that and still be a leader. Spiritual leadership requires forgiveness.

Jesus was a perfect leader and yet He was betrayed. Judas betrayed Him and hurt Him. And Jesus was hurt by the other disciples as well. If you were even a perfect leader, you would still be hurt by others. It’s not always your fault. But it is your fault if you carry bitterness in your heart. That keeps you from being what God wants you to be.

Probably the greatest example of this in the Old Testament is Moses. Moses had to put up with two million crying babies for forty years. Although he had saved them from four hundred years of bondage, although he provided for them the way God told him to provide for them all the time, the people criticized him. He was constantly maligned. They rebelled at him. They wanted to overthrow him several times. Yet Moses refused to have a bitter spirit. There are only two people in the Bible who are called “meek” – Jesus and Moses. He learned how to handle criticism.

Why do people hurt leaders? There are many different reasons. Sometimes they do it simply out of jealousy. Sometimes they do it to get attention for themselves. Sometimes they’re taking up an offense for someone else they think was hurt. One of the most common problems in churches today is people getting upset on behalf of others. But really one of the main reasons is we all just have a rebellious nature. We have a problem with authority. We don’t like to be told what to do.

As a leader, you must be able to absorb the hurts of other people without having to give an explanation every time people disagree with you. Why should I forgive others? It says make every effort to live in peace with all men and don’t allow any bitter root to grow up. Why should I forgive those people who hurt me? It’s healing. And because God’s forgiven us. The Bible says so.


#3. AS A LEADER I WILL RELAX AND TRUST GOD.

Hebrews 4:11 says, “Anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His. Let us therefore make every effort to enter into God’s rest.” If you’re going to be in ministry, you’ve got to learn relaxed concern. That is, you must be concerned about the needs of all the people around you, but remember you’re not God. So you cannot bear everybody’s burden all the time.

What are some ways that I can relax and trust God more? In your ministry, how could you relax more and trust God more?

Do you think praying more would be helpful. If we prayed more instead of worry we’d have a lot less to worry about. Just realize that God is in control. He’s in control of your ministry and it’s ultimately His responsibility to make the ministry grow that you’re in. You’re to be faithful. You’re to do all you can but it’s God’s ministry. So you relax and let God be God and don’t get in such a hurry to push it.

Other ways: a quiet time; not talk so much about the problem; turn it over to God and not take it back; meditate on His promises; look at God’s track record. In 2 Chronicles 20 when Jehosophat was facing three enemy nations and they were about to be killed, Jehosophat prays a famous prayer. In that prayer he asks three questions that caused him to relax and trust God: “God, are You not… did You not…. Will You not...” First, “Are You not…?” He reminds himself of who God is. “Aren’t You the God who’s taking care of everybody? Aren’t You in control? Don’t You have the power to do anything You want to do?” He reminds himself of who God is.

Second, he reminds himself of what God has done. “Did You not take care of Moses in the past? Did You not…?” Then he says, “Will You not do it again?” God does have a pretty good track record of taking care of us and working things out in His timing.

Other ways: Keep in God’s word. Give others responsibility. Share the load. As a leader in the ministry, don't make all the mistakes yourself, share them around. Don’t feel like you have to do them all yourself. I always tell pastors, at pastors conference, “Don’t make all the mistakes yourself. Let the lay people make some of them.” You learn to minister effectively by making mistakes. That’s how other people do too.

#4. AS A LEADER I WILL BE AN ENCOURAGER.

Romans 14:19 says, “Let us make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” Edification is a simple word that means “to build up”. An edifice is a building. The point here is that leaders build people up rather than tearing them down. If I’m going to be a leader, I’m going to be a builder upper of people not a tearer downer of people! I’m going to be an encourager not a discourager.

What are some ways that we as leaders can build up people?

Be sensitive to their needs; see their positive side; spend time one-on-one; give them praise; include them in all that’s going on; give them responsibility. People respond to responsibility. But if you treat people like babies, you’ll have to diaper them the rest of your life. In your ministry, let people share. Share the credit, the control, the creativity. Involve other people. Listen to people. When you’re listening, you’re loving. You’re loving people with your ears every time you listen to somebody. It says, “You matter and I’m paying attention to you. I value what you have to say.” Listening is a ministry.

How about being optimistic about their potential? Look beyond the problems and look at their potential. Every human being is a bundle of problems and potential. So it’s what you choose to look on. “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.” People tend to live up to our expectations. When you expect them to do good, they do. We tend to live up to the expectations of others. Focus on their potential, not just their problems.

I believe that Christian leaders, you, are dispensers of hope. That’s what it means to be a Christian leader. You’re a dispenser of hope. You bring hope into a hopeless situation. You help people who seem to be helpless. You say, “You can do it.” If God’s for us who can be against us? We value that positive enthusiasm.


#5. AS A LEADER I WILL BE A PEACEMAKER.

Ephesians 4:3 says, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” One of the things leaders are called to do is make every effort to reduce conflict. We are in a society and in a world that is filled with conflict. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” How do you do that? How can you make peace. As a leader, how can I be a peacemaker at Church of the Valley?

Put others before yourself. Stop gossiping! How do you stop gossips? One, you just don’t pass it on. Two, you challenge it when you hear it. You call it for what it is. Somebody starts in and you say, “Isn’t that gossip?” That will cut it quick. Nobody likes to be caught at gossiping. And just being a non-gossiper and pointing it out when it is gossip is being a peacemaker.

One of the things you have to do as a leader, if you’re going to be a leader, is you must learn to tolerate diversity. Not everybody is like you and you have to tolerate different personalities in your ministry and recognize that people who have a different personality than you can still make a contribution to the ministry.

As a peacemaker you want to give three things to people. Triple A treatment: Attention, Affirmation, Appreciation. You want to give everybody Attention. We want to give everybody Affirmation. We want to give everybody Appreciation. If you do that in your ministry, it will explode with growth. People are hungry for attention, affirmation and appreciation. The ministry leader who involves people in a ministry and then gives attention, appreciation and affirmation will not have any problem with the ministry being done.

God can overlook lack of programs, a financial tightness, recession. He can overlook a lack of ability. But one thing God will not overlook in a church is He does not bless the church that is divided. So one of the key jobs of leadership is to promote the unity of the church. Ten times in the first five chapters of Acts it says “they were in one accord… they were in one place … they were all together… they were of one heart…” When you have the unity of Acts, you have the power of Acts. The Bible teaches very clearly that anything that causes disunity is disruptive and destroys the fellowship and it should not be tolerated. We’re to be peacemakers.


#6. AS A LEADER I WILL NEVER STOP GROWING.

Notice he gives all these character qualities because character is the bottom line. Add to your faith. That means keep going. Goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Learning is to be the lifestyle of leadership. The moment you think you’ve got it all, that you know it all, you’re dead in the water. You must never stop growing. Growing ministries require growing leadership. So we train people constantly.

What are some ways that I can grow as a leader?

Try new things. If it doesn’t work, just call it an experiment. If it does work, call yourself a genius. Try new things, that’s one way to grow. Stretch yourself. Don't accept the seven last words of the church – “We’ve always done it that way.”

Get new people. Involve others. Listen to new people. Get ideas from other people. Never think that you’ve got it all. Often your best ideas for ministry will come from somebody who has no relationship to your ministry. They just get an idea and suggest it. Creativity is the ability to take ideas from many diverse sources and see how they relate to what your project is.

Bible study. Don’t get comfortable. The Bible says, “Woe to them who are at ease in Zion.” Don’t get comfortable. People say, “Right now I’m just in a mellow stage.” You look up “mellow” in the dictionary. Mellow is the stage fruit has right before it goes rotten. You don’t want to be mellow. Tomorrow you’ll be rotten.

Have mentors. Get a discipler. Timothy had his Paul. Elisha had Elijah. The twelve disciples had Jesus. Solomon had David. You get somebody who’s older in the Christian faith and get them to be a mentor to keep you growing, to keep you stimulated. Everybody needs a mentor and a model. Mentors can give you advice. Models can show you how to do it.

Finally, Proverbs 19:8 - “He who loves wisdom loves his own best interest and will be a success.” If you love learning, you love wisdom, you love to keep growing you will be a success.

This is the cost of leadership. I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course.