BACKGROUND:
Nathan’s reply to all this was a bombshell: You are the man! The Lord, he said, had given David everything, but he had taken, as it were, the pet lamb of a poor neighbor. David now would suffer the sword as had Uriah and David’s wives would be taken from him as Bathsheba had been stolen from the Hittite. This was fulfilled by Absalom (David’s own son!) when he lay with David’s concubines.
But David’s shame would be even greater because, in contrast with David’s sin in secret, all these things would happen in the glare of the public eye, in broad daylight. One may wonder, perhaps, why David was not punished with death as he had so sternly advocated for the guilty man. Adultery and murder both were sufficient cause for the execution of even a king (Ex. 21:12; Lev. 20:10).
The answer surely lies in the genuine and contrite repentance which David expressed, not only in the presence of Nathan but more fully in Psalm 51. David’s sin was heinous, but the grace of God was more than sufficient to forgive and restore him, as Nathan could testify. And yet, though David could be restored to fellowship with his God, the impact of his sin remained and would continue to work its sorrow in the nation as well as in the king’s life.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what i have read today?)
Today, breifly, I want to talk to you about one of the reasons why ministries and people plateau, spirtually speaking, and that is the issues of leadership.
Psalm 35:27 says, "How great is the Lord. He is ..." angry? bored? "with the success of His servants." No. It says, "He is pleased."
God wants me to succeed - in life, in my marriage, in my business - in my ministry. And God wants me and God wants you to succeed as a leader. So He has given us some examples of errors to avoid so we can avoid them in our ministry.
Fortunately God put six books in the Bible abut leadership – 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings and 1 & 2 Chronicles. They're there to teach us about leadership. God gives us the warts and all in the stories about all the different kings of Israel. We're to learn from these kings – the good things and the bad things – the lessons of leadership.
1. THE LEADER STOPS GROWING.
By far the single greatest reason that a ministry stops growing is the leader stops growing. Growing ministries require growing leaders. The moment you stop growing, you stop leading. All leaders are learners because there is no growth without change and there is no change without being flexible.
When a leader stops growing, he becomes inflexible. A good example of this is the story of Moses. Exodus 17. The first time Moses had a water problem, God said, "I want you to go and strike the rock and water will come out." So he did that. Later on, as they were crossing the wilderness, God said, "This time we're going to do it differently. This time instead of striking the rock, I want you to speak to the rock.” Number 20:8-11 "The Lord said, `Speak to the rock and water will gush out of it. In this way, you will bring water out.' But Moses struck the rock twice."
What did he do here? He said, "Lord, we've never done it that way before. We've always struck the rock. Now You're saying speak to it. I don't want to do it in a new way. I want to do it the old way. I want to do it in the way that worked the first time."
Have you ever felt this? To simply repeat the past? What's he's saying is, "I want to lead the way I used to lead, the way I've always led." Folks, that kind of leadership will not cut it.
If you stop learning, you soon experience what's known as the Peter principle – that people tend to rise to their level of incompetence and then they get stuck there. The guy who's a good shoe salesman gets appointed to manager and he's never learned management skills and he's bored and ineffective and incompetent the rest of his life because he never kept on developing.
If you don't watch out, your ministry will get too big for you and you become the bottle neck. The leader must never stop growing. Never stop developing your skills.
#2. THE LEADER STOPS CARING
The leader stops having a passion for the ministry and the people in the ministry and for the Lord. The example of this is the king called Amaziah in 2 Chronicles 25:2 "He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord but not wholeheartedly." That is one of the most subtle traps in ministry. Go through the motions, serve the Lord but not with your heart. Do it because you know it's the right thing to do but you're not doing it with your whole heart. The Living Bible says "He did what was right but sometimes he resented it." That's not the way to minister. The Good News says "He did what was right but he did it reluctantly."
Why is it that people who are serving in ministry often stop caring about it? What causes that loss of passion? What causes people to lose their motivation, to loss the heart, the love that they once had?
1. Familiarity with spiritual matters. In other words, you're around it so much you become accustomed to the things of God and nothing seems like a miracle anymore. You can hear so many answered prayers or you can see so many lives changed, you forget that most of the people don't live this way. Most of the people have no hope and have no joy and are barely making it in life. You forget that they way you feel is not normal for most people. Most people feel hopeless. They don't understand the hope.
2. A lack of balance. I want to urge you as the core of this church – the people I depend on, the people that you make the ministry happen in this church – balance your life. Take time to have fun.
3. Compassion fatigue. I have to fight this constantly. Those of you who have done counseling know what I'm talking about. There is a limit to the number of people's problems you can handle. If you don't maintain your spiritual passion, your ministry is going to plateau. How do you maintain your spiritual passion? Two ways:
1. Never forget your motive for serving. Never forget why you're doing this. Not to make a big name, not because it's always fun, not because I'm not getting paid for it. I'm doing this for Jesus' sake. That's why you're in ministry. You owe your life to Jesus Christ and so do I. And out of gratitude for what He did for me on the cross and my love for Christ and out of the knowledge that one day I'm going to stand before Him and hear Him say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant," that's what motivates me. You never forget your motive. Hezekiah was successful because in everything he did he did it in a spirit of complete loyalty and devotion to God.
2. Never stop praying. 2 Chronicles 26:5 is about Uzziah, another king, "As long as he sought the Lord, God gave Uzziah success." Underline the "as long as he sought the Lord." As long as I seek the Lord, God will bless my ministry. As long as you seek the Lord, God will bless your ministry. Never stop praying. "Ask the Lord to bless your plans and you will be successful in carrying them out." Do you pray about your ministry or do you just do it? You ought to pray about your ministry. Ask God to bless it.
#3. THE LEADER GETs DISTRACTED
They start off on the right track but they lose their vision, they lose their mission, they get involved and instead of saying as Paul said, "This one thing I do..." they say "These forty things I dabble in." When you get distracted from your purpose in life, you're going to be tempted. It's going to happen.
Here's where the life of David comes into play: "Everyone in Israel and Judah loved David because he was a successful leader. In every battle David was more successful than any of Saul's other officers. As a result David became very famous." Warning! Red light!
And just like we looked at yesterday - 2 Samuel 11:1 "In the spring, when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the army, but David remained in Jerusalem." He's not being where the kings should be, out on the front lines. He's getting distracted. "David remained in Jerusalem" and he lost touch with people on the front lines. And that was his downfall. Because in 2 Samuel 11:2 it mentions a lady named Bathsheba. Instead of being out there on the front line, serving, ministering, working, he's at home saying, I'm just going to relax. He got distracted. And he encountered Bathsheba.
#4. THE LEADER BECOMES COMPLACENT.
This is related but it's a little bit different. Self satisfied. He becomes complacent and self satisfied. 2 Kings 18:7 gives the example of Hezekiah "So the Lord was with him and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did." How would you like to have that said about you? That's quite an epitaph. That's in the Bible. That's not hype, PR release. This is God saying this in the Bible – Hezekiah was successful in everything he did.
There's a warning there. 2 Chronicles 32 says "Hezekiah was too proud to show gratitude for what the Lord had done for him and Judah and Jerusalem suffered for it. God let Hezekiah go his own way in order to test his character. [Isn't that an incredible verse?] God let Hezekiah go his own way in order to test his character.”
I have a file at home I call Warnings. It's well known guys who flamed out in ministry. I go back and read it every month or so just to scare myself to death. Just to put the fear of God in me. Leaders all over America are dropping like flies. Why? Because of these kind of traps. So we have to be diligent and walk humbly before the Lord and walk with integrity and not become self satisfied. “Hezekiah was too proud to show gratitude for what the Lord had done for him and Judah and Jerusalem suffered for it." When you get complacent, the people in your ministry suffer for it. When you get complacent in your home, your children suffer for it. When you get complacent at your business, your business suffers for it.
#5. THE LEADER BECOMES ARROGANT.
King Uzziah. It says "His fame spread everywhere and he became very powerful because he received help from God but when King Uzziah became strong, he grew arrogant and that led to his downfall." I've seen this again and again. When Uzziah became arrogant and that led to his downfall. When you think you've got it all together and it all depends on you, you don't need the Lord in your ministry, watch out.
The antidote is remember the grace of God.
What is grace? Grace is the fact that God knows every stupid mistake you're going to make in your ministry and He's still chosen you. Grace is the fact that God knows every stupid mistake I'm going to make in the ministry and He's still let me be pastor of this church. That’s grace. I'm a trophy of God's grace and so are you.
Remember the grace of God. Jesus said, "You have not chosen Me but I have chosen you to go forth and bear fruit." The army of God is not a voluntary army. God enlisted you. He chose you. He wanted you and He called you. And He's equipped you. And what He's equipped you to do you need to ask Him to empower you and anoint you to do on a regular basis. Never forget the grace of God.
#6. THE LEADER FAILS TO DELEGATE
And as a result he/she gets discouraged. It happens over and over again. This is probably the second greatest thing that happens next to the first one where we stop growing. We fail to delegate. When a ministry plateaus it means it's reached the limit of what you can do by yourself so you need to involve other people. You need to move from being a doer to a delegator. I struggle here. Not because I need control, but because we aren't raising up leaders fast enough to meet all the needs of people.
A good example of this is Moses. Numbers 11 "The Lord said to Moses, `Assemble seventy respected men who are recognized as leaders of the people and I will take some of the Spirit I've given you and give it to them then they can help you bear the responsibility for these people and you won't have to bear it alone.'"
Why did this happen? "Moses had heard all the people complaining. He was distressed and he said to the Lord, `Why have You given me the responsibility for all these people. I didn't create them or bring them to birth. Why should You ask me to act like a nurse and carry them in my arms like babies all the way to the land that You promised. They keep whining [Moses, it sounds like you're whining!] I can’t be responsible for all these people by myself. It's too much for me. Have pity on me and kill me so I won't have to endure your cruelty any longer.'"
I can laugh at this because I've felt this way about 80% of the Mondays. After preaching two morning services, teaching a CLASS sometimes after that, lunches with people, LIFE group after that, preaching Sunday nights at ICCOV, the daily writing of the devotional blog, counseling with folks, I'm usually going, "God, just kill me and get it over with. It's too much. I can't handle it."
God says "You're right". God never meant for you to handle it. And, the antidote, found in God's word, is involve other people. You have to move, in your ministry as it grows, from being a doer to a delegator, from being a minister to being a manager of ministers. That's a ministry in itself, when you involve other people. D. L. Moody said it like this, "I'd rather put ten men to work than do the work of ten men." And that would be easier for him. And God's pleased by it.
"The Lord said to Moses, `Assemble seventy respected men who are recognized as leaders of the people and I will take some of the Spirit I've given you and give it to them then they can help you bear the responsibility for these people and you won't have to bear it alone.'" That was one experience. Another time (Moses had to learn this lesson twice.) "Then Jethro [his father in law -- the original management consultant] said, `You are not doing this right. You will wear yourself out and those people as well. There is too much for you to do. Choose some capable men and appoint them as leaders of the people. Leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.”
Think about how these priciples and foundational truths might apply to your life. I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course.
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