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Additional Comment: It’s not about me… really.
Posted by jjlooney in English, Uncategorized on October 18, 2009
Reflecting on the story of Moses in Exodus, Hugo’s previous article on leadership is a tremendously challenging issue, and yet it is rooted in some core ethics of Christian leadership because our call to leaders is simultaneously a call to service. The topic deserves more attention. It really isn’t about us. It’s not about my personal fame nor is it about my self-esteem as a leader. It is not even about my own organization or local church. I am a servant of God’s Kingdom and of the Missio Dei (the Mission of God).
Re-framing our servant call as leaders into a focus on self is a simple mistake. First, it is inherent in the human condition. We exist as the centers of our own little universe. It is difficult to see ourselves as players in a larger drama when we come to believe we have the lead role. Second, many of our activities as leaders actually do play a part in serving God’s bigger mission. As leaders of faith communities, missions organizations, youth programs, and the like, we are doing good works. But here’s the test: What do we do when the best choice for serving the larger mission of God undermines the institutional strength of our own organization? For example, the church in Antioch understood the importance of God’s mission over the needs of their own community when the Spirit set aside Paul and Barnabas to be sent out on mission. Antioch was faced with the choice of sending away two of their best leaders for the sake of God’s mission. How much church growth took place in Antioch because of their leadership, and now the Antioch church was called to release them. They faced giving away Paul’s scholarship and Barnabas’ encouragement for the sake of others. Furthermore, it would be a sacrifice for Paul. In addition to facing hardship, in some locations Paul’s work would look much less impressive than the ethnically diverse and spiritually thriving Antioch church.
God called out Moses to serve God’s mission for and through Israel. And as Hugo pointed out, God fashioned Moses for the task, and Moses remained faithful to his calling during much of the journey. However, many of us know that God also kept Moses from going into the Promised Land. Why? He struck the rock, right? But look at the nature of Moses’ and Aaron’s shortcoming. God told Moses to speak to the rock and witness water pouring from it. This would glorify God and demonstrate His authority working through Moses. A simple command in the name of God demonstrated unmistakable wonders. However, Moses says, “Listen you rebels, must we [emphasis mine] bring you water out of this rock?” In dramatic fashion he then strikes the rock not once but twice. Moses gives the whole performance a little more glitz, and in the process he draws attention to himself and to Aaron. They step from servant to performer. They claim to own the power that was only given to them for the task of God’s purposes. As a result of this event, God says, “Because you did not trust me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
How often do we as leaders get lost in the call and responsibilities and influence that we have been given. In frustration we negate the call of God and re-position ourselves as savior. We pour ourselves into building our religious organizations because, like any human being, we are devoted to our life’s work. We desire to be successful and to leave behind a legacy — something that we have built and passed on to others. Our work may indeed benefit God’s larger purposes and play a significant role in His redemption history, but our own ministry can also become a distraction.
Ultimately, when we lose focus, we begin thinking about our own organization and how to see our work grow (or survive) rather than asking how our work or organization or leadership can serve God’s larger purposes. As long as our work is aligned with God’s Mission, we are able to continue with a clear conscience, but when our ministry becomes a distraction from the larger mission of God, we cease to play a part in the bigger drama of salvation history.
On Being Called Isaiah 42.
Posted by wall2build in English, Uncategorized on September 27, 2009
I remember being called by God since I was little. Epiphanies were common in my household and in those of my neighbors. That reality did not prevent me from becoming atheist; however, my rebellion against God did not prevent him from getting through to me. So finally, at the age of 17 I committed my life to the Lord in baptism.
I was however, not taken by the hand to the heart of Christ and to the understanding of his mission and the proper way to carry it out. My soul was deviated instead to the issues dear to that particular congregation: role of women in church, the organization of the New Testament church, baptism, the proper way to baptize people, the offering, and similar issues.
Soon after I got baptized and with very little preparation, I was installed as a preacher of that congregation. I found myself trapped in the motions and issues of that particular place. I still had the sense of call but I was not clear about the mission of God or the part I ought to play in carrying out that mission. Several years later, while in seminary, especially at Dr. Gresham’s Old Testament class that sense of call was reawaken more poignantly. It took however several years later, great mentors, and not few trials in ministry until I became acquainted with the mission of God and began to question my call in relationship with the carrying out of that mission.
As I read my Bible I see that the people of Israel went through the same process. They were called by God in Abraham when they were not yet a nation, to be a blessing to all the nations (Gen 12:1-3). Later when they were formed as a nation they were rescued from Egypt and called to be priests to all nations (Exodus 19:6) Years later, in times of the prophet Isaiah the call is confirmed (Isaiah 42:6) “I the Lord have called you and given you power to see that justice is done on earth. Through you I will make a covenant with all peoples; through you I will bring light to all nations.”
In Isaiah 42:1-13 the Lord is affirming the call as He wants to see that the nations become just and righteous, to rescue the prisoners, and to get out the ones sitting down on the dungeons of darkness. Israel is to be an example of holy living and is to teach the nations how to live by the light of the Lord. God is empowering his people; he is sending and going with his people, God is showing them where he is investing. Israel’s greatest assets are: the spirit of the Lord that he put on them and the fact that he is carrying them by the hand as they go along.
In Isaiah 42 we see not only affirmation of call. Here, the Lord is also visiting his people and assessing their understanding of Him and the part they are playing in the call. Isaiah 42:14-25 show us that the Lord knows well that his people are blind and deaf. They are blind leading the blind. They are not up to the task; he has to send them to captivity in order to purify them.
It is the same today with us, His church. But He is still calling us; God calls us, not because we are the best for the task, the more qualified, the strongest, or the more obedient. He calls us because he loves and wants us to have part in his work.
From my own experience I can tell you that the process of understanding God’s mission, his call and the part we play in carrying out that mission is long and arduous. Before we can see with clarity the part we play in God’s mission we have to be clean of idols. It was the same for Israel; they had to spend 40 years in the desert for God to get the idols of the Egyptians out of his people. Then they had to spend 70 years in Babylon in order for God to get the idols of the nations out of his people. So what about you? What is your story?
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