An Ephesians 4 Process

The first time I taught these concepts, I was walking a group of people through our currently-being-created path.  We were up to the stages of the path where we learned about being a leader.  "Leadership is not about power, position, or politics," I told them, "It's about walking with God and helping others get there."  I went on to share Scriptures with the team that described leadership in the New Testament Church.  The discussion that followed was something that I didn't expect.

The group started talking about the passages, God's design for leadership, and how each one of them fell short of the picture.  Tears were shed.  Hearts were opened.  But the entire group was discouraged about the possibility of becoming a leader.  I learned that day that I needed to communicate more of the "iceberg" and share a different "tip" when teaching people about this concept.  That is the information we are about to enter now.

Leadership in the church is still not about power, position, or politics.  It's still about walking with God and empowering one more.  What I'd like you to see, though, is the process God has designed for developing leaders from within the Church.  

In case you are saying to yourself, "Well, I don't think I'm called to leadership, so I don't need to read this."  I want to challenge you and encourage you.  First, I want to challenge you to see that everyone is called to leadership of some kind or another.  Whether you are leading by example with your friends, leading at work, with your spouse, your children, or your grandchildren, Christ has called you to be his ambassador to the world.  That requires leadership.

This challenge is followed by an encouragement.  God has a plan for developing you.  Just like God had a plan for bringing you home to the Father through the Son, the plan includes the Spirit who will lead you, strengthen you, and encourage you every step of the way.  God will empower you not only to walk together with God, but to empower more as well.  Let's take a look at God's plan and process.

The first part of God's leadership-development process begins with our walk together with God.  We can't lead people to experiencing a walk that we, ourselves, are not experiencing.  Walking with God, then, becomes more than just experiencing everything God desires for our lives.  It is also the first step in being able to empower one more.

It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality... (Acts 15:28-29 NIV)

When the apostles met together to discuss a church filled with new Gentile believers, they asked God to lead them so they could lead this Church filled with new, non-Jewish, believers.  Since they didn't grow up with the Old Testament, they weren't following God's design for their lives.  They weren't even aware of all the provision of the law.  The meeting was over circumcision: should these new believers be circumcised like the law required for the Jew.  The Spirit led them to conclude, "No.  This is not God's requirement for Christ-followers."  Instead, they told the new believers to start changing their lifestyle to match God's design for all of our lives.  Begin by avoiding the worship of other, false gods.

Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:13-14 NIV)

They needed to start learning what God considers right and wrong: what is sin and what is righteousness.  They were still quite young in their faith - mere infants, if you will.  Over time they would learn more and more of God's design for their lives.  Not only would they learn it, they would start living it.

In the same way, deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons. In the same way, the women are to be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything. A deacon must be faithful to his wife and must manage his children and his household well. Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 3:8-13 NIV)

This is why people weren't recognized as deacons (servant-leaders) until their lives began reflecting an understanding, and experience, of someone who is walking together with God.  We need to live it before we can give it to others.  Leadership is not about power, position, or politics.  It's about walking with God and empowering one more.  Deacons were recognized as people who were walking with God, at least to some extent, and were even empowering their spouse and children to do the same.  You could see in their life someone who was walking with God.  You could also see that they were learning to empower one more.

...God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:10-11 NIV)

At the heart of leadership is this sometimes painful reality: I must lead myself first.  When it comes to God's Church, that means we allow God to lead and we follow.  Leading myself is all about following God.  When we get off the path, God disciplines us to bring us back.  It may seem painful at the time, but it brings a changed life with more peace for those who are willing to accept the discipline and follow what God is teaching us.  We lead ourselves to be led by God.  This is the first one empowered, then, by our leadership.

Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap. (1 Timothy 3:1-7 NIV)

An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer manages God's household, he must be blameless--not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. (Titus 1:6-9 NIV)

Over time, people see the change in our lives.  People recognize that we are walking together with God.  Not only that, they recognize that our marriages are loving, our children are walking with the Lord, people in the Church are turning to us for wisdom, and even people outside the church are seeing God as good because of our lives.  This kind of reputation doesn't develop overnight.  It takes time and consistency in our walk together with God.

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24 NIV)

Just like we talked about last week, this process begins with God.  It then progresses into our minds and hearts, where we are transformed by the renewing of our minds.  We can then test and approve God's good, pleasing, and perfect will in our lives.  This bears fruit in our words and deeds.  Then it begins to affect our relationships with people.  All in all, God's process really is perfect for developing us into people who can empower one more to walk together with God.

How about you?  Have you seen God's plan and process before?  Where do you see yourself in this process?  Are you growing in your walk together with God?  Are you learning to empower one more?