Body Builders Walk with God

Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. (1 Timothy 3:1 NIV)

Over the past couple weeks, we have been looking at leadership in God’s Church.  We’ve been reminding ourselves that leadership in God’s Church is different than leadership in the world.  In God’s Church, leadership is not about power, position, or politics.  It’s about walking with God and helping others do the same.  The first week, we looked at Team Builders: leaders as servants – table waiters (deacons) who lead by serving.  Last week  we went a step further and looked at Flock Builders: leaders who build into people through prayer and ministry of the word.  This week, we will take things one step further and look at people who have been building into others for awhile.  Their experience and giftedness makes them Body Builders, because they consistently build up the Body of Christ.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up… (Ephesians 4:11-12 NIV)

These builders have learned to serve.  They build into people through prayer and ministry of the word.  They have earned the respect of so many others, though, that they have become leaders of leaders.  They are comfortable with who they are, strong in their relationship with God, and have become effective in using their gifts.  Everyone can see that they walk together with God.

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 3:2-7 NIV)

How about you?  Do you walk together with God?  Do others recognize it in you?  Can you recognize a true Body Builder?