Heb 13:7 Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.

2Ti 2:2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Hebrews 13:7 is rarely preached on for two reasons: it offends the followers, and it offends the rulers in a church. The verse clearly teaches that people who have not taught a congregation the Word of God cannot be their leaders. They don't have to be the best teachers, and it doesn't require than to teach every Sunday, but before God makes a leader out of anyone, He makes a teacher out of him.

We have already seen that God tells us to take the lowest rooms in a church and to trust Him to advance us if it is His will. People who maneuver their way to the top through back-room church politics have not trusted God by obeying  this command. They don't have a faith that we should follow.

And then it continues: "considering the outcome of their conduct." When people seize leadership out of God's will, failure often follows. Attendance declines, soul-winning declines, baptisms decline, and the quality of God's Word being taught declines.

These people can hold any office or title they want, but they don't have authority over you.

How to Become Humble Part 2

Jas 4:6-7 ... God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble. Therefore submit to God...

1Pe 5:5-6 ¶ Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time

Over the years, I have met  Christian rebels who claim that God has told them to continue in a sinful path. Writers on Christian hate sites sometimes claim that God has called them to warn people against certain Godly men or Godly institutions. And despite their failures in obeying the Great Commission, they claim success, because they are obeying God's will for their lives....But they're not.

The two previous passages show us that submission to God includes submission to the human authority that God has ordained. Many sincere Christians will object that these authorities are often evil. Are you willing to submit to God? He told you to obey those authorities. There is no such thing as a humble Christian rebel. And a Christian who objects to the idea of God speaking to him or her through God-ordained authority is not submitting to God.

The second part of obtaining humility is this: Abandon the idea of  being  a Christian Lone Ranger, too good to answer to anybody but God. God has established leaders for you to obey. Which brings up a problem: How do you recognize the leaders whom God has called you to obey?

How to Become Humble Part 1

Lu 14:11 "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

I know of three Scriptural ways to become humble. The first is given in Luke 14: do not seek high positions for yourself at church. Seek low positions, and then trust God to elevate you if it is His will. 

One meagachurch has successfully started over a dozen other churches. A group of men were cleaning up after the morning service in one of them when a stranger walked in. He enthusiastically told them that he liked what they were doing, and he wanted to be a part of it. They agreed. Then he explained that he wanted to be a leader. The assistant pastor agreed, and told him to get a vacuum cleaner out of a closet and to start on the main auditorium. Afterwards, they would need his help cleaning the rest rooms.

Surprised, the man explained that God had called him to take a leadership position in their church. The assistant pastor then explained that if that were true, then God had called him to start working as a servant, because that's where their leaders came from. The man refused, and the church grew and succeeded without him.

Did God call him to be a leader there? If He did, then the man failed; he didn't follow the teachings of Luke 14. And if God has called you to be a leader, He has called you to seek positions of service as well.

How to Recognize the Right Approach

After using the illustration of people who are invited to a feast, Jesus concluded with His explanation of WHY He was correct:

Lu 14:11 "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Notice what  Jesus said : "Whoever" exalts himself will be humbled. Jesus did not say, "Whoever exalts himself, unless he is right," or "Whoever exalts himself unless God told him to do it," or "Whoever exalts himself except those with decades of experience in leadership positions." Jesus taught that ANY Christian who exalts himself into a possition of leadership is going to get humbled.

So, how do you humble yourself? How do you know if you are humble? How do you not know that you aren't so proud that you think you're humble, when you're not? Despite all the jokes about "Humility and How I Obtained It," the Bible really does gives ways to become humble, and ways to tell whether or not you are humble.

The Right Approach

Lu 14:10 But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.' Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.

We have seen that people who will only take positions of leadership usually fail in their Christian service. But Christians who are willing to take low positions succeed because any advancement they make comes from God, not themselves. Are you willing to go to your pastor and volunteer to do any task that needs to be done? What if the task is setting up chairs, mopping floors, cleaning rest rooms, washing dishes after church meals, or tending to the church grounds?

One large Baptist church that we were members of always had plenty of nominees for deacons, but the pastor had to plead nearly every Sunday for nursery workers. Everyone who ran for deacon could not possibly have been called to do so, but everyone who volunteered to work in the nursery had genuine opportunities to serve God. In another large Baptist church, some men who were not elected as deacons were so upset that they were put on the school board as a "consolation prize," where they hindered the work of our Christian school. In other churches, people would fight and scheme to be put in charge of an adult Sunday School class, while refusing to teach a children's class; and although it may have happened elsewhere, I know of no instance in which such a person did a good job teaching the adult class. In yet another church, we had a successful teen-age Sunday School class, because inexperienced young Christians were bringing their friends; meanwhile, older, more experienced Christians seized the leadership, and ran off 3/4 of the attendance in one year.

Do you want to serve God to get results, or do you want to serve God to glorify yourself? If you want results, seek out opportunities to SERVE, not opportunities to rule.

The Wrong Approach

Lu 14:8 "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him;

 9 "and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.

Walking into a church and demanding a position of leadership is the wrong way to serve God. "Backstabbing your way to the top" often works in the secular world, but not in successful Christian service. All kinds of Christian ministries have been hurt or crippled when unsuitable people, who were not being blessed by God, became leaders. The Greek for "the best place" refers to the best reclining place; it is a place that does not require work or service. It is a place for a person who is too important to work.

God can demote these people in various ways. Sometimes, church attendance plummets after the wrong people seize leadership. Sometimes Christian ministries even shut down as the result of bad leadership. Generally, God's people leave, because they do not want to be under that person's authority. The ones who stay usually do so because they hope that things will get better.

Jesus warned that when God does demote someone, that person "with shame" begins to take the lowest place. The Greek word "shame" can also refer to dishonesty; the demoted Christian lies to himself and to others about what went wrong. When you see a Christian "on the way down," it is likely that you shouldn't believe his explanation of what happened.

In the next post, we'll see the right approach to serving God.

Welcome Back!

Folks, God has blessed us with a good year in Mexico.

We have a lot of retired Christians here in the Gringo Zone of Mexico, and there are a lot of hard feelings when older Christians feel that they should be leaders--far more leaders than are needed. In our three-and-a half years in Mexico, we have seen two Christian churches close, five missionary families leave after failing, and one church badly damaged by a small group of people who seized control. 

At the same time, we began the year averaging seven kids for Saturday morning cartoons in one station wagon, and we are now averaging thirty kids in three vehicles. Wednesday night children's church is running about a dozen, and the Christian cartoons at the orphanage are also running about a dozen. We're hoping and praying for more opportunities to serve the Lord in 2009.

Why do some Christians fail and others succeed? Is it sin, is it methods, or is it how you understand the Word of God? We'll be going through a series, posted about twice a week, of short, interesting explanations about how to succeed in God's work.