Real Authority

"After Jesus finished speaking, the crowds were amazed at his teaching. For he taught as one who had real authority-quite unlike the teachers of the religious law." Matthew 7:28-29 NLT

What was it that made Jesus' teaching so powerful? How was it different from the teachers of the law?

The first difference would be one was anointed and one wasn't. There was something powerful and penetrating about the truths that Jesus spoke. Jesus was delivering more than just good information. There was something transforming about his message.

The second difference would be one was filled with integrity and the other was filled with hypocrisy. True character displaced the white washed teaching of the religious leaders. Jesus never taught anything he didn't model in his own life.

Thirdly, the crowds were amazed. It was obvious to the listener that something was unique, motivating, and liberating about Jesus teaching even though he was a carpenter's son from Nazareth. The teaching of the religious leaders had been basked in religious higher education that burdened people with rules and regulations.

How do you measure up to the standards that Jesus set? When you teach do you have real authority?

God's Authentication

I have been rereading Blackaby's book, "Spiritual Leadership" again. I would recommend it to you if you haven't picked it up lately. In it he reminds us that every leader needs God authentication with 5 overriding principles. Here they are:

1. God will fulfill his promises to the leader and the leader's organization. In other words there should be ample evidence of God's affirmation on a leader's life.

2. God will vindicate a leader's reputation over time. Criticism is not necessarily a sign of poor leadership.

3. Changed lives will be a true sign of God's affirmation. Spiritual advancement must be evident in lives the leader's influence.

4. Others will recognize that God is the driving force behind the leader's agenda.

5. The leader will have an unmistakable mark of Christlikeness in his public and private life.

How do you stack up against these principles?

Shepherd's Advantage

Two summers ago we made a trek into Bethlehem to visit the Shepherd Fields and the Church of the Nativity. It was awesome to be at the birthplace of Jesus and to identify with the shepherds.

Ordinary men, doing their job, watching over their flock. Men who were called by God to come and be the first visitors to the Christ child. They immediately left what they were doing to see the Christ child the savior of the world, the Messiah. What a privilege and delight to these men to be the first to see the baby Jesus.

As I thought about this familiar part of the Christmas story, I began to identify with the shepherds as a pastor. Our job is to keep watch over the flock. But a higher calling is to connect with Jesus. If we connect with Him intimately the flock will be better protected.

Secondly, we need to count it a privilege to be called "pastor" shepherd. Healthy pastors should never forget that our first responsibility is to be a shepherd, not a prophet, not a CEO, not an administrator.

Third, good shepherds need to be the first to proclaim the joy of meeting Jesus. The shepherds left the encounter with the baby Jesus telling everyone the good news. Healthy pastors need to be excited, intentional, and role model about sharing what it means to meet Jesus face to face.

Over this holiday season I want to again remind you what a privilege it is to be a shepherd.

You may feel ordinary but have been given an extraordinary opportunity to proclaim the good news!

Merry Christmas.

Defining Success

After spending hours with over a 100 pastors the past 3 years a dialogue usually erupts regarding the definition of success. Unfortunately pastors have gotten caught up in the same components that exist in the secular arena; such as bottom lines like numbers, budgets, baptisms, and other tangible results. Consequently the church continues to hold up the success stories and gurus of the faith as our role models of success.

As I was contemplating this blog, God showed me 4 measurements of success that could define anybody's ministry without the bottom line being the paramount issue. Here they are:

1. Operating in, understanding and accepting our giftedness. When we fail to operate and understand our giftedness we end up spending our time on compensating for our weaknesses and thus exposing our insecurity.

2. Maintaining honest intimacy with God. We must continually allow God to transform our lives from the inside out. Remember that Joshua's success was based on the meditation of God's word.

3. Being intentional about the Great Commission and Great Commandment. When we lose sight of the simple calling of God in our lives we have missed the target. Success is hitting what we are aiming at.

4. People's lives are being transformed. This is where we need to be alert to those individual lives that are being touched. Even though numbers are not the issue there should be signs of tangible fruit.

I truly believe if we keep these four principles of success in mind a "well done thou good and faithful servant" will be waiting for us. What do you think?

Anonymity

I recently received this email with a quote from Dr. Dan Rotach:

When did anonymity get sanctified? I met with a pastor who was told recently that "a number of people" in the church had concerns about his ministry. When he tried to discern who these individuals are with the hopes of communicating with them, He was dealt with the evangelical trump card: "These matters were shared in confidence." Once again, I found myself asking the question. : When did anonymity get sanctified?

Confidences (code for secret and often destructive communication) are appropriate when they involve destructive personal matters of the heart, or when the leadership is wrestling through tough matters that are not to be disclosed to the congregation. But the rule of thumb in the Scriptures is this: I must own my conversation. Further, I am called to "speak the truth in love " for in doing so I am contributing to the health of the Body (Ephesians 4:15). Yet, I find that many of our churches have spiritualized a very destructive pattern of communication, that is, it is okay to speak negatively of one another without owning it, and without going straight to the source of the communication. those who write about systemic health believe anonymity to be one of the most counterproductive practices to healthy church life.

As a pastor, how have you proactively handled this kind of destructive behavior in your church?

Living in Hope

Jeremiah had a very unique opportunity presented to him to purchase a tract of land in his hometown just a few miles from Jerusalem. At the time of the offer he was in prison and the Babylonians were about to completely destroy the Holy City and send all the Jews into exile. (Jeremiah 32:17,24-25)

Jeremiah, from a human standpoint, made a very foolish decision. He went ahead and purchased it for just 17 shekels. At the time it didn't make a bit of sense, but he was banking on a promise that was given to him by God. That promise included the fact that someday God would restore Israel to its homeland and once again prosper.

Jeremiah defines to us what living in hope is all about. It is about making investments for the future based upon God's promise in present.

Healthy pastors must learn to live in hope. If we constantly play it safe or yield to human wisdom or practicality, nothing would ever really be accomplished for the Kingdom.

So what investments are on your plate right now that demands you to live in hope.? Are you willing to take a risk even though the naysayers are out there saying how impractical it may be?