3.) WANTING IT TOO MUCH.
Am I striving for recognition? Does my sense of identity depend upon me being recognized as a leader? This suggests, if I let this mode of operation continue, that I am leading out of warped space, trying to prove something. This will infect everything I do. People will sense that I am leading not out of Kingdom interests, but out of my own. Leadership however, is a call to service and obedience to God, not one’s own ego gratification or even identity. I refuse to lead out of my own sense of identity. I agree that, as God uses us, we will come to know who we are within the realm of God’s purposes. But the minute I start striving for some recognition in the body of Christ instead of submitting to the recognition, I am working against the dynamic of the Kingdom. I suggest that a leader in the Kingdom must always be ready and willing to give up leadership, surrender, and only serve at the behest of the body at large. A.W. Tozer was famous for saying the most dangerous leader in the room is the one who wants leadership.
Phil. 2:3-5 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.
Ask yourself: Am I willing to give up my leadership in this role, or has it become too important to my sense of identity? Am I willing to submit to my colaborers? Is God still calling me to act in this role in this place? If I cannot do this and trust God for the future, I suggest I am seriously close to disqualification for leadership in the Kingdom. I am seriously close to operating not out of a place of submission to the King, but our of my own needs for this “job.”
In Conclusion
These three signs all testify to the singular most important dynamic to unleashing the Spirit in and around our communities: the dynamic of Jesus’ rule as Lord and King over the space of His people. We who lead among His people therefore must lead in submission to His rule, always discerning with a group of people in His rule, where He is taking us, what He is doing. To lead out of personal ego and/or control undermines this dynamic, and it turns our church into just another social organization based in human organizational processes.
To this end, then, I encourage us all as pastors/leaders in our places of ministry to test ourselves via this line of questions.
What do you think? Push back?
