Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:06] Good morning. If I have not had the opportunity to meet you, my name is Michael Fueling. I'm the lead pastor here at the village church. And so we are almost to the end of the book of Second Corinthians. And this last series is called Ministry Training. Because really what happens in the last four chapters is we get this really like, practical insight into what leadership and training and ministry looks like in church.
[00:00:35] Not just 2,000 years ago, but it turns out, whether it was 2,000 years ago or today, people are people everywhere and the church still has people in it. And the same God and the same sin struggles. And so these last four chapters are an opportunity for us to kind of just take a step back. And what we want to do is learn some of this practical on the ground ministry training from the Apostle Paul. Now, I want to just say this aloud on the front end. Our pastors, the only people called into ministry, the answer is no. Somebody said yes. No. No. I think you were joking, but no.
[00:01:06] Every single person who has trusted in Jesus, you have a ministry for the rest of your life that God has for you to be pouring in and to building up the kingdom of Jesus. This particular message is gonna be directed at those who are spiritual leaders. And so here's who this means. It's not just pastors. It's not just elders, it's not just deacons, it's not just staff. It is community group leaders, it's ministry directors, it is Bible study leaders. It is small group leaders. It is ministry team members.
[00:01:38] Actually, it's moms and it's dads and it's grandmas and grandpas. Who. All of us, if you're a mom or dad or grandma or grandpa, you have spiritual leadership. And so that's who this message is aimed at. For those who are spiritual leaders or those who have spiritual leaders. So everybody sound good? Awesome.
[00:01:56] One thing I appreciate about the nature of spiritual leadership is that it tends to weed out pretty quickly those who might have selfish motivations.
[00:02:10] Why is that? And I want you to hear this.
[00:02:12] This might sound melodramatic, it might sound pouty. It's not. This is just kind of one of those realities of spiritual leadership.
[00:02:21] Spiritual leadership always results in pain.
[00:02:27] Okay? There are two kinds of pain spiritual leaders experience. The first kind is self inflicted pain. This is obvious. When we do dumb things, okay, we inflict pain on ourselves. So here's like a really good rule for everybody in ministry, serving anywhere.
[00:02:49] Don't do dumb things. Can I get an amen? Okay. When you do Dumb things. You inflict pain on yourself and to others. But the second kind of pain is called faithfulness, inflicted pain. Let's explore this.
[00:03:03] If you do the right thing in leadership for long enough, eventually you will get hurt deeply.
[00:03:15] 99% of spiritual leadership is a joy.
[00:03:19] 1% is often excruciating.
[00:03:24] Most people leave spiritual leadership not because of the 99%. They leave spiritual leadership for the 1%. And so I have a unique opportunity. My job and my spiritual leadership are all kind of connected. And so I wake up. And 99% of the time that I wake up, which is a really high percentage, I love my job. I love the privilege of spiritual leadership. I don't even mind some of the challenges here and there. Like, I don't mind. Like, I just really love pouring into people and leading spiritually. It's like I'm made to do it. But the 1%, I hate it. Can I get an amen from anybody else who has 1% of their job that they hate or more.
[00:04:05] Why? Okay, so most jobs are about outcomes and money.
[00:04:14] And most leadership positions are about overseeing or enforcing obedience to meet said outcomes so that the money comes in. And that's not bad. That's just the nature of the world and jobs, et cetera.
[00:04:29] But spiritual leadership is different.
[00:04:32] Spiritual leadership is always about love and, and relationship.
[00:04:39] And when you have love and relationship, do you know what you're always going to have eventually?
[00:04:45] Pain.
[00:04:47] Last time I checked, you're a sinner, I'm a sinner. The people sitting next to you are sinners. And you put sinners in a room long enough, someone's going to hurt someone, and inevitably everybody's going to be hurt by someone. Now again, lest you think I am pouting, I'm not. I wanna say this just differently. This is just kinda one of those things that you need to just tell people so they don't have unmet expectations.
[00:05:10] So when you get married, every marriage ends up hurting you.
[00:05:17] Some of you are like, amen, right?
[00:05:20] And everyone who gets married, you end up hurting someone else.
[00:05:27] Every single mom and dad, every parent.
[00:05:31] You will be hurt by your children eventually. Just wait till the wedding, right?
[00:05:37] If you do the right thing long enough. Now, as a mom and as a dad, right, Sometimes you have to say hard things. You have to correct, sometimes you have to do things and they don't like it. And sometimes they're worried back to you.
[00:05:52] If you do the right thing long enough, you're going to get hurt. And somehow people think spiritual leadership is different. In spiritual leadership, you have to sometimes say hard things and make hard calls. Sometimes you need to have hard things said to you. This is part of the nature of leadership spiritually. Now, when you're young and you get married, you're like, my marriage is gonna be better than my mom and my dads. We're gonna nail it. We're never gonna fight, right?
[00:06:24] And then you get married. Oh, wait, you're a sinner, and they're a sinner. And, wow, look, you have different, I don't know, agendas at times. And you argue and you default to patterns of, like, you fought with your brothers and sisters and your mom and your dad. Whoa, no way. And then you get children. You're like, my kids are gonna be perfect.
[00:06:41] Sure.
[00:06:43] You know what? You can't control anything about your kids.
[00:06:47] You can't control their personality. You can't control the way they look. You can't control, generally speaking, some major health things. You can't control whether or not they trust in JEs. You can't control the decisions they're making when they're not around you. You can't control whether they tell you the truth or not. There is nothing that makes you feel more out of control than being a mother or a father. And guess what?
[00:07:06] That hurts.
[00:07:07] That's hard.
[00:07:09] And so young pastors, young spiritual leaders, it's your first time in leadership.
[00:07:14] I'm gonna be the best. No, you're not.
[00:07:17] Jesus was the best. Everyone else falls short. I have never met a perfect spiritual leader. I've never met a perfect mentor. I've never met a perfect small group leader to be perfect, to do the right thing in the right way at the right time, with the right motivation, the right head, the right heart, the right. And then knowing all the things that they need perfectly in that moment, who has the ability to do that? And so we just kind of step back. If you do the right thing long enough, it hurts because this isn't just about making more money. This is in the context of relationship and love.
[00:07:49] Spiritual leader hurts because we love those we lead. So who are like some of these spiritual leaders on the ground every day in a local church, you get the mentor who meets one on one with someone to help them pursue Jesus and grow in their faith. By the way, if you do this long enough, inevitably you're gonna have to have a really hard conversation. When maybe you see sin in their life or you see something that you're like, hey, you're going down a path, or you see an influence in their life and you have to kind of step in and say, hey, can we talk for a minute? And you know what? Like, you're gonna be gracious and gentle and you're gonna pray about it. You're gonna do all the things benefit the doubt you're supposed to do. But you know what? You can't control whether or not that person wants to grow in that area in that moment.
[00:08:31] Because guess what? I've learned this the hard way. Most people don't like correction.
[00:08:37] And to receive correction, well, not only do you have to want it, but you have to be in the right headspace for it. And that's a trick. That's hard. And so you have these hard conversations. So one on one mentors, man, that's what a beautiful opportunity for spiritual leadership to help somebody pursue Jesus. Or small group leaders or community of leaders. You don't just show up. You're not just on autopilot, but you actually invest in those you lead. And you want to create a community where they are loved and connected and they're able to go deeper in prayer and God's word with each other. Or you are a part of a ministry team here or a ministry team leader, and you want to create a ministry culture where people can grow in their faith with Jesus.
[00:09:17] Or maybe you're a ministry director or you're a pastor or a staff member and you really want to raise up a generation of leaders on the ground. There are so many spiritual leaders in this church. And here's what you want. You want people to know God, to love him, to grow in their faith. And yet you're a sinner, and they're a sinner, and oh my. And that is inevitably, if you just stick with it, there's going to be some heartache. And I tell you that because when it happens, you don't have to go, oh, this is harder than I thought. You can say I expected this because Pastor Michael gave the greatest sermon that I've ever heard in my entire life that one time with this context. Open up your Bibles, Second Corinthians, chapter 11. So Paul is in the middle of the 1%, the hurt of spiritual leadership.
[00:10:04] Paul is in a season where he is with this church that he planted, that he loves, he's poured years of his life into.
[00:10:13] He adores them, his heart aches for them, and he is having to say some really hard things. And here's the net effect.
[00:10:24] There's going to be a few Corinthians, they don't want to hear it, and they're going to Reject Paul. And Paul is not cold hearted. He's not saying, well, fine, good riddance.
[00:10:35] And the majority are going to say, you know, they're going to land in the right place. They're going to say, you know what, like Paul, you love us, we're going to receive this well. And there is one group of people in the church, by the way, who are not going to like him because they already don't. He calls them the super apostles. And it's this group of people in the Corinthian church who came into the church and they wanted the authority and the power that the Apostle Paul had over the Corinthians. Do you think their motivations were pure? Oh, no. They wanted their money.
[00:11:04] And so they're coming in and they're trying to discredit Paul. And there were so many accusations about Paul. But here's the one accusation we're going to focus on this morning. And it would go something like this.
[00:11:16] Paul says he's a real apostle. Jesus called him.
[00:11:21] Now Paul is an imposter apostle.
[00:11:26] We super apostles, we're the real apostles.
[00:11:31] We should have the authority. You should do what we say. We should have the final say here.
[00:11:38] Now what might be their defense for this? I mean, if a bunch of random people came into church and tried to like, claim that they would like, how could you defend this? And here's how they might defend themselves.
[00:11:53] We talk good, we look good, we have money, everybody likes us.
[00:12:07] The Jews like us, the Gentiles like us, Rome likes us. Heck, even the devil likes us.
[00:12:15] Everybody likes us.
[00:12:18] Paul. Nobody likes Paul.
[00:12:21] If God loved Paul, why would God let Paul suffer?
[00:12:27] We don't suffer because God loves us.
[00:12:31] So do you really think that God would allow a real apostle to go through the kind of suffering the apostle Paul went through? Now here's the deal on some of this. They were right.
[00:12:45] They did talk better, they did have more money. The devil did like them.
[00:12:51] But here's the deal.
[00:12:52] What they failed to understand is that one of the requirements of being an apostle, the job description is that if you were going to be an apostle, I'd give you a job description. It would say you will suffer and die for Jesus.
[00:13:09] That actually is the indicator that you're an apostle. So while they're defending themselves with their ease of life and their good looks and their money and the way they talk and all this other stuff, they're actually disqualifying themselves. Because the real, real sign of an apostle, there's a few, but one of them is that they would Suffer. So here's what Paul does.
[00:13:29] In a genius move, he defends himself.
[00:13:33] And it's kind of funny because the super apostles are defending themselves with how awesome they are.
[00:13:39] And then in chapter 11, Paul is going to defend himself. And this is just hilarious to me. So in Comparison, in verse 23, here's what he says.
[00:13:48] Me versus the super apostles. Me, the real apostle, with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings. Guys, has anybody ever been beaten by the government physically? No, Countless. We're going to dig into this. But. And often near death. Okay, Corinthians, if you want proof that I'm a real apostle, the requirement is suffering, and I meet that requirement. They don't have that. Here we go. False apostles, real apostles.
[00:14:23] One verse earlier, he says, I'm talking like a madman. Why are we even having this conversation? This is ridiculous. You already know this.
[00:14:29] But they're being duped because these smooth talking super apostles are coming in and saying, if God really loved the apostle Paul, he wouldn't let his life be hard. That's like the prosperity, health and wealth gospel from 2000 years ago.
[00:14:41] Verse 24, he says, Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the 40 lashes. Last one. And they had this notion that 40 lashes would actually kill somebody. But I want you to just catch what this means.
[00:14:57] This means that Paul was accused and went to trial on five separate occasions before Jewish courts. And in every single circumstance he was found guilty and received on five separate circumstances. What? Jesus only received once, the 39 lashes.
[00:15:23] And so what they would do is they would take a whip, they would tie you to a post, they would take off your clothes, and as they whipped you would go around your body, it would pull out your skin and your muscle. And this has huge implications physically. But it's not just this. He goes on to verse 25 and says, Three times I was beaten with rod. So not only was he tried five times in Jewish courts, he was tried three times in Roman courts and found guilty on three separate occasions to be beaten with rods. And they would take a bundle of sticks, make it really hard, they would take off your shirt. They had certain guards who were tasked to do this. And there was no limit on how many times they could hit you. They would do it until you felt like you kind of got the point, right? And so this would happen to Paul on three separate occasions. And it was considered so low and bad of a punishment that it was illegal to give Roman citizens the beating with rods. Paul just happened to be a Roman Citizen. So not only was he found guilty on three separate occasions, he was given an illegal punishment for a Roman citizen. Do you think that would be discouraging for Paul?
[00:16:30] Why did he do it?
[00:16:33] Because he loves the people.
[00:16:38] Because he loves Jesus.
[00:16:40] Because he loves the churches, because he loves them.
[00:16:45] And there are things that you do for the people you love that you wouldn't do for others. And again, moms and dads, if it was to protect your children, would you do any less? Of course not. Because you love them.
[00:17:00] So this is eight separate unjust accusations, trials, guilty verdicts, and eight separate severe punishments.
[00:17:09] Oh, wait, there's a ninth verse 25 goes on.
[00:17:12] Once he says, I was stoned, meaning there was a sixth Jewish trial, and he was found guilty of a crime so heinous that his life must be ended.
[00:17:28] And so he would have been stoned. Now, let me just take a moment. I want to read to you a little bit about how stoning works. So the actual stoning would be carried out by witnesses who testified against the accused.
[00:17:40] According to Jewish law, the witnesses who testified against the accused would cast the first stones.
[00:17:47] The purpose of this practice was to emphasize their responsibility and discourage false testimonies. After the initial witnesses, the rest of the community would join in throwing stones until the person died. Now, the last death blow of a stoning was typically they would put somebody at the bottom of some sort of ravine that was 10 or 15ft high, and they would have one final large stone. It would be the death kill. And they would roll the stone on the person's head and it would crush them to death. And Paul says, I went through this and lived.
[00:18:18] If you could see Paul's body, you would see a body riddled with scars. And it's not just on his back or his tummy. It would be on his face, on his neck, on his arms.
[00:18:34] I want you to consider this. Paul's writing this letter.
[00:18:37] He's saying some really hard things.
[00:18:39] He's calling out the super apostles, and he's on his way to the church, and he shows up.
[00:18:47] In every single scar is a living illustration that Paul was not in this for himself, but was in this out of love for these people.
[00:19:03] And every scar on his body tells a story not of failure but of faithfulness.
[00:19:12] So when you see this guy, you're like, what have you done for us?
[00:19:17] And then you look at these monsters who all they're trying to do is cause people to sin and take their money quietly and secretly.
[00:19:25] What are we dealing with here?
[00:19:27] And Paul shows up in person. And this is why the Super Apostles ended up losing. Because you just look at what he bears on his body. He bears the scars of a faithful man who loves his flock. He's not done yet.
[00:19:40] His resume just keeps going. And honestly, sometimes I laugh when I read this. Every circumstance is objectively terrible, but sometimes you put them all together, you're like, what? Did what?
[00:19:50] I don't want to be apostle. Thank God there are no more apostles, because what these guys had to endure was ridiculous. Three times I was shipwrecked a night and a day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys and dangerous from rivers, dangerous from robbers, dangerous from my own people, dangerous from Gentiles, dangerous in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers from false brothers and toil and hardship through many a sleepless night and hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Can I just be straight with you guys? I don't know a single spiritual leader in my entire life who's had to do this for anybody in modern America.
[00:20:23] And I am thankful. I don't want to have to go through this.
[00:20:26] But I look at this guy and I'm like, wow, you clearly love the Lord and you love the people that he's called you to serve. Paul knows what it means to have no food, no shelter, no love, no friends, no respect, no reputation, and no health. And then verse 28, he moves from kind of the externals of spiritual leadership that the apostle would have to endure. And I think what he describes in verse 28 is kind of what all spiritual leaders to a different degree, endure.
[00:20:57] He says, and apart from other things, I don't know what the other things are.
[00:21:02] There is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
[00:21:10] Why do parents lose sleep over their children?
[00:21:13] Because we love them.
[00:21:16] Why does Paul lose sleep over the churches that he planted?
[00:21:20] Because he loves them.
[00:21:24] Why is a parent's love still on toward their kids when their kids reject them?
[00:21:34] Because you love them unconditionally. It's like a parent's love.
[00:21:39] And as you shepherd a group of people long enough or an individual, you have this weird spiritual parenting love that develops inside of you, this desire, this faithfulness. You're like this unconditional thing. And so why does Paul keep his love on even though some of these Corinthians are believing the Super Apostles?
[00:22:00] This is kind of the nature of spiritual leadership.
[00:22:03] When you love someone and you serve someone and bless somebody, and that's your goal, and you pray for them. The Holy Spirit has this way of building inside of you a love for them, even when they reject you.
[00:22:16] Verse 29 gives a glimpse into what made Paul worry.
[00:22:20] He says, who's weak?
[00:22:22] And I'm not weak. And what I appreciate about this is that Paul's self understanding is not. I'm the apostle Paul. I'm the godliest of them all. Look, Jesus chose me to be an apostle. Jesus chosen to be an apostle when he was at his absolute worst.
[00:22:39] Paul actually has a really interesting self understanding of his own frailty, his own sin, his own weaknesses. Like, if you were to ask the apostle Paul, are you a good talker? He'd be like, no. Are you handsome? No. Before the scars, I wasn't even good looking. I'm really not much. Right.
[00:22:56] Like, what are some of your heart sin struggles? He's like, I'm prideful.
[00:23:00] I have a heart of what? He would literally lay out his heart struggles.
[00:23:05] Paul was so transparent about his struggles. He's like, yeah, I'd go to the Lord three times. I'm like, I don't want this thing that you gave. Like, even how he bucks against the Lord, it's like striking the level of authenticity and transparency that he has. And he's like, you're weak. I'm weak. Do you think that I'm like, not like, I'm just like a super Christian handling all of this stuff really well? No. Like, Paul is identifying that he's not doing well with all the stuff.
[00:23:30] And so you would think you'd be like, why should I be your apostle? Because I never struggle because I'm above all right? And he's just like, no, I'm weak, guys, this isn't. This isn't easy.
[00:23:40] And then in verse 29, he goes on, and I think this is easy to like, just kind of miss. But I think for spiritual leaders there's something really important here. He says, who is made to fall?
[00:23:50] And I am not indignant. So made to fall comes from a word that we get, a word scandalized. And literally it means this.
[00:23:58] Who is not led into sin? The recipient's passive. Their hand is being held into a sinful place.
[00:24:05] Who of my people are not being led into spiritual sin? And I am not furious.
[00:24:15] You remember when Jesus got the most angry, who was it at?
[00:24:19] It was at the people who were leading the nation of Israel into sin.
[00:24:22] People have this idea that like spiritual leaders were supposed to be like the Dalai Lama. Unfazed, unemotional, neutral, emotionally.
[00:24:29] My God isn't unfazed. My God isn't emotionally neutral. And Paul is letting them all know I'm going to show up and I'm going to be tender to my people.
[00:24:40] But to the super apostles, they don't get my tenderness. I am furious because not only are they trying to take your money, they're actually telling you and encouraging you in sinful behavior in your everyday life. And it infuriates him.
[00:24:53] I want to know that my spiritual leaders tasked with protecting me, they have some emotions and they will stand up for me. Amen.
[00:25:02] And so this idea that spiritual leadership is always nice, it's not real because we are sinners living in a sinful world, dealing with sinful situations. And sometimes when somebody tries to lead your people, the person you're like, I just remember vividly there's multiple young dudes going through my brain in high school when I was their one on one mentor. And I would hear and see these influences in their life, trying to drag them away. And I remember just internally I'd be like, oh, I'd be so frustrated. Like I was so protective and they couldn't see it. And, and so like, of course you gotta handle this biblically and humbly and with counsel and with deep prayer. But like, you also understand that as a spiritual leader, with deep love also comes deep sadness, but also sometimes deep anger as well.
[00:25:49] Verse 30 says, I must boast.
[00:25:53] If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
[00:25:59] What the super apostles call weak, Paul calls proof. So does Jesus.
[00:26:04] So finally, to close out his resume of apostolic qualifications, he does something really funny. He tells a short story that when you read this, feels completely out of context.
[00:26:17] Now if you were the super apostles and you were writing a resume, you'd be like, I'm awesome. Here's why I'm great for the job, here's why you should give it for me. And then the person who's interviewing you closes you and says, tell me a story about the time you did something great. They'd be like, oh, I did all these amazing things, I'm rich and everybody likes me. And the apostle Paul, you'd expect them just be like, here are all the churches I planted here, all the spiritual leaders I raised up here, all the people who came to salvation through me. That's why I should be an apostle. And the story he chooses to tell is so strange and it's actually genius. And so verse 31, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows that I'm not lying, what I've just said, what I'm about to tell you is true.
[00:26:53] At Damascus, which is a city that has.
[00:26:56] It's basically a fortress. It's got big, tall walls, and it's, like, very guarded. You got to go through the doors to get in and out. At Damascus, the governor under King Eridas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me.
[00:27:09] But I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands. You read this, you go, what is he talking about?
[00:27:16] This is the first actual story told after Paul becomes a Christian in Acts, chapter nine.
[00:27:24] And here, essentially, here's what Paul's saying. Paul, tell us a story that justifies why you should be an apostle.
[00:27:31] One time I was so scared that I ran for my life and I had to be let down out of a window because I was petrified.
[00:27:41] That sounds weak. That's the point.
[00:27:44] And this is how he ends his.
[00:27:47] So this is why Paul should be the apostle of the church in Corinth.
[00:27:52] I appreciate I've said this earlier, but I just. I think it needs to be said again.
[00:27:57] I appreciate that the apostolic office is no longer around the qualifications to be an apostle. It's not. It's not able. They established the foundations of the church. I'm also appreciative that the physical suffering of the apostles.
[00:28:12] Very few people are going to have to endure that level of suffering.
[00:28:17] But it doesn't matter where you're at in spiritual leadership. When you love the people you lead and you do the right thing for long enough, inevitably there's going to be a relationship or three that don't make it. And we can be upset at that, or we can just understand that this is a part of what it means to be tasked with the spiritual responsibility to lead people in the context of a spiritual war where eternity is at stake.
[00:28:46] Now, I have three. So what's that I want to share with you? Number one, I want to share with you three principles for calling and spiritual leadership.
[00:28:55] And the first is this.
[00:28:57] While everyone is called to ministry, not everyone is called to be a spiritual leader in the context of a local church. And that is okay.
[00:29:07] If everyone is a leader, then we're just all gonna have some challenges. And even you may find yourself in a season as a leader, right? But guess what? All leaders have spiritual leaders.
[00:29:16] Everybody. The elders have spiritual leadership. I have spiritual leadership.
[00:29:20] Number two, if you are called to spiritual leadership, it should start small.
[00:29:26] Someone will ask you to lead something manageable and your job. And I need you to hear me, your job is not to. To be perfect.
[00:29:37] There is one perfect spiritual leader, and you and I are not it.
[00:29:43] Our job is to be faithful.
[00:29:46] If you have one person you're mentoring, your job is to be faithful, to pray for, to seek, to bless, and to help push that person to follow Jesus. If you have a small group, your job is not to be perfect. You're gonna make so many mistakes dealing with people in sin and struggles and heartache and always have the right thing. It's just challenging. But your job is to be faithful. And if and when you don't do something just right, we just take ownership of that, and then we learn and we do better. Number three, greater opportunities are reserved for those tested and proven faithful.
[00:30:24] And so some people have aspirations for greater spiritual leadership. And the best way to grow in your spiritual leadership is to be faithful with the souls that God has entrusted you to lovingly shepherd and lead in whatever season he has given you.
[00:30:43] So at number two, all spiritual leaders, true spiritual leaders, protect their people, and it's sometimes at their own expense.
[00:30:55] Sometimes spiritual leaders need to protect someone from their own sin, and it might look like a gentle warning or a humble confrontation.
[00:31:08] Sometimes spiritual leaders need to protect their people from someone in their life. It's interesting because sometimes your family, your friends, and your mentors, they can see the dangerous people in your life way before you can see them. And so whenever somebody sits down and says, I think this person might not be the best for you, one of the best things you can do is take that counsel seriously if that person loves the Lord and is a spiritual leader in your life.
[00:31:35] Sometimes spiritual leaders need to protect you from really bad ideas. Can we just agree there's some really bad ideas, and sometimes it comes in the form of podcasts or books or ideologies. And so sometimes we have to sit down with somebody and say, hey, I'm not sure that this influence is good for your soul.
[00:31:55] And again, most people don't love to be corrected. But I think one of the most humble, wise things you could ever do is when somebody corrects something, ask questions, and listen, because there might be a gold nugget for you in that even though your maybe inclination would be to be defensive, I have not found defensiveness has ever worked for me. I don't know about you, but sometimes spiritual leaders, and this is so rare, I hope we never have to deal with this. But, like, sometimes super apostles rise up in the church.
[00:32:27] That's rare. The chances of that happening to anybody, it's so rare. But, like, sometimes stuff happens, and so we kind of step Back and go. You know what? As spiritual leaders, sometimes you need to be able to say, I'm going to shepherd or protect or love.
[00:32:43] And sometimes there's gonna be a cost to me. Now, I want you to hear this.
[00:32:47] If you have been a spiritual leader for an extended season, and everybody everywhere likes you, and I mean everybody, it is plausible, highly probable, that maybe your leadership has not been in the habit of addressing sin in a biblical kind but clear way.
[00:33:16] Because the greatest way to create an enemy is to have a hard conversation.
[00:33:21] And so I'm just gonna let that sit for a moment. I hope everybody, everywhere, all the time, likes you. I've just found that no spiritual leader that I've ever met has ever had that experience. No parent, no spiritual leader. And that's okay.
[00:33:38] And if for some reason they don't like you because you were the dummy, then own that so that you can have a clear conscience. Amen. Amen number three. Lastly, are you healing from your spiritual leadership wounds?
[00:33:58] So as we close this message, I want to talk about a very real experience.
[00:34:03] We call this wound transference.
[00:34:07] It goes like this. I'll give some analogies.
[00:34:11] If you have a bad experience with a man, all men are bad.
[00:34:17] If you have a bad experience with a cop, all cops are bad.
[00:34:23] If you have a bad experience with a spiritual leader, all spiritual leaders are bad and untrustworthy.
[00:34:33] We have this ability to take genuinely traumatic moments and in order to protect ourselves, to transfer that wound to everybody in like category, which, by the way, is not healthy nor fair.
[00:34:50] But we all have the tendency to do that, because what does your mind, your heart and your soul, your body, not want?
[00:34:57] You don't ever want to re experience that trauma again.
[00:35:01] But at the same time, we have this propensity to take one experience from one person and then punish a whole bunch of other people in our life for this one experience.
[00:35:13] It's not healthy because there will always be bad apples and time and the Lord have a way of exposing that.
[00:35:25] But here's the deal.
[00:35:26] I don't want to be punished because someone in a similar position did something that I think is reprehensible.
[00:35:36] This gets really challenging when wound transference doesn't just stop from one spiritual leader to another, because it never stops there. And this is primarily why I want to go at this.
[00:35:51] Because when you have a wound from a spiritual leader, the temptation is to transfer this to all spiritual leaders.
[00:35:58] But it doesn't stop there. Do you know where it goes next?
[00:36:02] It goes to your God.
[00:36:04] The amount of people who put God at arm's length because someone misrepresenting them hurt him. It's unbelievable.
[00:36:15] And, and I just have really great news for you.
[00:36:18] Whatever that person did or that group did, God didn't do.
[00:36:23] And God, his hand is extended to you saying, come back home.
[00:36:29] I'm not that person. The safest place to be ever is in a dynamic, authentic relationship with the God who made you and loved you.
[00:36:39] And it may take time to learn how to trust other spiritual leaders, but I think it is a. It is worth fighting for.
[00:36:47] Because when you have an unhealed spiritual wound from a leader in your life, it will always be transferred to the other leaders and it will always affect your relationship with God eventually. That's not what he wants for you. It's not what all the people in your life want for you. And this is why, when it comes to our own spiritual wounds, we have to be so intentional about experiencing healing. I was thinking about the Corinthian Church in this, and this was a pretty traumatic situation for this church to go through, for the Apostle Paul to show up, and for there to be this kind of, like, active church division and for the fight like this had to be a really challenging circumstance. And some of them are going to walk away from the faith because of this. They're going to say, if this is what Christianity is, I don't want anything to do with it. And the Apostle Paul, I just imagine him jumping in and saying, whatever happens with this super apostles and the people, whatever goes on here, right?
[00:37:36] Imperfect Christians will never perfectly represent a holy, righteous God.
[00:37:42] And so we don't look to other believers to give us an excuse to not be in relationship with God.
[00:37:48] And so one of my biggest encouragements to all of us is watch where those wounds happen, because it doesn't matter who you are, inevitably you'll have spiritual leadership wounds you'll be tempted to transfer. And then they get pointed right back to Jesus, and he is not the one who did it to you. So I can look at all of us with a clear conscience to say, our God loves each one of us.
[00:38:08] He loves you. And if you are here and you have never trusted in Christ, maybe the thing that held you back was what you saw in Christians.
[00:38:17] I have good news for you.
[00:38:19] None of us became Christians because we were good.
[00:38:22] We became Christians because we were sinners. And what you're seeing is the very reason why a savior had to come.
[00:38:28] Imperfect people who do imperfect things and need forgiveness and redemption.
[00:38:34] And so I have great news for you. All the ridiculous behavior You've seen by Christians that does not represent who God is.
[00:38:43] Our God is good and holy and kind and righteous and just. And you will never be safer in anyone's hands than the true God who loves you and made you. And so I have also doubly great news for you today because not only is he good, but he is always offering real, actual forgiveness, salvation and relationship at all times, 247 until the day you're dead. And what I also appreciate is that he doesn't look at us and say, now you get to be a good boy and girl and then you get to go to heaven. It's not what the Bible says. The Bible teaches with unbelievable clarity that anybody who believes in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and asks him for forgiveness will be forgiven, saved, will be restored to him, will be in relationship with him once for all and forever. And so if you have never made that decision to come to him and say, I am sorry for my sin, I believe that Jesus, your God, you died for my sins, was raised from the dead. Like, if you never come to him, I think personally today is the greatest day on the planet to do it. You can come to him and his hand is extended towards you. And if you're here and you're just like, you know what? I've been harboring all of this unhealed wounds, and people are getting punished because of the issues I've never dealt with, man, we would just love to help you figure out what that next step is so you can pursue healing so we can be as healthy as we possibly can. Amen. Vil Church. Amen. All right, let's pray together.
[00:40:00] Father, thank you for giving us insight into very real circumstances and to be able to get into the heart and the mind of a spiritual leader who loves his people so much.
[00:40:18] Lord, we are instructed by the Apostle Paul's words, his humility, his strength, his weaknesses, and God for being honest. And we have a lot of weaknesses. And yet you call weak people to love and to lead. So thank you for the privilege that you give us of not just ministry, but for some of us, the opportunity to be a spiritual leader. And. And Lord, we do know that to a degree, we represent you in that and we want to represent you well.
[00:40:50] Thank you for the blood of Christ that forgives us when we don't. And thank you for the Holy Spirit who can help heal maybe those that we have had a hard impact on.
[00:41:00] But Lord, we want to continue to learn and to grow, and so help us in that and most of all God, we just, we step back and we just say, without you, none of this would be possible. And thank you for the shed blood of Jesus. And in a couple moments we get to celebrate communion and remember what you've done for us. And so, Lord, for those of us who maybe take for granted what you have done for us on the cross, would you remind us again and fill us, encourage us with gratitude and thanksgiving.
[00:41:26] Lord, we love you, we want to be faithful and thank you for the blood of Christ. For when we are not, we pray all of this. We do it in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
