1 Thessalonians 5:12-15 • Leadership
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(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)
A few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to listen to some interviews being done with the eight retired military aides to President Reagan, the aides who were responsible for holding the football.
The football is that at-a-shay case that never leaves the presence of the president because it contains the nuclear codes in case of war.
And as those eight military aides, each assigned to a year of President Reagan's term, were being asked questions, they all smiled at one point when the interviewer asked, "What did the president say when people asked him about the football and what was in that particular at-a-shay case?" And they all smiled because they said he always did the same thing. Now, you know that President Reagan was not only known as the great communicator, he liked a joke or two. And so when he was asked what was in the nuclear codes case, he would tell people, he'd say, "Well, you know, inside there's a red button and there's a green button, and the red button launches the nuclear weapons.
The green button averts the launch."
Or is it the other way around?
Which reminded me that there are just many styles and flavors of leaders.
And so you wonder how the Bible could give standards for leaders that would be universal, that would apply to all people, God's people, in a great variety of situations. Last week we celebrate Easter, we love to talk about the resurrection of the Lord, and yet you wonder, does that have any significance for daily life? Does a risen Lord mean anything for us in our workplace day to day? And here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, the Apostle Paul is wanting to maintain that movement of the Spirit, that great mission of God in the world through Jesus Christ by establishing leadership that will reflect that same Jesus. It's God's ministry in the world of His Son by leaders who reflect Him. Let's read what that instruction is. I'll ask that you stand as we honor God's Word. First Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 12 through 15 in your grace Bibles, that's page 988,
looking at verse 12.
The Apostle Paul says, "We ask you brothers to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.
Be at peace among yourselves, and we urge you brothers, admonish the idol, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone."
Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father, you know my own heart with this message. My fear just being a job manual, just another seminar leader on what it means to be a leader in this culture.
Help me to be submissive to your Word, to believe that your Holy Spirit is doing a greater work than just giving a leadership manual, but is nonetheless instructing your people how by their leadership in this world, Christ might be known, reflected, and actually rule over the affairs of humanity.
Grandfather that you would teach us this day to be leaders after Christ's purposes. We ask in His name, amen.
Please be seated.
The Christian commentator Cal Thomas writes about a noteworthy leader in his acquaintance this way.
He had tremendous faith, but his wife was an alcoholic, and his daughter had psychological problems.
The man himself was often in poor health, yet week after week he never complained. He always smiled and asked how I was doing when he saw me. He faithfully brought to church a young blind man and helped that man to sing the hymns by saying words into his ear.
That man was a Christian leader if ever there was one like the Lord Jesus.
That noteworthy Christian leader's example led Cal Thomas to write a noteworthy article whose title was this, "Dear God, please don't make me a Christian leader.
If it really requires pain and suffering and sacrifice, giving for others, selflessness, then we all recognize there's a price to be paid." And that's an important distinction because as I even look at my own library preparing this message and all the books that are on the shelves about leadership, I just begin to get weak in the knees. I mean there's so much that could be said, so much that is expected, so much that is required. You could look at the Peter Drucker qualifications. A leader is one who works very hard, who sees higher position as responsibility rather than privilege. A leader wants strong, capable associates. A leader creates vision and energy in a company or a corporation.
Or the Myron Rush qualifications. A leader is one who is willing to stand alone, willing to make decisions that others do not want to make, willing to strive for the best, master of one's emotions, works hard but maintains balance. Listen to that list of qualifications and you and I know it could be a lot longer list. I kind of say to myself, "Well, yeah, but who's got that complete package? I mean, who actually qualifies for the leadership that we know ought to be in place?" And as I look at the long list of leadership for institutions, for profits, for not-for-profits, for corporations, the longer I read, the more I sometimes wonder, and how does that list of qualifications cohere with the qualifications of what we tend to think of as the world's greatest leader of all time who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey's back in order to die?
What actually is a Christian leader?
And the more I think, the more I recognize it is someone who believes they are using God's gifts to champion God's cause regardless of the cost, regardless of the situation.
I understand that, I think, as I look at this instruction from the Apostle Paul, who is actually trying to maintain and mobilize the movement of the risen Lord now that Christ is in heaven, and to inspire leaders and people to have leaders who will maintain that great message of salvation. And as Paul begins to instruct the church of its leaders and leadership, I get some sense of what it means to champion the cause of Christ if you are a Christian leader.
But curiously, the Apostle does not start at all with the qualifications of leaders.
Rather he begins by talking about the obligations of people to leaders, rather than the obligations for leaders.
What are the obligations that is at work establish the soil in which good leadership grows? The opening words help us, verse 12, the Apostle says, "We ask you, brother, to respect those who labor among you."
The first obligation for people who would have good leadership among them and with them is that they would respect their leaders. Now that's what's required and it really doesn't surprise us. We recognize that for organizations to function well, there has to be respect for leaders. I have on occasion been able to go with my brother whose career military onto military bases in a military vehicle. And I just love it that when you're going through the gate, the guards salute you. I love being saluted, you know.
And I recognize, of course, they're not really saluting me.
They're not even saluting my brother.
They're saluting the insignia on the vehicle.
They recognize it's not the person, not even the qualities of the person, but it's the position that needs respect in order for the organization, the military, to function well. We're in the midst of a political campaign for the presidency and lots of things are said back and forth and we will say a lot of those things too probably in unguarded moments. But we recognize for the nation to thrive, to prosper, ultimately there has to be respect for the presidency. Even if we disagree with the person, even if we disagree with policies, we recognize the nation cannot function if there is not respect for its leaders, for the office itself, so that the apostles will tell us to pray for those in authority over us, to give proper honor to those, even apostles who were writing in the times of having cruel despots over the nations in which they served. There has to be respect for leaders. But what's curious is how the apostle begins, verse 12, not just saying what's required, respect for those who labor among you, but actually beginning that with a request. We ask you.
It's the Greek word erotahō which has the notion of, "I ask you as a brother, as a friend." It's a loving remark which is actually taking us to a heart concern that is beyond bear respect. And it's that notion of what's beyond respect that's in verse 13. As the apostle is saying to the people now in the church, "I want you also to esteem them," that is leaders, "very highly in love because of their work."
To esteem means to consider, to carefully think about.
And when the apostle says, "very highly," some of your study Bibles will actually say he's taking three Greek verbs and jamming them together as if to say, "very super hyper, love them."
It's not actually a Greek word before the apostle is saying it here. It's so important that you say, "I want you to esteem them very highly, really, really, really in love."
And we begin to understand if I think of leaders in my background, I think of some years, I would have a great deal of trouble esteeming some very highly in love, given their personalities, given their practices, giving the pressure they would have put on my life. What does it mean to esteem them very highly in love? It means that we take our responsibilities to leaders and we move them just beyond the practical and we're starting to think in the spiritual realm.
I recognize in order for this company, for this church, for this corporation, for this institution to prosper well, there has to be something that is being done for the Lord. That's more than just respect for office.
That is regard for the person, perhaps even a difficult person.
I don't have to go far in the Scriptures to think of example after example. Do you remember Daniel? We spent last fall looking at Daniel.
Daniel at some point is dealing with Nebuchadnezzar, the king that rules over a people of God who are in captivity. And at some point Daniel begins to address Nebuchadnezzar as his father.
"Oh, Father, you know I love you and I'm concerned about," and he begins to interpret the prophecies now. But he speaks to the king out of a heart of care.
Do you remember the captive girl taken by Naaman, a Syrian general? And then Naaman got leprosy and the girl says to Naaman in love, "There's a prophet in Israel who can help you. And out of compassion for the one who is actually her captor, the servant girl begins to minister in the name for the purposes of God."
It's a tough calling, but it's the reminder that leadership functions because there's soil in which that leadership itself prospers. And the nutrients, the composition of that soil in which leadership can actually function for the purposes of God include respect and esteem.
As we think about that, it actually comes together in verse 13 at the end where Paul says to the people in the church, "Be actually at peace among yourselves."
Again, the regard here is to all the people in the church as they are preparing for leadership that will work well. And he says, "You need to be at peace among yourselves. You and I recognize whether you're in the church or whether you're in corporations or whether you're in educational institutions, there are some people who are just magically gifted at making people mad.
You know, they just seem to be able to stir things up. They seem to be particularly delighted in doing that.
And when people start pulling apart rather than still pulling together, leadership cannot do what it's supposed to do. You and I recognize that what Paul is simply reminding us here is leadership is not from a superman or a superwoman. That every person, in order to function well, needs the support of others. That's why every sports comeback movie you can ever think of begins, you know, with the outside coach coming to take over the team of Nair-Duel and Misfits, and whether it's, you know, it's White Shadow or Radio or Hoosiers or Rudy, whatever is the movie, at some point there's some crisis that the coach gets the confidence of the team, and they can't function until they are pulling together and actually supporting the coach. I recognize that wisdom here in the church. When I recognize, I delight with the way in which you have loved and welcomed Kathy and me. And, and the sense I have of being energized and enthused and even feel a certain strength of being able to be in the pulpit, because I know there are people praying, I know there are people loving us, it's shown day after day. And I think of the contrast in the life of Christ Himself. Do you remember when Jesus was ministering around Nazareth and we are told that He could not do mighty works there because His own people in His own hometown did not believe in Him? Now, I don't think that means that He didn't have divine power still, but it's the reminder that God chooses to work in people whose hearts are engaged. And as hearts are engaged in a purpose, it means that the leader is supported, the direction of the church is supported by the leadership being supported by all of God's people who are at peace with one another, who are working and striving to get along, to pull together. And that's not just the responsibility of a, of a session leaders or diaconal leaders,
choirs, young people, congregants. There is this understanding that we are all in leadership, that the church functions because we are being supportive, establishing that soil. I may be a retiree, but if I'm a retiree, I recognize there's an obligation to pray. There's an obligation in the Sunday school classes. There's an obligation at the many dimensions of the church as we function socially to, to get along with each other, to, to keep disruption down. Not just because we're goody two-shoes, because we have a mission. And the mission is that the message of Jesus Christ would be known. And, and leadership needs that kind of fertile soil of God's people to function well. And if God has called you into a company, into a corporation, into an institution, where again, there is a mission for profit, to enable people to have jobs, to provide a product, to provide education for others. If there is something that needs people working together, Christians are to be salt and light in that setting.
Supporting leaders, because part of what God is doing to support His purposes in the world is to provide those leaders that can make institutions, companies, corporations, churches, prosper, and all of us have investment in that leadership we lead by supporting those leaders.
Now, as you think about the mission that is required for leaders, that's, that's when you begin now to think about not only what is required to support leaders, but what is actually required of those leaders. And that's in these verses as well. I'll return to verse 12.
Paul says, "We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you." Here's the first qualification of a Christian leader, to work humbly.
Not so obvious in all of your Bibles is the labor term, which is not a simple term.
It's a word that means to labor hard to the very point of exhaustion, that there are leaders who leave nothing on the field, who are for the sake of others, for the sake of the corporation. They work hard, but then the next term, among you.
Before the Apostle, Evers talks about supervision. He talks about those who labor among those that they are called to serve. It's the reminder that Christian leaders are actually serving others with their leadership,
that those who are gifted by leaders, how do they serve the, gifted as leaders, how do they serve the church, how do they serve their corporation, they actually bring the gifts of leadership to serve others. It's not just about me. It's not just about my promotion. It's not just about my self-interest. I actually believe I am called to the service of leadership.
And I extend that leadership for the help of others. That's why I labor among you.
Because these different concepts of a leader works among the people, and the people are actually part of the development of the leadership begin to form in the mind of the reformers, they actually had different ways of expressing what did it mean to understand that every leader was to serve humbly by giving the gift of leadership to the church.
The reformers used the phrase, "the priesthood of believers." That there weren't priests who were high up somewhere and the rest of the people down here somewhere, that everybody was a priest. Not only could they approach God individually on their own, which they can by prayer, but at the same time everybody was part of that priesthood, ministering to one another. And the priest himself was just part of the believers fulfilling the calling that God had given that particular individual. Martin Luther, who talked about the church being God's mouth house, the house in which the Word of God was declared, in order to make the point that the preacher, the pastor, the priest was one of the people with the calling of leadership, but still just one of the people, didn't put a pulpit up front here the way we have in our kind of western churches. Instead to make the point of the priesthood of believers, he put his pulpit on what's called the long wall on the side in the middle of the people to say, "Here's the Word of God, but I'm serving from among the people."
John Calvin was in a church that didn't have that kind of a pulpit. It still had the high pulpit that you see a lot of the churches in Europe having. But in order to make the point that the priesthood of believers is a leader serving among the people, he did what Pastor Greg and I do. He actually sat among the people before he came up to preach. And what he was trying to communicate was this, "Yes, the Word of God has authority, but I'm only dispensing it as one of God's people. I come and serve among you." And so he had just a little common chair made of wood. Instead of the elaborate bishop's chairs that sometimes were in medieval Europe, he just took this common little wooden chair and he put it among the people, and he would always sit that chair where he could sit among the people and then come out to preach.
Now what does that mean in the workplace? Because I recognize someone that, "Well, it's just the church." You know, this doesn't apply.
But if you begin to think of what God intends the church to be, a recreation of the garden experience of the paradise that God first intended, that the church is the place where there's the water of life being offered, where there is the bread of life for God's people, where God speaks to his people through his Word. This church, every church, is supposed to be not a false world, the most real world where God's people learn what it is to commune with one another and with God as God first intended. This is supposed to take this reality and move it to the lesser reality of the secular world. This is supposed to be the greater reality, and we're learning here what it means to relate out there. So, if I'm a boss in a company, how do I find ways not to give up my authority, but to work humbly in terms of how the perks and the car and the associations are communicated? What is being said as a Christian leader? You say, "We're in this together."
So that that is being communicated by what God intends as those who work humbly. They labor among you. Now, it doesn't remove authority. The very next words in verse 12 say this, "You are to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord."
Now, there's a word of supervision. They're over you in the Lord. The actual Greek word is prostemi, which means to stand before.
Now, it doesn't just mean like I'm doing with you, that I stand in front of you. Those who are over you are those, it's the word for a guard, a guardian.
Those who are guarding you by their position. They are over you in the Lord. It is a term of authority, but it carries with it the notion of shepherding, of guarding, of care. Shepherding my authority for the good of those to whom I am, that I am leading. If you think of it that way, what it means to supervise, you understand the importance of the following words. These leaders are over you in the Lord.
Their supervision is not arbitrary, nor is it self-oriented. They have the responsibility to guard as well as supervise in the Lord. Almost 300 times in the epistles of Paul is that in the Lord phrase used to talk about union with Christ, that my supervision is righteous. It is taking consideration the qualities of my God. I'm trying to represent His priorities, His character in the way in which I lead. And that can be really tough.
William Willimon, who is a writer and church executive, was not always an executive over many pastors in the life of the church. But he writes this in an article saying why leaders are in pain.
In high school I worked at a failing sporting goods store.
My youthful brush with business convinced me I was unsuited for leadership.
I realized bosses must hire and fire people.
They must cut costs. They must reprimand unproductive employees and have uncomfortable conversations.
I was too nice a guy to do those things.
But 20 years later I found myself in executive leadership and recognized I was being called to do just those things.
How do you do that?
If we are going to manage, no more than manage, lead organizations. We must recognize that we are being called to bring pain into people's lives.
Any organization can continue to run as it presently is.
The calling of leaders is to stretch organizations beyond their present limitations, limitations that will ultimately choke the organization.
And yet at the same time, limitations that are being studiously protected by those in the organization so that change will not have to occur.
God is calling for leaders who are over you in the Lord. They supervise for the purposes of God. But they do it in the Lord. That means they are united to Christ's purposes and character. Their actions are righteous. They're caring. They're selfless. They're bathed in prayer. And the reason that must be the case is because of the way verse 12 ends. They are not only over you in the Lord. They are called to, uh-oh, admonish you.
I know the question we all have at times, can I be a Christian leader and actually do the hiring and the firing and the reprimanding and the cutting of cost and if necessary the cutting of...I mean, does the Bible have anything to say about that? The word admonish here is actually a word that some of you may recognize because we have a style of counseling that's called this. It's called noothet...noothetic counseling, which actually means to set in mind. Sometimes you say, "I'm going to knock some sense into their heads."
It actually says it is the goal of the leader to admonish. Paul is actually saying, "You must know, leaders must do this. They must admonish at times. They must set in mind, and particularly the notion of the consequences.
You must set in mind the consequences of performance that does not measure up to what is necessary for the organization or the church." Now, what does that mean? To actually set the consequences before people.
Well, if you admonish carefully, it means there are things that cannot be allowed to continue. There is a negative aspect to admonishment. Verse 14 right at the beginning, "We urge you, brothers, admonish the idol."
Now, nobody wants to do it, but you may remember in the very next letter to those at Thessalonica, Paul actually has some instruction.
"Those who will not work, do not let them," what? "Eat." Whoa, there's a consequence.
If you're not going to work, you don't get to eat.
That's admonishment.
When the apostle is saying there are leaders who are actually called to admonish people, there's undeniably a negative aspect of that, that there are those who by their leadership have to identify consequences and warn people of the consequences.
When I was the new dean of faculty at an institution, I had actually been chosen out of my peers, other faculty, to become the boss of the faculty. And some of you know some of the hardest places to be a boss is where you now become the boss of the ones who were your peers.
And they still love you, but they may not love what you got to do.
And particularly if it means you have to have them face the consequences. And there was a man that I loved and I'd worked with, but I will tell you he simply would not do the job. And for all the instruction, for all the reprimands, for all the difficulty, he just was not going to do the job. And I will tell you, I used to have sleepless nights. I used to have all kinds of arguments when I saw, "What do I do with this person?" I mean, I wasn't sleeping. I think he was sleeping fine, I must tell you. But you know, I was struggling. What do I do? I'm a believer. I love him. I'm compassionate. I'm caring. And finally the president of the organization came to me one day and he said, "Brian, are you a man of faith?" Yes.
Don't you believe that God can put that man in a position that is appropriate for His gifts?
Brian, it is not loving to keep someone in a position to which God has not called them.
I begin to recognize the person I was trying to protect was me as much as him. I didn't want the pain. I didn't want the difficulty. I did not want to deal with that hard situation. But the reality was, he was demonstrating to me he could not do the job. If he could not do the job, I have to believe in faith that God has gifted that man for a calling that is in God's purposes. It is not loving to keep somebody in a job for which God has not called them. If that is the case, it's not just a negative consequence to be considered. I mean, while admonishment does mean, let people know the consequences.
And that means carry through the consequences as they're appropriate. There's also a positive dimension to admonishment as well. That's verse 14. We're called not just to admonish the idol, but to encourage the faint-hearted.
Sometimes the Greek language can really help here. Do you know that means actually encourage those whose souls are small as though the pressure of the job has just shrunk them down?
Encourage those who are faint-hearted. They mean what they're...they're discouraged. The task, the job, a family crisis, something has hurt them in such a way that they just need encouragement. They need to be built up again. And for that reason, we encourage the faint-hearted.
Verse 14 also says part of this admonishment that shows consequences is to help the weak.
Some need more training.
Some need more resources. Some need a coach. Some need others to come around them. If you're a leader, in what ways can you not just face consequences, but can you help people perceive the encouragement, the help they may need? Finally the end of verse 14 says, "And be patient with all."
Have to be fair.
Have to give time because you are showing the character and the care of God to people in leadership positions.
And so, the standard rules of business are not just arbitrarily there, they're actually reflecting Christian principles.
You evaluate.
You give opportunity for change and you reevaluate.
That's the patience. When we simply lower the hammer without alerting people to the consequences, without telling them what's going on, it's moving away from what God intends of helping people grow and change as He allows. If people can't grow, if they won't change, then the admonishment principle is still ours. Why? Why is God putting all this here? Now again, I'll remind you that the Lord has risen and He is through the Apostle Paul speaking to the church in a way that's not just appropriate for the church, but are principles of leadership to keep a movement going, to keep people flourishing.
And that's actually what's being talked about. If you were to summarize all of those principles that the Apostle has talked about that characterize the actions of leaders, you admonish the idol, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with all, you recognize what you're talking about is you're enabling humanity to flourish.
Listen, if there are people who just won't help, you can't allow them in an organization in such a way they begin to damage other people.
But those that can be helped encourage, strengthen, move them because you're trying to help humanity itself flourish.
That should be important to us. Brian Fickert in that important book, When Helping Hurts, writes what's actually happening. If you're a Christian and you perceive what this leadership responsibility is, he writes, the goal of human flourishing is to restore people to full expression of humanness, to bring what God created us to be in right relationship with Him. Now I must tell you, I doubt if there are many business schools would think of it that way, but as believers, what is my leadership responsibility? I'm trying to help people come into right relationship with God.
That company, school, arts, politics, if I'm a champion of the cause of Christ, then I'm trying to show His heart, I'm trying to show His priorities. And He humbly came among us. He's the one who suffered and died on the cross giving up heavenly glory and then gave us a mission. And the mission of the world is to show Him to other people. And we do that in whatever our calling is as we are trying to bring human flourishing to bear. And part of the way that we do that as companies maintain and institutions maintain the purpose of God through good leadership is we are showing people that those in whom God works can show His provision and His heart at the same time. And that's what I'm trying to do as a leader. It's what you who are leaders are trying to do. It's what you as a people who are invested in leaders by giving them the soil in which they prosper. You are actually trying to create the environment in which humanity can be in right relationship with God. I got an awful boss.
That may be.
But what if the awful boss is loved for spiritual priorities, not for career priorities?
If you're a champion of the cause of Christ, what has to happen for that to occur?
The Apostle continues in verse 15, "Not only should we be patient with all," see that human flourishing going on, but then he says, "We should see that no one repays anyone evil
for evil.
If the cause is really human flourishing, if that's what my leadership is about, I cannot abide unforgiveness.
I need to teach by example, by heart, by the way in which I conduct myself that I'm not going to return evil for evil." That's so hard if you've been undercut, if you've been damaged by other people. The inclination is so ready, the instinct, the reflex to get back. But what does that actually do? If unforgiveness begins to pervade our heart, do you recognize what you're doing is you've given somebody else leadership over your soul?
Their sin is now ruling you. Their evil is now what is directing your cause and your heart. Leadership is requiring forgiveness because it's basically saying to oneself and to God's people, "We will not be controlled by the wrong."
We forgive because we are going to keep in charge of our own souls, our own attitudes, our own emotions. I think of two business leaders that I know. They both own small businesses and larger businesses have actually had as part of their business plan bringing suits against the smaller businesses because they recognize if they can occupy enough time, resources, energy in the smaller businesses by defending from the lawsuits that ultimately the lawsuits will break the smaller companies. And the tendency of both Christian bosses for a while, those business owners, was just to hate the other businesses and to create this atmosphere of hate within their company toward the other business until they began to recognize that people were willing to blame the losses of the company on the other business rather than on their own work. And the bosses began to recognize those business owners over time. I have to teach forgiveness to keep my people working hard with each other, not just pointing the finger at other people.
Forgiveness became part not just of working well within the company, of actually having a company mission beyond hating the bad guys, which takes us to the very final standard that Christians and Christian leaders are being called to, which is always to seek to do good to one another and to everyone. I'm so glad the word is seek.
Aspire to do this. This is the goal because we recognize that what we're really doing, seek to do good to everyone, is to say, "Here's the heart of Christ in my heart. Here are the priorities of Christ before me in His word." And I'm trying as salt and light in this culture, in this company, in this institution, to bring these priorities of God into the world.
I may strike out a lot. I may not be accomplishing all that I think I ought to do or God wants me to do. But I'm to seek this. This is what my heart is after. I know my goal now. My goal is to seek the good of others so that the flourishing that God intends for humanity and the provision that He makes and the heart that He's put before people would be known. And I may not get that done. I may be a failure in the eyes of the world for all I know. But I'm a champion of the cause of Christ. And that's the leadership to which I'm being called. Even if the world never sees it, never appreciates it. I think one of the most influential books of the last decade for Christian leaders is James Davison Hunter's little book with a big title, "How to Change the World."
Tries to tell leaders what is God actually calling you to. Plus you can read all the guru qualifications of all the business books, good, helpful stuff.
But ultimately He says, "You know what?
What God ultimately calls us to be is a faithful presence in the place of His calling.
And that may look very different to what you may be called to do if you're trying to express the qualities of Christ in that place. But that's it. Abraham Kuyper, remember, he said, "If the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, then that means there is not one square inch of the world over which Jesus does not stand and say, "This is mine." And we are being called as believers to say, "Whatever is the square inch that I'm in, what am I being called to do?
I'm being called to be a faithful presence here, to operate one that not only has faith in Christ, but is reflecting His humility, His forgiveness, and His desire that humanity would know that God has provided enough for us to flourish if we would walk with Him. When that is my goal, you know what? I can do that with God's help, a faithful presence in my square inch that He gives me the ability to do.
Walk with Him, live for Him, and let your square inch of the world change."
That's what He intends for every leader that He is called to His purpose. Father, so work in us we pray. I recognize as I talk to this wonderful church of so many people that there are many in very challenging work environments.
You challenge us with those above us in authority, and you challenge us with those for whom we have authority.
In both we want to reflect you. So help us to remember the Savior who gave Himself for us, but also gave us the path that we would know the flourishing you intend for our lives as we salt and light, reach to others with the priorities of our Savior. Enable us to do so, we pray, our great leader, in Jesus' name, amen.