Leadership

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Ministry

–October of 2007

Leadership

The rise and fall of societies and of institutions has depended almost exclusively upon the quality of its leadership. George Barna, who has spent years researching the Church in America, claims that the most serious weakness he has found within the Church in the last fifteen years is the lack of leadership.  Few would disagree that strong, bold, innovative, and godly leadership is in short supply.

During the Civil War General Robert E. Lee said, “I believe our Army would be invincible, if it could be properly organized and officered.  These men will go anywhere and do anything if properly led.  There is the difficulty of proper commanders.”  Lee knew that ultimate victory rested on the quality of leaders that led the troops.  He wanted men with: administrative skills and diligence, imagination, initiative, resourcefulness, and the ability to elicit the best in other men. Like Lee, people everywhere are looking for leaders.  So, what does one look for in a leader?

Don’t put too much stock in outward appearance.  Externally, leaders often appear very different.  Hitler and Gandhi or Mother Teresa and General George Patton would be excellent subjects for a study in contrast except for the one thing they had in common — they were all leaders.  God has used uncultured farmers, crude fishermen, and simple shepherds, as well as gifted scholars, astute politicians, and military tacticians to lead his causes.  While most of us look at the outward appearance, God looks at the core of the person’s character.  He looks for certain inner traits that will turn a lad into a leader.  As a matter of fact, research shows that internally, leaders have certain characteristics in common.  Let me list them for you:

Leaders have clear cut objectives.  Leaders know what they what to achieve, why they want to achieve it, and how they are going to achieve it.  They know that you will only achieve what you aim for so they keep focused on their goals and objectives.

  1. Leaders know themselves.  Leaders know their strengths and weaknesses.  They lead from their strengths and bring the right people around them to help where they know they have weaknesses.
  2. Leaders are persistent.  They have staying power.  They will sometimes give a lifetime of dedicated service just to seeing their objectives fulfilled.
  3. Leaders are learners.  They never stop learning and growing.  They have an insatiable appetite to expand their knowledge and learn how to lead more effectively.
  4. Leaders have the ability to attract and energize people.  Leadership is influence.  Leaders have the ability to influence others to accomplish a common goal.
  5. Leaders are risk takers.  They don’t fear failure.  They are willing to fail if they can learn something from it.  They aren’t afraid to take risk with resources, ideas, and change if they believe good can come from it.
  6. Leaders are followers. No true Christian leader is a law unto himself.  He asks others to follow him only as he follows Christ.  He lives in obedience to the Word and those to whom he is accountable.

Some who are reading this right now are looking for a leader to lead your church or organization.  Look for these core traits.  Don’t be too caught up in outward appearance or you may miss a David, Israel’s greatest King.  Don’t be deceived by a hesitant speaker, or you may miss a Moses, Israel’s greatest leader.  Don’t be turned off by a “thorn in the flesh” or you may miss a Paul, the church’s greatest missionary. But look inside.  Look for the right kind of heart.  That’s where you will find a true leader.

Real Persons or Fictive Characters?

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living

–September of 2007

Real Persons or Fictive Characters?

The bravest moment of a person’s life is when they take an objective look at themselves.  The saints saw such introspection as healthy and necessary for character transformation and growth in personal holiness.  The value is not in just the looking, but in honestly acknowledging and dealing with what one may find.  It can be very painful to confront the truth about ourselves, but a failure to do so thwarts the goal of becoming the “real” person that God intends for us to be.  Furthermore, when we fail to acknowledge something that we know is true about ourselves and rather seek to obscure it, we inadvertently cultivate a dangerous form of duplicity that makes us more of a fictive person than a real one.  James calls this, “deceiving yourselves.”  Jesus called it hypocrisy.

The word hypocrisy comes from the language of the theater.  It originally meant “recitation, acting on stage.”  What happens on a stage is not real­ – it is fiction – it is make believe.  All that is bad about fictive behavior was transferred to the word hypocrisy until it has become a word that is exclusively negative. One may brag of almost any sin, but one never brags of being a hypocrite.  Hypocrisy is ceasing to be a real person in order to become a character. By the time of Jesus the word had acquired at least one other meaning.  It began to be used to describe the disconnection between outward life and inward reality. Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites because they sought an outward conformity to the law while their hearts were vile and wicked.

Blaise Pascal wrote, “Every person has two lives: one is the true life, and the other is the imaginary life lived in one’s own or other’s opinion.  We work tirelessly to embellish and preserve our imaginary selves, and we neglect our true selves.”  Whether Pascal is fully correct or not, what is true is that one almost never hears of anyone acknowledging this subtle sin that so easily dogs the steps of those who pursue righteousness and value holy living.  Why?  The reason is simple: Wherever spiritual values, piety, and holy living are the most highly esteemed, the temptation will be present to pretend to have them—so as not to seem to be without them.  Wherever rules of behavior are valued and adherence to those rules is obvious to others, the temptation to “act out” our commitment for the sake of others or because of fear of what others may think will always be near at hand.

Why is hypocrisy such an abomination to God? Because hypocrisy it is a form of idolatry. Hypocrisy gives the creature a place that belongs only to the Creator.  One lets what others think become more important to us than what God thinks.  In the end we become performers for the audience (others) rather than living a life solely for the glory of God.  It can even lead to a distortion of scripture as it alleviates the view of my peers over the clear teaching of God’s Word.

What is the cure for such hypocrisy?  First, we need to seek to have a heart that has been so thoroughly cleansed of sinful self-love that we are more anxious about “being” (true character) than we are about “seeming” (our reputation).  Second, we need to establish in our soul the principle behind whatever rules we use to guide our lives so that it is indeed the principle rather than the rule that does the guiding.  Third, we must understand that any ritual we perform or rule we keep that is not motivated by love for God and man will be just an empty shell—a complete facade.

True spirituality will always make us more real not less.  It constantly reminds us that, “all things are naked and opened before the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”  C.S. Lewis was right when he said, “The prayer preceding all prayers is: May it be the real I who speaks. May it be the real Thou that I speak to.”  God deals in reality.  Let’s be real!

Backslidden

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Church, Theology

–Summer of 2007

Backslidden

When is the last time you heard some honest soul talk about his spiritual condition and use the term backslidden?  It’s a word that seems to have been dropped from the Church’s vocabulary, even among those within the Wesleyan Armenian tradition.  One could get the idea that it’s simply not a problem anymore.  But is that really the case?

A generation ago you heard the subject preached or written about with some degree of frequency and always with intensity.  It was not generally done from the standpoint of how one may backslide and steps to prevent it, but with the idea that many were already backslidden, or at least well on their way, and needed to be reclaimed. The intent of this kind of preaching was to awaken those who were spiritually asleep and call to repentance those who had sinned, but more often than not the results were less than positive.  It helped create a “one sin your out” mindset and fed an unhealthy environment of constant self-introspection.  Many young people were left in a state of confusion and spiritual instability.  It also turned overly conscientious souls into perpetual seekers who could never find any sense of assurance or security in their salvation.

To address this imbalance, a new generation of preachers and spiritual counselors took a different approach.  The preachers simply stopped talking about backsliding and focused primarily on prevention.  Spiritual counselors, who had already shifted from the experiential paradigm of salvation to a relational model, stressed how difficult it actually was to backslide and how rarely it happened. Before you knew it, backsliding had practically disappeared.  On the beneficial side, the focus on discipleship and the nurturing of the weak was a very positive alternative to re-converting the saints at every revival.  On the downside, with no warnings against backsliding or proclamation of its spiritual consequences, many began to feel that they could live in clear disobedience to God’s word and suffer only minimal spiritual damage. If we believe the consequences of sinning fail to impact our standing with God, then sin itself is minimized, and when sin is minimized, sinning is trivialized. The members of this new culture of “saints without sanctity” have become very adept at describing their spiritual condition in highly generalized terms.  They fail to speak about “walking in all the light” or “living in total victory.”   They talk about “not doing very well spiritually” or say, “I am a little down right now because I haven’t been having my devotions lately”.

Now I know that just occasionally preaching on backsliding will not solve the entire situation I described above, but people will be helped by a clear biblical statement that tolerating failure and practicing disobedience has clear and unmistakable consequences, including spiritual self-deception and ultimately the loss of saving faith.  Our people, both young and old, need to hear that when people refuse to heed the checks of the Holy Spirit and repent of their sin, they have “turned away” from saving grace and have “departed from the faith.”  Whether you want to call it backsliding or not, the end result is the same and the spiritual consequences are dire.

The Least of These My Brethren

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Ministry

–May of 2007

The Least of These My Brethren

If you have ever walked through the dark slums of Cairo or Calcutta, then you know the deep inner pain of beholding some of the most destitute people in the world.   Maybe you have visited a hospice in South Africa where AIDS babies lay dying, or an orphanage in Romania where “touch starved” babies appear almost inhuman.  If so, you know that inner ache that defies language.  For most Americans, the closest contact to anything remotely similar to this is passing a homeless person on the street or looking into the empty eyes of a nursing-home patient who has been abandoned by his family, or coming into contact with someone who is severely retarded.   The emotions you feel are only a small reflection of how our Heavenly Father must feel when He looks down upon those He calls the “least of these my brethren….”  He describes who they are in Matthew 25:34-40,

“Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? Or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? Or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

God reserves a special place in His heart for the socially disenfranchised, the economically disadvantaged, and the physically disabled.  As a matter of fact, this group is so close to His heart that to serve them is to serve Him, a service that brings the reward of eternal life.  On the other hand, a failure to serve Him by serving them carries the sentence of eternal wrath.  This should not surprise us.   In the book of Deuteronomy we see a God that, “executes justice for the orphan and widow, and…loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing.”  God also institutionalized a system of compassionate justice for Jewish civil life through such things as the law of gleaning and the Year of Jubilee.  He became angry with Judah when she failed to “share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house” (Isa.58:5-7).

Jesus made it very clear in Matthew 22:37-40 that love for God compels us into compassionate love for our neighbor, and then carefully defined who our neighbor was in the story of the Good Samaritan.   Social compassion is extremely high on God’s agenda.

Historically the holiness movement has had a very clear understanding that true holiness had a strong social dimension. Wesley said, “All holiness is social holiness”; that is, we cannot think that we are holy in our personal lives if that holiness does not motivate us to practice justice, mercy, and compassion.  In the holiness tradition, social compassion is where the central issue of holiness—love—meets the road.  The power to live a virtuous life doesn’t stop within ourselves, but extends outward into our relationships with others. We feed the hungry.  We help the helpless.  We reach out to the orphan, the widow, the weak and the shoved aside.  We look for those who are excluded or neglected because of their social status, or their race, or their background, or their age, or any number of other things, and do all we can to bring them into the social and spiritual network of the community and the Church.

Our civilization will be judged by how we have treated our most helpless citizens.  If we turn away from them, we will extinguish our own light.  If we fail to understand that loving and serving Jesus means loving and serving them, we will be destined to hear these words, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire…for inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not unto me.”

Surprised By Joy Again

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Theology

–April of 2007

Surprised By Joy Again

For over thirty years, I have been on the most wonderful journey with Jesus that any Christian could desire.  Yet for most of that time I have been somewhat perplexed by joy.  Joy is a recurring theme in the New Testament and is listed as one of the fruits of the Spirit.  It is clearly one of the graces of the Christian life. The Apostle Peter refers to knowing Christ as “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” The apostle’s statement sounds to me like an “ecstasy of overflowing happiness.”   Yet, in all honesty, I have had only brief encounters with anything that would fit this description. Furthermore, though I have met many pleasant and happy Christians, I have not met very many who seemed to possess such a state of life. My muddled mind kept posing two questions: “Is there something deficient in me?” or “Is there a problem with my definition of joy?”

A window of insight opened for me while probing around in John 13-17.  These five chapters record one evening in the life of Jesus and His disciples — not just any evening, but the last one they spent together before His death on the cross.  He has so many things to tell them that they haven’t yet understood.  In solemn tones He shares with them what is soon to happen.  He tells of Judas’s betrayal and Peter’s denial and speaks plainly of His departure back to the Father.  He warns of tribulations, hatred by the world, and times of sorrow so extreme that He compares it to the labor pains of birthing. The disciples reel emotionally as they try to comprehend such news. Yet running through this dialogue of despair is the recurring theme of joy!

As I dug around in these verses and their context I discovered two very important insights.  The first is that joy is both a feeling and a condition.   As a condition, joy is the assurance of faith that we are acceptable to God and the knowledge that God’s good providences are working on our behalf.  This joy is an inner comfort and confidence in God. It is untouched by outward circumstances and is not diminished by pain and sorrow.

As a feeling, joy is a kind of ecstasy or overflowing happiness.  C.S. Lewis said that “peace was joy at rest and joy was peace dancing.”  The feeling of joy is simply a graced moment whose duration may be brief or remain for an indeterminate amount of time.

The second insight I found was that Jesus gave His disciples a basis for their joy.  Actually, He anchored their joy to three things, three things that provide everything that both they and we need in order to have joy under any circumstances. 1. Love and acceptance.  In John 15 Jesus assured them of their connectedness to Him, of His unconditional love for them, and of His constant presence with them through the Holy Spirit. 2. Purpose and hope.  John 14-17 unveils His unfolding purpose for these and all future disciples.  It is a mission that includes trials and rejection, but more importantly divine enablement and inevitable victory.  3. Security.   John 17 allows us to listen to Jesus praying that we may be “kept from the evil one” and “may be with Me where I am.”   With these truths for an anchor no wonder Jesus proclaimed that their – and our – joy could be full!

The insight gained here in John helped me understand James’s statement, “Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations.”  It also gave new meaning to Hebrews 12:2, “…who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross….”  C.S. Lewis wrote in another context of being “surprised by joy.”  Well, another seeker on the journey for truth has once again been surprised by joy!