Sermon for July 25th (Empowering Leadership)

E(Pastor Beeper clip) You know what’s sad. We don’t even have pastor beepers. So, for those in our community, if you do not use your gifts—those people will just go unloved. In my few short years as a pastor, when I am in my office by myself, I sometimes wonder, “What am I doing in here! I should be out serving someone—not in my office! But when I can’t leave, I try to remember that I’m only ONE Christian and I’m part of a faith community. I can make a lot of impact, just my one life in this world, I believe that. But if I can empower you, the body of Christ, this community of believers, well that makes a much more dramatic impact.

Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “Why do you sit alone, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening? What you are doing is not good. You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.” The model of the pastor doing everything in the church? The model we all grew up with? It is not good. That’s what the Bible says anyway. Why isn’t it good? Because it wore out pastors for one. Did you know that the average pastor stays a pastor for five years before quitting? That gives me, what, two more before I’m burnt out? Well, I hope not! I love my job! I love what I am called to do and I love it here! That would not be good for me and my family, I can tell you that! But, having me burn out would also not be good for you. As the reading puts it, “You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you.” How can that be? How is it that a leader doing so much of the work can wear out other people?

Well, on the one hand, if pastors burn out after about 5 years a pop, call committees get worn out, those of you who were on the most recent one know all about that. But more than that, workaholics don’t actually get more done, do they? Study after study shows that just because you put in more hours or take less breaks doesn’t mean you are a more effective worker. So, the more a leader carries the whole load by themselves, the more work everyone else is forced to make up for that lack of effectiveness.

Another reason is that God has only blessed any particular person with some gifts, but not ALL gifts. Do you want to know how to wear out the property committee? Have ME work on some project for them. Then you’ll not only have to clean up the mess I make, but do the project over again. Leaders must, I repeat MUST share the workload because if they do not, if they seek to control every detail, if they demand to do all the work, they stifle growth and create a lot more work for everyone else.

Moses’ father-in-law said this next, “Now listen to me, I will give you counsel, and God be with you! You should represent the people before God, and you should bring their cases before God; teach them the statutes and instructions and make known to them the way they are to go and the things they are to do.” He explains to Moses that he needs to choose able bodied and trustworthy people to bear the burden together. He said, “If you do this, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people will go to their home in peace.”

I believe that a very good model for leadership would be Jesus Christ, so let’s see what he did. First, he finds twelve people to be his disciples when he starts his ministry. He gives them the authority to heal, to preach and to cast out demons. He teaches them and sends them out to the towns he cannot go to. Then, in the passage from Luke for today, he chooses seventy people, gives them the same authority to heal and sends them out two by two.

But why? Why is Jesus, why is God so interested in giving this kind of authority to uneducated fishermen and tax collectors? Well, number one, because in three years Jesus will be dead on a cross. He will no longer be seen as he was before, in his fleshly body. He needed to teach others to be his hands and feet in the world. Second, because Jesus knew that God had given gifts to his people through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Imagine it was your child’s birthday and you had picked out for him or her the most amazing gift you could afford. Perhaps it was a beautiful baby doll for her second birthday, or a brand new bicycle when he turned ten. Maybe a new car for when they turned sixteen. And then, from that point on you said, “Don’t use it.” Put that baby doll away, you probably don’t know how to play with it anyway, you’re too little and uneducated. You’ll learn to be a mother later. If you go trying to ride that bike around town, you’ll look foolish in front of your friends, have a little pride! If you go riding that beautiful car around this town, you’re just going to be showing off how great of a present you got from me. Don’t show off your gift or else it will make others feel bad.

You have each been given gifts by God. Which of those excuses have YOU used? You don’t know enough to teach Sunday school? You not good at speaking in front of people for the faith talk? You don’t want to SHOW OFF by being a leader of this church? Now, imagine how you would feel if after you gave your child a gift, THEY were the ones who chose to not use it. How would you feel if you had planned, and scrimped and saved to give them each just the right thing and, then, they tucked their doll, or their bike or their car in the garage and never gave you the joy of seeing them use it? That’s how your heavenly Father feels every time you fail to use the gifts he has given you.

According to the book, “Natural Church Development” by Christian Schwartz, there are three areas leaders must focus on to empower others. Many of you are being called to be leaders of this church. Don’t back away from God’s call on your life. Step forward in faith! To be an empowering leader, you need to do three things: Teach, Motivate and Free people to use their gifts.

You need to teach people how to use their gifts. If I lead one Bible study for six people, that’s great. But if those six people are each empowered to lead six other people, that’s 36 people impacted each week and that is better! But, just because you know how to do something, you may still not be willing to get off the couch and do it. A leader needs to motivate. You need to call, beg, plead, pray and ask a person to use his or her gifts so that they do what God made them to do. Finally, you need to give people the freedom to use their gift even if that means that they may fail. A strong leader guides others, but lets them have the freedom to work up to their potential. Teach, Motivate and Free one another to serve to God’s glory. That’s what empowering leadership is all about.

What are your gifts? What are you good at? What do you love doing? What comes easy for you? If you had all the money in the world and all the time in the world, what would you do? If you could do anything for the church—anything in the name of Jesus—what would it be? If you knew that you didn’t have to do anything, what would you do?

In your bulletins, you each received a note card. First, write your name on the top of the card. Now we are going to pray that God might help you discern some of your gifts, then you will write at least two of them down. You might write down natural gifts like the gift of song or the gift of organization. These also might be spiritual gifts, like the gift of prayer or the gift of hospitality or the gift of administration or the gift of evangelism.

If you knew that you didn’t HAVE to do anything at Emmanuel, what would you CHOOSE to do. What would you like to start? What area could you make even better? After we pray, I want you to write down at least two gifts you think you might have. Let us pray . . . Start now.

Look at this picture on the screen. It is a wagon, full of circular wheels, being pulled on four square wheels. This picture represents how churches function most of the time. It’s looks like pretty hard work? The thing is that it doesn’t have to be, does it? Those round wheels that are just being carried along, they represent you, people with gifts. God has given each one of you talents, abilities and desires to do wonderful things in this world and in this church. And if you knew your gifts and were willing to utilize them, if you realized that you were a round wheel in that wagon and were tired of being unused, through the power of God you might do some amazing things. And some amazing things might happen here in this church and in this community.

It is my calling and the calling of many others in this church to empower you to use your gifts. When the offering plates are collected, please place your notecards in them as a sign that you are willing to step forward in faith and see how God might use you. If you are still unsure of your gifts, there is a spiritual gift inventory to fill out on our website that I would encourage you all to complete. Finally, if you’d like to study this more, I have a great resource for discovering your gifts and how to work on them as a small group study. I’d love to empower you to start one. Finally, perhaps you feel called today to be a leader in this church. Perhaps you have a gift for seeing gifts in others, in teaching them, motivating them and freeing them to not simply be sitting in the pew, but loving in truth and action. I want to help you be the best leader you can be. Don’t just wait on to be called, get involved today.

Empowering leadership and using your spiritual gifts are not simply “extras” to our lives as Christians, they are essential. Without them, we are not fulfilling our call to walk just as Christ walked. God empowered us by his Holy Spirit with many gifts for building up the body of Christ as Ephesians says, “until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full statue of Christ.” I pray that by empowering others and being empowered yourself, you will grow in your relationship to Christ, to maturity, in unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son. You don’t need a pastor beeper—God has already given you the gifts you need to impact this world in a meaningful way. Amen.