Last week in my post: How Leaders Keep from Tapping Out, Burning Out or Being Disqualified, I shared with you some of the things that Hugh Halter and I have been learning about being leaders who stay in the game for the long haul.
We looked at the first part of our Journeymen Oath #2: “I Commit to Move at God’s Pace and Measure what God Measures.”
And we saw how important it was to move at a sustainable pace, following Jesus’ teachings on the pattern and the promises from his parables that lead to explosive and sustainable kingdom growth. Small is big, slow is fast and multiplication wins. Now let’s finish up this “oath” and look at metrics and measurements.
MEASURE WHAT JESUS MEASURES
There were times when Jesus called people to live the kingdom life and they gave him a bunch of “me first” excuses. These were reasons to refuse Jesus, excuses designed to look good and spiritual and allow them to continue building their own kingdoms… at least for a little while longer. We have our own too, but let’s look at what Luke records.[clickToTweet tweet=”These are reasons we refuse Jesus; excuses designed to look spiritual as we continue building our own kingdoms.” quote=”These are reasons we refuse Jesus; excuses designed to look good and spiritual and allow us to continue building our own kingdoms.”]
As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.
–Luke 9:57–62
SIGN ME UP!
The first guy that Jesus encounters reminds me a lot of myself. I am super ready to jump on the new thing for God, sign up, and get after it. “I will follow you wherever you go.” But it seems that Jesus knew his heart (like he knows mine) and he realized that like so many people, this guy had not really counted the cost of discipleship.
It’s like Jesus is saying to him, “You claim to be ready to follow me anywhere, but are you willing to give up the material comforts in your life?
What kinds of decisions are we asked to make before being quick to follow Jesus into a life of radical discipleship in community with others? What will we lie on the line and let God decide?
ME FIRST
The next fella that Jesus called to follow him was on board, but replied, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Was it a wrong or bad thing for this man to want to go care for his father? It’s hard for us to understand Jesus’ response without knowing a little bit about what was really being requested. Culturally at that time, the man was not asking to attend his father’s funeral, he was actually saying, “After my father has died, and I’ve completed my duties as his son, I’ll receive my inheritance, then I’ll come and be your disciple.”
The real issue was, “Lord…me first…” The other words he spoke were just a smokescreen for his real desire to put himself first. Procrastination and wanting to feather his future nest before being obedient to the call of discipleship exposed his heart.
What was Jesus’ response to the man? “There are certain things that a spiritually dead person can do just as well as followers of mine. But there are other things in life, which only you can do. See that you don’t spend your life doing what those in the world could have done just as well. Let the focus of your life and energy be to advance my Kingdom and mission.”
You see, seemingly legitimate concerns of life can become sinful when we let them take priority over the interests of Jesus. What are some of the things that could potentially delay us in living a life fully on mission with God today? Jobs, careers, schooling, recreation and retirement all seem like important things–and they are. But we’re as guilty as the man in the story Jesus told if we put these things on the me first list ahead of God’s call on our lives.
SANCTIFIED DISTRACTIONS
The third man said to Jesus, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first go back and say goodbye to my family.” Okay, you’ve probably noticed the me first part.
Not a good start.
What’s so wrong with a guy wanting to go back and hug his family and say goodbye? I mean, come on now Jesus! Why would he be labeled as “not fit for service in the kingdom of God”? His response to the man about once having “put your hand to the plow” and then looking back is pretty heavy stuff.
Jesus is saying that once a person has tasted his love, grace, peace and forgiveness (himself), how could he or she still look back over their shoulder at the stuff of this world and compare them to him? And if they still do…if the worldly stuff still looks so good to you that it’s on the same list as Jesus, on the same shelf of priority in your heart, then you will never be of much use in doing the work of his kingdom. Ouch.
I think Jesus’ heart in all of this is, “I want my disciples to have their priorities straight! You’re going to have to love me more than your families, friends and fun. No more self-centered life. You’ll have to put me above everyone else to be my disciple. No looking back.”i
AND NOW IT’S YOUR TURN
To get you started working through all of this in your own heart, ask yourself, “What are some of the relationships that I tend to put before God’s kingdom and his righteousness?” Think about the ones you would normally skip over and legitimize as “good and right.” You have them, and so do I, and they sound something like “once I take care of this one thing, I’ll get on to a life of discipleship”. The problem is, that “one thing” never goes away. What are the “good” things in your life that tend to take priority over Jesus and his call?
Your list of legitimate “distractions” may be different from others’, but anything you treat as a sacred cow is probably something you need to talk to Jesus about. He said, “In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”ii
Here’s a short list of the things that Jesus measures:
–Loving God with all your heart…growing consistently in your love for him.
–Loving others well… this means giving people, your family, your best. Not the “ministry”–but people.
–Leading your family well to be a growing display of the gospel and to be a family worth imitating.
–Making disciples that actually make disciples.
–Pouring deeply into a few others that will multiply everything you are learning/living out.
Notice NOT on Jesus list is:
–Launch a big church plant / service.
–Have lots of attenders at your church services…always increasing.
–Building a killer worship show experience.
–Grow you ministry department activities and programs.
–Speaking at more and more conferences and events.
–Be known by many, but not really known by most.
How are you doing? What would be on your list of “sanctified distractions”? What are you measuring that Jesus never called you to count? Let me know in the comments below.
Hey, if you are digging this idea of moving at God’s pace and measuring what God measures, you can read more in my book, Small is Big, Slow is Fast.
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