Unlimited Grace

Bryan Chapell: I might strike out a lot. I may not be accomplishing all that I think I ought to do or that God wants me to do. I don't know, 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.

Guest (Male): So glad you joined us for today's Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author, Bryan Chapell. In today's episode, Pastor Bryan shares a lesson from 1 Thessalonians 5. As we look at the ways in which we can honor Christ in the workplace, Dr. Chapell investigates how godly leaders can serve the Lord and others in the ways that they lead.

You can find this lesson and many others when you visit unlimitedgrace.com. While you're there, check out the new daily devotional podcast called Daily Grace. Pastor Bryan will guide you through a devotion each day to help focus your attention on God's grace as you study His word. Watch and listen to each episode when you visit unlimitedgrace.com today. Let's hear now from Dr. Bryan Chapell as he shares the second half of the lesson, Leadership.

Bryan Chapell: Christian leaders are actually serving others with their leadership. Those who are 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.

As these different concepts of a leader working among the people and the people actually being part of the development of the leadership began to form in the mind of the reformers, they actually had different ways of expressing what it meant 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.

There weren't priests who were high up somewhere and the rest of the people down here somewhere. 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. 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. 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.

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. He had just a 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 in that chair where he could sit among the people and then come out to preach.

What does that mean in the workplace? I recognize some will think that's just the church and 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, 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, but the most real world where God's people learn what it is to commune with one another and with God as God first intended. We're supposed to take this reality and move it to the lesser reality of the secular world. This is supposed to be the greater reality. We're learning here what it means to relate out there.

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, the car, and the associations are communicated? What is being said as a Christian leader to say we're in this together so that is being communicated by what God intends as those who work humbly? They labor among you.

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. There's a word of supervision. They are over you in the Lord. The actual Greek word is proistemi, which means to stand before. 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 who are 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. I'm using my authority for the good of those 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. My supervision is righteous. It is taking into consideration the qualities of my God. I'm trying to represent His priorities and His character in the way in which I lead. That can be really tough.

William Willimon, who was a writer and church executive, was not always an executive over many pastors in the life of the church. He writes this in an article titled, 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.

Twenty 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.

At the same time, limitations 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.

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 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 costs, and if necessary, the cutting of jobs? 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 nouthetic counseling, which actually means to set in mind. Sometimes we say, I'm going to knock some sense into their heads. It actually says it is the goal of the leader to admonish. Paul's actually saying it. You must know leaders must do this. They must admonish at times.

They must set in mind and particularly the notion is 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. What does that mean to actually set the consequences before people? If you admonish carefully, it means there are things that cannot be allowed to continue.

There's a negative aspect to admonishment. Verse 14 says right at the beginning, we urge you brothers, admonish the idle. 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 eat. 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. 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.

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. They still love you, but they may not love what you've got to do, and particularly if it means you have to have them face the consequences. There was a man that I loved and I'd worked with, but I will tell you, he simply would not do the job.

For all the instruction, for all the reprimands, for all the difficulty, he just was not going to do the job. I will tell you, I used to have sleepless nights. I used to have all kinds of arguments with myself. What do I do with this person? I wasn't sleeping. I think he was sleeping fine, I must tell you. But I was struggling. What do I do? I'm a believer. I love him. I'm compassionate. I'm caring.

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 began 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. While admonishment does mean let people know the consequences and carry through the consequences as they're appropriate, there's also a positive dimension to admonishment as well. Verse 14 says we're called not just to admonish the idle but to encourage the fainthearted.

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 fainthearted. They mean well, but 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.

For that reason, we encourage the fainthearted. 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.

You have to be fair. You have to give time because you are showing the character and the care of God to people in leadership positions. If you were to summarize all of those principles that the apostle has talked about that characterize the actions of leaders—you admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, 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 cannot 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 Fikkert, 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.

I doubt if there are many business schools that 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.

He humbly came among us. He's the one who suffered and died on the cross, giving up heavenly glory. Then he gave us a mission, and the mission in the world is to show him to other people. We do that in whatever our calling is as we are trying to bring human flourishing to bear.

Part of the way that we do that as companies maintain and institutions maintain the purposes 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. 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.

You say, but I've 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? 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.

This 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, seeking 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 might strike out a lot. I may not be accomplishing all that I think I ought to do or that God wants me to do. I don't know, 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. 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.

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. He tries to tell leaders, what is God actually calling you to do? Yes, you can read all the guru qualifications of all the business books, good, helpful stuff.

Ultimately he says, what God ultimately calls us to be is a faithful presence in the place of His calling. 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. That's it. Abraham Kuyper 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.

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 as 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, I can do that with God's help. A faithful presence in my square inch. That's what 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 has called to his purpose.

Guest (Male): That was pastor and author, Bryan Chapell. I would consider it a privilege to pray for you right now. Let's go together before the throne of heaven and pray for the Lord's blessing.

Bryan Chapell: Father, thank you for being merciful to us. Help our hearts to grasp the greatness of that mercy that you provide so that we can offer our lives to Jesus as a sacrifice of praise that you have made holy and acceptable, despite our many weaknesses and flaws. We thank you for this great grace and pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Guest (Male): That's Pastor Bryan Chapell, and you've been listening to Unlimited Grace. If this message has been an encouragement to you, you can find a collection of more valuable resources at unlimitedgrace.com. When you visit, you will find today's message and many others from Pastor Bryan. While you're there, you can sign up for Pastor Bryan's daily devotional sent right to your inbox. Please be sure to join us next time as once again we endeavor to put Christ at the center of our efforts so that lives might be transformed by His unlimited grace. This ministry is brought to you by Unlimited Grace Media and continues to be made possible with your generous financial support.