A Word about Healthy Leadership from 2 Corinthians 12 and 13

Today I want to share a word about Healthy Leadership as I comment on scriptures from 2 Corinthians 12 and 13. 

We are in the midst of a series on the Characteristics of a Healthy Church as taught on the mission field by the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. I think this is great material and that it should be considered by the churches in North America also, as we try to rebuild our ministries after a year of COVID 19. 

While there are many different leaders in our churches, the primary leader is the pastor, and we are going to focus on the role of pastors and how they shepherd the sheep of God’s pasture. 

Being a pastor is not easy and every pastor has stories they tell about events that occurred when, if they didn’t laugh, they’d cry.  Many of these seem to stem from baptisms:

In one case, pastor was baptizing a large man in a small baptistery.  He banged the man’s head against the side of the baptistery, and the man, who was a new covert from a rough background, came up out of the water cursing like a drunken sailor!

Another pastor was baptizing a young girl who decided to do a “cannon ball” dive into the baptistery.  The choir got baptized that day as well.

Finally, a pastor and a revival speaker did a joint baptism service together. After the baptism, the pastor rushed back to change clothes for the rest of the service.  After he got back into the sanctuary, the pastor noticed his feet were hurting.  He didn’t realize why until the revival speaker almost fell on the way to the pulpit to preach. The pastor had put on the evangelist’s shoes, which were one and half sizes smaller than his own.

As we consider the topic of Healthy Leadership, we must remind ourselves of the calling that God has given our pastors.  It is a huge task, and a daunting calling, and one that pastors can only do with the empowering of God’s Spirit, and with the cooperation of those who are the sheep of this fold.  2 Corinthians 12 and 13 give us great insight into Health Leadership for our pastors and churches: 

FIRST,  A PASTOR’S CALL IS APPARENT:

2 Corinthians 12:11-13 says,

I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!

To understand the text for today, we must first know that Paul was embroiled in a controversy: Some people were saying that he was not a true Apostle. Some people preferred other preachers over him like Peter, or Apollos, as we would see if we turned to 1 Corinthians 3. Yet, Paul could not, would not, deny his call from God. He was like Jeremiah who exclaimed, “If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,’ there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot." Jeremiah 20: 7-9 

Paul believed that the truth was obvious and that his actions bore witness to his call. He apparently believed in what we call today “The Duck Test:” If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, we can be pretty sure it is a duck! He knew he was called by God and that his opponents should also know he was called.

Jesus also confronted this very issue in John 10:24-30 when he told His critics:  

Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, "How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one."

These passages have established some vital truths about the call of a pastor:

• God’s call is felt in the hearts of those whom he has called.

• When that happens, it is born out in the daily life of the one called.

• The church sees this and affirms God’s call.

• Each of these must be in pace for a call to ministry to be valid.

• Finally, once a call has been established, the people must cooperate!

Every preacher has a “honeymoon” with his church.  It is what happens that after time that that shows the reality of his leadership and also their willingness to follow.

NEXT, A PASTOR’S CALL IS TO EDIFY: 

2 Corinthians 12:14-19 says,

Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps? Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved.

Paul clearly reminds us that a pastor is not a burden to the flock! In fact, a flock needs a shepherd and Jesus taught that if you get rid of the shepherd, the flock will be scattered. Practically, and from experience, we know that churches without a pastor fall apart, so the flock needs to support their pastor. Jesus said that a laborer is worth his hire and Paul told Timothy that a teaching elder is worth double honor.

The bottom line is that a good pastor is a tremendous blessing to a church. However, Paul also clearly states, in turn, that a pastor is not to be a burden to the flock! A bad pastor is as much a curse as a good one is a blessing, and the Scriptures are full of warnings about bad leaders. For example, in Matthew 23:13-15, Jesus proclaimed,

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Those who deceive and destroy churches have a fearful fate as Jesus taught in Matthew 18:6-7: 

But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!

This is why Paul says that we should not seek to be teachers, for the responsibility is heavy. 

A pastor’s call is to build-up the flock! Jesus came for us to have eternal life and abundant life. The way to have both is to be a disciple, so the mission of the church, then, is to make disciples and the pastor is the primary disciple-maker in the church. As Paul taught in Ephesians 4, the gifts of the pastor are for the edifying of the church until we are perfected in discipleship.

WE ALSO SEE THAT A PASTOR’S CALL IS TO LOVE THE CHURCH:

2 Corinthians 12:20-21 says,

For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.

Working with people is not easy; people are proud and stiff-necked. They are often hard to get along with and hey can make those who work with them miserable. When we were on the mission field, we heard a joke, that went, “Missionary service would be great if not for the local believers and the other missionaries.” The world is not what it was intended to be, and sadly, this is best demonstrated by the daily walk of most people. Yet, even so, God still loves us.

God’s two major concerns are His Name and His creation.  He should have given up on us long ago, but He hasn’t. God has a faithful love that will do whatever it takes to save us, and He did it perfectly through Jesus, our Savior. As Romans 8:6-9 says: 

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

Like God, a pastor loves the church; and like the Good Shepherd, a pastor lays down his life for the sheep. Pastors sacrifice time, own interests, their families, and  much else for the church. When people call, he goes; when they have needs, he prays. This is a tremendous responsibility. Consider what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11:23-29:

Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

Paul loved the church at Corinth so much that he wanted to do what was best for them. This is exactly what a pastor should do for his flock as well!

FINALLY, A PASTOR’S CALL IS TO BE A PROPHET:

2 Corinthians 13:1-5 says,

This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not spare them—since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you.  For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God. Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

A pastor plays many roles:

• Encourager and supporter

• Trusted confidant

• Visionary leader

• Teacher, trainer and equipper

 

But, one of the most important roles is that of prophet!

 A prophet forth-tells God’s Word and in doing so, he confronts sin and unbelief, and He stands up for truth and righteousness. He steps on people’s toes from time to time and this does not make him popular. The prophet Jeremiah faced great opposition and only kept preaching because of the fire in his bones and Elijah was called by King Ahab, “You troubler of Israel.”

Prophecy, however, is medicine for sick congregations and if a pastor loves his church, he will do what is right for it. When sin is in a church, the right thing to do is to confront it with God’s Word.

Pastors must recognize that prophecy is strong medicine and it is best used sparingly; when it is left on the shelf, the patient can die. When given in too great a dose, the side effects can seem worse than the illness, even if that isn’t tru. When used properly at the right time, however, it can give renewed life.

CONCLUSION:

On my desk is a plaque that says:

A Pastor Is One Who Speaks To Your Spirit,

Listens To Your Heart, And Understands What Words Can Never Say

This is the attitude of Healthy Leadership in a local church. May God continue to call out pastors to shepherd His flock as the fellow the example of the Good Shepherd!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt