Make the Church Great Again Outline -trump

Recently I was talking with a dear friend and brother in Christ when the topic of church leadership was mentioned. In our discussion I recalled this passage from Marking x:35-45, which reads:

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we inquire."

"What exercise you want me to do for you?" he asked.

They replied, "Let 1 of us sit at your correct and the other at your left in your celebrity."

"You don't know what y'all are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I potable or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?"

"We can," they answered.

Jesus said to them, "You will drinkable the cup I potable and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my correct or left is not for me to grant. These places vest to those for whom they have been prepared."

When the x heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord information technology over them, and their high officials exercise potency over them. Non so with you. Instead, whoever wants to get great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to exist first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did non come up to exist served, but to serve, and to give his life equally a ransom for many.

Beginning some observations:

1. At the outset the requestors were barking upwardly the incorrect tree. Even every bit Messianic King, Jesus cannot grant these positions to people who want them (v 40). The positions are prepared for the person, not the other way effectually (5 40). No corporeality of mentoring, teaching, experience, and skill will serve to fix a person for ministry building if God has non chosen them to serve.
2. This request seems to ignore what Jesus already said nearly greatness (cf. Mk 9:35), which illustrates the dullness of the disciples and fifty-fifty portrays them in an embarrassing lite. I suspect their dullness is highlighted throughout Mark as a model of all those who struggle toward faith.
3. The disciples' request to hold high positions is wrong because they neglect to grasp Jesus'southward passion and the ways whereby greatness (his and theirs) is achieved. Note that Jesus already told them twice that he was to be put to decease (cf., 8:31; nine:31-32; and here once again 10:33-34). The road to glory (Christ and ours) is paved with the stones of suffering.
4. Although no reason is given, the indignation of the ten (v 41) may have been prompted past a like want to take a shot at the "best seats in the house"; information technology's just that James and John beat out them to the dial. We ofttimes feel a sense of resentment toward those who overtly act on what we have wrongly desired in our hearts.

Now for the radical response of Jesus (10:42-44):

1. He offers a negative case to highlight what not to do if 1 wishes to be groovy in God'south kingdom. The "gentiles" (likely a reference to Rome) took not bad pride in wielding authority over their subjects ensuring at that place was no question who was on top and in charge.
2. Jesus insists "Not so with y'all." This is a searing antithesis to the pretension of James and John as well as to the disciples' indignation toward them for asking to exist place in positions of honor. Greatness, says Jesus, is non achieved by mastering over only serving under the subjects of God'south kingdom. There volition be no power plays in God'south economy, since just One is on top and in charge.
3. Moreover, this"Not so with you" is hardly just a mere disapproval of oppressive leadership who lord it over others. That much would exist appreciated and this would not be saying anything more than what everyone under Rome's harsh rule would desire. What makes this radical is that it is a flattening of all homo hierarchy in order to emphasize the mutual graphic symbol of service required of every disciple. Jesus is calling for a mutualist understanding of operating in his kingdom as his subjects where all interactions are shared equally and expected to be for the mutual benefit of everyone. This is epitomized by Jesus'south summary argument in 10:45 (or Marker's given the textual difficulties with this verse and its originality). I recognize this passage is the noon and theological culmination of Mark's Gospel account showing the redemptive purposes of God in providing the means for redemption through Christ's death. Simply could it be a paradigm for what is to come (see particularly Galatians 3:28)?
4. Jesus says in upshot, "Public honor, positions of recognition, and places of authority a disciple does not make." Instead, true discipleship involves service from under or alongsiderather than over others.

If this model of greatness is adopted, implications could be staggering for a traditional church structure. Rather than a multi-tier, top-down model of leadership (typically starting with a senior pastor and/or an executive pastor, associate pastors reporting up, elders, deacons, youth/educatee pastors, ministry leaders, etc. ), the structure is drastically collapsed horizontally into simply two tiers. Perhaps the simply unique attribute that distinguishes ane from another on the lesser tier is God's giftedness and calling. The construction would expect similar to this:

Seems to me that whatsoever is true for all disciples is necessarily true for all church building leaders, since all church building leaders are disciples of Christ. Put differently, church leaders are not exempt from those qualities and activities to which Jesus calls everyone. A key chemical element of discipleship is to serve i another and it is rather hard to serve others when yous're looking downwards from a supposed position of authority.

No chain of control within or amongst the subjects of God's kingdom; just Jesus rules and reigns over all equally Head (Eph 4:15-sixteen). No more than "senior pastors" or pyramid-like, vertical structures; only a flat model where everyone equally reports to i Head, King Jesus! Greatness, in kingdom terms, does non and never has proceeded from appointments or positions. It begins (and ends) with servanthood.

For more particular around pastoral responsibilities, see my "All-time Practices for Church building Leadership".

Spread the word (please & thank yous)

2013-xi-06

wisemanhiself.blogspot.com

Source: https://inchristus.com/2013/11/06/becoming-great/

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