Tag: jesus

Radiance: Keep Watch

Justin Hibbard

Reading: Acts 20:17-35

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A few years ago, I was talking to my friend, who used to attend New Hope Chapel years ago before moving to North Carolina.  He’s the type of guy who likes to get involved in ministry, so at one particular church he attended, he said,  “I’d like to host a Bible Study.” As a former member of New Hope Chapel, he was shocked by the response.  “Sorry, you have to be a member before you can take any leadership role in our church.”

Over the years, churches have wrestled with how to protect themselves – how to effectively keep alert for the savage wolves, the selfish manipulators, and the power hungry about which Paul warned the Ephesians.  Many churches have formed policies like my friend experienced.  Other churches like ours, desirous to encourage involvement from new attendees, have steered in a different direction.  I’m not sure there’s a perfect answer.

In some ways, not much has changed in 2000 years.  As I shared on Sunday, there have been factions within churches and outside groups who have voted out pastors, severely altered the doctrine and practices of the church, and hijacked control of the church’s property.  It’s a frightening reality for many churches.  You can understand why many take Paul’s exhortation in Acts 20 very seriously.

What’s important to note is that Paul’s focus isn’t on policy; it’s on relationships.  Paul encourages the Elders at Ephesus to keep watch.  Like a shepherd watches over the sheep, Elders and Pastors are also to do the same.  How does one watch over their sheep?  Jesus says in John 14:10, “I know my sheep, and my sheep know me.”  The Greek word used for knowledge is ginosko.  It doesn’t refer to head knowledge; it refers to a relationship.  Jesus, our Good Shepherd, has a relationship with us, and he models for us the type of shepherds we need to be.

As Jesus demonstrates, the best way to get to know someone, to get to experience their heart, to see where they’re at spiritually, to evaluate their motives is by building a relationship with them.  Relationships are built through fellowship and vulnerability, and in turn they build accountability and trust.  This is a two-fold commitment on our part.  We have to make time to fellowship together and take our relationships beyond a superficial level.

I’m encouraged to know that if I ever did something really stupid, I would have a bunch of guys from within the church either calling me or knocking on my door, saying, “Justin, what are you thinking?  Let’s talk about this for a minute.”  But those relationships will also cause me to pause and say, “How will my motives or my actions affect these people I love dearly?”  That’s accountability, and it’s part of what Paul means when he says, “Keep watch over yourselves and each other.”

Radiance: A Very Different Church

Justin Hibbard

Reading: Ephesians 4:1-16

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Church has evolved quite a bit from the first century that it’s hard to read about these churches  in its proper context.  Today, we have churches at every corner.  It seems rather fitting in our consumer-driven society.  What flavor do you like?  How much Calvinism would you like with your cup of tea?  How high would you like your hierarchical church?  Do you like greater denomination accountability or less?  What type of polity sandwich would you like?  How hot do you prefer your corporate worship – the mild organ or the flaming electric guitar?  Oh, the choices we have!

On one hand, choices are good.  As a friend of mine says, “It takes all types of churches to reach all types of people.” On the other hand, choices can limit us.  They can limit us because what we look for in a church are people who are just like us.  They believe the same things (or close enough to it), they act the same, they look the same as us, perhaps they are in the same economic class.  We go where we’re most comfortable.  That doesn’t stretch us very much, and as a result, we’ve become very bad at working out our differences.

In the first century, because accepting Christ often meant being ostracized from one’s family, finding people who were also believers was everything.  They didn’t have an extensive library on how to live the Christian life, lessons on theology, or sermon podcasts.  Forget the notion of “Bedside Baptist” or “Mattress Methodist.”  For them, church was their community, their kinship, and their family.

There weren’t churches on every corner; generally there was just one for every major city or so. The church had a challenge.  People brought their baggage – their sinful habits, their heresies, their personal problems, their emotional tendencies, their cultural differences to the group.  In 1 Corinthians, we get a hint of just how screwed up that can be. The church had to balance the seeker sensitive and the mature.  It had to take stands on theology, and it didn’t even have a canon of Scripture.  Imagine the difficulty they had in working out their differences.  They couldn’t just leave.  They didn’t have anywhere to go.

Over the years, I’ve seen people leave a church and go to another one for a variety of reasons.  Most of us have done the same.  But can I be honest with you from a leadership standpoint?  One of the most frustrating things is when someone leaves over an issue without trying to help fix the problem.  I could understand it if people said, “I brought this issue up to the leadership months ago and nothing seems to have been resolved, and I’ve done everything I could.”  But many times the individuals do not say anything, let the situation brew, and finally they just leave.  “This is what the problem is, and by the way, we’re outta here.”

Could you imagine having a home with a leaky roof and saying, “Okay family, we’re leaving this house!” No, of course not.  You have too much invested.  Unless you’ve got oodles of money, you’re going to have to sell the home (after you make the necessary repairs) and buy a new one.  You don’t just leave.  You do what you can to fix what’s broken.

Churches are not perfect and never will be.  Period.  That is such a critical point to understand.  We all have issues because the church body is made up of people with issues.  We all bring our baggage to the table.  Nobody is perfect – not the Sunday School teacher, not the Elder, not the Pastor.  We have quirky personalities and odd habits, not to mention our wide spectrum of beliefs.  The key is to commit ourselves to a ministry of love and grace.  Church isn’t just a place to be entertained and be ministered to, it is a place where we minister, and we ought to expect the changing power of the Holy Spirit to work in both our lives and those within our church community.

Radiance: Lampstands

Justin Hibbard

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Begin by Reading: Revelation 1:9-20

Throughout the book of Revelation, John draws comparisons between the Temple in Jerusalem and the heavenly Temple.  One treasure, which adorned the Holy Place in the earthly Temple, where the priest ministered, was the golden seven-branch menorah.  The High Priest’s job, as the Lord dictates in Leviticus 24, is that he is to tend to those lamps constantly, so that they continually burn.  Welcome to your first day of being a High Priest, Aaron.  Your job is to make sure those lights don’t ever go out.  Sounds rather pedestrian doesn’t it?

There’s a reason for this.  The light from the menorah represents the eternal presence of God, and the Lord wanted to make sure that Israel knew that as long as they adhered to His commandments, He was always with them.

In Revelation, we receive a similar yet much more profound image.  John sees not just one lampstand but seven lampstands.  Assuming that the imagery is the same, he doesn’t see one seven branch menorah, he sees seven of them – a total of forty-nine branches.

This imagery is important.  It is connecting the Old Testament Temple – a physical building for gathering with the New Testament Church – a body of believers indwelled by the Holy Spirit.  The voice in Revelation 1 explains that each lampstand represents a church.  Each church is complete in the sense that it contains a lampstand.  In other words it’s not like certain branches are burning and certain ones might be extinguished; each church has a lampstand that they’re responsible to keep aflame.  However, each church participates in a much larger arena made up of other churches.

Who does John see standing among them?  He sees Jesus – our High Priest!  He’s not just standing among one lampstand; He’s manning all seven.  What’s His role?  He keeps them burning just like Aaron did.

This imagery reiterates to us the type of partnership churches have with the Lord.  He gives us our place and He is the source for our light.  However, we have a responsibility to remain in Him, and follow in obedience.

I also like the imagery of the seven branch menorah for another reason.  The lampstand was always referred to as a collective piece though it had many lights.  When Aaron was instructed to keep the lampstand burning, the Lord wasn’t just talking about one branch.  He was referring to all seven.  In the same way, as we looked at the other day, each of us has a personal responsibility to radiate the glory of God.  The result is that the entire lampstand will radiate the glory of God.

Radiance: Radiance

Justin Hibbard

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Begin by Reading: 2 Corinthians 3:7-18

I remember as a kid I had a glow-in-the-dark nightlight.  Every night, just before bedtime, I would take that small light and hold it up to a lamp.  I’d give it about thirty seconds, and the nightlight would radiate in the dark for at least a few hours.

That’s radiance.

The idea of radiance is that it emits energy because of exposure to another, stronger source of energy.  Of course, it has good connotations as well as bad ones.  For example, the brave Japanese workers were exposed to lethal amounts of radiation when they tried to save the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The truth is we’re all radiating from some influence.  Our exposure to friends, families, jobs, the world in general will have some effect on our lives.  Hang around a cynic long enough, and you’re bound to at least pick up a tenor of cynicism.  Hang around someone with an outgoing and engaging personality, and suddenly you’ll find yourself more encouraging and uplifted.

Hang around Jesus long enough, and you’ll become like Him.

That’s the idea behind biblical radiance, and we find it all throughout Scripture.  In Exodus 34, Moses’ skin literally radiated from spending time with God on Mount Sinai, as he received the stone tablets.

Did you catch what Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 3, as he compares Moses’ experience with ours?  Here’s a brief and much less elegant summary: If we dwell on the Lord’s glory; we will radiate because we are experiencing something even more glorious and unguarded than what Moses did.  Do you ever get jealous of Moses’ encounter with God?  Paul is assuring us that Moses is the one that would be jealous.

I’m beginning this discussion about church – not with the corporate body but with individual responsibility.  We often think of church as an organization, but while that is true, biblically speaking, it is a body made up of individual Christians.  Organizations are only as competent as the people that run them.  Our church, which is invested in the body, is only as godly, spiritually strong, God-seeking, purpose driven, [insert more adjectives as necessary], as the individuals that participate in our church.

In other words, everything we decide that church should or shouldn’t be begins with us.  If we’re not willing to personally do something or give something up, then we should end the discussion and the endeavor for a more radiant church right here.  But if you want a radiant church, start with yourself.  Get in that prayer closet.  Start dwelling in the Glory of God.

Living Sacrifice Day 40 – Intense Spiritual Journeys

Justin Hibbard1 Comment


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Begin by reading Hebrews 12:18-29

Today marks our 40th and last day of our Living Sacrifice series. Let me take a moment to say how humbled I am that you have chosen to make this part of your spiritual growth. I’ve been moved by the emails and the encouragement. That means so much to me. So, thank you.

You know, the idea for doing this came to me just before we started our Living Sacrifice sermon series, and I knew it would be a lot of work. I just didn’t know how much work it would be. I thought it was a commitment to provide teaching to our church, but I think God has used it to teach me more than anyone else. It has been an intense 40 days, but I can’t tell you how much it has absolutely blessed me. In fact, it might have been one of the most rewarding spiritual endeavors I’ve ever done. Each day, I disciplined myself to read and study Scripture, reflect on it, write about it, and God really opened His Word to me. He has taught me so much about the church and moved in my heart making me a more godly leader. It has been utterly amazing.

We are about a week into the season of Lent, where many Christians choose to fast something for the forty days leading to Easter. The popular item to fast this year seems to be Facebook. On a lot of friends’ walls, there’s a message that says, “If you need to get a hold of me, email me, as I will be off Facebook until Easter.” I was reflecting on my last forty days, and I realized how much I had given up because I was busy working on these devotionals – time that otherwise I would have spent watching TV, on Facebook, or even more noble projects like washing dishes (I owe a huge thank you to my supportive wife Karlene – dinner dates and pampering to follow, I promise!). A lot of those things I gave up, I didn’t really miss. I can’t say that I wish I watched more TV instead of doing this exercise.

Suddenly, I had a revelation about Lent. You know, whenever we fast, we often think about what we are giving up, but what is it that we’re putting into it or gaining? Sometimes it’s good to fast something to learn not to be reliant on it, but I really liked what one friend said. “I’ve decided to take a break from Facebook in order to spend more time with the Lord and in His Word.” If all we’re doing is giving up something, I’m not sure we’re truly understanding the purpose of fasting.

I think that you’ll find that there may be times when you need to get away from something. Jesus removed Himself on occasion, and He even went into the wilderness fasting for forty days. While He was there to be tested, I imagine that Jesus was also communing with His Heavenly Father. The spiritual journey must have been so rewarding, as it says in Luke 4:14 that he returned in the power of the Spirit. Let me encourage you to make occasional intense spiritual journeys, as these will have a powerful impact on your life.

Have you ever heard the saying, “There are some people that just let life happen and others that make life happen.” I think the same could be said about our Christian lives. Some people just passively live the Christian life – they don’t do a lot of things wrong, they’re good to their family, and they go to church. And there are some that are active in their Christian walks. They’re not content to merely be pursued by God. No they’re the ones on the pursuit. Let me challenge you to be the latter.

Let me challenge you to be the Jacobs who wrestle with God and not let go, the Moses’ who venture up the mountains to find where God is and then bring His Word to an unbelieving generation. Let me dare you to be the Daniels and the Davids, the Enochs and the Elijahs, the prophets who seek the Lord’s voice and the priests who serve God’s people.

To be a living sacrifice, we must be consumed. Just as the fire fell from heaven on the soaked altar, so we must surrender our lives totally to God, and let His holy fire burn within us. In doing so, our actions become sweet aromas to the Lord and food for the Body of Christ. There is something wonderful that happens when we taste of the living water. We drink, are satisfied, and we want more. As A.W. Tozer said, “To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart.”

While this concludes our forty day series, we still have a lifetime to go. Again, thank you for taking the time to join with me. I hope it was a blessing to you. I would love to hear from you about how this series has impacted your life. If you’d like, join our discussion on New Hope Chapel’s Facebook page (some of you may need to wait until after Easter). Just click on the discussion link under our picture and post your comments. If you missed any of our series, you can find both the text and the audio versions at newhopechapel.org. Stay tuned as we’re looking at doing more of this in the future. And if you’d like to join me in writing and podcasting, I would love for you to do so. If your experience is anything like mine has been, let me just say, “prepare to be blessed.”

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Living Sacrifice Day 39 – A Walk with God

Justin Hibbard


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Begin by reading Hebrews 11:5-6

Today’s reading is about one of my favorite Biblical characters – Enoch. You know, not much is said about Enoch. In fact, he is talked about more in the New Testament than the Old Testament. I remember when I first read Enoch’s account in Genesis. It says so little, but it’s so profound. I love what one man said about Enoch’s ascension into heaven. It’s as if God said to him, “Enoch, we’ve been walking a long time now, and we’re closer to my house than yours. Why don’t you just come home with me.”

Being a living sacrifice begins with knowing and walking with God. That was the first day’s message, and now we are at day 39, and I’m coming back to this crucial point. Walking with God is precious. It is a craving for your Heavenly Father. It is not coming to Him merely to ask for things. It is coming to Him because He is your Heavenly Father and your Rabbi. When you sit with the Holy Spirit, aware of His presence, knowledgeable of Who this is and what He has and can do, we suddenly tremble with the weight of glory. We get an inkling of what it must have been like for the High Priest to enter the Most Holy Place, or Moses to stand on top of Mount Sinai, or the disciples to watch the transfiguration of Jesus. In other words, we marvel at the Glory of the Eternal God.

Do not be surprised when this habit of being with God causes change in your life. Do not be surprised when your heart’s desire is moved, and the things you once craved for suddenly have little relevance. Do not be surprised when your heart is moved to compassion for others. You are getting a heart transplant. Moses’ face radiated from the presence of God. Your entire life will do the same. It’s a process. Little by little, step by step, day by day, this transformation occurs. Do not be surprised when one day someone will say to you, “You are different. You are changing. You have become more Holy like our Lord.” And then you will know that the discipline and spiritual exercise is having an effect on you, so much so, that even others have taken notice.

As you grow, you will find God asking of you. He may give you a desire to minister in some way (where you had no desire in the past). When you say, “yes” to God, He equips you. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. We all do. What we ought to be afraid of is saying “no” to God and watching whatever opportunity to bear fruit whither before our eyes. Do not be afraid and say, “God, you have not gifted me for the thing you are asking me to do.” Sometimes, we discover what our gifts are only after using them.

I’ve seen this in my own life, especially in the last nine months. When our friend and pastor – Gary Derechinsky left to go to California, I said to God, “I have no interest in doing anymore than I am doing now. Bring someone else to do the work God, and I’ll just support him.” God had different plans, and He totally transformed my heart. I have never loved ministry more than I do now, and all I can say is that it has nothing to do with me; it has everything to do with the Holy Spirit moving in me.

I appreciate what Steve Coleman had to say about this last Sunday in his sermon on the gifts and the church. He said that we can find our gifts by following the prescription of Romans 12:1-8. Walk with God, be committed to being a living sacrifice, be humble, love the church, and do what it is that God is telling you to do.

But the first step is the biggest step. Walk with God. I think we all wish to leave some sort of legacy after we pass away. We want to leave some mark on the world and be remembered by it. If you were to die today, what would people remember about you – a contribution at your work, an act of service, being a good parent?

Consider Enoch’s legacy for a moment. You may not know this, but there is a book in the apocrypha called the Book of Enoch. I realize that many question its authenticity (even though it is quoted from in the Book of Jude), but it is fascinating nonetheless. It basically chronicles Enoch’s life in the context of the fallen angels and the Nephtalim – a time when the earth was violent and depraved. The book is filled with amazing visions of Heaven, conversations that Enoch shares with the fallen angels and with the Lord Himself, and the prophecy he gives concerning the flood. However, I would venture to say not many of us have read that book, and so we don’t know him for this. But what we do know is the little bit mentioned in Genesis 5. “Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more because God took Him away.” He is remembered for walking with God, and I think Enoch would be the first to tell you, that is the most fulfilling legacy one could ever desire to have.

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Living Sacrifice Day 38 – Choose to Love

Justin Hibbard


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Begin by reading 1 Corinthians 13

I know that this series was meant to focus on living out the first eight verses of Romans 12, but I can’t possibly talk about the importance and functions of the Body of Christ without talking about Romans 12:9 and the importance of love. There are four passages in Scripture that deal with spiritual gifts – 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4, and each time the subject is mentioned, it is always surrounded with teaching on love and unity.

1 Corinthians 13 is often read in weddings and applied to a marriage relationship. However, many forget that the context of this famous chapter is that Paul is writing to a church and teaching about spiritual gifts. His point can be summed up in the first couple of verses: It doesn’t matter if you have all of the spiritual gifts in the world. If you don’t love the people with whom you are sharing your gifts, you have nothing and are accomplishing nothing.

In a world plagued by self-interest, self-righteousness, and selfishness, perhaps this is the greatest lesson that we could possibly learn. Love is like worship. It is a choice, not a feeling. Falling in love and the pitter-patter beating of your heart is not the love I’m talking about. I’m talking about the choice to put someone’s interests above your own. Our society lacks that kind of love. We see it in corporate greed, in the astounding divorce rate, in abortion, and in how many churches operate. Dare I say that few understand how to love because we have misunderstood what love is.

I believe that this misunderstanding of love in the church is directly correlated to a misunderstanding of church. In our business-minded society, we can easily begin thinking of church as an organization rather than an organism. While we have legal requirements to be incorporated by the State and financial obligations, we ought not to think of the church as a business. Businesses think in terms of economics. Economics is only concerned with numbers and statistics, intentionally ignoring actual lives. We must be different. We must love individuals.

Let’s be honest. Sometimes, it’s hard to love everyone at church, or at least it’s hard to like them. There may be people with whom we have nothing in common. Certain personalities may annoy us. We may disagree with someone’s point of view or way they go about doing something. It’s important to remember that love is not a feeling born out of convenience, rather it is a choice, born out of self-sacrifice. I do not say this because I am an expert at sacrificial love. I confess my failures and my shortcomings. Perhaps this forty day exercise is more for me than anyone else, and the Lord has used these days of study and reflection to make me see the necessity and priority of love in church leadership.

Let me close with this thought. One of the gifts I have often longed for is the gift of healing. In college, I was enamored by the stories of missionaries healing people – raising people to life, limbs growing back, and vision and hearing restored. I wanted to be that person that could go around healing people. I’m not sure God will ever give me that gift, but I do remember Him telling me, “Healing people should not be born out of a desire to use the gift but motivated because you deeply love the stricken person and are moved to see them whole.”

Perhaps the lack of the gift of miraculous healing in America is correlated with the lack of love in American churches. May we be different. May we grow in our love for church because we grow in our love for the people that are the church. May we be like Jesus who looked beyond outside appearances into the soul of each person. He was so motivated by love that He couldn’t help but heal the sick. He was so motivated by love that He gave up His life for us. That’s love. Hopefully, we will choose to love each other like Christ chose to love us.

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Living Sacrifice Day 37 – One Body

Justin Hibbard


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Begin by reading Philippians 2:1-11

The Bible talks about a number of mystical unions. Genesis 2:24 teaches us that a man and woman who marry become one flesh. The Trinity – that God is One yet three Persons is another mystical union. The church is another. While a number of words are used in the New Testament to describe the church, the Greek word for body – soma, used in Romans 12:5 – offers a number of illustrations we can draw from.

Paul talks about this mystic union when he says in 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body.” Regarding this mystical union, we would do well as a church to mimic the Trinity. This is the most holy and majestic of all mystic unions and undefiled by sin. There is a sweet submissiveness that we see in Jesus as He says in Luke 22:42, “Not my will but thine be done.” Jesus’ teaching in John 5 emphasizes a beautiful and mysterious relationship. It is a relationship of trusting, empowering, and glorifying the other members. While they are literally One, they are so in-sync and intertwined, that each One can be seen in the others. Jesus told His disciples in John 14:9, “If you’ve seen me, then you’ve seen the Father.”

Secondly, when considering the analogy of the church to the body, we should note that the body parts are attached. The Trinity was not a long distance relationship. Jesus existed with the Father, and on earth, we see times where Jesus removes Himself from the crowds in order to connect with Him. Churches where interactions only occur on Sunday mornings will never achieve true unity. Unfortunately, in suburban America, where we are spread out, we miss out on the tight community aspect on which the early church thrived.

Your office may use the phrase, “keep relationships professional” or “maintain a professional distance.” This should not be applied to church. Our church relationships are not supposed to be professional; they are supposed to be personal. Fellowship is key to building relationships. Relationships are key to building unity.

Third, because the body parts are attached, one movement affects the entire body. For example, consider what happens when you get embarrassed. First, your ears send a signal to your brain, then there’s a tingly sensation that makes its way through your body, followed by your cheeks and ears getting red, and then you start sweating. One sensation and movement affects the others. While we could talk in depth about the consequences of sin on the Body of Christ, let me focus on the positive effects this has.

Since September, I have been working out, nearly five days a week. It has had a tremendous effect on my body. My muscles have gotten larger, fat has burned off, I have more stamina and energy, and I’ve been less prone to illness. Did you know that when you work out, you may tone one area of the body, but you burn fat all over your body, not just in the area that is getting exercise? When you spiritually exercise (walk with God, pray, study, train, and use your spiritual gifts), you are toning yourself as a member of the body of Christ. However, you will influence and impact the entire body. If you’re active in the church, your personal walk with God will affect the ministry you’re involved in as well as the people you minister to.

While entire books have been written about unity in the Body of Christ, let me leave you with this thought. You can’t force unity. Like the movement of a body, it’s natural. However, muscles need to be exercised in order to develop and grow. First, we need to be personal living sacrifices and walk with God. Secondly, we need to spend time with each other and let those relationships grow. That doesn’t mean more church activities per se. It might just mean hanging out. Let me encourage you to invite a church family over or out for dinner once every week or two. As we build those relationships, we will be desirous to look out for the best interests of each other. At that point, unity is inevitable.

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Living Sacrifice Day 36 – Belonging to Each Other

Justin Hibbard


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Begin by reading 1 Peter 5:5-11

Submit is one of those words we don’t like to use. Many weddings these days exclude Ephesians 5:22 which says, “wives submit to your husbands.” I love what one of our elders and teachers Steve Coleman shared about this point. He explained that the need for submission is a consequence of the fall. While it is necessary that the wife take a submissive role, it should not be a yoke put around her neck. In the same way that we try to lessen other consequences of the fall such as child birth pain with medicine and yard work with machines and chemicals, so too must we act to make the need to submit as painless and infrequent as possible.

Yesterday we discussed the first four verses of 1 Peter 5 in connection with a leader’s role in the church. We looked at the job of a shepherd and compared it to church leadership. In today’s reading, we see that people are supposed to submit to their elders. The words that are used does not limit this to a younger person submitting to an older person; but rather the congregation submitting to the elders or pastors of the church.

Steve’s point about submission in marriage can be applied to churches as well. The picture Peter is painting is one of a shepherd. As I shared with you yesterday, the shepherd is one who roams with his sheep, guiding them to pasture. If you ever get to watch shepherds in action (like I did in Morocco), you’ll find that they often give their sheep room to roam. If one sheep ventures too far, the shepherd gently brings him back with either the sound of his voice or a nudge with his staff. In the same way, church leaders are not supposed to be micro-managers. We, as leaders, must give leeway to allow the congregation to use their gifts, grow, and develop their vision for ministry. I like the NIV version of Romans 12:6-8, which essentially says, “if someone has the gift, let him use it.”

However, I would be a naive if I pretended like there was never a need for us to submit to the church leaders. I have heard of situations even in the most harmonious of churches where the need for church discipline and correction had to take place. Sometimes it becomes necessary to emphasize the need to be submissive.

Let me caution the leader with two points here. First, times of necessary correction are not moments to exert power and flex muscles, but are opportunities to restore and build relationships. Paul uses the phrase in Romans 12:5, “each member belongs to the others.” There is a parallel here between marriage and the church. Just as the husband belongs to the wife and the wife to the husband, so each member belongs to all the others. There is a yielding that takes place so as to honor, serve, and edify each other. The purpose of church discipline is to correct and restore. While there may be cases where that is impossible, the idea of a church leader is a husband that yearns for his wife to return to him.

Secondly, submission should never be demanded but always earned. If leaders are not respectful, trustworthy, responsible, godly examples, and loving, then they should not be surprised if people are hesitant to submit. As I watch the riots in countries like Egypt, Libya, and Iran, I’m reminded that tyrants are leaders who demand respect rather than earn it. Church is not like a business. A leader does not earn respect by title, education, or expertise. Being a shepherd is a calling of building trust, of walking with individuals through the trenches and mountain passes of life, and offering food and drink along the way.

In the same way that I have talked about leaders, this applies to each person in the Body of Christ. We gain respect by exercising our gifts with sensitivity and love. Yes, each of us has gifts, each of us ought to use our gifts, but the goal must always be to glorify God and edify the Body. When we use our gifts in a cavalier fashion, we end up creating the “look at me show.” However, as we grow in understanding that each person is a precious child of God, dearly loved, and entrusted to this flock, we begin to see our ministry not as an opportunity to exercise our gifts for the sake of doing so, but we do it to bless the people around us.

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