Church Planting and Empire Building

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Mark 8:04 am on December 20, 2010 Reply
Church Planting and Empire Building
I have noticed that church planting can sometimes be all about king-making and empire building. Â This is straight-up sin in the first degree, because it pushes Jesus out of his role as King.

“Look! Â A righteous king is coming! And honest princes will rule under him...” Isaiah 32:1 For the prophet, there will be a day when one righteous king will rule a kingdom of which we can all enjoy being citizens. Â Jesus called this the Kingdom of God, and Jesus is that ‘righteous king!’

But there will still be leaders in this kingdom. Â These ‘honest princes’ will not be like the leaders and rulers of our world today – they will look out for the oppressed and provide relief for the poor. (v 1-2) Â The wise leader of Yahweh’s people will see, hear, know, understand, be fluent and clear, and make noble plans with regard to Yahweh and his fellow human beings. (v 3-5, 8). Â Not only that, but leaders will shame the fool whose mind is busy with evil thinking up ways to burden the defenseless and deprive the hungry.

So you think you’re a leader? Â Do you want to be a church planter? The contemporary nomenclature of leadership literature today is to assume that leaders lead people into new projects, getting things done, and the best leaders are the ones who have the best and brightest following them.

Who wants to be the leader of a gang? Â What about the leader of a bunch of homeless folks? Â I don’t think that’s what those Saturday leadership seminars are for…

And yet that essentially is what Isaiah is saying. Â And it is what Jesus did.

To them, leadership is about using your power to care for the powerless, not charging ever onward with only the fastest able to keep in your pack. That may work in the corporate world – but look at where the corporate world leads you – as soon as you are no longer able to keep up – they spit you out and take the new guy.

To be a prince is Jesus’ Kingdom, you act like your king. Â Jesus was a leader that led a ragtag bunch of homeless and social miscreants. Â His aim was not to build an empire, but to welcome the oppressed into an already-present kingdom. Â Good leaders do the same.
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Rusty, Mark, and miller are discussing. Toggle Comments
- http://www.aboutaburningfire.com Rusty
  
  Hey Mark! Thanks for your thoughts on social justice. When the cry of the needy is just, I agree..we must do what we can to meet those needs. However, I doubt Peter and James would appreciate calling them a “ragtag bunch of homeless, social miscreants.” The people Jesus chose to keep close by himself were not bums, lazy, strung out pot heads. They were made up of hard working, business owners in whom Jesus saw had potential. Peter and James owned their own family fishing business and when they left their jobs they had sense enough to even entrust the business to hired servants. (Mark 1:16) These were men who had everything and left it all to follow Jesus. (Matt. 19) Far from what we see with the issue of homelessness in America. I’m not sure I can call most homeless people in America “oppressed” either. Spiritually oppressed, yes, by worldly pleasures that they need deliverance from. India, Africa, Sudan….are oppressed. Sometimes I think we want to paint an “all inclusive” Jesus who just allowed anyone to be around Him when in fact Jesus was very exclusive at times and put expectations on his followers. Many of whom were not ready to give it all up to follow Him. (Matt. 19). I do get your point. Leadership is not about building empires, but about serving and equipping those who are in need.
- miller
  
  this is not disagreement, but thoughts your post stirred up…
  
  Godly leadership is about more than who you lead… it’s also about how you lead. Jesus took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist and washed filthy feet. Jesus never forced anyone and he usually gave plenty of opportunity to leave. i think in some ways the “honest princes” are reluctant leaders because they are all about the King staying King… they’re usually scared to death that they will somehow get in the way of what God is doing. a hallmark of the “honest prince” is that they attend to God as the source of their power, wisdom, and direction.
- http://godgrown.net Mark
  
  Miller – well said. “Leader” is one of those great nouns made up of a “verb.” Its not about who – but about how. Very cool.
  
  Rusty – I’d say there’s plenty of social oppression on many of the homeless in America today – I don’t think we can say every homeless person is completely able to overcome their adversities to become a wealthy CEO. I think there’s more to the “principalities and powers of this dark age” than intangible spiritual forces – they manifest themselves in financial, racial, and other ways.
  
  Ya got me on the disciples (one or two of them) were respectable members of society. Peter especially. But something caused them to give it all up to follow Jesus. Living homeless like Jesus did causes you to find compassion for the homeless in new ways. It also causes you to empower them to see themselves as worthy children of God – not trash in a gutter.
  
  Good thoughts! Keep pushing me here – I’m ready to learn.
- http://www.aboutaburningfire.com Rusty
  
  I would submit to you that its the same deception to associate spirituality with poverty as it is to associate spirituality with wealth. We are not more “spiritual” because we are homeless, broke or poor or because we associate with them. I think it would be error to say that true leadership requires us to take some sort of vow of poverty, as some have.

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Mark 8:04 am on December 20, 2010 Reply

Church Planting and Empire Building