Simple Servants

11/1987

What we need to see is that God has called us to a place of just a simplicity of sharing what God has shared with us, with one another. And what is neat about that is “Where two or three are gathered in My name there I am in the midst.” It allows us a lot of freedom and a lot of ability to be able to walk and to grow and to change and to be useful to God together without a lot of bells and whistles. We don’t need a steeple to pull it off anymore and we don’t need a degree to pull it off anymore. We can be unlearned and ignorant fishermen, but everybody will take note of us because they know we’ve been with Jesus.

That’s the nature of the New Covenant- from the least to the greatest they will all know me. And we don’t have any right to squelch life in other people. I came from the place of being a clergyman and recognized as that even though nobody would say that - I was the official hireling. So I can say stuff like this without feeling like I’m treading on territory in shoes that I’ve never walked in, because I have walked in those things and I had the position. And I know for a fact, now, that it is an unBibilical position that I was holding and so I relinquished that.

And that’s another question - “How do we discern leadership?” Well, the fact of the matter is that leadership is stature in God’s sight rather than in man’s. Like with the seven sons of Sceva who said, “In the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, be cast out.” They had all the right words. Their doctrine was right of casting out demons in Jesus’ name. But the fact was there wasn’t any reality in their heart.

We’ve all known two men standing in a pulpit. Both eloquent or with no eloquence, where they say the same thing - the words are the same. The scriptures are the same even, and yet one of them just cuts and divides and lays bare the heart, and opens up a new place where flowers can grow. And the other one you come out saying, “Thank you very much. That was another fine lesson. That was food for thought.” And you leave totally unchanged because it’s not a living and active word.

Now the difference is that in one case it’s a man of God - in the other case it’s a man who knows his Bible. One of them is known by the demons in hell. “Paul I know and Jesus I know,” said the demon, “but who are you?” In one case the demons know this man’s name and therefore, whether it’s eloquent or no eloquence it makes no difference- because they tremble that this man is so much standing in the stature of Christ that they have to flee. There’s no choice.

But what that demon did, because those men were exercising biblical methodology but had no stature in God’s sight or in the demon’s sight, the result was that the demon came and ripped them to shreds. One demon left seven of them bleeding and naked.

Again, that’s what happens if leadership is positional rather than relational with God and men. What you end up with is the sheep are scattered. You end up with a swamp instead of a river because Bible knowledge in itself doesn’t mean anything - just like the seven sons of Sceva. “In Jesus’ name” - it didn’t do any good because there wasn’t the stature there.

Paul wrote this that ,“Our battle is not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers.” It’s not with methodology. It’s not with habits and bible knowledge. But our battle is with principalities and powers. It’s spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly realms, it says.

Our battle is with satan and his host of demons that have intelligence. They have personality. They are a form of life, not just simply a dark cloud of evil that we are tempted by. But they have intelligence and personalities, and our battle is not with this form versus that form. It’s with personalities that are sent by satan to destroy, to be murderers, to kill, to accuse the brethren and to twist them and to masquerade as angels of light as religious people; and to twist us and pull us away. And if we know that’s the case and we know that it is stature that causes the demons to flee and not the magic words of the Bible - if that’s the case, then we’ve got our definition of leadership.

What is leadership in a living room like this? It’s men, where the sheep know the Shepherd’s voice. They hear and they see the stature. And like Paul said, “What you’ve seen and heard from me amongst many witnesses - you put into practice and you teach others who will be able to teach others also.” It’s like Jesus with the twelve and the twelve on from there. It’s the impartation of stature. It’s not the impartation of Bible trivia about how many brothers and sisters Noah had and how many cubits the ark was. You know that just doesn’t impress the demons. And the city goes to hell with all of our Bible trivia in our mind. It just doesn’t mean anything.

So what is leadership? Leadership are men and women that are servants of God and servants of their brothers and sisters that are growing in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with ever-increasing glory. And they’re dragging people with them. That’s leadership.

And you’ll know them by their fruits, not by their words. The Kingdom of God does not consist of mere words, but of power it says in 1 Cor. 4:20. You can have a form of Godliness, but deny the power. You can be always learning, but never able to acknowledge the Truth. You can be a Bible scholar from Genesis to Revelation in Greek, Hebrew, Chaldean, or Aramaic and it won’t make a bit of difference. The demons won’t know your name if there’s not stature behind it. Stature is imparted. Stature is cultivated. And leadership is a man of God that knows the Word of God and knows the God of the Word and is dragging people with them.

Nobody gets any nametags in the Kingdom of God. In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul said, “I went to those who seem to be pillars. I heard about James (Jesus’ half brother). I heard about Peter and John - the disciples that walked with Jesus from the beginning - but I care not what they are, those so-called super apostles.” He said, (Galatians 2) “God does not judge by mere human appearance and neither do I.” They call themselves pillars - other people call them pillars - but who cares? Who gives a rip? God doesn’t give name badges. God sees stature and demons see stature and angels see stature. They don’t listen to Bible knowledge. So going to college means nothing unless it’s changed our stature and we can impart that stature to others.

So leadership in a living room is organic rather than positional. We don’t ever have somebody that is assigned to lead a Bible study. We don’t ever have anybody that is assigned to be the song leader and the prayer leader or anything like that. It comes organically. And some nights it is my night. Some nights it is Steve and Mike’s night and other people’s nights. Sometimes it’s all of us. Molly has made a contribution to your lives here since she’s been here, because of stature in her life. She’s made a contribution to my life because of her zeal and determination and honesty.

And so the priesthood of believers ministers to one another and imparts life to one another. In Romans 16, Paul lists a whole bunch of people, half of which are women. And he began in chapter 15 by saying “You’re competent to council one another.” And that’s the truth. That’s the priesthood of believers “where two or three are gathered in My name there I am in their midst.” The wonderful Counselor has arrived. The Prince of Peace, Mighty God, Everlasting Father is in our midst and we can count on Him through the earthen vessels and the treasure in earthen vessels to bring life to all of us.

We need each other. We need to be joined and knit together rather than having an official mouth speak for all of us and ask us trivia questions up from the front of the class - “For God so loved the_________?” “Oh a-a-a-a- world.” “Yea, right.” That’s not real. That’s not truth. That’s not reality. And it has robbed us for generations of growth. That is why a twenty-year-old Christian is normally weaker than a two-year-old Christian. “By its fruit you shall know them.” You shall know the tree by the fruit it bears. And the fruit it bears ought to be men after twenty years that are ripping through the bars and the triple x-rated bookstores, and the abortion clinics. Ripping through the work places and the market place, and the malls and the restaurants bringing many sons to glory. And if it’s not yielding that kind of fruit, then it’s the wrong tree. And we need to lay an axe to the root, as Jesus said, and go back and start over again.

So, how do we make a change in our worship is the question? And the answer to that question is we just get real with each other and we dare to get involved in a practical level. To wave our hands like that little ole guy in Acts 2 that says, “Hey, wait a minute. I’m already cut to the heart. So what am I supposed to do about this?” And then you can see the reaction and interaction take place from there.