Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
One of the reasons I felt prompted to write Shepherd Leadership was that I saw too many CEO-like metrics being used by pastors to gauge the success of their church. The subtitle of my book is “The Metrics that Really Matter.”
Check out this excerpt from a recent blog post from T.M. Moore—
“Even a cursory reading of Revelation 2 and 3 will convince us that Jesus has expectations for His churches. He has in His mind a template and pattern for how a church should be built and what it should look like as it takes on its calling as the Body of the Lord in its community. The seven churches Jesus singled out in these chapters represent the Church in every age and place. His assessment of these churches puts us on notice concerning how we should assess the state of our church at any time and what we must do to bring our expectations into line with His.
“We’re not very good at this. Counting noses, tallying up contributions, and reporting on baptisms and new members—these are the criteria at which we typically aim and to which we point in determining the health of our churches. But these criteria appear nowhere in Revelation 2 and 3. Jesus is looking for more.”
I was honored that T.M. Moore wrote an endorsement of Shepherd Leadership: “Craig Owens has it right: Jesus appointed church leaders to be shepherds over His precious flocks. The combination of Craig’s Biblical understanding, practical insights, and consistent personal practice make Shepherd Leadership a book every pastor should read.”
T.M. Moore has a challenging word for those who are called to preach the Gospel. He writes, “Jesus, like Ezekiel set His face like flint to fulfill His appointed mission. And so must we, for whom the Word is both sweet and bitter (cf. Revelation 10:8-11). We must live and proclaim its sweet and bitter message to an impudent and hard-hearted age, beginning in our churches. It is time for judgment to begin from the house of God (1 Peter 4:17). We must speak to our brethren in the Lord, the household of faith, to teach, warn, direct, and to summon them to revival, renewal, and awakening, for a greater knowledge of the Lord and His love, and a fuller realization of His Kingdom presence, promise, and power.”
“An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.” —Edwin H. Land
I have written before how significant it is that the New Testament uses the phrase “one another” so many times. T.M. Moore writes about this as well, noting, “The more we love Jesus, the more loving our neighbors will come (super)naturally to us as the Spirit of God works in us to will and do of His good pleasure. So, as in everything we do to take up Jesus’ work of building His Church, loving one another begins with loving Jesus.”
After listing a truckload of verses describing Who the Holy Spirit is, Sinclair Ferguson concludes, “Think about all of that! This Spirit—this one and the same Spirit, and no other—‘dwells within thee.’ He is the very Spirit who dwelled in the Lord Jesus. … There are not multiple Holy Spirits—One in Whose grace and power the Lord Jesus lived, One Who indwells you, One Who indwells me, and a multiplicity of other Holy Spirits indwelling an innumerable company of believers. No! There is only One Holy Spirit; and He who thus indwells me as the Spirit of Christ also indwells every believer I shall ever meet.”
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Last week we saw how the Israelites in exile had their time of grief—being targeted for annihilation—turned to joy when God granted favor to Queen Esther.
The books of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah are all written during this time period as the exiles are returning in waves to Israel. This is another grief-into-joy moment! More than likely, all four of these books were written by Ezra. Notice the note of joyful celebration that is repeated in the last words of 2 Chronicles and the opening words in the Book of Ezra (2 Chronicles 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4). We don’t know which psalmist wrote Psalm 126, but it sounds the same joyful note.
Not all the exiles returned at once. In fact, the Book of Daniel shows us that Daniel likely stayed in his position of leadership to these governments until his death.
The exiles were returning in waves. As the worship practices at the temple were reestablished and as people returned to lands allotted to each tribe, it was important for the leaders to make sure the right people were in the right places. So 1 Chronicles opens with genealogies.
Beginning with Adam and Noah (1:1-4)
The spiritual fathers (1:34)
The family line of the Messiah (2:1-15; Matthew 1:1-6) through the family tree of David (3:1-24)
Then 1 Chronicles 4 lists more clans in the tribe of Judah. Of special note is the Calebite clan (2:9, 18).
In the Calebite clan we meet Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10. His name literally translated is sorrow. I wonder: is this a nickname or his birth name? how did he even get this name?
His mother is quoted, “I gave birth to him in pain.” Did that mean it was physically a difficult birth? Did she die after childbirth? Was he born during the painful exile? His father isn’t mentioned, so maybe his birth reminded everyone of the father who was no longer there. The Amplified Bible says his mother named him “sorrow maker.”
Whatever the case, Jabez has become aware that his name or his presence is causing grief to others. There is a bit of a play on words here: “his mother named(Hebrew: qara) … Jabez cried out (Hebrew: qara) to the God of Israel.” In essence, Jabez is saying, “Since my mother cried out in pain—or thinks I am a sorrow maker—I have no where else to go but to cry out to God!”
I believe Jabez was a teenager at this time. One medical journal says, “Adolescents are physically, cognitively, and socioemotionally more advanced than children but prone to behave in ways that are inconsistent with adult values and norms. … Adolescents also frequently report greater self-consciousness, and are more concerned with and interested in others’ perceptions of self.”
This means that as the brain matures during adolescence, teenagers begin to look at themselves through the eyes of others. They are beginning to make decisions that will earn approval from their peers and their family.
This describes Jabez. He doesn’t want to be the sorrow maker any longer.
Grief happens when my reality falls short of my expectations. Jabez has become self-aware that he is a painful reminder to everyone around him. He is living in a place of grief
Jabez is called “more honorable than his brothers” (v. 9) because he turns his pain into his prayer. His brothers may either have not been as self-aware, or maybe they were aware but simply didn’t care. Jabez realized, “People have been calling me sorrow maker my whole life. There’s nothing I can do about it on my own, so the only thing I can do is call on the only One who can turn my grief into joy” (v. 10).
Look at his noble prayer:
bless me—God, You are the only One whose favor I desire
enlarge my territory—even out of this grief, bless me so that I can be a blessing
let Your hand be with me—only Your hand can restore my fortunes, can help me reap a harvest, and can allow me to sing Your songs of joy (see Psalm 126:1-6).
Let us follow this example from Jabez’s life and begin to turn every pain into prayer.
God doesn’t want to give us temporary relief from our pain, but He desires for us to know His never-ending joy (Isaiah 25:7-9; Revelation 21:3-4).
The word gospel simply means the good news about the salvation that comes only through Jesus.
Paul loves this word!
Interestingly, although we refer to the first four books of the New Testament as “The Gospels,” the word itself barely appears:
Matthew—4 times
Mark—8 times
Luke—0 times
John—0 times
And even though these four opening books are the Gospels about Jesus, He Himself only uses the word nine times, with the other three times attributed to someone else mentioning what Jesus was doing.
Peter only uses this word twice (Acts 15:7; 1 Peter 4:17). And John uses it just once (Revelation 14:6).
Paul, however, uses this word 64 times!
It becomes such a part of who he is and how he thinks, that he calls it “my gospel” twice (Romans 2:16, 16:25) and “our gospel” three times (2 Corinthians 4:3; Colossians 1:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:14).
For Paul and for us this Good News is—
God’s promises fulfilled
salvation power
the fullness of God’s blessing
the opening of mysteries
the guide for godly living
glorious light
the expression of God’s grace
the standard of all truth
a key part of the Christian’s spiritual armor
the empowerment for ministry
the anchor of unshakable hope
the means by which we experience Christ’s glory
the only door to life and immortality
For those of us who have been called to preach this Gospel, these thoughts should both humble and empower.
For those of us who have been saved by believing this Gospel, these thoughts should cause us to desire to know more, and more, and more about our Savior.
With many such parables Jesus spoke the Word to them, as they were able to hear and to comprehend and understand. He did not tell them anything without a parable; but privately to His disciples (those who were peculiarly His own) He explained everything fully. (Mark 4:33-34 AMPC)
We will “comprehend and understand” more when we are ready to handle it. There is a joy in the learning process—an excitement that comes as new depths of meaning are revealed to us. Be faithful and obedient with what has been revealed to you. Continue to abide in the presence of the Lord, meditating on His Word until He explains more to you.
Jesus wants us to understand His words.
There is a joy that comes through the prayerful pondering of and the searching through what He has said. Even if we don’t fully grasp all of the truth initially, what we do perceive is precious. And what we don’t fully understand, we keep searching. As G.K. Chesterton noted, “The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man.”
Then Jesus said—
“Things are hidden temporarily only as a means to revelation. For there is nothing hidden except to be revealed, nor is anything temporarily kept secret except in order that it may be made known. If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him perceive and comprehend.” And He said to them, “Be careful what you are hearing. The measure of thought and study you give to the truth you hear will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you—and more besides will be given to you who hear.” (Mark 4:22-24 AMPC)
When we pray the closing words of the prayer Jesus gave us—“For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen!”—we are both acknowledging God’s awesomeness and we are asking for our lives to display this reality.
“He who loves iniquity does not love his fellow man, for ‘he who loves iniquity does not love, but rather hates his own soul.’ And certainly he who does not love his own soul will in no way be capable of loving the soul of another.” —Aelred of Rievaulx (1109-1167)
Steven Lee shows us the biblical principles that God forms us through failure. One passage especially stood out to me because it is a central thought to both of my books. Lee writes, “God measures success according to faithfulness: ‘One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much’ (Luke 16:10). Do we strive for success as defined by God? Are we seeking to be faithful with all that he has entrusted to us—time, talents, and treasure? Or have we adopted the lying weights and measures of our world? Will our labors result in hearing the words ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’ (Matthew 25:23)? Put aside striving for the world’s facade of perfection.”
“The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.” —Vince Lombardi
T.M. Moore teases us with this: “The most important question we can ask guides us in answering many other questions besides, questions such as, ‘Whom should I marry?’ and ‘How can I stop wasting time?’ and ‘What’s the best way to use my wealth?’’ Any question that helps us answer those and a myriad other questions that might arise during the day must be pretty important. Indeed, it must be the most important question any of us could ask.” What is that most important question? Check out his thought-provoking answer.
“Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, you’re wasting your life.” —Jackie Robinson
When God gives you a victory, write it down (see Exodus 17:14). When God gives you a promise, write it down. Then read it regularly so you don’t forget it. This will keep you grateful, it will keep you expectant, and it will keep you dependent on the victory-giving, promise-keeping God.
And a voice came from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.” (Revelation 19:5-6)
What a song of praise is raised in Heaven!
You can join that heavenly choir every day when your life (and words) express your firm belief that your God is sovereign and you are His servant. That means your life lifts a mighty “Hallelujah!” when you live like this: “Not my will but Yours! May Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Not to me, but may all of the glory and honor go to You!”
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
We lit the candle of Hope last week and today we light the candle of Peace.As we saw, hope is what allows us to experience peace and joy: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).
But notice the phrase “as you trust in Him” in that verse. Peace doesn’t come just because we want it to, but it only comes as we trust in the One called the Prince of Peace.
Light drives out darkness and exposes sin, and often people don’t like it (John 1:9-11). In fact, Jesus Himself said that He was first coming with a sword to do battle against all of the things that rob us of lasting peace (Matthew 10:34).
Oswald Chambers described it this way, “The coming of Jesus Christ is not a peaceful thing; it is overwhelmingly and frantically disturbing, because the first thing He does is to destroy every peace that is not based on a personal relationship to Himself.”
Peace is only possible when the war is over. Modern-day diplomats use a phrase “sue for peace,” but this can only be done when one side admits defeat. God is at war with sin and He only gives peace to those who throw up their hands in total surrender to Him (Isaiah 57:14-21).
Jesus said He was the Light of the world and the only way to peace with the Father. The apostle Paul elaborates on that idea—
Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel andforeigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in His flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the Cross, by which He put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of His household. (Ephesians 2:12-19)
That’s what Jesus provided for us at His First Advent. Now, as we live between the Advents of Jesus, we can expect to have trouble in the world, but never peacelessness (John 14:27, 16:33).
The Messiah’s peace will:
Guard your heart and mind—Philippians 4:7
Arm your for battle against the enemy—Ephesians 6:15
Equip you to do His will—Hebrews 13:20-21
As our hearts are guarded, we are prepared to stand firm in spiritual battle, and we are equipped to do God’s will, we can live in peace concerning Christ’s Second Advent.
Jesus will appear again to fulfill one of the first promises made about the peace He would bring. God told satan that Jesus would crush his head, and then Paul tells us, “The God of peace will soon crush satan under your feet” (Genesis 3:15, Romans 16:20)!
So we have no fear of Death or Hell because the Prince of Peace has forever defeated those things for those who “trust in Him” (Revelation 20:10, 14; 21:1-5).
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
The word Advent means the appearing—something that bursts onto the scene. At this time of year we are actually thinking about TWO Advents. We look backward in gratitude to celebrate the first Advent of Jesus when He was born in a manger in Bethlehem. And then we look forward in joyful expectation to the second Advent of Jesus when He will return to earth again as King of kings. As we will in this time between the Advents, there are four qualities that we should exemplify—the first is hope.
When the candle is lit, darkness disappears.
Darkness is not the opposite of light, it is the absence of light. In the same way, despair or hopelessness is the absence of hope.
Adam and Eve lived in perfection, but when they tried to do things their way—instead of obeying God’s way—their sin caused them despair. They tried to cover their nakedness, but with a hopeless covering of dying leaves. God came with a promise of full restoration, and illustrated it by covering them with the skin of a sacrificial animal (Genesis 3:7, 15, 21).
Job knew the hopelessness of self-covering and finality of earthly life, and even David—the man after God’s own heart knew this too (Job 6:11-13, 17:13-16; 1 Chronicles 29:15).
But Job and David both knew the hope they could have in their Redeemer (Job 19:25; Psalm 16).
Hope in both the Old and the New Testaments means a patient waiting, anticipating with pleasure, having a confident expectation. It’s a light shining in the darkness that cannot be extinguished—it’s hope that despair cannot darken (Isaiah 9:1-2, 6-7).
At His first Advent, Jesus appeared in our “clothing” so that He could become our sin and then clothe us in His righteousness (Hebrews 2:17; John 1:14; Romans 4:6-8; Hebrews 6:16-20). For this we look back in gratitude.
But we don’t live today merely in gratitude for Christ’s first Advent, but we also live in confident hope of Christ’s second Advent (Acts 1:11; John 14:1-3; 2 Corinthians 5:1-8; Revelation 22:7, 12, 20).
He came into this world of sin,
Made flesh and blood His dearest kin;
He died, that He might take us in,
And keep us till He comes again. —Scott Hubbard
How do we live out this confident hope—
May the God of HOPE fill you with all JOY and PEACE as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
Follow along with all four of the Advent attributes by clicking here.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
We as a Church are underperforming. How do I know this? Look at the way the world treats Christians; specifically, look at what’s NOT happening.
“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Jesus said this right after He served His disciples by washing their feet. Is this happening today: Do people know you are a Christian by the way you put your love into servant-hearted action, or do they just know what you are against?
“Be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15). When was the last time someone saw your hope-filled life in such contrast to everyone else’s response that they said, “How can I have what you have?”
Peter said our adversary prowls like a lion. He is perfectly willing to bide his time, picking the strategy that works best. One of his favorite strategies is lies—sometimes half-truths or out-of-context truths.
…Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short. … The dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus (Revelation 12:12, 17).
Lies are his native tongue. He lied to Adam and Eve right in the beginning (Genesis 3:1, 4-5), and he still lies now (Revelation 12:10). Jesus contrasted this with the truth that He came to proclaim (John 8:42-45).
The devil has learned that with many people, outright attacks drive them TO God. We see this in the oldest book of the Bible (Job 1:6f, 20-22), and in modern times (churches were filled after the 9-11 terrorist attacks).
What the devil would rather do is lie to you to keep you comfortable. In The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape implores Wormwood to keep his patient indifferent and comfortable. Indeed, we all have a comfort zone and we love to stay in it.
King Saul went from 3000 men to 600 men, from a full armory to only two swords, from defeating the Ammonites to being hemmed in by the Philistines. King Saul was enjoying life as the king, hanging out with his friends, sitting under a pomegranate tree, far away from his enemies. Life was good for Saul, life was familiar and comfortable. Saul was living in his comfort zone. But the comfort zone is a lousy place to live.
In the comfort zone you only tell stories, but never live an adventure. In the comfort zone, you only hear about what God has done for others, but you never experience Him move in miraculous ways for yourself.
God has given us all gifts so that we can live as overcomers and bring Him glory, but we settle for living only in our comfort zone. Our comfort zones are always way smaller than our gift zones, and the devil is perfectly happy to see us stay there.
Moses was comfortable in the desert, but God sent him in His power (Exodus 3:11, 14).
David was comfortable in the pasture, but God equipped him to lead a whole nation (2 Samuel 7:18; Psalm 78:70-71).
Jeremiah was comfortable being an anonymous priest, but God gave him words to prophesy to a wayward nation (Jeremiah 1:4-8).
Saul was comfortable as a Pharisee, but God sent him to tell the world the Jesus is the Messiah (Acts 8:3; 1 Timothy 1:16).
What lies have kept you in your comfort zone?
Maybe a parent said, “You’ll never amount to anything.”
Maybe a teacher said, “You’re slow.”
Maybe a classmate said, “You’re weird.”
Maybe the devil said, “You cannot make a difference in the world.”
You need to silence those lies with God’s truth:
God created me on purpose and for a purpose—Psalm 139:13-17
He has given me all the gifts I need to soar—2 Peter 1:3-4
He wants to help me, if I will trust Him—Isaiah 41:10, 13-14
Charles Spurgeon said, “The extent of power God can infuse into a person is immeasurable; when divine strength is granted, human weakness ceases to be a hindrance.”
So, friends, it’s time to get uncomfortable with staying comfortable. It’s time to stretch and soar out of your comfort zone and into more of your gift zone!
One of the reasons I felt prompted to write Shepherd Leadership was that I saw too many CEO-like metrics being used by pastors to gauge the success of their church. The subtitle of my book is “The Metrics that Really Matter.” 
Craig T. Owens 