Intentionality: A lesson in Spiritual Leadership

Preached at First Baptist Church, Cornelia, GA

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Scripture:  Luke 9:51-62

⁵¹ When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. ⁵² And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; ⁵³ but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”^[k] 55 But he turned and rebuked them. ⁵⁶ Then^[l] they went on to another village.

⁵⁷ As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”⁵⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” ⁵⁹ To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” ⁶⁰ But Jesus^[m] said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” ⁶¹ Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” ⁶² Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Introduction

            I learned about sailing the same way some people learn to swim – thrown into the deep end.  One summer day during my years as a resort missionary on Hilton Head Island, I arrived on the beach to visit the lifeguards who attended our ministry activities.        After visiting for a few minutes, the lifeguard asked if I wanted to sail one of the Hobie Cats, a small catamaran.  I said, “sure, but I have never sailed before.”  “That’s fine,” he responded, “I can teach you.” 

I expected him to sail out with me, show me the techniques, and teach me to sail.  Instead, he pulled the boat to the water, told me to hop aboard, and quickly gave me a crash course in sailing.  Then, he smiled a big grin, pushed me into the breakers, said, “Have fun,” and walked away.  Welcome to the deep end.

            I grabbed the rudder, as the wind quickly filled the sail, pushing me toward the horizon, away from shore.  The power of the water and the speed of the catamaran thrilled me.  I forgot the fear of not knowing how to sail and lived in the moment … until, I turned my head.  The beach kept getting smaller and farther from my view. 

            I had done nothing to get out to sea, simply let the wind take me where it willed.  Now, I had to intentionally apply my quick sailing lessons if I was to get back to the shore.    I turned the rudder to slow myself down and fumbled as mast turned over my head – forcing me to find a new position. 

            Getting back to the shore required intentional thought and action.  I tacked with the wind, moving one way and then another to move to shore against the wind.  When I got closer to the shore, I smiled with my accomplishment.  I had sailed and survived. When I realized how much fun I was having, I turned the boat back into the wind and let it take me back for another thrilling ride.

            Like my ride away from shore, Churches, organizations, and even our own lives, can enjoy some beautiful moments of letting the winds of life flow, taking take us where it will.  It’s thrilling and exciting.  Our attendance at church can be up with little work.  Our business makes good money and brings in new customers.  Our lives are filled with adrenaline filled adventures. 

            Then, at some point, we look up and realize we have been living with not divine destination or purpose.  We are far from where God wants us to be.  Sailing requires intentionality to harness the wind and arrive at a destination.  The same is true in our church, in our business and in our lives:  we must lead with intentionality if we hope to arrive at God’s vision and purpose.

Movement 1:

Misguided leadership goals fail to accomplish God’s purposes.  Each of us knows how easy it is to allow the world’s goals to supplant God’s goals.  Richard and Henry Blackaby list three misguided goals that sideline many leaders and individuals.  The first misguided goal is bottom line mentality.  Bottom line mentality wants results.  Plain and simple.  More profits for the business.  More pews filled for the church.  A bigger house for our family.  We are successful only when we see specific results.  The second misguided goal is perfectionism.  The goal of perfectionism focuses on the tasks to be done – and done well – rather than the people who do them.  The third misguided goal is the seduction of bigger, faster, and more.  With this goal at the forefront, size justifies everything and pushes us to want even more.  These three goals can achieve great things, yet if they are our primary goals, they lead us away from God’s ultimate purposes. 

I once had a friend whose daughter wanted to play in a church’s children’s hand-bell choir.  The choir had auditions because they wanted to have the best sounding children’s hand-bell choir possible for their worship service.  The young girl did not make it.  She missed the cut at church.  In their drive for perfection in worship, they missed the purpose of church – moving people from where they are to where God wants them to be. 

The prevalence of these misguided goals should not surprise us.  Our culture, including our religious culture, often overemphasizes the very misguided goals that lead us away from God’s purposes. 

Movement 2:

Worthy leadership goals, on the other hand, point people to God’s leadership purpose:  moving people from where they are to where God wants them to be.  God cares more about people than he does the tasks that we accomplish. 

Because of this divine orientation, worthy leadership goals involve development of people into who God wants us to be.  The Blackabys name two worthy leadership goals. First, we lead others into greater spiritual maturity.  A spiritual organization like our church will reach its full potential when every member knows how to hear from God and respond in obedience.  Second, leaders lead others to become leaders.  No organization should be dependent on only a few leaders.  Every leader of an organization should be investing in the next leaders.  When organizations and individuals shift from misguided to worship goals, we assist God in moving people from where they are to where God wants them to be.

“In many ways, DACOR fits the stereotype of the American corporate success story: a small company with a unique product line of distinctive and well-built ranges ventilation systems, a leadership driven by the will to survive and grow, some initial success followed by lean years, then the ‘turn around’ as the company becomes a leader in its field.

DACOR’s story, however, is not simply about success, or ‘making the big bucks.’  The company also believes in its principles of respecting associates, dealers, suppliers and customers. It operates with integrity. And it has a history of courageous innovation. Salespeople don’t spend all their time on the road or in the store just to make a lot of money. They love the process of business itself — selling, increasing market share, being the company people turn to when they need a certain product. The associates on the shop floor find satisfaction in crafting a distinctive and well-built range, ventilation system, or outdoor grill. Stanley Joseph reflected this when he wrote:  “The quality of the business depends on the character of the operators.”  This company took these worthy goals and applied them in a secular setting – they invested in building individuals and leaders.  

Whether leaders lead in business or in churches or their homes, when we focus on worthy goals – lives are different.  Worthy goal provide us with destinations to steer the ships of our church, our organizations, and our lives. 

 Movement 3

Achieving worthy goals requires intentional leadership.   Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem in Luke models intentional leadership for us.  In our passage in Luke 9, Jesus has a destination:  Jerusalem.  In v.51, Luke says literally, “Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.”  The NIV says, he “resolutely set out” towards Jerusalem.  The salvation of humanity through the cross becomes the goal which drives everything Jesus does.  From this point forward in the book of Luke – whether Jesus is healing or teaching – all goes back to the goal of the cross.  Everything Jesus does is intentional, purposeful.  

Bill Hybels in his book, Courageous Leadership, talks about a leadership moment where he had to resolutely point his church in a particular direction. He said his church did many things well – youth ministry, worship, missions – you name it.  Yet, they were not aligned or on the same page.  Every ministry did its job well, but with no investment in the mission of the whole church.  After an intentional, visioning experience, Bill says, he found himself having to “draw a line in the stand” to compel his leaders to invest in the vision of the entire church.  This was the direction the church was going.  This was the goal, the vision.  Every part of the organization needed to be on board, to be led with intentionality to get there. 

Intentional leadership means actively pointing our lives in the direction God provides. 

Movement 4

After Jesus points his life and ministry towards Jerusalem, he invites others to join him.  In verse 57-62, Jesus calls out leaders to a life of discipleship – come follow me he says.  Yet, person after person fails to invest their entire lives into Jesus’ vision.  One falls aside when Jesus reminds him of the sacrifices of following him to Jerusalem.  Another fails to follow Jesus when the pull of family takes him home to bury his father.  A third one says he will follow Jesus and looks back toward home and asks to go say goodbye.  Jesus says, “don’t bother.” 

Jesus requires leaders who follow him with 100% of their lives.  Think back to when he calls Peter and Andrew and James and John at the Sea of Galilee.  They are standing on the shore with the biggest, most lucrative catch of fish of their lives when Jesus says, “follow me.”  The scriptures say they put down their next and followed him.   This was a very intentional response Jesus requires – the one we don’t see in our scripture passage.   

We see this characteristic of leadership in the Chick-fil-a company’s decision to remain closed on Sundays.  Sunday is a day they could make lots of money – we all love to eat on Sundays.  Yet, the company made a decision when it began to be led by goals and principals higher than just making money.  Every time someone passes a Chick-fil-a closed restaurant on Sunday – they hear a testimony to the Christian principles which guide them.  This vision requires intentional dedication to the company’s mission and purpose. 

            Intentional leadership in our churches, organizations and families require us to be all in, fully committed to the goals and purposes of Jesus. 

Movement 5

Last week, we commissioned our church to a focused vision:  to love the world as God loves us.  To live into this vision – First Baptist Cornelia needs intentional leaders who commit themselves to a life of following Jesus.  We can only reach our full kingdom potential with the kind of intentionality Jesus modeled when he set his face towards Jerusalem. 

With this vision, we now have a God-given destination.  It is our Jerusalem.  Our purpose.  To achieve this vision will require from all of us – our present and newly deacons, our Sunday school teachers, our church staff, our ministry teams and committees – to set our faces towards this destination.  We need every one of us committed to seeing this vision to become a reality. 

Here’s our truth:  The future of this church lies in our hands – this is our moment to roll up our sleeves and be part of God’s future.  We must discard our survivalist mentality that we exist only to keep this church open and embrace God’s worthy goals and purposes.  When we love the world as God loves us – we are working together to move people from where they are to where God wants them to be – from unbeliever to Jesus follower, from an irregular attender of worship to a mature disciple.  This kind of leadership happens through intentional discipleship.

Our church will never grow any deeper or experience more spiritual revival than the spiritual depth of our leadership – our pastors, our deacons, our Sunday School teachers, or ministry members.  The future depends on our leadership making intentional actions to move the ball farther down the field to the destination God has chosen for us.   

Recently, Eddie Hammitt, Baptist congregational leader wrote this:  “While some local churches are growing and proving effective, there are many churches closing their doors due to lack of funds or participation or both. Some researchers indicate 90 to 95 percent of existing North American churches are plateaued in attendance, and about 75 percent of the population is considered unchurched. Others predict we may lose about 60 percent of our existing churches in the next 20 years unless trends change now.”

I share these statistics to give us a sense of our playing field.  We will move beyond them through intentional leadership, by resolutely turning our faces and directing our lives and our church toward the destination and vision God  

            Now is our time, First Baptist, to lead with Intentionality towards the vision and destiny God has placed before us. 

Closing:

            Where is God calling you to lead with intentionality?  How would your business be different if you chose to lead with God’s worthy goals instead of the worlds?  How would your life be different if you lived it with more intentionality and less of “take life as it comes”?  How will our church be different when we set our sails for the shore of loving the world as God loves us?  It might mean we have to tact and weave our way to go in some new directions.  And it will also mean there will be some exciting times when we will ride the wind of the God’s spirit with wild abandon just trying to hang on.  Let us unfurl our sails and see where God takes us.  Amen.