A Forceful Church
“Among those born of women there has not risen anyone
greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the
kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days
of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven
has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay
hold of it.”
-Matthew 11:11-12
According to Jesus, forcefulness of character and conviction
is a good thing, and a spiritual thing. In Matthew 11,
He describes John as a powerful prophet—a far cry
from the typical preacher caricature we see in today’s
Christendom. From the context of this chapter,
it seems that the crowds somehow underestimated John. Perhaps
this stemmed from John’s stated idea of greatness—that
it lay in his denial of himself for the sake of Jesus (John 3:29-30). John
turned the typical criteria of greatness on its head, choosing to
be less, so the savior could be more.
In verse seven Jesus challenges our view of greatness
by contrasting John with two familiar timeless sights: “What
did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed
by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A
man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine
clothes are in kings’ palaces. Then what did
you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you,
and more than a prophet.” (Matt. 11:7b-8)
In reality, John was neither wavering nor self-obsessed
(with fine clothes!); in fact, he was swayed by nothing.
He was unwavering in his convictions, firm and resolute
even in the face of Herod’s fire, possessing a godly
character and a stubborn insistence on bringing glory to God
with his life. With this contrast, “what
did you come to see?” Jesus is defining for us the meaning
of “forceful.”
When we think of being “forceful men” in
the kingdom of God, we must bring our views in line with
Jesus’ teaching. If not, we can make the same mistakes
as did the disciples—believing, for example, that our
greatness lies in position, accomplishments, or roles (Mark
10:35-45). “Forceful” doesn’t mean
pushy, edgy, unspiritual, or obnoxious—obvious
sins. Instead, “forceful” means to crowd upon, to
seize, to take over and press into. Jesus wants His church
to consume the world around it, and press people into
God’s service. He desires to use forceful
people – people full of passion, courage, determination,
purpose, strength, with zeal and fervor for pleasing
God. God expects that anyone can possess these qualities,
whatever your background, talent level, or set of gifts. Can
you imagine what would happen in the Northwest if every member
of our churches decided to use whatever God gave them to be
a forceful man or woman of God?
Let me suggest two ways to apply this challenge. First,
there must be forceful leadership. Depending on
your experience, that phrase may send you in a questionable
direction. We’ve all learned many things over the
last couple of years about leadership. We’ve learned
crucial lessons about teaching, listening, motivating,
and collaborating. Your staff has studied many aspects of
leadership in detail, and will continue to do so.
Of the lessons all of us have learned, one of them is not that
leadership is unnecessary. True, as long as we’re
human and fallible, we’ll never fully arrive at the “right” way
to do leadership and we must trust in Him to guide us as we
stay faithfully devoted to the Bible. But despite our
setbacks, it’s still true that God has arranged,
for good and for ill, for men to lead His church. The
antidote for bad leadership is not no leadership, but good and
righteous leadership. With this in mind, the full-time
and lay leadership of this church will continue to advance,
among other things, the following forceful principles:
- Stay fully committed to God’s Word and His ideals, holding
unwaveringly to the example of biblical leaders (1 Tim. 4:13,
2 Tim. 4:1-2, Titus 2:1).
- Serve and protect God’s flock (Prov. 27:23,
Matt. 20:24-26, John 10:1-18, Phil. 2:5-11, 1 Peter 5:2-5).
- Preach and teach the truth of scripture,
despite difficulties, false teachers, unpopularity,
or external pressures from the world (Acts 4:19, 17-27, 2
Cor. 4:1-6, 10:12-18, 1Tim. 4:1-8, 2 Tim. 2:15, 2:24-26).
- Set an example the believers can follow (1 Cor.
11:1, 1 Tim. 4:11-12, 2 Thess. 3:7-9, Titus 2:7-8,
James 3:1).
- Develop and train capable leadership at all levels,
in order to build up the body of Christ (Exodus 18, Rom.
12:4-8, Eph. 4:11-16, 2 Tim. 2:2).
- Be devoted to seeking input, changing, and growing (2
Cor. 12:7-10, 1 Tim. 1:12-17, Heb. 3:12-13, 1 John 1:5-10).
Second, there must be forceful followship! Are
we, right now, wholeheartedly devoted to following Jesus’ leadership,
and to following our leaders—only as they follow
Christ? Let me be clear: no one in the body of Christ
can “bind” anything on a fellow Christian that
isn’t from scripture. At the same time, no one
can “loose” us from the instructions and principles
laid out for the Christian life. In other words,
our freedom in Christ is no license for sin or self-deceit,
nor is it a freedom from God’s Word. As a leader, I must dedicate
myself and the membership to the Bible. If the leadership and
the followship are both devoted to the same Bible
expectations, great miracles can happen! In Tacoma, we
have discussed this thoroughly, and are in agreement
that in order to see powerful, righteous fruit, the
following principles must be the root of every
disciple:
1. A personal desire to please God first, and
actively pursue your relationship with Him (1 Thess. 4:1, Heb.
11:6). This must include prayer (1 Thess. 3:10,
2 Thess. 1:11, Luke 11:1-10), and obedience to the
Bible (Acts 2:42-47, James 1:22-25). God’s
grace in your life must come first, all else will follow.
2. A committed, growing relationship with the body of
Christ (Acts 2:42-47ff). This includes deep convictions
about meetings of the body (Heb. 10:25), commitment
to family fellowship and Bible Talk Fellowships (Heb.
3:13, Gal. 6:10), and a commitment to givingand receiving
biblical discipling—that is, genuinely fulfilling
the “one another way.” (Eph. 4:25, Gal. 6:2,
Col. 1:28-29, 3:12-17, Heb. 10:24).
3. Being a devoted fisher of men (Matt. 28:16-20,
1 Cor. 9:16, 19-27, Phe. 6).
4. A deep commitment to repentance (Heb. 10:26), continually confessing
our sins (James 5:16), maintaining a godly view of
struggling with sin (Heb. 12, Eph. 6:12), anddealing
with conflict according to scripture (Matt. 18:15-19).
5. Being a people committed to a life of sacrifice,
seeing it as an act of worship to our heavenly Father
(Rom. 12:1-2). This includes consistent and faithful offerings of
our time and money (Luke 21:2-4, 2 Cor. 8:7, 9:6-7), while serving each
other and the poor (Gal. 2:10, 5:13, Eph. 6:7, 1 Peter 4:10).
6. Having complete unity among the believers
(John 17:23, 1 Cor. 1:10-17, Phil. 2:1-4). This includes,
yes, submission to church leadership (Heb. 13:7, 17).
We serve a powerful God with an urgent
message for the hurting world in which we live. Will
we adjust, perhaps even lay aside our personal
dreams to see His mission advanced forcefully? Will
we be absolutely devoted to putting into practice the
inspired word of God? Will we throw off all sin, doubts,
ungodly attitudes, excuses, and worldly concepts for
the sake of bringing glory to Him with our lives, bought
with blood of His son? Will we be devoted as a church, “leaders” and “followers” alike
to ever being open to the areas God is calling us to change,
big or small? Will we, when confronted by the “crowds” of
people who are content with religious ambivalence, even indifference,
be able to stand firm as disciples committed to modeling our
lives after a forceful, self-denying prophet like John the
Baptist? Let us all answer with a resounding YES – we
can and will be forceful leaders – forceful followers – a
forceful church!
Daren Overstreet
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