Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Leaders must know that suffering is part of the process of revealing the true testimony of Christ’s life to those they lead. Paul told Timothy to share in his suffering for the testimony of the Lord. The testimony of the Lord in our lives can only be revealed through the testing of our faith. Leaders must embrace a willingness to endure for the sake of their responsibility in Christ. Endurance is a key to the process of receiving the character of Christ in our lives. Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him. We must also endure the cup given to us in life for the joy that is set before us. That joy is that the future generations of men and women in Christ will know a greater fullness of Christ because of who are and what we do today.
2 Timothy 1:8-12 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.
The true mark of sent authority is endurance. That endurance leads to a testimony of life for the sake of others. It is through endurance that the purpose of God in our lives is revealed, and the testimony of His grace is empowered. This is when the light and life of Christ in us is truly made known.
As leaders we have a responsibility of both a heritage and an inheritance for the sake of those we lead. Leadership is not simply a skill learned and then a task we do to simply perform some role of ministry. I believe that leadership is more like taking your spot in a relay race. A leader receives the baton given them from those who have run the race thus far. Paul told Timothy to hold fast in presenting a pattern of sound words that he had received from Paul. He was to embrace those things with the faith and love given to his own life through Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 1:13-14 Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
The role of leadership is one of being responsible for what has been given to you through the heritage of leaders before and the substance of the Holy Spirit, Who was the author in the lives of those who led before and the author of the role of leadership in the present. A leader must depend upon and seek to be intimate with the Holy Spirit in keeping to the task given to them by God in Christ. Paul commended Timothy for his faithfulness to these things and gave examples of others who had abandoned the responsibility given to them by God. When Paul named those who had failed, he was not attempting to pass a judgment upon them, but to warn, protect, and guide others to stay fast in the call of God in their lives.
2 Timothy 1:15 This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.
Authority represents authority and when a leader rejects those who have been sent to them as spiritual fathers, they themselves become spiritual renegades. They can hardly set an example of the faith to others since faith includes faithfulness to those that God sends and to the task that God sends them to do. I believe that the number one mark of authority is endurance. It is not just endurance for the sake of enduring, but endurance to be true to who God has made them to be and endurance in all that God has given them to do. It is endurance in love, hope, and faith for the sake of the community of God that they have been joined to.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
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