If you decide to live in limbo land like me, with one foot in the church door working complimentarily with appointed overseers, and another foot in high rebellion for the sake of righteousness, I will warn you it's miserable for awhile. You're "discipling down," you're "discipling up." You're calling people to get out of the system and plugging people back into the system. Nobody likes you. Nobody understands why you're both angry and loving at once.
Why stay? Why bother them? Why bother yourself?
KING JOSIAH HAD AUTHORITY
As King, Josiah had all the authority he could want - what he wanted to know was God's opinion on how he should next lead the people. Even those in authority need assurance, they need inspiration, they also need revival. They need someone outside the structures of what is, to speak the truth and to demonstrate it.
It is good for tender hearts to be collected in trust and love. Although "discipling up" can be the most difficult kind of love to give away, it is the most rewarding. If you want to be faithful to the church as you embrace a calling others cannot understand, I will hold your hand as you grit your teeth. What you are doing is the most noble kind of thing. Thank you for your leadership when no one else comprehended it.
The members of the Body need one another. Overseers need the truth, because they bear a heavy burden. They are godly people too, who, if exhorted, will be thankful for someone bold enough to promote God's will, and godly, powerful leaders like David and Josiah recognize it in women like Abigail and Huldah.
FOR WOMEN WHO FEEL GOD POINTING AT THEM
Start now with God's authority, and obey. The approval of overseers comes later after you get your ball rolling.
Yes, on paper Jesus was respectful to send healed people in to the system in the prescribed ways, back to the very ways and rulers who were rejecting Him.
But what was most deeply on Jesus' heart? What is this really all about?
Is it all about the lost?
Is it all about the backslidden?
Is it all about my personal calling?
Actually it's not about any of those. Significance and purpose is derived from the church.
(Just as what you found you tolerated at church drew you to lead in Christ's authority, the church just goes to show you it gave you the direction in mission by pointing your hope back to Christ. You wouldn't have heard your calling if you hadn't hung out with fellow worshipers. How clever is Lady Wisdom! See how we catalyst-types learned to be annoying? We learned from the best! We learned it straight from the Bride of Christ herself.)
We have got to have a love for the church. It has to drive all that we do. We don't win lost people if the church has lost its vibrancy. We don't win the backslidden if the church has lost its vibrancy. Our personal calling doesn't have its complete impact if the church we depart from has lost its vibrancy. We don't lead our children well if their bigger picture of what it means to be a Christian, in the local church, has lost its vibrancy. It is through the church that Jesus is accomplishing His mission.
One lone hero, one great rogue Christian visible to the world at large isn't enough to win back the culture to Jesus. If all of us don't make it, none of us will. Ephesians 3:10,
Why stay? Why bother them? Why bother yourself?
KING JOSIAH HAD AUTHORITY
As King, Josiah had all the authority he could want - what he wanted to know was God's opinion on how he should next lead the people. Even those in authority need assurance, they need inspiration, they also need revival. They need someone outside the structures of what is, to speak the truth and to demonstrate it.
It is good for tender hearts to be collected in trust and love. Although "discipling up" can be the most difficult kind of love to give away, it is the most rewarding. If you want to be faithful to the church as you embrace a calling others cannot understand, I will hold your hand as you grit your teeth. What you are doing is the most noble kind of thing. Thank you for your leadership when no one else comprehended it.
The members of the Body need one another. Overseers need the truth, because they bear a heavy burden. They are godly people too, who, if exhorted, will be thankful for someone bold enough to promote God's will, and godly, powerful leaders like David and Josiah recognize it in women like Abigail and Huldah.
FOR WOMEN WHO FEEL GOD POINTING AT THEM
Start now with God's authority, and obey. The approval of overseers comes later after you get your ball rolling.
Yes, on paper Jesus was respectful to send healed people in to the system in the prescribed ways, back to the very ways and rulers who were rejecting Him.
But what was most deeply on Jesus' heart? What is this really all about?
Is it all about the lost?
Is it all about the backslidden?
Is it all about my personal calling?
Actually it's not about any of those. Significance and purpose is derived from the church.
(Just as what you found you tolerated at church drew you to lead in Christ's authority, the church just goes to show you it gave you the direction in mission by pointing your hope back to Christ. You wouldn't have heard your calling if you hadn't hung out with fellow worshipers. How clever is Lady Wisdom! See how we catalyst-types learned to be annoying? We learned from the best! We learned it straight from the Bride of Christ herself.)
We have got to have a love for the church. It has to drive all that we do. We don't win lost people if the church has lost its vibrancy. We don't win the backslidden if the church has lost its vibrancy. Our personal calling doesn't have its complete impact if the church we depart from has lost its vibrancy. We don't lead our children well if their bigger picture of what it means to be a Christian, in the local church, has lost its vibrancy. It is through the church that Jesus is accomplishing His mission.
One lone hero, one great rogue Christian visible to the world at large isn't enough to win back the culture to Jesus. If all of us don't make it, none of us will. Ephesians 3:10,
...now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places....
Calling and authority must be wielded in such a way to mobilize the larger body of Christ.
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