Blessed Are The Leaders
by Roger Andersen

Christ said that the poor¹, poor in spirit², mournful³, and meek⁴ all are blessed. But I’m not any of those things. He also told us to be peacemakers⁵, not to judge⁶, and to be merciful⁷. Yet, I often fight hard for what I believe in and sometimes I’m tough on the people who work for me. I’m also pretty decisive and have a sense of urgency at work, yet Paul encourages us to be prayerful⁸ and patient⁹. I’ve been to college and even grad school, but Paul tells us that the wisdom of this world is foolishness¹⁰. I’ve led organizations with many employees, but Paul admonishes us to lead a quiet life¹¹.

Have I gotten it all wrong? Should I be poor, mournful, timid, uneducated and hardly noticed? Of course not. However, this is how the world would like to imagine us! Perhaps the world has some misconceptions about how God wishes His faithful to behave. Perhaps we do, too.

For instance, Christ’s declaration that the poor, poor in spirit and the mournful are blessed is largely meant to warn us not to be self-righteous or arrogant, but to love our brothers and sisters in Christ – especially those who have not been blessed as we have on this earth. God prepares the same place for them as He does for us.

The Lord also doesn’t want us to go through life being timid, indecisive and without a sense of urgency at the appropriate times. He warns us, however, that we’ll do a lot better if we use Him as our Counselor. He’s there as an on-going resource – to have a continual dialogue with Him as we act¹².

Education, of course, is very useful and scripture praises knowledge in numerous verses. Just read about Solomon or Daniel; God made them the wisest persons on earth in their day. God is the source of wisdom and knowledge. Paul, however, simply points out that much of what the world believes is wisdom is really foolishness. Look at our culture today – wouldn’t you agree?

Paul’s instruction to “lead a quiet life” was an admonition not to be busybodies and gossips, stirring up dissent within the church. It is not, however, a command to go through life unnoticed by the world. Far from it; we are supposed to be the light of the world¹³! Followers of Christ in the early church were extremely active to influence the community and the culture – so much so that the entire Roman Empire converted to Christianity within only a few hundred years! Nor did leaders whom God anointed, like Moses, Joseph, Daniel, or Peter live a quiet life – they occupied nations for God’s kingdom!

Let me assure you – God is interested in strong leaders for His kingdom!

I recently finished Dennis Peacocke’s book, Doing Business God’s Way. He has an interesting interpretation of what God intended the Church to be:

The word Church comes from the Greek word “ekklesia”, which literally translated means “those elected and called out to rule”. Those of you familiar with Greek history know about the role of ekklesia in ancient Greek politics within the city-states. They were rulers and the business managers of their culture. The Church is supposed to be an army of rulers; hence the Holy Spirit chose the word “ekklesia” to describe her. This is no small truth¹⁴.

As “ekklesia”, we are supposed to be managers and leaders in our culture. We see a similar idea in the parable of the ten minas.

A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants and delivered them ten pounds and said unto them, Occupy until I come. Luke 19:12-13 (KJV)

The meaning of this parable is clear. Christ will return, but until He does, His servants (the Church) are expected to manage His kingdom. We aren’t supposed to “hide out” until He comes back to fix things. We are supposed to manage things. God is not only going to judge us as individuals, but Joel 3:2 says that he is going to judge nations.

I will gather all nations and bring them down into the Valley of Jehosophat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people of Israel. Joel 3:2¹⁵

The United States may arguably be the most Christian of all nations, but how do you think God would judge our nation today? In our lifetimes, have we – the ekklesia – successfully influenced our culture for His kingdom? One only has to look at our moral decay to admit that the answer is “no”; we as a Church, the ekklesia, have done our job poorly. Why is that?

It is because the church has retreated from the world and cloistered itself from the culture. Oh sure, we have large visible church structures and we meet inside and celebrate our faith, but then we go out to secretly blend in with society. That’s fine with the secular world since they can either ignore us or marginalize us. It’s true that every four years, politicians may feel a “revival” in their hearts (as they seek our votes), but then they largely go back to ignoring us…and once we’ve voted, we retreat from our influence in the culture for another four years.

While we retreat, there are multitudes of organizations very active…and receiving support, or at least tolerance! Our media will celebrate the “free expression” of a parade for legalizing gay marriages, a demonstration for abortion rights, or a protest over the suffering of Kentucky Fried chickens. Treason and terrorism is preached in mosques, but this is also free expression. They will show sympathy and “understanding” for peace demonstrations in front of funeral services for fallen soldiers, hate speech in hip-hop music and even the actions of eco-terrorists. They respectfully give air time to celebrities who say that America should be more like Cuba, even though such celebrities’ personal lives are more bankrupt than the Cuban economy.

Every single segment of our secular culture that promotes sinful or inappropriate ideas are aggressively defended or even celebrated. But where is this taking us? Consider the changes in the last fifty years:

Abortions, unwed parents, single parent homes, disintegration of the family, child pornography, STD epidemics, violent crime, juvenile crime, teen suicides, drug use, rates of depression, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, business corruption, government corruption, and educational decay¹⁶.

But what would happen if 10,000 Christians marched down Broadway to protest the oppression that we all feel against religious expression and to make a statement on how we feel about the moral decline in our country? You know the answer. They would be crucified! We’d be called intolerant, biased, out of touch, even hateful. The ACLU would sue NY for giving a license to a religious organization. Some would say we were a cult. Others would call us fanatics.

The mildest observers would apologetically explain that we should be simply ignored since Christians are generally thought to be dumb and easily-led. Doesn’t that sound similar to what many said about blacks fifty years ago? But black leaders emerged who demanded a voice, inspired their constituency, and drew people from outside of their ranks to support them. Today, this view, this dismissal of a group, is called bias.

It is the secular world’s worst fear in America that the silent masses of believing Christians actually object to the direction of our nation and become active in our government, schools, businesses, media and the arts. But they need not worry yet, because there are few, if any, leaders to energize us.

The last Christian leader in this country to significantly impact our culture was Martin Luther King. I do not mean any disrespect for evangelical leaders such as Billy Graham, for they have brought many souls to the Lord and labored hard for His kingdom. However, they have not been effective cultural leaders for our nation.

Martin Luther King, however, was a prophet of Old Testament proportions. He shouted to our nation the evils of prejudice, segregation, and discrimination. He became the conscience for a whole nation on these matters. To most, he is thought of as a black leader, but he was really a Christian leader, stirring the guilt of society for a particular type of sinful thinking.

When will the next prophets emerge to warn our nation more broadly about its moral decline, to mobilize God’s faithful and to convict the hearts of others? I am afraid that we’re not ready for it yet. We’re not yet looking for leaders. Instead, we’re concentrating on filling our underground churches so that we can come gushing out when the Lord returns to put the rest of the world in their place.

We wait for leaders who will tell us that there is hard work to do today in this world and to inspire a groundswell of believers who will bring their faith into the marketplace, government, newsrooms, production studios, bedrooms and classrooms. To, as Christ commanded, manage things until He returns.

In the early 19th century, a group of leaders emerged in England whom God raised up to speak out against the evils of slavery. They were called the Clapham group and the most publicly known figure was a Parliamentary member named William Wilberforce. There were, however, sixteen members of the group. They included government leaders, bankers, scholars, scientists, business leaders, clergy, and philanthropists. They were mocked for several decades, but these leaders eventually succeeded in creating a societal groundswell of conscience, resulting in the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833. They were Christian leaders who changed the culture.

Who will lead the Christian groundswell to change our culture – in businesses, schools, government, media, entertainment, family and the church? They will be leaders who serve Christ – servant-leaders.

Some are already in high places but need to hear God’s call – His Great Commission to bless our nation. Other’s are in everyday life and don’t yet understand that God wants to raise them up to do great things for His kingdom. Perhaps you feel equipped to lead. Blessed are…the leaders!

¹ Luke 6:21 – Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
² Matthew 5:3 – Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
³ Matthew 5:4 – Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
⁴ Matthew 5:5 – Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
⁵ Matthew 5:9 – Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
⁶ Matthew 7:1 – Do not judge or you too will be judged.
⁷Matthew 5:7 – Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
⁸ James 5:13 – Is any of you in trouble? He should pray.
⁹ Ephesians 4:2 – Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
¹⁰ 1 Corinthians 3:19-20 – For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness”, and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”
¹¹ 1 Thessalonians 4:11 – Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands…
¹² 1 Thessalonians 5:16 – Be joyful always; pray continually…
¹³ Matthew 5:14 – You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
¹⁴Doing Business God’s Way, by Dennis Peacocke (Rebuild, Santa Rosa, 2003), page xi.
¹⁵ As believers in Christ, we are co-inheritors of the covenant with Israel.
¹⁶ In future months I’ll provide statistics about all of these trends, but I think most adults understand the direction that each area has gone.

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