He indicates in the article that leaders are about leading workers instead of creating worshipers who are in the intimate places with Christ and allowing the work to come from that. He discussed John who wrote the love Epistles and who was the intimate one reclining on Jesus during the Last Supper, he also had the longest ministry and received the greatest amount of revelation of God. He talked about when the authorities tried to boil him alive in a vat of oil and he did not burn, Merrick indicates this is because of the intimacy he had with Jesus.
In the article, he is trying to convince leaders not to worry about leading but about teaching people how to worship being intimate with Jesus and allow the work to come from that. He said “we take converts and try to make them workers, we need to take converts and make them worshipers and allow the work to come from there.”
Merrick is advising leaders to be in the “face of Christ, to taste and see that the Lord is good and become convinced with body, mind and soul that Christ is the ultimate treasure.” “To be intimate with Christ is to lead with Christ, rather than be a leader for God to become a leader of God.”
I believe that Merrick is right. If the leader is not intimate with Christ and leading from that place, then they are leading in their own strength causing themselves to become the Lord instead of Jesus.
got this one!
ReplyDeleteTheresa I love the quote that says, “To be intimate with Christ is to lead with Christ, rather than being a leader for God, becoming a leader of God.”
ReplyDeleteWhen I read this I thought of a quote that Calvin Miller wrote in his book called Loving God Up Close, that really spoke to me.
“The preacher must hunger for Jesus. When the preacher gets hungry for Jesus, the hunger of those who come to church will automatically be sated.”
I feel like that connects to exactly what you and the article are saying about leadership. If we as leaders are being intimate with the Lord, it will show in our lives and our leadership. But if we are just so outwardly focused on growing our teams for our own recognition or leading for our own self importance, that will show in our leadership as well. I believe leaders need to follow the Luke 9:24 passage of losing themselves in Christ.
As leaders we need to lose our selves in Christ and have our eyes locked on Him where we are hungering for him and intimately spending time with Him living our lives in His Holy Spirit presence leading from and with Him.
Hebrews 12:1-3 style.