Peter Witkowski Discipleship

Why Leaders Are A Window Into Our Souls

Pastor-heartThe men we stick behind the pulpit of our church, place at the bottom of our bulletin, and stick int he pastors office reveal a lot about our hearts. I firmly believe that God has called local church members to wield the keys of the kingdom by overseeing member care and appointing elders and deacons. Quite often, we appoint men to church leadership because they share our worldview. We see this phenomenon take place 1 Samuel 8. The people of Israel want a king like all the nations. They want that king who is tall, handsome, and powerful because they have rejected the leadership of God. As God tells Samuel they,

They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. – 1 Sam. 8:7b

In 1 Samuel 10:1-14, we  meet this worldly king. He is defined by three characteristics.

First despite his claim to be a nobody in verse 21, Saul is actually a somebody. His father, Kish, was a wealthy, military champion. The word used for wealth and prestige in verse 1 is the same word used to describe Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:51 and to describe David’s body guard in 2 Samuel 20:7. Saul comes from good stock. And to top it all off, Saul is also tall and handsome. Saul was not some buck-tooth, country boy struggling to get by with tobacco juice dripping down his check. He was strong, well dressed, and has access to a nice estate.  He was the ancient world’s version of JFK; he was the ideal of what secular king should be.

Sadly, churches often appoint men to serve as deacons and elders who closely resemble Saul. Bobby is appointed to serve as the chairman of the deacons because he ran the local gas station and earned a nice nest egg. Phil is elected to be an elder because he is the fifth Philip in a long line of Philips. His great ganddaddy Philip was one of the founding members after all. And, Hank is appointed to be the youth pastor because he is good looking, smooth, and relational. We often gravitate towards the pretty, the popular, and the wealthy.

While a good family name, money, and good looks are not inherently evil, they also are the worst qualifications for spiritual leadership. Remember Jesus, “had not form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him (Isa. 53:2).” True leadership consists not in good looks but in humble service.

Second, worldly leaders have noticeable flaws. We are not exactly sure why Saul struggles to find his father’s missing donkeys, but he does. Saul appears to lack vision. He wants to go home and his servant has to reason Saul into going to see prophet. In short, popular, wealthy, good looking, worldly leaders can struggle at life. They promise to come to this event and don’t make it. They promise to complete a project but only get half of it done. They promise that they will teach for you and then bail at the last minute because they had to stay up late watching March Madness. Worldly leaders look good but struggle to execute.

And lastly, wordy leaders have little knowledge of God. Notice, that Saul has no idea who Samuel is or what he true worship looks like. Saul thinks he needs to pay Samuel for some kind of psychic-like service. Again, we are not sure what sources Saul was pulling from when he created his theology. But we are sure that he was not drawing from the law of God. His approach to Samuel lacks biblical insight. Many in the church share Saul’s familiarity with the things of God. They know the Bible exists, but they don’t know much about what the Bible says. They can’t tell you the gospel. They can’t help you think through parenting, finances, or marriage from a biblical point of view.  And if they were honest, they couldn’t verbalize their testimony.

Such men should not be appointed to serve as elders and deacons. 1 Timothy 3:2 clear states that elders must be able to teach. And 1 Timothy 3:9 states that even deacons “must hold the mystery of faith with a clear conscience.” Men ready to lead the church are men who know the gospel well. Craig Hamilton noted,

The degree to which your leadership is built on, shaped by, conforms to, and is accountable to God’s word is the degree to which your leadership will be Christ-honoring and kingdom-building – regardless of how successful it looks at the time. Having Scripture as the basis and foundation of your leadership isn’t enough. Everything you build on that foundation must also be informed by Scripture and line up with it. We cut out and ignore any secular wisdom that contradicts the Bible. It’s a process that requires us to be discerning and gospel-focused. 

If we appoint biblically illiterate men to positions of leadership, we will ultimately undermine the gospel and our church’s health. Sure we may thrive for a time but eventually that feeding program for the poor will become a Sunday night program for the senior adult ladies. Gospel service will die, gospel proclamation will die, and attendance will dry up.

Friend who will be your next pastor or deacon? Are you in the love with the world or are in love with the Lord? Are you voting for that guy because he has connections, money, good looks, and charisma or because he is faithful, loving, and promoting the gospel? What will your next deacons or pastor say about your heart?

Peter Witkowski Discipleship

The Deadly Effects of Beautiful Sin

Deadly-sinSin looks good. If it was not so appealing, we wouldn’t find ourselves waking up with troubled consciences, seeking greater thrills, and contemplating the meaning of life through the lens of depression. As Adam and Eve discovered, sin appears to be “a delight to the eyes (Gen 3:6).” But, it always ends in divine judgment, broken relationships, and earthly hardships. And though thousands of years have passed since our forebears ate the fruit, sin still dresses in false beauty and rewards its friends with death.

Fast forward from Genesis to 1 Samuel 8. The people of God have once again depended upon their senses instead of divine revelation. And the fruit of delight for the nation of Israel is a “king to judge us like all the nations (1 Sam 8:6).” As the context of 1 Samuel makes clear, the people are not primarily making a political statement. They are making a theological claim. They are choosing an earthly king to replace the King of Kings. 1 Samuel 10:19 concludes with this divine assessment, “You have rejected your God who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’”

But unlike our first parents the nation of Israel gets a brief reprieve. God does not immediately turn his back on his idolatrous people. God sends Samuel to “solemnly warn them (1 Sam. 8:9).” In verses 10-18, Samuel tells the people that their love of the world will negatively effect their families, their personal well-being, and their relationship with God.

Those who pursue the world above Christ will ultimately sacrifice their children’s wellbeing for their sinful passions. Both the Israelites’ sons and their daughters would be taken from their homes and conscripted into kingly service. Christians do not have to look far to see this reality play out in the modern world. Some children are aborted because their parents fear that they do not have the money and the time to both raise a child and finish school, to keep traveling, or to keep up with the drunken partying. They sacrifice the child for their sin. Other children go without clothes, food, and deodorant because mom and dad spend all their money on drugs, gambling, and ponzi schemes. Others wind up in fights at school, struggle to interact with the opposite sex, and fail at school because their parents are locked in a constant battle of words that occasionally escalates to a thrown glass at or to a violent slap. Others have no friends because they are afraid to invite Sally over for the night for then she will see what an angry, scary, drunk their Dad is.

We like to think that we are autonomous human beings and that our sin hurts no one but ourselves. But this is not the case as experience reveals and as the Scriptures make clear. The deadly effects of sin will always touch our families.

And the effects of sin will ravage our own lives as well. As 1 Samuel 8:14-17 makes clear, the passions of the world will consume our very livelihood. We know this to be true. We have seen young men and women trash promising careers because they believed relationships, sex, and money could satisfy. We have encountered men who bounced from job to job because they repeatedly violated sexual conduct guidelines, fight angerly with their bosses, and fail to show up to work on time. We know of women who approach their golden years with no money because they spent their livelihood chasing experiences, shoes, or beauty. Though sin promises peace, relaxation, and joy, it robs us of wealth and our ability to work.

And lastly sin draws us away from God. 1 Samuel 8:18 says, “And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” Seemingly since the fall of Adam and Eve, men and women have operated under the notion that they can live-it-up and then stop on a dime and repent a few moments prior to death. But God does not offer such hope. If we repeatedly and frequently spit upon God, he will ultimately spit upon us. Friends we know this reality to be true. God may require our lives without any warning. Car crashes, strokes, and a whole host of other circumstances can spring upon us without warning and take our lives without offering us that needed moment for spiritual reflection. Moreover, the hardened sinner becomes only more harden by his exposure to sin. The more one embraces sin, the more one has no thoughts or inclinations toward the things of God. Many given the opportunity to repent at the end of their lives do not. They hated good as youths, as middle-aged adults, and as sickly senior adults.  As James 4:4 warns us, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

Thankfully, we do not have to choose the Kong’s of this world. And we do not have to keep choosing the kings of this world. Christ has died on the cross. He has died to save us from our sins. If we submit to him, he will save us.

But make no mistake, sin destroys our families, our lives, and separates us from God. Let’s not indulge in sin. Let’s not create a secret room for our sin. Let’s not rationalizes away our sin, valuing our world’s salacious promise of happiness over holiness. Sin destroys. Let’s heed the warning o 1 Samuel 8.

We have been warned. We will listen?

Peter Witkowski Discipleship

The Difference Between Spiritual Diagnosis & Spiritual Change

diagnosisFred collapses on the side-walk outside with his hand over his heart. His labored breathe becomes shorter and shorter. His fingers tingle.

As Fred’s neighbors rush to aid the large 55-year-old man, they correctly diagnosis Fred’s condition as a heart attack and promptly call 911. But none of Fred’s neighbors hop into the ambulance with him, scrub up, and proceed to do the open heart surgery needed to save his life. While plumbers, retired office managers, and CPAs maybe spot a heart attack, they lack the medical skill needed to help Fred overcome his crisis. The ability to diagnosis a sickness does not equal the expertise needed to heal that sickness.

Similarly, a person’s ability to diagnosis spiritual problems does not mean he or she has the power to save those whom he or she has diagnosed. In 1 Samuel 8:5, the elders of Israel rightfully diagnosis their nation’s problem. The elders notice that Samuel’s sons have ceased to walk in Samuel’s ways. But while the elders had the skills necessary for diagnosis, they lacked the skills needed to find a good solution to their problem. They turned to the culture for answers and wound up with a solution [a king like the nations] that caused great harm to themselves and future generations.

The errors of 1 Samuel 8 are repeatedly over and over again in Christendom. We believe secular physiologist, counselors, and therapists can help us overcome our spiritual battles because they can and do often accurately describe our actions and emotions. The secular counselor can tell the alcoholic about his alcoholism, the angry teenager about her anger, and the immoral wife about her sexual urges.

Dr. Heath Lambert, the former president of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors, explains,

Biblical counselors have consistently stated that the observations of secular psychology can often fill in the gaps for – and provoke biblical counselors to more careful biblical reflection about – all manner of issues.

But the secular therapist cannot treat these causes effectively regardless of how many degrees that he or she has on her wall. The apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 4:17-18,

They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart.

Those living in darkness and ignorance cannot help those overcome by darkness and ignorance find the light, hope, and power of God. The secular counselors simply turn the darkened eyes to the darkened culture and come up with ideas that are dark and quite naturally unhelpful.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer rightfully concluded,

The pastor can learn very little from the psychologist, basically only to observe, to evaluate, and to analyze.

In the last few years alone, physiologists have backed away from the ideas of the five stages of grief, the high-self-esteem, and of catharsis. Even the popular program Alcoholics Anonymous has only a 5% success rate.  The secular world can diagnosis spiritual problems but has no ability to save those suffering from their spiritual problems. The Christian who asks a secular therapist to help him or her overcome a spiritual problem is little different than Fred asking his neighborhood plumber to do open heart surgery. It will not go well.

The Way Forward:

Where does the power to change come from? The power to change comes Word of God through the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:3 tells us,

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.

If we want to improve our marriages, fight greed, find liberation from worry, we need to turn to the Scriptures. We need to hear the preaching of the Word both publicly and privately.

A new discipleship movement is sweeping through the American evangelical church calling for the creation of small groups. Such groups are not inherently bad, but they are often predicated on the idea that the preaching of the Word is in sufficient to bring real change. There is only one problem with this idea. It is not biblical.

Sermons are not an afterthought. They are main element of discipleship and spiritual growth. Notice what Paul tells Timothy, “Keep as close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” Paul tells Titus to, “Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority (Ti 2:15).” The teaching of the Word brings life change. Mark Dever hit the nail on the head when he commented that the pastor’s, “teaching of the Word is the core of the church’s discipleship ministry.” The famed pastor Martin Lloyd-Jones remarked that he eliminated the need for many counseling sessions by faithful teaching the whole counsel of God as revealed in the text of the Scriptures. Friends if our church lacks spiritual depth, discipleship, and sanctifying change, we do not need a new small group program; we need a new pastor.

But preaching from the pulpit is not enough. As the famed reformer John Calvin noted,

It is not enough for a pastor in God’s church to preach and to cast his words into the air, he must practice private admonitions.

The faithful pastor is the pastor who shares the Word of God with his people in public and in private. He helps people wrestle with the Scriptures, showing them the need for change and the means for change. Pastors who boast about how they pass of their sheep to secular counselors are poor pastors who love the title shepherd but hate the work. If we want to see people helped, we must have pastors who are willing to apply the Word to people’s lives. The pastor who is inadequate to the task of private preaching is equally inadequate to the task of public preaching.

When can adopt all kinds of teaching structures ranging from academic style lectures to prayer groups with no agenda. But the power source for change does not lie in our church structure nor in the power of diagnosis.  The power that brings about lasting change is the Holy Spirit who communicates with us through his Word.

Are you ready for real lasting change? Are you ready to turn to the Word when you need help? What are our pastor’s doing?