I was involved in a
conversation about men being spiritual leaders and the statement was made that
man’s first sin was when Eve bit the apple. Without missing a beat I responded
that man’s first sin was when Adam bit the apple. The counter argument was that
if Adam had been sufficiently leading Eve, she would not have bitten the apple.
Seems simple enough; after all, this was just a few sentences out of a nearly 3
hour conversation. But as I grow in my relationship with the Holy Spirit and my
Heavenly Father; I find they are as tenacious as a dog with a bone. They get
their teeth in me…and they ain’t lettin’ go! What I am saying is; they are not
allowing me to let it go.
I have been in study and
prayer over relationships and marriage for quite some time. This is not a new
focal point to my meditation. Getting God to the center of my marriage has been
a priority; and seeking to be a Godly man and a Godly husband has been a
growing and evolving process. In this process I am discovering that I…that the
world, does not define leadership the way God defines leadership. The world
does not define the leadership role of a husband the way the bible defines that
said role.
I find that a good place
to start is; “In the beginning…” I examined Genesis chapters two and three; the
creation of man and woman, and the fall. Knowing that God is a God of order, I
paid special attention to the order that He created things. First, man was
created before the garden. Then the garden in Eden was created and man was
placed there with the commandment; “You
may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall
surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)
It was later that God
realized that man needed a companion, a partner if you will. “And the rib that the Lord God had taken
from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.” (Genesis 2:22)
Stay with me, this is important.
Now when the serpent came
to tempt the woman and questioned what God had said about eating from the tree
of good and evil; Eve responded not by saying Adam said, but; “God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit
of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it,
lest you die.’” She was quoting God’s instructions to her. Eve had received
the law from God and therefor was accountable to God for that law.
Now fast forward to after
God had discovered what they had done and was issuing his punishment for the
transgression of the law. God was addressing Adam and said; “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the
tree of which I commanded you, ‘You
shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you…” (Genesis 3:17) This
was followed up with the expulsion from the garden.
Then the LORD God
said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now,
lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live
forever—” therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work
the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of
the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every
way to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22-24 ESV)
I want to jump ahead to
what Paul wrote to the church in Corinth concerning principles for marriage:
To the married I
give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her
husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to
her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.
To
the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an
unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. If
any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her,
she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of
his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband.
Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if
the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or
sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. For how do you know, wife,
whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you
will save your wife? (1 Corinthians 7:10-16 ESV)
Some of you are getting where
I am going. All I am trying to say here; is what I think Paul is trying to say
is to live righteously, love righteously…lead righteously! If your spouse is a
non-believer; that through your relationship with Jesus Christ as you are made
righteous, and your bond with your spouse is a Holy bond; that through you,
your spouse is also made righteous in Christ. Not through control, not through
manipulation, not through your power, influence or position over them; but
through your love for Christ and your love for yourself.
“Teacher, which is the great commandment
in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and
first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as
yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the
Prophets.”(Matthew 22:36-40 ESV)
Therefore a man shall leave his father
and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis
2:24 ESV)
LOVE
YOURSELF…LOVE YOUR OWN FLESH! You cannot say that you love yourself and hate
your spouse because your Heavenly Father does not see a difference. You are
one.
If you have read this so
far and are still with me; please allow me to cement this concept for you. So
far I have talked about how leadership is about love and standing on the Words
of Jesus Christ and the Bible. Let me finish with this; Jesus Christ came to
Earth to be the ultimate example to us. He showed us how to live, he showed us
how to love and he showed us how to lead.
Now before the
Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of
this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved
them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the
heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the
Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and
was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and
taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and
began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped
around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my
feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but
afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my
feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”
Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my
head!” Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except
for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of
you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you
are clean.”
When
he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place,
he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me
Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and
Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For
I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to
you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor
is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things,
blessed are you if you do them. I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I
have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has
lifted his heel against me.’ I am telling you this now, before it takes place,
that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly, I say
to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me
receives the one who sent me.” (John 13:1-20 ESV)
Enough said; if you want
to truly lead…you must serve!
You must love; not only
your Heavenly Father, but yourself…and that
includes your spouse.You must stand firm in obedience to God’s laws and seek his righteousness regardless of what the world or your spouse says or does.
And you must serve. Not seeking position, but submission. Not seeking title but humility. Not seeking to control, manipulate, dominate, guide, push, pull or otherwise direct; but to serve.
That is how your Heavenly
Father, his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit defines leadership.
We were created to serve
our Heavenly Father, and in that, we are to serve all of His children.Jesus when instructing his disciples told them;
And they came to
Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you
discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued
with one another about who was the
greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said
to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” (Mark 9:33-35; ESV)
No comments:
Post a Comment