Jump Start # 2259

Hebrews 13:17 “Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.”

I’ve been working all day on shepherding material. I head to Texas to talk to a group of elders, shepherds, who want to improve and do their work better. I have put together a massive notebook of articles and have a series of lessons that I have developed to share with each one of them. When I do things like this, I like to put an attractive cover on the front. I found a picture of a sheep. That’s what shepherds are interested in, sheep. It’s not budgets, painting the church building, or so many of the little things that side track us from the main duty, shepherding.

So, the cover picture I chose for their notebook is of a sheep. He’s standing on a rock. He’s standing on a rock that is perched between two other rocks. The rocks are obviously high up in the sky. It looks very dangerous. I wouldn’t stand where that sheep was standing. I wonder if the picture was photoshopped. Just looking at that picture creates all kinds of questions, such as, How did you get up there? And, don’t you realize it’s dangerous being there? And, how am I supposed to get you down?

I chose that picture because so often that’s us. We get ourselves in the worst jams and the shepherds just shake their heads wondering how and why we did that. They are left with a bigger problem, how are they going to get us down safely. Oh, the things we do. I’ve been reading a book about situations that elders face. It’s the very thing that keeps them up all night, which has become the title of the book. I don’t know if someone made up these situations or if they are real, but they are just like my picture of the sheep standing on a rock high up in the sky.

This is where our verse comes in. We have a responsibility towards those who have entrusted their lives in protecting us. They are trying to keep us safe, and there we are climbing up on dangerous rocks. They are trying to keep us all together, and there we go chasing the latest religious fad. I sure hope when this life is over that the Lord doesn’t say to me, “Roger, you caused those good shepherds of mine to lose sleep because of what you were doing. What were you doing up on that rock? You have no business being up there.”

Our verse reveals two special ways that we show our love, appreciation for our shepherds. This isn’t hard, but we make it that way.

First, obey them. They know what they are talking about. Their very qualifications put them in a special place spiritually. They are experienced, talented and knowledgeable. They know what they are talking about. They didn’t get where they are by climbing up on dangerous rocks. Oh, we think we know better. We don’t. We think we will be ok. We won’t be. They beg us to come to services, but we fight them. They beg us to read God’s word, but we don’t. They encourage us to forgive, but we’d rather hold grudges and be bitter. And, we wake up one day, standing on a rock high in the sky. Our kids don’t know Jesus. Our marriage is a mess. Our finances are a disaster. We are worried about everything and anything. We are stressed, troubled and scared. And, please don’t mention death. Maybe it will just go away and miss us. And, why are we this way? We’ve climbed high up on dangerous rocks rather than following our shepherds. We haven’t obeyed them.

Worse, some have had the gall to back-talk God’s leaders. Had they been with David in that cave with King Saul, they would have hurled a spear at the king. David wouldn’t do it. He had ever reason to, but he respected the anointed position of God. We’ve forgotten that. Shepherds are an anointed position of God. Our complaining, criticizing, and blaming them hasn’t made us better. And, worse, we haven’t found a better and more Biblical way of pleasing God than what they are doing. It’s time to climb off that rock and start listening to the very men that are trying to get you to Heaven.

Second, our passage tells us to submit to them. Submit, most believe that only belongs to wives. How wrong they are. We are all to submit and here in our passage, we are to submit to the leaders. What’s the difference between obey and submit? Is he repeating himself? No. Submit takes place on the inside and obey on the outside. A person may obey without submitting. That happens just about every night in homes. The kids want to stay up and the parents tell them it’s time for bed. They go, but not happily. They obey, but it’s not what they want to do. The word submit means to bend your will. It means I go along with you. Rather than dig my heels in and demand you go with me, I choose to go with you. From submission comes obedience.

Now, this is how it works with shepherds. They have something special that they feel I need and that will help me spiritually. I don’t see it. I don’t want to go. But when I consider who and why they are doing this, I change my tune. I go along with them. I submit and then I obey. And, what happens is that I find my life not dangerously high up on some rock. I am safe. I am strong. I am growing. That’s what happens when I listen to my shepherds.

Now, submission is unknown in our culture today. You never hear that word in weddings anymore. And, our times are all about me doing just what I want and that’s it. No team player. No listening to others. My way and always my way. And, do you know where that puts you? Yep. Standing on a rock, dangerously high up in the sky. And, it’s from there, I feel that my life is falling apart. And, I ought to feel that way because sheep are not supposed to be mountain climbing. We are not mountain goats, we are sheep.

In all my years working with brethren, I’ve never heard of a church disciplining someone because they were not submitting to the leaders. Never heard that. I expect one reason we don’t do that is because there wouldn’t be many of us left. We come and go as we please, giving no thought to the wonderful work, the many prayers and the sleepless nights that our shepherds have trying to keep us off the rocks. They warn us about rocks. They teach us about the wonderful green pastures that will nourish us. They tell horror stories of those long ago who fell climbing those rocks. But what do we do? We go ahead and climb them. Then we cry for help. Our marriage is falling apart. Our kids are marrying pagans. They find out that we have been drinking, when we should have been praying. We have been to the ballgames but we couldn’t make it to services. Our lives are empty, shallow and without purpose. Why? Because we would rather climb dangerous rocks than listen to spiritual leaders who know how to be saved.

Our verse ends with a warning. Don’t cause grief for the leaders. If you do, this will be unprofitable for you. What is meant by that? More than anything else, God’s going get you for being in places you shouldn’t be. You ignore God’s leaders and you’ll get it.

Sheep standing on dangerous rocks. When will we ever learn?

Roger

Jump Start # 1711

Hebrews 13:17 “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.”

  Our verse today defines the two way relationship between the leaders of a congregation and the members. The leaders, those that watch over your souls, would be the “overseers” or elders. They are also referred to as shepherds. They have the task to see that we are on the right path. Their job, much like a parent in the home, is to see to our wellbeing. They see that we are eating well, here it is spiritually. When we show signs of spiritual sickness or disease, they are to tend to us and help us get well spiritually. Their attention is upon us, the sheep.

The front part of this verse is preached often. We study these words in classes. However, it’s the end of this verse that is often neglected. The first part of this verse shows the responsibility of the leaders to the church. The end of the verse shows our responsibility back to them. The work that they do is hard. We play a role in making their work with “joy” or with “grief.” We can listen and follow nicely or we can kick and scream, dig our heels in and go the other way. Parents remember similar things. The “joys of parenting” include those “terrible twos” and the rebellious teen years. Tough times. Often it’s the resistance of the child  or in the case of our verse, the Christian, that makes these situations tough.

There are some words here that we ought to focus upon:

First, causing grief to others. We think of grief as dealing with death, funerals and tears. That’s one side of grief. There are others, unfortunately. Upsetting others, being a pill or a pain to someone else, being stubborn, selfish, and uncooperative will cause others grief. The context is dealing with Christians. It is not talking about the world. It is not looking at those who do not know Christ. We are talking about those in the same congregation. Those that worship together. Those that make up the same church family. It is within that framework that some cause grief. What they do upset others, especially the leaders. What they do causes others, especially the leaders, to lose sleep. My friends in Texas talk about a “burr in the saddle.” I’ve not been on too many saddles, but I understand a rock in your shoe. It’s hard to walk that way. Every step causes pain. A person has to stop and take off their shoe and get the rock out. If they don’t they will have a sore foot.

Why would someone in the church cause grief to another Christian? That thought alone is beyond understanding. Why? The answer comes down to because they are selfish and they don’t want to go the direction that the leaders are heading. So they cause grief.

Here is a short list of things that causes grief within the church family:

• Gossip will do it every time.
• Spreading rumors and distorting things
• Trash talking the leaders or others
• Raising up a faction that threatens to divide or leave
• Making some members feel like they do not belong
• Avoiding some
• Disobeying the leaders
• Teaching things that are false
• Stirring the pot and making big deals out of nothing
• Insulting others, whether on purpose or not
• Refusing to apologize, forgive or walk with grace
• Arrogance
• Being unspiritual

Those things can certainly mess up a good thing. All it takes is for one family to move in and the whole atmosphere of a congregation can change. One family can move in and get involved, excited and before long, the whole place is encouraged and getting closer. Or, one family moves in, and they start doing what is on our list of “grief” and before long, people have stopped talking to each other, some have taken sides, and some have stopped coming. One family.

Our verse ends with the warning to those who cause grief, “for this would be unprofitable for you.” In others words, don’t you dare try it. Don’t think you can get away with it. You’ll get it, if you do. Unprofitable. Causing trouble will not turn out the way you think it will. It will not be in your favor.

First, the church should and ought to discipline you for being such a stink. Causing trouble has consequences. One of them is being disciplined by the very church family you are a part of.

Second, it doesn’t take much of this until your reputation is shot among the people of God. We are all one big family. You hurt the “cousins” and the aunts and uncles are going to be mad at you. So, you make a mess and head off to another congregation. Guess what? It is likely that they know about you even before you get there. They are not going to be so warm to accept you if you have made a mess at the last place. Preachers ought to understand this. They hurt one congregation and go off to the next. Before long, it’s hard for them to show their faces because of the hurt feelings and the trouble that they have caused.

Thirdly, God is aware of all the grief that has been caused. You might escape the long arm of the law here, but you won’t escape God’s justice. Sowing discord among brethren is in the list of things God hates. You do that and God will deal with you. It will be unprofitable for you. You just might miss Heaven because of the trouble, turmoil and grief that you caused. God knows.

These reminders to the Hebrews, just as they are to us, helps us to realize our place in the church family. We are a team. We need each other. We play different roles. Think before you speak. See the big picture. More is involved than just you. Pray. Be Christ-like.

Be one that brings joy to the leaders. Be one that makes their work easy.

Joy or grief—opposites. It’s all about the choices we make.

Roger

Jump Start # 1634

Hebrews 13:17 “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.”

Our verse today shows the relationship that the church is to have to her leaders. The leaders here would be the shepherds or elders. “Watching over your soul” is what overseers do. This is what the word “bishop” means. They are given the task of watching over. They are to protect, feed, and lead God’s people. The shepherd Psalms, Psalms 23, describes this vividly. The sheep were led to  quiet waters, green pastures, and even through the dark valleys, the shepherd was there. He was watching over the flock.

There is one expression in our verse today that is directed toward these leaders. The rest of the passage is directed toward the congregation. The shepherds will “give an account” of how they watched. Ezekiel 34, is a powerful reminder of what shepherds didn’t do back in ancient Israel and God was angry with them. There was plenty to do, but they didn’t do it. The flock suffered. Today, congregations suffer because leaders do not watch over the flock spiritually. They are too busy watching over the check book, the church building and bossing deacons around, that the church is dying and falling apart and they do not even see it.

It is to the congregation that this passage is addressed. There are four concepts here.

First, obey your leaders. It does little good to have leaders if there are no followers. The men in the position of leadership ought to be trusted, qualified, and have knowledge of what God wants them to do. Decisions must be made. Obey them. They want you to grow. Obey them. They need to feed you spiritually. Obey them. The spirit of radicals and rebels runs too often in some of our veins. We resist. We ignore. We fight. We disobey. We do what we want. In the home, this is disaster. Teenagers that ignore parents, coming in at whatever time they want, doing what they want, are on fast track to trouble. Little ones don’t want to go to bed when they should. Parents that cave in, soon learn that the kids call the shots, not them.

Why obey the leaders? Because they are qualified, experienced, spiritual and know what needs to be done. So, a special series of lessons are offered. Do you go? A special class is taught? Do you show up? We do what we want. Down the road, our little house starts to totter and fall because we do not have the faith to stand the storms of life. Our kids grow up weak and fall away. We do not have the love of Christ in our hearts. Why have we become this way? Unless we change, we fool ourselves into thinking we are Heaven bound, when actually, we have been disappointing and embarrassing God for a long time. It didn’t have to be this way. We simply wouldn’t obey. We did what we wanted. It took us away from God. The leaders know what we need. Do you obey?

Second, submit. We too often think that this word applies only to wives. It is used throughout the N.T. First, we are to submit to God. We are to submit to one another. We are to submit to the government. And here, we are to submit to the leaders of the church. Submission is an attitude. It differs from the first word, “Obey.” Obedience is the outward action. Submission is the inward attitude. A person can obey without submitting. He can fuss and hate it and complain the whole time. Many do that. They go to church services because they “have to.” They stay married because they “have to.” It’s the “have to” that compels them. If there was no “have to” then they would be gone. That’s obedience. Submission is changing your thinking. It’s bending your way for another. It’s “I want to do this, but I will decide to do what you want.” I may not want to at first, but I will be a team player and bend my will for you. We are to submit to the leaders. You may not want to go to services, but you will, because you know it’s the right thing. We have lost the spirit of submission. It’s all about “Me,” these days. If I don’t want to, then I won’t. If I don’t like it, then I’m not doing it. Me…me…me. Remember Jesus’ call for discipleship? If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. The denying self comes first. If we can get around self, we’ll never make it in the kingdom of God. Submit.

Thirdly, not obeying and not submitting brings grief to God’s leaders. One thing you notice as you walk through the Bible, God doesn’t like it when people take pot shots at His leaders. When rebels tried to take over and oust Moses, God opened up the earth and destroyed them. David understood that one does not touch God’s anointed. Among God’s leaders today, accusations are not to be made without two or three witnesses. Trash talking God’s leaders is wrong. This is done far too much today. We don’t like this down at the church house and before long, we are talking negative about the leaders. They don’t do this and they don’t do that. It can get real ugly. Kids hear what is being said. Is it any wonder that some would never want to be a leader in God’s church because of what they have heard growing up.

Grief to God’s leaders. It pains them when we are not doing what we should. They lose sleep at night. Their prayers are consumed with us. They want us to do well. They want us to grow and thrive in the Lord. They want us to have strong marriages. They want us to be shinning brightly for the Lord. Instead, we don’t show up half the time. Instead, we are doing what the world does. Instead, we fuss and fight and complain. The leaders grieve. Where did they go wrong? What can be done to get these people right with the Lord? Why are these people rebellious, weak or lukewarm? What needs to be taught? What needs to be preached? How can these people please the Lord as they are? Grief. Tears. Heartache. Good men torn to pieces because we are doing what we want to do. They pray more, care more and are doing more for our souls than we are. They want us to go to Heaven more than we do. These leaders want you to do great spiritually. Are you working with them?

Fourth, this would be unprofitable for you. This is where the selfish spirit and the heart of rebellion leads to. This is unprofitable for you. You are not getting away with disobedience and refusing to submit. You are not getting away with doing whatever you want to do. You are not getting away with marching to a different beat. You are about to get it and it won’t be pleasant. It will be unprofitable for you!

Two things may be implied here. First, because of your disobedience to the leaders and your refusing to submit to them, you are out of line with God. You will be disciplined. It may be a rebuke. It may be a public warning. It may be fellowship is broken. The guy who goes to church, but doesn’t obey nor submit, isn’t right. The leaders may have to lead the congregation in disciplining you.

Second, this is unprofitable for you because God isn’t pleased with this. Unless this course is turned, it will lead to being disciplined by God, especially at the judgment. This is a dead end road. This leads to missing Heaven. You cannot be a disciple of Jesus and do whatever you want, whenever you want. You have commitments and obligations both to God and His people. A married man cannot live as a single person. That doesn’t work. Neither can a disciple live like a person in the world. That choice comes with consequences. Those consequences are not profitable. They are not pleasant. They are not what you want to go through. Shame, embarrassment, and eventually eternity of Hell awaits those who will not obey and submit.

What we do can make the work of our leaders nice and easy or we can be a royal pain to them. We can be  profit from following the leaders or we can experience the pain of punishment for not following them. The leaders are cutting a path to Heaven. Why would we not want to follow them? Do we think there is a different way? There isn’t.

Obey. Submit. Make it pleasant for them and it will be pleasant for you.

Roger