Are You Lording It Over The Sheep?

How the Spirit of Control gets into our churches

Do not Lord it over the flock like the world does - Jesus
Have you ever said any of these? "That's the way it's done here, if you don't like it then there are other churches you could attend." The "Take it or leave it" attitude, or "my way or the highway" attitudes infect the church worldwide. But how do we ever get there??!?

A series of challenges or crisis successfully conquered by us taking more and more control. Forest fires of conflict are put out. Successful missions are carried out. 'Peace' is achieved.

We Lose Our Dependence For Success

The success in battle depends on the Lord
Little by little we are tempted to think that the success depends on us and out efforts instead of the Holy Spirit. Little by little we steal the glory that belongs to the Lord.

We Lose Our Definition Of Success

What I do is not of my own choosing... but the words I speak and the things I do are from My Father - Jesus
Our definition of daily success drifts, little by little, from Jesus'

Success: humbly doing what the Father tells us to do

into some visible fruit like man's approval or greater numbers at church. Each 'victory' achieved in our own strength draws us farther and farther from humble dependence on the Lord.

The SYSTEM that gives us this 'success' becomes like a false God in our lives.

We and our people become slaves of this system, serving it at all cost lest we lose our 'success,' rather than the system serving God and his people. Like any False Idol, this false idol has not the love, mercy and compassion of the true God and so people become trodden under by this false God more often than not.

We all become what we serve: either the Living, Loving, Personal God or an Impersonal, Unloving System. If we buy into the System we become unloving and impersonal just like the Machine. People who do not go along with the Program must be sacrificed on the alter of Success to feed the Machine. God's freedmen become slaves again to a Performance Orientation based on these false measurements of success.

The function of the pastors... is to build up / mend the people of God - Eph 4:11
In God's Kingdom, people are the task. Their upbuilding is His agenda. Railroading the little people is the exact opposite of what He desires of His shepherds. But as we humbly and dependently obey the Master's voice even we are transformed more into His likeness.