Holding Tension (Ministry and Leadership)

Yo, what up, man? So I'm gonna do a quick video here on— uh, well, of course I'm doing a video. I didn't even have to say that. So, uh, but I must really strive to be quick, man. I can, you know, lose track of time, uh, but I'm just getting straight to the point here. Uh, so I mean, this, this actually— this has been going on for a while. I actually did a podcast, uh, as well as a video on here, YouTube. I still think it'd be pulled up. I think I just called it Tension. Uh, so it's not a new topic or whatever, but what I want to get at, uh, is something that I'm going to look at this like within the body of Christ as well as like in a secular sense as well. So I'll just start by, you know, one of the things I want to encourage, um, whichever side of the fence that you're on, and you have to really look at this in this whole context because this is gonna like, you know, some people are going to say right out the gate that, oh, he's too loose, and somebody might say, oh, he's too strict. So you get this like fundamentalist conversations, reform, all this type of stuff, liberal, you know, and whatever. So that, I mean, again, you know, great. Uh, I, I— now don't get me wrong, like, we should stay true to the scripture. Um, I'm never going to go around that, but I'm also saying too, like, man, we, we have to do a better job at listening, contextual things and all of that. Um, and nothing should ever supersede scripture, but a lot of stuff that I'm noticing, man, we, we argue over application I don't believe that we should ever argue over scripture in proper context because some people, you know, like they read the book, the chapter and verse, you know, book, chapter and verse. And it's like, okay. And, you know, then they don't do a good job of keeping that in, in its context and in the whole counsel of scripture. And the scripture doesn't contradict itself, but it is— I don't want to use this word the way the world does, but it's progressive revelation. You've heard me say this, you've been rocking with me. If you only stay in Proverbs, when Job— and just teach from there. It's not that Proverbs is wrong, but when Job hits us in the face, it's like, wait a minute, did God contradict himself? It's like, no, this is why we should take the whole counsel. Everything is not black and white, uh, but then there are things that scripture is black and white on, you know. One, and I'll get into the content of this, but I feel led to say this, uh, and oftentimes, man, I'm just like, okay, can we stop arguing over all the whatever secondary issues and just, you know, why is it so hard to just focus on the things that are clear in scripture? So that's, that's a whole nother conversation. Uh, but anywho, so one of the things I talk about a lot, um, on my podcast, um, for people that like really know me— and I get it wrong sometimes, I do have to clean up some stuff, but, uh, and it's more so my wording often. I don't never try to like— it's if I'm trying to like make something and don't hold up, like, okay, could have said that better. But anywho, to that, um, we talk— I talk a lot about guarding the heart, uh, and one of the things that I'm noticing is that we tend to magnify what we focus on. And what I mean by that, and what I think is sometimes dangerous, or we do ourselves a disservice, is when we only focus on what's wrong or what's off, like, or how bad the church is, or the local church. And then we also do ourselves a disservice when we only focus on the good things and don't address things that do need to be called out. It's kind of like it needs to be more balanced in what we can hold, man. And like, I'm one— like, I'm, I'm a product of, uh, seminary twice. I didn't go to the biggest school. My wife, you know, went to Liberty or whatever, and I was just more so looking for like a small independent seminary school that would still test me. I could have went to, you know, some of the, the bigger names, but that, that wasn't my angle. Like, I had, you know, been to college before, so I went to a Bible college And I've been to, you know, got my degree on the secular side of college and never like no big name schools or anything like that. And not that I'm knocking big name schools, but I'm saying like, I just tend to, you know, do things or whatever. And then like even going through certification programs and more so on my secular side with coaching and leadership and, you know, and so a lot of stuff is just, it just teaches you how to rigorously study, rigorously, you know, go search things out. And so I always say something like, you know, if I take nothing else from seminary or just being in, non-seminary, like more traditional setting, secular degree programs or certification bodies. It taught me that I don't know as much as I thought I knew, and I will never know it all. But I've learned how to go search things out and hold tension. So like, for example, I'm one that I don't like— I feel like every denominational preference has something wrong. Like, to a degree, you know, or whatever. And sometimes it's like people are hold to that rather than what scripture say. And I'm more of one that like, okay, you know, I'm not saying you gotta throw your whole denomination away, but if it's tension there, are you gonna side with scripture or how you've been informed, um, or indoctrinated? And so that's just again how I'm coming to, to you in this. Um, so one thing I want to be clear, um, is that how it— like, scripture does call us to be discerning and to test all things, all things, everyone. I tell people, even when I'm teaching, I tell my kids, whatever, whoever it is, like, test everything I'm saying according to Scripture, because, hey, I can be wrong, I can be off, I can overstate something, oversimplify something. So like, test all things and let's have that dialogue. Don't throw me away because I'm not a heretic or a false prophet or false teacher by any means. But I can be off. But the biggest thing is like, hey, I can stand corrected. Now, on the other hand, is that sometimes people make fast assumptions. And I noticed this is something I've been talking about in this climate for a while. Again, nothing new. All these conversations are just recycles. But, you know, like we live in a soundbite culture. So it's just like, oh, disagree with that. And I'm like, well, did you hear everything I said? And then sometimes I do, I push back because one thing about it, like, I'll never— sometimes it's just more of like, no, like, this is not— we're not arguing over scripture, we're just arguing over more so the application or like a preference per se. And I always lean with people, hey, I can see it from your perspective. But even sometimes when I do that, I still don't get the same respect. It's like, well, you know, if you can see my perspective, then I'm right. I'm like, no, I can validate your perspective but not be in agreement with you. But I'm also asking you to hold the tension, you know what I mean? But again, this is not necessarily like a definitive stance on scripture. Anytime you can show me in context, contextually, properly, uh, actually in the text, like, okay, I'll be like, oh man, like, because trust me, I've gotten it wrong. I'm corrected more the more I dig in and study. Uh, so all of that being said, you know, Matthew 7:15, uh, Jesus, again, to go back to the hardest video, told us to watch out for false prophets. Um, That's— there's a responsibility to correct what's off. We can see that in 1 Titus 1:9, and then we get into Jude and all these— 1 and 2 Peter. Like, we can get into so many things. 1 and 2 Timothy are just about how to deal with corrupt teaching. So that is a real part of shepherding, is a real part of just leadership in general, being a more mature believer. This is not a pastoral thing, uh, we all play a part in that. Um, but however, that's not the only thing, because the same time scripture also give us this bigger picture that we have to have an understanding of. That in 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, uh, we all have different roles, like, but it should be the same mission, but God brings the increase. In other words, one plants, one waters, but God— so no one man or woman can take the credit for your development, your maturity. This is a Holy Spirit thing, a tandem, it's a partnership. But also God works through his people. And so, um, like what I have learned in this is that, uh, you do have people that are drawn to personalities. Like they are, uh, I would, I would share some of my disciplines and how that I do to make sure that I'm not leaning towards that. But, uh, you do. And then you have people that, hey man, like you taught it with excellence. You, you broke the text down. But you got to go back and remember that you didn't get things the first time. I didn't get things the first time. So here it is, but one planted. But somebody came along— and doesn't always mean that it's— it could be a collection of people. Someone watered, somebody planted again, somebody watered. But at the end of the day, once it hits and we come into repentance, it's like, yep, that's a God thing. I can't say I, I just ultimately led you here. I can't— like, you know, maybe, yeah, one conversation will sometimes lead to that. But man, at the end of the day I just believe that God brings the increase, the Holy Spirit. And a lot of times we want to do the Holy Spirit job, if we're honest, uh, and we need to really stay out of his way. Uh, he works through us, but, uh, certain things are reserved to the Holy Spirit. That's attention that we have to hold right there. Like, he works through other believers, and yes, we have to dig in the word and all of that, so I'm not, not negating that, um, but What I've also noticed is that not everybody carries the same burden. And again, this is the beauty in it. Like, long as that burden— I hope I'm saying this right— it's not, um, Lord help me say this the right way— like, long as that burden, like, it's not leading to you to twist and reconstruct the scripture, um, I believe that you're good. Like, all of us, and our burdens might change per se, you know, of what we're seeing and what God— because God knows if we always learn to be sensitive and submitted to him. Not everybody communicates in the same way. Not everybody connects with people in the same way. But this is the beauty. One body, many members. And I think in this social media age, it can get distorted. Like, you know, we can start thinking we know people because of a small clip. We start assigning posture to people that we only seen them in a moment. And sometimes it might be true, but a lot of times it's not. Like, I've done it. I've also been on the receiving end of it many times, um, because people typically, like, uh, bring in what they're seeing and then, like, any layer or residue, and it's like, oh, wait a minute, something, you know? And I'm like, okay, so, so, and if we're not careful, man, we start building whole perspectives off fragments, um. So I, I just believe, man, honestly, if, if just for full transparency, because my counselor tells me, he's like, stop saying if you're honest, like, what, you weren't honest the first time? So for full transparency, um, I'm not against it. You please don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not against strong discernment. I'm not at all. Uh, Jesus wasn't passive. Yeah, I know we've constructed this soft Jesus in our head, uh, but he was not passive. The apostles weren't passive, uh, they weren't. They called out things, like, they didn't play. And but also too, at the same time, when discernment starts shaping our posture more so in the context of like, uh, something starts to drift where we don't see the fruit of the Holy Spirit, that gentleness and self-control, and we're acting like kind of the person that we're calling out, um, man, I would watch that. That should be a strong indicator because again, it's the fruit of the Holy Spirit displayed, you know, like gentleness, self-control. Uh, Galatians 5:22-23. I understand sternness. I'm not saying we can't be stern, but in our sternness there should still be the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And man, I'm just seeing too many videos. Like, I don't really too much care. Again, yes, we have a responsibility to protect the sheep and call out, uh, people that are unbiblical. But when I see that, when I see people— again, I don't want to object, but when I start to see like a consistent approach and I'm like, okay man, you— this, this kind of sounds personal. This, this sounds— you're— the way you're talking and the language that you're and is that really the Holy Spirit, or is that some flesh starting to be mixed up in this? And that's dangerous. That's very dangerous. Like, sometimes I see people, man, do 4, 5, 6 hour videos on a person, and I'm like, okay, come, come on, something is seriously there. Um, and again, I'm— listen, I like, do what you do, but I'm just presenting it to say, hey man, we should use some, some caution there because not everything is a compromise. Uh, not everything needs to be corrected. Uh, some of us are hurt and we only see through that lens. Uh, some things are compromised and some things do need to be corrected, but not everything is. Uh, and then some things are just preference, some things are just style. Like, you get into the whole hooping and not hooping, man. If you teaching sound doctrine and you want to hoop, hoop, hoop away. I mean, hey, do what you do. Uh, if you are a teacher and you don't like no hooping, man, teach the text. Don't be boring, but teach the text. Like, Some of it is just different assignments, man, different talents, different giftings. And I just, I don't know, like, that's just where I'm at in my life now. So I just believe my challenge would say, man, I just believe that we need to learn how to hold tension better because sometimes, man, and another thing my therapist working on, stop saying everybody. So I don't believe it's everybody, but it feels like a lot of things, man, are pushing towards extremes. Either you call everything out or you don't call nothing out. Either you're too loose with the text or you're too strict with the text. And it's like, man, where is the balance? Like, where is the discernment, um, within the body of Christ? Where's the full counsel of scripture? Kind of like I said earlier, you know, with the, the Proverbs and Job's thing. Uh, so man, in 2 Timothy, you know, like, um, 2 Timothy 2 Um, again, the Lord's servant corrects, but it should be with gentleness. This is posture. There's a balance. So for me, man, I'm just continuing to try to grow in this area, uh, and one of the things that's helping me is wholeness. Like, yes, spiritual, spiritual growth, spiritual formation is very important, uh, but we shouldn't neglect the mental and emotional things that we have been through, and even physical Uh, but a lot of us, man, we've been so beat up emotionally and mentally, and we haven't took the time to properly unpack that, whether it's with a licensed, uh, therapist. Uh, and I would say find a biblical Christian therapist, especially if you're in the faith, um, that's going to ultimately submit to scripture, but also too understands like their psychotherapy or whatever their specialty is. It can kind of help, you know, because the mind and the brain are not the same. But they're closely related and in our emotional— man, when we've been hurt, we can start again staying close to truth. But that other one hasn't been dealt with and properly unpacked and processed. So we don't see things as clearly as we think we do. And so that's just an area again that needs, you know, there's plenty of people that can talk to it way better than me. But I would just encourage man to again, not always assume You know, if you see it consistently in the habit of it, it is, you know, it is what it is. But because there are some people out here, man, that's just— they just be tripping. I ain't like— it's okay, like, this ain't me, this is not me assuming. Like, you just tripping and you're very off and you're very manipulative with the text and you need to be held accountable. Um, but at the same time, there are people I'm like, all right, man, can we stop assuming someone's heart posture from a clip or jump into conclusions because it sounds like something else? Like we've seen, and now we're projecting and reading into versus taking the time to just really make sure that we're clear, uh, you know, working to understand before we respond. Um, like, I've had this conversation several times. As a matter of fact, you know, uh, not even too long ago recently where it was a really good conversation. And sometimes, man, we just need healthy dialogue and ultimately go to the scripture, like, bring the scripture in and, and, and listen. Just listen. Like, make sure we're not stretching the text, uh, but also to not, uh, making sure that we're just bringing in scriptures and, well, you know, let me bring in these verses, and it's like, okay, you're, you're not contextually interpreting those, you're just trying to make a point. Uh, so yeah, sometimes I will, I think it's a need to be too strong. Uh, and sometimes I'm like, oh, it's not me being loose with the scripture, but I'm like, I'm loosed in my approach. Uh, man, so anywho, I would just encourage you, I'd rather live in that tension, that nuance and stay teachable rather than get locked in into one side and lose the bigger picture. And the beauty in it is that, man, no one person can take the glory of God, uh, or, uh, yeah, no one person can take, um, what I'm trying to say— no, not that too, but no one person— I'm trying to close out— no one person can, uh, take the credit for what only God can do is what I'm trying to say. So it is by faith through Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus alone, man. Um, that, you know, Jesus— it's all about him. And then we get into the practical application of things and how to live this life out. And that might look different, like you might have different convictions than me, but ultimately nothing should contradict scripture in its proper context. So that's where I'm at with it. It's, it's hard, um, but that's where I'm at, man. So anywho, be blessed. Hope you find some value in this. Love you all.