Sermon(Jn 21:12): Preaching for church leaders
The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025220407
- Jesus, a great teacher -
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Scripture reading:
Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” - Jn 21:12
He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” - Jn 21:17
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I have two teachers in memory. one was a teacher at my elementary school, but he was not my class teacher. one day, I saw him coming from afar, and reflected the sunlight on his face with a mirror just for fun, without any malice. He came to me silently, and suddenly struck my back with a stick of a little drum. I was shocked. I felt such pain then that I can even remember the soreness now. The other teacher is one who was my homeroom teacher when I was in the 3rd grade in high school. In the school I attended, teachers took some money from their salaries to raise a scholarship fund and gave it to several students. Students were not given the scholarship just because of their good grade. In a class, the teacher nominates the scholarship student, and only he can receive the scholarship in the class. I never expected it, but my homeroom teacher gave me the scholarship! I can not forget him now. He was known as a bit strict teacher, but he is the most respectable teacher to me. “Thank you, teacher.”
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I think that a good teacher is he who appreciates students' real worth, finds their ability and possibility and helps them grow into fine men or women. How many people have changed their lives with a single compliment from their teachers when they were students? Jesus was a teacher. Not until 30 years old could a man be a rabbi (a teacher) in Israel. Jesus, too, could be a teacher when he was 30 years old. A teacher is a leader. The master (the teacher) as a leader teaches his disciples (his students). The master teaches his disciples to be those who can produce other disciples. What kind of a good model of teacher (leader) did Jesus, our great Master, show to us?
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1. A leader does more work than his disciples. Jesus' disciples, of course, had had a lot of trouble before Jesus died on the cross. But who was the one that suffered the most? Who did work of God most? It was Jesus. He was always busy walking to somewhere, healing people, and praying, so he had not enough time to sleep. So he had to sleep in a boat even in the stormy sea one day. Could he eat food from the time he was arrested to the time he was crucified? Could he sleep? Some people could be alive on the cross for a week. When I saw in the Bible that Jesus died several hours after he was crucified, I suspected that God shortened the time of his suffering. But it was not the case. A Greek warrior ran 40 kilometers to deliver the news of victory, and was exhausted to death right after the delivery. Our teacher, Jesus, also went from place to place without time to rest for three years. And he died soon on the cross particularly because he had eaten no food, been beaten and exhausted since arrested. A true leader, a true teacher, works more than students. He's not a lazy person who only gives instructions to others with his finger. He is not arrogant. He does not stop praying even when his disciples sleep. He remains even if all his disciples are scared and flee. He does not leave his place and is faithful to his duty even when his disciples betray and curse him. He who can live on a cross for a week is not one who had lived his life to the full before crucifixion. He had not done his best. Such a man is he who takes pains to distribute his wealth well to his sons when he is dying. Jesus, our great Master, met the cross on the boundary between life and death. He had done his best to do the work of God.
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2. A leader does not show his disciples his weakness. The human words Jesus uttered on the cross were not "I am hungry" or "I am painful," but "I am thirsty." "I am thirsty" is an utterance one can speak as a great teacher. A leader gives good impression and lesson to his disciples not only by his deeds but also by his words. There are words that leaders can say, and words that they shouldn't say. By not saying two former utterances, Jesus symbolically showed that the death of crucifixion was not heartbreaking for him. With this, he showed that he didn't have the love for the world and the wish not to give up the comforts of the flesh. And he symbolically showed that the worldly power never did any harm to him by crucifying him. A spiritual leader should not be swayed by the temptations of the world, the satisfaction of the body and the power of the world. He must show his students the confidence to beat the world. Even if he has all the pain of the world, he must conceal it and keep an imposing attitude. Jesus showed that his suffering was real by saying, "I am thirsty." Somebody said he, as a phantom, pretended to be in pain, which is a complete lie. Also by this word, Jesus asks his disciples to be his faithful workers. A faithful servant is like satisfactory cool water to his master. Jesus, a great master, says that he is thirsty. He wants and seeks for the faithful servants of the kingdom of God who thirst after righteousness. Jesus, a great teacher, taught common people like lukewarm water and finally made them disciples like cool water. Then he said, “I’m thirsty! So now you are to be loyal disciples like cool water.” The disciples remembered this cry of Jesus "I'm thirsty!" until their death, and almost all of them became martyrs. A teacher, a leader raises students to be like a cup of cool water.
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3. A leader cares for and serves his disciples. In the text of the Bible, Jesus set the breakfast table and called his disciples (Jn 21:9). In fact, who should be comforted and treated to breakfast? Jesus who died the death of crucifixion in suffering and humiliation after he had been arrested, or disciples who fled to save their life? Of course the disciples should comfort Jesus and set him a breakfast table. But the disciples were just disciples, Jesus, a great teacher. Jesus kept the time of pain and suffering only in his memory. He did not reveal it to his disciples. Instead, he came to them, comforted them and encouraged them. When Elijah escaped from Jezebel and was tired and fell asleep under a broom tree in the desert, God sent him food to strengthen him. Our great Master did not rebuke his disciples for their failure and timid heart and insult them for their inability, but prepared breakfast for them to strengthen them. If there is a leader in a church who gives pain to his subordinate who has failed in the ministry, he is not a Jesus-like leader. A great leader is he who, as a pastor of a church, invites a jundosa (an evangelist), who has not succeeded in the Sunday school ministry, to a good restaurant to have dinner with him and encourages him and prays to God for him secretly. A good teacher regards his disciples' weaknesses not as a pretext to torment them but as his own problem to be solved by himself.
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4. A leader declares his success to be that of his subordinates. (He ascribes his works to his disciples’ faithfulness,) Jesus asked Peter, who, having eaten too much food prepared by Jesus, was belching and touching his swollen belly with his hand, "Peter, do you love me?" Peter's love being confirmed, Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep!" What is this? Jesus has completed the redemptive work for all mankind by the crucifixion. He says to the disciples. “Feed my sheep.” Now Peter and his disciples go out and preach and become the shepherds of Jesus' sheep. Whose achievements will their missionary and evangelical works be? Achievements of Jesus who has virtually completed all the redemption himself, or those of his disciples who later participate in Jesus' work and just reap grains? All the merits of the salvation of human beings should be attributed to Jesus, but Jesus will surely give credit for the evangelization and the bringing up the sheep, that is, for the salvation of mankind to his disciples when he gives them prizes later in heaven. How thankful they should be! All the merits (all the achievements) should be attributed to Jesus who suffered a hard death on the cross, but Jesus, a great teacher, refers most of the merits to his disciples. A good church leader does not snatch off the achievements of his subordinates, rather announces the good works done in fact by himself to be the works done by his subordinates. He who blames his faults upon his subordinates is a very mean leader. He who loves and serves Jesus like Peter will share with Jesus the fruits of his redemptive work.
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A good and talented church leader makes a good plan for the work of God; and if he is sure of success while seeking for a way of realization of the plan, he assigns works to his subordinates and helps them achieve the goal and make them feel a great sense of accomplishment. And he attributes the success to them. It is up to him to pray hard before and during the process, and to take necessary steps and to help the workers of God avoid difficulties. It seems to others that the people under him have done all the works, but in God's sight, the leader has done all the works. This is normal. The reverse is not good.
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Then, who is a bad leader? A bad leader tries to win people's favor to occupy an important post in church against God's will. He does not live as an exemplary Christian, utters loud groan under light burden, pretends to be suffering for holy works, leaves almost all the work of God to his subordinates, and gets rid of them ruthlessly if they ever mistake. While this bad leader visits here and there in high standing and is served well by people, his subordinates work hard for God and accomplish something. Then he takes all the credit for the results to himself.
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Jesus never lectured on Christian education, nor did he write a book on church leaders. But his life itself is the basis of Christian education and church leadership. A good leader does not discard those who have failed in training for reasons of the failure. We must know that in any case dropping out from training is not a sin. There is a limit to the ability of each individual person. Some have much ability to serve, to obey, and to pray. But there are also others who do not have it. A great teacher does not regard the failure of the training due to this inability as a sin, but as a weakness of the dropout, and leads him, showing him good examples and tolerating him. Peter rebuked Jesus who said he would die on the cross, and told him not to do like that. Isn't it too impudent for a disciple to rebuke his master, and that with narrow view? But Jesus, perceiving that Peter's faith was not ripe enough yet, forgave him and didn't give him up. Peter, denying and cursing Jesus before a maidservant, showed himself as but a weak man. Ah! The moment when the three-year practice comes to naught! Nevertheless, Jesus didn't give up Peter. After seeing the resurrected Jesus, Peter went back to the world to catch fish. This is a complete betrayal. But Jesus came to Peter, even to the Sea of Galilee. He never gave him up! Why did Jesus not give up Peter to the end? Disciples might give up, but the teacher should not. The greater the teacher, the broader the heart. Jesus could embrace such people as prostitutes, tax collectors, even narrow-minded Pharisees as his disciples. And Jesus did not forsake Peter to the end because he knew Peter's heart. And because he knew that basically Peter's heart was not evil. How will you feel if you hear that you are a bad person directly from others in the church? What an insult it would be if a professor at KAIST, where geniuses of Korea gather, earnestly tells a student that he is a stupid student! How discouraged would a man be if he hear offensive words that he is an evil man, in church where the good is the essential ideology? In church, you may say to a man, "You have no ability," but you can't say to a man who has no sins but is only of inability, "You are an evil man." How can 'a bad person' stay in 'a good church'? In church, a teacher should never think his students to be bad in any case. Let us imitate Jesus, a great teacher with a generous heart. In addition, you should, in church, respect true teachers who are like Jesus and teach you well. You should respect them more than university professors.
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Clergy and lay leaders are all church leaders. To my surprise, an unfaithful pastor yelled at me, "Model yourself after me!" It’s human! People do not find out the log in their eyes and take it out, but like rebuking others for the speck in their eyes. That's what Jesus, the great teacher, taught the Pharisees, who were respected as great teachers by many at that time. one of the important teachings of Jesus is not to judge a man by his appearance but to pursue one's inner integrity rather than outer aspects. Here, appearance includes individual educational background, wealth, personality and external religious life. A church leader should not lead others on the standards he sets. He must match his leadership to Jesus' personality, deeds and teachings.
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Chong Tack Kim
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- Dongtoma Sunshine Church -
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