Multicultural Worship Lecture 7

As long as I'm the Lord, oh my soul, praise the Lord, oh my soul. I won't be quiet. My God is alive. I'm going to keep it inside the cloud. Praise the Lord, oh my soul.

Welcome to lecture 7, forming leaders for a multithnic church. Much of our lessons for today are going to come from building a multithnic church by Derwin El Gray. We're going to look at why it is important to have the right leaders and the right character in those leaders if we're going to see a multi-thnic church be effective and how that impacts us when we're building multicultural worship amongst the nations. Our aim is to develop the character and competencies needed for pastors and ministry teams who lead healthy unified multithnic congregations.

In leadership, it is important to have the right people because churches rise and fall on leadership. You can have great community, the right time, the right place, but if you have the wrong people leading, things can crumble. We can have structures, programs, and music. They all matter. But at the core of every enduring ministry is a leader who reflects the character of Christ. So what is that character? That's what we're going to dig into today.

In multithnic ministry, leadership becomes even more crucial because in addition to leading a church, they are leading people from different belief systems, background, worldviews. Leaders set the tone for how to reconcile these or bring these together. They are what we call thermostats, not thermometers. Well, what do we mean by that? Well, a thermometer just measures what's going on and doesn't really unpack things. But a thermostat turns up or down the heat in the right areas to get the temperature right.

We as leaders in a multithnic church need to be proactive in turning up the heat in the right places. These correct leaders shape the culture rather rather than just measure it. They have to be proactive. And we're going to look at that in many ways. The local church should be a mosaic. the world looks at and says, "So that's what heaven looks like." We need to be multicultural. We need need to be people from different nationalities. We've spent a lot of time talking about that. But as we do that, how do we make that work together? A mosaic is a beautiful is beautiful not because every piece is the same, but because every piece is held together by the same adhesive love. We are very different in a multicultural church. We need the right people to lead us to hold that together. And in multi-thnic congregation, the he the adhesive is godly leadership leading in love. They're the ones that bring the group together and and don't let things fester and don't let people feel marginalized and don't let people take power. In some cultures, it's it's appropriate in that culture to be doineering. Well, in other cultures, it's not. And so, should one culture, because that's the way they're wired, get to run over another culture? It shouldn't happen. So, instead, we need the right leadership to help manage that and guide that process.

In order to have those right leaders, we have to begin with focusing on character. If we don't have character, it doesn't matter about the competency. The world often values charisma over character. But the kingdom reveres that order. It re reverses that order. It prefers character first. We see simp examples of that throughout scripture where people that others might have thought should be the one weren't the ones that God chose because of character. Now, I'm going to go all uh uh superhero on you here, but when you if you watch the movie in Captain America, uh they didn't go for all the soldiers that had all the brawn and all the all the ability to go in and just take people out. They went for the character, the person that had the best character because they found that when they injected him, not only did it give him super strength, but it it accentuated the character that was inside. They had to start with the right character. Well, we have the ultimate superpower in that we have the Holy Spirit living in us and we through that are giving given opportunities and are have things entrusted to us and if we don't have the right character in place uh that can be amplified and good or bad that comes out.

It's often said, you know, when you if you want to know what's inside somebody, shake them. And meaning I don't mean physically, go up and shake somebody, but shake somebody with with trouble. Shake somebody with challenges, with trial, and you'll see what comes out. Uh does it is it out of their mouth comes blessings or cursing? Out of their their mouth comes patience or anger, wisdom or self-service? We need to find people that have the right character. And we need to develop that character in each of us. We're going to hear a lot from Paul. And Paul talks about the importance of that character. But at the same time, Paul admits he had his own struggles. He'd had things that he struggled with. I mean, if you read some of Paul's letters, you can see he probably had a bit of a temper. But he writes about being calm and showing peace and being that right character, that godly character that we're to emulate in God's economy. Who we are matters more than what we do. We can't outserve God. We can't outgive God. We can't impress him by all that we do for him. What he wants for us is to be more like Jesus. That's who he wants to elevate, who he wants to use are those that have the right character.

The integrity of the upright guides them, but the perversity of the treacherous destroys them. You can not be in the best position in terms of a role in the church or in your business or whatever, but ultimately if you live a life of integrity, that will be the thing that guides you through it and often will elevate you in the eyes of others because they know they can trust you. They know they can rely on you. But if you're seeking your own, if you're tearing things down, if you're looking at things the way the world does, that can be your destruction. Integrity guides talent. Talent alone can mislead. Think about this. And again, not trying to pick on any group, but think about professional athletes. Uh, how many times have we seen stories of professional athletes where they go off the deep end and they they get into trouble sexually or they they mismanage funds or they they do all sorts of things. And the problem is they are so talented at what they do that often they get a pass on characters. Those around them keep telling them how great they are. Uh, they they won't ever challenge them about what they're doing wrong. they they get to this point and it puts them on a pedestal where it's so easy to fall down and I you know yes they have to take responsibility but that blame is on those who also put them in that position without holding up the importance of character you can build a large platform on skill but only character can sustain it.

I'm not going to name names but I can tell you of very talented church planners with whom I've worked and these church planners some of them. They assess really high in some areas like you know they're going to do a good job planting a church. But there's also something sometimes in me that says I'm seeing some cracks in their character that I'm worried about because they could build this strong ministry and it could crumble because of lack of integrity or patience or wisdom. and we need to hold up a mirror to them and help them understand, hey, if you don't do something about this, you're going to have some trouble. Well, the same thing is true for each of us. It's true for those who are going to be leading in a multicultural church, those that lead worship. You could be phenomenal musicians, and you could lead people to this incredible time of worship, but you may find that your ministry crumbles because people see your character or lack of it. I've seen that recently. I know of examples of that. Again, not going to name names, but we can't just rest on what we're good at. We have to grow in who we are in Christ.

But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him." Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart. Think about who the Lord chose at different times. Lord chose David to be king. He was the least of an unimportant family. Yet God saw his heart and said, "David's a man after my own heart." And God made him king. God looks inside. And we need to prayerfully discern that as well when we're selecting leaders. When God chose David, he chose a shepherd's heart over a warrior's resume. We need to have that same practice. We need to be looking at these leaders. It's very easy for someone in my role. I look at a lot of people. I I read a lot of resumeumés and applications and we do assessments and interview people and I'm constantly meeting people who could potentially be new pastors or new church planners or maybe they're already one. We're going to help them move to our area. I personally need to make sure that I'm looking at the character of that individual, not just how gifted they are. That same principle about David governs pastoral leadership today, especially in diverse communities where trust must be earned slowly and can be lost very very easily. We need to have people of the right character.

I think about churches that are going through a transition. And often we call call it uh a time when they have an interim pastor or a transition pastor. And we have some guys in the Northwest that are just phenomenal transition pastors. And one of the first things I see about them, one is they they have godly godly character. They are men of God. They love the Lord and they want to please him. And the other thing I see in them is they have incredible patience. uh because it's a journey to help churches see what things they need to get right in order to be in a healthy place for their new pastor to come and uh it takes a lot of patience but it also takes wisdom and skill. So all those things are important but it starts with that godly character.

Imagine a bridge spanning a deep canyon or maybe it's a great river. It may be beautiful. may be stunning and have all these great arches, strong materials, but if the foundation is cracked, the bridge will collapse under the first heavy load. Think about that when you're thinking about a person. They may have incredible ability and look amazing on their resume and they're so skilled at speaking or leading worship, but their if their character is cracked at the foundation, they're going to collapse. And a lot of times we find that out until it's too late. Uh I again live in this Seattle Tacoma area and Tacoma there's a bridge called Tacoma Tacoma Naros Bridge and many years ago the first version of that bridge uh had some flaws in it. It wasn't a crack foundation but it had something they hadn't taken into account is that buildings have and and bridges and things like that have a resonant frequency. Now in college being a music major I had to take a science class. I took musical acoustics and in musical acoustics it's a physics class and we learned one of the things we learned is that things have a certain frequency. That's why when your car goes if you got an older car and you get to like 50 m an hour and then it starts shaking a bunch at 50 m hour, but if you keep going you get up to 70 it's fine is because 50 m an hour finds that resonant frequency and what it does is it it catches that sound and it amplifies it and it just increases the volume of it over and over until ultimately it it shakes the car like it feels like it's going to fall apart. Well, this bridge in Tacoma, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge years ago, that's exactly what happened. The wind hit the right speed and the right frequency started happening and the bridge shook and shook and shook until it's just going wildly and the bridge literally shook apart and cars fell into the sound and and and you know this they had to build a new bridge. That bridge became known as Galloping Gertie. It's a famous bridge. Look for Galloping Gertie bridge. sometime watch the video and you'll see that's from what happens when certain things go wrong in the character of a bridge. Well, the same thing can happen with us as individuals. If we have that certain thing that's our weak spot, our frequency that can really mess us up uh to mix my metaphors, our Achilles heel, what are those things in our character that can distract us? It's often pursuit of money or pursuit of someone who's not your spouse or it's pursuit of power or it's anger issues. Uh do you have any of those issues? If you do or those with whom you're working, you need to address those because those can be the things that can cause the foundation make everything collapse. Leadership skill without integrity is the cracked foundation. A leader may preach well, lead teams effectively, or strategize brilliantly, but if the inner life is unstable, the outer ministry will crumble. Let's get it right in the beginning, and let's grow to be who we need to be. That's why Paul tells Timothy not to appoint somebody too quickly because of the danger that can cause.

Before we can lead others, we must first be led by Jesus into humility. We have to live a life of service and humility before others will follow us as the right kind of leader. So we want to have a new leadership scorecard. In the corporate world, leaders are evaluated by outcomes, growth, numbers, results, profits. But in the kingdom, the measure is faithfulness, not fame. God uses a different scorecard than the world does. What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others. Also, Paul is telling Timothy, you need to find those who are faithful, those those who are showing character. Faithfulness then produces fruit over time. Charisma often produces burnout and it can do it overnight. So we might get some great results with charisma to begin with, but over time that lack of character shows through in our unfaithfulness. You can teach skills quickly, but you can only form character slowly. What do we mean by that? Character takes time. It takes the Holy Spirit working in you and developing a new way of living. Sometimes he can do it and does do it very quickly. But other times we have to keep growing in our maturity. That's why it's called maturity. It's a maturing process and it is a long process. If I have someone with character, I can teach them skills. If I have someone without character, it's going to be a journey. It when I meet people who want to be church planners, sometimes they think they've got it all figured out. they know everything there is to know about church planning. Those are actually the ones that scare me. It's the ones that come to me with the right character who know they don't know everything about church planning and they want to learn. I can help them learn and my team can help them learn how to be effective in doing ministry. The same thing is true when it comes to developing a worship team. Having people that have some skill, yes, they have to, if they're going to be musicians, they have to have some ability there, but they have the right character to begin with. Over time, you can teach them how to lead people into worship.

The spirit forms leaders through surrender, not self-promotion. If you got people that are like, I want to be upfront because I love people that tell me how good I am or clapping for me. It's not really the right time and it may not even be the right people. They need to be humble and they need to serve. I know of churches that if you want to be on the worship team, what you do is you come help with setup. You come help with plugging in cables. I know one church that does this. And they're in Los Angeles where there's tons of actors and musicians and they say, "Okay, you want to be on the worship team? Uh, you get to help carry this stuff over here. You need to show your character first." We have plenty of people that have skill, but we need to see that you have the right character before we move you into that role. because we're not looking for those who are self-promoting. We're looking for those who are surrendering and serving and want to serve a loving God.

Multithnic ministry must prioritize spiritual maturity over managerial ability and Christlike posture over clever planning. So, even somebody who's really sharp, you go, Michael, but Gary, they I mean, they they get it. They're just so smart. They understand how this works. Again, you can be really smart and not have the right character. There's some people in this world that are very, very, very smart that uh I would I would trust to build a bridge or fly a plane or do surgery, but I wouldn't want them to be my spiritual leaders. And that's what we're talking about here is spiritual leadership.

So, what are the character character qualifications we need to have? It tells us in scripture, this saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble work. An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, not an excess excessive drinker, not a bully, but gentle, not quarrelome, not greedy. He must manage his own household competently and have his children under control. He must not be a new convert or he might be conceited. He must have a good reputation among outsiders. This is Paul's instructions to Timothy. He's not giving him a job description of here's here's all the abilities he must have. He's saying this is the kind of character that he must have. When we're looking for our team, when we're looking for our leaders, we need to use those same guidelines. It doesn't mean anybody's going to be perfect in all these things, but we need to have people that this is what they they are doing. It's what they're becoming. They're growing in this. I'm not saying if you ever have somebody whose kid gets out of control someday, runs down the hall, you need to kick them out of the worship team. No. But if you see somebody who's on the worship team and they're trying to help that child grow to be more under control, okay, that's the kind of character we're talking about.

Leadership in the church is not a career path. It is a sacred stewardship. I remember when I was being interviewed to start doing church planning in Seattle and I was asked one of the questions by they had a psychologist or psychiatrist that was interviewing as part of our process. And I remember being asked like what are your career goals? And I remember at that time that just struck me as really funny, a really odd question for somebody who's being interviewed to be a missionary. And I said,"I don't have career goals. I have a calling to start churches so more people can know Jesus." Leadership is not a career path. It's a sacred stewardship of what God has called you to do. To lead God's people is noble not because it exalts us, but because it calls us to become more like Jesus, who was the servant of all. So if you, Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you you also ought to wash one another's feet. Excuse me. So if you if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you example that you also should be do just as I have done for you. This is Jesus talking to his disciples saying if I've served you in this way then you should do the same for others. Leadership in the church is footwashing work. A leader in the church is a servant.

Uh I talked before about having people from different cultures lead us. And there was one day when I brought in a bunch of Filipino church planting leaders and they're phenomenal leaders, godly men, godly women, and they came in to teach those of us who were leading networks. And what was interesting out of this group, the one that was their leader was standing in the back of the room. He was letting the others lead and talk and so on. And at one point, I we actually asked him a question. And we we said to him, we said, "Hey, we notice you're doing this. Can you tell us about that?" He said, "In my culture, a leader leads from the rear. A leader leads by exalting others, by encouraging them, by serving them." Uh, that's the way it ought to be in all of our cultures. We doesn't mean we don't ever speak up front, but that we find ways to lead by exalting others. I have worked with church planners for years and they they look to me as their teacher, but I find no greater joy when they do greater things. God uses them to do much more than I ever did when I was a church planter. That that to me shows that I'm getting it. That I'm I'm growing in that that I'm I'm lifting them up. I'm encouraging them. I'm helping them. And they're becoming more than I could even do when I was back in the early days of church planting.

We need to be above reproach in public and in private when it comes to integrity. Integrity means consistency of character when no one is watching. When you're given too much change at the store, what do you do? Uh when when somebody forgets to charge you for your drink at the restaurant, what do you do? Uh I bring these up because these are ones that come to mind. These are ones for me. like I will give the money to back to them if they gave me too much. I had a machine that was giving me 20s instead of giving me fives and I, hey, your machine needs to get fixed. It's giving me way too much money. Or I point out to the waiter or waitress, hey, you didn't you didn't charge me. Now, now uh nobody would have known if I just walked out, but I would have known. I would have known I hadn't done the right thing. We need to have the right character whether somebody's going to notice it or not.

Multithnic ministry demands visible integrity. Doing the right thing even when it costs us, even when it hurts us, even when it gives somebody else an opportunity that it shouldn't have. Uh in a sporting event when when you're you're playing basketball or you're playing soccer and you're the one that knocks the ball out of bounds and and they call it the other way, do you say, "No, it was off me." Do you point it out and and try to get it right so that you're playing fairly? We need to live with visible integrity. A righteous person acts with integrity. His children who come after him will be happy. What a great embarrassment to our kids if they know we're doing things we shouldn't do. If they know we're getting by with stuff we shouldn't get by with. If we're if we're sneaking something out that we shouldn't. Uh, it gives them confidence and it gives them joy to know that the one that's their parent lives with integrity. They may never ever say it. They don't go, "Dad, I'm so glad you have integrity." Uh, but you can see it in them and the confidence it gives them. And you see it in them when you see them living it out. When I see the integrity of my children, when I see the generosity of my children, when I see them serve others, when they go way beyond what they're supposed to do, whether it be in personal life or in business, I get great joy. And I try not to get too big ahead, but I go, "Okay, I must have not totally messed them up. I got something right." Because look at this kid who's now an adult, how they're living it out on their own. And we need to do that as an example to those we lead as well.

Trust is built not through charisma but through consistency through being trustworthy. Hospitality was the ancient measure measure of moral maturity. Leaders open their homes and their hearts to strangers. We see that in Acts two. We see it in other places throughout scripture. We see it with Lydia when she invited the disciples in. And we see it so many times that it showed maturity that we were willing to care for those who were in our area. Uh people often that we don't know. How do you treat people that that you haven't met? I'm not saying, you know, pick up every hitchhiker on the road. It's not safe. My kids will remind me of that when I when I give a hitchhiker ride sometimes. We we need to be wise, but we also need to be open to those that we serve and and helping them. We need to share with them in whatever their needs are. Share with the saints and their needs and pursue hospitality. Hospitality doesn't happen by accident. It's an active process. In diverse communities, hospitality is the language of welcome. You want somebody to really feel like they're a part of your community. Have them in your home. Go to go to dinner with them. Uh do things with them. Babysit their kids. Don't make them feel like you're over here and they're over there and things are very different. Be open and be that way with your team and those you lead.

A pastor who listens across differences preaches the gospel long before the sermon. What does that mean? Sounds like a very wise proverb saying that when you really listen to people, when they know you're listening to them and you hear their concerns and their joys and their their mess ups, when you really listen, you've already preached a sermon to them. You've already communicated character to them. The same thing is true for you as leaders in worship. Do people feel like you're aloof or do they feel like they can come to you and engage with you?

Paul warns that we're not to be a bully, but we're instead we're to be gentle. Strength without gentleness becomes intimidation. Authority without empathy becomes oppression. We can be strong and be gentle. We can be loving and and still have a backbone and stand up for what's right. Um, it's it's interesting because, you know, I I enjoy a lot of things that maybe guys typically like to do. I know I've enjoyed playing sports over the years and and and I like I'm I'm pretty decent at like fixing computers, you know, not that women can't do it, but you know, that's that's that's something we see a lot of guys get into doing. Things like that. But I also I I love babysitting. I have grandkids and I work with church planters kids. I've watched newborns to teenagers. Um and you know, it's funny. I'll talk to some other guys and they're like, "Well, no, they almost say think that that's women's work." Well, I obviously don't agree with that. But what I I feel in that is I can be strong as as a person, as a man, and do things that others might see as like, "Oh, you're being very gentle or you're you're you're doing something that normally you wouldn't do as a leader." You need to be confident in who God made you, whatever the example may be, and say, "I can do that. I I I can serve in that way. Even though it doesn't make me look like the strong leader that I instead of preaching in your church, I want to go play in the nursery with one-year-olds. Um, they're more fun anyway. So, we need to be strong, but we need to be gentle. Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Let the way that you live your life be clear, excuse me, to everyone that God is near. He is in you. He is living through you. Gentleness is strength under the control of love. I love that quote by Derwin Gray. Gentleness is strength under the control of love. Having that ability to me, I get the picture of this guy who's a a weightlifter holding a little butterfly. Yeah, he has the strength to crush that thing, but he has gentleness and is loving to it. It's a thing of beauty.

Multithnic churches often attract differing views, theological, cultural, political. Uh leaders must model calm and conflict. I had some guys that were from different parts of the world on our team and uh our leader at time would have them room together and they would come down, they'd be so frustrated because every time one of them would go into the bathroom and come back in the hotel room, the news would switch from Fox News to CNN, from CNN to Fox News. And so here's these guys that politically, you know, one came from a socialist country, the other came from a ver very rural type state. and they just conflict in a lot of things uh and when it came to politics and uh and I think our leader just had a little fun with the humor of that. But the reality is they were brothers in Christ and they could work through that and they could serve well together. We need leaders that will actually help us in that process. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. We've talked about this verse before. For human anger does not accomplish God's righteousness. We've got to start with listening and leadership. Listening first is an act of leadership. The first step toward healing. And you may say, well, what if there isn't something to heal? If we have different cultures together, there's something to heal or bring together as a whole. There's something to reconcile. And that begins by listening to those involved.

Character must extend beyond the pulpit to the public square. The number of times you may have seen it where you see somebody, they're in worship, they're in church, and the way that they are on Sunday is totally different than the way they are when they're out in the world. I've seen pastors this way. They will preach heaven down to us and then they'll go out and they will just bark at somebody in a restaurant like they're a menial servant or they will be rude to people in a hotel. And I just can't wrap my mind around that. how you can talk about the love and grace and peace and patience of God and then go out and attack somebody in the world just because you think they're beneath you. That's not the way it should be. And it's important that our leaders in worship have that right kind of character that they see everyone as being worthwhile. Matthew 5:16 says, "Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven." I could tell you many stories about this verse and how it's applied, but our actions speak louder than words. We are supposed to use our words and tell people about Jesus. But it does us no good if our works don't line up with that. When they see how good we are, not giving us praise, but they glorify God, they recognize it's because we're Christians and because of God's spirit living in us. A humble consistent leader becomes a living living apologetic. A humble consistent leader becomes the example of this verse. Becomes the example of someone living for Jesus. And why that's different than the way the rest of the world lives.

Let's go back to that bridge analogy again. Every plank represents a virtue. Every plank of a bridge. Think of a wood bridge that has boards going across it that you ride your bike across or hike across. Every plank represents a virtue. Integrity, humility, hospitality, gentleness, wisdom. When any plank is missing, the bridge weakens. The bridge is strengthened by the fact they're all there. And when there's one not there, uh it can it can get harder for that bridge to maintain its integrity. Character is what keeps the bridge stable under the weight of diversity. We need all those things present. Let me give you a different example. I live uh on just under a half an acre of land and it looks like a cabin in the woods. Around my house are evergreen trees that are 150 ft tall. So I'm constantly getting rid of pine needles and pine conens and branches and stuff that fall after a windstorm. But what really became difficult was when uh the 5 acres of trees across the street from me, they cut those down and put in 16 new homes. When they did that, my trees no longer were part of this greater bunch of trees that helped with the integrity. So when the wind storms came, some of our trees were actually damaged. We had one tree fall and it fell all the way over and hit my daughter's house next door. That's how we found out it was 150 ft tall is because the tree fell and we were actually able to measure it. We could have done the math, but we didn't want to work that hard. But when it fell, we were able to figure it out. We had another tree that that in another storm that was actually leaning over our house and it didn't fall. And we called the insurance company and because they said, "Well, it hasn't fallen, so we're not covering it. But since we know that it's leaning, you have to take it down because if it does fall, we're not going to cover it because you knew it was leaning." Um, so that's my own personal story. I'll get over it someday. Actually, I'm way over it. But the reality is the not having the other trees there weakened the trees that were left. Not having those other virtues there will weaken the bridge overall and it will weaken the trees overall in the storm.

So how do we look for leaders? What do we need in their in their resume? If Paul were writing today, his checklist might read like this. We need leaders who love well, listen well deeply, lead gently, live transparently, and learn continually. When you interview somebody, and you are doing that, when you're talking to somebody about being on a worship team or being a worship leader, when you're talking to them, do you you have these kind of things in mind? Do you look for character or you just look and see are they a good keyboardist or guitarist or singer? What is their character? Are they growing in that character is a big issue where none of us are perfect, but are they growing to be more and more like Jesus? These are good things to measure for. Paul's list in 1 Timothy 3 is not a job description. It's a formation blueprint. It invites us to lead from our knees before we lead from a platform. We need to be praying about these things first of all about oursel. Are we these kind of things? Are we do we have these virtues? And does our team have this? Your worship team should be your small group in many ways. You may be in another small group in your church, but are you helping them develop the godly character to be who they need to be in Jesus to be more like him so that they're not leading in a way that's hypocritical. They're leading in a way that reflects the character of Christ. He shepherded them with a pure heart and guided them with his skillful hands. We need to be living from a place of integrity, from a pure heart. Purity before skill, that's kingdom leadership.

a passage beginning in verse 5. It says, "The reason I left you in cree was to set right what was left undone. And as I directed you to appoint elders in every town, an elder must be blameless, the husband of one life wife with faithful children who are not accused of wildness or rebellion. As an overseer of God's household, he must be blameless, not arrogant, not hot-tempered, not an excessive drinker, not a bully, not greedy for money, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled, holding to the faithful messages taught, so that he will be able to both to encourage with sound teaching, and to refute those who contradict us. This the instruction we see in Titus. Sounds very similar to what we heard him tell Timothy. We need to look for the right kinds of leaders. Think about cit where a lot of this ministry was happening. Cree was known for being a place where there was massive chaos. There was tension because people are there from different societies. Leading there will require not popularity but a purity of character. Not cleverness but a conviction of character. Shepherd God's flock among you. Not overseeing out of compul compulsion, but willing willingly as God would have you. Not out of greed for money, but eagerly, not lording it over those entrusted you, but giving being examples to the flock. We see this in first Peter. We need to lead from the right motivations. We need to lead because we are called to do it and we are stewarding what God has entrusted to us. Leadership isn't command. It's not we're not you're not the general in an army. You're the one who is demonstrating for others to be more like you. So in cre let's think about that again. Leaders homes were their pulpits. The ways that they live this out. And today our hospitality still communicates our theology. What do we really believe about God ourselves and those that we serve? Our hospitality becomes the culture and the currency that we use to communicate God's value to them. Romans, it says in Romans 15:7, "Therefore, welcome one another just as Christ also welcomed you to the glory of God." What you're doing when you're showing hospitality is you're telling them that they belong there before they even start behaving like they're supposed to.

When I was sharing my fa faith early on as a minister of the gospel in the early days of serving in a church, we would go out and there'd be people that I would meet and this still can happen. There'd be people I'd meet for the very first time and I would share the gospel with them and they come to faith in Christ and then I'd encourage them to come uh be obedient and follow him in baptism and and and join the church and do the things they're supposed to do and then they would over time become a part of it. So they would believe and we would encourage them to become and they and they would belong. But in reality what we see more often and we see more as a biblical model what I see more today is that often they belong uh before they believe and they become. Yes, there were those that believed and became right away. But what we're saying is come and be a part. Be a part of us and over time then you will believe and you'll become who you're supposed to be in Christ. We're to go into all the nations and make disciples. And so we're to sh we're to go connect with them relationally. We share the gospel. They come to faith and then we teach them to observe all the things that Jesus commanded them. They become later on. Hospitality is what sets the table for that. It's what makes that possible where they feel safe and welcome to grow in their faith.

We can't be arrogant or hoptempered because arrogance assumes superiority. If I'm arrogant toward you, it's I'm saying I'm better than you. And anger weaponizes that as an emotion. Paul calls for the opposite. He says you're supposed to show humility and patience. That's how we go address the world. Philippians 2 says, "Do not do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interest, but rather to the interests of others. Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ." Again, we've talked about this passage before. That's where humility comes from. It's seeing them as more important than yourself. And again, as we do that, none of us is lacking because we're all doing that for one another. Christ's leadership posture was downward, meaning service over status. He didn't try to elevate himself. He tried to serve better than anyone, which he did. And he gives thus that to us as an example. It's what he told his disciples. You want to be the leader, be the servant.

Leaders must not only avoid evil but delight in righteousness. This is another aspect of character. Being a leader does not just mean I'm going to hold back from sin, but I'm going to affirm that which is godly. I'm going to affirm that which is righteous. I'm going to try to help that take place. mankind. He has told each of you what is good and what is it is the Lord requires of you to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God. These are things of intentionality and pursuit when it comes to righteousness, when it comes to character. Loving good wherever it appears teaches the church that diversity is a gift. So when we see it happening someplace and we affirm that we're elevating. It doesn't matter if somebody is rich or poor. It doesn't matter what their position is. But when we see something good, it's to be elevating that. It's just like even with my kids when they were young and we would somebody would talk about how good they were in public. We they would get caught being good and we would uh we would award that. We would encourage that. They didn't have something to offer me in return, but we were affirming the righteous acts that they were doing, the way they were behaving in p public. It's the same thing that we do in the church. And when we do that for all people across all spectrums, we are lifting them up.

An elder strength comes not from personality, but fidelity. We are holding on. Fidelity means to to be stay true to something. We are holding on to what is true. We're holding on to the true godly, faithful message. Cultural flexibility must never replace theological faithfulness. Now, what do we mean by that? We need to stay true to God's word. We need to stay true to his teachings. We can lower all barriers to the gospel except the gospel itself. We can't lower that. And the problem in society today is often we see well people want to do this and we should be accepting of all we which we should be accepting of all people but that doesn't mean we need to accept everything that they do. We don't need to encourage uh people having sexual transitions for for one thing that is not a godly example of staying true to who God made us to be. So we want to be loving towards all people even those going through that process but we can not get behind and say I affirm what you're doing because now what we've done is we replace the values of culture and society over the word and the word of God and the Holy Spirit. We must stay theologically true to who we're called to be. 2 Timothy 1 says, "Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit through the Holy Spirit who lives in us." He knew that Timothy was going to go out and face challenges. He knew he was going to face people who were older than him. He was going to be in places that cultures were different than him. But he's saying, "Hold on to what you know is true in God's word."

Imagine a family meal with many nations represented. The leader's job in this situation isn't to put himself at the head and tell everybody the way it is. It's his his job to make sure that every plate is served and every person feels seen. I think about even in my home when we have a big family meal, I may sit at one end of the table, but it's not because I want to be in charge. It's because it's closest to the kitchen and I'm making sure that everybody has what they need. I'm getting them the food they need and helping those things. Others can do that as well, but as the one providing the meal, I feel this desire. It's not an obligation, but a privilege of serving them. And that's how we are to lead in multicultural worship. We are to make sure that those we are serving and those who are leading with us, they have what they need and they are served.

Multithnic leaders don't build walls, they build tables. They bring the opportunity to bring us together, not to separate us. We want to create in multicultural worship, we want to create a culture of welcome. We want to model hospitality, teach generosity, open doors of influence, meaning that we want people of different cultures to be in the lead. And we want to celebrate difference publicly. Not trying to make a spectacle out of it, but learning from one another and and celebrating that and honoring that and being genuinely excited about the differences that we have.

Hebrews 13 says, "Let brotherly love continue. Don't neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcome angels as guests without knowing it."

When we open our tables up, we often find that Christ and is seated with us unaware. We need to live as that being the norm, opening our lives, opening our hearts, opening our tables to other and making them making them welcome.

James 3 says, "Who among you is wise and understanding? By his good conduct, he should show that his works are done in the gentleness that comes from wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don't boast about denying the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there is disorder in every evil practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceloving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without pretense. And the fruit of righteousness is sown by peace by those who cultivate peace. Sew the right things and you get the right fruit. You don't sew carrots expecting to get apples. We want to sew the right character into the people we're leading. And we'll see that out. That's one of the most telling things as a pastor is if a church takes on a certain character, you have to look at and say, "How much of that character did they get from me? How much have they become like me?" If they only grow to a certain point, how much did I hold them back? We need to help them grow beyond that. So, there's two kinds of wisdom. Earthly wisdom is driven by pride and ambition. Heavenly wisdom is marked by purity, peace, gentleness, mercy, sincerity. We have different measuring sticks. Don't measure as the world does. The wisdom of the cross is humility expressed through love. You have Jesus Christ, the creator of all things, who took on our sins, who suffered and bled and was crucified. the ultimate humility and the ultimate sacrifice for us. How can we do anything less because we're seeking our own? True wisdom is observable, not what a leader knows, but what how a leader lives. So, here are some things that we can use to measure spiritual maturity. Is it pure? Is it something that is holy and wholesome? Is it peaceloving? Does it seek reconciliation? Is it gentle in the way that it addresses people and leads them? Is it merciful? Does it speak the truth in love and help people to restoration? Is it impartial or does it show favoritism? And is it sincere? Can people can tell if we're really leading from a sincere heart? Let's look at people as we're leading them and be able to help them to become these things. and let the peace of Christ to which you were also called in one body rule your hearts. That's leadership from above. It's peaceful. It's patience. It's Christlike. That's what we need to be doing in our lives for Christ. The key is not innovation in what we do, but imitation. Leaders must imitate Jesus who's cross-reciled divided humanity into one family. And as we imitate Jesus, we're like Paul who says, "Imitate me." We want them to become more like Jesus. They need to see him in us. Leadership as translation is that multithnic leaders are gospel translators. They express the same truth in many cultural tongues. We have different worldviews, different value systems, but they need to come together and who Christ is and his word. To the weak I became weak in order to win the weak. I become all things to all people so that I may be by every possible means save some. Now I do all this because of the gospel so that I may share in the blessings. This is Paul talking about what he became. It's the same way that we are to lead. We are to become these things to all people so that we can win them. Paul's flexibility was compassion but not compromise. He didn't compromise the word of God, but he showed love and acceptance to people where they were. Leadership versus as leadership is reconciliation. Leadership in a multithnic church is not about managing color but multiplying compassion. It's about bringing people into the unified body of Christ. For he is our peace who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In his flesh he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations so that he might create in himself one new man from the two resulting in peace. He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death.

I want to end with this summary of Gray's overall leadership vision. First of all, we lead from character, not charisma. Second, we translate the gospel across cultures faithfully. Third, we pursue reconciliation, not just representation. We want people to truly be reconciled to one another. And we serve humbly and love deeply. If we do these things in keeping true to the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, then we can become one and we can worship him in greater ways. Thanks. See you next time. As long as I'm breathing, I got a reason to praise the Lord, oh my soul. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. I won't be quiet. My God is alive. How can I keep it inside the Lord, oh my soul?