Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Makes a Good Leader? | Judges | Judges 15

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. And I'm Patrick Miller. Right now, we're going through the Book of Judges. If you haven't subscribed to our new podcast, Truth Over Tribe, I'd encourage you to take some time and go do that right now. We've got interviews about culture, politics, and the things you really care about with people like John Mark Comer, John Tyson, Oz Guinness, and many, many others. It's going to be a great podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:33 I've been excited about the interviews and the topics that we've taken on. So stop right now. Go subscribe to Truth Over Tribe on your podcast player. Is there a famous person who really shaped your view of Christianity or God or the Bible when you were growing up or when you became a Christian? I grew up with a clock radio in the kitchen playing Caleb 24 hours a day that included a daily broadcast from James Dobson and Focus on the Family. Now, those are a few years younger than me think James Dobson is an artifact. but many of them were shaped by a Seattle-based pastor named Mark Drixel. Drixel is the star, if you want to call it that, of the currently hot and pretty popular

Starting point is 00:01:10 Mars Hill podcast that has lots of people asking questions and thinking about things like spiritual fame and popularity and the evangelical movements that shaped us and maybe even hurt us. Now, if you're not into Mars Hill or you haven't heard of it, it's produced by Christianity today and they interview people and examine the circumstances around the pretty dramatic rise and fall of Pastor Mark Drixel's Seattle-based church called Mars Hill. It's one of those shows you can listen to and just think, wow, how is that possible? Or you can think, wow, that describes something I've been through.

Starting point is 00:01:44 When we were in our 20s, Eric and I were part of a growing and vibrant church in a different city than where we live now, and we had a pastor that was really gifted. His ability to speak and teach and draw a crowd made us feel like we were part of something bigger. We felt like we were learning and being challenged. We were excited about an environment,

Starting point is 00:02:01 our friends. But one day, while we were both at work, we got an email from our elder board asking us to come to the church that evening, all of us, for an emergency meeting. We had no idea what to expect. But what we got when we were there was an account from the elders and then the pastor about an affair he was having that had been uncovered when the woman involved called the church office. We were angry, shocked, disbelieving. Truly, we didn't want it to be true. We wanted to find another explanation because we thought he was too gifted. We thought things were going too well for something like this to be happening at the same time. How could he produce what we thought was such good fruit if his life was in personal rebellion? It was a question we held on to for a long time.

Starting point is 00:02:48 I wish I would have read this recent tweet by Rebecca McLaughlin 15 years ago instead of last week. She tweeted, it is possible to talk about Jesus publicly. while losing your grip with him privately. If that touches you in a place that is tender, either because you've been part of a church leadership that's hurt you, or because it pricks at your own heart, we can look to the Bible to give us direction and encouragement and hope. The story of Samson and the Philistines in Judges 15 helps us see

Starting point is 00:03:19 that there's a difference between gifts of the spirit and fruit of the spirit. Samson's story is an illustration of how God can use a flawed, sinful individual to accomplish his purposes. Before Samson, the Israelites were complacent. They weren't fighting against the Philistine rule over them. They were comfortably just fitting in and mingling with the Philistines. They were trapped and they didn't seem to care. But from birth, in fact, even while he was in the womb,

Starting point is 00:03:46 God made it clear that he would use Samson to end this complacency. God set him apart for that purpose. Samson's story shows that God will do what he says, with us, through us, without us, in spite of us, however he chooses. God chose to give Samson an extraordinary gift of strength to defeat the fellow students. And if you're Samson's mom or his family, if you're Samson's friends or neighbors, if you're someone who lives in Samson's community, you want to be connected to him. He's powerful. He protects you. He might drive you crazy and cause hurting your life, but he's also the one to fix

Starting point is 00:04:20 the problems. He comes through in the end. Clearly, God is working through him. You were drawn to him, his power and his strength, but you also see hurt and collateral damage left in his wake. He's supposed to be set apart, but he takes a wife from your enemy and indulges in prostitutes. He's not supposed to touch anything dead or unclean, but he drinks honey from an animal carcass. He comes to your rescue, but he creates more enemies in the process, so how do you make sense of it all? I want to read a couple of verses from Judges 15 that reveal much about Samson. When he, Samson, came to Lehi, the Philisines came shouting to meet him. Then the spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire,

Starting point is 00:05:06 and his bonds melted off his hands, and he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it struck one thousand men. See, just in this one passage, we have two dichotomous things happening. One, the spirit of the Lord comes upon Samson with the gift of strength. immediately following, Samson defiles the stipulations of his separateness, using an animal carcass to kill the Philistines. This passage clearly illustrates the spirit on Samson and the sin of Samson. And the Bible is making a distinction that can help us. The story is a reminder first to look at God and not humans to define God's power, purity, goodness, and strength. The Bible also is helping us understand that it's possible to have gifts of the Spirit while lacking the fruit of the Spirit.

Starting point is 00:06:00 Gifts of the Spirit, like Samson's strength in this example, provide means for doing things in God's kingdom. Fruit of the Spirit describe the character of abiding in God's kingdom. Samson had the spiritual gift of strength. Others have gifts of teaching, leading, serving, and discerning, and God gives these gifts generously, and they're for his purpose and for his glory. God didn't give Samson strength so they could follow Samson. He gave him strength so they could see the shackles of slavery that were binding up their hearts and keeping them from following God. Paul talks about spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and he says there are a variety of gifts given by the spirit, and the same spirit and the same God empower all of them. But we get misdirected

Starting point is 00:06:45 when we look at these gifts and the fruit they produce and follow the people who have them as if they are God. In reality, these gifts should only point us to the one true God. And here's why. Samson is a great example of someone who displays grand outward gifts, but lacks inward devotion. He illustrates strength and lacks self-control. He stands up for a cause, but lacks gentleness. And any time we look at humans to define God, we're going to be. going to get confused. It's possible to be gifted by the Holy Spirit with grand gifts, or especially those on public display, while inwardly wilting away from the desert soil of our hearts that are not abiding in God. So where do we go with this? Well, first, we need to know and

Starting point is 00:07:34 recognize real spiritual fruit. From Galatians 522, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We need to recognize it and look for true fruit instead of a false prosperity in those who lead us. I mentioned earlier that Eric and I went through a difficult season in our church and lost trust in a pastor. And we were tempted to lose trust in all spiritual leaders. I think many people who witness either a private or public fall of a spiritual leader may have the same temptation. But several years later, I'm encouraged by my spiritual leaders for different reasons, not just talent and leadership. I'm stretched and challenged by their humility, their willingness to talk about their own struggles and even failures as they take us along with them on a growth in spiritual maturity.

Starting point is 00:08:30 I'm touched by their patience, their willingness to listen and explain and engage. And I'm part of a community enveloped in their example. their example of love for God first and then for people, a love that is active and relevant, a love that crosses cultural borders and boundaries. What fruit do you see in your spiritual leaders that lines up more with the biblical description instead of the worldly one?

Starting point is 00:08:59 And then, of course, we need to look inward and discern between our spiritual gifts and our spiritual fruits. Paul says anything we do without love is done from a place emptiness and leaves emptiness in its wake. The love he's talking about is rooted in our love for the Father. This is a love that is awakened, cultivated, grown, restored, and renewed in our prayer life. We don't want to be the one who talks about God publicly while losing our grip on him privately. So talk to God, but be still before God. Take out your AirPods if you need to, turn off your phone, it over on your desk, quiet the voices that are always talking, talking, and make space for your

Starting point is 00:09:45 heart to be spiritually awakened and renewed by God. The fruit of the spirit isn't cultivated in the world and its noise. It's cultivated in the intimacy of our souls as we connect with our creator, as we're filled and renewed with His Spirit, only through him, only by him and only with him. let's let him lead us to that place. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps others find this podcast more easily. Also ask yourself who you could share this podcast with.

Starting point is 00:10:22 Texting an episode to a friend or family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Makes a Good Leader? | Judges | Judges 15

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