Stewardship Over Ownership: Embracing Leadership's True Calling

 

Summary

In today's reflection, we explored the profound concept of ownership and stewardship, drawing inspiration from C.S. Lewis's "Screwtape Letters." The notion of "mine" can often lead us astray, especially in leadership roles, where the line between stewardship and ownership can blur. As leaders, we are called to steward the responsibilities entrusted to us, recognizing that ultimately, everything belongs to God. This understanding challenges us to hold our roles and responsibilities with open hands, acknowledging that our time, talents, and ministries are not ours to possess but to manage faithfully.

We delved into the tension between accountability and responsibility, emphasizing the importance of owning our roles without letting them define our identity. True leadership involves defining reality, intercepting entropy, and maintaining a healthy balance between taking responsibility and avoiding the pitfalls of ego-driven ownership. This balance is crucial in preventing our ministries from becoming extensions of our egos, which can lead to a lack of accountability and eventual downfall.

Furthermore, we discussed the role of suffering in leadership. Suffering is not an interruption but an integral part of our journey, shaping our character and resilience. Embracing suffering as a tool for growth allows us to lean into challenges, trusting that God is at work even in our difficulties. This perspective aligns with the biblical understanding that trials produce endurance, character, and hope.

Finally, we examined the concept of the "shadow mission," a subtle deviation from our true calling that can lead us astray. Identifying and confronting our shadow missions requires self-awareness and accountability, ensuring that our leadership remains aligned with God's purposes. By rooting our identity in God's love and grace, we can face reality with honesty and courage, just as Jesus did.

Key Takeaways:

1. The Myth of Ownership: True leadership requires recognizing that everything we have is ultimately God's. This understanding helps us steward our responsibilities without letting them become extensions of our egos. By holding our roles with open hands, we can avoid the pitfalls of pride and maintain a healthy balance between accountability and responsibility. [03:21]

2. Accountability and Responsibility: Effective leaders define reality and intercept entropy, maintaining a balance between taking responsibility and avoiding ego-driven ownership. This balance prevents our ministries from becoming extensions of our egos, ensuring accountability and preventing potential downfalls. [07:00]

3. Embracing Suffering: Suffering is not an interruption but a vital part of our leadership journey. It shapes our character and resilience, producing endurance and hope. By embracing suffering, we align with the biblical understanding that trials are tools for growth and transformation. [18:30]

4. Identifying the Shadow Mission: Our shadow mission is a subtle deviation from our true calling that can lead us astray. Identifying and confronting it requires self-awareness and accountability, ensuring our leadership remains aligned with God's purposes. [23:08]

5. Rooting Identity in God: By rooting our identity in God's love and grace, we can face reality with honesty and courage. This foundation allows us to embrace challenges, learn from failures, and lead with integrity, just as Jesus did. [24:30]

Youtube Chapters:

- [00:00] - Welcome
- [00:23] - The Myth of Mine
- [01:22] - C.S. Lewis on Ownership
- [02:47] - Pride and Confusion in Ownership
- [04:24] - Personal Experience with Ministry
- [05:25] - Balancing Accountability and Responsibility
- [06:46] - Defining Reality and Intercepting Entropy
- [07:42] - Identity and Leadership
- [09:10] - Stewardship vs. Ownership
- [10:07] - Accountability as a Virtue
- [11:38] - Blame and Forgiveness
- [12:41] - Parable of the Talents
- [13:28] - Embracing God's Adventure
- [14:53] - Facing Reality in Leadership
- [16:28] - Suffering and Leadership
- [19:18] - Jesus' Greatest Contribution
- [22:20] - The Shadow Mission
- [24:50] - Rooting Identity in God

Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide

Bible Reading:
1. Numbers 11:10-15
2. James 1:2-4
3. Philippians 3:10

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Observation Questions:

1. In Numbers 11:10-15, how does Moses express his feelings about the burden of leadership? What does this reveal about the challenges of stewardship? [00:51]

2. According to James 1:2-4, what is the purpose of trials and suffering in a believer's life? How does this align with the sermon’s perspective on suffering? [18:14]

3. How does Philippians 3:10 relate to the concept of suffering as an integral part of leadership and spiritual growth? [20:05]

4. In the sermon, what is described as the "myth of mine," and how does it relate to the concept of ownership in leadership? [00:23]

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Interpretation Questions:

1. How does the story of Moses in Numbers 11:10-15 illustrate the tension between ownership and stewardship in leadership roles? [00:51]

2. James 1:2-4 speaks about trials producing endurance. How might this endurance be beneficial for someone in a leadership position, according to the sermon? [18:14]

3. The sermon discusses the "shadow mission." How can identifying one's shadow mission help maintain alignment with God's purposes? [23:08]

4. How does rooting one's identity in God's love and grace, as mentioned in the sermon, help a leader face challenges with honesty and courage? [24:30]

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Application Questions:

1. Reflect on a time when you felt a strong sense of ownership over a project or role. How did this affect your leadership style, and what steps can you take to shift towards a stewardship mindset? [05:25]

2. Consider a current challenge or trial you are facing. How can you embrace this situation as an opportunity for growth and character development, as suggested in James 1:2-4? [18:14]

3. Identify a potential "shadow mission" in your life. What steps can you take to ensure your leadership remains aligned with God's purposes? [23:08]

4. How can you cultivate a practice of accountability in your leadership role, ensuring that your ministry or work does not become an extension of your ego? [08:37]

5. Think about a recent situation where you avoided facing reality due to fear of failure or inadequacy. How can you approach similar situations differently in the future, rooted in the assurance of God's love? [16:10]

6. In what ways can you invite others to speak into your life and leadership, helping you maintain a balanced perspective and avoid the pitfalls of ego-driven ownership? [14:53]

7. How can you actively remind yourself that your time, talents, and responsibilities ultimately belong to God, and what practical steps can you take to live this out daily? [03:21]

Devotional

Day 1: The Illusion of Ownership
Recognizing that everything we have is ultimately God's is a transformative realization. This understanding shifts our perspective from ownership to stewardship, allowing us to manage our responsibilities without letting them become extensions of our egos. By holding our roles with open hands, we can avoid the pitfalls of pride and maintain a healthy balance between accountability and responsibility. This mindset encourages us to see our time, talents, and ministries as gifts to be managed faithfully, rather than possessions to be controlled. [03:21]

"For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine." (Psalm 50:10-11, ESV)

Reflection: What is one area of your life where you struggle with the concept of ownership? How can you begin to see it as an opportunity for stewardship instead?


Day 2: Balancing Accountability and Responsibility
Effective leadership involves defining reality and intercepting entropy, maintaining a balance between taking responsibility and avoiding ego-driven ownership. This balance is crucial in preventing our ministries from becoming extensions of our egos, which can lead to a lack of accountability and eventual downfall. By focusing on stewardship rather than ownership, leaders can ensure that their actions align with God's purposes and maintain integrity in their roles. [07:00]

"Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy." (1 Corinthians 4:2, ESV)

Reflection: In what ways can you redefine your leadership role to focus more on stewardship and less on ownership?


Day 3: Embracing Suffering as Growth
Suffering is not an interruption but a vital part of our leadership journey. It shapes our character and resilience, producing endurance and hope. By embracing suffering, we align with the biblical understanding that trials are tools for growth and transformation. This perspective allows us to lean into challenges, trusting that God is at work even in our difficulties, and that these experiences are refining us for greater purposes. [18:30]

"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope." (Romans 5:3-4, ESV)

Reflection: How can you view a current challenge or suffering in your life as an opportunity for growth and transformation?


Day 4: Identifying the Shadow Mission
Our shadow mission is a subtle deviation from our true calling that can lead us astray. Identifying and confronting it requires self-awareness and accountability, ensuring our leadership remains aligned with God's purposes. By being vigilant and introspective, we can recognize when we are veering off course and take corrective action to realign with our true mission. This process involves rooting our identity in God's love and grace, allowing us to face reality with honesty and courage. [23:08]

"Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!" (2 Corinthians 13:5, ESV)

Reflection: What is one potential shadow mission in your life, and how can you take steps to realign with your true calling?


Day 5: Rooting Identity in God's Love
By rooting our identity in God's love and grace, we can face reality with honesty and courage. This foundation allows us to embrace challenges, learn from failures, and lead with integrity, just as Jesus did. When our identity is secure in God's love, we are free to serve others selflessly and pursue our calling with confidence, knowing that our worth is not tied to our achievements or failures. [24:30]

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1 Peter 2:9, ESV)

Reflection: How can you more deeply root your identity in God's love and grace today, and what impact might this have on your leadership and relationships?

Quotes


The overall pathway is on the one hand if I'm going to lead something there's a way in which I gotta own it I gotta track it are we healthy are we doing well are we being effective I have to be monitoring and and I got to carry that burden I think about when Moses and numbers goes to God and he's just whining about did I give birth to these people do I have to nurse them so there is that sense in which it's kind of like being a parent sure uh there's another way in which I can own uh the group that I'm leading with the organization or the mission in the wrong way where I start to feel like it's an extension of me it's an extension of my ego. [00:36:43]

The sense of ownership in general is always to be encouraged the humans are always putting up claims to ownership which sound equally funny in heaven and in hell and we must keep them doing so much of the modern resistance to Chastity comes from Men's beliefs that they own their bodies you hear a lot about that those vast and perilous Estates pulsating with the energy that made the worlds in which they find themselves without their consent and from which they are ejected at the pleasure of another. [00:16:49]

I felt like this is where God wanted us and this is where he wanted us to be and one fine day I felt like he was saying hey well done your time here is done and it was so hard for me because it was it still is my church and it's still part of who I am and I love it and I like genuinely felt like through my time there I never intentionally felt like this was my Ministry I was trying to do my best to remind myself like no this is God's I'm stewarding it I want to be a good Steward. [00:57:49]

The first task of a leader is to Define reality he would talk about another Central task of leadership uh around intercepting entropy um entropy names the fact that in the universe things tend to be winding down they are running from a state of more energy and organization to more chaos as I understand it and one of the things that good leaders do is they're constantly looking for signs of entropy standards are slipping a little bit people don't care as much they're not seeking to bring that same level of effort quality care and a good leader has to be detecting and intercepting entropy all the time. [01:09:12]

Accountability is a noble thing about human beings to say I am an agent I am able to choose and I will be accountable to God is a wonderful thing about us and I think one of the one of the challenges in this tension is we live in an age where we all run from blaming ourselves and uh anytime you read stuff on The Human Condition why we are the way that we are physically financially in lots of ways don't blame yourself and be a constant message. [01:44:59]

Part of the message of the Gospel is yes there are things that are very deeply my fault but that doesn't mean that I am not loved yeah and not cared for by God and that to let go of my defensiveness am I need to protect myself and say yep now I'll never fully know how much is my fault but to be a leader means among other things to seek to take response to be responsible to be accountable. [01:59:14]

When the master comes back the 10 Talent guy five Talent guy one Talent guy uh they must give account yeah so I will be accountable with what I did and for the guy who doesn't do anything I was afraid are you a hard person I hit in the ground it was not a good day yeah because God would hold him accountable but that's part of where uh he didn't own that Talent that was a gift but he was invited to go on an adventure to exercise initiative to be creative to be bold to be courageous. [02:41:16]

Embrace whatever it is that I'm leading or that exercise of dominion that's in my life to embrace it to know that God loves me God's for me it's an adventure but it is not mine it is not my church it is not my Ministry and the fact that it belongs to God should motivate me to even be more zealous in wanting to assess how is it doing wanting it to do really well because it's about more than my ego if this little part of the Kingdom can flourish if this little piece of the garden can do well it's part of this magnificent project that God is doing and I get to be a part of that. [02:49:50]

Suffering is a part of our life it's a part of reality we we haven't faced it yet we will I think about this myth of mind this this this tension there I feel like it becomes even more it's something I become even more aware of in the moments that I face suffering so talk a little bit about suffering and how this myth of Mind thing fits into that pace yeah like oh that's wonderful you know as Matt Bloom did this study on people flourishing in Ministry and what does well-being and Ministry look like uh resilience yes was one of the four markers of that as we talked to the Daily well-being resilience authenticity and then thriving. [02:47:00]

James when all kinds of Trials and temptations crowd into your lives don't resent them as in Shooters but welcome them as friends realize that they come to produce in you the quality of endurance consider it pure joy yep and uh to realize that's he's not just making happy talk there he's not just he's not just writing to look at the words uh he's actually discovered that really is true and so he really does welcome them or Paul when he says we boast not only in Our Hope and God in our sufferings because it produces endurance which produces character which leads to Hope. [03:01:44]

We have no idea what contributions we are bringing to God's kingdom that will matter the most but whatever they are for sure they will involve suffering Paul says for I want to know Christ and the fellowship of his self you know so as Leaders when things turn out in ways that are deeply disappointing to us when things are not moving in the direction that we want to move them into that's not an interruption in God's calling on our lives that's the very things that we need to be involved and so to lean into them. [03:20:05]

The idea of that is that just as all of us are called by God to have a genuine God powered mission in our lives the Shadow Self the Fallen broken self will cling to a shadow Mission which is um subtle because it's just like five or ten degrees off it's not 180 degrees away from wiring for me often to learn and be able to communicate is part of my sense of mission in life but to want to use words to win a claim that's my shadow mission. [03:43:22]

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Transcript
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