The Leader's Burden
“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.” (2 Timothy 1:8 ESV)
Paul was on the very last leg of his life imprisoned under Nero, the most blood lusting, insane, and terrifying emperor in Roman history. Under Nero's reign, thousands of Christians were severely persecuted and tortured (I.e., impaled on lampposts, thrown to the lions, beaten to death by gladiators, etc.). Paul knew his days were coming to a quick close. Thus, he was writing to Timothy with a desperation for support and prayer. One such individual who supported him was Onesiphorus. Paul commends him for searching him out and coming to him in his darkest hour.
“You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me.” (2 Timothy 1:15-16 ESV)
Note how all who were in Asia turned away from Paul. We’ll get to those type of folks later.
Onesiphorus’ search for Paul was a very difficult task. Rome was a huge city. There were hundreds of jails and prisons with no real system of organization. Chaos! Onesiphorus couldn’t just look up Paul’s name in a registry. He had to painstakingly walk the streets, inquiring from local and crooked magistrates, searching from prison to prison until he found him. THAT’S someone who shares the burden of ministry. And then once he found Paul, he ministered encouragement to him. The mere effort that Onesiphorus made was refreshing in itself. I’m sure Paul was comforted by his presence and genuine concern.
Most people will never be like this. They’re extremely selfish and too self centered to really care. Coach Lou Holtz once said, “Don’t tell people about your problems. 90% don’t care about them and 10% of people are glad you’ve got them.” Although humorous, it’s unfortunately a reality. Most people are takers. People who carry the burden of ministry with us are very rare indeed. Caring people help carry the burden of leadership.
Many sign up to serve from their own neediness. They really don’t want to experience the underbelly of leadership. So, we do all we can to hide and block it from them. Many church volunteers just want to have fun and be fulfilled in their own agendas and purposes. They want community but not any real responsibility or accountability.
Often , leaders try to protect their teams from the persisting and sometimes overwhelming burden of ministry. They do everything they can to retain people to the point of making sure all their needs are met, coddling them, entertaining them, feeding them, coaxing them, affirming them, etc. Not that these things are wrong, but somewhere in all this we should ask them (as Paul did) to share in the burden and even suffering of our ministry. We need to let them peer a little bit behind the green curtain long enough to become aware of the reality of suffering in leadership. We actually do our people a sense of injustice to experience the press of ministry without the press. We must find a way to admonish our people that once they step into the place of serving in ministry they become a target of the enemy.
In 1 Chronicles, we are introduced to a very gifted man who, because of his gift, was given the burden of the ministry of worship. Cheneniah, chief of the Levites, oversaw the entire ministry of music and worship for God’s people.
“Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was in charge of the singing; he gave instruction in singing because he was skillful.” (1 Chronicles 15:22 NASB)
In this passage the word singing means duty or opportunity. Ministry comes with duty and responsibly. The word instruction means to chastise with blows. This means being lovingly honest with people and sometimes even telling them the awkwardly painful truth. Even more interesting, the word skillful means to understand or carry a burden. Chenaniah possesed more than a mere skill set, position, or title. He was appointed to this place of leadership because he understood the BURDEN that came with it. All glory is mostly burden. True ministry-leaders carry burden over glory. The anointing is given not to impress people, but to be able to carry the weight of the burden of leadership.
Suffering is what gives leaders their substance. When Oswald Chambers preached his first sermon over 60 years ago, two women in the church were conversing about it. One asked the other, “What do you think about the pastor’s sermon today?” The woman replied, “He did fairly well, but he’ll do even better after he suffers here.”
When the Levites carried the ark, they shouldered it TOGETHER. God instructed the priests at the crossing over the Jordan River, to carry the ark together in order to pursue the presence of God into the promised land. We cannot possess the promises of God alone. We must cross through the press and over the precipice together.
Paul instructs Timothy to share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:3). In our key passage. Paul was desperate for someone to share in his suffering. We need to tell our teams that they are more than just volunteers. They are actually ministers. True ministers carry a burden for people and for the ministry. In order to do this, they must recognize and feel a sense of that burden.
“Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2 ESV)
Let’s talk about the people who deserted Paul (and who will desert you). Sure, most people will never carry the full weight of the passion and burden that we as leaders carry. However, they still need to identify with some of the burden in order to serve with integrity. Most people desert their post the moment things get hard (I.e., team members bailing, complaining, causing division, putting their own well being others, etc.). They feel that the burden is not their responsibility to bear, so they cast off restraint. Where people lack vision or revelation, they will cast off the personal importance or relevance to prioritize their own personal lives.
Leader… By continuing to coddle the selfish, weak, and self centered behavior and attitudes in people, we actually further encourage it. We need to be bold enough as Paul was to remind people of the burden we carry and encourage them to help us bear it.
“Remember my chains…” (Colossians 4:18 ESV)
