In the Name of Jesus: Reflections
on Christian Leadership
By Henri J.M. Nouwen
© 1989, New York, The Crossroads Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-8245-1259-0
When
we hear the call to follow Christ, it is more than just a physical or mental decision to follow
him. Henri Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership,
we see that to be a Christian Leader we must surrender all we are to the leadership of Christ. The problem has been that the purity of
simply following Christ gets replaced with ideas of
grandeur and success. In Matthew
4:19, we see that when Jesus called his disciples it
was a request to come and follow a Rabbi and teacher. In the Jewish culture, young men would
study the law and the prophets.
Then periodically have interviews with Rabbis to
see if they had what it took to be Disciples. There were several stages that a young man
would go through to see if he had “the right stuff”. If he passed the test, he would follow the
Rabbi and take on his “yoke” or teaching.
If he did not pass the test, he would be
encouraged to take on the trade of his father. The fisherman that Jesus called on that shore in
Galilee had failed the test. They
were working in the trade of their fathers. So when the Rabbi came by and said,
“Follow Me”, they left all to follow.
They realized that he saw “the
right stuff” within them. This was
a physical following. Peter would later be called to
an inward following. Nowen
challenges leaders to get back to heart of their calling, but he
goes on to show us that we can not do it in the flesh.
In
John 20:22, we see the resurrected Jesus talking with His disciples and giving them a blessed gift. He breathes on them and says, “Receive
the Holy Spirit”. This was a down payment of what was
going to happen at Pentecost. They
were sealed and filled with the Holy Spirit at that
moment, just as we are the moment we commit our lives to Christ. When the Holy Spirit was
given to them it was an invasion of the soul. It invaded the very core of their being. An invasion
is a military offensive
consisting of all, or large parts of the armed forces
of one geopolitical
entity aggressively entering territory
controlled by another such entity,
generally with the objective of either conquering, liberating or reestablishing control or authority over a
territory, forcing the partition of a country, altering the established government
or gaining concessions from said government, or a combination thereof. An invasion can be the cause of a war, be used, as a part of a
larger strategy to end a war, or it can constitute an
entire war in itself. Due to the
large scale of the operations associated with invasions, they
are usually strategic
in planning and execution. This invasion ended the war between God and man. God strategically planned this invasion before the foundations of the
world were created. We have been
liberated from the power and bondage of sin. Our relationship has been
restored. Understanding what we have been liberated from should drive
us to follow Christ. In order to
truly follow we must be surrendered to the power of the Holy
Spirit through prayer and not chase after relevance. Relevance is defining an issue and then proposing a plausible
solution to that problem.
We can only be relevant when we understand that only God can provide the answers the world is looking for. The main way to tap in to that power
and guidance is through prayer and not the latest program on
the street.
Later
Jesus restores Peter by asking him a series of questions to check Peter’s motives. Earlier in the Book of John, Peter
vowed to give his life to follow Christ, but later denied him. Peter was quick to commit the flesh to
something that it was not capable of. After Peter and been
broken and come to the end of himself, he realized that apart from Christ he could do
nothing. Now after the Holy Spirit
was given and Peter was restored, we see Jesus give a command
that he also gives to us today. In
John, 21:19, we see Jesus command Peter saying,
“Follow Me”. Apart from the Holy
Spirit, we cannot truly follow Christ. We must inwardly be broken and
surrender daily to the Spirit in order to fully follow Christ and be able
to lead others to do the same. We must allow ourselves to be invaded by the Holy
Spirit. Then and only then will we
be leaders operating In the Name of Jesus.
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