I am a golfer. I am not a good golfer, but I do play the game, so I suppose that makes me a golfer of some sort. A discussion of what sort that may be will be saved for another time.
I talk to people about golf. I watch golf. I read about golf. If I were a wealthier man, or one with more time on his hands, I might play more golf. Over the last several years my affinity for the game became paired with my enjoyment of YouTube. In addition to watching people horribly injure their property, bodies, and others with clubs, balls, and carts, there is an enormous amount of video out there to help people attempt to fix their game. A friend pointed me to a Nike commercial featuring a high-speed filmed, slow-motion replay of Tiger Woods' swing. The artistic motion is accompanied by a string trio; revving up during the backswing, and playing an effortless melody on the way down. I must have watched and (poorly) recreated it hundreds of times.
Like many people, I watched with amazement as Tiger racked up 14 majors over the first dozen or so years of his career; seemingly on pace to be the greatest golfer ever and surpass Jack Nicklaus' mark of 18. Perhaps the single most wasted 20 minutes of time I've witnessed (and truthfully, partaken in) here in the church office was when so many of the staff gathered in the youth room to watch Tiger make a clutch putt to force a playoff in the 2008 U.S. Open against Rocco Mediate. After the putt fell into the cup, Rocco Mediate was shown off the course shaking his head, saying, "He made it. I knew he would." So did everyone else.
The fascination with Tiger went beyond Golf, however. People cared what Tiger had to say about politics, business, inner city youth, natural catastrophes, religion...
Then, almost a year ago, it all came crashing down around Tiger. I don't know why we're surprised when it happens, but Tiger's tale is parallel to so many others' whose greatest talents seem to place them in a land of heightened influence, only to see a giant hole in their character turn things upside down.
Andy Stanley, Pastor of Northpoint Community Church near Atlanta, once said that "Your talent and giftedness has the potential to take you farther than your character can sustain you. That ought to scare you."
Does it?
In worship ministry we're often looked at as leaders in the church. I know, I work here, so perhaps I'll have a harder time fending off the attribution, but it's true of the folks who join me on stage week to week as well. Think about it... many of these people are seen by the entire congregation somewhere between 26 and 52 times a year. For some in our church who aren't well connected or have only been visiting a short time, our faces may be as recognizable as Pastor Steve's. If you're on stage, you're a leader whether you seek to be or not.
It doesn't have to be a musician, however. Life group leaders, Sunday school teachers, general board members, whatever the case may be; your ability to lead, teach, speak, sing or create an awesome spreadsheet can take you to a place from which the fall can feel every bit as great as that of the world's best golfer, with a much greater, and more important, impact.
Francis Chan once said that he's never met a pastor whose character exceeded his reputation. Why? Because we can control our reputation. We can manipulate what others see about our lives and can influence their perspective of our relationship with God. The realities, however, lie in the places people don't see, or that which we would rather they not see. So knowing that our abilities and our gifts can lead us to places of great influence, what can we do to be people of a Godly character?
My DNA Group partner, Andy Phillips, and I have been reading the book of James, and it is truly an instruction manual, close to a checklist even, on how to closely follow God and his calling for your life. Real quick, let's hit the first few highlights, and we'll do more later.
1) We must persevere in difficulty.
James 1:2 says "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
If we are to be men and women of Godly character, we must rejoice in difficulty. It makes us more like Christ. Nothing that we go through is unknown to God, and even the very testing of our faith, we're told, brings us closer to "completion" (see Philippians 1:6). How do we react in trials? With fear or questioning, or with a bold reliance upon God for the accomplishing of his will?
2) We must know that our gifts come from an eternal God.
"Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows," James 1 15-17.
We too often blame God in what we deem to be the bad times, and too often take credit for the good. What is it, exactly that we have accomplished? What is it that we have gained? All that is good is given to us by a God whose purpose for those gifts is the completion of His work. Another word for this is being humble. Humility is the mark of a follower of Jesus Christ, and it is achieved by first knowing who God is, and then understanding who you are. When you do the math on that, you should come away a different person than before.
3) Act on what the Bible says to do.
James 1:22, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." Perhaps easier said than done, but this goes right back to Christ. Jesus said "If you love me you will obey my commandments," (John 14:15). It's as simple as it reads: if we are following Jesus, we're going to do the things he says to do. Love the way he loves, pray the way he prays, think the way he thinks, and so on. Being one person on Sunday morning and another person Monday through Saturday is the easiest way to damage the opportunity God has given you to be a reflection of Him on this earth. There are two sides to this, however.
One, and perhaps the most obvious, we need not lead a life outside of the church that is driven by sin. This is not to say that we won't make mistakes, but our lives during the week must not be led by anything but a love for our God who loved us first. Our popularity at work or school, or the advancement of our career must not be more important than our love for Christ, and the obedience that follows.
Just as importantly, though, we must not present a false front when we are with other believers, nor should other Christians make us feel like we have to. Struggle is universal. Hard times and temptation are real for all of us. Faking it in the context of the church body is not fruitful. We must be willing to be transparent, to let others see us as we really are, and perhaps then we can be iron sharpening another's iron, and vice-a-versa.
So we're beginning to see how we can be a people of character; a people who seek to live lives committed to the calling and responsibilities God gives us. And that's just chapter 1. We'll talk more sometime soon about "doing" and what it means for the opportunities God gives us.
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