#2 – You Should Always Say Nice Things
Too many people believe that Jesus and Mr. Rogers are the same guy!
They believe that church leader = nice person…and if something unkind is said then the Lord is not honored.
There is really only one problem with that particular mindset…SCRIPTURE.
I don’t think anyone would argue that Jesus Christ was/is the greatest leader to ever exist! (Well…some would…they’re wrong and one day will realize it!) AND Jesus was kind…to “sinners” (tax collectors, prostitutes), children and so on…
But church people really set Him off…and His most brutal, “unkind” words that He ever spoke were directed straight at them…and they were not nice.
Seriously, in Matthew 23 He LOST IT…for example…
- In Matthew 23:15 He calls the most religious people in the world “sons of hell!”
- In Matthew 23:25-26 He tells the religious peeps that they are clean on the outside but not the inside.
- Matthew 23:33 is UNBELIEVABLE! WOW…did He REALLY say that? DANG! (This was really “unkind!”)
- In John 8:44 He calls these people “sons of the devil!” A HUGE insult to these people!
Jesus called out religion…and wasn’t nice about it!
Unfortunately the church has this reversed today. Many of the unkind things we say are directed towards the very people we should be trying to reach…we bash people who don’t know Christ…yet for some reason we expect them to live like they do.
In the meantime we allow people who are religious yet do not have a relationship off because, well, to call them out would be “unkind.”
But Jesus did!
When we care more about how Jesus led rather than what people think about us…and are willing to say whatever He places inside of us…I believe the church will then start becoming what HE has called us to become…
A place that receives sinners and rebukes the religious!!!
My obsession as a leader can never be to be nice…I must be obsessed with obedience to HIS voice…which means, at times, saying things that make the religious uncomfortable. That’s His call for leaders!