ELOGOS for Tuesday

Ephesians 4:11-13
The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 
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Leadership happens. No matter where we look, there is leadership to be seen and leadership that is needed for projects large and small. We, humans, get twisted up in what we value in leadership. We choose to value the ends over the means. We value effectiveness over ethical behavior. We value the bottom line over the quality of life. The greatest over the least. When we choose not to accept the responsibilities of leadership, we value throwing grenades from the bleachers and creating chaos. We play with power and then we become addicted to it. The Church through the centuries since the time Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians was susceptible to the vulnerability of poorly defined leadership. Jesus understood leadership as service and equipping others to do what he described as "even greater works than" what he was doing. Imagine that. Leaders of the Church were not the end game of Christ's purposes for the Church. Pastors and teacher and all were and continue to be the ones who are lift up others in the work of building up the body of Christ which extends God's grace to the world. Christ set the benchmark for leadership that the world could still learn from: No one wins until everyone does. 
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Help us to grow up into servants, Lord. Amen.
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