Leadership comm. 8

In Leadership Comm 7. I spoke to you about being authentic that all that we would do would be the real deal and that we'd be true to who Jesus has called us to be. Let me share with you another ethos point that works alongside authentic:

excellent

   [ek-suh-luh nt] –adjective

1.possessing outstanding quality or superior merit; remarkably good.

2.Archaic. extraordinary; superior.

Excellent does not mean perfection, but it does mean doing what we do well and to the best of our ability. Paul writes to the church in Corinth: 2 Corinthians 8:7 ESV But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also. It is about doing the best we can with what we have been given by Jesus. We are called to glorify Jesus in everything – that is our mission and purpose of existence and when we do something less than excellently we do a disservice to him and his work in the world.

A synonym for excellent is diligent and the bible has these instructions: teach your children diligently about worshipping God (Deut 6), We're called to diligently discipline our children (Prov 14:24) We're called to work diligently so that God would bless us (Prov 10:4, 12:24, 13:4) and we're called to seek holiness diligently (2 Pet 3:14)

Jesus does everything excellently. In the Bible Jesus gets offered two kinds of wine on the cross: the first is mixed with myrrh which had a narcotic effect and would save him from some of the pain – yet he refuses so that he could endure it for us. The second was sour wine, a vinegar like substance that tired laborers would drink because it was refreshing and reviving. Jesus takes this so that he would be fully aware of what he was working out for us on the cross. Jesus is the kind of God who is worth doing everything to our utmost for, because that is how he has saved us.

If we do things well it says that we think Jesus is worth the effort of spending time and effort to serve with excellence. Sometimes an attitude of slackness can creep into the things we do: not just church things but everything – this quality should pervade all of life! Sure we'll make mistakes and mess things up and at points we'll let things slide because of tiredness. But we'll do the best we can because Jesus is worth our best. 1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Blessings,

Brent