Source of My Peace

Today's Bible Passage: Micah 5

Scripture:
"And he will be the source of our peace" (Micah 5:5).

Observation
In verse 2, Micah prophesied the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Verse 3 reveals that the people would be abandoned to their enemies until his birth, which was fulfilled as the Jewish people came under Roman rule. Verse 4 shows the Messiah as a shepherd leading his flock, a foreshadowing of Jesus as our Good Shepherd (John 10 and other passages).

Verse 5 gives us our hope in Jesus as our Shepherd-Messiah-Savior-Lord. He is our peace.

He told his followers, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (John 14:27). He is our "Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). He brings a peace to those who believe in him -- a peace unlike anything the world has to offer. But he does much more than just give us peace. He is our source of peace!

Application

When life is uncertain, troubled, hectic, seemingly unraveling, Jesus is my source of peace. When I abide in him as my true source of power and provision (John 15:5), I will have that peace that is beyond all understanding (Phil. 4:7). When I feel overwhelmed, overburdened, overworked, underresourced, underloved, and under pressure, Jesus is the source of my peace. I can rest in him. He's got this!

Prayer
Jesus, today I'm feeling anxiety and pressure, and I'm feeling overwhelmed and underappreciated. I bring these to you and surrender them to you. As I abide in you today, provide me with that peace that transcends all understanding, a peace that can only come from you. Help me to remember throughout the day today that you truly are my source of peace, and to abide in you. Help me to do what your Word encourages me to do: to trust in you with all my heart, to not lean on my own understating but in all my ways to acknowledge you, and I know that you, Lord, will make the path straight for me today. 

Don't Point Fingers, Leader

Did you know that as a spiritual leader, God will hold you accountable for the spiritual condition of the people you lead? You are a steward of the leadership responsibilities and the people He has entrusted to you (1 Peter 5:2, 3) and you and I will someday give an account to Him (Matthew 25:19; see vv. 14-30 for the entire parable).

In Hosea 4, God held the spiritual leaders accountable for the spiritual condition of the people.

"Don't point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame! Look, you priests, my complaint is with you!" (Hosea 4:4, NLT).

If you're a leader, don't point fingers at the people you're leading. Look in the mirror first. God's complaint may be with you!

In verse 6, God says, "My people are being destroyed because they don't know me. It is all your fault, you priests, for you yourselves refuse to know me." Spiritual growth--discipleship--begins with us as leaders. We know that. We've heard it before. But I wonder how seriously we take it.

As I read this passage, I feel the weight of my spiritual leadership responsibility. And I should feel that weight! People's lives are at stake. Many people are depending on me to be a model of what having a real relationship with the living God looks like. God will someday hold me accountable for what I did with what he entrusted me. And yet, I realize that I don't have to carry this heavy burden myself. In surrender, I can take it to Jesus, and he will provide me with rest and peace. In his presence and by his power the burdens--even the leadership burdens--are not heavy at all.

Jesus' Small Group Curriuclum

What curriculum did Jesus use as He led His small group?

That question seems absurd, at least to me. Jesus' curriculum was life. He asked great questions and told great stories as He did life with His group. And so they learned how to live life as they observed Him and did life with Him.

One of my favorite quotes outside of Scripture is from Leroy Eims:

Disciples cannot be mass produced. We cannot drop people into a “program” and see disciples emerge at the end of a production line. It takes time to make disciples. It takes individual, personal attention. It takes hours of prayer for them. It takes patience and understanding to teach them how to get into the Word of God for themselves, how to feed and nourish their souls, and by the power of the Holy Spirit how to apply the Word to their lives. And it takes being an example to them of all of the above.

What Eims describes here is shepherding. The Best Small Group Leader Ever was a shepherd: the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd of the Sheep, the Chief Shepherd. He had compassion on people who were "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36).

I think Jesus is our best model for being a small group leader.

Which is why I believe small group leaders should be much more than just facilitators or hosts or disc-jockeys who put in a DVD and press the PLAY button. Small group leaders are called primarily, in my opinion, to be shepherds. When we take a minimal view of small group leadership, the members of our groups are still “like sheep without a shepherd.”

What do you think?