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On this episode of The Lead On Podcast, Jeff Iorg, president of the SBC Executive Committee, discusses how ministry leaders can live urgently in light of Jesus’ imminent return while still making wise long-term decisions about relationships, vocation, and life stewardship.
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Welcome to the Lead On Podcast. This is Jeff Iorg, the president of the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, talking with you once again about practical issues related to ministry leadership. Today, I wanna talk about the principle of living urgently. Jesus is coming again and he can come at any moment. So my question for you is, does this conviction about Jesus' return reflect in how you live and how you lead others?
Jeff Iorg:It's a tough question. We lead in the moment. We make decisions about now and the immediate futures of our organizations. And even if we're leading for the long haul, as I often advocate on this podcast,
Jeff Iorg:we're still leading for our lifetime. And we make some assumptions along the way that we're going to be leading for a while. And yet, Jesus communicated urgency about his second coming to his disciples on multiple occasions during his first coming. He wanted them and through them, us, to know he would not always be physically present, but he would return to Earth sometime in the future. And during the interlude, he wants his leaders, really all of his followers, to live with expectancy and urgency based
Jeff Iorg:on the reality of his return. Now Jesus taught about this on several occasions. If you'd like to read the passages that I'm going to mention today, you can look at Matthew chapter 24 and Luke chapter 12, specifically Matthew 24 verses 36 to 51 and Luke 12 verses 35 to 48. These are stories that, are built around Jesus' teaching about his return. So on these occasions, a huge crowd gathered to hear Jesus.
Jeff Iorg:And his message that day, on the day of these parables I'm mentioning here in these passages, His message started with a focus on making good choices for healthy living around the theme of trusting God for daily needs. He starts with the now and the urgency of the moment and the need to be focused on daily and pressing obligations. Soon, though, Jesus shifted his focus to living for the future, allowing convictions about the future to control and motivate the daily choices he had already mentioned. And as usual and as he frequently did, Jesus taught this lesson in parables, really three of them strung together in this story. Jesus first described, his followers as being like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet.
Jeff Iorg:Jesus described the good servant as the one awake, ready to unlock the door and welcome his master home whenever he might return. This servant, Jesus said, will be blessed with both the master's favor and service in return for his alertness. Jesus reinforced the lesson, the same lesson in a second similar parable. He likened his followers to a homeowner who'd been burglarized. Jesus said if the homeowner had known when the thief was coming, he would have taken steps to prevent the intrusion.
Jeff Iorg:And Jesus concluded these two parables by challenging the crowd. He said, you also be ready because the son of man is coming at an hour that you do not expect. Peter, taking the lead, then asked a pertinent question about any special application of this parable. Was it for him or for the disciples or for all the followers? Jesus wanted to know.
Jeff Iorg:He asked the Lord, are you telling this parable to us or to everyone? Now this seemed like a yes,
Jeff Iorg:no question, but you know Jesus. He answers with another parable using another story to complete this triad of word pictures designed to solidify this lesson in the minds of the disciples and also to put it into our minds as his future leaders as well. In this third parable, Jesus describes a wise master who chose a trusted household servant to manage his affairs while he was away. The trusted servant would make sure the other servants were fed and cared for properly as well as managing them to fulfill the master's business. And one primary quality of the trusted servant was faithfulness as well as alertness when the master was absent.
Jeff Iorg:But even that servant could be tempted during the master's prolonged absence. Suppose, Jesus suggested, suppose the faithful servant doubted the master's return and became instead a negligent manager. And what if
Jeff Iorg:it got even worse? What if
Jeff Iorg:he beat the other slaves through lavish parties and got drunk? What what would happen when the master returned? Well, when the master discovered the servant's irresponsibility and unfaithfulness, he would be judged severely. The Bible uses phrases like, he will cut him to pieces, and he will be severely beaten. Now now keep in mind, this is a parable with colorful language, used to make a point.
Jeff Iorg:This is not a didactic teaching word by word what must specifically happen in every circumstance. It's parabolic language. Jesus using colorful language, expressive language, almost in some ways poetic language to make a point.
Jeff Iorg:Jesus was emphasizing the dire consequences of being irresponsible and unfaithful in light of his second coming.
Jeff Iorg:He was not advocating torture for unfaithful servants. Jesus then balanced this statement with a reminder that a servant who made these mistakes inadvertently would face lesser consequences. He would be beaten lightly, the Bible says.
Jeff Iorg:Now while emphasizing these outcomes, Jesus
Jeff Iorg:then sharpened the application of the parable to Peter and his disciples. While acknowledging the universal application of the parable, he finally answered Peter's question by reminding his leaders in training they had a higher level of accountability because of their privileges and responsibilities. Now that's where the rubber starts to hit the road for those of you on the podcast today. We as leaders do have a higher level of accountability because of the privileges and responsibilities that we've been given. We have a higher level of accountability to remain alert and faithful in light of the return of Jesus that is going to occur someday in the future.
Jeff Iorg:Jesus said it this way to Peter, much will be required of everyone who has been given much, and even more will be expected of the one who has been entrusted with more. So while everyone is expected to prepare for Jesus' return, leaders bear an even greater responsibility than other believers. Leaders are responsible to model, teach, and
Jeff Iorg:guide other believers to stay ready,
Jeff Iorg:to live, if you will, in anticipation that Jesus is coming again. We are responsible to keep using the phrasing of the parable, our kingdom house in order, while waiting for the master's return. We are represented in these stories by the more highly accountable servants who may have been, quote, severely beaten, not the other servants who did not know and who might only be beaten lightly. Now, again, parabolic language, hyperbolic language, this is not a literal warning. The force of the parable, however, is significant.
Jeff Iorg:Jesus expects his followers
Jeff Iorg:to live urgently, and he expects his leaders to model this
Jeff Iorg:and to, if I could say it this way, to live even more
Jeff Iorg:urgently, making serious lifestyle choices in light of his possible and, in fact, imminent return. Jesus expects kingdom leaders to model urgency and encourage others to follow our example. And when we fail to do this, the consequences may be severe, sadly, both for us and for our followers. Now as a younger leader, you may be struggling to balance planning for the future with living for the present. This is an ever present tension for leaders and especially for younger leaders who are struggling with the reality of the promised second coming of Jesus and its imminent possibility at any moment.
Jeff Iorg:Over against the fact that you look at your life and you realize you may have twenty or forty or fifty more years of leadership service in front of you. So how do
Jeff Iorg:you balance planning for the future with living for the present? How do you balance making decisions about the now with the ever present reality of Jesus' return being imminent? For example, in practical terms, should you have a retirement fund? If Jesus is coming again,
Jeff Iorg:why save for the future?
Jeff Iorg:Should you exercise so you can live healthier and longer? If Jesus is coming again, does it really matter what kind of shape you're in physically when he arrives? Should you save or plan for your children's education? If Jesus is coming again, then what what's the point
Jeff Iorg:of preparing them for a long term future? Should you even have children? Given the short duration of life and the fact that Jesus might return at any moment, is there even any time to distract ourselves with having children and preparing them for a future generation? Should you go to school or should you
Jeff Iorg:just quit school and start telling people about Jesus?
Jeff Iorg:Does living urgently in light of the second coming and its imminent and definite reality, does living urgently mean that you only live in the moment? Look, these are these are tough questions and and they require sometimes complex
Jeff Iorg:answers. Now, I can't necessarily give you a specific answer on every one of these questions today. What I'd like
Jeff Iorg:to do instead is give you two big principles that might help you sort some of this out. First, make the big life decisions in light of your conviction about Jesus' return. Make the big life decisions in light of your conviction about Jesus' imminent return. For example, choosing your spouse would be
Jeff Iorg:an illustration of this. Choosing your vocation would be an illustration of this. And making sure that you make both of those choices in light of the reality that Jesus is coming again doesn't mean that you don't have a spouse or you don't have a vocation, but it does mean that the decisions you make about both of those are colored, if you will, overshadowed to be sure, dictated by the reality that Jesus is coming again. So, for example, if you're serious about living your life in light of Jesus' return, you can't countermand that desire by marrying someone, even a Christian, who doesn't share that same value. If if your perspective spouse, for example, is materialistic, you will not be able to live frugally and give generously to mission projects.
Jeff Iorg:If your spouse needs to live close to family, you won't answer the call to take the gospel to billions who've never even heard the name of Jesus. So in choosing a spouse, you choose a spouse who shares your convictions that emerge out of the reality that Jesus is coming again. And that spousal unity around things like frugality and location helps understand what it means to come together around a marriage lived in light of the second coming and with some urgency about it. Same thing with vocation. If you choose an all consuming vocation, you'll find yourself chasing the American dream rather than living for the kingdom of God.
Jeff Iorg:If you're a ministry leader even who chooses ministry leadership as a career rather than a calling, you too will be too focused on vocational success rather than eternal results. I was recently speaking, for example, at a collegiate event, and I said, living your vocation in light of eternal realities and the possible second coming of Jesus might mean, not that you don't become an architect, but rather than being one in a Bible Belt city, why don't you take those skills to Boston or Boise or someplace where there's a greater need for the gospel and plant your life there? If you plan to be a nurse, how about doing that in Singapore or Shanghai or even Seattle where the need for the gospel is great, and you're giving some evidence of vocational choice in light of the reality of your eternal commitment to the gospel and the fact that Jesus is going to return someday, and we have to get the gospel to as many people as possible in
Jeff Iorg:the meantime. This is what I
Jeff Iorg:mean by making a vocational choice in the context of an eternal perspective or reality driven by a conviction that Jesus really is coming again. So I'm not saying today that you have to make every minute decision of every day of life based on this eternal reality that Jesus is coming again. I think that's a bit oppressive, frankly, in decision making. But this conviction this conviction that Jesus is coming again ought to motivate us to live urgently, at least to the point of taking that reality in as a factor when we're making the big decisions of life. Certainly, when we're making choices about spouse and about vocation, we have to make those choices in light of the reality of what we believe about eternity and about how about the brevity of life and about the sure return of Jesus and all aspects of those spiritual convictions.
Jeff Iorg:So first, make decisions on the big issues of life in light of Jesus' return and the eternal perspective that it provides. Second, make priority decisions balanced by the imminence of Jesus' return with the pressures and demands of living today. So for example, on the issue of retirement, it is important, I think, to save some money for retirement, but not to make you wealthy in the future. You save some money for retirement so you can take care of yourself in the future, continue to sustain yourself as you do gospel ministry even in your quote retirement years, and provide for yourself so you won't be a burden to others who will then be freed up to spend their resources on kingdom advance and kingdom ministry and reaching other people with the gospel rather than taking care of you. So in planning to save some of what you have for retirement, for long term provision, you're not undercutting the reality, but you are instead supporting the reality of sustaining that same kind of eternal commitment and perspective all throughout your lifetime.
Jeff Iorg:You're saving not for wealth accumulation, but so that you can take care of yourself, not be a burden to others, allow others to continue to spend resource on ministry and mission rather than on your care, and so that you can even fund yourself in latter years to continue the ministry that you've been given with the urgency that goes along with that in light of the fact that Jesus is still going to return. And in this case, remember, you're still prioritizing spending most of your current resources to immediately advance God's kingdom, but just saving some of your resources for future purposes. So I think there is an possibility in decision making of keeping the main focus on the now with some limited and appropriate focus on the future, not just again for the accumulation of wealth or the accumulation of reputation or the accumulation of influence, but so that you can have those things to provide the support you need to continue the ministry that you have and the passion that you demonstrate in those eternal realities. You can apply this same principle in areas like education or exercise. Your emphasis should be on now while also investing for the future.
Jeff Iorg:Now, for example, as a leader, you need some education, but only what's required to fulfill your ministry assignment. Getting another degree can often be more about your ego than it is God's kingdom. Get the education you really need and then get busy. And let the reality of the urgency of the second coming of Jesus and the eternal perspective that brings into your life, let that motivate you to be educated not as some, ego driven, you know, look at me kind of, what did I accomplish, and man, aren't I smart motive, but no, instead let it drive you to be even more effective at doing the work of establishing more people in the kingdom of God, training them to live for him, etcetera, etcetera. Same thing for exercise.
Jeff Iorg:You know, caring for your body, rather than abusing yourself into burnout it makes you more effective now and and keeps you from being a burden on others in the future. Inappropriate exercise in the now is important for those reasons, but trying to be eternally young or inappropriately fixated on appearance contradicts eternal values and and must be avoided. So on the one hand, yes, there is some eternal consequence to maintaining your health in the moment, but there's nothing eternally valuable about trying to preserve your body so that you might have some kind of perpetual youth that are that, are perpetual appearance that causes that to be the priority of your life. Now one of the common phrases that I've heard over the years that tries to explain this tension of living urgently today while also living in the moment, one of the common phrases I've heard over the years is all things in moderation or all things in balance. I don't like that phrase.
Jeff Iorg:I don't think it's a necessarily reflects the best biblical perspective. Let me give you a different phrase. Rather than all things in moderation how about this one? All things in eternal perspective. That would be a better phrasing of the general philosophy of the underlying principles related to the urgency that emerges out of Jesus' second coming and the eternal perspective that ought to bring to every day of life.
Jeff Iorg:All things in eternal perspective more than all things in moderation.
Jeff Iorg:Proper
Jeff Iorg:perspective means acknowledging the demands of daily life while making choices about them in light of Jesus' certain return. Proper perspective means you devote appropriate resources and energy to issues, but still reserve the majority of your resources and energy
Jeff Iorg:to those decisions, perspectives, and activities which reflect your eternal perspective. Urgency is demonstrated by balanced choices assuring the long range application of the conviction that Jesus is coming again. Not always just living in
Jeff Iorg:the moment, but living the moment with an eternal perspective. You know, recently, my wife and I had to go through, the process of updating our wills and trust agreements and state agreements to get those activated in the new state where we're now living. We wanna be current on all that. We don't wanna be a burden in any way to each other if one of us were to pass away, and certainly not to our children if we were both to die in some way together. And so we've gone back through and worked on getting all that documentation together and all those things put into order.
Jeff Iorg:And of course, one of the things we had to think about was something called an advanced directive, where you have to, actually spell out what you want in terms of your future medical care. And when that document was handed to us and we started working through it together, Anne and I just both smiled at
Jeff Iorg:each other and said, this is really not that complicated. Heaven is not that bad, and getting there won't be a burden for us. So
Jeff Iorg:we were able to work through our advanced directive about our future medical care, not based on what we think about medical treatments or what we think about the ethics of this or the medical ethics of that, or even concerns about finances, although those are always a part of any discussion, and certainly not even concerns about our children and their perspectives, although, of
Jeff Iorg:course, we care about that. We wanted to
Jeff Iorg:make these decisions about our future medical care with an eternal perspective. Jesus is coming again. And if he doesn't come in our lifetimes, that just means he's delayed a little bit of time, but that doesn't mean that eternity is still not real. So we wanted to make our decisions based on an eternal perspective. As I said to Anne, you know, life is short and heaven is long.
Jeff Iorg:Let's decide these issues based on that reality, and so we did. And we've both agreed and put into our planning that we want minimal and comforting care at the end
Jeff Iorg:of life, but we wanna go to heaven. We want eternity to be the perspective from which we make these decisions. You know,
Jeff Iorg:I wish I could go back and say that I've been able to do that all my whole life on every other decision I've ever made. I've tried, but I haven't always done it quite that clearly. But I think that's what Jesus is saying to us in these parables. He's trying to say, look, I'm coming again.
Jeff Iorg:Don't know when? You'll never know when it's about to happen, but it can happen at any time. But even if I don't come, what really matters
Jeff Iorg:is the next dimension of life, what
Jeff Iorg:we call eternity. That's what I want you to live for.
Jeff Iorg:I want you to live urgently in light of eternity. Now don't become preoccupied with every little myopic decision, what should I have for lunch today based on the fact that Jesus is coming again? Don't don't do that. But instead, think about these big issues and decide the big issues of life like marriage and vocation. How what will I decide in these issues based on the reality that Jesus is coming again?
Jeff Iorg:And then make the decisions about balancing the imminence of Jesus' coming with the daily demands of life, recognizing that, yes, the daily demands of life do take so much from us, but they can't take it all. We have to always be thinking about the future and about heaven and about Jesus' return and about eternity and letting that shape some of the daily decisions even of life. Look, leaders are expected to model urgency, especially urgency in light of Jesus' second coming. But doing that wisely requires some complex decision making over time. If you're a younger leader, I wanna challenge you to establish patterns early, avoiding entanglements that can undermine your future effectiveness and choices based on these eternal realities.
Jeff Iorg:Establish Jesus' imminent return as a factor in your decision making. Now, while it may be complicated and it have some complexity to it and you may not feel like you always get it right, When you're thinking about big decisions like marriage and vocation, like service and sacrifice, when you're thinking about the big decisions of life, at least factor into your decision making this reality, Jesus is coming again. And let that eternal perspective hang over your decision making so that that factor becomes a dominating, guiding, shaping part of your decision making process. Now, I recognize so much of life is about the now, the daily, the difficulty of the grind. I get that.
Jeff Iorg:All I'm challenging you today to do is to think about living urgently in light of Jesus' second coming and letting the overtone of that influence your decision making, certainly on the big issues of life and on others as appropriate. I want you to live urgently. I don't want you to live in a panic. I don't want you to live in fear, but I do want you to live urgently recognizing Jesus is coming again. And because of that, we have to make decisions, the big decisions of life in light of the eternal reality of his return and the eternal perspective that gives us our life.
Jeff Iorg:You're a leader. You can model these things. Live urgently this week as you lead on.