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On this episode of The Lead On Podcast, Jeff Iorg, president of the SBC Executive Committee, discusses the spiritual and practical realities of maintaining mission discipline in the midst of chaos. Building on the last episode leadership-focused episode, Dr. Iorg takes a more devotional approach, exploring how leaders can stay focused on their calling even when surrounded by personal, organizational, and global turmoil.
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Ready to hone your leadership skills and unlock your full potential? Tune in to the Lead On Podcast, where Jeff Iorg dives deep into Biblical leadership.
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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, continuing our conversation about practical issues related to ministry leadership. That's what we do on this podcast. We don't talk about theory or we don't talk about theology. We don't talk about those kinds of things that other podcasts do so well.
Jeff Iorg:Instead, on this podcast, we talk about the ins and outs, the ups and downs, the hard work of the daily grind of ministry. Now, last week on the podcast, I started this two part podcast on maintaining mission discipline. Last week, I talked about it from a leadership perspective, meaning how do you state mission, how do you use mission statements, and then how do you personally, as a leader, implement some key strategies to maintain mission discipline. Today, I wanna take a different approach. Today, I wanna speak to you more devotionally about the spiritual challenge of maintaining mission discipline and the context in which we do that.
Jeff Iorg:Now, I'm going to do something I also don't do frequently on this podcast, and that is I might do a little preaching today. I wanna share with you from a passage of scripture in just a moment in John chapter 20. So if you can find your Bible or turn on your phone and find John 20, we're gonna be looking at that in just a moment. One of the difficulties of maintaining mission discipline is the chaos in which we find ourselves living today. Now, conflict is when two people or two parties are in opposition, but chaos is when multiple people or parties, and they often switch sides, are in simultaneous conflict.
Jeff Iorg:That's what it feels like today. Conflict is like playing checkers. Two people sitting across the board with relatively simple rules, but chaos is like three-dimensional chess. And today, it seems like there are a dozen games of three-dimensional chess all happening at once, and that's our lives. I mean, think of the chaos we're living in.
Jeff Iorg:We're living in international chaos with things like the war in Ukraine, the difficulty in Gaza, the challenges of famine and spiritual warfare and persecution all across Africa. And then in our own country, think about the chaos we're living in. We we have time of political upheaval that we're living through and governmental change. No matter how you feel about it, that's not the point today. The point is it's happening, and it's chaotic and challenging for us.
Jeff Iorg:And some of you are living with chaos in your family, not conflict between two people, but a series of broken relationships and and, other challenges that just cause your entire family dynamic to be chaotic. Some of you have chaos in your ministry setting. Your church is divided. Your ministry organization is struggling. You have people that are going in different directions, trying to pull you in different directions.
Jeff Iorg:And then maybe some of this is even compounded personally. You have chaos in things like your health, where you are dealing with different kinds of health crises or difficulties or struggles. Man, look. Listen. I'm I'm painting us a a dark picture here, kind of
Jeff Iorg:a bleak time. Chaos.
Jeff Iorg:That seems to be the norm these days. And in the midst of that, I'm telling you to maintain mission discipline. How difficult that must be. And actually, you might wonder, is it a fair expectation? I mean, with all the chaos that we're living in, does God really want us to stay narrowly focused on our mission?
Jeff Iorg:Well, I think he does, and I've been looking into the Bible at a particular story that I think illustrates this for us. In the Bible, there were many chaotic times, but one of the most difficult was the chaos the disciples experienced between the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus Christ. This was a chaotic time. Religionists were allied against Christians. Governmental leaders were attacking the Christian community.
Jeff Iorg:The Christian leaders, they were intimidated and confused, and the Christians themselves were fragmented and isolated. Now, the Bible describes what was happening, introduces us to some of the individuals, including some of the leaders who were struggling, and it shows us how Jesus intersected the moment and what he had to say to them. So join me if you would now in John chapter 20 for that particular story. We pick it up in verse 19. The Bible says, when it was evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because they feared the Jews.
Jeff Iorg:Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, peace be with you. Having said this, he showed them his hands and his side, so the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, peace to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you. After saying this, he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit.
Jeff Iorg:If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. But Thomas, called twin, one of the 12, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were telling him, we've seen the Lord. But he said to them, if I don't see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.
Jeff Iorg:A week later, his disciples were in doors again, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas,
Jeff Iorg:put your finger here. Look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Don't be faithless,
Jeff Iorg:but believe. Thomas responded to him, my Lord and my God. Jesus said, because you've seen, you have believed. Blessed are those who have
Jeff Iorg:not seen and yet believe.
Jeff Iorg:Now think about this story with me for a moment and what it says about how Jesus relates to leaders in the midst of chaos and what he has to say about their situation. The first thing I want you to see is that Jesus speaks peace into our chaos. It's three times in this text. You find it in verse 19. Jesus said, peace be with you.
Jeff Iorg:That was his greeting for the disciples. And then in verse 21, he says it again, peace be with you. This is what he says after showing the disciples his wounds. And then again in verse 26, peace be with you. This is his greeting for the disciples, this time including Thomas.
Jeff Iorg:Three times in this text, Jesus says the same words, peace be with you. Peace be with you. Peace be with you. Now this pattern of three statements is significant in the Bible. This pattern of threes has been called by biblical commentaries a triad or a triangular statement, a threefold affirmation of something.
Jeff Iorg:So these triads or triangulations or threefold statements are designed to show us emphasis in the Bible. It's like it's in bold print because it's repeated three times, or it's underlined because it's repeated three times, or it's italicized because it's repeated three times. I've just done it here on the podcast, used a triad, bold, underlined, italicized, a triangulation, if you will, to try to put in your minds how important these words are. Peace be with you. Peace be with you.
Jeff Iorg:Peace be with you. Now this calls to mind some of the other triads or triangulations in the Bible. For example, there's the threefold denial of Jesus by Peter. There's the threefold question, do you love me, from Jesus to Peter in the next chapter or so of John. And then there's the three days between the crucifixion and the resurrection.
Jeff Iorg:You you begin to see the pattern. And, of course, there's the trifold nature of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit. This pattern of threes is very common in the Bible, and it's used over and over and over again. There it is. I just did it again, three overs, to repeat something in such a way that we remember it or we understand the importance of it.
Jeff Iorg:Peace be with you, Jesus says three times. Now, we carry this over into our culture sometimes in a humorous way. My full name is Jeff Preston Orge. I go by Jeff. That's my legal name.
Jeff Iorg:My name's not Jeffrey, by the way, even though I had an uncle who used to call me Jefferson because he wanted to fancy up my name just a bit, but my legal name is Jeff Preston Orge, and my mother who loves me calls me Jeff. But when she wanted my full and undivided attention, she would say, Jeff Preston Orge. And when I heard those three words put together, that triad that my mother knew how to use, I knew that I was in trouble, that something serious was about to happen, that my mother wanted my full and undivided attention. Jeff Preston Orge would snap me to attention like nothing else that came out of her mouth. So when you hear something three times like that, it ought to get your attention.
Jeff Iorg:Jesus has a message for you, Christian leader, in the midst of your chaos, in the midst of international chaos, national chaos, church chaos, organizational chaos, community chaos, family chaos, personal chaos. In the midst of all of that, Jesus has a message for you. Peace.
Jeff Iorg:Peace. Peace. Jesus speaks peace in the midst of your chaos. In the midst of is a great phrase. You know, most of the
Jeff Iorg:time when we pray about our chaos, we don't pray that we will have peace in the midst of it. We pray we will be delivered out of it. In the midst of or out of. But in this context, there is no deliverance out of their chaos. There is instead Jesus speaking peace in the midst of their chaos.
Jeff Iorg:It's like this silly illustration. Suppose you live by the ocean and you hired a charter boat and it took you out for an afternoon cruise. A storm came up, capsized your boat. Just before you were capsized, however, you sent a message, an emergency appeal to the coast guard, and they sent a helicopter for you. They lowered a basket.
Jeff Iorg:You shinnyed over into that basket. They raised it up and flew you back to safety. You have just been saved out of your chaotic situation, but that's not how God usually works. No. Instead, you go out on the same boat, same cruise, same storm, same message for help.
Jeff Iorg:Boat flips, you're still in the water. But this time when the helicopter comes, instead of rescuing you out of, it drops a life raft of some kind into the water, and some Navy Seal looking guys dive in with you. They push you into the into the raft. They climb in with you, and they start rowing you back to shore. Storm's still raging, but you're still safe.
Jeff Iorg:But this time, you've not been saved out of your chaos, you're being saved in the midst of your chaos. Your deliverance arrives as a means by which you go through that which you're surrounded by on every side. That's what Jesus models for
Jeff Iorg:us in this passage. Peace in the midst of the chaos.
Jeff Iorg:So if you're in a particularly challenging time, a chaotic time, and you're praying to be delivered, and God is saying no, instead, pray that God will give you peace in the midst of your chaos and that his companionship will be so real that you will feel him with you just as Jesus was with these disciples while you're going through the chaos. So the first thing I want you to learn today about maintaining mission discipline in the midst of chaotic situations is that Jesus speaks peace into your situation. And then beyond that, Jesus does another thing that reassures. He reassures us by his presence in the chaos. Did you notice when I read this text that Jesus does not rebuke anyone in these encounters?
Jeff Iorg:He does not rebuke anyone. He doesn't come into the room and say, Why are you hiding out here? Why aren't you out sharing the gospel? Why are you cowering with fear when you know that I can sustain you? He doesn't rebuke anyone.
Jeff Iorg:Not the disciples who were hiding, and not even Thomas who expressed his doubts. In fact, Jesus appears and assures Thomas by specifically addressing his doubts. In verse 27, he says to Thomas, Put your finger right here. Go ahead. Just reach out
Jeff Iorg:right here now. Thomas, you can touch me. It's okay. And put your hand right here on my side.
Jeff Iorg:I want you to feel this.
Jeff Iorg:Do you feel it, Thomas? I'm here. I'm real. And what you're feeling is what you saw. That's what Jesus does when we're in chaos.
Jeff Iorg:He assures us by his presence. You know, as I've shared before, coming to the executive committee was not really my plan, and stepping into this much chaos at this juncture of my life was certainly not on my agenda. But coming into it, one of the things that has been very meaningful to me has been the times when I have felt so alone. Looking at all of the challenges around me, getting down on my knees, bowing my head, and praying, Lord, I need you. I'm asking you to give me a sense of your presence.
Jeff Iorg:I'm asking you to come and be with me in a remarkable way and get me through this. And in ways I can describe, but I can't really explain, I have felt the presence of God in my life in ways that I've felt in the past, but certainly not anything with the frequency I'm feeling it right now with just a sense with just a sense. As I walk into meetings with attorneys and accountants and go into situations where I'm trying to sort out complicated dilemmas and try to figure out solutions to problems and trying to listen to so many voices, trying to work with so many different kind of people. When I'm
Jeff Iorg:in that kind of chaos, I pray, Lord, be with me.
Jeff Iorg:I know you're with me theologically, but I'm asking you to give me a sense that you're right here with me right now, so much so that I can almost even reach out and touch you in this dark place. Now, I've told this story before. It's a it's a favorite one of mine. When I was a pastor in my very first church, it was a Baptist church and they had remodeled the foyer and because they were a Baptist church, they didn't have any money and so they did it as cheaply as possible. So they added onto the foyer, but they didn't move the light switches because that that costs extra.
Jeff Iorg:So to get to a light switch in this dark foyer, you had to come in the front doors and then very slowly walk across the foyer, feeling as you went until you finally touched a wall, then you could touch that light or turn on that light switch. Now, after you'd done this a few times, you kind of knew the path. So one Saturday night, I said to my son who was about five years old, hey. I've got to run up to church and get something I forgot. You want to go?
Jeff Iorg:Yeah, daddy. I want to go. So we pile in the car. We drive up there. It's pitch black dark outside.
Jeff Iorg:I go up to the door of the foyer, unlock the door. Now there's no lights, no windows, just me stepping through the door, and I said to my son, let me get the lights. He said, sure, daddy. I started across that foyer, just taking those little tiny baby steps. I got halfway across that foyer, and someone reached out and touched me.
Jeff Iorg:Now I won't do it on the podcast because quite frankly, I'm too old to do it anymore anyway, but I screamed like a 13 year old cheerleader. I screamed in terror because someone had reached out and touched me. When the screaming stopped, my five year old son tugged on my finger and said, daddy, it's okay. I'm here with you. And quite frankly, it felt good to know who it was that was with me in the dark.
Jeff Iorg:I've never forgotten that story because it's just a metaphor for what I've experienced over and over in my life. As a leader, I have many times walked into dark places. I have walked into dark places in people's lives where we were dealing with the depths of sin and the worst destruction that it brings and the greatest pain and heartache imaginable. I have walked into leadership situations where hard decisions had to be made about money and about personnel and about programming. I've walked into difficult, difficult meetings where millions of dollars was on the line because of legal dilemmas or strategic decisions that had to be made.
Jeff Iorg:And one of my favorite prayers before I walk into those meetings has always been, Lord, here we go. Just my simple little silly way of reminding myself that I'm not walking in alone. And that night in that foyer when my son snuck in there and followed me along and just wanted to be with daddy, and he reached out and touched me. It reminds me that in the darkest places, Jesus is there and he has a hold of me. And he's so real to me that I can feel him, almost touch him.
Jeff Iorg:Just like Thomas reached out and touched Jesus, and Jesus said, go ahead, touch me. Be reassured. I'm with you. That's what I feel like when I'm in those places and I feel the presence, the closeness of God with me in the moment. Well, so far you're wondering, what does all this have to do about mission discipline?
Jeff Iorg:Well, here's the point. In the midst of the chaos in this story, and in the midst of the chaos you're living in, you might have expected Jesus to say, I know it's hard. You guys take it easy. I know it's difficult. You guys don't worry about what I told you to do when I when I sent you out.
Jeff Iorg:I know. I know. Life is really difficult, and life is hard. Life is chaotic. I just don't really want you to worry about anything.
Jeff Iorg:Just take care of yourself. Well, that is not what Jesus said. What did Jesus say? Look at it again in the text. Verse 21, right in the center of this text.
Jeff Iorg:In the midst of Jesus offering peace and reassuring by his presence, in the midst of all of that, what does Jesus say to his disciples? Verse 21, as the father has sent me, I also send you. This is John's version of the Great Commission. This is Jesus reminding his disciples, you're in chaos, I see that, and I'm offering you peace and speaking it into your lives, and I'm giving you reassurance by my presence. You can actually reach out and touch me.
Jeff Iorg:I'm so real in this moment. But in the midst of all this reassurance and peace that I'm giving you, I have a message for you. Get on with my mission.
Jeff Iorg:Get moving. Wow.
Jeff Iorg:Jesus is saying this, mission is accomplished in the midst of chaos by people who have life coming unraveled around them. And if you are waiting until all of that ends before you get on mission with me, you will never get moving. Jesus says, peace, and I reassure you by my presence. But in the context of having those resources available to you, get moving. Get busy.
Jeff Iorg:Start doing what I told you to do. Now that's pretty pointed, but that's what Jesus says. Then he says more. He says in verse 22, Receive the Holy Spirit. This is John's version of Acts one eight.
Jeff Iorg:Now, this is John's abbreviation, just like it was John's abbreviation of the Great Commission as Matthew more fully stated it, is John's abbreviation of Acts one eight as Luke later wrote it. Jesus is saying, you have the Holy Spirit. You have the power to get moving. Yes, there's a lot of chaos. I get it.
Jeff Iorg:But I'm giving you the Holy Spirit who will empower you, who will fill you, who will indwell you, who will guide you, who will comfort you, who will motivate you. I'm giving you the Holy Spirit who will do the work of convicting and of converting people that you share the gospel with. I'm giving you the Spirit. Receive the Holy Spirit. In the midst of your chaos, Jesus said, remember the power you have to get my work done.
Jeff Iorg:Then Jesus says a third thing, and frankly, this is the one that raises some concerns and is sometimes misunderstood and is hard to interpret, but Jesus said, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. Now, some have erroneously interpreted this to mean that a priest or a pastor has the capacity to remit sin. We know that's not true. This is one of those verses of scripture that you need a good hermeneutic which says you interpret the single verse of scripture in the light of the weight of scripture, and the weight of scripture overwhelmingly teaches that Jesus is the one who forgives sins and Jesus is the one who dismisses sins.
Jeff Iorg:So what does this message mean? I think Jesus is saying to his disciples, you have the message of forgiveness and the message of remission of sin. Start delivering it because in the midst of your chaos, that is the primary message people need to hear. So Jesus is saying this, in the midst of your chaos, get moving on mission as I've assigned, start trusting the empowering Holy Spirit that I've given you, and start delivering the message of forgiveness for sin and remission of sin that I have given you, entrusted you to deliver to the world around you. Brothers and sisters, listen.
Jeff Iorg:This is Jesus' message about mission discipline in the midst of our chaos. You say, well, there's just a lot going on, and I've got a lot of chaos in my life, and my world is coming unraveled and my church is all kind of trouble and my family's in disarray and my health is is not good. I understand all of that. I could make any or all of those claims at various different times in my life and I know it's hard in the midst of all of that chaos. I know it.
Jeff Iorg:But Jesus says, I speak peace, and I reassure you by my presence. Now with the peace I speak over you and the presence I provide to you, get moving. Stay on mission. Go with the gospel. Work in the power of the spirit.
Jeff Iorg:Deliver the message of forgiveness that I've entrusted to you. Get moving.
Jeff Iorg:Brothers and sisters, if you're
Jeff Iorg:waiting for the chaos to calm down before you get intentionally focused on the mission,
Jeff Iorg:it will never happen. Never.
Jeff Iorg:Because the chaos of the world that
Jeff Iorg:we live in isn't going to stop. It just isn't.
Jeff Iorg:You have to have the discipline as a leader to say, the chaos is an opportunity. And in the chaos, we're going to get on mission. While the world is coming unraveled around us, we're going with the gospel. We are trusting the spirit's power. We are delivering the message of forgiveness.
Jeff Iorg:That's what we're doing. And whether we have good political circumstances or not, whether we have adequate financial support or not, whether we have the best of health or not, whether our family is all healthy and holy and right or not, we're going to focus on the mission. And in fact, my friends, the chaos that so many people are living in becomes the opportunity then for the mission. As people see you living a mission disciplined life and leading a mission disciplined organization and doing that which you've been assigned, going with the gospel in the power of the spirit and delivering the message of forgiveness, people who are living in true chaos with no reference to God or the gospel, those people are going to see you as an emissary of hope. They're going to look at you and say, if this person can do what they're doing, maybe the message they're delivering needs a listen, and maybe what they're offering me is the solution to my chaos.
Jeff Iorg:So my friends, mission discipline means we stay on mission during the chaos, and we recognize that the chaos is not the controller of our missional response, but may instead be the opportunity in which the climate for missional advance is best created. These last two weeks, we've talked about mission discipline. I've given you first of all, a definition of what mission is and why a good mission statement is helpful and then some ways as a leader that you can practically put into place steps of action that lead to greater mission discipline. But on top of all of that, this is a spiritual struggle. You're in chaos.
Jeff Iorg:I get it. Jesus understands it. And when his followers were experiencing chaos at a crucial juncture point, he spoke peace, provided presence, and then, can I say it this way, I gave him a kick in the pants, get moving? And so today, I wanna do the same thing. I've given you some instruction, laid out some practical suggestions, given you spiritual resources to sustain you, and now it's time to get moving.
Jeff Iorg:In the midst of your chaos, demonstrate mission discipline by fulfilling that which Jesus has assigned. That's what it means to be mission disciplined. That's what it means to lead with mission discipline. That's what it means to continue the mission in the midst of the chaos. And I challenge you to do it, and I know you can do it as we lead on.