Ride the Lion
The fundamental truth of the gospel is that Jesus has paid our sin debts, and salvation is free (Ephesians 2:8). When you Trust Jesus, you follow Him. Jesus is the God of creation. He owns everything, but He chose to become as a servant (Philippians 2), to live as a homeless man (Luke 9:58), and to spend his time with broken people. Following Jesus doesn't mean you have to be poor, but it does mean that you cannot serve riches.
The hardest thing for people to admit is that Jesus is King and they are not. We all want to be in control. We want to be the masters of our own destiny, but fundamental to Trusting Jesus is surrendering to Him. It's no different for pastors. Pastors, like kings can fall into the self-deception that everyone is better off when they are in charge. "If everyone would just listen to me, everything would be ok." This is one reason why churches don't multiply.
Multiplication means pastors aren't as important as they might think. It means their vision language will get diluted as the church becomes decentralized. It means people won't hear their sermons every week. It means they can't manage leaders within a church structure. It means they lose control.
I'm not saying pastors have sinister plans to control people. Their control doesn't usually come out of selfish motives...usually. It comes our of fear. They want the best for people, and they are afraid of what will happen if they aren't in control. They forget that Jesus has been leading the church since before they were born, and He will be leading it after they are gone.
