Mantels of Kingdom Leadership
The Voice of the Martyrs Canada is blessed to serve God’s afflicted children globally through His mission at VOMC, along with some excellent volunteer people from right across the country. Some of these volunteers are well-trained leaders whom we refer to as “Ambassadors.” Such dedicated people are appreciated by our executive and governance team, for they contribute greatly to our objectives in reaching out to the Canadian Christian church and its constituency. While the members of our volunteer team are all priestly leaders in their own right, ambassadorial leadership involves its own set of spiritual and “Kingdom” parameters, based on the Scriptural principles that were first modelled by Jesus Himself.
Mantels of leadership, from time to time, are placed upon all of us in varying capacities – including our ministries, family responsibilities and work-related tasks. Thankfully, Jesus taught and modelled all that His followers needed to know about attaining the keys to the Kingdom of God. As His Words were faithfully recorded and preserved throughout history, we, too, have the opportunity to sit at His feet and be trained even today to lead others to His cross and follow Him in service to the “King of kings.” Consider Jesus’ teaching on “Kingdom Ambassadorship” in the following passage of Matthew 16:19:
“…I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven…whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Here, our Lord is in dialogue with Peter whose recognition of Him as “the Christ” (in verse 16 of the same chapter) appears to give the disciple unlimited access to His Heavenly Father’s Kingdom. Despite Jesus’ open-armed invitation, and the mantel of ambassadorial leadership that He has apparently placed upon Peter in the broader unfolding of the Scriptural passage, there are clear guidelines and parameters that must be adhered to in the turning of a key that actually gives way to the access of a new and heavenly order. During that very same discourse, which is recorded only a couple of verses later (vs. 21-23), Jesus seems to harshly admonish Peter:
“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.“From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
“Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!’ But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.’””
We need to keep in mind that Jesus’ admonishment comes from a different place and is directed toward a different spirit. Although His words ring true, they represent a fully contrarian point of view. Only then does Peter understand that to bear the burden of being God’s ambassador with the right and might to bind earthly matters with a heavenly authority, he must first surrender his heart and act strictly within the principles and promises of God’s Holy Kingdom.
We, who serve those in peril for our Lord’s sake, are constantly reminded of the reality that we can do nothing without His infinite wisdom and strength. Conversely, it is only as we surrender to His will that we are in a position to serve as His ambassadors and agents of peace – thereby accessing the keys to His Father’s Kingdom.
- Doug
