[RECAP]  If you really meant it, leader, when you said, ‘I want to belong to Jesus.’ If you really meant it, leader, when you said, ‘I want to give everything I have to Jesus.’ If you really meant it, leader, when you said, ‘I will identify with Jesus and I will do whatever He calls me to do.’ If you really meant it, my friend, then I’ve learned, there’s something you and I must face together.
[END RECAP]

Because you see, I didn’t truly understand what I was saying or doing when I said, ‘I want to come behind Jesus. I want to identify with Him.’ That’s what the concept is in ‘coming behind Him.’ It means that I identify with Him. That means that I turn from everything else. It means that everything belongs to Him. It means that He is the Lord of my life. It means that I trust Him no matter what happens.

Yet I found myself as a leader, as a pastor, as a professor, I found myself not happy with what He was doing. There weren’t enough people in my church. I wanted more. I used to go to my church every Friday morning, and kind of sneak in; I just wanted to pray by myself. I don’t know, I don’t think anyone ever really knew what I was doing because I would get there early before anybody else was around. And I’d go into the worship center and I’d stand up on the platform and I’d stand behind the pulpit and I’d pray for everybody who would be up there on Sunday morning. And then, I would go out into the seats. And I would sit down, just to see what the people saw.

But I also had another interest. I would sit in some seats that I was pretty sure would be empty. You know the pockets, if you’re a pastor, you know the pockets where the seats are empty. And I would pray for the Lord to fill the empty chairs. I was focused on empty chairs. In the meantime, something I missed until after I left our pastorate South Hills Community Church in San Jose, California and came to teach at Dallas Seminary. I started teaching people how to pastor and that caused me to look back and see what I had learned and tried to put it together and help them.

I began to realize that while I was often praying for empty chairs, amazing things were happening through the word of God. Amazing. Scores, literally scores of people went out to serve the Lord. Some for a lifetime; some in strategic and significant positions of leadership today.  I knew they were doing that, but I had no idea where they were going to go. And I certainly didn’t plan that. I think I was planning for the empty chairs and missing the full chairs. Because you see, I’m afraid I was driven by the numbers.

Now, pastors aren’t the only people driven by the numbers, you know. If y ou’re a business man, you’re a business woman, you’re driven by the numbers. The numbers this quarter, the six-month numbers, the annual numbers, the projections, the plans, the pressure, pressure, pressure. Living by the numbers. Some of that is unavoidable, I know that. But when our identity hangs on the numbers, then we are radically out of touch with the Lord.

His identity never hung on the numbers. His identity hung on doing what the Father wanted Him to do. He said that regularly. He said: “I do, I watch my Father, I see what my Father is doing, and then I do it” (John 5:19b). That’s what He said at the end of His life when He came before the Father and said, “restore My glory to Me” (John 17:5). You know what He said: “I’ve done what You’ve sent me to do.” That’s what He was all about.

That’s what Jesus is calling us to do. He’s calling us to do what He has sent us to do. If you’re in business, then He has sent you to run your business in ways that please Him or whatever that is. And if you’re in ministry, it doesn’t matter how big the church down the street is. You can look Him in the eye and say, “I did what You wanted me to do.”

So Jesus says to us, ‘I don’t want you pursuing the interest of man. I don’t want you striving for a crown. I don’t want you going after the recognition, the fame, the position, the power, the influence. I don’t want you seeking after yourself. When I want you to have it, I’ll give it to you. And when I give it to you, it’s a stewardship and I expect you to manage it well. But I don’t want you seeking that. I want you focused on Me.’ That’s what He wants.

You see, if we’re behind Jesus, then our eyes are on Him, not on ourselves. By the way, that’s how we get out of the box. And I want to tell you, He’s full of glory. It might not be the same kind of glory that we see, but I will tell you that what He wants us to do is to focus right on Him. Through the word of God, through the truth of God, through prayer, through spiritual disciplines, through asking Him, ‘what is it You want done?’ By releasing your business to Him and giving it to Him and identifying Him as the owner. That’s what He wants.

He wants you to get behind Him and keep your eye on Him. And let me tell you what you’ll see if you do that. We follow the man who carried the cross. Now today, He is in the glory of heaven. But on earth, He carried the cross. And what you need to keep in front of you is Jesus the man, who carried the cross. And if you do that, you will eventually see, Jesus the Lord, who rose from the dead.