Jocko's Accountability

I used Jocko Willink's idea of "Extreme Ownership" in relationship to Sunday's message, because the Bible's book of James advises us to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another so we may be fully "healed." On one hand, I love the combination of those two concepts.

Jocko is adamant that we make no excuses and instead completely, totally, EXTREMELY OWN our stuff: our mistakes, errors, sins, etc. No excuses. Leaders own their failings, confess them to the team, and do whatever it takes to make it right. In a spiritual way, James is writing that Christians of all people should be so honest that we will lead the way in living this way!

On the other hand, there is a word of caution I didn't have time to go into. Jocko's extreme ownership goes so far as to say that if one of his team members messes up -- say, does not adequately search a room of a terrorist's house, and the terrorist was hiding in there and later comes out and kills people -- then the team leader is at fault. Maybe the team leader didn't train the soldier well enough, didn't inspire the leader well enough, didn't communicate well enough -- whatever -- but the leader must ultimately own the error.

The word of caution here is GRACE. Pushed far enough on its own, in just a secular sense, extreme ownership can entrap people in such a judgmental cycle of obsession over FAULT that we will lose the Christian message of Grace. Yes, we have to own all our sins without excuses, including when leaders have failed their team: but also, we must accept God's Grace and offer it to others because ultimately we WILL ALL EVENTUALLY FAIL SOMEHOW at extreme ownership! If we could pull off extreme ownership on our own willpower all the time, then we wouldn't need a Savior!

I know that Jocko has never said he knows Jesus as Savior and Lord. His approach makes for a powerful military team, but my guess is that he's a difficult man to live with, because there's an all-important extra piece of the puzzle he's been missing: forgiveness and grace. I pray he finds it, because his philosophy with this all-important piece added in as a corner piece, could make him one of the world's greatest evangelists in this time in history! Come Lord Jesus -- save Jocko's soul! Amen!

Moms give birth...clearly

THOUGHTS: John chapter 3 says we must be born again, and Romans 10 indicates this happens when someone in the Church explains the Gospel to someone such that they can believe in Jesus. In that way, then, the Church is our Mother because it is all the believers in and disciples of Jesus, everywhere, through all years, that God uses to birth us anew as His children of faith and trust.

Each of the births of my three sons was different, with the last one happening in a minivan – but that’s a story for another day. In each case, although the birth was a process from pregnancy to contractions to the exit from the womb, there was a point at which the baby went from “in utero” to “born.” It was messy, it was a process, but the change was definitive.

Initially I was thinking of that change as being one of position – inside mom, to outside mom. But what has to successfully happen? The baby has to go from not breathing and depending on the umbilical chord, to then breathing air. When you and I are spiritually reborn, we go from positionally outside of God’s family to inside it – but more importantly, we go from depending on our own breath alone to depending on the breath of God for nourishment and direction and energy.

ACTION: Take your phone and very slowly push it off of something until it falls to the floor. VERY SLOWLY. Off the table or desk or counter or chair. And of course you will catch it. It’s a process, but eventually the change is dramatic, and it falls onto your hand to depend on your hand to keep it up.

PRAYER:  “Our Father, help me to allow myself to be brought into total dependence on you as I am reborn and fall into your Hand with trust.

Let the Church speak

THOUGHTS: On Sunday we talked about the way in which the Bible contains the image of the “Church” (all believers, everywhere, in all times) as the “mother” of Christians. She’s our mom in a way, and moms try to speak into the lives of their kids. AND THEN, kids get to decide whether they will listen or not. We are like that with the Church.

In certain issues, the Church gets to speak into our lives to determine what is sinful. For instance: The way the Church has interpreted the messages from God and interpreted the messages of those who interpreted those messages, has set a standard of sexuality for me as a man to be either abstinence or heterosexual, life-long, monogamous Christian marriage. So if I veer from that, I know I’m sinning.

But in other issues, the Church speaks into our lives in ways that don’t prevent specific sin but that prevent foolishness and promote wisdom. As a young married youth pastor who stressed over all the troubles in the kids’ lives, a man in the Church advised, “Share things with your wife, but don’t go home and dump on her. Find ways to handle the stress that don’t bury her in it.” That’s stuck with me for over two decades and has improved my marriage! Thank you Mom / Church / Christian Friend!

ACTION: Make church – steeple – people with your hands.  (Place your hands back to back, knuckles on one hand flush with knuckles on the other hand, then interlock your fingers, and fold your hands together with your fingers inside. Point your two pointer-index-fingers up for the steeple, thumbs together for the doors, and then open the doors, and extend your fingers upward – the people in the church. As you wiggle them ask your brain, “What have the people of the church been teaching me lately?”

PRAYER: “Lord help me to listen to the Church like my mother, even when it’s confusing, challenging, and perplexing. Help me to hear your voice through the voices of the Church.”