A Godly leader is someone who is ready to admit their failures and acknowledge the areas where they need growth. Today, Tyler and I unpack what failure means as a leader, how we learn from failure, and what it looks like to act in integrity in our business and personal lives.
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. (Philippians 3:7-12)
Three Things You'll Learn
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A Godly leader is someone who is ready to admit their failures and acknowledge the areas where they need growth. Today, Tyler and I unpack what failure means as a leader, how we learn from failure, and what it looks like to act in integrity in our business and personal lives.
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. (Philippians 3:7-12)
Three Things You'll Learn
Interested in Group Coaching from a Biblical Perspective? Click here to learn more and have a quick chat with Garrett to see if it's a good fit! faithfulagent.com/chat
Help us fund the continued work of The Faithful Agent by sending us your Hampton Roads, VA buyer and seller referrals! https://faithfulagent.com/referral
Join our Facebook community to meet other agents who share your work and your faith! facebook.com/groups/thefaithfulagent
Want to join a local Faithful Agent group to meet believers in your area? Check out faithfulagent.com/local-groups
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the faithful agent podcast. We are glad that you have joined us yet again today. And we're grateful to be with you all. And we hope that today's podcasts in our topic will be encouraging to you, as we talked about today, that a godly leader is someone who is ready to admit their failures and areas where they need growth. And that is a spicy topic. For us to dive into, we're going to be focusing on Philippians chapter three verses seven through 12. And excited to get into this topic with you tea. We've had a lot of conversations about this specifically about my failures and areas of growth, because they're quite numerous but excited to share with the audience today, buddy, but man, give us a good Christian joke, because we're gonna need a little bit of laughter Yeah, before we get totally nice and heavy.
Well, given that we're all Christians in the real estate space, that was a good one. What size was the lumber that was made to build the ark? Who to buy two baby two by twos? Oh, that's funny. I didn't get it at first, but it makes sense. Yeah, right. Yeah. To buy sell the houses you don't build.
Amen. That's right. I don't know why that applies to us.
I'll wait for someone to use the two by twos and I'll make money off it. That's, that's how it works. That's good. So you know, you got and this is this is more a story because I just wanted to share with you is that I went running earlier with my Bible. And now we're stitches are sweaty, palms are sweaty. That's funny, you
know, sorry, to you. But that was actually pretty funny. You know? It's ironic, because so I just got an under desk, treadmill, because I'm trying to get my steps in. No, right. And I feel really I was on a zoom call earlier, and you just look so awkward.
They're like, are you on a treadmill? Like, yes, I am. Okay. I just feel so awkward. For the first time I was I just got it yesterday. As we're recording this the first time I used it. I like looked away for a second. And it's a lot thinner than a normal one. And so I almost just completely
fell off the side. That would have been amazing. And it wasn't recorded. I would have been incredible, but I need to being recorded when you're walking on that because that takes a tumble. That is yeah, that's gonna be content right there. By my a friend of mine on the Zoom call today texted me and said it. You know, he didn't even say hey, are you on a treadmill? He could obviously tell. And he texted me and said, I think you have way too much heel contact when you walk.
Like, yeah, you could tell it he sent me some research like, Dude, I don't want you to, you know, whatever, doesn't matter. I'm just trying to get some steps in and try to be healthy. Okay. It's not worked out. Man. Prouty. Thank you, buddy. Appreciate that. Alright, let's dive into the good stuff. All right, yeah, we got so we got Philippians three, flipping chapter three, verse sevens, we're going to start but whatever gain I had I counted as loss for the sake of Christ, amen. There indeed, I count everything is lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law. But that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this, or I'm already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Amen. You know, what's funny is, you and I were just gonna use verse 12, because that's the one that specifically applies. But we're like, the rest of that is just so good.
To not start with that I account everything is lost, because of the I love the words in the ESV, the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus. Right. And I think that actually started that is a good starter place for someone being willing to admit their failures and areas of, of growth, right. In Bible study this past week, we're in John and
John says, John the Baptist says, He must increase and I must decrease, right. And we were talking about, well, how do we do that? Like, how do we actually practically do that? And my answer, and that not that I exhibited well, by any means, but my answer was, Well, He must increase meaning we have to learn more about who he is when we're more aware of his glory, and isn't how amazing he is, he will increase right and then we also have to go be more fully aware of who we are apart from him, and then we will naturally decrease, right i, to me, at least it feels like there's a lack, you know, being willing to admit failure in areas that you need.
wrote is more just an awareness of who we are and who he is right? And what our understanding is I
so many times, with friends, we'll be talking about, you know, somebody will share something, this has been really tough. And, you know, can you guys help me and they're like, I didn't want to share it and, you know, blah, blah, blah, and I'll say, Dude, and they'll they'll say to me, and I'll say, Listen, we know that you are terrible and a terrible sinner, right? We all understand that none of us are good. No one is good. No one is righteous, right? So tell us what's going on because we get it. That's the whole point of Christ eating the common is that we all are sinful. And so we have that need to be open and honest with one another, not pretend like we aren't those things, right. But what do you think made me such a good passage and a good topic of conversation to MIT failures and areas for growth? Yeah, I gotta, I gotta make sure I pull you into the grace component of the gospel too. And don't let you get stuck in your reformed nature of just being a broken senator. So
right now, we're just showered in the Hope and Grace of crawling across through.
But so one thing that jumped into I love that you talked about that you referenced less of me that Christ, more of got more of Christ, less of me like. So I think, what we should maybe dive into a new, you know, hear this and respond. But I don't think that it's a zero sum game in that. So what I mean by that is proclaiming the goodness of God, and us dying to our flesh doesn't mean like less of us and more of God doesn't mean that we are dwindling, and we die in that now. We're, we do, but we're reborn in Christ. Right. So there's new life in Christ. And so what I say the reason why I say that is, sometimes when we think less of me more of him, we feel it naturally creates this interpretation of like, I can't do anything successful, or I can't be, you know, on the front lines of anything, I can't have my name proclaimed. And now, there's truth in that, like, because it shouldn't be about us, it should always be pointing to the Lord. But there's so much victory. And when we proclaim Christ's name, that it actually I think, there's hope to say that the more that we proclaim Christ, the more victory that is there, and the rebirth that comes along with that, there is more of a thriving life being made new in him as well. So like, ultimately, I think more of Christ and dying us dying to us, just like the whole, that Scripture, we just read, like for me to live this Christ and to die is gain because we are dying to the flesh and the distractions of this world that are pulling us away from the ultimate contentment and joy that we have in our relationship with God. But it's like this, I almost like a J curve, like where you we die to ourselves, and then we exponentially thrive in light of Christ and in the peace that comes with knowing him, and that it is all been accomplished through him. So, I mean, does that make sense? Am I being Yeah, cool? No, no, I think that doesn't make sense. I mean, I, I view it as, and I, I'm sure most of us have heard this before. But I I've heard it taught that. May he? And you know that he would increase and I would decrease? Yep. Means you don't think less of yourself, you think of yourself less. Right? And so I think that's where that comes in. It doesn't mean that we all of a sudden, say, Man, I'm just so terrible. And I'm just gonna sit here because of how terrible I am. Right? I don't mean that right? I mean, an awareness of the total depravity of our sin, right, that we could not earn our way back into the Lord's favor. That's that was impossible. Therefore Christ came. I think it gives us a humility, right, which I struggle with mightily. But I think a correct understanding would give us a humility right now, but at the same time, to your point, but at the same time, a strength and a courage that would come from knowing who Christ is and what he's done and what he's called us to. Right. So it doesn't mean that a, a healthy Christian with a healthy understanding of who they are in light of Christ is someone who cowers in the corner, because they're just so overwhelmed by how bad they are. Right? I've been in those situations when I've had more awareness of my sin, without more awareness of His grace and His kindness, right? It's like you have you feel like you're lying of how much you needed to be saved is just dropping precipitously. It's getting further and further away, but your view of the cross doesn't get bigger. So you feel like that gaps not bridged, right. So there needs
has to be both of those things at the same time. And a correct understanding of who Christ is and who we are, though, leads to a boldness, right, because we're proclaiming what is true, and it's not about us, right. I think, I think admitting your failures and areas you need growth isn't acceptance that in this is extremely hard, right? I'm gonna say it and audience don't think that I live this well, because this heart, it's an acceptance that there should be a desire that the Lord would be proclaimed. And I could just simply fade to the background. And that would be okay. Right, as long as he was made known. And that's really difficult. And I think it takes that humility to recognize I failed, right to recognize there's an area that I need growth and a lot. I mean, that's what sanctification is, we're being sanctified because we're not perfect until we are in glory with him, and then we are made perfect. That's right, right. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, that's good. I and I want to jump into some tactical stuff here, as we talked about, I mean, we can unpack this scripture for days, or it's just so much good stuff here. But so we're talking about in the context of godly leadership to encourage those of us in leadership and we should all be in leadership as believers we should be being discipled. And making disciples of other believers I mean, there should be a constant being poured into and a pouring out of so we should all be leaders as Christians, but
so when we're reading verse, the verse here, I've suffered the loss of all things, I count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. And we're talking about this, this almost like a joyful death to ourselves a joy, a joy that is in losing the things of this world so that we can gain Christ. Jesus speak to what that looks like, as like a team leader, we're talking about, you know, we're talking about the context of serving clients and serving, you know, people that we care about to get them the best opportunity. I mean, we talk about throughout this series, and in our podcasts that we're called to be excellent in what we do as believers and to take to take pride in the vocation that we that we've been instilled into. So when we're talking and hearing scripture about speaking to loss and taking joy in loss, what does it look like, as a leader of a team, that have people that you're required to hold them accountable to goals, hold them accountable to their own ambitions in a in a, in a healthy, Biblical way, but like to challenge them to press into things where they need to be pressed into? And then you know, talking about failures in like in a client interaction, like, how do we champion those in light of this text here? Just from a practical sense? Yeah, I mean, I think that's a really good question. And it's, it's a hard answer. Right? hard to wrap your head around what that is, I mean, I think the first thought that popped in my head is this week, and you and I have been talking about it. But this week, I posted in our Facebook group, Facebook, faithful agent community. And I said, What does it mean? Faithfulness, first profitability? Second, right. What does that mean? And it is really interesting to see all of the responses and how they would interpret and what that means to them. And I think this is a partial answer, and I'll come back to but the partial answer here is, I think, understanding and recognizing that, and not we're not saying faithfulness, and not profitability. Don't here say that, right. I think being profitable is faithfulness. However, I think that faithfulness means there are times where we are willing to take a loss on a client, if they're asking us to do something that lacks integrity, right, or a builder that wants or have someone who's flipping a home and investor who wants to cut corners, and you know about it, and not being willing to just not say anything, just let it be right, or try to hide a repair that needs to happen, just hoping your clients don't find out or the other buyer doesn't find out. Right? I mean, there's all kinds of stuff where, man, we had an experience where one of my clients was buying a home from an investor, and at the home inspection, the investor or the they had already done a termite moisture inspector, the seller had quote, unquote, you know, we had a letter, at least our home inspector was there and he just would take his, his screwdriver and just poke you know, the wood in the house, right? And one of them he just poked straight through, it was so rotted out, right, and there was clearly issues going on. And the the agent and the the guy who had flipped the house, were so angry, like, no, it's fine. What are you talking about? You know, we had a clear termite and moisture, which obviously some there was something weird going on there, and they were so angry about it, right. And in that scenario, if I'm on the other side, it should be a willingness to say, Wow, we should have caught that. And my job is to tell my client we need to act here with integrity. Right. Now when it comes to what you know specific
We talked about counting everything is lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ, I think it's important to make a distinction here that it is both saying, as Paul says, I've suffered the loss of all these things right and count them as rubbish and order them again, Christ. But counting everything is lost also means in comparison to the surpassing joy of knowing Jesus, everything else that I have seems totally worthless, right. And in light of who Christ is, and our gift in him and our treasure in him, everything else in my life seems like is just total crap. Right? Because of how great he is compared to the stuff. And so I think what that means practically, with myself as a, as a real estate agent, with my team, as agents, when we're coaching people, right, is the reality of make sure that you are willing to lose the deal to remain faithful to the Lord, right, make sure that in light of, you know, trying to get this closed, or get that commission check that you always in light of who Christ is, and knowing that your prize is him. It's not a commission check. Right? act in that way. And that's really difficult. But I think when I read this, that's what it's saying, act in that way, for the price of Christ, not for what we deemed the price of a commission check, because in light of who he is, that's rubbish, right now, we need money, we need all those things. But he's promised he's going to take care of us so we can rest in that, in light of who he is, we will act in light of Christ with that integrity. I think, to me, that's what that means. But how would you interpret that again, from a, from a practical tactical perspective? What would you think? Yeah, I mean, that's so good. I mean, I think you explained it really, really well. And, you know, the word that jumps out to me in scripture we read is righteousness. And I think a lot of times we skim over what that like means, and we use that and, and to be more righteous, or to act act more righteous, God is righteous. And just like who so what do we define that as right? And so, I mean, Webster's would define it as like, adhering to morality or just being morally correct or doing the right thing, simply put, but as believers, we know that the heart is deceitful above all things, and is inclined to do exactly the opposite of what would be, you know, defined as morally right. So the Bible defines morally right, by God's standard, not by the ways of the world. I mean, we may make actions and do things and make the right decision a lot of the time, but as again, as sinners, the true heart from which that comes from is wicked. And so what I think that their encouragement to say and what tactically this all looks like, is the recognition that in those moments, your heart is going to be pulling you in the wrong direction and motivating you to make decisions for the wrong reasons I love that you spoke to. I mean, it's a simple truth. I think we've all heard it in the business, but like, are you willing to make a decision? Not based on the commission check? Are you willing to do the right thing by your client by the people in the interaction that is God honoring at the cost of your commission check? I mean, it's a hard question. And we would all say, Yeah, of course, we do the right thing. But when you get in those moments, and it's black and white, and you're either gonna have it or you're not, your flesh is saying, Man,
how can I justify signing off on this so that this transaction closes. And and so hear us say to not like, there's no judgment being cast in that that is just a confession on both ends here saying that, you're not alone in that. But what we are being called to is the hope and this scripture, that we are not perfect, we can't possibly be righteous on our own apart from Christ. So let me touch on that again. I mean, it says a nine like not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, that would be the legalistic approach, if like doing the right thing, I'm going to be righteous by doing the right thing that adheres with the law of the world, the law that God has given, but no, it goes on to say that which comes through faith in Christ, which is the only means of our salvation. It's clearly established in Scripture, the righteousness from God that depends on faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. And it continues on so it, the hope is that we can be humbled and making those decisions to say, Hey, I know you're gonna use a clean mirror image again, I know that my heart is going to tell me to do the wrong thing. But God, Spirit inside me, lead me to make the hard decision and do the right thing, even when it's hard. That's the prayer that I have for my boys every night when I lay him down, and I try to teach them they're four. I'm trying to teach them how to do the right thing, even when it's hard. You don't have to words like integrity can't use words like integrity or righteousness just yet because they're poor and they don't under
Stan that. But I think a lot of times as adults as grown up so we, we use the words like integrity, righteousness and don't simplify it to truly adhering to submission to the Lord and right like the confession that I'm a broken center and I need him to lead me through these moments of weakness so that the that his name is exalted not that I get the desired outcome that I want, but that his name is exalted in it. And so their point being, let's simplify it a little bit, let's go back to square one and remember those things. And then as we go into those, like, think about the cost of doing the wrong thing. And that moment of what that means to all those people to use your specific example of like some shady stuff kind of going in on one transaction, you can meet tension or turmoil with tension and turmoil and you can push back and you can fight and But Scripture calls us to turn our cheek to give the shirt off of our back and to do the right thing, as a testimony to everybody that is a part of that people went when I think people's backs are against the wall, human reaction is to push back and fight against it. How as Believers do we love in those moments, fight for integrity, and fight, uphold the righteousness is imputed unto us through Christ.
Yeah, that's good. And I think it's really telling where our hearts are in moments of stress, right? What my natural reaction is, is very telling to really where my heart is. And sadly, most of the time is not good, right? It's still just mired in the sin. And as I as I'm listening to you talk about and think about, you know, in the scripture that we that you reference, again, not that I've already attained this or I'm already perfect, right? The recognition, it be okay with being imperfect, right. That's the whole point of Christ. I think there are times when I don't want anyone to know that I'm a sinner. Right. And by the way I act and what is that, that at the end of the day that is trying to disprove a need of Christ, right? Because if I don't sin, I don't need Jesus. And the reality is, no, I'm I sin all the time, right? Constantly. And the willingness to be imperfect, in my opinion, has showed up in my business, for example. And again, it's really easy to be on a podcast and people think we do this right all the time. This is probably one of the few times I've done it right amongst unfortunately, all the other times they haven't, right. But
being willing to admit when you're wrong, is very difficult in a real estate transaction. But my experience is my clients are totally thrown off when I admit it. So for example, earlier in my early in my career, I listed this house, we went under contract, they wrote something in the in the picker in the repairs request, and my lack of knowledge, or maybe I wasn't paying attention. I don't know what it was. But I I missed something they wrote in there, right? And it anyways, it came back to bite us at the end. They were like, No, you were supposed to replace the entire ah, fact, when I was thinking, Oh, we just had to get it repaired or you know, get it cleaned, basically. So it was like a $5,500 mistake, right? And I remember finding that out. And of course, I'm frustrated. And then in total truth, my initial thought was like, Man, how do I not pay for that? Because that was like my whole commission check, right? But then as I kind of sat there, just now I'm not going to over spiritualizes this, I was like, Okay, Lord, show me what to do it just the Lord, the Spirit started to give me wisdom. So I call up my my client. And I just say, Hey, I've got some bad news, I made a really big mistake, right? And I think it's gonna cost you like $5,500, I want to take my commission take $5,500 out of my commission, so that we can cover that cost. And I'm truly sorry for that. Right. And she was still upset, right? Still frustrated. Now, eventually she calmed down. But she was still upset, still frustrated by it, because I made a mistake, even though it wasn't gonna cost her anything. And she had right to be upset that there was a mistake, right. But through that process, I will say, most agents, in my experience, a lot of people that I know, would call and say, I don't know what happened here. But something happened. And now we got to figure out how to pay for it. Right? Like, they would not take responsibility for the areas that they have failed. And I think people admire that they appreciate that. Right? And all we're doing is acting as a believer should. And yet the world is thinking, wow, that's totally radical, that you would just take responsibility, right? And so I think again, you know, when we talk about admitting failures and areas, you need growth, it takes a humility to read Scripture and say, I'm not perfect, and it's okay that I'm not perfect. That's the point of the gospel. Right and by the Lord's kindness, because Christ was perfect. We can be saved and made or brought back to a right relationship with God because of his perfection. And so as
Just that humility, how do we admit failures? How do we know and admit that we have areas of growth? She has me practically speaking. For me. That's one of the reasons why I personally had a coach for the entire nine years, except the first three months I was in business. For the entire nine years I've been in business, I've had a coach, right? Why? Because I know I'm limited as a person. Right? I need help. Right? When I say, Man, this is an area that I need to improve on, it goes back to your clean mirror, we can't grow unless we know I think about that all the time, right? We can't grow unless we know that we need growth in that particular area. So we've got to have the humility to say, Dude, you don't have it all figured out, not even close. Right? You've got to be willing to admit your failures, no one is surprised when we fail. That's part of being a human, that's part of being a sinner. But having the willingness to say, man, in light of who Christ is, like you said earlier, it's not judgment, but there's grace for our failure, praise God for that, right? Accepting and recognizing I'm a failure, right, and I'm in need of who Christ is. And so I'm not afraid to go to my client or go to the other agent, and say, I screwed this up, right. And I'm sorry that that happened. Or when the other agent screws up, instead of jumping down their throat, which is what we often want to do. Say, I've had so many, I'll give one more quick example. I remember I was doing a deal with another agent, she was pretty new. And she wrote something in the contract. And it was totally in our favor. And I don't think she meant it that way. She was not protecting her client at all. So I called her and I said, Hey, I just want you to know, I just want to talk this out with you. This is what the contract says, Is that what you intended? Oh, no, that's not at all what I intended. Okay. I, my opinion for you is go talk to your broker and put in the language that you intended it to be. Right, she did that and then sent it back before I presented it to my clients. Because I was trying to protect her and her integrity and her business as well. Not just take advantage of mistakes. Right. And I think that their understanding, again, if Christ is the prize, then that's where we keep our eyes fixed, not on the commission check not on winning the deal, not on beating the other agent into submission. That's not what this looks like, as a believer. Right. It's hard. But I think that's the practical reality of it. So take us home, man. I think this has been a good conversation. We could talk for a long time about Yeah, no, that's good, man. Thanks for sharing. Yeah, I appreciate I mean, that's anecdotes. And I mean, it's testimony. You know, like, That's truth, that's real world truth and that you have endured and been faithful to I mean, that's what we're called to be faithful. It's name of the show. So we talked about what it looks like to be a faithful agent. And so praise God for your faithfulness in that I'm going to close this out here feels three seven, through 12. But whatever gain I had I counted as lost for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything is lost because of the surpassing worth knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law. But that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from dead. Not that I have already attained this or I'm already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus had made has made me his own. Amen. And before I wrap up, I can't believe you said Phil, three, seven to 12 you shorten Philippians. That's amazing. That's right. Let this episode end with
faithful agents. We love you. Thank you for tuning in today. Share this with your friends. Pray for us as we pray for you. We would greatly appreciate we'll see you next time.