A Standard For Leadership

HoHum:

“Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes”- Jim Carrey. What is being said here is that arrogance has no place in leadership, even more so in spiritual leadership

WBTU:

In 2 Corinthians, Paul defends his qualifications as a leader. He set some standards that we can still use today to measure the people in leadership- even measure our spiritual leaders. Better still, we ourselves ought to measure up to those standards in our own leadership roles in our home, church, school or business.

Thesis: A standard for leadership

For instances:

Integrity- 2 Corinthians 1:12

Three words in this verse outline what integrity is.

Conscience- Paul often said that he had a clear conscience. Conscience is the inner voice that approves when we do right and accuses when we do wrong. To be reliable, the conscience must be properly programmed and obeyed (let the Word program our conscience). If we obey the conscience, Paul said that his conscience testified that he had conducted himself properly. Paul could withstand any criticism or evaluation because he walked his talk.

Holiness- Here this means being different from the world, being separate from the sins of the world. Unreasonable to expect leaders to be perfect, but we do have a right to expect the general direction of their lives to be different from the direction of the world.

Sincere- The word sincere comes from a Latin word meaning “without wax.” The Greek variation means “sun tested.” In those days artisans made porcelain vases that were expensive. Sometimes, when a vase was heated in the kiln, it would crack. Dishonest merchants would pour white wax over the cracks, which would hide the flaws unless the vase were held up to the sunlight. When sincerity flows from our lives, there is no deception. There is no embellishing the truth for personal advantage. When the Son of God shines through and tests our lives, the absence of cracks will guarantee the presence of truth.

Bobby Jones was playing golf in an important tournament. His ball was in the rough. As he was surveying the ball, his club head hit a twig that moved the ball. He turned and said to his caddy, “I moved the ball; count that a penalty stroke.” The caddy said, “Oh, Mr. Jones, I didn’t see it; nobody else did, either.” “I saw it,” Jones said. “That’s enough.” That’s integrity, a clear conscience that results in right living. There are still people of integrity in this world. They may not have the most charisma and they may not be the most self promoting, but we must search them out and put them in positions of leadership.

Clarity

Political correctness is ruining us. In our society, we chose words, not to increase clarity, but to make sure that we make everyone feel good, not to offend anyone. Reading or listening to some people, we begin to think, “What are they talking about?” or “I have no idea where they stand?” Written communication can even be worse where a person can take out a thesaurus and make things as clear as mud. “For we do not write to you anything you cannot read or understand.” 2 Corinthians 1:13, NIV. Many are hiding behind language and fancy words to be vague or deceptive. The same kind of duplicity takes place in Christian circles, where church leaders use terms they don’t mean. They talk about the Word of God, when in reality they don’t believe all the Bible to be the Word of God. They talk about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, but the don’t believe in the bodily resurrection- they just mean that Jesus’ memory or His teachings live on. Some cults speak of Jesus as the “son of God,” but they don’t mean that He is God in the flesh; they mean He’s a son of God the way we all can be sons of God.

Leaders worth following state their positions clearly. Need to ask, What does a person need to do to be saved? What is your belief about baptism? What is your stance on abortion? What about homosexual rights? What do you believe about the reliability and authority of the Bible? What do you value? What should this church be doing to make a difference? How much do you give to the church and other Kingdom causes? Describe your time in personal Bible study and prayer. What do you believe is doctrine or things you will not bend or change? What do you believe is opinion or things that are unimportant? Might not like the answers that some people give but how refreshing to be able to say, “I disagree, but at least I know where he/ stands.” Bad to say of a leader, “I never know what he believes or where she stands.” Scripture says we need to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), but we need to speak the truth, and the truth is seldom vague.