TRAITS TO LOOK FOR IN A LEADER
I. INTRODUCTION
This week I received a letter in the mail from the Reverend Barry W. Lynn, the executive director of the organization “Americans United for Separation of Church and State”.
Concerning the Name
1. There would no America if there was no Church
This country was discovered, founded and populated by Christians. It was not merely religious folks. They were not Muslims, Buddhists, Mormons, or anything else that founded this nation. It was God-fearing, Bible-believing, Christ-loving, Church-attending, Jesus-serving, Christians that founded, designed, and built this nation.
2. There is no separation of church and state
Second, I want you to understand that there can be no such thing. People may believe they are operating independently of God, and believe that their country is independent of God, but I want you to know that it is God Who build nations.
> Daniel 4:17 This word is by decree of the observers; the matter is a command from the holy ones. This is so the living will know that the Most High is ruler over the kingdom of men. He gives it to anyone He wants and sets over it the lowliest of men.
Not only does God build nations, and not only did He invent government, but government is His tool.
> Romans 13:4 For government is God’s servant to you for good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For government is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong.
There can be no separation of God and state.
3. We’re in trouble if we want to be separated
Third, I want you to understand that our nation is in serious trouble if we even want to be separated from God.
> Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain; unless the Lord watches over a city, the watchman stays alert in vain.
If God is not building our nation, if He is not protecting this nation, then we are in serious trouble. Heaven help us, if God ever turns His back on America. We saw, I believe, what can happen on September 11th, when God for just a moment, removed his hand. …
4. We’re stupid if we want to be separated
> Psalm 33:12 Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord— the people He has chosen to be His own possession!
Could this possibly explain why there is so much uncertainty, unhappiness, and discouragement in our nation today? …
Concerning the Writer
1. We’re heading for dangerous days
I want you to understand that we are in dangerous days, when a leader, a preacher, a pastor, a reverend, like the one who sent me that stupid letter, can say that he wants our government to be separated from God.
I am reminded of God’s warning to the Israelites through Jeremiah, when the priests became defective.
- Jeremiah 8:10-12
Concerning His Warning
In the letter, this sell-out, this ambassador of the enemy, this messenger of darkness, warned me about what I was and was not allowed to say from this pulpit and told of other churches whose pastors had chosen to take a stand and what happened to them.
In response I would like to say:
1. I have an obligation
Matthew 28:19-20
> Romans 10:14 But how can they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher?
> 2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
I have a message to share, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have the Truth on my side. Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father except by Me.” I have a foundation to stand on. “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” I have a message burning in my bones. The Word of God. I can preach no other.
If you are concerned about political correctness, this is not the church for you. If you are worried about what people will think, this is not the church for you. If you are worried about hurting people’s feelings, this is not the church for you.
Listen, Right is right. Wrong is wrong. Hell is hot. Heaven is sweet. Jesus is love, and He’s coming again. I have an obligation to tell you.
2. I Report to a higher authority
> Ezekiel 3:18 If I say to the wicked person: You will surely die, but you do not warn him—you don’t speak out to warn him about his wicked way in order to save his life—that wicked person will die for his iniquity. Yet I will hold you responsible for his blood.
Jesus stood up to Herod, whom He called a fox, and I’ll be hanged if I let this yapping dog, this compromising, yellow-streaked, Satan-serving, Mama’s boy tell me what I can and cannot preach.
I report to a higher authority. If I run in fear, if I tremble and compromise, I will be held accountable.
3. God is with me.
This is not the first time government has run amuck. Peter in jail. …
Paul said, “Greater is He that is in me, than He that is in the world.”
You and I cannot back down. We cannot compromise. We cannot be frightened. We cannot quit. We cannot run. We cannot be silenced. We cannot become a bunch of, weak-willed, white-flag, Christians so afraid of our own shadows that we run every time the Devil’s boys say “Boo!”
You are an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are a soldier in God’s army, the greatest army that has ever existed! There is a battle raging for the heart of our nation, and your commander-in-chief, has called you to war. In regards to the upcoming election that means not only praying that God’s will will be done, but it also means that you will vote.
Some people have the mistaken idea that God is not interested in politics. They are wrong. God is very interested in politics. He is very interested in government.
In our country, we have established a government which is elected, chosen, and run by the people and for the people. If we want a government that is friendly to Christians, then it is very important that Christians participate in government. There is no way you and I can complain about the type of government we have if we are not active participants in that government.
Now, I have always hated unions. Growing up, my family owned a business, and then we owned two businesses. As a result, I was very familiar with employee complaints. I knew how lazy some employees could be, and I knew how some tried to get by with doing as little as they could and then complained about how little they were paid.
As I grew up, I often heard on TV about the strikes up North, and about how the unions were holding businesses back. As a result, I didn’t have a very high opinion of unions and still believe that they often penalize the good employees while they protect the bad ones.
** Collective bargaining class in college.
“The only time you find unions at a plant is when management hasn’t been doing their jobs.” I know there are exceptions to that, but basically he was saying, “employers got what they deserved for not doing their jobs”.
The same is true of our government. We, as a people, get the type of government we deserve.
I say all of that to say this. God has standards and He requires a certain character of leaders.
- Some say, “What difference does a man’s beliefs make as long as he can lead?” - Pilot.
- All character is based on God. Our faith is based on God. To say that what a man believes, and does, doesn’t matter, is to say that God doesn’t matter.
* Surgeon who doesn’t scrub up before he operates.
II. GOD HAS STANDARDS
1. Godly and righteous man.
- Psalm 148:11-13
> Proverbs 16:12 Wicked behavior is detestable to kings, since a throne is established through righteousness.
2. Wise – True wisdom comes from God.
- Proverbs 8:12-16
- Solomon
- Problem – many politicians make decisions based on polls rather than according to godly wisdom.
Harry Truman once said, “I wonder how far Moses would have gone if he had taken a poll in Egypt? What would Jesus have preached if He had taken a poll in Israel?”
- It isn’t the polls and public opinion at the moment that counts. It is right and wrong.
3. Honest Man
> Proverbs 17:7 Excessive speech is not appropriate on a fool’s lips; how much worse are lies for a ruler.
- Liars and leaders are not the same. A man doesn’t lie because he is a leader. He lies because he’s a liar.
- Jesus, it isn’t what goes in to a man that is important …
> John 8:44 You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars.
Where is honesty in politicians today?
* Little girl, “Do all, fairy tales start with ‘once upon a time’?” No, some start with, “When I am elected.” (From a sermon by Dr. Adrian Rodgers)
4. Discriminating in his choice of friends
> Proverbs 25:4-5 Remove impurities from silver, and a vessel will be produced for a silversmith. Remove the wicked from the king’s presence, and his throne will be established in righteousness.
- Cannot surround himself with ungodly people.
5. Sexual morality
- Proverbs 31:1-3
- If a man cannot keep his most sacred vow, the vow to his wife, how can he keep his other promises?
6. Sober
- Proverbs 31:4-5
7. Willing to protect the weak
- Proverbs 31:8-9
- Why does God give us civil leaders?
- Dumb – cannot speak for themselves
- Abortion, partial-birth abortion
- Just because it is legal, doesn’t make it right.
> Psalm 94:20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?
- Wicked people make wicked laws, that doesn’t make it right.
III. GOD GIVES YOU A CHOICE
> Hosea 8:4 They have installed kings, but not through Me. They have appointed leaders, but without My approval. They make their silver and gold into idols for themselves for their own destruction.
IV. CHOICES HAVE CONSEQUENCES
- 1 Samuel 8:18
- Proverbs 29:2 When the righteous flourish, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, people groan.
You have a responsibility.
> 2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Our hope is not in Washington, but only in heaven. The answer is not in the white house, it is not in the school house. The answer lies in the church house. (Quote from Dr. Adrian Rodgers)
