The preacher was wired for sound with a lapel mike, and as he preached, he moved briskly about the platform, jerking the mike cord as he went. Then he moved to one side, getting wound up in the cord and nearly tripping before jerking it again.
After several circles and jerks, a little girl in the third pew leaned toward her mother and whispered, “If he gets loose, will he hurt us?” (David L. Roper, Judsonia, Arkansas, “Kids of the Kingdom,” Christian Reader; www.PreachingToday.com)
I suppose that’s the concern of many people when they think about their leaders: If he gets loose, will he hurt us? People are looking for somebody they can trust. People are looking for somebody that will guide them to a better life, not somebody who will make things worse.
The question is, “Who can we trust to lead us in the right direction?” Or perhaps a better question is, “Are YOU a leader others can trust?”
The Army War College asked that question of the soldiers in Iraq just a few years ago. Actually they asked those soldiers to rate the major generals in Iraq anonymously, answering the question, “What makes a good leader?” Their responses, in order of importance, were:
1) Keeps cool under pressure.
2) Clearly explains missions, standards, and priorities.
3) Sees the big picture; provides context and perspective. &
4) Makes tough, sound decisions on time.
Retired General Walter Ulmer, one of the study’s authors, said, “One thing we found is that it’s still easier to teach technical skills than to teach people how to gain trust and build teams.” (Lyric Wallwork, Parade, 7-10-05, p.10; www.PreachingToday.com)
Those are the qualities of a good leader on the battlefield, but what about the qualities of a good leader in life? What qualities are needed to gain trust and build teams in other contexts, such as our families, our church, or in the community where we live?
Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 1 Timothy 3, 1 Timothy 3, where one of the greatest Christian leaders of all time, the Apostle Paul, lists those qualities of a leader people can trust.
1 Timothy 3:1-2a Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, a he desires a noble task. Now the overseer must be above reproach. (NIV)
If you want to be a good leader, a guide others can trust, then you must…
BE ABOVE REPROACH.
You must behave in such a way that there is no cause for blame. We’re not talking about perfection here – no man is sinless until he gets to heaven. What we are talking about is standing blameless before a watching world. Like Plato said, “When men speak ill of you, so live that nobody will believe them.”
Colonel George Washington Goethals had to contend with many problems of geography and climate when he built the Panama Canal. He also had to endure the carping criticism of countless busybodies back home who freely predicted he would never get the job done. But George Washington Goethals kept on going without saying a word.
“Aren’t you going to answer your critics?” someone asked him.
“In time,” said Goethals.
“How?”
“The great engineer smiled. “With the canal,” he replied.
A good leader doesn’t need to answer his critics. His life will do it for him. If you want to be an effective leader, you must be above reproach overall. First of all, you must…
BE ABOVE REPROACH IN YOUR MARRIAGE.
You must be loyally devoted to only one woman – and that woman better be your wife.
In verse 2, the Apostle Paul says, “The overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife." (NIV)
There is no other woman in a good leader’s life, except his wife. There is no other woman in his sites. There is no other woman even in his dreams.
Dr. Robertson McQuilkin used to be the president of Columbia Bible College, until his wife entered into the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease. In March 1990, Dr. McQuilkin announced his resignation in a letter with these words:
“My dear wife, Muriel, has been in failing mental health for about eight years. So far I have been able to carry both her ever-growing needs and my leadership responsibilities at CBC. But recently it has become apparent that Muriel is contented most of the time she is with me and almost none of the time I am away from her. It is not just “discontent.” She is filled with fear – even terror – that she has lost me and always goes in search of me when I leave home. Then she may be full of anger when she cannot get to me. So it is clear that she needs me now, full-time.
“Perhaps it would help you to understand if I shared with you what I shared at the time of the announcement of my resignation in chapel. The decision was made, in a way, 42 years ago when I promised to care fur Muriel ‘in sickness and in health…till death do us part.’ So, as I told the students and faculty, as a man of my word, integrity has something to do with it.
“But so does fairness. She has cared for me fully and sacrificially all these years. If I cared for her for the next 40 years, I would not be out of debt.
“Duty, however, can be grim and stoic. But there is more; I love Muriel. She is a delight to me – her childlike dependence and confidence in me, her warm love, occasional flashes of that wit I used to relish so, her happy spirit and tough resilience in the face of her continual distressing frustration. I do not have to care for her, I get to! It is a high honor to care for so wonderful a person.
Dr. McQuilkin is truly a one-woman man. He didn’t even let his job become his mistress, and I have a whole lot more respect for him because of his commitment to his wife, than I do because of his degrees or his accomplishments as president of one of the great Christian Universities.
He was truly a GREAT leader! And if you want to be a great leader, an effective leader, then 1st of all, you must be above reproach in your marriage. 2nd, you must…
BE ABOVE REPROACH IN YOUR MIND.
You must be able to think straight and with the right attitude.
In verse 2, the Apostle Paul says, “The overseer must be...temperate,.” i.e., clear headed.
The word speaks of a person whose mind is not clouded by intoxicating drink or other things. In other words, he can think clearly, and he has a clear perspective on life.
When the soldiers of Israel saw Goliath, they thought to themselves, “He is so big we could never kill him.” When David saw Goliath, he thought to himself, “He is so big I can’t miss him!”
That’s the attitude of a leader. David had a clear perspective. He saw the situation from God’s point of view. And that’s so important for leaders. They must see things from a clear perspective. They must look at things from God’s point of view. Otherwise, the problems and crises they face will stop them dead in their tracks.
An effective leader is above reproach in his mind, or attitude. That means he is clear-headed.
It also means he is prudent, or sensible.
1 Timothy 2:2 “The overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, SELF-CONTROLLED.” (NIV) Or better, “sober-minded,” i.e., one who has a sound mind.
An engineer, a psychologist and a theologian were hunting in the wilds of northern Canada. They came across an isolated cabin, far removed from any town. Because friendly hospitality is a virtue practiced by those who live in the wilderness, the hunters knocked on the door to ask permission to rest. No one answered their knocks, but, discovering the cabin unlocked, they entered.
It was a simple place – two rooms with a minimum of furniture and household equipment. Nothing was surprising about the cabin except the stove. It was large, potbellied, and made of cast iron. What was unusual was its location: It was suspended in midair by wires attached to the ceiling beams.
“Fascinating,” said the psychologist. “It is obvious that this lonely trapper, isolated from humanity, has elevated his stove so he can curl up under it and vicariously experience a return to the womb.”
“Nonsense!” replied the engineer. “The man is practicing the laws of thermodynamics. By elevating his stove, he has discovered a way to distribute heat more evenly throughout the cabin.”
“With all due respect,” interrupted the theologian, “I’m sure that hanging his stove from the ceiling has religious meaning. Fire ‘lifted up’ has been a religious symbol for centuries.”
The three debated the point for several minutes without resolving the issue. When the trapper finally returned, they immediately asked him why he had hung his heavy potbellied stove by wires from the ceiling. His answer was succinct: “Had plenty of wire, not much stove pipe!” (Tom Mullen, Laughing Out Loud and Other Religious Experiences)
The trapper had more sense than all the rest of them put together. And that’s what it takes to be an effective leader. You’ve got to have some practical, common sense.
If you want to be an effective leader, you must be above reproach in your marriage and your mind. And finally, if you want to be an effective leader, you must…
BE ABOVE REPROACH IN YOUR MANNER.
You must be blameless in the things you do.
Verse 2 says, “An overseer must be…respectable, hospitable, able to teach.” (NIV)
First, he must be respectable. The word is kosmion in the original language. It comes from kosmeo, which means to arrange, or kosmos, which speaks of the world as an orderly arrangement of things. It is not in chaos.
In other words, a trustworthy leader is well-ordered. His dress is in order – It’s the same word used of a woman’s dress in 1 Timothy 2:9. His desk is in order. His life is in order.
In his book, Everyone’s a Coach, Don Shula tells of losing his temper near an open microphone during a televised game with the Los Angeles Rams. Millions of viewers were surprised and shocked by Shula’s explicit profanity. Letters soon arrived from all over the country, voicing the disappointment of many who ahd respected the coach for his integrity.
Shula could have given excuses, but he didn’t. Everyone who included a return address received a personal apology. He closed the letter by saying, “I value your respect and will do my best to earn it again.” (Leadership, Vol.17, no.1; www.PreachingToday. com)
A leader is always “on.” He has to live his life as if he’s in front of an open microphone all the time, because in essence he is! People are listening and watching all the time.
Prince Charles once described his job as a “way of life.” “It’s more than a job,” he said. “It’s a complete, 24-hour-a-day business.”
That’s the nature of leadership – spiritual, political or otherwise. It’s a 24-hour-a-day business, and as such, it requires that one’s whole life be in order. A trustworthy leader is respectable – i.e., well-ordered.
He is also hospitable, according to verse 2. Literally, he loves strangers. He takes care of people beyond his own family.
Kevin Miller, in his book, Touching Others through the Strength of Your Marriage, talks about a couple who frequently open their home to those outside their family. They’ve housed children of missionaries as well as people released from psychiatric hospitals. One man stayed with them for nearly two years. “It has caused certain difficulties,” the husband admits, “but there’s also tremendous joy in it.”
One wonders about this couple’s four children. Do they feel neglected or put out? But that’s not the case at all. Their oldest daughter says, “I think I’ve really learned a lot from the people who have lived with us. I think I’ve learned love and acceptance and care.”
“I can remember one time when Randy (her brother) and I were little. It was late at night, and we heard this pounding on the door, and we went to the top of the steps. There was a woman there, and tears were just running down her face. As we were sitting at the top of the stairs, I saw Mom open the door and let this woman in. She put her arms around her. I guess this woman’s husband had just left her, and she was hysterical.
“And as a child,” she says, “I saw Christ’s love. I think I’ve learned through Mom and Dad just to love, accept, and care for people.” (Kevin and Karen Miller, More Than You and Me, Touching Others Through The Strength of Your Marriage, Focus On The Family Publishing, 1994, p. 30; www.PreachingToday. com)
They were true leaders. By their actions, more than their words, they were teaching others how to love as Christ loved.
A Christian leader is not the big-shot, up-front personality. A Christian leader is primarily a servant – or in this context one who loves strangers.
He is above reproach in his manner – He is respectable (or well-ordered). He is hospitable. And he is able to teach, according to verse 2.
John Maxwell put it well when he said, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”
There are a lot a people who know the way, and there are some who go the way. But what sets the leader apart is he is also able to show others the way to go, as well. He is “able to teach” – not so much in terms of giving a lecture, but in terms of pointing others to God.
How about you? How about me? In the sphere of influence God has given us, are we leaders people can trust? Are we the kind of guides people want to follow, who will lead them to a better life?
We can be if we are above reproach in our marriage, above reproach in our mind, and above reproach in our manner.
Many years ago, a businessman read a little book called Men of God. He was so moved by the book that he determined to get copies of the book for all his employees. So he wired the publisher in Chicago, “Send 125 copies of Men of God.” The publisher wired back, “Chicago is out of Men of God, try Los Angeles.” (Bible Illustrator #2071-2074, 6/1987.5)
I wonder: Does our community have any men of God? Do we have any leaders we can trust? Are you and I such people?
By the grace of God, we can be as we let Christ live his life through us. You see, He is the only one who embodied these principles perfectly. He is the only one worthy to follow, but as we depend on Him, He can make us worthy to follow too as we follow Him.
Let’s ask for God’s help today. Let’s ask Christ to raise up “men and women of God” here. Let’s ask Christ to raise up true leaders, from among us, who will bring the church and America back to Himself.
