Title: The Leader’s Portrait
Text: I Corinthians 4:1-5
Text: The role of Christian leaders is to attract the church to Christ.
Life Question: What are the roles of Christian leaders that attract the church to Christ?
INTRODUCTION
John Woolman was a Quaker who grew up in Pennsylvania in the early eighteenth century. He was a contemporary of George Washington. When he was a boy he was given to the things boys often do—in this case throwing rocks at a robin’s nest occupied by just hatched baby robins. Of course, the mother robin was protective, and young John nailed her with a rock. She fell to the ground dead. Woolman wrote later in his journal, “At first I was pleased with the exploit, but after a few minutes was seized with the horror at having, in a sportive way, killed an innocent creature while she was careful for her young.” That moment was a turning point in his life.
Despite this turning point he still struggled with other forms of youthful temptations, but he held firm to the Bible and the Quaker meetinghouse. In his twenties he heard the voice of God that set him on a path of servant leadership. The voice also set him on the course of anti-slavery.
An opportunity soon came. His employer owned a black slave woman and sold her. The employer asked John to write a bill of sale. He obeyed, but it was an incident which would set him on a course of turning the Society of Friends (Quakers) into an anti-slavery movement. It is a common misunderstanding that Quakers were opposed to slavery from the very beginning. They were not. Many of the affluent Quakers owned slaves. For the next three decades—until the time of his death at fifty-two—Woolman devoted his life to anti-slavery activities.
Unlike many abolitionists, Woolman was no firebrand. He was gentle and persistent. He was not a strong man physically, but he accomplished his mission by journeys up and down the East Coast by foot or horseback visiting slaveholders. His approach was not to censure but to raise questions. What does the owning of slaves do to you as a moral person? What kind of an institution are you building to give over to your children? Person by person, inch by inch, by persistently returning and revisiting and pressing his gentle arguments over a period of thirty years, the scourge of slavery was eliminated from the Quakers, the first religious group in America to formally denounce and forbid slavery among its members.
In addition to his personal conversations, Woolman wrote essays and spoke at meetinghouses. He spoke at the yearly meeting of the Friends. Though his primary focus was on slavery, he was also concerned over the treatment of Native American Indians and other humanitarian causes.
John Woolman is one of those remarkable and influential persons of American history we never hear about. He is a role model of Christian servant leadership—a man of self-sacrifice, sensitivity, and perseverance. Paul was this kind of leader, too.
The fundamental issue in I Corinthians is that salvation in Christ is to be manifested in a believer’s behavior. The Corinthians were destroying their church because they had a misunderstanding of what it meant to be a spiritual Christian. The first major problem Paul confronts is a division in the church over their favorite leader. It was not the quarrel that was the big problem. The problem was the division was rooted in false theology and doctrine. They did not understand the nature or the fundamental characteristics of Christian leadership.
The central focus of the church is Christ and the message of the cross. God gives churches different leaders with different gifts. Maybe one is a gifted speaker and another is a gifted administrator. One leader may be an extrovert and the other an introvert. One is not better than the other. The differences in leaders are intended to point the church to Christ and His message.
The Corinthians got it backwards and, instead, focused on the particular gifts and personalities of Christian leaders. It was a subtle way of exalting self. “I’m a follower of Paul. He is so intellectual.” (Implying I am intellectual.) “I’m a follower of Peter; he is so passionate for Christ. I’m follower of Apollos; he is so sophisticated and polished in his presentation. I’m a follower of Christ because I am so spiritual.” Paul corrects them: our life and our church are not about us but about Christ.
The conflict in the Church is caused by an incorrect understanding of the nature of Christian leadership. We need to understand the nature of Christian leadership because all of us are placed in some role of leadership. Fathers, mothers, preachers, deacons, and many other examples of leadership need to understand Christian leadership. Though I am talking about deacon leadership in our church, these principles apply to everyone in exercising your Christian influence over others. The role of Christian leaders is to attract the church to Christ.
What are the roles of Christian leaders that attract the church to Christ?
I. CHRISTIAN LEADERS ARE SERVANTS WITH ONE MASTER (1 COR. 4:1).
“A person should consider us in this way: as servants of Christ and managers of God's mysteries.”
The first powerful metaphor to describe a Christian leader is that of a servant. This is to shape the mindset of the church toward the leaders. I am suggesting this applies to any Christian in a role of leadership in the home, church, or workplace. This is just who we are. Our mindset is to serve others.
Paul has already prepared them for this truth. In 3:5-9 he described the church like a field and the leaders are workers in the field. In 3:9-16 the church is like a building. Its leaders are fellow construction workers who help build the Church. Now, in chapter 4, Paul says Christian leaders are servants in the house.
The word consider means to establish the value of something after careful thought and evaluation. Have you seen the cable show Pawn Stars? It is a reality show about a pawn shop in Las Vegas. People bring in all kinds of rare items. Often the owner of the shop will have an expert verify if the item is authentic and it’s estimated value. Careful thought and evaluation determines something’s value. Church members and leaders are to give careful thought about what it means to be a servant of Christ.
The word servant is literally “under rower.” It is a rare word. This is the only place in the New Testament where this word appears. It is not the word used to describe someone who cared for the home or cooked and served meals. Originally it described those men in the belly of a Roman battleship who rowed. It would be hard to image the dirty and difficult life of a slave in the bottom of one of those ships. It was the lowest form of slavery.
By the time of the writing of the New Testament this word came to mean an underling, an assistant, or attendant. You are to think of a Christian leader as an assistant to Christ. He receives his orders from someone else and is responsible for carrying them out. It carries with it both humility and dignity. Yes, the Christian leader is a servant, but look at Who he serves! His importance is related to Whom he serves. What Christian leader in his right mind would consider detracting from Christ?
My first pastorate was a country church. It had a gravel parking lot. One Sunday after church one of our good deacons, Chuck Luthi, came into the church laughing. He said some of the kids were throwing gravel. He told them to stop throwing gravel; they were going to hit the cars. One of my daughters, who will not be named, the third one to be exact, about four or five years of age at the time said, “I don’t have to. My daddy owns this place.” Well, I may be the leader but I am certainly not the owner or boss.
We are told we have pictures in our mind that describe the way we think about ourselves and our abilities and appearance. It is called self-image. These pictures powerfully shape our lives. People who see themselves as victims blame others and are unwilling to take responsibility for their own actions. Many people see themselves as “entitled.” They believe privileges are rights and depend on others to solve their problems. How would a person view life and relate to others if one of the major images he held in his mind was “I am a servant of Christ?”
When Carol and I go to a restaurant the person who waits on us will say something like, “Hello, my name is John. I’ll be serving you this evening.” I wonder if the service would be different if a restaurant taught its waiters to say, “Hello, my name is Jane. I’ll be your slave this evening.” Maybe the reason why we use a verb instead of a noun is because we do not mind doing things for people but we do not like the implications of being someone’s slave. We do not like giving up our will to another.
A servant puts another’s wishes before their own. The One who was worthy of all worship devoted Himself to live for others. You will receive no help from this world to live a selfless life for others. The world exalts the self-promoting athlete or the prideful businessman who is surrounded by a covey of sycophants. Where do we go to see a model of selflessness?
Would anything change in your relationship to Northeast if you took seriously the view that you are a servant of Christ? Would it mean you would be called out of retirement to find a place of service or you would finally report for employment? Would it call you to give a personal, individual interest to help someone? This is not something easily dismissed. You are not telling me or the church no. We are not your Master. You have one Master and that is Jesus. You are His servant.
The role of Christian leaders is to attract the church to Christ. They do this by being servants of Christ.
Paul mentions another role of Christian leaders that attract the church to Christ.
II. CHRISTIAN LEADERS ARE STEWARDS WITH ONE ASSIGNMENT (1 CORINTHIANS 4:1-2)
“A person should consider us in this way: as servants of Christ and managers of God's mysteries”.
Paul mentions one particular category of serving. Christian leaders are managers. Christian leaders are Christ’s assistants. A steward is a trustee. He manages the household affairs of the owner. He is given great responsibility. Joseph, in the Old Testament, was Potiphar’s household manager. He took care of all Potiphar’s business and made decisions which were beneficial for Potiphar. Later he does the same thing for the prison warden and, ultimately, for the Pharaoh of Egypt. Basically, he took what was given to him and gave it others as the master desired.
What is the particular responsibility assigned to Christian leaders? They are entrusted with the secret things of God or God’s mysteries. God’s mysteries refer to those truths that could have never been known apart from God revealing them to us. God revealed to us that Jesus, this peasant from Nazareth, was the Son of God, and that His death on the cross, out of thousands, is the one which paid the penalty for our sins. God revealed that salvation is by grace through faith apart from good works. No other religion in the world teaches that. God showed us that the nature of the church was that Gentile and Jew were equally accepted before God. No other religion teaches that. They all have their castes or privileged.
Paul said his main task as a manager was to distribute the revelation of God. Can you think of anything more important? If there is a God – I am betting my eternity on it – and He has spoken to His creatures, then it is of utmost importance that His message be delivered and made clear. We could have never known these things if God had not revealed it. What a stewardship!
Notice that it is plural: mysteries. This refers to the saving message of the Gospel plus all of the other truth God gives us for life and living. This is the number one responsibility of the manager. Yes, the pastor is to care for the sheep, lead the sheep, and protect the sheep from danger. But the number one job of the pastor is to feed the sheep the Word of God. In other words, the pastor is not the chef who prepares the meal. He is the waiter who serves the meal. This meal is critical to the health of the sheep. He is to be careful not to mess it up getting it to those he waits on.
This week a tragic and historic day affirmed that marriage can now be entered into by same-sex couples. The definition of marriage that humanity has held since the Garden of Eden has just been cancelled. Basically, we live in a land that has no definition for marriage. The outcome will be unimaginable. There has never been a time in our church in nominating deacons when it is more critical that these men hold to and not compromise the mysteries of God.
Charles Swindoll tells a story of a man in Atlanta who was flipping through the Yellow Pages in search of a restaurant. His attention was caught by a restaurant called “The Church of God Grill.” He called the number and a cheery voice answered, “Hello, Church of God Grill!” The man asked how the restaurant got such an unusual name. “Well,” the man answered, “we had a little mission down here, and we started selling chicken dinners after church on Sunday to help pay the bills. People loved the chicken, and we did such a good business, we found ourselves needing to shorten up our church services in order to get enough dinners ready on time. After a while we closed down the church altogether and just served chicken dinners. We kept the name we started with, and that’s Church of God Grill.”
As crazy as that sounds, it is easy for any Christian or church to lose sight of the one assignment we have been given. If you should ever become confused about what your life is to be about just remember what you call yourself: “Christian.” By definition, Christians are first and foremost to emulate and announce the message of Christ. The role of Christian leaders is to attract the church to Christ. Anything taking the place of that is selling chicken dinners.
How do Christian leaders attract the church to Christ? They keep the focus on Christ by being the servant of Christ with one Master, by being stewards of the church with one assignment, and, finally, by evaluating their lives by one standard of success.
III. CHRISTIAN LEADERS ARE EVALUATED BY ONE STANDARD (I COR. 4:2-5)
(1) A person should consider us in this way: as servants of Christ and managers of God's mysteries. (2) In this regard, it is expected of managers that each one be found faithful. (3) It is of little importance that I should be evaluated by you or by a human court. In fact, I don't even evaluate myself. (4) For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. The One who evaluates me is the Lord. (5) Therefore don't judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.
There are a lot of ways to measure success in the Lord’s work. Buildings, budgets, and baptisms are the Baptist way. Churches think if a man is a success in business it is wise to put him on the finance committee. Some think if he is a leader in the community that qualifies him to be a leader in the church. All those standards are flawed. There is one standard God uses to measure success in the Lord’s work: faithfulness. Our Lord evaluates us on the basis of being loyal to Him and in carrying out the duties He assigns to us.
Timothy, Tychichus, Silvanus, Paul, and Moses are all described as trustworthy servants of the Lord. Of course, the supreme example of faithfulness to God is Jesus. Hebrews 3:2 says Jesus was faithful to the One who appointed Him. When Jesus returns He is called the Faithful One. He only did the will of the Father and spoke the words of the Father. It is this perfect, faithful Lord who will evaluate all the servants of the Father.
The specific context is faithfulness to the mysteries of God. So the question is, “Do we faithfully declare God’s Word and not our own?” Do we faithfully live out what we believe and teach? Do we protect God’s truth by defending it? Are we faithfully passing it on to the next generation? (As an aside, thank you for allowing me to work in Awana on Wednesday night. I am having a ball working on a team of adults with first and second graders to pass on God’s Word to the next generation.)
There are many ways not to be faithful to the Word of God. Not giving adequate time to study and learn the Bible is one. Giving little time to faithfully pray for God’s will in your life and others’ is another. Not applying the truth personally, or developing the gift God has given you to make an impact on our church or the lost continues the list. Being faithful means week-after-week you show up and do the job God has assigned to you.
The way Paul stresses that Christ’s assessment of our stewardship is the only one that really matters is by comparing it with other standards of evaluation. The first example is the church’s evaluation. Ultimately it is not the assessment of the church that matters: “(3) It is of little importance that I should be evaluated by you.” We do not measure our success by what people in the church think.
Paul does not mean we do not listen to godly counsel, but he recognizes that all of us feel pressure to please people. We want their approval. That is not all bad, but when there is a conflict in what people at church think you should do, and it is a clear contradiction of what Christ asks of you, you go with Christ.
I remember the questions my friend David Neely got when he quit a very good job with the Federal government to go to the mission field. He was the number one agent in his district. His future was a job in Washington with a very good salary and retirement. It was hard for some to understand why he would toss that away to go to Kenya as a missionary. George McDow, another friend, resigned from teaching and was a mere five years away from retirement with the Norman Public Schools. Many believed he should wait five years, but George believed there was no calculating what God could do in those five years. They were faithful to God’s calling despite what others thought.
Paul refers to the evaluation of the world in v. 3: “It is of little importance that I should be evaluated by you or by a human court.” In chapter one Paul said the world called his gospel message “foolish.” That did not stop him from preaching the message of a crucified and risen Savior.
There is immense pressure by the world for you to change your beliefs in order to gain the world’s favor. It is becoming rare to find a Christian who believes the Bible is without error, that God created the world with a spoken word, that Jesus is the only Savior, and that all marriage outside the boundary of heterosexual marriage is sin. Many Christian colleges, churches, and believers are more concerned with the world’s assessment of them than Christ’s. They have capitulated to the world’s opinion.
Paul even says your opinion does not matter: “In fact, I don't even evaluate myself. (4) For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this.” Just because you have a clear conscience does not mean the Lord agrees. Proverbs 21:2 says, “All the ways of a man seem right to him, but the Lord evaluates the motives.”
Say you get pulled over by a patrolman for speeding. You say, “Officer, my conscience is clear. I’m not aware of breaking the speed limit.” He’ll say, “Sir, your conscience may be clear, but your driving record is not.”
Paul is not saying we do not evaluate our lives: we do. But our own evaluation is not adequate. Whether you are satisfied with your Christian life or not is like an employee conducting his own performance evaluation. Your personal assessment is ultimately insignificant. The only opinion that matters in evaluating your service and management of the gift of life is the Lord Jesus Christ’s.
This evaluation of our behavior also includes our motives: “(5) Therefore don't judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.” A man may look like the epitome of Christian virtue and service, but if his motives were known it might render an entirely different verdict. In chapter three Paul spoke of each person’s life being judged. Fire is used as the metaphor. Some people’s work will be revealed as being good and honorable: gold, silver, costly stones. Other people’s work will reveal selfish motives and it will not survive the inspection: wood, hay, and stubble.
Serving the Lord is not enough. Our motives are an essential part of our reward. What we are looking for are men and their wives who live to hear the greatest of all rewards from the greatest of all who reward; and that is to hear Jesus say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” They live for that prize.
A young man applied for a job as a farmhand. When the farmer asked for his qualifications he said, “I can sleep when the wind blows.” This puzzled the farmer, but he liked the young man and hired him.
A few days later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent storm. They quickly began to check things out to see if all was secure. They found that the shutters of the farmhouse had been securely fastened. A good supply of logs had been set next to the fireplace. The young man slept soundly.
The farmer and his wife inspected their property. They found that the farm tools had been placed in the storage shed, safe from the elements. The barn was properly locked. Even the animals were calm. All was well.
The farmer understood the meaning of the young man’s words: “I can sleep when the wind blows.” Because the farmhand did his work loyally and faithfully when the skies were clear, he was prepared for the storm when it broke. So when the wind blew, he was not afraid. He could sleep in peace.
CONCLUSION
The storm is coming. We do not know the nature of the storm: persecution, false teaching, or internal deception. But we do know how to prepare for it: give us Christian leaders who point the church to Christ.
1. Leadership Reconsidered, p. 78-79.
2. Charles Paul Conn, Making It Happen, p. 214.
3. Shepherd’s Conf. 2012, Tom Pennington.
