LIVING LIFE ON PURPOSE
“Follow the Leader”
Matthew 4:18-20
Perhaps like me, you grew up playing either Simon says or follow the leader. Everybody know what I’m talking about? And very early on you realize there were some kids you didn’t want to be the leader. Cause they always knew how to trick you to get you to do the wrong thing. It might go something like this. Everybody knows how to play this game right? If I say Simon says, then you must do it; if I don’t say Simon says then you don’t do it. Got it, ready?
• Simon says raise your left hand. Simon says put your left hand down. Simon says raise your right hand. Put your right hand down. 😊
Then you think, oh you tricked me. I don’t really like it when you’re the leader. I want somebody else to be the leader. 😊 As we grow older, we start thinking, you know there are good leaders and there are not so good leaders. You realize that what leaders do, we often mimic/follow. And it doesn’t always take us to a good place. Things can go wrong. Leadership often determines where the people go and a lack of leadership can lead to confusion and even conflict. Dr John Maxwell, who has written over 70 books on leadership and has sold over 21 million copies – puts it this way.
“He who thinks he is leading and has no one following, is only taking a walk in the park.”
Because if no one is following, you really are not leading. Basically, everyone thinks they want to be a leader; until they do and then they realize that great leadership requires great responsibility. And it may be more responsibility than you want. Everyone has something to say about leadership. So far this year there have already been over 1200 books published on the topic of leadership. Everyone wants to be a leader; everyone may have something to say about leadership but not everyone is cut out to be one.
So far, we have looked at the spiritual gifts of service, mercy, encouragement, giving and today we look at leadership. Paul refers to this gift as the gift of administration/ruling. In today’s world, we call it the gift of leadership. Now one of the things I have said each week is this.
• Just because you don’t have the spiritual gift of service doesn’t mean God won’t call you to serve.
• Just because you don’t have the gift of mercy doesn’t mean God won’t ask you to be merciful.
• Just because you might not have the spiritual gift of leadership doesn’t mean God will never call you to lead.
This is how we would define the gift of leadership. Leadership is the gift of orchestrating the gifts and resources of others to accomplish the work of God. Leaders move people toward a God given vision of service and they enable others to use their gifts to the best of their abilities.
When we look at the Bible, we quickly discover that it is filled with leaders. Many were successful, many experienced defeats. Many made wise choices; they also made mistakes. That was the way leadership was then; it is the way it still works. But if you have the gift of leadership, being knocked down a few times will not stop you from getting up and continuing to lead.
The Bible makes it clear that people were following Jesus. Think about this.
Jesus is the only leader we know of who had followers before he was born.
Thousands of years before Jesus arrived on the scene – in the flesh, Old Testament prophets were committed to following him. Then we step over into the New Testament and see the same thing. There were the 12 – resulting in hundreds – than thousands and now literally billions of people have chosen to follow Jesus in the past 2000 years. And you’re one of them if you have made that decision. The wise men came to follow someone they had never met. John the Baptist was so committed that he gave his life to prepare a path for others to follow Jesus.? There never has been nor will there ever be a leader like Jesus.
I want you to see five things that we find about leadership in the life of Jesus. This is what it takes to be a godly leader.
1. To be a godly leader, you must first be a good follower. You cannot lead until you first understand how to follow. Aristotle said this (400 BC), “he who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader. So instead of rushing to the finish line and telling everyone what a great leader you are, take time first to be a good follower and learn from other leaders. This is where most of us struggle. We don’t like to follow. Perhaps you’re one of those who when you were in school, your parents would often receive a note on your report card that read like this, your child does not follow directions well. Or your child doesn’t play well with others. You may have been a good listener. You may have even understood the directions; you just didn’t want to follow. As many followers as Jesus had, there were even more who chose NOT to follow him. It’s the same today. Also, some who chose to follow him and then left. Many others just said no from the beginning. Remember, leadership is a choice. Deciding to follow is also a choice. Not everyone will make that choice. So don’t be disappointed when people choose not to follow your direction.
2. Godly Leaders are learners. Leaders should be lifelong learners. People who have qualities you want to emulate/model/copy. Then watch how they make decisions. How they treat people. Watch their character. Integrity. Look for someone who is transparent. People who aren’t afraid to mention that they make mistakes and then watch how they learn from those mistakes. Good leaders learn from their mistakes, so they won’t make the same mistake twice. Leaders are readers. Read books on leadership. You may never meet any of the authors, but you can still learn from them. Then do as the apostle Paul says, keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me – everything you heard, do those things.
3. Godly leaders are constantly growing. Never become stagnant. One of the elements we often miss in scriptures is that as a young man Jesus was not only a teacher, but he was also a learner. As a young man there were still things Jesus needed to learn. If you don’t spend time learning you will never be able to spend time leading. Leaders must grow if they are going to lead. When you stop learning you will stop leading. We find this in Luke 2:52. We have several connecting points in the life of Jesus, and they look like this.
• Birth of Jesus.
• Dedication in temple. (40 days old)
• Age 12 in the temple.
Then we don’t see any activity from age 12 until he began his public ministry. So, what was Jesus doing for these 18 years? He was learning. Luke 2:52 gives us a summary of these years and says:
• Jesus increased in wisdom. Wiser.
• Jesus increased in stature. Physically.
• Jesus increased in favor with God. Spiritually.
• Jesus increased in favor with man. Socially. A great leader sets an example in all four of these areas.
4. Godly leaders set the environment for followers. In every setting there are at least two types of people. Some are thermometers. Some are thermostats. You know the difference. We have two thermostats in our worship center and each one has a thermometer. A thermometer just records the temperature of the room. If you check the thermometer in this area this morning, it’s going to read about 72 degrees. For some they’re fanning themselves right now because they’re hot. Others wore long sleeves today because you get cold when you’re here. A thermometer records the temperature of the room. A thermostat sets the temperature of the room. That’s what leaders do. Through their speech/ communication. Through their influence and example.
As a leader you can change the temperature of the room. Godly leaders have the ability through the power of the Holy Spirit to move followers from one level to another. Sometimes you must turn up the heat. Followers become apathetic and they lose their enthusiasm, their commitment. Their passion. Their fire. It’s up to the leader to provide the spark that is necessary. Sometimes followers get angry, frustrated, they are disillusioned because things aren’t moving in the right direction. A good leader must step in and help them cool off. As a leader you help set the temperature/mood/environment of the room.
Jesus faced this many times with his followers. One of his lead disciples was Peter and there were times when he overreacted. He got mad and cut a man’s ear off. Pretty impulsive. There were times when he failed to react. He was silent. He denied even knowing Jesus. Peter was basically part of what we call the inner circle. You will remember that Jesus selected 12 men and called them to lead and bring other disciples along with them to follow Jesus. Then it seems that Jesus sent out 70 to tell others. In the midst of all of that, he built a special relationship that we call his inner circle with three of the disciples. Peter James and John. This inner circle included those who were closest to Jesus, they understood Jesus and were committed to carrying out the vision Jesus had. There were events and miracles they witnessed that others did not. At one point in Mark 5 Jesus called Peter, James, and John aside and only those three were allowed to witness the resurrection of a young girl. Once Jesus raised her from the dead, he told them absolutely no one else could know. Following that event, Jesus brought the three up to a mountain where Jesus changed into a glorified state right before their eyes. Again, he instructed them not to tell anyone. Now every follower was ready to witness this event. When Jesus went up on the mountain he was with Peter James and John. They were the only ones allowed. On that mountain Jesus was changing in appearance right before them. The Bible says his face began to shine like the sun –-- his clothes became white as light and suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared. This would require an entire sermon to explain but needless to say, not every follower of Jesus was ready for this remarkable event. Only those who were closest to him.
5. Godly leaders learn to delegate. Here’s the deal. Leaders are prone to burnout. All of us are. When we burn out it usually means we are trying to do too much. We are overloaded. We have no margin in our lives. So typically, most of us work one of two ways. Some people work hard, other people work smart. When we work hard, we usually get a lot of work done. We go to work early, leave late and often accomplish much. But we can also burn out because we simply run out of time and energy. No one can do God’s work alone. Those who work smart learn to delegate jobs to other people. They realize you can do a lot more when you enlist other people to work with you. When you give jobs away. That’s what leaders do.
That’s what pastors must do. There is far too much work in the church for one person to do. That is why the Body of Christ is so important. That is why spiritual gifts are so important. One person does not have every gift and one person simply cannot do it all.
It’s interesting if we look back at the OT story of Moses. He was a great leader, but he also made mistakes. He had an anger problem, he committed murder to name a few but He also loved God. In the book of Exodus, we find part of the story of Moses. His father-in-law was named Jethro. Moses shared with Jethro how God had used him to deliver the Israelites from slavery. Jethro was thrilled to hear this news.
Moses was a direct spokesman for God at that time; a prophet; and he also helped settle disputes among the people and there were many. The Bible says that every day he would sit and listen to them, all day, day after day ……they would come and tell him their problems and it was his job to fix these disagreements they were having. Moses spoke face to face with God; he knew God in a personal way but still he needed to learn some things. So, God used Jethro to teach him. Moses had long lines of people coming to him every day to settle their disputes. Jethro told Moses that instead of trying to do everything, organize leaders over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. Because Moses was doing everything all by himself. Leaders can’t do that. Jethro told Moses you need to think differently. He said you must raise up other men as leaders also. That was the advice to Moses and to all of Israel and it is his advice to the NT church today. Things change when God’s people work together. Leaders rise up and God’s work goes forward.
In the 7 habits of highly successful people Steven Covery says that to be successful leaders must practice synergy. Synergy is basically when two things come together to do something greater. A few years ago, I heard about a competition in which two mules were pulling a weighted sled. The first mule pulled a sled weighing 600 pounds. The 2nd one pulled a sled that weighed 800 pounds. So, they thought I wonder what they could pull if we paired them together. You would think, well one pulled 800 and the other 600. Should be 1400 pounds. Instead, they could pull 1800. When two people work together they can do much more than they could do alone. That’s what happens when leaders step up.
