SERIES: “GOD-GIVEN GUIDELINES FOR GROWING A GREAT CHURCH”
(Based on Bob Russel’s When God Builds a Church)
TEXT: 1 PETER 5:1-4
TITLE: Guideline #3: “HAVE CHRIST-CENTERED LEADERSWHO LIVE BY EXAMPLE"
INTRODUCTION: A. Tom Landry was head coach for the Dallas Cowboys for almost 30 years. The
USA TODAY headline that announced his death in the year 2000 read: “Landry’s
Death Leaves Texas-Size Legacy.”
The Cowboy’s personnel director said, “He was a man of substance who knew
what his priorities were in life.” Landry told people: “Football is down the list with
me. My religion comes first. My wife comes second. Then football.”
Tom Landry was tremendously successful as the Cowboys head coach. One
commentator said, “Landry’s legacy is far more than that as the NFL’s third-
winningest coach. It is more than two Super Bowl triumphs. We remember him for
what he stood for as a person. Decency. Dignity. Honesty. Loyalty. Go ahead – try
to find a Tom Landry in the NFL these days.”
Landry was once asked how he dealt with setbacks. He answered, “I suffer after
losses, but fortunately do recover quickly. My relationship with Christ gives me a
source of power I would not have otherwise.”
Tom Landry provided the significant leadership he did through strength of
character and faith with his priorities intact. He knew that football was just a game
and that integrity mattered on the field and off. As former Cowboy Drew Pierson
said, “Landry was a teacher. He taught a lot more than football.”
B. Over the last several years, I have spent a considerable amount of time studying
churches that are growing.
1. Some experience a big boom and then a big bust.
2. The ones that have grown and keep growing are the ones I’ve continued to study.
3. The guidelines you’ve heard me speaking about are the principles that are
consistent in every congregation that is growing spiritually and physically
--Amazingly, all these guidelines are the same ones that are given to us in the New
Testament and implemented in the 1st Century church.
4. This morning’s guideline concerning Christ-centered leadership is the guideline that
makes all the others work.
a. You can implement every other guideline except this one and the guidelines will
ultimately fail
b. Studying congregations the way I do, I see a desperate need for good leadership
in most churches.
c. In fact, one of the Christian publishing houses recently concluded that the
greatest need in Christian churches in America is the need for leadership.
5. Too often we look for gimmicks, programs, and ideas that will make our church
grow, while God is looking for consecration and genuine commitment among the
church’s leaders.
C. Our text this morning speaks only about elders.
1. However, as I read the New Testament and its God-given plan for the church, the
same general principles apply to leaders all around.
2. Whether you know it or not, YOU are a leader
a. Someone is watching you and learning from you.
b. It could be a child, a grandchild, a co-worker, a neighbor, or anyone else
--Your life is leading someone in a direction whether good or bad
C. Bill Hybels makes a very important observation:
When God wanted His people delivered from an oppressive Pharaoh, He used a
leader named Moses. When He needed Jerusalem’s wall rebuilt, He used a leader
named Nehemiah. When He wanted His people to experience a golden era, He used a
leader named David. When He wanted to build a temple, He used a leader named
Solomon. When He needed a statesman-prophet, He used a leader named Isaiah. And
when He needed a fearless church planter, He used a leader named Paul.
Throughout history, whenever God has needed someone to initiate, organize, and
carry out an important project, He has called upon leaders. And since His priority
from Pentecost to today has been to build a redemptive community that would flourish
in the midst of a resistant culture, it makes sense that He would turn to leaders again.
After all, who’s going to cast the vision of or creatively imagine the future for a
biblically functioning community? Who’s going to uphold the value of prayer, make
sure the sacraments are honored, and insist that spiritual gifts are in use throughout the
church” Who’s going to coordinate ministries, establish small-group structure, lift
high the importance of worship, and inspire the church to reach out to spiritually lost
people?
D. To be a great church, we have to have Christ-centered leadership.
1. We have to develop leaders that will guide this congregation for a long time.
2. We need leaders who are sold-out for the cause of Christ
3. We need leaders who are deeply respected by all who know them
4. We need leaders who are committed to making this congregation a church built on
God-given principles and are unswerving in their task.
E. Leadership is not a topic that can be covered thoroughly in one sermon
1. Today I just want to cover the basics
2. Two things we need to know about leadership this morning
I. THE CHARACTER OF LEADERSHIP
A. The Bible spends more time on the issue of a leader’s character than on any other issue about leadership
1. For a person to be a great church leader, they must have great personal character
2. We can have great programs, great preaching, and great services, but if the character of our leadership
is not above reproach, our church will be a failure.
--Our leaders have to be men of integrity
3. It’s been said that integrity is who you are when no one is looking.
--Dwight L. Moody called it: “who you are in the dark.”
B. As you read the qualifications for church leaders in 1 Tim. and Titus, almost all of the qualifications
focus on the person’s character: above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, not
greedy, and so forth.
1. Leadership begins with who we are, not with what we do.
2. If there is a lack of integrity among the church’s leaders, it quenches the flow of the Holy Spirit and
God removes His hand of blessing from the church.
3. For God’s hand of blessing to be on our church, there must be a degree of holiness among our leaders
(me, included).
4. God doesn’t require perfection, but he does require sincerity and effort.
5. The leaders MUST demonstrate for the people how to live like Jesus Christ.
C. Here are the vital areas of personal character required to lead the church of Christ:
1. First vital area of personal character: Purity
a. On a regular basis, I hear of a preacher or other church leader who has been fired or had to resign
from their position for being a moral failure.
b. I can’t forget that, and neither should you.
(1). If I fail morally, I hurt my wife, I hurt my kids, I hurt my mother and father, I hurt my
congregation, I hurt my, and I hurt my Lord and Savior – Jesus Christ.
(2). Even though I’m far from perfect, I’m constantly reminded that I must work diligently to live a
godly life so that everyone around me is influenced in a positive way.
(3). The Bible says that King David’s affair with Bathsheba gave “the enemies of God an occasion
to blaspheme.”
2. Second vital area of character: Sincerity
a. As I said earlier, perfection is not expected
b. In fact, pretense to perfection actually harms the congregation
(1). Jesus condemned the Pharisees for such pretense
(2). Nobody respects a hypocrite.
(3). We have to maintain a balance between our spirituality and our authenticity.
(4). Bob Russell: “If you appear to be perfect, people will see you as unreal and regard the
Christian life as unattainable. But if you appear to be too sinful, people will lose respect for
you. They will see you as no better than the next guy and they are uninspired.”
(5). He gives this advice: “You should be transparent about your failures and let people see your
faults, but a church has a right to expect its leaders to be a cut above the rest. Be real, but be
an example that will motivate others to stretch in their spiritual walk.”
3. Third vital area of character: Humility
a. The key to leading with both purity and sincerity is having a spirit of humility.
b. Phi. 2:3-5 – “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others
better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the
interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.”
c. Jesus is the greatest example of the servant leader
--Mt. 20:28 – “The Son of man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a
ransom for many.”
II. THE CAPABILITIES OF LEADERSHIP
A. Henry Ford said that to ask who should be a leader is like asking who should sing tenor in the quartet.
1. The obvious answer: The tenor should sing tenor.
2. The person gifted to lead should lead.
3. Leaders are not born. They are shaped through their own life experiences and trained by the Word of
God
--One person put it this way: “Leaders cannot walk on water, but they have to learn how to swim.”
B. The primary qualifications for leaders have to do with character.
1. The secondary qualifications have to do with capabilities and functional things
a. Able to lead their household well
b. Able to teach
c. Must live wisely
2. The church needs leaders who can lead
3. Benjamin Hooks: “He who thinks he leads and has no one following him is only taking a walk.”
4. “There they go, I must hurry. I am their leader.”
C. There are some reasonable leadership capabilities that are expected:
1. A leader must be courageous when confronting problems
a. The church will face attacks from Satan
--In other words, the church is going to have problems!
b. However, the leadership has to be able to discern where the trouble is coming from and then
courageously confront the trouble makers
c. The primary thing leadership has to do in these situations is to decide if the problem is the
measles or if its cancer.
(1). If measles, the situation needs to be monitored, some of the symptoms need to be
alleviated, and most likely the body will heal itself.
(2). If cancer, the problem need to be removed, eradicated, cut out.
d. Being a leader is tough
(1). I read about a preacher that quit the ministry after 20 years and became a funeral director.
When he was asked why he changed, he said: “I spent 3 years trying to straighten out John
and John’s still an alcoholic. Then I spent 6 months trying to straighten out Sue and Bob’s
marriage and they filed for divorce. Then I spent 2 and a half years trying to straighten out
Jim’s drug problems and he’s still and addict. Now at the funeral home, when I straighten
them out, THEY STAY STRAIGHT!”
(2). Sometimes you have to do difficult things
(3). Paul severely chastised the Corinthian church’s leaders for not confronting the immorality
and sin that was going on in that congregation.
e. It’s been said that the average leader spends too much time asking the wrong questions
--The wrong questions are:
(1). Who will be offended?
--Whose feathers are going to get ruffled?
(2). What will they say?
--Are they going to talk bad about me? Will they stir up trouble?
(3). How much will it cost in the offering plate?
--Will people stop giving money until we do what they want?
f. Christ-centered leaders aren’t concerned with what people will say but with what God has said
and will say concerning their action or lack of action.
--The right questions in any situation: “What would Jesus want me to do? What will please
Him?”
g. Bill Cosby: “I can’t tell you what the key to success is but I can tell you what the key to failure
is: trying to please everybody.”
2. A leader must have an attitude of reasonable flexibility
a. In the matters of Scripture, the truth is absolute and not to be compromised.
(1). Christ-centered leaders will not back down or bow or bend where the Bible speaks
(2). In matters of opinion, though, leaders have to be flexible.
(3). I have seen far too many congregations stifled by traditionalism and legalism
b. Christian Schwarz studied over 1000 churches in 32 different countries
(1). He discovered that despite the style or denominational background of the church, only
10% of the members of healthy churches said their congregations battled traditionalism.
(2). But he also found that 50% of the people in the unhealthy, dying churches said they
considered their congregation to be “tradition-bound.”
c. Bob Russell: “Good leaders are sensitive to the Body so as not to offend those with a weak
conscience, but they aren’t intimidated by a few vocal critics.”
d. Good leaders always remember the wise saying: “Methods are many, principles are few.
Methods always change, principles never do.”
e. Good leaders are always receptive to changes that might benefit the Body.
3. Leaders must show open support for other leaders.
a. The Bible commands us to respect and support our church leaders.
(1). 1 Thess. 5:12-13 – “Now we ask you brothers, to respect those who work hard among you,
who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in
love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.”
(2). Heb. 13:17 – “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as
men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for
that would be of no advantage to you.”
b. Not only should the congregation respect their leaders, the leaders should also respect each other.
(1). It is shameful for leaders to reach a decision as a group and then have those leaders who
didn’t get their particular way to speak badly about the decision.
(2). When a decision is reached, no matter what was said in the decision-making process, the
matter is to be left behind
--A united front should be made to the congregation and to the community
(3). If there is a problem between two leaders, they need to work things out according to
scriptural admonitions.
c. We all need to remember that Christ is the true head of the church
(1). The rest of us serve under His headship and are accountable to Him
(2). Peter reminds us in 1 Pet. 5:4 that the Chief Shepherd is returning and that our reward is in
His hands.
4. A leader must know when to delegate
a. One of the causes of lack growth in a congregation is stifling leadership
b. They always want to control what is happening
--they always want to be in the middle of things
c. A good leader delegates to others according to their abilities the things that need to be done.
(1). Moses’ father-in-law wisely advised him to delegate the responsibilities of leading the
children of Israel to train a number of men to help because he was overburdened.
(2). In the book of Acts, we see delegation from leaders to others.
(a). Responsibilities of running the church became too diversified for the apostles to do
everything.
(b). They told the church to choose seven men with the right character to handle distribution
of food.
(c ). They emphasized that their ministry calling was preaching, teaching, and prayer.
(d). A new preaching minister began his tenure at a congregation at the beginning of
spring. It wasn’t too long before the church grass began to get a little tall so he
contacted on of the young men in the congregation and had him cut the grass.
Everything was fine. The church yard looked really nice. However, at the next
board meeting, the preacher was challenged by the treasurer concerning the bill from
the young man for cutting the grass. The treasurer was all flustered and red-faced and
asked quite belligerently, “Are you aware that the former preacher used to cut the
church grass and didn’t charge anything for his services?” The new preacher answered,
“Yes, I was aware of that. But I called him and he wasn’t interested.”
5. A leader must have a plan and a vision
a. If you’re going to succeed at anything, you need a plan!
b. “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
c. Leaders have to be able to sense the will of God for the local congregation and catch God’s
vision.
d. They then must have the ability to formulate the plan that moves the congregation in the direction
God wants it to go.
e. Leaders are God’s servant equipped by Him to fulfill a specific purpose.
--In a passage concerning spiritual gifts, Rom. 12:8 tells us that if a person is gifted with
leadership, he must do the job diligently.
f. John Maxwell, “Everything rises and falls on leadership. Leadership determines the direction
and course of the church.”
CONCLUSION: A. I like this little piece:
The foundation of leadership is character
The nature of leadership is servant-hood
The motive for leadership is love
The measure of leadership is sacrifice
The authority of leadership is submission
The purpose of leadership is to lead people from here to eternity
The glory of leadership goes to God
The tools of leadership are the Word of God and prayer
The power of leadership is the Holy Spirit
The privilege of leadership is growth
The model of leadership is Jesus Christ
B. Stuart Briscoe, Everyday Discipleship for Ordinary People, tells about a young minister
who was officiating at the funeral of a war veteran:
“The dead man’s friends wish to have a part in the service at the funeral home, so
they requested the pastor to lead them down to the casket, stand with them for a solemn
moment of remembrance, and then lead them out through the side door. This he
proceeded to do, but unfortunately the effect was somewhat marred when he picked the
wrong door. The result was that they marched with military precision into a broom
closet, and had to beat a hasty retreat covered with confusion.’
C. Briscoe concludes that story by saying: “This illustrates a cardinal rule or two. First, if
you’re going to lead, make sure you know where you’re going. Second, if you’re going
to follow, make sure that you are following some who knows what he is doing!”
D. Who are you following today?
