Qualities Of A Leader In God's Church Series

INTRODUCTION

„X The trouble with being a leader today is that you can’t be sure whether people are following you or chasing you. http://www.christianglobe.com/Illustrations/theDetails.asp?whichOne=l&whichFile=leadership

„X Today we are going to look at the first of two sermons on leadership in God¡¦s Church.

„X Over the past few weeks, we have been looking at the subject, ¡§When God Builds a Church.¡¨

„X The issue of leadership is a very important principle to understand. Great things do not happen without great leaders. I believe any organization will only rise as high is it is led. Members of the Auburn Christian Church will have an opportunity on November 7 and 14 to suggest names to be considered for nomination as leaders of our church family for the next year. I have been in many churches where the selection of leaders was not taken seriously by all who had the opportunity to nominate and vote.

„X A church can have a lot of good things going for it, but if it has poor leadership, the church will not go far or be effective in it¡¦s¡¦ ministry. This church has been blessed with a heritage of strong leadership.

„X Because the bulk of the ministry in a typical church depends on volunteers, leadership may be even more important in the church than your typical organization.

„X In the first of this two part message, I want us to focus on the qualities of God¡¦s church should posses.

„X Leadership is influence. A leader is able to influence people to do things they did not think they could do.

„X British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery is credited with the following statement concerning leadership: Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence.

„X These next two messages are important for our church to grasp. We need to understand what kind of men God wants leading His church and secondly, one day, we will need a new generation of leaders. I hope these next two messages will give all of us some things to work on in our lives so that we will be ready to answer the call when it comes.

SERMON

I. THE DESIRE OF A LEADER (1 TIM 3:1) READ

„X In verse 1 we are told that if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. The word ¡§overseer¡¨ the KJV translates ¡§bishop¡¨, NIV translates it ¡§elder.¡¨ The function of the office is emphasized by this word. To oversee the work of the church. Next week we will look at what that encompasses.

„X There is another word used to describe the office which we translate ¡§elder¡¨

„X The terms we translate ¡§elder¡¨ and ¡§overseer¡¨ are used interchangeable in the New Testament. In Acts 20:17, 28, we see this along with Titus 1:5-7.

„X Without going into a long discussion on church government, the New Testament churches were led by a plurality of elders.

„X Paul tells us one of the first qualities of a leader is a willingness and a desire to lead.

„X The word ¡§aspire¡¨ means to stretch out the hands after. This is not an issue of selfish motivation. It is a desire to lead. In the early church, leaders were targets of persecution. If you can hurt the leaders, you can hurt the organization. Today is means a great deal of sacrifice of time. It is a good thing to grow up wanting to be an elder in the church.

„X The last thing a church wants to do is beg a person to be a leader. For a person to reluctantly accept a position of leadership would be bad for both the church and the person accepting the position.

„X Young men, now is the time to start looking at the qualities of a leader so you can begin preparing yourself now. Wives, now is the time to encourage your husbands to be working on these qualities.

„X As we turn to the character of a leader, realize these character traits are something we should all be working on. In the leader, they should be evident!

II. THE CHARACTER OF A LEADER (1 TIM 3:2-3) READ

„X Bob Russell states the following concerning leadership: Leadership begins with who we are, not what we do. A lack of integrity among leaders quenches the flow of the Holy Spirit and removes God¡¦s hand of blessing from the church.

„X In verses 2-3 of this chapter, we have 12 qualities of a leader mentioned. For Paul to mention 12 in two short verses speaks to range of qualities.

„X ABOVE REPROACH. This literally means, ¡§nothing to take hold upon.¡¨ Not one of us can be sinless, but we can be above reproach or blameless. Our lives are lived in such a way, accusations cannot stick. Blameless means it is impossible for a charge to stick or be taken seriously.