Finding Hope in the Spirit’s Gift of Leadership

In his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, author and pastor John Maxwell wrote that “Everything rises and falls on leadership.”

Do you agree with that statement?...

- The Scriptures don’t say that, so maybe its good to qualify that statement a bit…

For example, there is a lot that goes on in a local church that has very little to do with leaders… Often men and women serve behind the scenes and get most of the work done.

- so the word “everything” is an overstatement…and it would also seem to be at odds with what the Lord said in Matthew 20… After two of the disciples and their mother ask Jesus to grant them the two highest and most honored positions in the Kingdom after Jesus. Jesus says the following to them.

- Matthew 20:25–28 (NASB95) - Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.” But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to Him, “We are able.” He said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.” And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to Himself and said, …“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. “It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

- Much of what falls under the heading of leadership today would be labeled by Jesus as “Gentile style” leadership…that’s the way leaders who don’t know the Lord do it…which I’m sure John Maxwell would agree with…

- so maybe we could adjust our statement to say that many things rise and fall on leadership, and that in Christ’s church – leaders are called to function quite differently than those who lead in the world apart from the Lord’s guidance and direction…

- Would you agree, that leadership is very important?

I have been watching a series on Youtube about George Washington with my Dad and something that stands out is that his victories during the Revolutionary War for Independence from England came about because he and his army were very efficient at moving supplies and soldiers quickly, showing up at places his enemies did not expect. (PP George Washington crossing the Delaware) One of those times was the crossing of the Delaware river on a Christmas Eve. Washington and his small army easily caught the Hessians by surprise at Trenton New Jersey on Christmas morning.

When the leadership works well, a great deal gets accomplished and it’s a beautiful thing!

When the leadership does not work like its supposed to, there is waste, inefficiency, and frustration. Maybe that is what comes to mind for some of you when thinking about the subject of leadership because of some of your experiences.

- So, why are we talking about leadership?... because it is mentioned in the list of spiritual gifts in Romans 12. Leadership is one of the gifts God gives to His local churches because every church needs leaders.

How many leaders does a church need? Can there be too many? Not, if they are godly.

- Romans 12…page 126 of the back section of the Bible that is under the chair in front of you…

- Our series is called Hope for Fruitful Service… we all need to have this hope when we serve or we end up quitting. Hope keeps us going. It’s a Hope that our service will yield fruit. For example: Those who set up the chairs in this auditorium yesterday were serving with joy because they were thinking about more than setting up chairs and curtains. They were excited because of the hope that today God will do something in our hearts as we sit in these chairs praising Him and listening to a message from His Word.

- By inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Peter said, 1 Peter 4:10 - As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Peter says that every believer in Christ “has received a special gift” Now lets read our passage in Romans 12.

Romans 12:6–8 - Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

So, we are … Finding Hope in the Spirit’s Gift of Leadership…

1. - the particular word translated “leads” in Romans 12:8 is found seven other times in the NT…to understand this gift, we want to be clear on what each of those verses teach us…

– some of them are rather surprising in their context and application, and all of them can add to our understanding of biblical leadership…

2. Many of you here today have been given the gift of leadership by the Holy Spirit…and our goal is to think about what the Bible says about how to exercise that gift properly…

- you don’t want to fail to use the gift if God has given it to you – nor do you want to exercise it improperly…there are a lot of minefields here… so we need to study

3. We are all called in one way or another… some to lead others, but all of us are called to follow leaders the Lord has placed in our life… To lead well, first you must follow well.

- the writer of Hebrews said this - Hebrews 13:17 - Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.

- I hope all of us would say – I want to bring joy to the Lord and the various leaders He has placed in my life… I don’t want to bring them grief…

- so let’s organize our thoughts around the 5 words in our key passage… he who leads, with diligence…by looking for 3 ways leaders in Christ’s church should be diligent

- Lets go ahead and think about the seven other places this word “lead” is used in the NT...

• 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, 13 and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work.
• 1 Timothy 3:4-5 He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity 5 (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?)
• 1 Timothy 3:12 Deacons must be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households.
• 1 Timothy 5:17 The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.
• Titus 3:8 This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.
• Titus 3:14 Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.

- so with all that in mind, let’s think about 3 ways leaders in Christ’s church should be diligent.

I. Be Diligent to Follow the Lord’s Leadership

- we all have to decide what kind of leaders we want to be, and what kind of leaders we want to follow. In fact, the kind of leader you are becoming is determined by what kind of leader you choose to follow.

- there is a phrase in the 1 Thessalonians passage that helps us with this perspective…

- 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, 13 and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work.

- This verse describes what it is like to be in the local church.

- you work among people and some of them are over you…. “in the Lord” …

- No one is at the top of the authority chain with no one over them … It can never be “my way or the high way.” Cause I´m the boss. It can never be “I am in charge so we do things my way around here.”

- the leaders of the church are submissive to the great king, the Lord Jesus Christ…

And they are submissive to those who have charge over them in the Lord… we are all accountable to others.

- When a leader leads in the Lord, that motivates others to follow because they know they are ultimately being helped to follow their Lord and Savior…

If you think pastor Steve Viars, the head pastor at Faith, is the one who doesn’t answer to anyone, you don’t know Steve and you don’t know how things work at Faith church. He regularly asks to be evaluated and held accountable to the church and to his deacons and to the other pastors. Its biblical leadership.

- do you have that place in your life for godly leadership?... do you bow to the King?

- or have you bought into the mentality that you’re the captain of your fate?...

- There is an old hymn, sung to the Lord Jesus Christ – King of my life, I crown thee now…

- How many people in our culture would adjust those words to say – King of my life, I crown me now…

That issue must be settled before you can make any progress in the Kingdom of God.

This is

A. Foundational to being a follower of Jesus Christ

- Paul said it this way to the Romans - Romans 10:9–10 - that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

The apostle Paul went from being a self-righteous enemy of Christ and of his followers, to being confronted by Jesus himself as he traveled on road, and realizing who he was persecuting… To serving Christ no matter how difficult or how much mistreatment and suffering was required.

- Do you have a testimony this morning, where you recognize a point in time when you became a follower of Christ? … if not, we would invite you to admit your sin, admit your rebellion to the king and place your faith and trust in Christ as Lord and Savior…

- You see, you can’t exercise the gift of leadership, or follow those who have been given that gift well…until you first do business with whether you have any place for submission in your heart and life… submission to Christ and to other godly leaders.

- now what about the person who would say – well, the problem is that all the leaders in my life are so imperfect…

You know that is part of the struggle, right? Submitting to Christ means you must learn to submit to imperfect leaders. He is the one who puts imperfect leaders over us.

B. A struggle that began in the Garden of Eden

- Genesis 3:11 - And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

- there’s a stream of rebellion that runs in all of our hearts unless we seek to address it in the power of Christ…

- we can’t follow someone else’ leadership unless we’re willing to follow His [how would you evaluate yourself on that one?] … Are you growing?

- Is following imperfect leadership hard? … there’s no doubt about that…

- perhaps we should pause and ask why the Lord has allowed that to be the case?...

- maybe its to help us focus on…

C. A future promise that should make us long for heaven

- imagine a scenario where the Leader is perfect…

- Isaiah 42:1–4 - “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry out or raise His voice, nor make His voice heard in the street. A bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not be disheartened or crushed Until He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”

- we’re admittedly a long way from that…however, to some degree this can be…

D. A present reality if we allow it to be

- think about it from our two perspectives…

1. If you believe God has given you the spiritual gift of leadership…are you exercising that gift in a way that is first submissive to Jesus Christ?...

- Did you know that you can tell a lot about a person by watching what they do with authority?

- some are clearly in submission to Christ as they lead…and others clearly aren’t…

2. If you’re struggling to follow the leadership God has placed in your life…is it possible that the main problem is not, a “human leader problem” – its a “divine leader problem”?

- in this rebellion culture in which we live, it’s good to be reminded that God is the One who ordained the concepts of leadership and submission…in fact, its how things work within the trinity! … and when His people are functioning within their God-give roles using God-given strength and principles, the end result can be a very beautiful thing…

- now let’s pivot to what the leader actually does…

- several of the passages especially emphasize that, don’t they?...

• 1 Timothy 3:4-5 He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity 5 (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?)
• 1 Timothy 3:12 Deacons must be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households.
• 1 Timothy 5:17 The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

- so that means that a leader must…

II. Be Diligent to Organize and Manage

- you can tell if a person has this gift if they have the ability to organize projects and the willingness to manage people…

- it’s a gift given by the Sprit of God to the church of Jesus Christ…and it starts…

A. By understanding the goal

- this isn’t just about getting things done…

- it’s about accomplishing tasks together in a way that draws people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ…and helping everyone involved become more like Christ in the process…

- Paul wrote about this to the Colossians - Colossians 1:28–29 - We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

- this is one of the things I love about being associated with our church….

- There are so many women and men who are gifted leaders, and they exercise that gift with the purpose…

Ex: I grew up watching my Dad and other missionaries do this in church planting in

Mexico. My dad is here with us. After 60 years of ministry in Mexico, he is facing the challenges of aging. But my dad was very clear on the purpose of preaching the gospel.

We came to Faith to learn how to address some of more challenging problems on the mission field and in our own lives, and solve them with biblical counseling. There is always more to learn as we serve and as we start new ministries.

- a unique ministry that Faith has been doing for many years is Christmas for Everyone.

I got to be a bigger part of that this past Christmas, guiding people through the gifts using Spanish. …

- the leaders of that ministry are Matt and Nadia Bechler – along with a large number of men and women who lead and serve alongside them…

- The Bechlers are not simply helping us to make presents available for children and parents who might be struggling financially…

- they want the gospel to be front and center in the way our guests are treated, the ways Bibles and other spiritual resources are available, the way we pray and follow up…

- and in the way that each of our volunteers are trained and served…why?...

- so that every person – either one of the guests or one of the servants…will either come to Christ if they haven’t already, or become more like Christ as a Christian serving in that ministry…

- But the leaders have their eyes on the goal…

- and everyone would also say this – that kind of leadership is very easy to follow…

- and ultimately what is that?...

- it’s the Holy Spirit being very good to Christ’s church…by gifting people to lead us well…

- what else do we see form these 3 passages… Be Diligent to Organize and Manage by understanding the goal….

B. With a willingness to be out-front

- you can’t lead someone to a place you’ve not been…

- so first you have to be lead there by someone else…. After going a few times, you can lead others… and if you prepare well you can add new ideas that you have thought of that will be a blessing to others…. Notice… They should be things that help others, not ideas that only you care about. That would be selfish, rebellious, and dangerous. That is not godly leadership.

Ex: Jamie and I learned a lot from serving in VBS here at Faith before going to Mexico. That was back when Pastor Steve Viars brought and lead a kind of VBS we had never experienced.

We taught our churches in Mexico how to work hard to make VBS an experience the kids never forget and that understands the goal of preaching the gospel. But you need to know the kids, their culture and how they think. And we had to challenge our people over and over again, year after year, to be willing to be out front. To be responsible because the day was coming when we would no longer be there.

Elizabeth and Pepe are gifted leaders. Elizabeth says, Jamie taught us how to do these activities for women and children. That is why we are now able to do it ourselves.

So Churches need leaders

1. Because of the centrality of our mission

- we’re not building businesses to make a profit here… and we are not making a name for ourselves…

- the church of Jesus Christ has the most important mission imaginable…

- Matthew 28:18–20 - And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

– are you using your gift of leadership to help our church accomplish the mission He has given us at this time and place?...

2. Because of the diversity of the body

- Ephesians 2:13–15 - But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,

- it would be one thing to talk about leading a group of people where everyone was very similar in age, backgrounds, ethnicities, economic condition, viewpoints, etc…but a church is anything but that…

- if a church family as diverse as ours is going to accomplish anything of eternal value…we’re going to need all sorts of gifted leaders, and all sorts of willing followers…

Faith North needs all kinds of willing servants to set up and tear down every week. Thank you so much for each of you that do that… We need tech people, music people, teachers of children and teachers of young people and parents who assist.

3. Because of the power and beauty of “equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry”

• · Ephesians 4:11–12 - And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

• · Ephesians 4:16 - from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

- while Faith has approximately 175 employees ministry-wide, we hire as a last resort…

- it is amazing how much work gets done by godly laypersons… a ton of work is accomplished by volunteers.

- if that’s the way God ordained His church to function…leaders at every level are crucial to people being equipped to do the work of the ministry well…

Our passage in Romans 12 emphasizes that leadership should be diligent and the other passages add the specifics. Diligent to Follow the Lord´s leadership and diligent to Manage and Organize – out front.

- there’s one last emphasis that comes out of these key uses of this word that we need to study…

III. Be Diligent to Guide Followers in Doing Good

- we’re thinking of:

• Titus 3:8 This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.
• Titus 3:14 Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.

- it’s not just a matter of leading… or being out front… but leading with some level of understanding of what’s occurring in culture and how the truth needs to be applied in our context with wisdom… or we can be ineffective because of poor listening and poor understanding of the world around us…

- Paul modeled that for Titus… Paul says in Titus 1:10-11 that there are many who are insubordinate… and in addition they are empty talkers and deceivers… Titus 1:12 One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true..

A. Especially important in an adversarial culture

- That is a mess, so what do you do then?...if there are false teachers who are pretending to speak for the Lord, they have to be reproved sharply as verse 13 goes on to say…

That means that we do not go forward. We have to step back and correct… and teach

There is a measure of correcting that has to be done in discipleship and leaders training that takes time. So its best not to move forward when that is going on.

That is why the churches in Create were still working on establishing leaders.

- but when possible, the best way to lead is to identify needs and then rally the church’s resources to meet them…

- so what are some ways you can do that?...

- [4 pics of the HH – including at least 1 before it was renovated]

The Lord is allowing Faith Church to work hard in the Northend of Lafayette. Pastor Mora is leading this effort at the Hartford Hub. He would love more servants and helpers.

Pastor Ross Reeder is doing good work through the CDC. Leaders are needed to guide servants to do good. Are you skilled in construction? God can use you.

Leaders who teach others to do good with their abilities

B. Helps a church shine the light on the beauty of the gospel

Matthew 5:13–16 - You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

- to do that well, we need leaders who have been gifted to us by the Spirit of God.

Are you learning to follow Lord with a submissive heart so that you will be ready to lead?