A Man and his Church: Leadership

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A Daily Devotional Guide

A week's worth of devotionals for men who are in leadership positions.   By the time you get through these, you'll realize that this means everyone.  A devotional for each day of the week.

Day 1: Pastoral Leadership

Day 2: Vigilance and Persistence

Day 3: Lead, Don’t Push

Day 4: Chosen of God

Day 5: Leadership and Submission

Day 6: A New Perspective

Day 7: Not Ourselves but Christ

Day 1

"Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding. (Jer 3:15 NAS)

"I shall also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing," declares the LORD. (Jer 23:4 NAS)

Pastoral Leadership

When many Christians think about the subject of a shepherd, they think of pastoral leadership, such as that of the pastor or rector of their church. To begin with, this is good, because it is the duty of all Christians to lift up their pastor and to give him or her the honor that they are due.

However, pastoral leadership is not all that there is for leadership, certainly not for men, because men find themselves in many kinds of leadership positions. As husbands and fathers, they are the priests of the home. If they are in a supervisory capacity at their job or are business owners, they certainly must exercise leadership if they expect to succeed. Men who are active in their communities through civic organizations, political office or other visible positions are certainly leaders and have the possibility to influence many with their leadership. Last but certainly not least, as members of their church men come into many kinds of leadership positions which enable them to have an impact on the eternal destinies of others in ways which a pastor cannot.

The two passages from Jeremiah contemplate all of these levels of leadership. He preached and prophesied in an era when both the leadership from the throne and the leadership from the temple had failed Israel. The Jews were about to experience the judgment of conquest and exile, and a lot of that was due to this failed leadership. However, just as the lack of leadership came from both throne and temple, Jeremiah also tells us that God planned to place leaders of all kinds and positions over the people of God, not just more of the clergy, to fulfill His will for His people.

Where are you today -- not just with God, but with the leadership positions which He has placed you in? Do you know that you are a leader for God? Or do you just think that leadership in His name is just for the pastor? Are you a shepherd after God’s own heart? Or are you following a worldly pattern of leadership? Do you live in fear of what men will say? Or has perfect love cast our fear (1 Jr 4:18)?

Day 2

"Be watchful over yourselves, and over the whole flock, of which the Holy Spirit has placed you in charge, to shepherd the Church of God, which he won for himself at the cost of his life." Acts 20:28

Vigilance and Persistence

Of all the challenges facing men and the ministries which God has called them too, one of the greatest is without a doubt answering the call to vigilance and persistence. It’s easy in the heat of the moment when the Spirit is moving and everyone’s excited to step forth and offer ourselves to God’s service.

But what do we do when things go rough? When we have problems with the people we work with? When the results that we expected to happen don’t? The simple thing to do is simply to throw up our hands and quit; but what God expects us to do is to persist and be vigilant in that which He has called us to do, to "be on guard" and not to allow the enemy to get around us and attack the flock which He has entrusted to us. As Leo the Great said a long time ago:

But since the Lord says, "blessed is he who shall persevere unto the end," whence shall come this blessed perseverance, except from the strength of patience? For as the Apostle proclaims, "All who would live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution." And it not only to be reckoned persecution, when sword or fire or other active means are used against the Christian religion; for the direst persecution is often inflicted by nonconformity of practice and persistent disobedience and the barbs of ill-natured tongues: and since all the members of the Church are always liable to these attacks, and no portion of the faithful are free from temptation, so that a life of either of these nor of labor is devoid of danger, who shall guide the ship amidst the waves of the sea, if the helmsman quit his post? who shall guard the sheep from the treachery of wolves, if the shepherd himself be not on the watch? Who, in fine, shall resist the thieves and robbers, if love of quietude draw away the watchman that is set to keep the outlook from the strictness of his watch?…And if a fiercer storm of tribulation fall upon us, let not be terror stricken as if we have to overcome the disaster in our own strength, since both our Counsel and our Strength is Christ, and through him we can do all things, without him nothing, who, to confirm the preachers of the Gospel and the ministers of the mysteries, says, "Lo, I am with you all the days even to the consummation of the age." And again he says, "these things I have spoken unto you that in me ye may have peace. In this world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, because I have overcome the world." The promises, which are as plain as they can be, we ought not to let any causes of offence to weaken, lest we should seem ungrateful to God for making us his chosen vessels, since his assistance is powerful as his promises are true.

Day 3

"I urge you to be true shepherds of the flock of God among you, not because you are compelled, but of your own free will; not from a base love of gain, but with a ready spirit; not as lords of your charges, but as examples to your flock. " 1 Pet 5:2-3

Lead, Don’t Push

Many people think that leadership is a "command and control" proposition. They think that all they need to do is to take command, bark orders and ride people until the job is done. Unfortunately such people only manage to demoralize everyone around them, which does nothing to advance God’s kingdom.

In this passage, we first are exhorted to "shepherd the flock." The means that we are shepherds and not cattlemen. When organizing the cattle drive, the cattlemen’s task was simple: to "round ‘em up and move ‘em out!" They did this by getting behind the cattle and forcing them in the direction that they wanted. If a cattle prod was called for, then use it – a little voltage wouldn’t hurt ‘em anyway. God’s model for leadership in the church is the shepherd, who must lead the sheep and lay down his life for them when it is called for (see below.) The sheep will follow their shepherd who leads them, not the cattleman who drives them from behind.

We are also told to lead "not under compulsion." The Lord’s army is a volunteer force and not a conscript one. We need to carry that into our leadership. One night a pastor told his church, "The church doesn’t need any of you to be here." One of the members observed that he might have a different view if no one came! We so often take the position that we and those we lead are here because we have to be, when in fact we are here because it is our desire to do so, to please God and to serve Him forever.

Finally we are told to lead "with eagerness." Have you ever looked around at your or someone else’s place of work and seen how so many spend their lives wishing they weren’t there? But they’re there only for the salary they get. God will supply all of our needs; we need to respond to this by leading with enthusiasm, the kind of enthusiasm that His work needs and deserves if it is to get done.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. And a stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers…I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hireling, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, beholds the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf snatches them, and scatters them." (Jn 10:1-5, 11-12)

Day 4

"It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you, and I appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that should remain, so that the Father might grant you whatever you ask in my Name." (John 15:16)

Chosen of God

The idea that we as Christians are chosen of God is something that is hard to get a handle on. On the one hand, we know from passages that it is so, and we emphasize it to ourselves to enhance our self image. On the other hand, in our heart of hearts we have a hard time grasping that the God of the universe, who is over all things and has so many important things to do, would bother to stop and choose insignificant us for any good purpose.

But that is in fact what Jesus was telling his disciples, under circumstances that were far worse than much that we have to endure. It was the Last Supper; the disciples were filled with anxiety and fear over the future; one of their own was a traitor and was carrying out that treason at the moment; Jesus had become unpopular with much of the Jewish leadership, and by association the disciples themselves.

But here was God in the flesh telling them that, yes indeed, they were chosen, to go and bear fruit, to continue the work in the power of the Holy Spirit that He was initiating, and to do greater things than He had done while here with them. This is a tremendous truth; can we not grasp it and live it?

This then is the motive of this great fruit and of its lasting forever; that the Father will grant everything we ask of Him in the name of His Son.

God said of old: I shall do it for love of Myself, and to glorify My name. Now He grants nothing except in the name of His Son. God has not changed, however, since what God does for the love of His Son, He does for the love of Himself, because the Father and the Son are One. When we are warned so many times that we cannot hope for anything or ask for anything except in the Name of Jesus Christ, we are advised of the need that we have of a mediator to reunite us to God, from Whom sin has separated us.

Let us aim, therefore, at bearing fruit, and fruit that will last forever, but let us ask for the grace for it in the name of the Mediator, believing that it is through His grace that we begin to bear good fruit, and through the continuation of this very grace we shall persevere in bearing it. As He told us, we cannot bear fruit except in Him only, and so He must abide in us, in order that we may abide in Him; it is in this that the mediation of Jesus Christ, and the true invocation of God in the name of the Saviour, consists (Bossuet, Meditations on the Gospel)

Day 5

"Obey your Leaders, and submit to their control, for they are watching over your souls, as men who will have to render an account, so that they may do it with joy, and not in sorrow. That would not be to your advantage." Heb 13:17

Leadership and Submission

The subject of Biblical submission – whether in the church, in the marriage, or wherever – is a controversial one with a lot of people. This is because we have been conditioned so long to think of our "rights" as individuals and what God has promised to do for us that we are uncomfortable with the idea that we have to submit to anyone.

We live in a universe where there is a ruler (God Himself) and a subject creation. This is the archetype for submission, for it is the natural order of things that there be both leadership and following. But God, who set this order of things into place, also went further than many thought fitting to redeem His people (John 3:16.) So His idea of leadership is different than ours.

First, as we have seen the leader is to be willing and ready to make sacrifices for the flock. It was not Jesus’ intention for the leaders to lord over the people of God but to serve them. (Mt. 20:25-28) Jesus illustrated this most powerfully by washing the disciples feet. (Jn 13:1-17)

Second, leaders of God’s flock must be prepared to be accountable to God for how they lead others in the Church. Authority and responsibility are inseparable for successful leadership situations of any kind. This is one reason why men need to think twice before assuming positions of leadership of any kind, especially teachers. (James 3:1)

Third, a leader must be prepared to lead in love and not fear. This starts in the home; our model as husbands is not from the world but from Christ, who loved His bride, the church, and gave His life for her. (Eph. 5:24-29) If we establish this pattern in the home, it will be a lot easier to do elsewhere, and we will encourage people to follow us rather than to hide from us when we appear.

This is God’s model for leadership. We as followers, however, should realize that only God is perfect and that people in leadership will make mistakes. This does not, however, relieve our obligation of submission to the best of our ability. Moreover we need to pray for those whom God has set over us so that they will follow the Lord in the leadership pattern that He has set for them, not only in the basics but also in the day to day decisions that comes with such positions.

Most men are both leaders and followers, depending upon the situation; however, most men think of themselves as one or the other, not like the centurion: "For I, too, am a man under authority, with soldiers under me…" (Mt. 8:5) How are you as a leader? And as a follower? Do you try to have it both ways, overbearing in leadership and rebellious in submission? Or is it just the opposite: weak in leadership and so passive in submission that your leader wishes you would speak up? If we understand our role as one, then we can be more effective as the other, and a better member of the Body of Christ.

Day 6

"But God chose what the world counts foolish to put its wise men to shame, and God chose what the world counts weak to put its strong things to shame, And God chose what the world counts poor and insignificant--things that to it are unreal-to bring its ‘realities’ to nothing, So that in his presence no human being should boast." 1 Cor 1:27-29

A New Perspective

Many years ago on a television series the main character was being shown through a very unconventional school where people were learning things in strange ways. One person he was shown was standing on their head, which his tour guide explained was "gaining new perspective." Although the explanation was absurd, it illustrates an important point; to look at things in a new light, it’s usually necessary to turn things upside down.

This is what Paul is doing here. And indeed it is the ultimate irony of the New Testament, that in order to put things in right order in our lives and to see things as they really are it’s necessary to turn our preconceived notions and conventional wisdom upside down. This process is led not by some radical malcontent but by the God who created the whole universe and who understands its workings perfectly.

"He who has found his life will lose it, while he who, for my sake, has lost his life shall find it." (Mt. 10:39) This process starts when we are saved; we give our life and everything else up to God, and then as we grow in Him we get it all back and then some. The harder we try to hang on to what we have, the worse it gets. This doesn’t end with our basic spiritual walk, we cannot get through the Christian life on what we always thought was true, especially about people: "But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’" (1 Sa. 16:7)

We have seen this week that leadership is the same way; what we thought was really leadership isn’t God’s plan for those whom he has called into positions of authority in his Body. So we must be diligent students of the Word and sensitive to the Spirit to understand God’s plan for us as leaders and as followers, so the church will be the better for our presence and not the worse.

One of the worst habits we have as people is always wanting to take the credit. We always want to be recognized for the wonderful work that we do. And it’s true that recognition of our ministry – not ourselves – is a key factor in obtaining support for any ministry. But that ministry, which God has given us, is more important than we are. Moreover there are more important things than being first or recognized: "But they were silent; for on the way they had been arguing with one another which was the greatest. 35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said: 'If any one wishes to be first, he must be last of all, and servant of all.'" (Mk 9:34-35) and "Take care not to perform your religious duties in public in order to be seen by others; if you do, your Father who is in Heaven has no reward for you. " (Mt 6:1)

Day 7

"For it is not ourselves that we proclaim, but Christ Jesus, as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake." 2 Cor 4:5

Not Ourselves but Christ

A really serious examination of Christian leadership is a sobering experience. If we hoped that some of the more serious demands of the Gospel can be mitigated if we can "get up the ladder" a little bit we come to discover that more is demanded of leaders in the church than anyone else.

But we also discover that God’s way of leadership is liberating, just like God’s way of doing anything else. The initial price is high; we have to lay aside "…for all that the world can offer--the gratification of the earthly nature, the gratification of the eye, the pretentious life--belongs, not to the Father, but to the world…" (1 Jn 2:16) But the benefits, both in this life and the life to come, are immeasurable: "'I tell you,' said Jesus, 'there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or land, on my account and on account of the Good News, Who will not receive a hundred times as much, even now in the present--houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and land--though not without persecutions, and, in the age that is coming, Immortal Life. But many who are first now will then be last, and the last will be first.'" (Mk 10:29-31)

In the passage at the top we reach our ultimate goal; leading in such a way that people don’t see us but Christ himself. Too much leadership is self-promotion; it involves making a person into a "legend in their own time." In God’s perspective, though, such people are "legends in their own mind." If we really stop and compare what we have to offer people from ourselves to what God can offer through us and others than we end up on the short end of the comparison.

But that loss is the gain of everything, because we, rather than just being another voice in the noise of life, can be God’s voice. We have the privilege of communicating truth that is eternal, and truth that can make those who hear what we have to say, observe what we do or follow our leadership live forever with God. When this happens, then we can be like the man Jesus described: "Already the reaper is receiving wages and gathering in sheaves for Immortal Life, so that sower and reaper rejoice together. " (Jn 4:36)

The best part of Christian leadership is that we are not alone! Jesus promised us that he would be with us until the end of the age (Mt. 28:20) If we follow His way and not do it for ourselves, then we can lead in the power of the Spirit with the kind of results one would expect. Take a look at your leadership situations. Is the Spirit leading them all? Is God their all in all? Or is it your situation, not God’s? The rewards of going it God’s way cannot be measured in human terms.

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