God, our hearts are humbled before you. As we realize afresh and anew this morning, your great love for us and all that you have done to demonstrate that love and the sacrifice of your son and we saying hallelujah to the land. Amen. Folks, I invite you to open your Bible with me to 1 Corinthians chapter four this morning and I want to again encourage you as Dave did to come next Sunday at an alternate hour. How many of you enjoy coming at nine o'clock? Would you lift your hands?
If you're not lifting your hand, why are you here? But anyway, we would love all of you to come next Sunday, next weekend, but if you could pick another hour, that would really, really help us. And so to entice you a little bit, we have breakfast prepared for those who come to the Sunrise service.
It's at eight o'clock when we get out, it will be out there ready for you to enjoy and those of you coming on time to the 8.15 service, we'll get to enjoy it too because the breakfast goes away at 8.15. At 8.15. All right. Today we want to think about being God's kind of leader in a broken world. A fallen world is always going to define leadership differently than God. Our world defines leadership as making your mark or getting a name for yourself. That's how the world looks at leadership.
But God looks at leadership as laying down your life for somebody else. Some would even evaluate Jesus as a failure. They look at Palm Sunday that we celebrate today as the high watermark of Jesus' ministry. And from there they think it all went downhill. He should have taken advantage of the moment. He should have caused the crowds to rise up against Rome and proclaimed himself the king and overthrown Rome. But Jesus knew that leadership wasn't doing that.
Leadership was being in a room with your disciples, putting on a robe of a servant and stooping down to wash their feet. That's leadership. No leader in the world has taught us more about leadership than Jesus. The principles that he taught and exemplified are the very ones that align with God's order and God's kingdom. And while those principles seem very foreign to a fallen, sin-cursed world like ours with itself-centered ways, Jesus' principles of leadership ultimately succeed.
Make the leader successful as God defines success. We might ask the question, what is a leader? What is a leader? Let me give you a working definition of it. It's not perfect, but it says this. A leader, a leader influences, inspires, equips and empowers others. Now let's just stop there for a moment. Leadership always involves a leader and others. If you think you're a leader and there are no others, you better think again. And so what does a leader do with the others who are following?
He inspires them, he equips them, he persuades them, and he empowers them. The definition continues by saying he does all of this toward a common goal or vision. In other words, a leader does not inspire and equip people toward his agenda. A leader inspires, equips and so forth toward a common shared vision that they all have together. And so in this sense, a husband is a leader, a leader of his home, his wife. Mom and dad are leaders, leaders of their children.
A teacher, whether it be in a sunny school setting or if it be in a private school or a public school, a teacher, a teacher is a leader. An office manager is a leader. A CEO is certainly a leader. A foreman of a crew is a leader. So is a team captain or a quarterback or a coach. An usher is a leader. Greeters are leaders. Those who are in ministry leading others can be considered God's leaders. People who are in the worship band, the worship choir, anyone who stands up in front are leaders.
And leadership is not easy. We all know this, right? President Clinton was speaking one time in Galesburg, Illinois, and he said, running a country is a lot like running a cemetery. You've got a lot of people under you and nobody's listening. Do you ever feel that way as a parent? Your company, whatever group you're leading or trying to lead, elders and deacons and pastors are leaders. Warren Benes is a guru of leadership.
He and Bert Nannis wrote a book some time ago called Leaders, The Strategies for Taking Charge. And in the book he talks about five myths about leadership. Five myths about leadership. First one is that leadership is a rare skill. That's not true. It shouldn't be, it can't be, because we're all in some aspect of our lives, leaders. The second myth is that leaders are born not made. Now leaders are born, but leaders are also made.
Most leadership skills can be learned and those who have it naturally can find their skills enhanced by training. A third myth is that leaders rather are charismatic. Some are not. Take our president for example. It's painful sometimes to listen to him speak, but he is a leader. A fourth myth is that leadership exists only at the top of an organization. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Leadership exists throughout an organization if it's successful, because you need leadership on every level. A fifth myth is that the leader controls, directs, prods, and manipulates. That is a myth. The truth about leadership is this. That leadership is not the exercise of power. It is the empowerment of others. That's what leadership, real leadership, is all about. Not the exercise of power, but the empowerment of others, releasing them to work alongside him or her toward a common goal.
Some get confused about that. So what I hope we'll learn today from God's word is this. That God's kind of leader, God's kind of leader will experience God's kind of success. Now that raises the question. What is God's definition of success? And here's how I would put it. God defines success as living one's life aligned with his will and thus realizing the purpose for which he created us. That's what success is.
It's not how famous you become, what position you attain, what position you're in, what position you're in, how you become, what position you attain, how many material possessions you have, how well known you are, no, no, no, no. God defines success as aligning your life with his will and in doing that realizing the purpose for which he created you. Are you a success? The choice is yours and how you align your life. Now Paul became God's kind of leader. Paul was converted as a young man.
He was appointed by Jesus personally as an apostle. Jesus gave him the opportunity to exert extraordinary influence among the followers of Jesus. Even until this very day, we're looking at one of the letters that Paul wrote by the inspiration of God's spirit. Paul became God's kind of leader. And in the text we're looking at today, he talks about his leadership, how he views this whole role that all of us have in some respect as leaders. He says this, first Corinthians four.
So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court. Indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time. Wait till the Lord comes.
He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time, each will receive his praise from God. Now brothers, I have applied these things to myself and to Paul us for your benefit so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, do not go beyond what is written. Now that saying must have been a rabbinical statement of that day. Paul is drawing upon it. As a rabbi, he would know them.
And the rabbis apparently were saying, do not go beyond what is written. What is written, that is, in the scriptures. They were saying adhere to the scriptures. And Paul is saying the same thing. What are the scriptures, what have the scriptures said? They have said, do not boast in man. If you're going to boast, boast in the Lord that you know him. And so Paul says, then you will not take pride in one man over against another if you take heed to the scriptures.
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? Let's pray, Lord God. I pray that you will by the Holy Spirit be our teacher and right upon our hearts those lessons of leadership that we need to learn for the sake of our families, our workplaces, our church and every arena of our life. And I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.
The first thing that Paul does is to give us a couple of pictures of God's kind of leader. Of God's kind of leader. Now, this is unlike what the world's kind of leader is or what we think of as the world's kind of leader. When we think of the world's leaders, we think of Trump. We think of Iacocca. We think of Welch. We think of Jobs. Or we think of Clinton. Or Pelosi. Or we think of Ellison.
Now, these are all leaders in various arenas of life and the world looks at them and says, these are leaders. And summed up in one word, the world's idea of leadership is power. Gaining power and then using that power to accomplish your ends. In the world, there is therefore a jockeying for position. There is a pecking order that's established and there are commonly power plays so that leaders can accumulate more power and influence. That is not God's kind of leadership.
The first picture that Paul gives us of God's kind of leader is that of a servant. He says, men should think of us as servants of Christ. Now, it's a very special word that Paul chooses here. It's a word he only uses here himself. Luke, as we'll see, uses it elsewhere, but only here does Paul use this word. It's the word under-rower. Think of us as the under-rowers of Christ. You say, what in the world is that? Paul is drawing upon a nautical understanding of that day.
The Phoenicians, the ancient Phoenicians, built large, large ships that were called byrenes and trirenes. These ships were used in both commerce and in war, and you've seen pictures of them perhaps. They're the ships with layers of rowers who are empowering this ship. They're propelling the ship by their muscles.
Now, it was difficult to be a roar on any level, but when you got down to the second or even the third layer of rowers, it was tough, because all the stuff from up above dripped through the ship down to where you were, and so there you were stuck as a slave, as an under-rower. But that is the word that Paul uses here. He says, if you want to think of us as a leader, think of us as under-rowers that belong to Jesus Christ.
The word came to mean an assistant, one who is subordinate to another person to carry out a function. Now, for example, Luke uses this word of John Mark, the nephew of Barnabas in Acts chapter 13, when he says, and when Barnabas and Saul reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogue of the Jews. They had also John as their under-rower, as their assistant. He was along to help them, their gopher.
In Acts chapter 26, Luke again uses the term, and he puts this word into the mouth of Jesus, who's talking to Paul when Jesus meets with Paul and commissions him and says, arise, stand on your feet for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you, an under-rower, an assistant. Paul, I am appointing you as my gopher, and my minister, not only to the things that you've seen, but in those things to which I will appear unto you.
The significance is this, that God's kind of leader has the attitude of a servant. God's kind of leader sees himself carrying out his assignment on behalf of the superior one. That is servant leadership. Max de Prie, who is another author of leadership, says something essentially like this, the first job of a leader is to help the followers see reality, to define reality for them. He says the last job of a leader is to say thank you, as he leaves.
And he says everything else in between is the work of a servant. That's God's kind of leader. Now Paul uses a second word, the NIV doesn't actually use this noun, but it's in the original text and in some translations, it's the word steward. The NIV says entrusted with, ones who are entrusted with, same idea. A steward was a household manager. That is somebody who manages the household of a wealthy patron. It's one who is the executor of an estate. It's like Eliezer was to Abraham of old.
A steward is one who is free to use his master's resources in keeping with the parameters of the responsibilities given to him. Now Paul felt himself to be a steward. He said God has entrusted to us the deep things of God, the mysteries of God, and we're responsible for those. Now in our world there are numerous styles of leadership. They are defined in a variety of ways. For example, there is what might be called authoritative leadership, some might call it dictatorship.
There is bureaucratic leadership, these of the government. There is consensus leadership, there is visionary leadership. And frankly all of these styles of leadership can be found in the Bible. And the fact is that God uses a variety of styles of leadership, but the one that aligns most closely to his heart is servant leadership. And serving others must always, always, always be the goal. No matter what style of leadership we may be using.
One who is authoritative must never cross the line and be authoritarian. One who is bureaucratic in his style of leadership must keep the focus on people and not upon the preservation of the status quo and the system that he's using, and so forth. Jesus exalts servant leadership in his teaching of his disciples. You remember that John and James, his brother came to Jesus with just a little request.
And that was that when his kingdom would come, they could sit one at his right hand and one at his left. And they ask it humbly, of course. I say that tongue in cheek. And the other 10 heard about it. And their response was that, hey, you haven't learned what leadership is, their response was that they were indignant that they didn't get the question in first.
So Jesus calls them all together and he says, you know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles, here is the world's kind of leadership. He says, the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them. They lord it over the Gentiles. And their high officials exercise authority over them. That is the world's definition of leadership. And then Jesus says, I want you to notice those next four words, not so with you.
How much more clear could Jesus be than we who are his followers are not to practice the kind of leadership that the world uses. Instead, Jesus says, whoever wants to become great among you must first be your what? Your servant. And whoever wants to be first must be what? Slave of all. And then he points to himself as one who exemplifies that very principle. So here's what I'm trying to say. That God's kind of leader functions as a servant.
Now we may have a variety of styles naturally that come to us, that's part of the diversity and the variety that God has given us. We don't all lead the same way, but at the heart of whatever style of leadership we may have must be the spirit and the heart of a servant. Now I want us to look quickly at some principles for God's kind of leadership. We see them in verses two through seven. You know, principles are overarching laws, we might call them.
They apply in most cases, they're like proverbs, they're generally statements of truth. There are exceptions always to principles. Let's think about some of the principles of leadership that are aligned with what God says. First of all, an effective leader varies his style of leadership according to the context of his work. A leader has to change his styles as his context changes.
I can't tell you how many times I have seen businessmen who are entrepreneurs in their style of leadership, who start a business and they are extremely successful until the company gets to a certain point. And then they can't let go, or they don't know how to change the way they are leading their company. And the result is that the company that was going up like this suddenly begins to go down like this, because they could not change the style of their leadership as the company grew.
Parents learn this lesson to be successful parents. You cannot parent a teenager the way you parent a toddler, right? As the context of your home changes, your parental leadership has to change, it's not easy. And talk about having people who are under you who aren't listening. But a wise parent learns to change his way of leading as the children grow older. I've seen this in churches.
Or pastors who come into an organization, a church, and they build it up and the church responds and the church grows to a certain point. And then because they cannot change their style of leadership that has brought them to that point, but the organization demands difference in leadership, the church begins to decline. It doesn't make any difference what realm it is in. This principle is true. An effective leader varies his style of leadership according to the context of his work.
And if he can't vary it, then he needs to get out of the way and let someone else lead. Second principle, it isn't what you do but what you teach others to do that makes you a great leader. You think about that, that's very convicting to me. Because the way I'm wired is easier for me to do than it is to teach somebody else to do. How this is applied to you and your leadership will be different than somebody else perhaps. But remember, part of leadership is teaching others to do.
Not just doing ourselves. Third, it's never necessary for a leader to speak about his accomplishments. His accomplishments will speak for him. Number four, a shortage of leaders creates a shortage of followers. And a shortage of followers produces a shortage of future leaders. Do you see the picture here? There's a process. What is vital for any church, what is vital for any organization or business is that future leaders be continually developed. That's part of the responsibility of leadership.
And that brings me to the last principle and that is if you want to know how good a person's leadership skills are, look at the number of people he has trained to do what he is doing. That applies in a variety of different ways depending upon what we're doing in our leadership. But the point is we need to be training others. Now Paul brings to our attention here some biblical principles about leadership, God's kind of leader. Number one, a leader must personify trust.
Folks trust is the very currency of leadership. It's true in a home context. It's true in a business, it's true in a church, wherever you are, in a community, in government. Now please understand when Paul says it's required that a person be found faithful or trustworthy, he's not saying that a person as a leader has to be perfect because that would thin the ranks considerably. Brilliance is not mentioned here, charisma is not mentioned here, ability is not mentioned, but dependability is.
What is demanded is faithfulness or reliability. You can do without many qualities in leadership but you cannot do without being trustworthy. To be faithful means to stick to a task. It means to follow through with a commitment. It means to keep one's word, whatever the cost, to one's own welfare. If you've made a vow, keep the vow, the Bible says. That's faithfulness. Folks, our world today is in a crisis of trust.
We no longer believe in the promises of our leaders and we have become largely cynical about what they say. Unfortunately, there's been reason for us to lose trust. Today in this world of political campaigns, we have aspiring leaders who promise things that we absolutely know they cannot deliver. A bank employee was due for a good promotion and one day he was eating lunch, and he didn't know that behind him in the line of the cafeteria was the president of the bank.
And this employee was getting his lunch together and he got some bread and he decided to take a couple of little slabs of butter. And it was in those days, not today, but in those days when they cost two cents a piece. So he slipped them underneath the bread so the cashier wouldn't see them. Four cents, but guess who did see it?
And when the time came for his promotion, he didn't get it because the president of the bank, rightly I think, assumed if he cannot be trusted with four cents worth of butter, how can I trust him with the resources of this bank? It applies to husbands and our roles in the home. What's required of us is that we be faithful to our spouses. Faithful in every way. What is required of employers is that we be reliable to those who are employed by us, who hold in trust what we've committed to them.
What's required of volunteers in our leadership is that we complete the promises that we make in our service. From time to time I hear people say, oh, you know, I had so many volunteers for this event or this job and half of them didn't show up. What's required is faithfulness, keeping our word. We who are ministry leaders have been entrusted with a scope of responsibility. What's required of us is faithfulness. A leader, according to the Bible, must be faithful.
The second principle that is given here, and that is a leader must practice integrity. We might say above reproach. Integrity refers to wholeness. An integer in mathematics refers to a whole number, not a fraction. And so one who is a person of integrity is a whole person. He doesn't have his life compartmentalized so that he lives one way on Sunday and another way the rest of the week. He doesn't talk one way around Christians and another way around people he works with. He's whole, integrity.
You wanna know about integrity? Ask the people of New York State this weekend. Now Paul's conscience about his integrity was clear. The conscience, by the way, as somebody said, is what makes the boy tell his parents before his sister does. The conscience is that inner echo in us that tells us whether we're living according to our values, but just like a radio, it can be turned down.
Paul's conscience was turned up but, and he didn't sense anything wrong, but he says, I don't really rely on my own conscience even. Paul apparently was being criticized by some people in Corinth. They had accused him of something and so he says, basically, I want you to know that how you examine me makes no difference. Or any court of men. I'm not really concerned about that judgment. And he says, frankly, even though my conscience is clear, I'm careful about the way I judge myself.
He says, the judgment that counts is the one that will happen when Jesus comes. And then we will all get our due reward. Paul is pointing here to the integrity that he felt was in his life, but he was genuinely careful about that. He says, I don't judge myself, I defer it to the coming of Christ. You know, you and I need to be careful too about critiquing others, pointing the finger at them, while at the same time, perhaps harboring in our own lives areas that are not whole.
Just like Paul, we need to look at ourselves first and then realize that we can even deceive ourselves about ourselves and say, Lord, you know me. And I live with a clean conscience, but I recognize one day I will stand before you. If we can live that way, folks, we will be people of integrity in our leadership. Leaders must be whole themselves to lead others to wholeness. If you wanna lead your family to being a whole family, be a whole person, a person of integrity.
Number three, a leader must possess humility, verses six and seven. Now the Corinthians exuded some arrogance, which had resulted in some party lines in their church. They had divided themselves up and they boasted in their heroes. They went beyond what is written. In contrast, Paul wrote with an open meekness about his role as a leader. And then he asks them three hard questions that will humble any thinking person. He says, who makes you different from anyone else?
Like the Corinthians, we can get the feeling that we're pretty special people, that we're a cut above everybody else, that we deserve something special, that we're VIPs. And Paul just asked the question, why do you think that you're better than anyone else? He follows up with a second question. He says, what do you have that you did not receive? You think you're special because of something? Well, why is that so special? You received it. Who do we receive it from?
God, we all receive whatever we have from God. And he says, finally, and if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not receive it? As though somehow this was inherently yours. When it comes to character, the God's kind of leader, what counts is character. Someone has written, character isn't inherited. One builds it daily by the way one thinks and acts, thought by thought, action by action.
If one lets fear or hate or anger take possession of the mind, they become self-forged chains. The world's kind of leader lives in chains. But God's kind of leader lives in freedom. There are three questions that every leader needs to ponder with these I close. Number one, to what extent am I a successful leader as God defines it?
In my role as a dad, in my role as a husband, in my role as an employer, as a manager, as a foreman of a shift, my role as a pastor, my role as a teacher, am I successful as God defines it? Have I aligned my life with God's will? And therefore I'm realizing God's purpose for me. A second question, how can the qualities of servant leadership become more apparent in me?
God is so concerned that you and I lead with a servant heart that he sends us through experiences that are sometimes really tough. And so I need to ask this question so do you. How can the qualities of servant leadership become more apparent? What do I need to change about me? So that I am leading as a servant. And third, am I cooperating with God as he seeks to grow them in me? Do I have a spirit of submission to what God is doing in me, trying to change me?
You see with God, what success is not so much what you do as what you what? That's right, what you are. That's what God is concerned about. God's kind of leader. God's kind of leader in a broken world. Folks, the world today is longing for this kind of leadership. It doesn't know it, but when it sees it, it respects it. And the most important thing about being God's kind of leader is that it brings God's kind of success. Is that the kind of success you want? I know you do.
And here's how you get there. Let's pray.