Most Likely To... Week 2

Great leaders choose to love.

[INTRODUCTION]

Welcome back to week two of Most Likely To . . ., through which we're discovering what it looks like to be a great leader.

Last week, we talked about how great leaders follow through.

But what do we do when we want to follow through but struggle to figure out where to begin?

No matter what, a great leader needs to remain flexible and work as a part of a team.

There are so many examples of how we can lead.

How do we know the best way?

Luckily for us, some villains are represented in the media to give us examples of how leadership should not look.

Anyone can lead and create change, but the type of change is what really matters.

How do we know our leadership will have the impact we desire?

Let's look at a few stories that might help us see what it looks like to be the type of leader who creates meaningful change.

[TRANSITION]

In the book of Exodus, we follow a leader named Moses, who was born to a Jewish family and was enslaved in Egypt. He was adopted at a young age and raised by the pharaoh's daughter.

God's people endured hundreds of years of enslavement, trauma, and oppression.

They were forced to work for and serve the Egyptians and follow the Egyptian way of life.

Though he was raised as an Egyptian, Moses discovered his family history later in life and heard from God.

Moses listened to what God asked of him, and God used him to free the people of Israel from Egypt.

The thing is, healing isn't linear.

It was tough for God's people to process the transition between coming from such pain and oppression to completely trust God's guidance.

God had set them free, but it took some time before they could fully rely upon God — and even then, following God's way didn't come easy.

Learning to follow where God was calling them would take time, practice, and patience. So, God had a plan to help them heal and learn to trust.

God asked Moses to write down a set of commands that would clarify and show them what it looked like to live as the people of Israel.

Exodus 20:1–17 (CSB)

1 Then God spoke all these words: 2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. 3 Do not have other gods besides me. 4 Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. 5 Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, 6 but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commands.

7 Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God, because the Lord will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses his name.

8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: 9 You are to labor six days and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates. 11 For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.

12 Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

13 Do not murder.

14 Do not commit adultery.

15 Do not steal.

16 Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.

17 Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

These commandments helped create a guide for God's people to learn how to be in true community with God.

The people of Israel were to love and worship God while creating a healthy and flourishing community that was consistent in loving one another.

As they did this, God would ensure they had everything they needed — all while being a people who blessed everyone around them.

The people of Israel were to help lead the way, showing the neighboring communities what it looked like to love God, each other, and their families well.

When there was so much confusion about what to do and how to live, Moses helped the people of Israel focus on what God cares about —loving God and those around you.

[TRANSITION]

Over centuries, religious leaders added more and more rules.

These weren't God's rules — they were more ways to make worship happen in their context.

Eventually, people were judged based on laws made up by these leaders rather than on the original commands God gave. When Jesus arrived, he wanted people to refocus on what mattered most.

Matthew 22:34–39 (CSB)

34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. 35 And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test him: 36 “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?”

37 He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus reminded his followers how the original commandments were always supposed to remind them to be a community that loved God and others because that was what mattered to God.

One of the most incredible things about God is we know God wasn't just throwing a plan together randomly.

When we look at Scripture and God's story throughout history, we can see everything is connected and has a purpose that becomes clear in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.

We see Jesus didn't only come to fulfill the law by living a perfect life that was impossible for us to live up to, but to show us a new way to live — a way centered on love.

God always intended for us to live this way, and now anyone who needed a clear example of that could do just that.

[OBJECT LESSON]

These seem like some simple and easy instructions from Jesus. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love others as yourself.

But how do we live it? What does it look like to love God and others in everyday life?

When we touch something, we can describe what it feels like.

What if the same thing can be said of true leadership? Usually, the test of solid leadership is how it makes others feel.

God made us worship, love, and care as Jesus did. Jesus showed his followers what this looks like, but their lives were impacted most by experiencing what his leadership felt like — they were seen and included in Jesus' love.

[OBJECT LESSON]

When we look at Jesus' life, we see what true leadership feels like. We see someone who practiced what they preached.

When we rely on Jesus and become a leader who chooses to love God and others, we realize we don't need to be the most intelligent, talented, or famous person to be a leader.

Moses was a person who was confused and in pain, but God partnered with him to do incredible things.

Great leaders choose to love God and others. Choosing to love God and others may start as something you have to think about, but it will become easier as you continue to choose love.

Great leaders focus on the things God says matter most.

[TRANSITION]

While it seems simple, how do we live this out in our schools and the other places God has led us? Here are three simple ways that can help you start choosing love right now.

CHOOSE TO LOVE GOD: Choosing love starts with choosing to love God. If you don't know where to start, choose something from the life of Jesus. You could set aside fifteen minutes daily to reflect on what it means to receive God's love so you can better reflect that love.

CHOOSE TO LOVE OTHERS: Be intentional about loving others this week. Sit by someone you haven't sat with at lunch, or maybe reconnect with someone you lost touch with. Or maybe be intentional with your family — ask them to go for a walk and talk about what is happening in your life.

SHOW LOVE LIKE JESUS DID: Being a leader starts when we love others and God but goes beyond that. Jesus showed love as a leader not by lording his power and authority over others but by serving them, and not by going out of his way to make friends with the most powerful and influential but with the powerless. Caring for the outcast at the expense of the powerful didn't make Jesus many friends but it made him a leader who cared about the things God does. This week, look for places you can love and serve in ways that look like Jesus.

[CONCLUSION]

Being a great leader who chooses to love often requires that we become uncomfortable and share what God is doing in our lives with people we may not know very well.

INSTRUCTIONS: For this response, have students find a partner — preferably someone they don't know very well. Encourage them to introduce themselves to their partner and share something about themselves. To practice modeling leadership, encourage them to share what they wrote down on their handout this week on wanting to choose to love God and others.

Jesus helped us see that people who follow him focus on what God cares about, and as we do this, we become leaders most likely to change the world in ways Jesus would. So this week, remember that great leaders choose to love.