Strengthening the Core of Your Leadership

Over the last couple of years I’ve been developing some back pain in a certain area. I began suspecting that it was related to a fall I took off a ladder a few years ago. I finally went to see my doctor, and after taking some xrays, determined there was nothing seriously wrong. So to help with the pain he gave me some exercises to help strengthen the core muscles around the problem area.

If you follow the fitness world, we’ve seen a rise in our understanding of the human body and just how important core strength is. Beyond improving your overall athletic performance, improved core strength has shown to be able to aid in pain relief, prevent injury, improve posture and balance, and make everyday tasks like lifting, bending, sitting and standing easier. AND - you look a lot better with your shirt off!

Today we kick off a new series. I’m doing something I’ve not done in quite a while. We are going to look at Paul’s first letter to Timothy. Specifically, we are going to look at the leadership lessons Paul gives his young protege who he left behind in the city of Ephesus to bring order to the church there. We will be seeing over the next several weeks that Timothy contains God’s blueprint for Leadership.

Right off the bat, some of you may be thinking - this has nothing whatsoever to do with me. Wrong! I want to take a minute to make the case that everyone is a leader. Everyone is called to leadership in some capacity. It may be true that you aren’t called to a title, like president or CEO or pastor, but you are called to leadership.

The leadership guru John Maxwell defines leadership simply as influence. Leadership = Influence. And anyone can be an influencer. You influence your friends. You influence your coworkers. You influence your children. You influence me. You influence, and so whether you have a formal title or not, you lead. The question is not IF you’re a leader but what kind of leader. Do you use your influence to make a positive difference?

You may remember a parable Jesus taught where a master, who was about to leave on an extended trip, entrusted three of his servants with some money. Each, Jesus said, in accordance with their ability. When he returned they came to show their master what they had accomplished. Two of the three had doubled their master’s money and got a “well done”. They other did nothing with it.

Let me suggest that this is not primarily a teaching about accountability, but about leadership. In asking his servants to steward his resources, the master was asking them to use their unique leadership capacities. He did not define how they should steward the resource. In fact, the only decision he made for them was to assign to them an amount consistent with their ability.

Friends, God has given you resources and he has called you to steward them through your leadership.

I have a strong sense from the Lord that the pressing issue for our church in this moment is that we need more leaders. Not merely more volunteers. Volunteering isn’t necessarily inspiring. We need leaders. People who will take their calling to the kingdom seriously and choose to take responsibility over what God has entrusted to them. Without putting too fine a point on it, I don’t believe our church will grow much beyond what it is now - it certainly won’t make the impact we could make - without more leaders.

So we are going to spend a few weeks talking about leadership. Going back to my opening illustration, I’ve called the message Strengthening the Core of Your Leadership. Just like bodily core strength improves our overall health and performance, so it is with leadership core strength. And at the core of leadership is an unwavering commitment to both know and live out the truth of the gospel.

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We will be in 1 Timothy 1:3-11 this morning, but before we go there I want to address some common resistance people have toward leadership:

I don’t hold a position. Most leaders don’t hold any official position. In fact, positional authority is one of the weakest forms of authority there is. Your leadership is not determined by your title.

I don’t feel called to leadership. I’ve already addressed that I believe every Christian is called to use their talents and resources for the mission of the church and kingdom. You don’t need a burning bush moment in order to look around and see places where you could bring a positive influence.

I don’t feel capable. Join the club! Leadership and feeling of inadequacy go hand in hand. Get used to it! It keeps you humble. But God equips who he calls. In spite of popular wisdom, the truth is that leaders are made, not born.

It feels dirty. Unfortunately, we’ve all seen our share of bad leadership in government, healthcare, media, sports - you name it. We’ve seen so many people use their positions of leadership to advance their own cause or benefit themselves, that we don’t necessarily want to be involved in something that feels so impure. But here is your opportunity to reform leadership and what it stands for.

It’s too hard. Friends, passivity is the biggest threat facing the church today. I think the main reason people avoid leadership is because leadership is costly. It requires us to care. It demands of us our time and talent and money. It forces us to stand up and take responsibility over something in order to influence it in a positive way. It is the opposite of passivity. At the same time, can you imagine a better way to spend your life?

So, having hopefully addressed our resistance to leadership, let’s look at Paul’s first instructions to Timothy about strengthening the core of his leadership by being committed to truth. The first thing we will see is that:

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Leaders are committed to the main and the plain.

1 Timothy 1:3–4 “I urge you, as I did when I was on my way to Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach any different doctrine, and not to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies that promote speculations rather than the divine training that is known by faith.”

Paul had previously warned the leaders in Ephesus that upon his departure, Acts 20:29 “savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.” This seems to be exactly what has happened and the reason Paul asked Timothy to remain there. It appears these wolves have come in, corrupting the gospel with different doctrines. We’re not sure exactly what those may have been, but likely some early form of gnosticism that claimed to have a deeper truth than the simple truth found in Christ.

Temptation to innovate/be original. Bible code…

Online prophets

Over-emphasis of debatable matters

All creates controversy and distracts from mission

Speaking about false teachers, Jesus said Matthew 7:16 “You will know them by their fruits.” There are actually two tests we can use to evaluate a leaders words:

The test of faith - do their words and teaching conform to God’s word?

The test of love - do their words and teaching promote unity?

Leaders must be committed to the main and plain of scripture. That doesn’t mean we remain ignorant of current trends. It does mean that we put our time and energy in the main things the Bible focuses on the plain and clear message of scripture. To be a good leader, you don’t have to know all the counterfeits that are out there. You only need to be saturated in the truth. Then you’ll be able to identify what is false. Next, Paul tells Timothy

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Leaders are motivated by love.

1 Timothy 1:5–7 “But the aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. Some people have deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions.”

Leaders are radically committed to truth as a core strength, but it is truth motivated by love for those they ministry to. They don’t flaunt superior knowledge over others. They don’t go on witch hunts. They aren’t out to tear others down. They derive no pleasure from “putting people in their place”. Leaders aren’t bullies.

Leaders care about the people they are leading. They are motivated for others well-being, not their own. And so any kind of correction given is done in love. And this love springs from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith.

This means that when we lead other in any capacity, we must first lead ourselves. We must constantly scrutinize our own motivations to make sure that we don’t lead from insecurity, jealousy, envy, or rivalry. This is the kind of leaders your school, workplace, home, and church need. Love is essential to the core strength of leaders. Finally, Paul tells Timothy

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Leaders are gospel-driven.

1 Timothy 1:8–11 “Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, fornicators, sodomites, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.”

One problem that plagued the church then and now is how to use the OT. Paul says clearly here and other places, that the law of God contained in the OT is good and holy, but it is powerless to bring about transformation. It can only identify and restrain sinful behavior.

But the gospel has the power transform. More than pointing out disobedience and sinfulness, it can actually change a life. Paul wrote to the church in Rome, Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

To be a leader in the kingdom means to remain gospel-driven, not law-driven. We don’t earn God’s approval for keeping rules. In fact, this idea of righteousness can only ever lead to self-righteousness or despair. Either you will keep the rules and become self-righteous, or you will fail miserably and live in hopelessness.

The gospel of the kingdom is that Jesus has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. He has become our righteousness - a gift given to us by faith. As so as leaders, we live out of the freedom and grace given to us in Christ. And contrary to what we might think, when we live gospel-centered, we naturally obey the law of God.

Everything in your potential leadership ability will rise or fall on this one thing; that you have fully embraced the gospel. That you are not trying to earn God’s favor, but have by faith received the forgiveness and grace God offers in Jesus. Before we go any further in leadership, this first has to be settled: are you relating to God out of legalism or out of love? Do you know for a fact that there has been a time when you accepted God’s love for you and surrendered you life fully to Jesus? Invite a response...

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Leaders are committed to the main and the plain.

Leaders are motivated by love.

Leaders are gospel-driven.

These make up the core strength of leaders. This morning I want to ask you to do two things. First, I want to ask you to evaluate your attitude toward leadership. If you’ve not thought about it before, would be consider what I’ve said - what I believe the Bible teaches - about leadership. Would you today accept the truth that you ARE called to leadership in the kingdom of God.

And then second, once you’ve made peace with that, would you begin to look around, asking God to show you where he wants you to exercise leadership. Maybe it’s here in the church. Notice what isn’t getting done. Notice who seems to be doing most of the work. And then take the responsibility for that activity. Or maybe God will direct you outside the church. I think of Lila, who has “volunteered” for decades at the Good Samaritan Clinic. But don’t think for a minute she is merely a volunteer. She is an unpaid leader. But in her capacity she gets to be a living witness to gospel of Jesus.

Wherever the Spirit leads you, go do that with all your heart. Resist the passivity of our time. God’s kingdom comes on the back of godly leaders.

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Announcement reminders...

We are going to close our service a little differently during this series by praying together an ancient prayer of the church called the Prayer of St. Francis. It expresses the kind of leadership God calls us to and that the world is desperate for.

Lead in Prayer of St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Now as we prepare to take this time of worship into the week ahead, the Lord who loves you says in the book of Joshua:

Joshua 1:9 (NRSV)

Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”