Acts 6:8-15 - Leadership

Praise

Carolina’s Testimony and her leadership of the Christmas blessing

Prayer

Hook

Introduce Subject

Today I want to talk about leadership

I want to take it a step further - I want to talk about the character of a leader

Define Subject

Leadership is influence - John Maxwell

Right now I am speaking to a room full of people who have either been a leader or you are a leader. For those of you that had or have children you have been or are a leader. For those of you who have organized anything, been on a committee or board, or given leadership at anytime have been a leader

Those of you that are here that skipper boats you are leaders. For many of us there comes those moments in our lives where we need to be leaders and are often responsible for something and almost always involves people

Anyone that says they are a leader and has no one following them is no leader.

Fallen Condition Focus

The tension I want to create today is what happens when people are elevated to positions of leadership and don’t have the character in the inward goods to match up with that. Do you know what I mean?

Like how many of you have had people leading you and have a position of power but they were just mean, unloving people.

Hear me out first though, we live in a culture that has lost all respect for authority and lost honour for those in authority and we don’t treat people with respect these days.

Loyalty is a real core value for me and I tend to have a higher regard for leadership and I’m very slow to criticize those in governing authority for that reason

However, most of us have had experiences where we have all had people who have lead us who likely got to the position of leadership because they got stuff done but the character was full of mean-spirited, critical, bitterness and resentment. Have any of you ever been in a position where you had someone like that leading you? How did that go? Yeah, not so great.

We’ve also seen the other example of someone who is really nice but they have no gumption or fortitude to get stuff done. Nice to hang out with and have a cup of tea and have a yarn but they don’t step up and done when it needs to get done.

So today we are talking about the character of a leader and the problem is deep down in our spirit we have been formed by sin and formed by culture and without Christ we don’t carry this deeply rooted grace and deeply rooted power it takes to be the leaders God has called us to be.

Christ Solution

But I am thankful that if you believe in Jesus hear this morning God is

Romans 8:29 NIV

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Romans

I’m going to preach this passage over and over again because it is unreal.

God wants to form you in the deepest part of your spirit.

God wants to make you like Christ in the very core of our being

Does that excite you?

So for those of us that are called to lead people as parents, skippers, teachers, pastors, whatever the case may be Jesus has the ability to give you the character you need to be the leader he has called you to be. Do you believe that?

What would it even look like to have a Christ-like leader? Have you had one before?

Now listen, sometimes our expectations on leaders are way to high. It’s unrealistic to expect our leaders to be Jesus because we aren’t. We are broken, frail, humble human beings utterly dependent on the grace of Jesus.

It reminds me of the story Cal Maskery told one time. This one person was calling and calling Cal with a particular need or problem. Later she met up with Cal and in frustration said, “man, where were you? You were so hard to get a hold of. I called and called and called and because I couldn’t get a hold of you I had to just go to God.” Cal said, “Praise the Lord.”

Sometimes we look to people and leaders to meet the needs only God can meet.

It is no wonder we get so disappointed with people by times. Listen if you are looking for man to meet your needs you are going to disappointed all the time.

You aren’t supposed to look to man to meet your needs; you need to look to Jesus.

Listen, as a leader, if I haven’t failed you yet, I can almost guarantee I will. Why? Not because I want to. By the grace of Jesus, I am not willingly going to try and do something contrary to God’s will on purpose but I am going to make mistakes and blow it sometimes and if I haven’t failed you yet I probably will. Why? Because I am not Jesus.

The good news though is this - If we allow the Spirit to make us full of God’s grace and power God will give us the ability to lead people with compassion and leadership and be the kind of person people want to follow.

If someone says they are a leader and has no one following them they are no leader.

Transition to Text

So I want us to look at a particular passage of Scripture today that exemplifies the kind of person we want to be and the kind of people we don’t want to be; it provides a good contrast for us.

Read Text

Acts 6:8–15 NIV

Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke. Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.” All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Acts 6:8-

Unpack Text

Acts 6:8 NIV

Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.

Stephen

Full of grace and power

Two very important aspects in leadership

If someone has grace and no power or influence they might be a really nice person but they are not in a position to have influence

If someone has power but no grace they are probably one of those leaders with no one following them

Let’s just be honest, we see all kinds of examples of leaders who have all kinds of power but no grace

It’s that leader who has power and influence but their character is a mess

Listen - if you are under the influence of a leader who has power and no grace and no character respect their position as best you can but be very careful of trusting that kind of leader

A problem

I think we fake being gracious… A LOT

We have learned to say things in a way that sounds nice but in our hearts it is really not

We say to people oh that’s ok but in our hearts we are like Harry on Home Alone - wretcha, fretcha, wretcha, fretcha

This especially comes up with dealing with conflict

Let’s just be honest here this morning; we don’t deal with conflict well. Instead of being gracious in a situation that is heated we do a couple different things

1. We act passive aggressive or manipulate or gossip or all of the above

2. We explode

My accountability partner, John Gorveatte who I meet with on Monday is an amazing, sharp leader. He has a real passion for helping people and organizations navigate conflict. And he has come to the conclusion that this is how we deal with conflict. He shared this diagram with me that I find super helpful.

My accountability partner, John Gorveatte who I meet with on Monday is an amazing, sharp leader. He has a real passion for helping people and organizations navigate conflict. And he has come to the conclusion that this is how we deal with conflict.

Now the gracious person who doesn’t know now how to properly use power or hasn’t developed that skill will just be empathetic and not want to “rock the boat” too much.

But for many of us the bigger issue is not being gracious.

Instead of being gracious, forgiving and humble which is way harder

Why do we do this? Because we haven’t learned to deal with conflict the way Jesus has clearly taught us in Scripture - with grace and truth

We want to be Christians filled with power without grace - maybe we don’t say that but when we enter a situation with conflict rather then getting face to face, humbling our emotions and offences and working through it with grace we do all kinds of things to get at the person, to send messages or to hurt the other individual. Does that sound Christ-like to you?

One of the greatest weaknesses I have observed in church is the lack of ability to deal with conflict in a healthy way.

I think the reason that such is the case is because we haven’t learned to really be gracious people in the depths of our hearts

The problem - We are not a gracious at our core

The Answer - We need Jesus to change us in our core

The Good News - Jesus can change us and make us people of grace and people of power

It gets better - Jesus wants to use us to do things that cause people to wonder and that points people to Jesus

Acts 6:8 NIV

Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.

Wonders and signs

A Wonder is an act that causes someone to be in awe or be captivated by

A sign is something that points to something

So put them together and you get something that causes people to stop, stand in awe and points to a greater meaning or purpose

In Stephen’s case, God was using this man filled with grace and power to do things that made them stand in awe and pointed them to the hope found in Jesus Christ.

Stephen used his gifts and abilities to point people back to Jesus

Godly leaders use their gifts and abilities to point people back to Jesus. Ungodly leaders use their gifts and abilities to point people back to themselves. The reason they do that is not always because they are proud. I have discovered it is often out of insecurity. I want to tell you a little something, the people you run into that are extremely over-confident and arrogant, in most cases is because they have deeply rooted insecurity.

What’s crazy about this passage of Scripture is we see the affects of individuals filled with power and no grace and people who are insecure.

We also see people dealing with conflict in a way that is unhealthy

Acts 6:9 NIV

Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen.

So Opposition arose from Jews towards Stephen’s message and ministry and they began to argue with Stephen

Acts 6:10 NIV

But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.

They could not stand up against Stephen because of his wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke

If you can’t stand up against it aka you lose the argument and you are proved to be wrong a gracious person should admit defeat

Dwight story - he is way smarter than me and often times as much as I wanted to be right I had to admit, no you are right

But if you are hungry for power and you aren’t a gracious person you will resort to other things to deal with the conflict you are faced with

Legalistic people do this with people that see the world differently - We should dress this way or be this way in church etc.

Take your hat off in church story

Our culture at Woods Harbour Wesleyan still has to develop to minister to people in the 21st century

We got work to do

Stuff that used to work 20 years ago don’t. That means everything from the space we worship in, with how we use tools

Has anyone noticed we have been using a lot more video lately? What do you think? We learn that in today’s age video is incredible tool to reach people.

WHAT DO I MEAN?

In the New Year, are you ready for this I am probably going to preach in jeans, and the inside of our facility will change to look more modern

Are we doing this to be cool or trendy? No

Are we doing this to try and make our guests and visitors feel more welcome and attracted to our place? Yes. If wearing jeans makes someone who does not attend church more comfortable coming to church I am going to where them. But religious people can’t get there.

Methods have to change if we are going to reach people in 2018 but the message never changes

Honestly

Raise Question

Patrick Lencioni in his book the Ideal Team Player argues that leaders or team players need these 3 characteristics - Humble, Hungry, Smart

so what does that all have to do with leadership?

Humble has a lot

Well, as your pastor I want to lead and influence our church to be able to minister effectively in the 21st century

Point One

And I want to lead us well through this

A Pastor with power and no grace will steam roll other people and just make the changes and do the things because they think they need to be done and won’t be able to help people work through the changes

Point Two

A Pastor who just has grace and no power is to afraid to offend people to make the necessary changes to reach people. They’ll make changes that people like but they won’t start making changes that are necessary that rocks the boat a little.

I hope as your leader as we look forward to 2019 I can lead and be gracious and patient but also have the courage to help us minister in 2019. Listen some of the changes and adjustments we seek to make you might not be a fan of but hear my heart, I want to do whatever it takes to reach as many people with the gospel of Jesus. That’s my motive.

I think you know from my heart and passion that Jesus will always be the focus

The message should never change but the methods have to or we become a dinosaur or a museum; a dying church with no hope of having an impact beyond our own generation.

Sum Up

Suggestion

Spin Around

Stop

Patrick Lencioni in his book the Ideal Team Player argues that leaders or team players need these 3 characteristics - Humble, Hungry, Smart

Humble has a lot