Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

The world needs godly leaders.

Whether its in the boardroom or the living room, leadership is a necessity of life.

People either get to experience the blessing of effective leadership or the frustration of poor leadership.

In fact, all of us are in a position of leadership some form or another.

Some of us manage teams at work.

If you are a husband you are called to lead your family

And if you are a mother or father, you are called to lead your children.

And some people hold leadership positions in the church

The problem most of us face when examining our leadership is that even though we know we need to lead well in whatever areas God has entrusted to us, many of us don’t really know how to do it.

As we study , we are going to see three biblical motivations for leadership that help us to effectively lead others in a way that honors God and blesses those we lead.

What Is Leadership?

In a basic sense, leadership is nothing more than influence.

Leaders are able to influence others to work towards a common goal or purpose.

If you have someone who is not able to influence others to follow them towards a bigger purpose, then they are not a leader, they are a marching band to nowhere.

On the other hand, just because someone is able to lead others to achieve a common goal, doesn’t mean they are a biblical leader.

First, we are confused because there are so many examples of worldly leadership that seem to work.

Leadership is as much about the people you lead as it is about accomplishing something.

If leadership is just influence, then the type of influence used is open to interpretation.

If you are a leader that is firing on all cylinders, accomplishing everything that is put before you, but the people you lead are chewed up and spit out in an effort to get there, are you leading people or using them?

For example, you can be an absolute dictator of a leader who bullies everyone around you into falling in line

True leadership seeks to lead others to accomplish something while at the same time, seeks the good of the group as a whole.

Am I Really A Leader?

But before we look at our passage we need to overcome a two common struggles that happen when you start talking about biblical leadership.

First, people assume that biblical leadership only applies to leadership positions in the church.

That it has no practical good for leadership in the workplace.

I would encourage you to remember the work that Nehemiah is leading in.

He is not leading a worship service or a Bible study.

Instead he is leading a reconstruction effort to rebuild walls of Jerusalem.

If you’ll remember, these walls represent God’s kingdom because they will protect God’s people and allow them to once again be a light to the nations proclaiming that God will forgive sinners through the Messiah God had promised.

Their rebuilding of the wall prepared the way for Jesus to come and die for the sins of the world.

Nehemiah showing us what biblical leadership looks like by leading a reconstruction effort tells us that we cannot confuse the goals of leadership with the principles of leadership.

Do not confuse the goals of leadership with the principles of leadership.

Leaders have different goals.

Athletic coaches lead to win games.

Business managers lead to make a profit.

Parents lead to grow mature children.

Church leaders lead to help people grow in Christ.

Even though your goals might be different, as a Christian, the way you go about those goals should seek to honor God and love others.

If you are in a position of leadership, it is especially important for you to lead biblically so that you can be a light to those you lead of God’s salvation.

If you say that you love Jesus, but act like a tyrannical dictator to those you lead, what effect does that have on your witness?

All Christian leaders, no matter where they are called to lead, should aim to lead biblically.

The second obstacle when talking about biblical leadership is that people who do not hold traditional positions of leadership assume that they are not leaders.

Do not mistake a position of authority as leadership.

The fact of the matter is, if you are able to have influence with another person, you are a leader even if you aren’t over them in the organizational chart.

This means you don’t have to be a CG leader or a manager to be a leader.

Every Christian has the opportunity to lead someone.

We just call it discipleship.

Spiritual leadership seeks to move people onto God’s agenda.

To lead them to live in line with God’s purposes for their life.

Spiritual leaders want to see others repent of their sin, put their faith in Christ, and grow in godliness.

This means if you are a parent, do you not have influence over your children to disciple them in the Lord?

Or at work, even if no one is under you in the company, are you working to influence them with the gospel so that they might be saved?

Even in church life.

You don’t have to be a community group leader to disciple others.

What would it look like to invite a younger couple over to dinner to talk about marriage or to encourage someone in your CG using the experience God has given you to help them respond in a situation like Christ would.

Just because you aren’t in a position of leadership does not mean you aren’t a leader.

You are still called as a Christian to influence others for the glory of God and their good.

That is discipleship.

Whether you are leading thousands or just one person, you are a leader.

So every Christian in some way has been entrusted with some form of leadership to steward for the glory of God and the good of others.

Or

How Should We Lead?

While a leader who only focuses on the people they lead, run

This is where we begin to define what does godly leadership look like.

If every person is a Leader in one area of their life or another, and if Leadership is influencing others towards a common goal, then how does the Bible say we are to lead?

This is where we begin to examine the method, or how to, of leadership.

There are worldly examples of leadership that are effective.

You can yell and bully others into doing what you want them to, that is influence that is effective, but it doesn’t mean its right.

When we begin to live our life based on what works instead of what God says in his Word, then we to live a life driven by pragmatism instead of faith.

In whatever area we lead, whether that is on a team at work, a ministry in the church, or our families, our primary question should not be, “What will work?”

Instead we must ask, “What is godly?”

In God’s Word he has provided everything we need for life and godliness.

And God, being wise and perfect, knows what is best for us and how we ought to live in order to glorify him and love others well.

So when we as Christians begin to ask, “How should we lead?” the answer is “Biblically.”

Jesus clearly told us how godly leaders will lead.

He said that they will not lord over and dominate those they lead.

Instead, biblical leaders are called to serve.

This is a countercultural idea.

In our minds, leaders should be served.

But the way servant leadership is effective

In fact it is so upside down from the way we understand leadership naturally, that Jesus had to explicitly show us what true leadership looks like.

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.

14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.

14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

For example, politicians call themselves public servants, but few of us actually believe they are serving for anything more than to stay in power another term.

Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, a task that was only done by the lowest servants of the day to show them that even God himself is not above serving us, and because of that we should strive to serve others for their good.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

The Bible tells us that to truly see

And if we listen to Jesus, and start to lead others by seeking ways to serve and help them, then he promises that we will be blessed.

And not only will we be blessed, but those we lead will also experience the blessing of biblical leadership.

But it is not enough to know we are called to serve those we lead.

For leaders, the temptation will always be there to abuse the position the Lord has entrusted to us for others good and to use people for our own benefit because leadership is hard work.