Integrity in Leadership
1 Thessalonians 2:3-12

1.     Intro: Stand up if 1-most consider you a leader, 2-you see yourself as a leader, 3-you are openly opinionated, 4-you share your preferences about what movie to see, video to rent, or music to hear, 5-didn’t stand when all others did)

Ø    You are all leaders! (Sit)  You all have influence.

2.     Leadership Is…

Ø    More than anything, leadership = influence.

Ø    Even making suggestions and sharing opinions influences others.  The way we live influences others… for better or worse.

Ø    Everyone leads.  Some lead more than others.  Some lead better than others.  Some are more natural at leading, but everyone leads sometimes.

Ø    Dan & his family.

Ø    And we must lead.

·       We’re a kingdom of priests for those who don’t yet have a relationship with God.

·       We’re team mates impacting team success.

Ø    The quality & reach of a leader’s influence is determined by character & integrity.

Ø    Paul understood the importance of character and integrity in his leadership.

3.     Paul’s Leadership Charge

Ø    On the road to Damascus, God entrusted Paul with a huge degree of leadership.

Ø    He charged Paul to share the gospel with all the goyim, the people-groups that weren’t Jewish.

Ø    The Gospel – the good news that our sin-debt, eternal separation from God’s goodness & love, was paid by Christ, and we can eternally enjoy God’s goodness & love if we accept his forgiveness & leadership in our lives.

Ø    In this passage Paul talks of the methods, motives, focus & character of godly leadership.

4.     Scripture, Thessalonians 2:3-12

5.     Leadership Methods

Ø    Be careful to convey only what’s true.

Ø    My buds & the tripartite commission.

Ø    Don’t be tricky, be straight when sharing truth.

Ø    Don’t flatter.  A flatterer uses words to manipulate rather than communicate.

Ø    Basically, don’t “sell it”, share it.

Ø    We all know that our peers despise corporate religious sales.  For them, perception is reality.

Ø    Not only must our methods be true, but our motives must be true as well.

! 6.     Leadership Motives

Ø    Even when we’re leading with integrity, it’s despised if the motive appears to be money-grubbing or selfish in any way.

Ø    Don’t use a nice façade, a false face, to hide a greed motive.  Deal with the greed.

Ø    Try not to lead with any ulterior motive.

Ø    Bob’s need for admiration.

Ø    The right motive for leaders is a desire to please God.

7.     Leadership Focus

Ø    Leadership must be God-focused.

Ø    Pleasing men in any way lowers the mark.

Ø    Even when pleasing your boss or yourself, or your peers is a good thing, it has greater limitations & temptations than pleasing God.

Ø    Praise from men corrupts our influence based on the hearts of those we seek to please; and only God can know hearts.

Ø    God’s blessing on our leadership is directly related to a clear focus on pleasing God, not others.

! 8.     Leadership Character

A.    Motherly

Ø    Gentleness in their leadership demonstrated a lack of selfish motives, like a mother & kids.

Ø    It’s not without reason that Mother’s Day lauds the selflessness of moms.

Ø    Mothers teach with more than words.  They share their lives with their children, guiding them and modeling for them.

B.    Fatherly

Ø    In addition to being selfless, Paul and crew were pure.  They were good examples.

Ø    “Encouraging, comforting and urging”  Paul used every pure persuasion that a Father might, positive & negative, to motivate them to live lives worthy of God.

9.     Invite:

Ø    God is calling you (and me) into His kingdom and into glory.  He is charging us to influence others, to influence the world to follow him.

Ø    Will you develop and exercise godly leadership?