The job of a leader.
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· 29 viewsThree key practices to survive in leadership.
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Introduction:
Conversation with a very experienced pastor who, as a Senior Pastor for 19 years, feels he is burnout . Mentioned people, responsibilities, complaints, salary, etc.
Ministry is not an easy job; it’s self-sacrificing, and family sacrificing. The survival rate as pastors is very low. The majority of pastors do not last five years in the same church.
Jethro’s advice to Moses teaches us about: The leader and his job.
Read Exo 18:13-27
A leader must know his limitations.
A leader must know his limitations.
The first six verses of this section (13-18) teaches us about the wisdom of acknowledging our limitations.
One person cannot do it all.
One person cannot do it all.
One thing that makes ministry is hard is the fact that the needs of the people are never-ending. Every one expects attention from the man of God.
It came about the next day that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Moses from the morning until the evening.
Now when Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge and all the people stand about you from morning until evening?”
Notice the two questions! The first one, “What are you doing?” is a question about priorities. I am helping them. The second one, “Why do you do it alone?”, implies “what do they do?”.
What are Moses’ answers to these questions?
Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God.
Because they come to me; because no one helps me.
If we are perfectionists, we tend to think that no one can do it as well as us. This has happened to many leaders. They want to play all the instruments, they want to be the “orchestra-man”.
People came to Moses with good intentions, to know about God, and to solve their problems.
Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. “When they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and His laws.”
Was Moses’ actions bad by nature? Not necessarily, but it was not the best.
Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you are doing is not good.
Doing what is good is not necessarily the best!
If you give a person a fish everyday, you’re not helping him; you are creating dependency. You help him when you teach him how to fish.
Working beyond your limitations has dire consequences.
Working beyond your limitations has dire consequences.
- v. 18 The consequences: both of them wear out, the leader and the followers.
“You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.
“Wear out” (nabel): fade, wither, disgrace, sink, to treat as foolish (burn out). The leader gets tired of the people, and vice versa.
The task is too heavy for one person.
Another natural result of trying to do beyond our limitations is frustration.
On the previous chapter, we found Moses frustrated with the rebellious and ingrate people:
So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me.”
Over-commitment is dangerous to your spiritual life and your health. It changes your priorities; you become a victim of the “tyranny of the urgent” and sacrifice the important.
One of the keys of success is to work smarter not harder.
A leader must attend to his obligation.
A leader must attend to his obligation.
Exodus 18:19–20 (NASB95)
“Now listen to me: I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You be the people’s representative before God, and you bring the disputes to God, then teach them the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do.
The advice is tri-fold: 1- You must represent them before God interceding for them.
Keep a close relationship with God.
Keep a close relationship with God.
How can you pray for them if you are not in good terms with God?
The problem for many leaders is that, trying to do the work of the ministry, they neglect their personal relationship with God. They do listen to His Word (do not read the Bible) daily, and seldom talk to Him (prayer).
This is the most important aspect of your life and ministry!
Preach the Word.
Preach the Word.
The 2nd portion of the advice is: - teach them the Word.
The preaching or teaching of the Word is the most important responsibility of a pastor toward his people. That’s why Paul writes to Timothy, pastor of the church in Ephesus:
preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
As pastor, I am not happy if I preach a sermonette just to spend the pulpit time. I need to be sure that what I say from the pulpit is the Word of God. That takes time!.... I was asked if pastors prepare their sermon in 15-20 min. I answered that a sermon takes 15-20 hours.
Instruct the people.
Instruct the people.
The last portion of the advice is: tell them how to walk, and the work they must do. (relationship with God, teaching, and exhortation).
This has not changed throughout the years! In Acts 6, Peter and Jacob delegated work to seven deacons so they, Peter and Jacob, could concentrate on preaching and praying.
Acts 6:2–4 (NASB95)
So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
They knew they could not neglect their most important task!
A leader must know his limitations, he must attend to his obligation, and must practice delegation.
A leader must practice delegation.
A leader must practice delegation.
To delegate: to entrust a job or task to another; to assign responsibility or authority; to appoint as one’s representative.
Such delegation is done...
By selection, not by democratic election.
By selection, not by democratic election.
Exodus 18:21a (NASB95)
“Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people ...and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens.
One of the problems of the modern church is that leaders are elected by popularity, by vote. Then is popularity, not godliness, what determines it. The result is that the church is stuck with a not effective leader for the years the person is elected.
The church shouldn’t run under principles of democracy, but theocracy.
Leaders must be God-fearing men.
Leaders must be God-fearing men.
Exodus 18:21b (NASB95)
“Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain;...
Not only authority is given to them, but the work must be distributed among them.
“Let them judge the people at all times; and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.
The man of God must deal with the heavy issues, not the little ones. A leader must learn to live by the 80/20 rule: “80% of your time should be spent on 20% of your priorities.”
“many hands make work light”.
If we want to grow as a church, delegation is a necessity. Delegation is important because gets more people involved in ministry.
“If uncontrolled, work always flows to the most competent person until he submerges.”
“The main thing is to make the main thing the main thing” As a church, we have a main thing to do: preach the good news.
“If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace.”
The results of work distribution: the leader will remain standing (stay, endure, remain, continue); and the people will be in peace (happy).
Our Lord Jesus gave us an example of the application of these principles! He knew His limitations! As a man, he could not be in two places at the same time; therefore, he sent His disciples to preach the good news to the different villages. Before He ascended back to Heaven, He delegated the task to all His disciples.
Just as Moses had Aaron, Hur, and Joshua as assistants, Jesus chose the twelve apostles! And from them, He chose three of them to be close to Him, Peter, Jacob, and John.
Jesus attended to His obligation, seeking to be in communion with the Father:
Some eight days after these sayings, He took along Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.
After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.
Jesus was clear on what His main task was:
“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”