Lead Like It Counts (because ... it does)

The Heart, Work, and Character of a Godly Leader

Leadership is one of those words that gets thrown around constantly. It fills the titles of books, the agendas of corporate retreats, and the promises of political campaigns. But somewhere between the corner offices and the motivational posters, the true meaning of leadership has gotten buried. What does it actually mean to lead well? To Lead well - from the Christian sense - is to lead in a way that reflects something far greater than personal ambition or organizational efficiency.

The Bible has a great deal to say about Leadership. In Romans 12:6-8, the apostle Paul lists leadership among seven motivational gifts of the Holy Spirit. These aren't just skills we develop through sheer determination or personality. (That's not to say that certain leadership skills can't be learned, developed and mature over time - Timothy knew this). The Leadership gift I'm speaking of today though is a 'Grace' of God - given by God to His people for the building up of others and His church. That distinction matters enormously. If leadership is a grace gift, then it was never really yours to begin with. You cannot take credit for it, and so - you can't wield it for your own glory without corrupting it entirely.

So what does Spirit-empowered leadership actually look like? Consider … the first four letters –of the word leadership -  “L.E.A.D.”. These first four letters I'll use today to illustrate the first four qualities that form the foundation of a Godly leader.

"L" - Leadership Starts With Love -
Every conversation about leadership has to begin here. Not the soft, sentimental (push-over) version of love that avoids hard conversations, but the self-sacrificial, unconditional love that Jesus modeled and commanded. In John 15:12, Jesus sets the standard plainly: "love one another as I have loved you". That is a staggering benchmark. Patient. Truthful. Sacrificial. Love. 'No strings'. When leadership is not governed by love, it drifts almost inevitably toward control. It may still produce results. Fear and pressure can move people in the short term. But leadership without love damages people along the way, and the results never last. The first honest question any leader should ask is not "How do I get people to follow me?" but rather "Do the people I lead experience the love of Christ through the way I lead them?" Am I modeling the 'servant leadership' and love of Christ in my life? Do people see it? And if they see it - they may not know who you are modeling - but as they get to know you - they get to know Him. Spiritual gifts, including leadership, are not given to inflate the ego of the one who holds them. They are given to be poured out on others. Leaders Lead (first and foremost) - with Love!

"E" - Empathy Changes Everything -
A leader who cannot step into another person's perspective will eventually stop being able to lead them at all. Empathy is not weakness. It is the ability to recognize that every person you encounter is carrying something you know nothing about. Every employee who seems difficult, every team member who keeps falling short, every person in your household who frustrates you, is bearing a burden that may never be visible on the surface. Jesus himself gave us His 'Golden Rule' in Matthew 7:12, instructing us to treat others the way we would want to be treated. That's empathy  - in its most practical form. It is asking: if I were in their position, what would I need - what would I want? What would I want someone to understand about me? There is a reason the greatest leaders throughout history were known for listening as much as speaking. Communication training tends to focus almost entirely on how to deliver a message. There's no shortage of school curriculum on writing, oral communication, and public speaking, etc. - but almost none on "listening"! Have you ever taken a course on "listening"? A leader who never truly listens will always be working with incomplete information, making decisions based on the surface of things rather than the full picture. Slow down. Ask the right questions. What you discover may completely change how you lead.

“A” is for Attitude -Attitude Is a Decision
Joshua and Caleb stood at the edge of the Promised Land alongside ten other men and looked at the same landscape, the same fortified cities, the same towering opposition. The ten came back with a report full of fear. Joshua and Caleb came back with a different spirit entirely. Same circumstances. Entirely different attitude. They weren’t in denial. They understood the circumstances and the situation quite clearly. A great attitude is not pretending that the Giants don't exist. It is a settled confidence in the God who brought you to that moment in the first place. 'If God has brought you to it, He will see you through it."
That conviction does not eliminate the difficulty, but it does determine how you carry yourself through it. And how a leader carries themselves through difficulties - shapes the entire atmosphere of every person around them. Attitude is a choice made in advance, before the tire goes flat, before the project falls apart, before the situation gets harder than expected. Leaders who have made that choice ahead of time do not collapse when things get difficult. They become the steady presence that others need.

Leaders Are “D” - Doers
James 1:22 is unambiguous: “be doers of the word, not hearers only”. Godly leaders don't simply talk about vision. They act. They show up. (They A.S.K. -  Ask Seek and Knock -through persistent prayer and trust in God’s goodness) They move forward even when the full plan has not been revealed, trusting that obedience to God in the next step is enough. They take action! There is a beautiful image in the book of Proverbs of the ant, a creature with no captain or ruler, yet one who sees what needs to be done and simply does it. That is the spirit of a true leader. Not waiting for the "world's ok. Not waiting for someone else to handle it. Recognizing the need and responding to it. I love the story shared about Dan Cathy - the Chairman of Chick-fil-A – one of America's most succesful fast food chains, a man whose company is worth billions of dollars, and who was once found scrubbing a sink at a competitor's restaurant. When asked why, he simply said - I was taught to 'always leave every place you visit ... better than you find it'. That's the work of a leader. Not just the places you visit, but the people you meet too - especially people. Always - leave them better than you found them.

The Invitation
Leadership is not reserved for those with great big titles or platforms. It belongs to anyone in every walk of life, and every single person has influence somewhere. Whether it's stocking shelves or leading a trillion dollar company. At home, at work, in a conversation with a stranger, at the dinner table, the board room or the public square – be a Leader!   Leadership is in the way you carry yourself through an ordinary Wednesday. The question is not whether you are a leader. The question is what kind of leader have you decided to be ... and what kind of a leader - do other people see.  

I invite you to join us this Sunday @ 10am here at Hope - as we continue this series - on - L.E.A.D.E.R.S.H.I.P.

Blessings,
Pastor Bob
(From Part 1 of the series on Leadership - from the sermon series – “Discovering Your Motivational Gifts of the Holy Spirit”  

Sometimes random - sometimes not - some things I think - measured against scripture.

  "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."  
~ 2 Timothy 2:15