Video Transcript: Lesson 32 The Call of Leadership

Hello, welcome to lecture 32, on church revitalization. And as we talked about  last time, we are from here to the finish line, we are digging deep into this topic  of leadership well, as deep as we can in the lectures that we have remaining.  And in this lecture, I want to talk specifically about a call to leadership, and  some, just some more aspects of leadership. And we're going to do, I think, just  a pretty good examination of Scripture, we're going to be looking at a couple of  verses that really outline three critical aspects of leadership in the church. And  so we're gonna hop right into that, and let's get going. But as always, we pray,  because anything that we are trying to do in revitalization or ministry, it's always  beyond our ability. So we need the Lord's help. And I'm going to ask him to bless you in that. Lord, thank you so much for this day, and that we can study Your  Word, thank you for the gift of your word, instruction, or to pray that it might be  profitable for us as we apply it. Rightly, in our context. Lord just for all my dear  friends who are working were to, to bring new health and excitement and  passion into their ministry, God, would you bless them and increase their ability  to lead, we pray this in Your name, amen. Okay, so really, the, the text that I  want to talk with you about today is I Peter 5, we're going to be looking at verses 2 and 3. And in this, Peter outlines, what I would say are three aspects of biblical leadership. And I think this is important, because we think of Peter, Peter,  obviously, you know, learn from the greatest leader of all, Peter was a dearest of friends with Jesus was Jesus's closest earthly friend, and fall. And so he had a  great example of leadership. And then in the in the first century, or the first  generations of the church, certainly in the first century, Peter has a profound  influence as a leader in the church, both Paul and Peter, really have just great  influence. And so in this letter, in I Peter, Peter's actually talking about what it  means to be a leader and what a leader does, and how a leader behaves, and,  and those sorts of things. So it's really important, you know, I think we can turn  back and look at that. And so really, Peter says, these three things kind of,  here's your three divisions, and then we're gonna go look at scripture and see a  little bit more, we'll talk about it a little more in depth. But leaders are called,  okay, there's a calling that comes with leadership. It's not just necessarily just  anybody anywhere, for any reason. But there's a calling that accompanies that.  A willingness to serve. And that's the second service, that Christian leadership,  biblical leadership is a service oriented, it's leading from the bottom are leading,  you know, you know, leading from behind sort of a thing, not, you know,  charging out in front and doing it all for your own glory, but you know, kind of the  heart of a servant, and then also modeling that Christian leaders do well to  model. So let's dig into the text. The first one we're going to talk about is kind of  the sense of calling or willingness. So Peter writes, and he says, Be shepherds  of GOD's flock. That is under your care. And the word Shepherd there is pastor  so so be shepherds of GOD's flock that's under your care watching over them.  Not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be. 

And I think this is so important with you know, churches, you know, we do have  paid staff, in churches, but for the most part churches are volunteer  organizations, you know, like any church, ours runs heavily dependent upon  volunteers who give their their time and their energy, okay. And so with with  getting people to serve, getting people to lead, you know, that can always be a  trick, right? Because when you want somebody to take a role serving in a  ministry, you don't want just a warm body, you don't want an unwilling person  who's like, well, I didn't want to do it, but because nobody else did, I will. And  kind of just the grudging spirit. Now, you may have had that experience. In your  ministry, I've had that multiple times where we couldn't find a spot we are being  we couldn't find a person to fill a spot. And we worked and tried and called and  finally, you know, you got somebody to do it, but you knew that they didn't really  want to, but you just ended up putting in that spot. And I can say that, I don't  ever do that anymore. Truly, I don't ever do that anymore. Because that  backfired. So many times, I don't think that really, for me, ever ended up working out well, to have an unwilling person leading an organization for a ministry,  because if they're unwilling, and they're not passionate about it, but they got  their arm turned into it, or you know, their arm twisted to do it. You know, just  how incredibly effective do we think they're going to be? If kind of, there's a  leader, and they don't even want to be there, if they've got a bad attitude. So this whole idea of like, a willingness to do it, that springs from a calling, like, I feel  like God wants me to do this, and I have a desire to do this. That is a really,  really critical aspect of leadership. So let's talk about some New Testament  examples. Certainly, we can think of the apostles, right. James, and John and  Peter and Andrew are fishermen. And Jesus lays down this call, come and  follow Me. So there's this invitation, there was this calling. And they did it, you  know, they laid down their nets, and they went and they followed Jesus. So  there again, there was this, two sides, like Jesus called, but they they wanted to  do it. They were, you know, after having traveled around with Jesus for some  time, and having known him, when he finally issued this call, they were, they  were excited about it, they wanted to do what they were willing to sacrifice for it.  The same thing, Matthew, a tax collector, Jesus says, you know, okay, Matthew,  come and follow me. And he gets up, and he leaves. And then he follows. And  we see that also, also, with like Philip and Nathaniel, in early in the Gospel of  John, just, you know, come and follow. And, and they do because there's an  interest there, there's a desire, there's a passion that is coupled with an  invitation, and they want to do it, they want to be there. And, and they did. I  mean, in that, so that's really kind of the model we're looking for. We can also  think of, obviously, Paul, going from Saul to Paul, and he's on the road, as you  know, and then he has this encounter, and he ends up getting a prophetic word  through another person, that he's going to be the chosen instrument, to go to all  the Gentiles and to and to preach the gospel to them. And so Paul hears that 

and, and he accepts it, he embraces it. He once he meets Christ on the road to  Damascus. He's all in he wants to give his entire life to serving the Lord Jesus  Christ. So once again, we've got this calling, and this willing and a willingness to  say yes to him to respond to it. We see this again, though, when Paul goes out  to actually do the ministry in Acts 13. It said while they were worshiping the Lord  and fasting, this is the church and Antioch, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me  Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So after they had  fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. Right. So we, we see this again in Paul with the call, you know, the Macedonian call to  come and he's eager and he's willing and he, he wants to do this. So when we  talk about leadership in in you is a kind of a biblical framework. We aspire to this role, because we feel called to it, we feel that God has somehow placed this on  us that this is what God wants for me, not because I'm worthy, not because I'm  able, but simply because he has called me, he has chosen me. For this, he has,  you know, he's pulling me up out of the masses out of out of the many to lead.  And so I think it's just a couple of things here, obviously, then not everyone is  called to lead. And, you know, so we shouldn't do leadership training for our  entire ministry or our entire church, because not everybody is being called to be  a leader. Some are leaders and some, some are not, and most I would say, are  not in a more formal sense. And then on top of that, then not everyone is willing,  who is called. So I think, you know, for us, we have to, we have to think here  about a little bit of discerning is this person called, you know, whether it's myself  or another person, is there a calling here, that can be affirmed by other people is there are a passion is there an aspiring Is there a willingness, maybe somebody  is being called, but they just, they're not willing. And then as as your role as a  leader is to kind of use we talked about about with Blackaby is, you know,  getting them onto God's agenda, it seems that God's agenda is for them to lead, and you, you're going to help them move from that. And that's all part of what  being a leader is. But we really just want to make sure though, that when we talk about it, that's really critical piece of a willingness, there has to be a willingness.  And as I said earlier, putting unwilling people in leadership positions, rarely, if  ever, works out, well, it's just not a good thing. And, and I have found that I  would rather have no leader in a position, than have a wrong leader in a  position. Because it can really sour the whole group that they're leading, it can.  And it can be very difficult than to remove a leader who's already in that position. So thinking about leadership, again, whether it's yourself or someone else, call  masked with a willingness, a desire, and it says, That's what God wants you to  be. God wants you to be excited about serving Him, the Lord wants you to get  fired up that he's calling you to His kingdom, that he has greater purpose for  your life, that he wants to use you to impact and influence others, for his eternal  purposes. And so what a great call that the Lord has on our lives. And being that you're watching this, I'm assuming you're in some kind of a leadership position 

of your church, that you felt that call, you're doing this class because you want to see revitalization come and you're willing to do it, you're willing to do some hard  work. And so for that, I just say, brother, sister, I delight in you, I rejoice in your  call and in your willingness, and be affirmed in that, that you are what God wants you to be in this and hang in there, persevere. This is a hard thing that we're  trying to do with revitalization. And it requires leaders who have thick skin and  can really dig their heels of their boots deep into the ground. Even over the  course in which I've been teaching this class over these lectures. There have  been some times in the weeks in between where I've been like, oh my  goodness, like, I didn't even know what I'm doing. And I felt discouraged and,  and, and rethinking things and you know, you know, kind of negative things or  feedback or comments and, and but I always go back to this, this, this piece of  like, a leader is called and they're willing. And so, I always feel that as long as I  sense that there is a calling on my life, like I pledge like, Lord, I will be willing, I  am willing to the end. And if one day Lord says I don't want you to do this  anymore, that that'll be the day I stopped trying to be a leader in his kingdom  and in the church. Okay, so a lot on that the calling and the willingness in the  next We want to another aspect of me go back to Okay, so we talked about the  first one. Now we're going to talk about service. biblical leadership is, is a  service. So second, in I Peter, he writes, leaders called not to pursue dishonest  gain, but who are eager to serve. And this is a really important qualifier when we talk about leadership, leaders who are eager to serve. Because it's, you know,  somebody aspires to be a leader, they aspire, you know, there's a willingness,  they want to be the guy or the girl or whatever, at the head of the table, they  want to be the leader of something, there's always an important question of why, why do they want to be that now? There's the thing of like, God has called me, I  just want to do my best I want to serve God's people like and of course, that's  the right answer. But that's not the only answer. Some are eager to lead,  because they want authority. They want control. They want things to go their  way. And they know that if they're the leader, they can make things go their way.  Which is really kind of this idea of like this dishonest gain, like you're you're  leading, but not for the sake of others or to serve the Lord. You're doing it for  your own purposes. And it seems like you're, you're serving, but you're not really and that's really just dishonest. So Jesus talks about this. One of the stories in  the Gospel is, as Jesus calls them together, his disciples and he said, you know, that the rulers of the Gentiles, lord it over them, like their authority, and their high officials, exercise authority over them, not so with you. Instead, whoever wants  to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be,  first must be your slave just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Now, this was a common  problem that Jesus ran into with his disciples, right? They knew that Jesus was  Messiah, there was this coming kingdom. And they're constantly jockeying 

around like, you know, can I be? Can I be on your right hand? Can I be on your  left hand? Who's going to be your number two man and James and John, they  get their mom involved? And she says, Hey, can they have the top spots in your  kingdom and all the other disciples get really upset and like, I can't believe you  draw your mom into this, like, you know, this is getting lame, right? And they're  all upset that they did it. And I think half might be upset because they didn't have the that idea themselves, but to get their mom to ask Jesus, can he have an  important role can in your coming kingdom. And Jesus tells them here and in  other places, you have it all wrong. If you want to be a leader in my kingdom,  then you're putting your your you're really asking to be a servant. Those are  really interchangeable words, for us with with a biblical framework or biblical  ethic that leader equals servant. The word slave, really, which is in this text, and  throughout the New Testament, this idea of slave. And so a leader is somebody  who wants to serve, they want to serve Christ, they want to serve others. So a  key aspect of leadership is being you know, putting yourself at the bottom of the  barrel, right? It's like I'm here for others, just what Jesus says, I didn't come so  people to serve me. I came so I could serve others. And Jesus is the head of the church. He is the the ultimate leader. He is the Great Shepherd over the church.  And he says, and this is what leadership looks like, in my church in my kingdom. This is what it is. Now, again, this is very much the opposite of the world, where  it's really kind of climbing the ladder, having more authority. Having you know,  the further you go up in the business, the more authority you have, the more pay you'll get, the more bonuses and perks and you get the office with the corner  window, and you know, people kind of, you know, have to do do what you say  and they're there to serve you and all that kind of stuff. Mmm, that's, that's not  how it works, the whole idea of the church is that it's, the whole model is  completely upside down, that the leader is on the bottom. Okay. So I think one of the questions we have to ask then is, if the leader is on the bottom of this  organization, well, then how do you get things done, because I think we're so  used to a worldly way of, you know, top down, and, you know, it's the general  who gives the orders and, you know, or the CEO or the manager, and you gotta  do what they say, and they're going to use their their authority, and whatever  leverage they have to get you to do it. That's not how it works at all, in the  church, or I should say, that's not how it's supposed to work. And I say, there's  times where I've seen that done, you know, people kind of taking a very worldly  approach to trying to get things done in the church. And this goes back to what  Harry Reeder says about being an effective leader, you do the right things the  right way. Okay. And we want to do things the right way. So what is the right way for a leader? Well, it's, it's, it's about being empowered by the Spirit. So leaders,  we don't just get things done by pushing down and grinding people down by  human authority, is by being empowered by the Spirit. That's where our  influence comes from. That's where our power comes from, is that we are 

ministering in and through the Holy Spirit. So I don't have to take a very worldly  approach to try to get things done. In fact, if I do, I'll probably be very much at  odds with with the Lord. So how do we see this play out in the New Testament?  Well, I think the the most obvious example for us would be on Pentecost, to  transformation. Now remember the disciples, I want to be in power, I want to be  in authority, I want to be Jesus's right hand, man, I want to be Jesus, his left  hand, man, all that kind of fighting. And Jesus tells them in Acts 1, he says, you  will receive power, when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you'll be my  witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the  earth. And so Jesus tells them, your power is going to come through the Spirit.  And so what happens is on Pentecost, Acts 2, the Holy Spirit descends. And  then we see throughout the rest of the book of Acts, the disciples doing ministry  in the power of the Spirit, in Acts 4, 6, they're, they're doing ministry under the  power of the Holy Spirit. They're not exerting kind of like, some kind of false  authority. You know, Peter isn't running around and saying, Well, I was Jesus's  best friend. So now that he's not here, I'm in charge, right? I mean, where do  you think, you know, we go back to this? All the way. Let's go back to here.  Where do you where Peter says not lording it over to those entrusted to you?  Where does he get that from? Jesus when Jesus says, you know, you know, the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over to them? Not so with you. This is Peter is  basically. Or we're getting lost here. Let me go back. what Peter is doing, is just  going back to the very thing that Jesus himself had instructed him, Okay, so  that's all that's happening is Peter is like, I saw Jesus do this. This is how Peter  is leading. He's leading by the power of the Holy Spirit. So he doesn't need  some fake human credentials, to get his way. He's operating as a servant to the  people empowered by the Spirit. And then he's telling the next generation of  leaders, and this is how you are to do it as well. And that word still speaks to us  today. Right? I mean, it's still relevant in very much speaks to us today. Okay, so we talked about calling, we talked about service. And the next one is about  modeling to be examples to the flock. Now that's, that's such a big one. That's  an important one. So that we are going to just spend the whole next lecture  talking about leadership as modeling to other people. And probably modeling is  just your most effective tool. We talked about influence, we talked about moving  people, we talked about being effective, doing things the right way. All of that is  wrapped up in this biblical idea of leadership as modeling. So we're gonna get to that in just a few minutes. But let's pray. We'll wrap this one up. We'll bring it in  for a landing. And I pray that God will bless you through all this, his word. Lord,  thank you so much again for this. Just your wonderful word, I pray, Lord, for  everyone listening God that there might be a calling on your heart, that you  would renew that calling. That they would know that this is the very purpose of  their life. And God even there may be some who have wrestled with that and  might not have a calling and God, would you even reveal that to them as well? 

And maybe it's a calling in a different area. God, would you just make that  known to them? And God, I pray that in our hearts, there be a willingness, just  an excitement, just a yes, Lord, attitude and in following you, and God give us  hearts of servants not trying to be somebody. But just to be content to be yours.  And to give our life just as you did for for many, Lord, I pray all these things, they are very hard things for us to do and to know and Just appreciate sometimes in  the moment, but God would you help us with that? Me included to be the leader  that you've called us to be. We pray this in Your name, amen.