Why is leadership important? There are many who have suggested a variety of ideas as to why leadership is important in the market place. Here are three …
(i) “As a catalyst, leaders perform four important functions … remove roadblocks that hinder the project results, develop connections across the organization, connect the employee’s vision to that of the company, and instigate a positive working environment in the company.”
(ii) “Simply put, a true leader leads by example, fostering strong relationships with individuals and teams alike and ensuring that all reach their full potential while, importantly, achieving organizational goals.”
(3) “Effective leaders have the ability to communicate well, motivate their team, handle and delegate responsibilities, listen to feedback, and have the flexibility to solve problems in an ever-changing workplace.”
You will agree that there is nothing wrong with these suggestions and one could even mix them together. But they are for the market place, the secular world … they are for a business. We shall start today by considering leadership in the Church. Please read:
Ac 14:23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust. 24 After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia, 25 and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. 26 From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. 27 On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.
Biblically we find the leadership are called Elders.
1) Leadership in the Church is different to leadership in the world. In business the leaders protect the investors interests by looking after the premises (and contents), the products (whether it is intellectual or material) and personnel. Personnel is the most import ingredient of the business because without personnel, there will be no business. In the Church, the leaders (elders) look after, care for and protect the interests of God. The main commodity of the Church is people. People are souls and these souls are Blood purchased by Jesus Christ. So the caring and protecting of souls, done by the leaders is for Almighty God who is the singular owner of the Church … better called the Kingdom of God!
2) Leadership in the Church starts within the home! I shall not take time to discuss or debate the wrongness (that is, by the way I understand God’s Word) of incorrectly interpreting Scripture to install leadership in the Church that does not follow God’s required credentials for leadership … be it an elder or a deacon. Before I use the Bible and explain where leadership comes from, you need to know that all I am doing is explaining what God says. Some might not like this … and for that I cannot be responsible. The Bible and the Bible alone is our yardstick and guide.
(1) In Genesis chapter one we have God giving us a brief explanation of all of creation. From chapter two God zones in on man, explaining how he created man and the purpose for which he created man. (If you have the time please read Genesis chapters 1-3).
(2) The difference between mankind and the animal kingdom.
Ge 2:7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
A Human Being is a “Living Being” made up of the physical and spiritual or if you like, the body and the soul. The spiritual dimension is the great difference between man and beast. The beast dies and is no more whilst the man dies and his soul lives forever, either with God or apart from God.
(3) God placed the man He created in a place of paradise, we call the Garden of Eden.
Ge 2:8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Remember the tree of life and the one of the knowledge of good and evil.
(4) Man was not to live in this paradise of luxury exempt from all work.
Ge 2:15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
Two matters arise here.
(a) Man was created to care for God’s property. God never intended that man have a free ride. Remember this was before sin entered, so work would have been a pleasure and enjoyable.
(b) God gave man a probationary commandment. He could enjoy the fruits of his labor throughout the Garden but God restricted him from eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Should he rebel against God and eat from the forbidden fruits, he would fail, breaking the probationary commandment and die. Don’t forget that this man was to live forever!
(5) Up to this point there was only man as in male.
Ge 2:18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
God is relational. Review genesis chapter one and see all the times God refers to Himself in the plural. This gives us the first insight into the Trinitarian Nature of God. So, as a relational Being, God says He will make (create) a helper suitable for man … that is, one like him but different. Before this happens, verses 19-20 tells us that God authorized man to man all the creatures He created. Then, however you see it, God created woman from man.
Ge 2:20 But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
Again, man named woman:
Ge 2:23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”
What I am presenting to you is that God created the man first. He issued him with a probationary commandment, allowed him to name both the animals and the suitable helper.
(6) Once there is male and female, there is a marriage.
Ge 2:24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Of importance in verses 24-25 is that the man is mentioned first. In the Bible, when we see this or when we see a person named first like Paul, being named before Barnabas, it means the first one named is the leader. This is where leadership starts … with man as the head of the home. In this capacity as head, he is to love, care, provide, protect, encourage and shepherd his wife and by implication his children.
Father, grant to us your people a healthy Biblical understanding of male leadership as presented in Your Word. Amen.