From Following To Leading - The 5 “P”s of Leadership
Spiritual Leadership in the Church - Part 6Pastor Ed Riddick - Sunday, July 10th, 2005
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Mark 3:13-19 “Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. “He appointed twelve—designating them apostles—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach “and to have authority to drive out demons.” NIV
Acts 6:1-7 “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. “So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. “Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them “and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” “This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. “They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. “So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” NIV
Introduction: We need to “see” the context
Korean War Story
One of the more interesting stories that comes out of the Korean War concerns a mechanically minded man named Wahlstrom, who enjoyed going to Army surplus stores and buying various pieces of equipment. He would then dismantle them and reassemble them in different combinations. After a while, he had a whole room full of gadgetry, all interconnected. You could push a single button and watch as wheels would begin to turn, and then lights would begin to flash, and then bells would begin to ring. Soon the whole room was full of whirring wheels, flashing lights and ringing bells.
People were fascinated, and “Wahlstrom’s Wonder” became the talk of the town. One visitor asked Wahlstrom the question nobody had thought before to ask: “What does it do?” Wahlstrom replied, “Well, you push the button, and wheels turn and then lights flash and then bells ring.” The visitor replied, “Yes, I can see that, but what does it do?” With all the motion and activity of Wahlstrom’s Wonder, it really didn’t do anything.
There was a war going on.
Teen Is Found Alive After Eight Days
Mon Oct 11, 9:17 AM ET
REDMOND, Wash. - A teenager missing for eight days has been found alive in her wrecked car by a woman who said prayer and dreams led her to the site.
Laura Hatch, 17, last seen at a party Oct. 2, was found Sunday in her 1996 Toyota Camry about 150 feet below a road in this suburb east of Seattle, King County sheriff’s deputies said.
Hatch was listed in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she was being treated for severe dehydration, a possible blood clot near her brain, broken ribs, a broken leg and facial injuries, said her sister, Amy Hatch.
“We were afraid that we weren’t going to find her, we weren’t going to get her back,” the sister told KING Television in Seattle. “This is the best thing that could happen because there were a million awful scenarios.”
More than 100 friends and acquaintances from Creekside Covenant Church cheered and sang at a celebratory prayer service that initially had been scheduled as a vigil Sunday night.
“We had already given her up and let her be dead in our hearts,” her mother, Jean Hatch, told KOMO-TV. Hatch evidently went eight days without food or water, sheriff’s Sgt. John Urquhart said, adding that there had been no indication of foul play. “There was no police search,” he added. “We felt she was most likely a runaway. Obviously, there was another reason.”
Parents Jean and Todd Hatch hired a private investigator and on Saturday organized an unsuccessful search with 200 volunteers in areas near the place where the car was found.
Sha Nohr, a church member and mother of a friend of Hatch, said she had several vivid dreams of a wooded area with the message, “Keep going, keep going,” after she went to bed Saturday night.
She said she awakened Sunday morning with an urgent need to look for Hatch, had her daughter join her and drove to the area where the crash occurred, stopping at one point, then leaving because “it just didn’t feel right” and going to another spot.
Along the way, Nohr said, she prayed: “I just thought, ‘Let her speak out to us,’” At the second stop something drew her to clamber over a concrete barrier and more than 100 feet down a steep, densely vegetated embankment where she barely managed to discern the wrecked car in some trees.
She called to her daughter, who flagged down a passing motorist and the man helped Nohr get closer to the car as aid was summoned.
“I told her that people were looking for her and they loved her,” Nohr recalled, “and she said, ‘I think I might be late for curfew.’ ”
Review:
One Essential: The basic qualification to serve God is love Christ Other qualities may be desirable, but loving Christ and people is completely indispensable John 21:15f and 1 Cor. 13:1-3.
Leadership requires commitment.
Leadership requires personal sacrifice
Leaders in the church must be those who are leader-led!
I. From seeking to believing.
Phase 1 discipleship is entered into when we cross the threshold personal faith in Christ alone for salvation.
II. From believing to following.
It is so easy to profess the name of Christ and yet to be comfortable just believing they are Christians.
Seem to be doing their own thing instead of doing “His” thing,
they seem to have become tripped in the busyness of life
instead of the pursuit of knowing and following Christ.
The worries of this world and the deceitfulness of riches
have numbed their hunger pangs for Christ
Jesus said
Luke 9:23 “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” NIV
But there is a time when we are tired of messing around a Christians living for ourselves, mixing it up with the world, tired of being dominated by the world’s values, compromising our lifestyle feeling half-hearted about our relationship with Christ.
Phase 2 discipleship is entered when we decide to leave our old way of life behind and commit ourselves to follow Jesus no matter what.
This is the place where your Christian “life makes up its mind.” Do you want a mediocre Christian life or do you want to go all out, full bore?
Here’s what following is all about…
Matthew 4:18-22 “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ““Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”
John 21:22 “Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”” NIV
Romans 12:1-2 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” NIV
A call to drink deeply from the Word of God.
To allow the Word to transform you lifestyle.
A call to leave behind their current way of life and commit to
following him.
A call to embrace and to live out the values of God’s Word.
The essence of the normal Christian life.
Obeying this call would require the disciples to leave their former occupations and work for the Savior full time. Every believer is called to follow Christ. For some this will mean pursuing vocational ministry. For others it will not. But for all it will mean serving Christ in full time ministry.
This applies to every stage of life. There are various phases of life. There is no retirement from following Christ. There are shifts in rolls and transitions. (pursue in Piper)
III. From Following To Leading – The 5 ”P”s of Leadership
Before a person can be a leader he/she must first be a committed follower. One may be a committed follower but not necessarily a leader.
In Phase 3 discipleship Christ appoints some of his committed followers to be apostles, and thus leaders. Every healthy ministry depends on a chosen leadership core.
1. With a Plan – Called by God to Lead – Intentional!
Chosen to lead! (Do I have a sense of calling?)
In the process of following Christ He leads some into leadership.
Mark 3:13-19 “Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. “He appointed twelve—designating them apostles—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach “and to have authority to drive out demons.” NIV
Every Christian is called to “follow” Christ.
Not every Christian is called into leadership.
Jesus intentionally moves a core of committed believers from seeking to believing to following to leading.
Ac 20:28 “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.” NIV
Having a personal sense that God has lead you here for “such a time as this.” That you are an answer to the prayers of God’s people.
God’s view of leadership is not about personality!
Not about self-appointed personal ambition.
Not about your spouses will for your life. It is about God’s plan.
2. Chosen through prayer. He spent an entire night in prayer.
Luke 6:12-13 “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. “When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:” NIV
Prayer is hard work.
Prayer is the first work of all ministry.
We cannot change people’s hearts
We cannot add people to the church.
We can plant and cultivate but only God gives increase.
Leaders in the church must be those whose first and most essential priority is prayer.
Matthew 9:36-38 “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. “Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”” NIV
Acts 1:23-24 “So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. “Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen”
Acts 14:23 “When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. ” NASB95
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
“It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we see the activity and mistake panic for inspiration. That is why we see so few fellow workers with God, yet so many people working for God. We would much rather work for God than believe in him. Do I really believe that God will do in me what I cannot do? The degree of hopelessness I have for others comes from never realizing that God has done anything for me. Is my own personal experience such a wonderful realization of God’s power and might that I can never have a sense of hopelessness for anyone else I see? Has any spiritual work been accomplished in me at all? The degree of panic activity in my life is equal to the degree of my lack of personal spiritual experience.” -
3. Chosen With Priorities
Acts 6:1-4 “…the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. “Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them “and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”” NIV
A breakdown in relationships was in the making…
Leaders were being stretched beyond their limits
Leaders have to learn how to delegate! Two basic areas
~ Shepherding
~ Serving
The apostles decided to place a limit around what they would do
Contemplate what you could do. Eliminate what you shouldn’t do.
Concentrate on what you will do.
Here they were pushed by circumstances…by the needs of people.
The needs were very important. People being overlooked. Division developing. What were the apostles to do?
Called to people together to pull together. Delegate!
4. Chosen in Plurality - Gift based, team ministry
Acts 6:2 “The twelve gathered all the disciples together”
Leadership in family of God is a shared responsibility.
Matthew 10:2-4 “These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; “Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; “Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.”
Christ sent them out two by two.
Mark 6:7 “Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.” NIV
Mark 11:1 “As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples,”
Mark 14:13 “So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him.” NIV
A team is more effective than one person.
Acts 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.” NIV
Titus 1:5 “The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.” NIV
Acts 20:17; 21:18 “From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church…The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present.” NIV
From the beginning oversight was shared and they functioned as a team. Within the circle of 12 apostles there was clearly an inner circle of 3. Within the twelve Peter was clearly groomed by Christ to lead them. There is nothing wrong with having a senior pastor or a team leader.
But there is an undeniable NT pattern of multiple elders, team leadership and shared responsibility. Leadership in the church was never a one-man show. One man leadership and autocratic rule are so often a mark of cults and false religions.
5. Chosen With purpose
Mark 3:13-19 “Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. “He appointed twelve—designating them apostles—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach “and to have authority to drive out demons.” NIV
a. That they might be with Him. – Community
Matthew 10:5 “These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans.” NIV
“Father” 25 times in Gospels. Brothers and sisters; son or child; sheep called a flock; Learning to be disciples was done together “in community” and not in a classroom.
John 13:34-35 “By this shall all men know you are my disciples if you have love one for another.”
It’s about relationships, not simply the work!
If the only time someone in charge talks to you.. I’ve see this
Not just one way. Is the total responsibility the pastor’s?
b. That he might send them out to preach and to have authority – Cause – Is there not a cause!
Matthew 28:19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, “and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.””
He trained them for ministry in community.
And he sent them out in teams to do ministry. He taught them in the context of ministry. They learned by doing. They were not perfect. They made mistakes.
“To have authority”
Jesus’ views of leadership is out of step with conventional wisdom.
Matthew 20:25-27 “Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, 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—” NIV
Those who exercise authority in the kingdom are also under authority.
A shepherd functions under the authority of the sheep’s owner.
Those who work in the harvest work under the authority of the
landowner.
Those who are sent with a message go under the authority of
the One who wrote the message.
Christ is the head of the church, and spiritually all his disciples are on a level ground before him, each having direct access to him and responsibility to intercede for the good of all as a community of priests (Eph. 4:15; Mt. 23:8-11; 1 Tim. 2:5; Rev. 1:6; Gal. 6:1-2; Heb. 3:13).
God has ordained the existence of officers in the church, some of whom are charged under Christ with the leadership of the church (1 Tim. 5:17; 1 Thess. 5:12; Heb. 13:7,17; Acts 20:28).
Under Christ and his word, the final court of appeal in the local church in deciding matters of disagreement is the congregation itself.
First, because the church is the final court of appeal in matters of discipline. Matthew 18:15-20 “Tell it to the church.”
Acts 6:5 “This proposal pleased the whole group.”
Acts 15:22 “Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers.” NIV
Leaders are not to lead by coercion, but by persuasion & consent
1 Peter 5:2-3 “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; “not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” NIV
Elders may be censured
1 Timothy 5:19 “Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses.” NIV
Therefore, the local congregation should be involved in at least these decisions:
~ Selecting its senior pastor
~ Calling and approving its own leaders.
~ Approving the constitution and changes to it.
~ Approving the annual budget
~ Approving the purchase of land and the building of buildings.
“Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
Our hearts break over the broken lives of lost people!
Help your people in your family “get it together” to serve you effectively.
Building a loving community that follows Christ
To reach our community that is lost without Him.!