Today I want to share a word about the resourceful leader as I comment on Exodus 4 verses 1 through 5. This passage reads,
Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ” So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.” And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), “that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
A church treasurer once told me that it's easy to be a treasurer when there's plenty of money in the bank. The hard part comes when money is scarce and it's easier to be a leader when you have a lot of resources. But the one thing that almost every leader soon learns is that resources are always limited. Even the federal government does not have unlimited resources. Moses learned a lesson about this as we read above in our text for today, Exodus 4:1-5. And the first thing that Moses learned is that God can use you where you are.
God can use you where you are.
So where was Moses? He was on the back side of the desert. It was land that was not good for very much and barely useful for anything. In fact, it is even barely useful for raising sheep. I've learned dealing with my family property in Lee County, Alabama that land connected to the road or with road frontage is worth a lot more than land that has been separated from the road by another parcel of property. But that being said, Moses was in a place that wasn't very resource-rich, and we have to ask the question, what could he do there? He could chase sheep, and he could fight off wolves. I think primarily the thing that Moses did where he was was hide from the Egyptians. But where are we today?
Moses was in the back side of the desert in a place that was isolated from almost isolated from reality in many ways. But where are we today? Are we individually in the desert? Collectively, are we in the desert, in our churches, in our homes, and in our nation? Or maybe we might be in some better place. But the lesson we can learn here is this: it doesn't matter where you are. God can use you.
He might ask us to move, or He might not ask us to move. But only our stubbornness, our fear, and refusal to comply will thwart his plans for us. So God can use us wherever we are. Moses also learned that God could use us, whatever we have.
God can use what we have.
What did Moses have? He had a shepherd's crook. In fact, I'm not even sure it was a crook. It may have just been a stick, but that's beside the point. A shepherd's staff, a shepherd's crook, is very useful for a shepherd. It is not much useful for anything else, especially for liberating a people. You know, there's an old saying, "You don't want to bring a knife to a gunfight." And it seems like that's what God was asking Moses to do.
God was asking Moses to go back into the lion's mouth, go back and confront his adopted uncle or whatever relative of his stepmother was in charge at that time. He was asking him, to bring a people out from a land of the birth, a people who didn't even know him. Or if they knew him, they only knew him as the failed, murdering son of the Pharaoh that was oppressing them. He was sent by God to represent him in Egypt where no one believed in him. No one even understood him. And he was to do all this with a stick.
What do we have? Well, our churches have facilities, and beautiful facilities in many cases. We have many talents and abilities. Churches often have a close-knit fellowship. We have Bibles. We have Bible studies. We have videos. We have a whole publishing house in the Southern Baptist Convention called LifeWay Christian Resources. We've got networks of churches and denominational agencies to help churches do well and do better in their ministry. In short, we have a lot more than Moses had. So, what is God asking us to do?
God is asking us to be witnesses for Him, to preach the gospel, to teach the Bible, to minister to people's needs, to do all these things decently in order so that we can make disciples of all nations for God's glory and for their blessing. And truth be told, it's much easier a task than Moses had. I would hate to go into a place that wanted to murder me or extract judgment upon me, exact judgment upon me, with a stick in my hand. I'd rather do what I'm doing now than what Moses had to do. Moses also learned that God will make the best of any situation.
God will make the best of any situation.
Now we have the ability to look at the whole counsel of the Word of God so we can see a lot more examples of this than Moses did. We see Moses liberating his people. We see Joshua establishing their homeland. We see David saving Israel from Philistines and many other outsiders bent on destroying them. We see Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. We see Jesus beginning his church. We see Paul and the Apostles evangelizing the known world. Now think about each of these men's situations. Humanly they were not very promising and yet God triumphed anyway.
So, what should we do? We should trust in God's judgment and will. We should allow Him to use us in whatever way He wants and allow Him to use what we have in whatever way He wants. And then we need to enjoy what He does with us.
Many years ago, I knew a man by the name of Jack. I won't use his last name because he may still be alive. I don't want to embarrass him or call undue attention upon him, but Jack was a man who was blind. He had been blown out of a tank during World War II and lost his eyesight. He got it back for a time, but then later, over time, it went away. Despite this, Jack continued in ministry. Jack served as a blind headmaster of a Christian school. He retired from that Jack operated an audio ministry for blind people. God can use us where we are with what we have, and He can use us in any situation.
Conclusion.
There is one truth that all these resourceful leaders had in common. They all realized that God was their greatest resource. And this is true today. The abundance of money, the abundance of volunteers, the abundance of buildings and vehicles and other things will never overcome the greatest resource of all. And that is God. That resource is the Holy Spirit. That resource is the salvation we have in Jesus Christ.
Resourceful leaders realize many things about God and God's work with them. But the main thing is the resourceful leader realizes that God is the greatest resource of all.
Thanks so much for visiting me today. I'll be back soon with another word from the Bible we share together.
Today, I want to share a word about leadership lessons from Paul as I comment on 1st Thessalonians 2 verses 1 through 20. Let's begin with verses 1 through 6:
For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you is not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamelessly treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak not to please men, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed. God is witness, nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.
Much of what we learn, we learn by observing others in action. We learn how to talk, how to tie our shoes, and how to act politely by watching others, and sometimes we also learn how to not act politely as we watch others. I remember very clearly as a child watching my father politely open the door for all kinds of people, men and women. It didn't matter if someone was approaching a door, my father would open it because he was a gentleman, and he liked to act politely. I learned that and I incorporated that into my life, but one day I was walking up to a convenience store door, and I saw through the door a lady was coming from the other side. I opened the door for her to exit the convenience store before I went in and as she did, she looked at me with a very strong glare and said, "I believe in equal rights." I didn't say anything, but I learned that day how to not act politely when someone opens a door for you. So, you can learn and learn well and learn strong lessons by observing others in action.
Today we want to learn how to be a good leader by observing Paul. Observing Paul being a leader is a good practice and it as a way that we can really learn some very important leadership lessons, we will do that by looking at 1st Thessalonians chapter 2.
Paul was Genuine.
AS we consider verses 1 through 6, we see that Paul begins by discussing his genuineness. One leadership lesson from Paul is that Paul was genuine.
We know fakes abound today. There are fake Rolex watches, there are fake credit cards, and even are fake iPhones, believe it or not. Fake name brand clothes, fake name brand purses are all produced and sold. People don't often see through material fakes, but they do see through fake people.
I remember when I went to buy my pickup truck that I've had now for many years now, that once the salesman learned I was a minister he asked me to go look at something or go ask somebody else a question about something and then he jumped in the truck and turned on the radio and tuned it to a Christian radio station. That didn't provide me a lot of confidence in him. I did buy the vehicle, but I wanted the vehicle. He didn't sell it to me. The vehicle sold itself to me because there was a fakeness about the salesman. and people don't trust fake people. They don't follow their leadership and so if we're to be effective we must learn like Paul to be real, to be genuine.
When things are not going well we don't need to try to pretend that they are. We need to be positive, but we don't always need to think or to show that that everything is rosy and perfect when it isn't. At the same time when things are going well, we need to thank God for that blessing in our lives.
Paul was genuine and we need to be genuine too as we take up the mantle of leadership. In verses 7 and 8 we also see that Paul was gentle. These verses say,
But we were gentle among you like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So being affectionately desirous of you we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves because you had become very dear to us.
Paul was Gentle.
We know the truth does not change because all truth is from God and God doesn't change. Truth doesn't change, not just God's truth, but all truth comes from God and all truth is permanent and all true truth does not change because God does not change. But the way we tell the truth can vary.
Even in the scriptures we see God's concept of progressive revelation. He showed more of Himself over the eons of the Bible and He showed more of Himself in Jesus than He did previous times to the saints in the Old Testament. And, like God Himself, the way we tell the truth can vary.
Paul became all things to all men, and we can tailor our message to deliver it for the most effectiveness possible to share the gospel. As long as we're telling the truth we're being faithful to God. But, if we're not careful we can often drive people away from God by our style. To be brutally honest with somebody is usually not the best choice. Paul was never known to dodge an issue and yet even, so Paul knew that gentleness was important.
Jesus himself was a model of truth in gentleness telling the truth in love in the Sermon on the Mount and in receiving the children unto himself, and in the way he dealt the woman caught in the midst of adultery and other folks who were caught in their sin. Jesus was gentle. He was truthful but he was gentle. And so, Paul also was not only was truthful and genuine, but Paul also was gentle. And as he led the church there in Thessalonica, as he dealt with other churches, he also gave guidance. That's what verses 9 through 12 say.
For you remember brothers our labor and toil we worked night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you while we proclaim to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses and God also how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. For you know how like a father with his children we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
Paul gave Guidance.
At least two different types of leaders exist in the world. There may be other than two types of leaders but there are at least two types of leaders. The first is the global, visionary, big picture type of leader, and the second is the detail oriented, little picture type of leader. The interesting thing was that Paul was both. Paul saw the big picture, but he also was able to see the details as well.
So how did Paul guide the Thessalonians? He exhorted them, he comforted them, he charged them, and he loved them like his own children. He knew what his goal was, and he knew what his task was but he also loved those people and Thessalonians like his own children and so he encouraged them and exhorted them and charged them and part of that charge was to walk in a manner worthy of God. So Paul was a genuine leader, and he was a gentle leader and he was a leader that guided but he also was a leader that set goals. Verses 11 through 14a say,
For you know how like a father with his children and we also thank God constantly for this that when you received the Word of God which you heard from us you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is the Word of God which is at work in you believers. For you brothers became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea.
Paul set Goals.
One characteristic of leaders is they must have goals. They must know where they want to go, they must know how to get there, and they must know when they get there, and they must know how they can take the people that they are supposed to lead with them as they go. Very often these goals are the determining factor in the quality of an organization or family or of a church.
So, what were Paul's goals? One that they would want worthy of God, another was that God's Word would be effective in their lives, a third was that they would imitate the godly brethren in Judea, and fourth, that they would persevere during trials and tribulation. All of those are worthy goals but it is particularly interesting that he said they should imitate the godly brethren in Judea. A modern concept popular today is called “deconstruction” and that is the idea that you don't really build on the past but instead you tear it down and start over from scratch. You throw away all that existed before and do something new and different and bold. Sometimes that's right but Paul said here that the Thessalonians should imitate the godly churches in Judea who were the foundation that he stood upon to reach across to share the gospel in Europe and in Asia Minor.
Paul set goals, and we need to have goals too. We need to have people goals, we need to have physical goals, we need to have program goals, we need to have fiscal goals. We need to be going somewhere as we lead people, as we lead our families, as we lead our churches, as we lead our organizations, as we lead our schools.
God's plan for this world is moving forward. It's not standing still. It's not going in a repeating cycle. So often what we see in churches is they ride the waves: they'll grow and then they'll peek out and then they'll decline, and they'll grow and they'll peek out and they're declined again. It would be so great to see it different that our churches and other factors in our lives, other areas of our lives, which be on a steady growth upwards toward God's glory. And speaking of glory, Paul had a special glory. Verses 14b through 20 say,
For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out and displeased God and opposed all mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved. So as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last. But since we were torn away from you brothers for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored them more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face because we wanted to come to you. I, Paul, again and again but Satan entered us. For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and our joy.
Paul had a Special Glory.
Leaders have a great responsibility. Leaders are not just responsible for themselves, they're responsible for other people as well. In fact, in the military there is a bedrock leadership principle that says a leader is responsible for everything that happens or does not happen in their area of responsibility. Everything that happens whether that be good things or bad things. Everything that does not happen good and everything that does not happen that's bad. And leaders are responsible for it all, not just for him or herself but for all the others that they lead, for all the other equipment that those whom they lead use, and all the buildings that they occupy. All of that is under the responsibility of a leader. It's a great responsibility and leaders are even responsible for things that can't be controlled.
A leader may have a wonderful plan, a very well-aid-out plan, but if something happens unexpected like a bad weather event or a loss of power in the church sanctuary, or something else happens, like the truck breaks down or the bus blows a head gasket like the bus in my home church would often do on a trip. The leaders must respond because the leader is responsible for everything.
Leadership is a great responsibility, but successful leaders can bask in great glory also, but it's not glory in what they achieve personally. Instead, it's what has been achieved by those whom they lead. So, the coach teaches the ballplayer and as the ballplayer excels the coach has that reflected glory back on the coach. The teacher instructs the student and as the student passes tests and learns and grows, then teacher can take some reflected glory from the progress of that student. The master works with his disciples and teaches them and as the disciples grow, it is to the credit of the master and the master gets reflected glory from the disciples as they mature and as they are sanctified and as they grow.
So, what was Paul's glory? Well, all of our glory is that God loved us enough to send His Son to die for us, for even while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. We can glory in realizing that God loves us so much that He gave the most precious thing to us and for us and for our salvation. So that's one thing that Paul can glory in, not that that Paul earned it, and not that we can earn it. No one can earn it but that God loves us enough that he did that for us.
Also, Paul's glory were the ones whom he brought to Christ. Paul's glory was the ones whom he helped to grow and mature. Paul's glory was those churches that he planted and which he had seen flourish and grow and become disciple making churches and evangelizing churches. So, Paul's glory was found not in himself but in the ones whom he led and that's the way it is with all leaders.
Conclusion.
In our passage for today, we see some very important lessons from the life of Paul: Paul was genuine. Paul was gentle. Paul was someone who spoke the truth and gave guidance to those who needed it. Paul set goals and Paul worked in the lives of others so that they would come to know Christ and, so that as they grew, they would be a blessing to God and also be a blessing to Paul.
Paul was a great leader. We can learn many things from Paul as we lead our families as we lead our churches as we lead our employees as we lead our schools in all areas of our lives as we lead we can learn these lessons from Paul these leadership lessons and we can benefit from them. God can be glorified through them and those whom we lead can also glorify God as they grow closer to him.
Thanks so much for visiting with me today. I'll be back soon with another word from the Bible we can share together.
