GROUND OF TRUTH BIBLE INSTITUTE
PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP
ANCHOR MAN
Each time God wants to do anything, He will look for a man, on whom the work can be anchored. Until God sees such a man bears burden for the work, He will be grossly handicapped to do anything [Ezek. 22:30 ]. This anchor man becomes the leader of the work. He serves as the custodian of the vision, who is saddled with the responsibility of getting the work done.
In spiritual matters; a leader is therefore the one on whom God anchors His work with the trust that nothing else shall be done by him, except the work given to such a person by God [Jn. 9:4; 4:34 ]. For Jesus, as an anchorman and a spiritual leader, there was nothing He carried as a responsibility apart the work of God that sent Him [Jesus] and even to see to it that the work was finished
However, this anchorman is excepted to carry out some duties or responsibilities. Those things he has to do and the necessary tools needed to do it, are all what leadership entails. But leadership seems to have different meaning to different people; therefore, Jesus gave us a very clear picture of what it is, to be a spiritual leader.
And there was also a strife among them which of them
should be accounted the greatest: and he said unto them,
the kings of the gentiles exercise lordship over them; and
they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.
But ye shall not be so but he that is the greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief as he that doth serve [KJV]
“Within minutes they were bothering over who of them would end up being the greatest. But Jesus intervened. Kings like to throw their weight around and people in authority like to give themselves fancy titles. It‘s not going to be that way with you. Let the senior among you become like the junior, let the leader act the
part of the servant” [The Message] Lk. 22:24 -26
leadership, from the presentation of Jesus, has nothing to do with the exercise of lordship authority, throwing weight, wearing of fancy titles etc. leadership, simply put , is rendering service; even unto those considered to be younger or subjects.
Jesus identified these two kinds of leadership.
a) Gentile or Natural Leadership
b) Christian or Spiritual Leadership
As far as Jesus is concerned, spiritual Leadership appears to be the direct opposite of what is obtained in the world, among the gentiles or unbelievers.
A spiritual leader should not be recognized by the authority he/she exercises or commands or derived from the position, unlike how it is done among unbelievers. He should not be known either, by the possession of influence and titles attached to the position. But he is rather known by his taking of the position of an active servant. He is never independent; he simply acts, exclusively, on behalf of God
REASONS FOR A SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP
God will be ill equipped without one. Exd. 3:7-10
“And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people, which are in Egypt
for I know their sorrows; and I am come to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians…come now therefore, and I send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel Egypt
Even though God said He had come down to deliver His people, yet He sought for man to send. The coming down of God would have been a useless or ineffective thing, if there was nobody to be sent.
It means that, a spiritual leader is the principal equipping, which God needs anywhere, for Him to do His work. Moses became a very crucial man to God, if what God had in mind will come to pass. No matter the greatness of the vision of a church, no matter what God had said concerning a church, nation or even a family, without this principal instrument, God will be handicapped., until God sees an anchorman, whatever He may be planning to do will be on suspension
GOD NEEDS A MASK FOR HIMSELF. GEN. 1:26; 2; 7
Right from the time of creation, God saw the need to retain the light on earth, so that the darkness that engulfed the earth in Gen. 1:2 will not have another chance of deforming the earth and make it empty. So God decided to have His own image on earth. And this image of His put He inside the house of clay [dust]. What is seen outside is the clay [the house made for God] but within is God.
Since that time, God has never come in His official appearance as God to carry out any assignment here in earth. Everything He wants to do, He executes through man. He gives over the earth to the children of men, while the heavens remain His palace [Ps. 115:16]
GOD NEEDS A SEPARATE INSTRUMENT. IS. 6:8; JER. 1: 5:7
The issue God was dealing with, in the days of Isaiah is just whom to send, but who will go FOR US”
Several leaders, who had been sent in the past, went for themselves. They pretended to be interested in what God wanted to do but as soon as they are commissioned, they started doing their own thing. Many politicians, who campaigned with lots of electoral promises, forgot the people who voted for them, the moment they were sworn-in.
But a spiritual leader is needed to act exclusively on behalf of God. God told Jeremiah.
Before I formed thee in the belly I know thee; and before thou comest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
But the ORD said unto me, say not I am a child for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Jer. 1:2-7KJV
The word “sanctified” means separated. God always desire that His servant will be exclusively His. It is not difficult to see whom those calling themselves ‘servant of God’ are serving today. Several of those calling themselves servants of God are truly serving something else.
This is why God should have servant[s] who will go only to those places where He [God] shall send him, do only what God wants him to do and say what God asked him to say. Until God sees such a man, He will not find an anchorman or a spiritual leader on whom to anchor His work. Men who served God faithfully in those days reflected these qualities.
PREPARATION OF A SPIRITUAL LEADER LK 1:80; 2:40 ; 52
Leaders are to born but made. Moses received the greatest shock of his life, when a fellow Israelite asked him about who made him a judge over them [Exd. 2:13 , 14; Acts 7:25 ]
There is no spiritual leader, who can become one, without being processed. Each man who did exploit in the bible was prepared, processed and formed. God is not such that does not have standards. There are specific things that must be package into a spiritual leader before he can be considered qualified for the assignment.
John the Baptist was example of a spiritual leader who was processed before he was given the staff of office, despite some prophesies on ground about him before he was born.
‘And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel
HIS BIRTH
The first matter was the issue of the birth of a spiritual leader. Though God knew Jeremiah before he was formed in the belly of his mother, though, he was sanctified and ordained a prophet to the nations before he came out of the womb, yet all these will never be useful until he finally came out of the womb. Everything a man become or will become must first wait for the man to be born.
The physical birth is crucial, yet the spiritual birth is a more crucial matter in spiritual leadership. Nobody should be considered for spiritual leadership, when his/her salvation is questionable.
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL GROWTH
And the child grew … no matter what God has spoken about a life, if physical growth is not seen, then such prophesies can wait. If a baby refuses to grow to maturity, not able to walk, see and speak, how can he become anything? A spiritual leader is not made exclusively of a spiritual composition. Moses was learned in all the wisdom of Egyptians [Acts 7:20 -22]
Jesus also grew up physically. The Bible talked about when he was twelve years old.
“All those who heard him were astonished at his
powers of comprehension and at the answers that
he gave. Lk 2:47 [Phillips]
This power of comprehension is a reflection of growth. A leader cannot be a person who cannot comprehend issues correctly.
Physical and mental growth are very principal, in the preparation of a spiritual leader. A leader must have clear thoughts. He must be able to reason logically. He must not be a novice [I Tim. 3:6]. Stupidity is not gift of the spirit. A spiritual leader should have mental alertness.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH
“And the child grew. And waxed strong in spirit. Lk. 1:80 KJV
The conjunction and shoes that the physical/mental growth, should go along with spiritual growth. The problem of Moses was that he had a physical and mental growth, but without the spiritual one. And for this necessary growth, he had to spend an additional forty years with the priest of Midian before he could handle leadership.
It is an unfortunate development in the contemporary church that mental or educational qualification is the major consideration in appointing people as leaders. However, for anyone to be a correct leader, spiritual growth must be part of his/her preparations.
WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE LK. 1:80; 4:1-4; DEUT. 8:2-3
Wilderness is a place where the content of the heart is checked. It is a place where a leader in preparation is expose to hunger, to prove what is in his heart. Wilderness is a place to test the obedience of a person who will be a leader. Even Jesus was led to the wilderness to be tempted.
John the Baptist was in the wilderness UNTIL. The word until means he was not there forever. John the Baptist was born of a priest, so ordinarily, he should be trained as a priest in the temple but that will not be a correct training for the kind of work, he must carry out for God
A leader who has not passed through the wilderness is such that cannot be trusted. Such is a leader will compromise in the face of hunger. Such is a leader who will be excited at the presence of worldly things. Such is a leader whose emphasis will be on things of this world. A leader that has not passed through the wilderness will not hold on to the word of God, in the face of hunger.
SHOWING FOR THE PUBLIC ASSESSMENT. LK. 1:80; ISAIAH 42:1
“Till the day of his showing unto Israel
There is always a time for God to display the servant whom He is preparing. So that the people may assess him. The Lord says in Is.42:1
“Behold my servant…”
Every servant of God that will become a man to be heard, must be such, that the people can behold. This “behold” is to look, check, touch, handle and rough handle. And all of these is to know the stuff he/she is made of
QUALITIES OF A SPIRITUAL LEADER
IS. 42:1-4
Behold-able. I Sam 12:1-3
For any servant or spiritual leader to be such that can lead God’s people, to the desire destination, he must be a man that is “beholdable”. This means he must be a man that is holdable, a man who is real, who is not abstract. He must not be a slippery man; he must be a man that can hold responsible for all his actions.
A spiritual leader must be accessible to those he is leading. He must be a man that can stand as an example. He is touchable. You can touch him and he can be touched by the infirmities of others seeing he also is a man [Heb. 5:1-2]
So many leaders are not real. The messages they preach are not real in their lives. Samuel said
“I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day. Behold, here I am: witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed; whose ox I have taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Or whom have I oppressed? Or of whose hand have I received any bribe to build my eyes therewith? And I will restore it you [KJV]
Samuel did not walk behind the people of Israel Israel
A correct leader must be such, who is transparent; he is a man that is not walking in the dark. A man who is visible to the people. A man that is nor hidden and whose life is not hidden from the people.
MY SERVANT. JER. 1:5-7; jn 4:34; 9:4
A spiritual leader is such that is serving God. He has no other agenda apart from what God has instructed him to do. He does nothing, except the will of God. He does not his own will, except the will of God. A spiritual leader draws his nourishment from doing the will of God.
Jesus remains the perfect example of a spiritual leader. For Him to work is a must and the work must be the work of Him [the Father] that sent Him [Jesus] . Jesus did not have any personal work
WHOM GOD UPHOLD JOHN. 5:19-20
A correct spiritual leader should be the one, who is not standing on his/her own, except on God that is God is the only fact in his life. Remove God, and he/she remains nothing. He does nothing by his abilities. He is not independent.
A spiritual leader should not be standing upon the basis of his knowledge, wisdom, and experience and such like things. A correct leader has nothing to refer to, for his outstanding feat apart from God.
A man who known that nothing is holding him up apart from God, will never be proud. “Whom I uphold”. Remove the ‘I’ and there will be nothing to hold him up high. Without God, a correct spiritual leader will be down.
GOD’S ELECT GAL. 1:15 ; LK. 1:26-35
A spiritual leader must be able to know that God just choose him by grace. Divine service has to do with Divine Approval, which only comes out of Divine Mercy. This is not won by any human effort or intellect.
Genuine spiritual leader depends solely on the mercy of God, which is the determinant of the result of every input he makes into any life.
Mary was highly favoured of God. She was not the only virgin in Israel
GOD; DELIGHT .LK. 3:22 ; JN. 5:20
A spiritual leader must be the delight of God. He must have a life, [not a mere message] pleasing to God. If God is not pleased with the life of a leader, how will He reveal necessary secrets unto him?
This means that, a correct spiritual leader must do things that are pleasing to God. God must have reason to rejoice over his/her life. What a correct spiritual leader will strive to have is a life that God is pleased with. The relationship between him and God is of a paramount importance to him. He ensures that nothing tampers with his relationship with God such that God can reveal many things to him/her
HAVING GOD’S SPIRIT IS. 11:1-2
Though there is a lot to learn about the Holy Spirit, but basically, the giving of the spirit of God in this regard is not to make the servant speaks in tongues but to introduce God’s very nature into the servant. When Elisha got what he requested for, from Elijah, despite the fact that nobody knew about his request, yet the sons of the prophet, who stood on the other side of Jordan
What provoked this statement was because Elisha did what Elijah has done. It means therefore that, when God’s spirit is upon a life, then God’s nature/character must be found in such.
It implies that s spiritual leader is the person, who has the very nature of God in him. He cares for what God cares for and abhors what God abhors.
NEVER SHOUTING
A spiritual leader does not draw attention to himself or to what he’s doing
He won’t call attention to what does with loud speeches or gaudy parades. Is. 42:2[The Message]
Jesus did not advertise his work or Himself. He warned several people not to tell anybody of His mighty acts. He was the opposite of what is prevailing in our days, when men of God spend fortunes on publicity.
HE DOES NOT GIVE UP. IS. 42:3
“A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench…” KJV
A spiritual leader is longsuffering. He can endure long. He does not get easily discouraged over a life. Jesus didn’t give up on Peter and Thomas. Barnabas did not give up on Mark, until he becomes a man profitable to Paul in the ministry.
THE WORK OF A SPIRITUAL LEADER
JN. 10: 1-5
The sheep in this scripture are human beings- believers; and they belong to Jesus. Sheep does not have any wisdom of its own like goats and this is why someone is needed to guide them. In the same vein, believers are to be sheep, which count on leadership to guide them. And this means every group of believer should have a shepherd.
The spiritual leader, like the shepherd, who takes good care of the flock and raise prayers for them when necessary. He watches over the people. He feeds them; he does not feed on them. {Jn. 21:15]
May God find you a worthy leader!
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