TEEN TREE OF LIFE
The Doctrine of Leadership
Part 2
January 22, 2017
BEFORE we begin, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, take a moment to name your sins to God the Father. This will allow you to be filled with the power of The Holy Spirit as you read this booklet (EPH 5:18 & 1JO 1:9). IF YOU HAVE never believed in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have that opportunity right now. Simply tell God the Father that you are believing on His Son Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you make that decision, you are now a believer and will always be a child of God! When you die, you will spend eternity with Him forever in heaven! (JOH 3:16 & ACT 16:31).
In last week’s Tree of Life, we looked at the Pastor/Teacher’s leadership. We established that it should not be the Pastor/Teacher’s intent to motivate his congregation to lean on him but rather to lean on God’s Word. (This is true for all leaders, by the way!) There is a tendency among many Pastor/Teachers to become arrogant and to teach their congregations their own beliefs (or advice), rather than to teach God’s Word.
Let’s look at a few examples of great leaders. Noah was a true leader and never a follower! He warned the people to repent or else great waters would come from the sky. Remember, they had never seen rain so their reaction to his warning was to taunt and ridicule him. But Noah ignored their jeering and he persevered, doing God’s Will.
Now you may be snickering because you’re certain you know all about Noah and his ark full of animals, but, Noah’s leadership is a tremendous lesson you should not miss! In order to understand Noah’s greatness, we must first note that he lived in a time when there was great corruption, persecution and violence. It was everywhere! He was constantly under pressure, not only from evil humans, but also from evil Nephalim and visible angelic creatures (demons)! The word “Nephilim” is from the word Naphal. This word means to fall, or fallen ones. They were the Angels that chose to follow Satan’s rejection of the Salvation Plan of God.
For 120 years, Noah preached about the flood to come and for 120 years, no one paid him any attention. He was ridiculed for the warning, yet Noah continued forward in God’s plan, never allowing the pressure and ridicule to affect his devotion toward God’s plan.
Noah stood out as the only one who walked with God: These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. (GEN 6:9) And it was the doctrine resident in Noah’s soul that warned him or divinely instructed him of the coming flood and the right course of action to take as a leader. Residual doctrine will direct, guide and instruct you in both leadership and subordinate positions. And we’re not talking about doctrine on the page but in the soul where it has been perceived and metabolized! This is wisdom and power! The average believer today is being told to prepare and build his or her own ark (spiritual life) but without doctrine in the soul! They are without Divine instruction and power. And they are lost!
Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. (GEN 6:5-8) In this verse, we learn that Noah was in the minority! In fact, he just so happened to be the only one with doctrine in his soul! At least, we are surrounded by some people who have doctrine; this poor guy had no one at all! Imagine how it must have felt to be the only one with Divine viewpoint! YIKES!!!! It was Noah and God against the world! The fact is that during Noah’s time, the majority was deceived by Satan.
It was the doctrine that Noah knew which alerted him to the unseen future events: By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. (HEB 11:7) He was warned by God about things that had not yet ever occurred in human history. Up to this point in history, there had never been rain. There was actually very little water on the earth so a flood was a wild concept to the majority. What they needed was doctrinal information to supply the proper knowledge and confidence about the future but they were much too evil and so thoroughly deceived by Satan that they ignored Noah and God’s warnings.
The BIG lesson here is that the Christian leaders are the ones who receive the accurate warning for any major catastrophe in history because of their relationship and devotion to God and His Word. And it is on this accurate information that the mature believer bases his decisions and course of action as a leader.
Abraham was another great leader. He left his homeland and a great life to follow the Lord’s Direction. Abraham was born in Ur. The people there worshipped all types of gods and not the true God! God wanted Abraham to leave Ur. Abraham was a very successful man in Ur and was also very wealthy and well-known. But, Abraham believed in the true God. So, when God commanded him to leave the evil city of Ur, Abraham picked up his family and left! The leadership here is Abraham leading his family. As the leader of his family, Abraham was the one in charge and he took charge and listened to God!
Leaders stand in the gap in time of disaster, crisis or pressure. Both Noah and Abraham proved this immeasurably! Good leaders think and motivate others under stress. A true leader may not be terribly popular with those under his command but he should always operate with wisdom; therefore, leadership demands a relationship with God’s Word, as this is true wisdom!
A leader must not be swayed by the opinions of his subordinates; he must think independently and go against the herd, if need be. Leaders must never be sucked into bad advice or manipulation by the flattery of ambitious people. For the good of the organization he leads, he must encourage and motivate without allowing any friendships to get in the way of what he must do.
Good leadership is built out of stability and integrity of the soul. If you can’t handle correction and discipline when it is unfair, you won’t be a good leader. A good leader is always prepared for whatever God may have planned for him. A good leader takes advantage of learning opportunities and strengthens his professional abilities: A wise man is strong, And a man of knowledge increases power. (PRO 24:5)
Good leadership is founded on our motivation. And God is the only one who can judge our motivation. But ask yourself what is your motivation? Is it greed or lust for power? Or is it to work as unto The Lord? Is your motivation for yourself or The One You Serve?