The Model Leader, Part 1

It's so good to be able to come and preach on Sunday morning once again. I've had a great offseason, if you want to call it that, and a great opportunity to go and and visit classes and sit in and listen to what's being taught to our children, our youth and our adults. And so it's just great to be able to know that we have teachers who love the Lord and want to serve the Lord and people who are looking to invest in the lives of others as they seek to serve every Sunday. Both services, some of them, and we are grateful for their ministry and to be able to observe them in action is always a great treat for me.

And so I'm appreciative of the opportunity that I have to do that. But today we want to take you back to our study of First Thessalonians.

And so if you have your Bible, turn with me to Chapter two of First Thessalonians. We began this series this past summer in the month of June. We spent seven weeks in Chapter one, looking at what the Bible says concerning the model church.

Today, as we embark on Chapter two, we're going to see what the Bible says about the model leader. The reason the church at Thessalonica was a model church is because they followed the model leader. In fact, it says in Chapter one, verse number six, these words. You also became imitators of us and of the Lord. Having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit. So you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in the K.I. In other words, you mimicked us. You became imitators of us, Paul says.

And you followed us so closely and our Lord so closely that now you have become the model, the pattern for other churches to follow. We told you before that the church at Thessalonica is the only church in Scripture called a model church, and they set the pattern for all the other churches. That's because they followed the model leader, the Apostle Paul. So let me set in your mind Chapter two, verses one to 12.

For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain. But after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition. For exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit. But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. So we speak not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. For we never came with flattering speech, as you know.

Nor with a pretext for greed. God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others. Even though as apostles of Christ, we might have asserted our authority. But we proved to be gentle among you as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having so fond an affection for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear, very dear to us. For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaim to you the gospel of God.

You are witnesses, and so is God. How devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behave towards you believers. Just as you know, how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father with his own children, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. Verses 1 to 12 set for us the model leader. His concern was that this church would walk worthy of their God. That should be the leader's sole desire. As a father, you want to be able to make sure your children walk worthy of the Lord God of Israel.

As a leader in your church, same should be true. Even as a leader in the marketplace, your leadership qualities are best seen when you lead others closer to the Lord Jesus Christ, because you set for them an example, a model of what it means to be a follower of Christ. So if I was to ask you the question, how are you in terms of leading other people to walk in a manner worthy of their God, what would you say? Are the people following you closer to God today than they were yesterday? Do they know more about your God today than they've ever known before, because you've led them closer in their walk with the Lord?

Or are the people you're leading walking further away from the Lord? Are you leading them in the right way? Another question is, who are you following? Who is your model leader? Every one of us looks to others to follow. We model our lives after someone. We model our parenting after someone. We model our fathering and mothering after someone. We model our leadership skills after someone. There's someone that's made an impact in our lives that we look to follow. Who are you following? Never has there been a lack of leadership in our country than what we face today.

Whether it's in our government, whether it's in our schools, whether it's in our churches, whether it's in our families. Leadership is so sorely lacking. It's no wonder. It's no wonder families are in disarray. It's no wonder our country's in disarray. It all boils down to leadership. In fact, Hosea said it well. Hosea 4 verse number 9, like priests, like people. As the leaders go, so goes the people. And that was exemplified in the nation. But know this, there's always been a problem when it comes to leadership.

From the very beginning, there's always been a lack of leadership. You can go all the way back to the book of Genesis, the third chapter.

And listen to what it says in verse number six, as Eve was being tempted in the Garden of Eden. It says, when the woman saw the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise. She took from its fruit and ate. And she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. There is the first verse in the scripture that speaks to a lack of leadership.

Adam didn't say, hold on, Eve, take a step back. God said, don't do this. But he didn't say that. In fact, he said nothing. He was completely silent. Which is why there is such a lack of leadership in our families, our churches, our country, simply because we don't say anything. We keep silent on issues that need to be spoken about. Adam didn't say, Eve, God has spoken very clearly on this issue. We are not to eat of this tree. Instead, he being with her, let her lead the way into temptation. But she being the first to sin is not responsible.

Adam is, right? For by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin. The man was Adam. Adam was the leader. Adam neglected his responsibility to lead, and thus it cost the whole human race. Look at the nation of Israel.

The nation had 42 kings. Saul was king number one, David king number two, Solomon king number three. After Solomon's reign, there were 39 more kings. The kingdom was split. 20 kings went to the north, or 10 tribes went to the north, two went to the south. The southern tribe was called Judah. The northern tribe was called Israel. And Jeroboam led the northern tribe. And there were 20 kings over the northern tribe over Israel. There were 19 kings over Judah. Of the 20 kings that led in Israel, the northern kingdom, every single one of them was rotten.

They were terrible. Of the 19 kings in Judah, eight were good kings. The rest were not. So eight of the 39 were good kings. It's no wonder the northern tribe went off into Assyrian captivity, and the southern tribe went off into Babylonian captivity. Because like priests, like people, as the leaders go, so go the people. Yet it didn't have to be that way. David made it very clear to Solomon. Listen to what he says in 2 Samuel chapter 23. There are 73 Psalms, I believe, and Bruce can correct me if I'm wrong, that are attributed to David and David alone.

But his literary masterpiece is in 2 Samuel 23. As he addresses his son Solomon, to let him know that you're gonna be the next king. There's a certain way you need to lead. So listen to what he says. 2 Samuel 23, verse number one.

Now these are the last words of David. David, the son of Jesse, declares. The man who was raised on high declares, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel. The spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and his word was on my tongue. He's telling Solomon, this is from the Lord. It's the Lord who raised me up. It's the Lord who anointed me. It's the Lord who put me into this position of leadership. I was on the back side of Bethlehem, tending sheep. The youngest son of my father, Jesse.

When I was anointed king of Israel. Not because of anything I have done, but because of what God did. God put me in this position. And because he raised me up and he anointed me. And I became the sweet psalmist of Israel. God has spoken to me, and this is what he says. Listen carefully. He who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God, is as the light of the morning when the sun rises. A morning without clouds. When the tender grass springs out of the earth through sunshine after rain.

He says, Solomon, listen. Two things must happen in your kingship. As king over the nation of Israel, you must lead righteously. You must live reverently. You must rule in righteousness and in the fear of the Lord. That was set out way back in the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 17, verse number 18. Now it came about when he, the king, sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll. In the presence of the Levitical priests, it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life.

That he may learn to fear the Lord his God by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes. That his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right or to the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel. Moses sets out the parameters for the king. Sit and write this law, copy this law. As you write this law, the fear of God will overwhelm you, and you will keep his commandments, and you will observe his testimonies.

So David, talking to Solomon, says the same thing. You must rule righteously. You must rule in the fear of God. Because when you do, it's like the dawn of the morning sun on a clear, bright day. There's nothing more radiant than when the sun comes up over the mountains and rises, and you're able to see the new daylight of a new day. He says, listen, if you lead righteously, if you live reverently, you will shine radiantly. And you will smell refreshingly. Why? Because it will be like after the rain has fallen, and the air is clean, and how well it smells.

That's the way David was. That's what happened when David began to lead. After Saul's leadership, David came on the scene, and David brought all the refreshment and all the radiance that was needed in the land of Israel. Because he knew what it meant to lead in the ways of God. You must lead righteously. You must live reverently. Or it will cost you greatly. Remember what Solomon would say. Solomon would say, well, in the book of Proverbs, chapter 4, verse number 18, the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn.

He listened to his father. That shines brighter and brighter into the full day. The way of the wicked is like darkness. They do not know over what they stumble. And then he would say in chapter 14, verse number 34, Proverbs, righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. Chapter 16, verse number 12, it is an abomination for kings to commit wicked acts. For a throne is established on righteousness. And then chapter 29, verse number 2, when the righteous increase, the people rejoice.

But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Is that not true? We've got a whole nation groaning right about now.

But we have a lot of churches that groan. We have a lot of families that groan. Why? Because not being led righteously by their fathers or husbands. Or churches not being led by elders and pastors who lead righteously and live reverently. Or a nation. God sets the parameters. God says, this is how you lead.

So when you come to the New Testament, you have a man by the name of the Apostle Paul. He writes 13 epistles in the New Testament. He becomes the quintessential leader in the New Testament. He becomes the model leader. And we understand that by looking at chapter 2, verses 1 to 12. And so as we embark on this journey through these 12 verses over the next several weeks, we want to talk to you about the model leader. And you can measure your life against the life of the Apostle Paul in Scripture. Don't measure it against someone that you know here on earth.

Measure your life against the biblical standard. That's the standard. Hopefully your leader or leaders live by that standard. But Paul becomes the essential leader for us to follow. The church of Thessalonica did. They became the model church. They patterned their lives after the Apostle Paul. So if you have a piece of paper and you're taking notes, just write the word leader down the left-hand side of your paper. And I will give you the essential elements of biblical leadership. Number one, a leader, first of all, is a lover and learner of God.

He is a lover and learner of God. We just sang, my Jesus, I love Thee. You can't lead people to walk worthy of their God, unless you yourself are walking worthy of your God. And to do that, you must be a lover of God. Hear, O Israel, Deuteronomy 6. The Lord our God is one. And you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. The great intensity that's there. You're to be a lover of God. Because you want the people you lead to love God, right?

So important. The question comes, do you truly love the Lord with all that you have? It's the foremost commandment. When Christ was asked that question, he quotes Deuteronomy 6. You're to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. We're to be lovers of God. Great leaders love the Lord. Why is it, you think, that after the resurrection of Christ, that Jesus, in his glorified body, would have breakfast with Peter on the shores of the Sea of Galilee? And ask him one question.

Peter, do you love me? He asked him three times, do you love me? Why? Why that question? Because Peter was to be the leader of the twelve. And Peter was to lead into the birth of the church. And Peter was to be the one who would lead in preaching the gospel to the Gentile world. And so, therefore, in order for him to lead effectively, he had to love efficiently. He had to love the Lord his God. So Christ says, Peter, do you love me?

If you do, feed my sheep, tend to my lambs, feed my sheep. I need you to love me, Peter, unconditionally. I need you to love me with all of your heart, Peter. I need you to be sold out for me, Peter. Because you need to lead the apostles, you need to lead the church, you need to lead the people into a deeper understanding of God. You need to love me. That's where it begins. But I kind of realized that the nature of my love for God is determined more by what I hate than anything else. Did you know that?

Psalm 97, verse number 10. Hate evil, you who love the Lord. The essence of your love life with God is determined by what you hate. Because you hate what he hates. So the Bible says in Proverbs 8, verse number 13, the fear of the Lord.

And David says to his son Solomon in 2 Samuel 23, you got to lead righteously and live reverently, live in the fear of the Lord. He says in Proverbs 8, verse 13, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the perverted mouth. And then he says, Psalm 119, verse 104, from thy precepts I get understanding. Therefore, I hate every false way. Verse 113, I hate those who are double-minded, but I love thy law. I esteem right all thy precepts concerning everything. I hate every false way.

That's verse 128. Verse 163, I hate and despise falsehood, but I love thy law. I have come to realize over the years, there are a lot of people say they love Jesus, but they really don't hate evil. They don't hate the perverted mouth. They don't hate the false tongue, but they should. Proverbs chapter 6, there are six things the Lord hates. Just seven are an abomination to him. Those, one of those is who sows discord among the brethren. God hates those who try to disrupt the unity of the church. When you love the Lord, you hate what he hates.

We need more holy hatred in the church today. We need holy hatred in our families today than ever before, because it determines the magnitude of your love for the Lord. You love him so much that you don't wanna pervert anything. You want him to be honored and glorified. You wanna have a pure family, a pure church, a pure community. You wanna lead in a pure and holy way. And anything that disrupts that purity, you're against. You speak out against it. If Adam was alive today, which he is, he's in glory.

But if he was here today, he'd say, I didn't hate sin nearly enough to tell my wife, no. I was so interested in pleasing my wife that I didn't say no, affirming my wife, instead of saying no to the things of evil. What would have happened had Adam stood strong and said, no, don't know. We're not there, we're here. But think of Solomon. We're studying him on Wednesday nights. We did a whole series on Solomon a number of years ago. Now we're doing the book of Ecclesiastes. It's a whole book about his repentant attitude and how he repented from his sin, even though there's no verse in the scripture that says he actually repented from the falseness of his ways.

The book of Ecclesiastes is that testimony. And we share with you on Wednesday night, what happened to Solomon? He loved someone else more than his God. That's why his kingdom would be divided. If you go back to 1 Kings chapter 11, this is what it says. Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sardonian, and Hittite women from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, you shall not associate with them nor shall they associate with you for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.

God said, don't do this. And as King, you can't do this. You're the leader of the nation. You can't lead the people in the wrong direction. And this says, and Solomon held fast to these in love. Wow, he didn't care. He didn't care. He had 700 wives, 300 concubines. I share with you on Wednesday night. It's not the 700 wives that's the problem. It's the 700 mothers-in-law that you have with those 700 wives. That's the problem. But you know, I don't even want to touch that whole thing. This is so beyond me.

I can't even begin to comprehend it. But he's hold fast to them. They're making use of what God said. And that's where our leadership begins to falter. Is it not true? In our families, in our church, in our community, in our government, when we love something else, we love power and prestige. We love those to love us more than we love God. And we're willing to compromise because we want to please others. It says in verse number four, for when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away from other gods.

His heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God as the heart of his father, David. They turned his heart. Would you mark it down? That's what happens when you associate with the unbeliever and you marry the unbeliever. They always will turn your heart from the Lord. And Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived according to the testimony of God himself. So if the wisest man who ever lived had his heart turned away from the Lord by foreign wives, how easy would it be for us to have our hearts turned away as well?

He's the king. He's to be a lover of God. He's to pave the way for the nation to love God. As a leader of your family, you are to love the Lord your God and you are to demonstrate to your children, to your wife. This is how we love the Lord. We are committed to God. We love him so we're sold out for him. We are committed to him. We will do everything for him so much so that we will stand strong against sin and hate all evil because we love the Lord. Paul was a lover of his God. His prayer life was always, as he wrote to the church of Philippi, the church of Colossae, he was always concerned about their love.

Oh, by the way, if you go back to chapter 1 of 1 Thessalonians, he commends them. He commends them because they were constantly bearing in mind or he constantly bearing in mind their work of faith and their labor of love. In other words, they were working hard. All their labor was prompted by their love for God. But where do they learn that from? The apostle Paul. Because they received the word amidst much tribulation, much hardship, much affliction. That's how much they loved the Lord. And they saw Paul that way because he was completely devoted to his God.

How about your heart? Is it being turned away from the Lord today? Are you beginning to compromise on your love for him? Because you want to keep a friendship? Because you're unwilling to stand strong on the truth of the word of God? Do you really love the Lord? Biblical leadership is defined by one who loves God and learns God. He wants to learn all he can about God. That was Paul. Book of Philippians, right? Philippians chapter 3, verse number 8. What's he say? Verse 7, But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

More than that, I counted all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ, Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish. So I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of a suffering being conformed to his death in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Paul could not learn enough about the God he loved. Listen, when you love the Lord, you can't get enough. You just want to keep learning all you can about him. If you stop learning about him, it's because you stopped loving him. When you love him, all you want to do is learn all you can about him. So much so that Paul says, and second to him before, when he's in that Mamertine prison in Rome about to die, he says to Timothy, send me the parchments, send me the scrolls.

I'm not done learning. Paul, you're going to die. What difference does it make? You're going to go home and be with the Lord. You're going to know everything. Nope, I want to keep learning. So bring the parchments, bring the scrolls. I need to keep studying more about my God while I'm on this planet. I want to know all I can about him before I actually meet him face to face. That was Paul. What a guy. He just wanted to know his God. Way back in the book of Exodus chapter 33, Moses says to his God, Now, therefore, I pray you, verse 13 of Exodus 33.

If I have found favor in your sight, let me know your ways that I may know you. So I may find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people. Lord, I want to know you. This is your people. This is your nation. I need to know you. So he cries later on, Lord, show me your glory. I want to understand your attributes. I want to understand your character, your personality. I need to know you. If I'm going to lead 2 million Jews through the wilderness, I need to know you. That was his cry.

Because leaders want to learn all they can about their God. How about you? Are you a learner? Because you're a lover of God? That's what sets the great leader apart from those who just kind of show up and because they have a position, they hope people follow. You know the old Chinese proverb, right? He who thinks he leads but has no one following, only taking the walk. That's just so true. I guess so many fathers thinking they're leading, but they're just taking a walk because no one's following, right?

If you're a leader, people are going to follow you. But what are they going to follow you to? Where are you going? Paul says, I want you to walk worthy of our God. So I'm going to lead you in that direction. I'm going to show you how to do that. That's why he says, as you recall, as you see, as you know, you are witnesses, he says over and over again. Why? Because the second point to leadership is not only do they love and learn their God, but they are an example and exhorter of men.

They are an example and exhorter of men. They lead the way. They show the way. They are the example. So that others will follow. Paul said in verse number nine of 1 Thessalonians 2, for you recall, brethren, our labor, our hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaim to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses. And so as God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers. They knew. Why? Because he was the example. That's why he would always say, follow me as I follow Christ.

I'm going to set myself up as an example for you to follow. That's why Hebrews 13 7 says, imitate those who lead over you. Imitate the faith of those who lead over you. They trust in the Lord. They follow the Lord. So imitate their faith. Mimic their faith. So you know how to live the life you need to live. Paul told Timothy, Timothy, you're young, you're 35. You're leading the church of Ephesus. You need to set yourself up as an example. How? In your speech, in your life, in your love, in your faith and in your purity.

Timothy, be an example in these five areas. And all will be good. But be an example. Set yourself up to be an example. So people know how to follow the Lord. Paul was that example. That's why the church followed. So the leader is a lover and learner of God. He's an example and an exhorter of men. He exhorts them, comes alongside of them, corrects that which is out of place, encourages those who are downtrodden. But he is the exhorter all throughout Paul's ministry in the book of Acts. This is happening over and over again.

Acts chapter 14, verse number 19. The Jews came to Antioch and Iconium and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposed him to be dead. But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and into the city. The next day he went away with Bartimaeus to Derbe. After they had preached the gospel to the city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.

He goes back to the place he was stoned because he wants to encourage them. He wants to exhort them. He wants to edify them. He wants to equip them. This is what following Christ is all about. Don't throw in the towel. I'm not. Set the example as he comes alongside and strengthens the souls of others. That's what an exhorter does. Then over again in Acts chapter 18 says, and having spent time there, he left and passed successively through the Galatian region and Phrygia, strengthening, exhorting, encouraging all the disciples.

Why? It's leaders do. See, if you're out of place, they correct it. Put you back on the right course. As fathers, it's not true. Is that what we do with our children? When they begin to stray down the wrong road, we grab them by the scuff of the neck and bring them back. You're going the wrong way. That's the wrong direction. That doesn't please the Lord. It dishonors the Lord. Get on the right path. Follow me as I follow Christ. And then when they need encouragement, you encourage them. Put your arm around them and put them on the right path.

And say, look, let's do this. Let's go here. This is what God has for us. That's what Paul did over and over again. He says it in chapter two. He said these words very clearly that just as you know, verse 11, how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father with his own children. He becomes the example of fatherhood. Why? Because I want you to walk worthy of the manner of God. I want you to honor the Lord. That's what leaders do. How about you? Are you a lover and learner of God?

Are you an example and an exhorter of men? If you are, number three is you'll be above reproach and accountable to God.

But we'll have to pick that up next week. Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for today and the things you do in our lives. I pray, Lord, for every man in the room who's a father, who's a husband, who wants to be a father or a husband, a grandfather, who is leading in some capacity. I pray, God, you give them wisdom to be the men you want them to be, to be leaders in the kingdom of God. They would lead their families the right way. They would lead them closer to you. And then, Lord, you do a magnificent work in their hearts.

Some could be saying, I've never done this before. That's okay. Start today. Can't change yesterday, last week, last month, last year. But you sure can change today and tomorrow. Encourage them to do so, Lord. They may live for the glory and honor of your name. Pray, Father, as a church, we would understand the responsibility we have to live for the glory of our King until you come again, as you most surely will. In Jesus' name, amen.