The Model Leader, Part 4

Tell your Bible turn with me to the book of 1st Thessalonians chapter 2, 1st Thessalonians chapter 2, looking once again at the first 12 verses.

As you're turning, I want to read to you a perspective that the late Richard Halverson, who was the chaplain of the US Senate a number of years ago, wrote. He said the growth of an organization is quite different from the growth of an organism. Growth of an organization is in the direct result of human planning and programming. Growth of an organism is only indirectly related to human effort. Organizational growth is predictable on the basis of experience and expertise. Organic growth is unpredictable.

In the words of Jesus Christ, can one by thinking add one cubit to his stature? Goal-setting, planning, programming, and evaluation are fundamental to the growth of an organization. Nourishment, exercise, and rest are basic to the growth of an organism. But the outcome is out of human hands. Objectives and goals are central to organization. Means are central to an organism. It makes a difference how one thinks about the church. Thinking of it as an organization dictates one way of going. Thinking of it as an organism demands a totally different modus operandi.

When the organizational aspect is primary, size of membership, building, and budget are decisive and measurable. When it's organic nature is primary, quality of life, attitudes, relationships are decisive and they do not yield easily to measurement. The Apostle Paul understood the body of Christ as an organism. We know that our God is a God of order. He is very organized. All you have to do is look at creation.

But the church itself is an organism. It is organized, but it primarily is an organism, which requires a relationship between the leader and the people he aspires to lead. I love the Chinese proverb that says, if you want a year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want ten years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want a hundred years of prosperity, grow people. The Apostle Paul understood what it meant to grow people. In fact, the end result is stated for us in verse 12 of 1 Thessalonians 2 when he says, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

He says, I want you to walk worthy. That is, I want you to walk equally. That is, I want you to be able to walk in such a way that you evidence that you're a part of his kingdom. I mean, after all, you're children of the king. And as children of the king, you are to walk as the king walked. And the only way to do that is to walk in a worthy manner that brings glory to his name. That was Paul's desire all the time. He said earlier in the book of Colossians chapter 1 verse number 9, for this reason also since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

So he states it to the church of Colossae, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthen with all power according to his glorious might for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Again, Paul says, listen, my prayer for you is that you walk worthy of the Lord, pleasing to him. Over in the book of Philippians chapter 1 verse 27, only conduct yourselves in the manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Same thing. I want you to to match your everyday life with who you are as a child of God. He says in Ephesians chapter 4, same thing. Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness and patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Same thing. Paul says, I am here to help you understand how to walk properly in the kingdom of God.

And that's why he was so into his relationship with the people of the church, because he knew that his investment into their lives would bring forth a worthy end. As leaders, as fathers, as parents, we should be concerned that the people we're leading are walking worthy of God and his kingdom and glory. That should be our highest aspiration for them. We want them to live for Christ. That's Paul's end goal. That's his desire. That's his prayer. So how does he move them there? How does he get them there?

Well, he becomes the model leader for us. He shows us how that happens. And I told you that there are seven characteristics of his leadership that are given to us in these 12 verses. That was last week. This week, there's eight. That's because I took the seventh one and divided it into two. So there's eight of them. I'll conclude this portion of Scripture this week, because if I don't, next week it'll be nine and 10 and 11. So I'm going to keep it at eight and conclude the model leader this week.

But we told you that Paul was a model leader simply because of his faithfulness. That was number one.

Remember that? He said, our coming to you was not in vain. It wasn't empty. It wasn't futile. Oh, no. Why? Because he came, four times it says, with the gospel of God. It's God's gospel. It's not my gospel. It's God's. And I came with that. That's why my coming to you was not empty. It wasn't useless, because I brought to you the gospel. That's why we use the word faithfulness, because Paul was a faithful steward of the gospel. He understood what it meant to be entrusted with the gospel. In fact, he says it, that we have been entrusted with this gospel in Chapter 2.

Therefore, because we've been entrusted with it, we want to treat it the right way, and we want to give it to you so you understand the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithfulness marked his ministry. He was a man who truly lived what he preached. He said, woe is me if I don't preach the gospel, 1 Corinthians Chapter 9. He said earlier in Corinthians that, I want to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We preach Christ crucified. Everything about his ministry was purposeful because he brought the gospel to the arena in which God called him.

And that's why his ministry was so effective, because he understood the power of the word. All you got to do is read Chapter 1 and realize what the word of God produced in the lives of those in Thessalonica. And next week, we'll move on to verses 12 and 13 to recognize the fact that what God did through the power of his word was incredible. Paul understood that. He was committed to that. In so many churches today, they're not really that committed to that. They're committed to gimmicks. They're committed to all kinds of things that will draw people in and all that kind of good stuff.

And they think that that's the way to go, but it's the gospel itself. That's why I love the story in Luke Chapter 16 where the rich man says to Father Abraham, just send someone back from the grave to tell my brothers so they don't have to experience what I'm experiencing. Send someone back from the dead. And Abraham said, if they don't believe Moses and the prophets, they won't believe the one be raised from the dead. You think people are going to believe a miracle? No. They only believe the message.

It's the message of the gospel. In other words, there's nothing fancy that you can do. There's nothing miraculous that you can do that's going to cause people to say, oh, that must be true. It must be right. No. Jesus lived his whole life performing miracles. People didn't believe the miracles. They didn't believe the message. Many people never gave their life to him in spite of being healed miraculously. It's all about the truth of the gospel. That's why I love what Douglas Webster said in his book on leadership.

He said, biblical preaching was God-centered, sin-exposing, self-convicting, and life-challenging, the direct opposite of today's light informal sermons that characterize or that Christianize, excuse me, self-help and entertain better than they convict. There are so many illustrations in today's market-sensitive sermons that the hearer forgets the biblical truth that is being illustrated. So many personal anecdotes that the hearer knows the pastor better than he or she knows Christ. So many human interest stories that listening to the sermon is easier than reading the Sunday paper.

So practical that there is hardly anything to practice. No wonder nominal Christians leave church feeling upbeat, their self-esteem safely intact, their minds and hearts have been sparked and soothed with soundbite theology, Christian maxims and a few practical pointers dealing with self-esteem, kids, or work. But the question remains, has the Word of God been effectively and faithfully proclaimed, penetrating comfort zones and the veneer of self-satisfaction with the truth of Jesus Christ? Paul came faithfully with the gospel.

Everywhere he went, it was all about the gospel of God. The question comes, if he wants to move people to walk worthy of their God, who's called them into his kingdom and glory, he's got to give them the gospel. They need to know the God of the gospel, same is true in your family, right? You want your children to walk worthy of God? Well, pleasing to God. You must be faithfully giving them the truth of the Word of God. And Paul moves on and says not only faithfulness but boldness. He says in verse number 1 of 1 Thessalonians, these words, he says, For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain, but after we had already suffered and been entrusted or, excuse me, mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition.

That's just a beautiful statement, boldness in our God, because that's a second characteristic. Not just faithfulness but boldness, courage, confidence, staying power, strength. Paul was able to present the gospel boldly. He understood what it meant to trust in the Lord, even amidst much opposition. We get people who criticize us today and we want to back away. We get people who say something bad about us and we don't want to say anything else to them ever again. But Paul was mistreated and abused, beaten and imprisoned over and over again, and yet he just kept coming back with the truth of the gospel because of boldness in his God.

That is just so important. Remember we shared with you on Wednesday night about Jeremiah, when Jeremiah was living his life, trying to present the gospel, the truth of God to apostate Judah, and they're not listening at all to what he said, and they're criticizing him, and they called him terror on every side. The people of Israel hated Jeremiah. In fact, God told Jeremiah he couldn't get married. He had to remain single. So he couldn't even go home to his wife at night and cry on her shoulder and get some sympathy at home.

He was all alone. Remember what he said in Jeremiah 20? He says, The Lord is with me like a dread champion, a mighty warrior, a fierce warrior. Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will be utterly ashamed because they have failed with an everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten. The Lord is with me like a dread champion. He's my fierce warrior so I can continue to preach and to teach, even though no one's going to listen, because it's all about pleasing him. He knew he had been called to that ministry.

Remember, Jeremiah's name means the Lord throws, and Jeremiah was thrown at Judah. He was thrown to them with a message that no one would listen, no one would follow, but he kept to the message. Why? Because of faithfulness and boldness. He was committed to doing what God said no matter what and was bold in doing so. That's how God wants us. That's what made Paul's leadership so effective. If he wants his people to walk worthy of the Lord, then he needs to be bold in his presentation of the gospel, and he was.

So that was last week. It was all about faithfulness. It was all about boldness. And then number three, it was about truthfulness because he says in verse number three, for our exhortation does not come from error.

It's all about the truth. We're not lying to you. We're not trying to throw out gimmicks to you. Everything is about the truth. That's why Paul could say at the end of his ministry, I've been faithful to the faith, to the content of the doctrine of truth. I've been faithful all the way to the end. From the beginning to the end, I've been absolutely true to the truth because that's what my life is about. And Paul says that when we came to you, this wasn't an error-filled message. Why? Because it's given to you by inspiration.

The infallible truth of the living God that's without error. And that's absolutely true in all of its content, in all of its words. Therefore, we were faithful and bold to give it to you because you need to know the truth about everything. So he came with faithfulness, boldness, truthfulness. Number four was pureness. You can use the word holiness, but I like the word pureness because he says these words, or impurity or by way of deceit. In other words, there was a pureness not just behind his delivery, but in his lifestyle.

He was a holy person. That's why he could say later these words, he says, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behave ourselves towards you in verse number 10. Why? Because there was nothing impure about his presentation. There was nothing deceitful about his presentation. It came from a pure heart to please and honor the living God. The pureness of the vessel is important. Remember the words of Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales? We said these words, if gold should rust, what would iron do?

For if a priest be fouled in whom we trust, no wonder that the common man should rust. So true. If the priest be fouled in whom we trust, no wonder that the common man will rust. And so the pureness of the vessel needs to match the purity of the word itself. The cleanliness of the vessel needs to match the cleanliness of the gospel. That's why it's so important to live a pure and holy life. Why? Because if you want to negate trust and believability, live in impurity. Live with the kind of lifestyle that goes against Christ's word, and you lose trust and credibility in those you lead.

How many families have been wrecked because fathers have committed some kind of indecent or immoral act that's reaped havoc on the home? And the father's leadership in the home has been compromised because of his impurity. That's why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9, I beat my body in subjection unless I myself am disqualified. Paul says, I know what it means to discipline myself. Why? Because I don't want to be disqualified from the ministry. I don't want to be disqualified from the presentation of the truth.

I want to make sure that when I give it, it's being given by someone who lives what he's preaching so that there's no discrepancy, there's no deceit. Paul says so many times, as you know, you are witnesses, you knew this, you saw this, you were able to visualize everything, you know my life. Why? Because the relationship between the leader and those who follow is so incredibly important. I wonder if you could say that, if you can say that to your family. You know my life. You know the privacy of my life.

You know what happens when I travel. You know everything, for you are my witness. So important. Therefore, we need to realize that the pureness of the man was what made his message so effective. So not just his faithfulness, and his boldness, and his truthfulness, but his pureness, and then his genuineness. That's where we left off last week, his openness. He was genuine. He says very simply, he says, verse 4, 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 to flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed, God is witness. Wow, what a statement, God is our witness. God examines our hearts. God knows everything that's in us. Hebrews 4, verse number 13, the writer of Hebrews tells us that God knows what's inside the heart of man. First Chronicles chapter 29, David told Solomon that God weighs the heart and weighs the thoughts of a man.

God knows. Paul says, God knows, he's our witness. He said, when we came to you, we came because we weren't here to please you. We're here to please God. And they says, and we didn't come with flattering speech. As a cloak of covetousness, that's what some texts say, this one, New American Standard says, a pretext for greed. You ever met a flattering person? A person who uses their words in such a way that they're just trying to gain favor with you? They're truly manipulators. They use their words to manipulate you that they might get something more from you.

Paul says, our coming to you was not with flattering words so that we could have it as a cloak because down deep, we wanted something more from you, whether it was more power or more applause or more affirmation or more money or sexual favors. That's not why we're here. We didn't come with those things in mind. That wasn't our motive. The Bible says so much about flattering speech.

Psalm 12, verse number 1 says, help, Lord, for the godly man ceases to be for the faithful disappear from among the sons of men. Wow. That's true today as it was then. Oh, Lord, help us because where is the godly man? Where is the faithful man? They cease to be. They speak falsehood to one another with flattering lips and with a double heart they speak. They says this, may the Lord cut off all flattering lips. Well, that's a graphic statement, right? Over in Psalm 5, Psalm said these words in verse number 9, there is nothing reliable in what they say.

Their inward part is destruction itself. Their throat is an open grave. They flatter with their tongue. Speaking of evildoers, and then he says over in Proverbs 26, verse number 28, a lying tongue hates those it crushes and a flattering mouth works ruin. In other words, if you have a flattering mouth, that is, you have words that you use to manipulate people to get them to do something for you, it just brings ruin. Then over in Proverbs chapter 28, verse number 23, he rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than he who flatters with the tongue.

How about Romans chapter 16? Romans chapter 16, verse 17, now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned and turn away from them. For such men are slaves not of our Lord Christ, but of their own appetites. And by their own smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. Paul had much to say, the Scriptures had much to say about flattering lips, smooth talk, as a cloak to cover my real motive.

There's something I want from you, something that you can give me, that I need for my self-esteem, for my own prowess, for my own self-image. I need something from you. I need you to affirm me, to applaud me, to heap upon me all kinds of accolades. I need recognition. So I use flattering words to get you to side with me and to love me. Paul says, we didn't come that way. No, there's a genuineness about our coming, an openness about our coming. You knew how we came to you. And then he uses the next phrase, and this was the next one, it's all about humbleness.

Look what he says. He says, verse 6, 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. That's just so good. Humbleness. We weren't seeking glory for ourselves. It wasn't about us. It's like John the Baptist said in John 3, verse number 30, he must increase, I must decrease. That was John the Baptist's mantra. That should be ours as well. The glory of Christ and the presence of Christ must increase, I must decrease.

God resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble. Christ himself was meek and lonely. He humbled himself as a servant and became a man so we would understand true humility. Paul says, we came in all humbleness. Why? Because it wasn't about our glory. Psalm 115, verse number 1, not unto us, O Lord, but unto your name, give glory. Paul would say in Ephesians 3, let there be glory in the church. From generation to generation, let there be glory in the church. Reminds me of the young gifted minister whose preaching was a cut above the ordinary.

As the ranks of his congregation began to swell, his head followed suit. After he delivered his latest barn burner one morning, one of his loyal parishioners earnestly shook his hand and said, you are becoming one of the greatest expositors of this generation, pastor. As he squeezed his head into the car and slid behind the steering wheel, his weary wife alongside him and all the kids stuffed into the backseat, he could not resist sharing the story. Mrs. Franklin told me she thought I was one of the greatest expositors of this generation.

He said proudly, caught up in the heady swirl of the woman's exaggerated compliment, no response. Fishing for affirmation, he glanced at his silent wife with a weak smile and prodded, I wonder just how many great expositors there are in this generation. Unable to resist the opportunity to set the record straight, she quietly said, one less than you think, my dear. How often we can be easily puffed up by a statement that someone says. Think of the Apostle Paul and how many ways God used him in the lives of people, and yet his coming was not about his own glory.

It never was about him. It was all about the glory of the Lord. It was about making sure that Christ was put on display. So he came with not just faithfulness and boldness and truthfulness and pureness and genuineness, but he certainly came with humbleness. And one more, or two more. I'm going to put them together. He came with tenderness as well as toughness. Tenderness as well as toughness. Listen to what the Bible says.

It says, verse 7, for, but we prove 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 very dear to us. That's the tender side of leadership. And he uses the illustration of a nursing mother. I'm not sure you can think of any better illustration of tenderness than a nursing mother with her child. Such sensitivity, such kindness, such oneness.

It's that beautiful picture of sacrifice on behalf of the mother for the sake of their son or daughter. But we had this fond affection for you, like a nursing mother would have for her child. We were tender among you. It means to cover with warmth. As a nursing mother would cover her child in the warmth of a blanket, in the warmth of her arms, so we too would come and cover you with warmth because this is how we took care of you. It's the tenderness of leadership. Paul says, you know this. You witnessed it firsthand.

You were able to view this from us. You saw it in our lives. We were gentle among you. It's like Paul would say in 2 Timothy 2 that the bond servant must be gentle as he presents the gospel. There's this tenderness about Paul's ministry that made his ministry what it was. It was said of Charles Spurgeon, these words by his biographer, he exercised an absolute authority not because of sheer willfulness, though he was a willful man, but because of his acknowledged worth, men bowed to his authority because it was authority backed by united wisdom and affection.

Charles Spurgeon was a man of great affection, but he was a fiery preacher. But that's why people were drawn to him because of the affection, the tenderness of his ministry. The Greeks believed that in order to be an effective communicator, there needed to be three things, logos, ethos, and pathos. Making sure that the word, logos, the content of the message was right, then ethos, the character of the man who presented the message was right, and then pathos, the compassion of the man with his character as he presented the content of the message was where it needed to be.

And they're right. And that's how Paul was. But it's like two sides of the same coin. There's tenderness on one side, and there's toughness on the other side. Because he goes on to say these words, he says, verse 9, 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 toward you believers. Just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children.

We were exhorting you, that's the instruction. We were encouraging you, that's the motivation and the consolation. We were imploring you, that's the passion of a father. There's something about fatherhood that presents the tough side of leadership, the resilient side, the resoluteness, the firmness, the strength of leadership. As a father would come alongside his children and instruct them in the ways of God, exhorting them and encouraging them and imploring them, motivating them with passion to make sure that they went the right direction.

No, no, no, no, you can't go, it's this way over here. Let me show you the way in moving them in that direction.

Paul says, that's what characterizes our ministry, because you know this. You witnessed this. This is why I think it's so important for pastors to stay in their churches. The average pastor stays two and a half years. Two and a half years. That's just ridiculous. The people in your church need to know you. They need to observe you. They need to see and know your relationship with your wife, your relationship to your children. What kind of relationship do you have with your children when they're young?

What kind of relationship do you have with them when they're old? What's happening there? That needs to be visualized by the congregation. And if you're here for two or three years and move on to another church for two or three years, then move on to another church for four or five years, and then for five or six years, no one really gets a chance to know the real you, the genuineness of your ministry. And Paul says, you know, we were among you. You saw, you observed, you watched. We were with you every day.

How we labored, working hard to make sure you understood us, and that we didn't do anything underhanded, anything deceitfully, that you might know that we're here for one reason, that you might walk worthy of God, who's called you into His kingdom and glory. That's why he's there. That's why leaders do what they do. It's not about self-adulation. It's not about pats on the back. It's not about money. It's not about your self-image or self-esteem. It's not about any of that stuff. We lead because we want people to walk worthy of their God.

As fathers, we want our children to walk worthy of God. That's it. Where they work, irrelevant. Where they go to school, doesn't matter. Whether they're athletes or musicians, who cares? Are they walking worthy of the Lord? That's all that matters. That's a drove Paul. That should be what drives us. No matter where we lead, no matter where our sphere of influence, this should drive us to have a ministry that follows the model leader. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day, the opportunity you give us to be in your word.

We truly are a blessed people. We want to thank you, Father, that we can gather here today. And I pray, Lord, for every one of us, that we recognize that these qualities of leadership need to be evident, whether we're a mother or a father, husband or wife, student or teacher, coach or player, doctor or nurse, CEO of the largest business or a manager of the smallest business. It doesn't make a difference. Our character does, though, and how we lead does. So our prayer, Father, is that these qualities would be evident in our lives.

For the glory of your kingdom, until you come again, as you most surely will, in Jesus' name, amen.