Mark 10:42-45
The Leadership Attributes
We continue our study on character. I have mentioned many times that
character is lacking today because we have taken the Source of
character—God—out of our culture and homes. Now, in the arena of
values and morals, America is no different than the communist, the
Hindu, the Muslim, or any other tribal culture in that whoever is in
power will determine what is good and what is not. For the last many
years, we have seen each new president, as he enters the Oval office,
take pen and set for his tenure what will be deemed right and wrong
for the entire nation on issues of abortion, war, the treatment of
prisoners of war, and homosexuality. And so everyman is left to do
what is right in his own eyes.
Or is he? The Bible still teaches the Christian what he or she is
supposed to be. It is no accident the Jesus’ longest sermon is often
called the "Be Attitudes." Why? Because God is less concerned with
what we do than it is with what we are. If you are what you are
supposed to be, you will do what you are supposed to do.
We have looked at:
1. Foundational Attributes (wisdom, love, self-control)
2. Gracious Attributes (gentleness, meekness, kindness)
3. Just Attributes (boldness, anger, righteousness)
4. People Attributes (respect, honor, integrity)
5. Work Attributes (orderly, punctual, honest)
6. Leadership Attributes
I want to do what I have done in this series so far, give to you a
few of the many attributes that relate to being a good leader.
I. If a leader is going to lead, he must have a place to go.
A. That is the point of leading, taking people to the same
place in a timely, proper fashion.
B. The first question is to where?
C. In our culture, most lead ship appointments have a business
destination.
1. Steel mill - make steel.
2. Automobile sales - sale cars.
3. Fast food - sale hamburgers.
4. To some extent, even politics is a business - The business
of maintaining peace, safety, and commerce.
D. Every business, every administration, every employer, every
leader has a product to produce or a promise to fulfill and
it is the leader’s job to do so.
E. So there are some attributes that he/she needs to have.
1. He should be diligent.
Romans 12:8 Or he that exhorteth, on
exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with
simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he
that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
2. He should have initiative. \\#Col 3:23\\
3. He should have discernment. \\#1Kings 3:9\\
F. But these are all things still valued by those who place
leaders.
1. Leaders are hired and placed based on these values.
2. They are trained and refined in these areas.
G. So I will focus more on the lost attributes that tell us
HOW to get the followers to that place.
II. Righteous
A. Leaders should lead with righteousness.
1. But every leader should have a holy destination; namely,
to arrive at their business destination righteously.
Ps 106:3 Blessed are they that keep judgment,
and he that doeth righteousness at all times.
a. I do not want to be overly redundant but let me repeat
myself anyway:
(1) This is true of saved people and lost.
(2) I know the non-religious world likes to call
their behavior the "real" world but we are all
created by God, and God is going to hold us all
accountable to HIS rules of conduct.
b. So we want to arrive at our business destinations, our
career destinations, financial destinations, our
family destinations, our hobby destinations, we will
also arrive with righteousness.
2. If we are going to arrive at the righteous destination, we
are going to have to do right to get there.
a. Every leader and every business ought to be committed
to doing right.
b. I know they are not. In fact, I am increasingly
amazed at how many major corporations will
deliberately misrepresent themselves—lie—and think
nothing of it.
(1) Do you have any idea which nation-wide cell phone
carrier has the fastest speeds and the best
coverage area? You will never be able to tell
by listening to advertisement.
(2) Do you have any idea which car insurance company
will give you the most coverage for the best
rate?
(3) Friends, they are liars. These are companies
that want to make it to the Promised Land of
wealth and they are not interested in getting
their righteously.
(4) By the way, any company that will lie to get your
business will also steal from you once they get
it! They will add charges, promise you things
that they have no intention of delivering and
the list goes on.
c. You cannot arrive at the righteous destination if you
will not do right.
(1) Doing right might mean you won’t arrive at your
profit destination with as much money as you
might have without righteousness.
(2) But I do not think an righteous company will
arrive without a just recompense.
(3) And I believe you will also arrive with some
other things:
(a) You will arrive with your customers’ and
followers’ respect.
(b) You will arrive with a clear conscious.
(c) You will arrive with God’s blessings instead
of God’s anger.
(4) In this world, these things may NOT be items
which a bank will cash; but they will be the
currency in God’s kingdom.
3. Any place you go to that you had to leave out to get
there is not a good place to be.
a. Christian, why are you even entertaining the thought
of such a place?
b. Christians ought to be as worthless to a sinful
company, goal, or purpose as an elephant is to a hot
air balloon company.
c. A godless boss or company or government should look
at a Christian and say, "They not going to follow me
through the cesspools of sin to get what is on the
other side."
III. Selflessness
A. I have not found a positive word that completely says what I
believe needs to be said on this thought.
1. Jesus expressed it in these verses as having a servant’s
heart.
2. Here Jesus gave another of God’s reversed principals.
a. The way to receive is to give.
b. The way to rise is to be humble yourself.
c. The time to be happy is when you are being persecuted.
d. The way to lead is to serve.
(1) In fact, God sets this principal as the standard
for how to lead, not just in the church, but all
kinds of leadership.
(2) The greatest leader should always be the one who
has the greatest heart to serve.
B. Perhaps you have heard the expression, "He/she is a natural
born leaders." I suppose that may be true of some but it is
not for most of us. Most of us are too selfish and self
centered to be good leaders.
C. What is selflessness?
1. My first thought was that it is the act of putting others
before self. But now I believe it is the act of not
considering self at all.
2. Only TWO human beings have EVER been good at this and you
can see how the second one changed from good to bad.
a. Jesus Christ
(1) He cheated a little in that Jesus is God IN
flesh and His flesh was never corrupt.
(2) But Jesus compared selflessness to love.
Joh 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends.
(3) The selflessness that is required to be a good
leader may not be love, but it is pretty close.
b. Adam
(1) Eve was deceived by the serpent.
(2) To see this virtue, ask yourself, "Why did Adam
eat?"
Ge 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was
good for food, and that it was pleasant to the
eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,
she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and
gave also unto her husband with her; and he did
eat.
(a) Did Eve not tell him where the fruit came
from? Did Adam not recognize the fruit?
(b) I do not believe that fruit looked like any
other fruit on the planet and I do not
believe that Adam would not recognize it.
(c) Adam was the smartest man that has ever
lived! He named every plant, tree, and
animal.
(d) Not only would have recognized the fruit, he
would have seen the change in Eve.
(e) I cannot prove it, but I believe Adam ate of
the fruit because he loved Eve and did not
want Eve to go through death alone—
although it is likely that neither of them
knew what death really was.
(3) Before sin, Adam was either dumb or so loving he
was willing to die with Eve.
(4) But look at the change that happened after sin:
Ge 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou
wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof
I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest
to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I
did eat.
(5) That’s called "throwing her under the bus."
(a) Adam went from being the least selfish
person on the planet to being the most
selfish person on the planet. (Of course
there were only two people on the planet.)
(b) He also went from being a good leader to
being a bad one.
i. Why?
ii. Because he went from being selfless to
being selfish.
(c) And from that time to this, the adage has
been repeatedly proven, "Absolute power
corrupts absolutely!"
3. There is only one commodity that I know that will make a
person selfless enough to be a good leader.
a. That is salvation and a close walk with Jesus.
b. Otherwise, people with opportunity tend to use it for
THEIR gain.
c. Politicians, employers, commanders, police officers,
judges, pastors, foremen, shift leaders, husbands,
parents—all of us.
d. To the human mind, it is only logical to use whatever
authority there is to your own advantage.
e. It takes the spiritual mind to do the illogical and
use whatever authority there is to help the people.
IV. Caring
A. Leaders should not just get the business to their business
destination, they should also get the followers to their
destinations.
B. That is, leaders should lead FOR those who are following them.
1. It took me a long time to see this.
2. Every leader should care for the people he/she is leading.
a. Companies may only care about a production, products,
and profits, but God cares for the people.
b. In fact, God cares for the people more than the
company cares for profit!
c. How do I know?
(1) In part because of logic.
(a) God did not send His Son to die for products
or profits. He sent His Son to die for
people.
(b) Which do you think God cares about the
most?
(2) But then there is also Scripture.
Romans 13:3 For rulers are not a terror to good
works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be
afraid of the power? do that which is good, and
thou shalt have praise of the same:
4 For he is the minister of God to thee for
good….
d. If you are going to get righteous destination, you
are going to have to care about the people too.
C. Companies used to know this.
1. That does not mean that they did not try to make
a profit but they knew better than to try to get
rich by walking on the backs of the employees.
2. At least some politicians, pastors, doctors, bosses knew
this too.
3. Working for some companies today is no different than
the Jewish slaves working for Pharaoh in ancient
times. (You remember how that turned out, don’t you?)
4. Certainly, companies do have to make some tough decisions,
cut back on numbers, change programs, and so forth, but
they should never be making choices based on greed.
James 5:1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl
for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments
are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust
of them shall be a witness against you, and shall
eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped
treasure together for the last days.
4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have
reaped down your fields, which is of you kept
back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them
which have reaped are entered into the ears of
the Lord of sabaoth.
5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and
been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as
in a day of slaughter.
6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he
doth not resist you.
7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the
coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman
waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and
hath long patience for it, until he receive the
early and latter rain.
8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for
the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
D. Today some see leadership as the leader is a despot over his
subject, but God sees a leader as an intercessor who
represents God to His people.
E. If you are a leader, be sure you intercede for those you are
leading!
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