ONE MAN LEADERSHIP. IS IT GOD'S PLAN?

In the Old Testament, the God of Israel insisted that one man alone should never rule over His people. 

Every leader must have limited authority. 

• Moses was national leader and prophet but not a priest.

• Samuel was Prophet and High Priest but not King.

• David was King and Prophet but not a priest. 

Kings who performed priestly functions were violating God's order and they were punished by God. King Saul was a dramatic example. 

Likewise in the New Testament no one man was allowed to be the supreme ruler over God's people. 

The only exception was Jesus the Messiah Himself, the Son of God, who is the supreme Prophet, the High Priest of the New Covenant and the King of Israel. 

• However, even Jesus will not be fully revealed as Prophet, Priest AND King until the Second Coming.

The modern nations which were formed under the influence of the Bible, evolved a system of government which reflected this division of powers.

• In Britain the King or Queen is subject to the power of Parliament, which is elected by the people. The judges are independent and cannot be told what to do by either the elected government or the Queen.

• In the USA, the President, the Congress and the Judges have separate powers and no one man has unlimited authority. 

• This principle of the separation of powers has been copied by former British Colonies and by European countries like modern Germany.

It is based on the Bible.

In the New Testament, the first church was governed by a team of Apostles appointed by Jesus. 

This was a new idea and even more radical than the Old Testament division of authority between Prophets, Priests and Kings. 

• When Jesus first introduced the idea of team leadership, the apostles found it confusing.

Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. Luke 22:24 (NKJV)

Jesus turned this into a lesson on humility and most preachers explain it that way. 

• But there is something more to the story which is usually overlooked.

Jesus had told the disciples He was going away. They didn't fully understand but they knew He was leaving them. 

In the Old Testament, every supreme leader was supposed to have a successor.

• The High Priest or King would be followed by his son. 

• David was followed by Solomon. 

Also some major prophets trained up a successor. 

• Moses was followed by Joshua.

• Elijah was followed by Elisha.

It was natural for the disciples to assume that one of them would be appointed the supreme Apostle to rule over the others. 

But this was the farewell dinner before Jesus left them and none of them had been appointed to rule over all. This was totally confusing.

So they started discussing this puzzle amongst themselves. 

Who would be the supreme leader ?

We must not assume that each one was pushing himself forward.

But even when Jesus interrupted the conversation, He still didn't settle the question by nominating a successor as number one.

• He never did!

Just because Peter took over the role of chairman and the first evangelist, it does not mean he was the supreme number one. If we assume this, we are falling into the same trap of limited human thinking which confused the disciples at the Last Supper.

In Galatians, Paul speaks of his visit to the church leaders in Jerusalem. He describes a team leadership.

... and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Galatians 2:9 (NKJV) 

(CEPHAS is Peter and PILLARS means MAIN LEADERS)

Notice that Paul refers to the joint leadership of the Jewish church as THEY and to the leadership fo the Gentile church as WE (Paul and Barnabas). 

• Paul's thinking about leadership is collective. 

• Jesus is the ONLY one man ruler, the ONLY supreme chief Shepherd. 

Let’s grow out of the church tradition of one man rule, the dictatorial Senior Pastor, the Man of God who controls everything.

Some people claim this is God’s principle of leadership. 

It is not.

TRUSTING JESUS OR HIDING FROM GOD?

Even Atheists pray in battle zones. Have you ever wanted to meet God but didn’t know how? 

Did you feel that God might be hiding from you? 

We have an amazing talent for self deception

• It may be that you are hiding from God but He wants to find you, not to bust your cover and destroy you with shame but to meet with you and show you His love for you.

How do we know God wants to but our cover and restore us to friendship with Himself?

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 (NKJV) 

If you are not trusting in Jesus, you are hiding from God. 

• You can’t really hide from Him because He sees your every move and reads your every thought. 

You can’t hide from Him but you put barriers between God and yourself. 

• You may hide in atheism, persuading yourself there is no God, while all the time you define yourself with the name of the one you say you don’t believe in. 

A = NOT. THE-ism = GOD-ism. 

• You may hide in theology, studying, reading and discussing what God might be like, while all the time God is real and alive and wanting to talk to you directly.

• You may hide in religion, persuading yourself you are OK with God because you believe in Him and go through certain rituals, say prayers and practise some good deeds. 

• You may hide in fundamentalist legalism. You imagine you understand and believe every word of the Bible while you use Bible texts to criticise, judge and attack anyone who does not think and act exactly like yourself.

• There are good Christians who hide from God. They hide behind their good Christianity. God does not want Good Christians. He wants sons and daughters who love their heavenly Father.

• There are Pastors, Priests and church leaders who hide behind their leadership office. To be a true Christian leader, you must know and love Jesus. 
• Your love for Him is the main thing, otherwise you are hiding behind your ministry. You will suffer spiritual loss and the people you minister will also miss out.

• You can hide behind your spiritual gifts. You may be a great Christian musician, worship leader, preacher or spiritual writer. Don't forget who gave you the gift. Don't forget that knowing God is the main thing, and also loving others. Loving God and loving people.

All the while, you know Jesus said: 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 (NKJV) 

Do you believe this? 

• The devil also believes this. 

The faith that connects you to God is not just believing certain texts are true. 

Believing means trusting in the LOVE of God who GAVE His only son for you.

• Believing means receiving the Love of God in your heart of hearts.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10 (NIV) 

FINDING A REASON TO LIVE

Because of his kindness, you have been saved through trusting Christ. And even trusting is not of yourselves; it too is a gift from God. Ephesians 2:8 (TLB) 

• You were separated from God but God took the initiative to restore you to a relationship with your Heavenly Father.

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba (Daddy), Father.” Romans 8:15 (NLT)

The kind of FAITH that reconciles you to God is not just religious belief. 

It is trusting God as a child loves his mother and father. 

Of course there are children who have good reason not to trust their parents but God is never an unkind, unfair or abusive father.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 (NKJV) 

The Lord Jesus was with the Heavenly Father in the endless eternity before the creation of the universe. Jesus, God the Son, no less divine than the Father, looked down the centuries and saw you in need of forgiveness and restoration. 

• He knew His Father was just. 

• He knew you would mess up your life. 

• He knew you deserved judgement but He wanted to save you.

 Before the first angel saw the face of God, before the first star shone in the sky, Jesus decided to be born as a baby just like us. He decided that He would submit to a cruel execution on the cross.

• Why? So He would be punished in your place. So you could be forgiven and be fully restored to God.

Jesus trusted His Father to raise Him up from death.You can trust the Father as Jesus did.You can trust Jesus who sacrificed Himself so amazingly for you.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (NLT)

• We cannot earn God’s favour. 
• We all messed up our lives in different ways. 
• None of us can claim to be good like Jesus. 
• Our sin cut us off from the presence of God but God gave His only son to give us our lives back again. 

It is a free gift and you must accept God’s loving favour as a free gift or not at all. 

Jesus paid the full price to ransom us from death, from hell and eternal despair. We cannot add any co-payment. He has done it all.

But you must do something to receive His favour. 

Supposing you inherited a fortune from your rich father. He gave you a mansion and a huge bank balance. 

How can you enter into your inheritance?

• You must to see a lawyer and take possession of the title deeds. 

• You must move into the house.
• You honour the father who gave you everything.
• You learn to look after the mansion and use it to provide shelter and hospitality for your family and for those people that God wants you to care for.
• You invest your inherited money to be a blessing. You invest your life in the Kingdom of God.

Jesus taught the parable of the Talents. 

The master gave his servants wealth to invest and went away. Two servants invested wisely and doubled their money but a third servant buried his money and gave it back to the master when he returned. 

• He was like the passive believer who tried to use his faith as a ticket to heaven but did nothing with the gifts of God.

Jesus sternly warned people who passively use salvation as fire insurance.

So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.

• For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 

And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness....Matthew 25:28-30 (ESV) 

Jesus AND also Paul taught:

REPENT and believe ....

Dare to believe and invest your whole life for Jesus.

He died for you but also for millions of others.

WE CAN BE LIKE JESUS

What does it mean to be a Christian?

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9 (NIV) 

Many people say a little prayer confessing faith in Jesus and then they are told they are saved and on their way to heaven. Often it is true. 

A prostitute went to a church meeting and believed. She said a prayer receiving Jesus into her life and kept on going to church. 

• In following weeks she tried to be kind and helpful to people, even in her unholy workplace. She began to give generous offerings in church. 

Little by little she changed until the day came when she walked away from her life of prostitution. 

Her faith saved her.  

But evangelists can tell you that the majority of people who say a prayer of commitment in a meeting do not show evidence of a changed life a year later.

• Sadly it appears that conversion can either be a shallow ritual or it can be a deep redirection of a person’s whole life, beginning with a real conversion and transformation on the inside.

How did Jesus respond to faith? Sometimes He was excited.

Zacchaeus was a corrupt tax collector who became rich by ripping off his fellow Jews and sharing the spoils between the hated Romans and his own family.

When Jesus came to town, he climbed up a tree to see Jesus without being seen by the crowds. He know he was a hated man.

Jesus was always open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and He looked up and saw Zacchaeus hiding in the tree.

When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." Luke 19:5 (NIV)

Jesus saw what the Father was doing in this wretched man’s life. 

If we are living in the Holy Spirit, we will also have spiritual sixth sense to know what is happening secretly inside people’s hearts.

When Zacchaeus saw how Jesus loved and accepted him, his change of heart was dramatic and powerful.

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, 

• and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." Luke 19:8 (NIV)

And how did Jesus respond to this?

Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Luke 19:9-10 (NIV) 

Jesus reached out in love. He always listened to the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of the Father showed Him when people’s faith was genuine.

• We can also operate in the power and love of the Holy Spirit. 
• Through the gifts of the Holy Spirit we can also receive revelation and wisdom in practical situations. 

If we are moving in the Holy Spirit, we can touch people and see lives changed like Jesus did. 

• I was on a boat on a lake in Germany when I saw a lonely old woman sitting by herself. I went and talked to her. She told me the tragic story of her life and I wanted to help her. My wife and I talked to her and we listened a lot for hours. 

We cried out silently to God to give us some words from heaven to touch her heart.

• Then God answered and my wife shared the message God gave her.

She told the lonely woman of the beauty of heaven waiting for her. She began to weep and her life was changed for ever.

You are a Christian if God has deeply touched your heart on the inside and you have allowed Him to turn your life around. 

But it does not end there. 

God is calling us to be led by the Holy Spirit as Jesus was, to love people like Jesus and to lead many to know their Heavenly Father.

DARE TO BE YOURSELF FOR GOD

David was a shepherd boy when Saul was the King of Israel. 

David loved God with all his heart but Saul was insecure about himself and about his faith in God.

• The Israelites wanted to have a king like the other nations. When they demanded a king, God was not happy but God gave them what they wanted. 

• The Israelites demanded a king because they were unsure of their faith in God and insecure about their God given identity.

• We often put preachers on a pedestal for the same reason.

• When God gave them Saul to be their king, Saul was anointed and his leadership was blessed in the beginning but in the end he too was insecure about his identity and so he became a tyrant.

• The same thing can happen when you put a preacher on a pedestal instead of putting your full trust in God and daring to become who God designed you to be.

Be careful what you desire and believe for. 

God might answer your urgent prayers but the thing you pray for might not be a blessing in the end. 

• Consider your motives. It can be dangerous to want to be like other people and to have what other people have.

God wants to give you His best but He does not want you to be like other people.

• He wants you to be YOU because He designed you to be you, just as He made David to be David.

When David decided to do battle with Goliath, King Saul offered to give David his own armour but it did not fit. David went to fight Goliath without armour, armed only with a sling and a few stones.

If God has called you to preach the gospel, don’t start competing with other people for the pulpit of your church. 

If God has called you, God will give you a pulpit. Jesus often preached in private homes, on hillsides or in fishing boats. 

Be like Jesus. Don’t play politics with church leaders to become one of them. 

• Go where God leads you and say what God gives you to say.
• When we read the Gospels, we see a lot of the teaching of Jesus was in the context of personal interaction with people along the way. 
• If we anxiously strive for promotion in church, we may miss a lot of these opportunities.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 (NLT) 

• The world is tired of preachers who copy other preachers. 

• The world is tired of Christians who play church to get promotion to a pulpit.

Be different. Be yourself. You are unique.

(Jesus) said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Mark 16:15 (NIV)

How can you go into all the world for Jesus if you are busy in church trying to be promoted in ministry? 

What if you are not gifted to be a preacher?

You might be a good musician. 

God might want to use you to play at the front on Sundays, or He might want you to play somewhere else instead. 

There are so many elderly people in institutions who need to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. 

They might not want to listen to Billy Graham but they will listen to beautiful Christian songs. 

There are so many older people just waiting to die without any hope. A few songs and a few words from you can restore the faith to many who have lost hope.

What if you are a gardener or a handyman. (I am not.) 

Deeds often speak louder than words. Simple kindness and practical help bring many to faith.

Has God given you a nice house or apartment? Do you like entertaining guests? 

You could invite a few Christian friends and not yet Christians to meet each other. Pray that God will reveal Jesus through your hospitality and your Christian friends.

Do you like cooking? 

My wife met a lonely older woman on a bus. The woman lived alone and was troubled by poor health. My wife made a pot of soup and took it to this lady’s home.

KNOWING THE HEART OF GOD

God loves you completely. He wants only the best for you. 

He created you to be a wonderful person just like himself. Because He loves you, he wants you to be happy and healthy.

• Most of all, he wants you to be just like his son, Jesus Christ.

For from the very beginning God decided that those who came to him

—and all along he knew who would

—should become like his Son, so that his Son would be the First, with many brothers. Romans 8:29 (TLB) 

We all need to be transformed dramatically to be like Jesus, all of us. 

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 1 John 1:8-9 (NLT) 

The man who wrote these words was the disciple whom Jesus especially loved, the man who wrote the Gospel of John.

• A good leader knows he too is a brother or sister and not a superior holy being.

That doesn't mean a preacher must always be available for everyone who wants his attention. 

• Many people cry for the preacher’s attention like babies for their mother. 
• Because preachers and leaders are only human, they need time to rest, think and listen to God. 

Don’t expect a preacher to give you what only God can give, to give you his complete and undivided attention, to give you perfect wisdom and to love you as his own child.

Once someone rang up our pastor after 2 o’clock in the morning because he couldn't sleep. 
The pastor answered: “Now there are two of us who can’t sleep.” 

But God never sleeps and when you can’t sleep, he is there with you.

God sees the end from the beginning. 

Before your grandparents were born, he looked down the centuries to come and saw you choosing to love him and trust him with your life. 

• He saw you learning to know him and experience his deep affection, to know the intense devotion that he has for you. If you belong to Jesus, God is your FATHER, the perfect Father who adores his children. 

• A good mother adores her baby and the love of God is even stronger.

Sing for joy, O heavens; shout, O earth. Break forth with song, O mountains, for the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion upon them in their sorrow. 

Yet they say, "My Lord deserted us; he has forgotten us."

• "Never! Can a mother forget her little child and not have love for her own son? Yet even if that should be, I will not forget you. Isaiah 49:13-15 (TLB)

What is God like?

But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:8 (NLT) 

Who can understand what this means? 

A child can understand best of all. A child knows what the love of a good mother or father feels like.

Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 18:3 (NLT) 

When it comes to understanding THE LOVE OF GOD, scholars and teachers often become confused.

• In one usually good commentary I found this strange contradiction.

For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:8 (NKJV) 

“How desperately the minister and church need such tenderness and affection for each other!” 

I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. Philippians 1:9 (NLT) 

“ ...love in the Bible never focuses upon good feelings...The focus of love is knowledge.”  Preacher's Outline and Sermon Bible - Commentary.

God is not controlled by his emotions but he feels intensely. 

He wants you and me to know His heart and feel what he feels.