“If I were leading my company or church, I would make them great!” Many people make this statement without knowing the realities of leadership. The first problem with their opinion is the word “I.” When we place our imperfect self as the ultimate focus of wisdom and knowledge, we will fail.
Great leaders, who are disciples of Christ, like Billy Graham, know they are keepers of a flock, not dictators. They take the time to learn God’s characteristics of leadership and focus on their personal relationship with him daily. They continue to work with Jesus and let him teach them daily. Through their growth, Jesus transforms their minds, hearts, attitudes, words, and deeds to look more like his.
Jesus called twelve of the most unlikely men to teach and foster through a close relationship. He saw their differences and used them together to spread his loving gospel and change the world! Throughout Christ’s life, we can see seven leadership characteristics founded in his love:
- Shepherd
Jesus is our Savior, King, and Shepherd. Both Moses and David had seasons in their lives as shepherds. What was God teaching them in these seasons? To find this answer let’s look at the Hebrew definition of a shepherd. The Hebrew word ra’ah, meaning “shepherd,” describes one who tends, leads, feeds, and protects his flock of sheep.
Shepherds spend every minute with their sheep, and they know each one’s strengths, weaknesses, and personalities. Sheep need a shepherd to guide, provide, and protect them. Moses and David had a greater understanding of how to lead a group of individual people after they left the sheep.
Jesus also calls himself our good shepherd and us his sheep. Although he is our King and leader, he is also our shepherd. Jesus also reveals that a shepherd loves his sheep so much that he would die for them. Are you showing your group of people Christ’s love as a leader?
With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand. (Psalm 78:72, ESV)
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11, NLT) - Servant
“But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:26–28, ESV)
A servant is hired or chooses to serve, while an enslaved person is forced. Although Jesus is our Lord and Messiah, he chose to serve us. At the last supper, before his crucifixion, Jesus humbled himself as a servant and washed the feet of every disciple, including Judas, Iscariot, his betrayer. Jesus knew Judas would betray him, yet, he chose to love and serve him. Do you have Christ’s loving, humble, servant dedication as a leader? - Healthy, Godly Counsel
When Jesus walked the earth, fully man, he constantly sought and obeyed God’s counsel. Solomon, the wisest man, also realized the value of healthy, good, Godly counsel.
Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety. The godly are directed by honesty; the wicked fall beneath their load of sin. (Prov. 11:14-15, NLT)
Leadership can be very lonely, even as a disciple of Christ. However, when you foster loving, godly relationships in your life, you will know that their counsel is motivated by their relationship with God and their love for you. You will have counselors to trust. Do you have three healthy, godly people you can ask for advice? Can they honestly speak into your life if they have concerns? If they speak, do you listen? Why or why not? - Love, Responsibility, and Consequence of Leadership
Love and responsibility are brothers. When you are Christ’s disciple, and you love his people under your leadership, you want to: say and do things that help, encourage, strengthen, teach, correct in respect, and unite them under God. Jesus fulfilled his greatest responsibility through his crucifixion and resurrection because he loved us. He also gave us a choice to choose Salvation or damnation.
People, whether a believer or non-believer, who God has entrusted with many abilities, responsibilities, and leadership, will be held to a higher standard on judgment day. How does your leadership reflect Christ’s love through your responsibilities?
Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. (Luke 12:48, ESV)
Jesus said. “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” (Mark 4:24-25, NIV) - Be on Guard; You Will Be Judged with Greater Strictness
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. (Acts 20:28, NIV)
“Pay careful attention to yourselves” is the beginning of this verse. Spiritual leaders, this is a warning to guard your spiritual relationship with God and Jesus and your moral purity. Never forget that God placed you where you are, and he can take you out. The only good that can come from you emanates from Christ living in you as you follow, submit, and obey his guidance and ways.
When you’re in leadership, someone is always watching, including God. Your attitude, words, and actions have a ripple effect on everyone you come in contact with. God’s word warns us against causing a brother to stumble. This warning is even more vital for leaders.
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. (James 3:1, ESV)
Remember, Jesus lives in you and is with you always. Make sure all of your thoughts, attitudes, words, and actions honor and glorify him. Keep this reality in the forefront of your mind to empower you to be more Christ-like. - Leaders Know the Gifts of Others and Bring Unity in Christ
There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Eph. 4:4, 12-16)
God has created each person with a unique set of gifts, skills, and missions. No one is more or less important. Each person must function in unity to function within the body of Christ. Leaders walking with Jesus must treat everyone with equal respect, honor, and opportunity. - Heart Motive is Always Revealed
Every disciple of Christ is commanded to follow the two greatest commandments.
Jesus replied,
” ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-39, NLT)
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Phil. 2:3–4, ESV)
For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light. (Mark 4:22, NLT)
Everyone, including leaders, reveals their heart’s motive and who they are serving through their thoughts, attitudes, words, and deeds. Several times Jesus teaches us that we will know if a tree (a person) is good or bad by evaluating its fruits. A good tree will have the fruits of “love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.” (Gal. 5:22-23, NIV) What do your fruits say about your heart?
Christ’s Love is in Great Godly Leaders
God created the universe and us to give and receive love through personal relationships. Without Christ’s pure love living in us, we become self-centered, self-indulgent with sinful desires, and unloving to others. Love is always a choice. Christ’s choice to love us cost him everything. Yet, he gives us an illustration of what our life would be without his love through the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, MSG.
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, MSG
If you are leading anyone, are you walking with Jesus in his love? What are you willing to surrender to make sure you live in Christ’s love?
