Lessons for leadership drawn specifically from Scripture

Words to Go By

As an educator and school administrator, I have participated in many school-year-ending activities, one of those being graduations. One of the interesting things about graduations is that – like many endings – it is also a beginning, which is why they are also called commencements (the dictionary definition of “commencement” is “a beginning or start”). During these times of celebration, there are often speeches and recognitions given that serve to remind the audience of where these students have come from and to challenge the students in their future direction. These speeches could be considered as words that motivate, inspire, and direct as young people go out into the world – or, words to (literally) go by.

Many years ago, when I was asked to deliver a commencement address at a graduation ceremony, it was this idea that prompted me to think of examples in Scripture that might qualify as commencement speeches. I started looking for stories that showed someone giving or receiving some kind of “send-off,” a speech or challenge that provided motivation and direction to that individual as he prepared to begin a journey of life or ministry. There were three that readily came to my mind. All three describe events in which God spoke to a person, speaking words that give us an important lesson, as that person was being sent out by God. It seems that God was giving words to go by.

The first example is that of Adam, who, as God’s first created human, could be said to be the father of mankind. He, along with Eve, had brought sin into the world, and now, as part of the consequence of their choices, they were being sent out of the garden. However, God still had a plan unfolding and wanted to bless them, so before sending them out, He issued a challenge (or perhaps a directive) in Genesis 1:28 when He said, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” God provided Adam and Eve with a calling to care for His creation, and to be a manager and leader over the earth. As faithful followers of Jesus, these words to go by could be simply stated for us as a call to do what God calls us to do, and do it well.

The second example is that of Abram (his name had not yet been changed to Abraham), who could be said to be the father of Israel. God knew the role that Abraham was going to play in the founding of His nation, so He spoke to Abraham before sending him out on his mission. Genesis 12:1 tells us that God directed Abraham when He told him, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” God provided Abraham with a calling to embark on a mission as one chosen by God to represent Him, even without knowing the outcome or ultimate destination (he only knew that God would show him at the right time). Again, as faithful followers of Jesus, these words to go by could be simply stated for us as a call to go where God sends us to go, and be His ambassador.

The third example is that of Jesus, who could be said to be the father of Christianity. At this time, Jesus had not yet begun His ministry, and until this point, people only knew – by way of John the Baptist – that the Messiah was coming. Jesus approached John the Baptist while he was baptizing people, and John immediately recognized the Savior. Jesus was then baptized by John, officially initiating His ministry, and at that point, God spoke from heaven and said, in Mark 1:11, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” God provided Jesus with words of encouragement to begin His ministry, knowing the rejection and pain He would experience. Once more, as faithful followers of Jesus, these words to go by could be simply stated for us as a call to be who God made us to be, and live to please Him.

Putting these three charges together, I can say (and I did say this in that commencement speech), that regardless of where you are going in your future, where you are serving, or in what capacity you are leading, these are three valuable challenges that we can carry with us into our ministries for the rest of our lives. As you commence from this moment in time – as you go from here – remember these words to go by:

  • Do what God calls you to do, and do it well
  • Go where God sends you to go, and be His ambassador
  • Be who God made you to be, and live to please Him
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If you’re good you don’t have to tell people, they’ll tell you

One of my father’s many great attributes was the character trait of #humility. As a teenager and a young man, I was often in awe at his capability and competence in so many areas, and yet he was never arrogant or prideful, and would not boast about his own accomplishments or abilities. Seemingly in spite of his extroverted nature and his constant interaction with people, he never seemed to be drawing attention to his own successes, but rather, poured into others. Like many young people, I suppose, I wished that everyone else could see how great my father was, yet he never seemed to point out those things in himself.

I finally began to better understand this about him when I was a senior in high school and was receiving a particular accolade. There was a brief mention of this accomplishment in the local newspaper, and the next time one of my aunts came to visit, she mentioned the article and said to me, in front of my dad, that she had had no idea of my level of accomplishment before. I remember my dad saying to me, “Jeff, if you’re good, you don’t have to tell people, they’ll tell you.” At first, on the surface, that seemed like a simple statement, but now I realize that my dad was trying to teach me two very important things:

  • Humility is one of the most valuable character traits a person can have. No one likes pompous arrogance. It is unattractive to brag about yourself and makes you look needy, selfish, and insecure. In fact, #JimCollins points out in his best-selling book Good to Great that humility is one of the two primary attributes of a Level 5 Leader. So my dad taught me to see my skills and abilities as gifts from God to be used for the benefit of others, not for my own recognition.
  • Your actions speak louder than your words. One of his other many sayings (one I’ve often referenced) was, “Your walk talks and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.” He knew – and he taught me – that people would be far more affected by my actions than my words, and that it would be my actions that would make my words believable. So he taught me to let my actions speak for me.

#TomNelson, in his book Work Matters, points out that “we are witnesses by our words, but we also witness by our work. The excellence of our work often gives us the credibility to speak of the excellence of our Lord Jesus and to share the good news of the gospel with our coworkers.” (p. 96) In saying this, he reminds us of this same truth, that people will judge us, and by extension will judge our God, by the quality and competence of the work we do.   In turn, people will draw conclusions about us based on what they see. And that’s why Dr. #HenryCloud, in Necessary Endings, states that “the best predictor of the future is the past.” (p. 93) He points out that what we have seen people do and how we have seen them act in the past gives us the best picture of what they are likely to be like in the future.

The book of Proverbs echos this sentiment in Proverbs 27:2, which says, “Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger and not your own lips,” and in Proverbs 22:29, which says, “Do you see a man who excels in his work?  He will stand before kings, he will not stand before unknown men.”  The New Testament, in Philippians, talks about the fact that Jesus humbled himself (for the purpose of providing our salvation), but that God exalted Him.  In a similar manner, in our service and obedience to God, we ought to be humbling ourselves and glorifying Him, then letting others judge us by what we do and how we live, and letting God do the lifting up in the way that best completes His purpose.  Proverbs 3:4 reminds us that a life lived this way brings “favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.”

For good or for ill, people will draw conclusions about us based on what they observe. Therefore, as leaders, workers, followers, husbands and wives, students and teachers, or in whatever role we find ourselves, we ought to do our best and we ought to do it well. But we shouldn’t need to point it out; rather, we need to model humility along the way.  Your work and your actions should be such that people can see what you do, and see for themselves that you do it well, without you needing to arrogantly inflate yourself (and as a follower of Jesus, they should see a reflection of Him in your life at the same time). When that happens, they will be much more likely to appreciate your gifts and accomplishments than to resent them. So I will say the same thing to you that my dad said to me: If you’re good, you don’t have to tell people, they’ll tell you.

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Before You Can Do It, You Have to Know It

This is a seemingly obvious and simple statement, but upon reflection, one with significant meaning.  Simply put, before you can teach and lead others, you have to live it, but in order to live it, you have to know it. I experienced this (or, better put, failed at this) in my first experience as the top leader in an organization. To be honest, as I walked in the door, I was questioning my own preparedness, unsure of whether I knew enough to be able to lead well. But I had been given the opportunity, so I quelled my fears and jumped.

I arrived at a place with longstanding, competent employees, and my relative youth probably didn’t help. In my enthusiasm, I started to run without first taking the time to learn. I began making changes (some of them drastic) and implementing new policies and procedures but failed to take the time to study the history, culture, and people involved. As a result, my actions stemmed from ignorance rather than knowledge, resulting in conflict and disruption. It wasn’t until I took the time to learn that my actions of leadership could represent the right knowledge and therefore win followers and become effective.

But for Christian leaders, this truth goes much deeper: to be effective in your actions of leadership, you must first and foremost have a personal and in-depth knowledge of God and His Word. Your knowledge of His truth is more important than anything else in your preparation. Ezra, as a leader, provides a great example of this. In the passage that describes his preparation for leadership – and more pointedly, his preparation for a specific task – Ezra 7:10 states, “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.” Clearly, he had prepared himself for what he was about to undertake, but notice the order of the steps because the order is important! The first step in the process was “to seek the law of the Lord,” which led him to living out what he knew and, in turn, enabled him to teach and to lead. People followed him because his life gave him the credibility to lead, but first having the knowledge gave him the capability to lead.

What does it mean, then, that he had sought the law of the Lord? It means that he had spent time with God. He had studied the Scriptures intensely and diligently, learning who God is and what He says. And that took time and intentional practice. At the core, this is a basic and fundamental part of the Christian walk, and so it shows up nearly everywhere that someone talks about steps of growth. Gordon MacDonald, in Ordering Your Private World, discusses the importance of first having the private world of the inner man in order and says that this must come from developing intimacy with God through regular time with Him and in His Word. Tim Challies, in The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment, explains that the ability to discern is directly related to knowledge of God and of His Word. J. P. Moreland, in Love Your God with All Your Mind, communicates that faith is also an act of reason, based on truth – specifically the truth of Scripture – and therefore, Scripture must be studied for faith to grow. Kevin DeYoung, in Taking God at His Word, explores the doctrine of Scripture and, in the process, argues for the importance and necessity of reading and studying the Bible. And the list could go on and on. The clear understanding is that every Christian (not just leaders) needs to regularly spend time with God, studying Scripture and building that personal relationship.

Scripture itself supports this truth, as is seen in the examples of men and women of God (like Ezra), but as is also explicitly stated. Psalm 1 describes the person who will be blessed because of his moral choices and states in verse 2 that this is someone “whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.” In the book of Joshua, chapter 1, verse 8, as Joshua is preparing to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land, God challenges and encourages him with this statement: “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” The bottom line is our thought processes, choices, and outcomes are directly impacted by our time spent in the Word of God.

As a crucial byproduct of studying Scripture, Ezra developed an intimate, personal relationship with God. Because of that personal and deep relationship, he didn’t simply learn to know who God was and is; he also came to understand God’s nature and heart. He had developed a relationship that enabled him to trust in God even in uncertainty and difficulty. It was from this relationship that he was, therefore, able to move and act with confidence in God’s sovereign plan and that he was able to see God’s hand and His purpose in the events that occurred.

This is a critical lesson for you and me. Leaders must be learners, but Christian leaders must also be learners of God’s Word. Therefore, in our leadership development, we absolutely must study Scripture, growing in intimacy with God. We need regular time with God, in prayer and in His Word. This must be central and foundational to what we do, to how we live, and to our call or purpose from Him. Doing this first is what makes us knowledgeable and gives us the capability to lead, because we will learn to see people and circumstances from God’s perspective, shaping how we think and act. It is from this growth of knowledge and relationship with God that we are able to “walk the talk,” modeling and practicing what we know and living authentic, genuine lives that inspire trust and result in effective leadership.

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Be an Example to the Flock

Early in my marriage, my wife and my mother were having a conversation about me (always a scary thought), when my wife commented about how annoying it was that I would wiggle my feet while I went to sleep, which of course made it difficult for her to fall asleep. My mother replied, “His dad does the same thing!” What was most interesting to me about this was that I was not even aware (consciously, at least) that this was one of my dad’s habits.

Years later, when we lived in another state, my parents came to visit, and while there, my dad came to see me at work. It didn’t take long for my extroverted father to disappear in search of other conversations, and after a while, one of my coworkers stepped into my office and asked if my father happened to be visiting. When I asked what made him say that – knowing that he had not met my father – he said, “Because I just saw someone who walks exactly like you . . . and like your son.” These two events illustrated for me the realization of how much I had followed my father’s example (whether I was aware of it or not), and how much my son, in turn, was following mine.

This is true for all of us – we are examples, whether we consciously realize it or not. People watch us, especially people that are close to us or are following us. And when they watch us, they learn from our example and emulate what we do, in some form or another. That’s why it doesn’t actually work for us to tell our children to “do as I say and not as I do,” because the truth is, they are going to do what we do regardless of what we say.

Knowing the power of our example, the Apostle Peter gives it some attention in the book of I Peter. In fact, he specifically talks about our example in the context of leadership, but before we get there, let’s get a broader view of the whole book. In the first four chapters, Peter seems to spend a lot of time talking about the importance of serving others in humility. Most of this instruction is applied to specific relationships and circumstances (such as the relationship between citizen and government, husband and wife, employer and employee, Christian brothers and sisters, and so on), but is also connected back in some way to our call to glorify God and reflect Christ in everything we do. He also clearly says that having this kind of conduct and character will not always be received well, and in fact, may bring persecution and suffering, but to do it anyway . . . because our motive is always outside of ourselves: again, so that God can be glorified and Christ can be modeled.

In this context of serving, humility, and representing Jesus, Peter says in chapter 5, verses 1-3:

“1To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”

Peter says that those who are leaders have a responsibility to watch over and care for the people they lead. When I read how he describes that, it sounds to me like it is an obligation that should not be done out of obligation! He says we are to do this not because we have to, but because we want to; not for what we can get out of it, but for what we can give; and not to climb the ladder or exert power, but to serve as an example of what we are trying to grow. He says that we need to lead with a positive, selfless, and giving attitude while living an authentic example in front of them.

You see, as a leader you ought to be caring for the people you lead, but you shouldn’t do it for what you can get out of it, rather, you should do it because it is the right thing to do. In doing so, you provide an example that will shape and influence them far more than you realize, because they are watching you and they will imitate you. In the end, your recognition and reward are beyond the material and temporal gains, but will instead be the lifetime reward of developing people and the eternal reward of glorifying God. Therefore, as a leader: be an example to the flock.

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