THE EXAMPLE OF
LORDSHIP
Introduction
I would like to invite you to turn in
your Bible with me to 1 Peter 5:1-4.
Main Introduction
Throughout
my life, I have had the opportunity to serve under excellent leaders. While I was in the Army, I served under
highly intelligent and capable leaders.
In fact, as you can imagine, effective leadership in the military is
essential in combat operations and emphasized daily. For almost every rank that a person may achieve in the U.S.
Army, there are schools to further develop the leader, whether officer or
enlisted.
I
have served under great leaders that went on to do great things in our
military. Over the past ten years,
I have seen the men I worked with in the cavalry actually testifying in
congressional hearings. One of my former
commanders went on to lead the Fifth Corps as commanding general into Iraq
during the invasion of 2003.
We
all want to serve under great leaders.
We want leaders that are proficient in their jobs. We want leaders that look out for the well
being of their subordinates. We want leaders that keep us informed. We want leaders that have the know-how
and courage to lead us in crisis situations. We want those leaders that keep a level head during those
crisis situations. We all want to have a great leader.
But,
I have also had not-so-great leaders.
There have been those under which I have served that simply made life
miserable for the troops. It was
obvious that they were motivated by something other than accomplishing the
mission and the welfare and morale of the troops.
Not
only do we want to have great
leaders, we have a desire to be great
leaders. Leadership is a hot topic
in most circles today. Colleges
and universities offer degrees in leadership with every imaginable
specialization. My bookshelf is
bulging with books and manuals on leadership that I have received in military
training, law enforcement training, and in my seminary education. Philosophies on leadership are endless
as academics and practitioners try to decide if leaders are made or born.
The
church is no exception. Church
leaders around the globe have recognized the need for effective leadership
education all the way from denominational presbyteries to the highest levels of
church governance. When I was in
seminary, there were entire blocks of instruction that was classified as
“practical theology” that centered on leadership.
Actually,
the Holy Bible has much to say about
leadership – about how to lead and how not to lead. For example, the Book of Proverbs is filled with leadership
principles, both positive and negative.
We can look at the examples of leadership in Moses, King David, King Hezekiah,
and the Apostles Peter and Paul.
As
the gospel of Jesus Christ spread and the church begin to grow during the New
Testament period, there were times of crisis that required excellent
leadership. The church found
itself being persecuted. The church found itself being infiltrated by false
teachers. The church found itself
struggling with sin in the membership.
The church found itself confronted with competing theologies about the
Lord Jesus Christ. These presented
crises that demanded effective and timely leadership. And the leaders of the first-century church looked to a
single source as their model of how to direct the ministries of the church and
handle the crises that they were facing – Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ gathered twelve young men
and taught them God’s will on leadership in the church. One of those young men, Peter, learned
directly from the greatest leaders what it means to be a leader in the
church.
Today,
I want to focus on one of the leadership principles that Peter learned during
the three years that he was with Jesus Christ on earth. And, I want to show you how that
leadership principle carried over to a crisis situation that the church was
facing in the first century. I
want to show you how God wants the leaders of the church today to relate to the
people that are under their care by following the examples of Jesus and, later,
Peter.
To the elders among you, I appeal
as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share
in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your
care, serving as overseers – not because you must, but because you are willing,
as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording
it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears,
you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away (1 Peter 5:1-4).[1]
Sub-Introduction
The
Apostle Peter wrote this letter to several churches spread out over a large
area during the first century.
These churches were in the Roman Empire and were experiencing real
challenges in the culture in which they lived. At the very least, they were struggling to “ . . . live for
God in the midst of a society ignorant of the true God. Because they were Christians, they were
misunderstood and subjected to cruel treatment.”[2]
At the worst, this letter may have been sent during the period of the first
major persecutions of the Christians under the Roman Emperor Nero. As a result, people were being
influenced to compromise their faith and holiness to stop the intense pressure
and mistreatment that they were experiencing. The Christians in these churches
were in crisis and they needed real, godly direction and leadership.
Peter’s audience
for this letter was everyone in those churches, but he becomes very specific in
chapter five and addresses the “elders” in the church – the leaders – because
he knew that it was the elders that were critical to the spiritual well being
of the saints in these churches.
Peter specifically challenges the elders in these churches with
understanding healthy motivations for leadership in the church of Jesus
Christ. Today, I want to
specifically address one of those motivations found in the passage that I just
read and how it applies to anyone that is a leader in this church or any church.
Main
Body
Explanation
First,
I want you to notice something in verse 2. Peter establishes “ownership” of those that the elders are
leading. He says, “Be shepherds of
God’s flock that is under your care . . .”. Peter wanted the elders – the
leaders – in those churches to understand that the saints in those churches did
not belong to them. They belonged
to God. These saints were not for
their use and misuse. These people
were the children of God, and God had placed them under the elders’ care.
Notice that he
says “care,” not “control.”
Unfortunately, there are leaders in the church that seek to control people instead of care for people. Controlling people is the result of
taking ownership of something. But
when it is clearly established whom this flock belongs to, care versus control
becomes very clear. A person who
owns something controls it. The
flock belongs to the Lord. The flock is under his control. It is clear that Peter wants the elders
to understand that the elders don’t own this flock. God does. And
God has called leaders of the church to care for his flock. You see, when you control something,
the focus is on you and your needs.
When you care, the focus is on the needs of others. Also, when you control, you are
limiting. When you care, you are facilitating
growth.
The
implication should be clear to all of us.
Peter is making it very clear that when you are not in control, when you
do not own the flock, you are not the master. But when you are caring for the flock that belongs to the
Lord, that makes you a servant to the Lord and to his people.
This
should cause leaders in the church of Jesus Christ a moment of serious pause
and consideration about what this means for all leaders. If the flock, the church, does not
belong to us but belongs to God and is under our care, not control, then we
will one day give an account of the condition of the flock when the Lord
returns. This should directly
affect our motivations in how we lead God’s people! Our motivation should be to care for the flock, not control
the flock. We should always be
asking these questions to remind us of whose flock this is and to hold
ourselves accountable for how we lead: When Christ returns, in what condition
will he find his flock? Will he find them healthy or malnourished and diseased? Will he find them safe or harassed by
the enemy? In what condition will
the Great Shepherd find the people that he loves when he returns?
Because
the elders are called to care for the flock instead of control the flock, Peter
carries this principle further in verse 3: “ . . . not lording it over those
entrusted to you . . .” The word Peter uses in the Greek text is katakurieuontes, which literally means
“to lord it over someone, to domineer, to exercise complete control.” The way the word is constructed in the
Greek suggests that the action is unfavorable to the object.[3]
In the New Testament, this word occurs four times and always has a negative
force. “It is characteristic of
Gentile rulers to exercise their rule to their own advantage and contrary to
the interests and well-being of the people.”[4]
Where
did Peter learn this principle?
From Jesus! In Mark 10:42,
Jesus said to the disciples, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of
the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority
over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great
among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of
all. For even the Son of Man did
not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for
many.” This is one of the most
challenging and counter-intuitive principles of Christian leadership. In the world’s system of leading, the
idea is that people must be governed with a strong hand. But in God’s kingdom, leadership that
is the greatest is defined by downward mobility, not upward mobility. The leaders in the church of Jesus
Christ are not to lead as the world leads. We are called to lead as Jesus leads
– by becoming a servant of the Great Shepherd and serving his flock. But how do we do that? How does Peter tell us what becoming
servants to God’s flock looks like?
Illustration
“Shepherds
of God’s flock are not to lord it over the flock, but to prove to be
examples. They are to lead by
their example. This is graphically
illustrated in the U.S. Army. The
symbol of the infantry (foot soldiers who do most of the front-line fighting)
is a soldier with a rifle in one hand, helmet cocked, and head looking back
behind him. The rifle is pointing
forward, the other arm is giving a ‘Come on ahead’ motion, and the leader is
shouting back, ‘Follow me!’ This
symbol illustrates leadership-by-example, as this soldier calls his men to
follow him into the heart of the battle.”[5]
Application
Peter
says that instead of lording over God’s flock, the leader in the church should
set the example. The Greek word
translated into English as “example” is tupos. It is the word from which we get the
English word “type.” In classical Greek, tupos
referred first of all to a concrete object and then to the impression that it
leaves in another object.
Figuratively, it means to leave a moral pattern.
For example, do
you remember when you were a kid and played with Play-Doh? If you take a quarter and press it into
Play-Doh, the quarter leaves an impression of the face of the coin in the
surface. Tupos is both the coin and the impression that it leaves.
So,
the question is not whether you are leaving an impression in God’s flock. The question is, “What impression are you leaving in God’s flock?” Also, we need to be asking ourselves,
“What should a godly, Christian
leader be leaving in God’s flock?
What would that impression look like? What ethical and moral pattern are you presenting to people
and impressing on people?”
To
apply this principle to our lives, we should turn to Paul’s first letter to his
protégé, Timothy. In 1 Timothy
4:12, Paul uses the same word, tupos,
when instructing Timothy on his leadership of the churches in Ephesus: “ . . .
set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in
purity.” Let’s look at each of
these impressions or examples that we should be leaving in God’s flock.
First,
God wants us to set the example in speech. As leaders, one of our primary functions is to
communicate. We use our mouths a
great deal. The problem we run
into is that the Bible teaches us that “We all sin more readily with our
tongues than with any other part of our bodies.”[6] In the Epistle of James, he says in
chapter 3:6 and 8, “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts
of the body. It corrupts the whole
person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by
hell. [N]o man can tame the tongue.
It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” Every word that comes from our mouths needs to be moderated
by our brain before we say it. As
leaders, we need to gauge everything we say. As Christian leaders, we should never be quick-tempered. Also, one of the ways that we set the
example is by godly speech. Our
words should never be crass or vulgar.
The example we set should be a Christ-like example of speech.
Second,
God commands us to set the example in our lifestyle. “ . . . All Christians are to imitate Christ, but those set
aside [as leaders] are to live exemplary lives that serve to model, inspire,
and encourage imitation and emulation of others.”[7] Our lifestyle should be, “ . . . first
and foremost, of holiness and uprightness.”[8] The Apostle Paul teaches in Titus 1:7 –
8, “Since an overseer [in other words, a leader] is entrusted with God’s work,
he must be blameless – not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to
drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather he must be hospitable, one who
loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and
disciplined.” As God’s flock looks
at our lives, they should be able to see very clearly what a devoted follower
of Jesus Christ looks like.
Third,
God commands us to set the example in love. “Love is the priority virtue, and it must be conspicuously
present in the [leader’s] life. It
is not an option but an absolute necessity.”[9] Paul teaches in Colossians 3:12 – 14,
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves
with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive
whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all
together in perfect unity.” As
shepherds of God’s flock, we are to be the examples of what it means to love
the Lord with all of our heart, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbors as
ourselves.
Fourth,
God commands us to set the example of faith. The first way that we set the example of faith is by
standing firmly on the teachings of the
faith, the total body of the objective truth of God’s Word. As faithful leaders, we should set the
example of what it means to stand firmly on the foundation of God’s Word and “
. . . to develop our understanding of it and its application to contemporary life.”[10] Also, we are to be examples of what it
means to “walk by faith and not by sight.” By our actions and our commitments, we show people how to
live lives with total trust in God.
Finally,
God commands us to set the example by living a life of purity. Purity is an essential aspect of our
relationship with God. There
simply is no room for debate on this issue. The Christian leader is called to be an example of
faithfulness to his or her spouse and called to deliberately aim for sexual purity.[11] In Paul’s teachings in both First
Timothy and in Titus, Paul makes it abundantly clear that one of the primary
characteristics and qualifications for leadership in the church is sexual
purity. We are called to set the
example of what self-controlled and pure person looks like.
Conclusion
The
primary motivation for being a leader in the church is to care for God’s flock,
not to control it. The primary
motivation for being a leader in the church is to serve God by taking care of
the precious saints who have been entrusted to us until the Great Shepherd
returns. The Bible teaches us the
primary way that we care for God’s flock – by being the example to the
flock. By being an example to the
flock, we give them the example of lordship – what it looks like when Jesus is
Lord of your life. You are not the
Lord. You are the example of
submitting to the Lordship of Christ.
In whatever ministry you may be involved, ask yourself, “Am I seeking to
care for these that have been entrusted to me or am I trying to control them?”
“General
Eisenhower would demonstrate the art of leadership with a simple piece of
string. He’d put it on a table and
say: ‘Pull it and it will follow
wherever you wish. Push it and it will go nowhere at
all. It’s just that way when it
comes to leading people. They need
to follow a person who is leading by example. At another time he said, ‘You do not lead by hitting people
over the head – that’s assault, not leadership.’”[12]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Green,
Michael P., Eds. 1500 Illustrations for
Biblical Preaching. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004.
Jones, L.
Gregory, and Kevin R. Armstrong. Resurrecting
Excellence: Shaping Faithful Christian Ministry. Grand Rapids: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing, 2006.
Plum III, Edwin
A. Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary,
ed. Kenneth L. Barker and John R. Kohlenberger III. Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
1994.
Prime, Derek and
Alistair Begg. On Being a Pastor:
Understanding Our Calling and Work. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2004.
Rogers, Jr.,
Cleon L. and Cleon L. Rogers, III. The
New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 1998.
Verbrugge,
Verlyn, eds. The New International
Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis, Abridged. Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 2003.
[1]
Unless otherwise noted, all scripture citations are from the New International
Version of the Holy Bible.
[2]
Edwin A. Plum III, Zondervan NIV Bible
Commentary, ed. Kenneth L. Barker and John R. Kohlenberger III (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 1041.
[3]
Cleon L. Rogers, Jr. and Cleon L. Rogers, III, The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998), 578.
[4]
Verlyn Verbrugge eds., The New
International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis, Abridged (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
2003), 325.
[5]
Michael P. Green, eds. 1500 Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 216.
[6]
Derek Prime and Alistair Begg, On Being a
Pastor: Understanding Our Calling and Work (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2004),
39-40.
[7]
L. Gregory Jones and Kevin R. Armstrong, Resurrecting
Excellence: Shaping Faithful Christian Ministry (Grand Rapids: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing, 2006), 86.
[8]
Prime and Gregg, 40.
[9]
Ibid., 42.
[10]
Ibid., 43.
[11]
Ibid., 44 – 45.
[12]
Green, 216.
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