Influence 6
Leadership God’s Way
In the world system the route to leadership in any organization is pretty straightforward. You begin with a junior position and work your way up the ranks. This is a very common approach whether in the military or in a Fortune 500 company. Your competence and desire determine your upward mobility. In some cases some people are so aggressive in their determination to climb the corporate ladder they will do almost anything to get ahead. The consensus is your progress is solely upon your shoulders. Companies will even take advantage of the fact that there is so much competition to get that plum job. They will hold the carrot out in front of the crowd and say its there for those who put in the hours. If you want promotion, you have to pay the price. It is a self-perpetuating system, as the boss who had to go through the hoops will put others through the same rigmarole because he or she had too. The Peter Principle states that "in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence", meaning that employees tend to be promoted until they reach a position at which they cannot work competently.
The Kingdom of God does not work the same way. It is not age related or self-determined by our own personal effort. You have Timothy being exhorted by Paul in 1 Timothy 4:12 “Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” Then you have Moses becoming the leader of Israel when he was 80. He had tried at the age of 40 to defend them and had to flee to the wilderness to save his life. The corporate world of today would not promote an 80-year-old man to CEO. But God did!
God’s route to leadership is very different from what any of us would expect. The route to promotion in God’s Kingdom seems to be in exactly the opposite direction from where you would expect to go. Look at Joseph. He was his father’s favourite son, given a richly ornamented robe, which spoke of his authority within the family. He had dreams of his promotion over his brothers and the whole family. The envy and hatred of his brothers was palpable. They almost killed him but his oldest brother, Rubin, convinced them to sell him into slavery and thereby spare his life. From Canaan he was taken to Egypt where Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guards purchased him. He was promoted within the household but was still a slave. After being falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife of impropriety, he was sent to prison. In prison he worked faithfully and was given a high level of responsibility but was still a prisoner/slave. When the time was right, God promoted him. He went from prison to second in command of all Egypt, the equivalent of being promoted to vice president of the US in this day.
Joseph did not have a sterling cv. He had not attended the right colleges, worked in government or even come from the right family. He was a Hebrew slave in prison when he was promoted. The route he took was one like Moses’ that reflected Christ’s route of promotion. Philippians 2 says: “3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
This route is one that exhibits humility. It is important because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Pride does not reflect the character of God. It was the source of Satan’s downfall. It can be a stumbling block to leadership. Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 3 verse 6 that one of the qualifications for a leader is: “He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil.” Conceited, arrogant, proud leaders are hard taskmasters.
I have shared the importance of influence as the bedrock that defines leadership. There are ways to increase that leadership. But ultimately God determines our promotion into positions of leadership. His qualification is based upon our character as believers who are reflective of Christ.
In the world system the route to leadership in any organization is pretty straightforward. You begin with a junior position and work your way up the ranks. This is a very common approach whether in the military or in a Fortune 500 company. Your competence and desire determine your upward mobility. In some cases some people are so aggressive in their determination to climb the corporate ladder they will do almost anything to get ahead. The consensus is your progress is solely upon your shoulders. Companies will even take advantage of the fact that there is so much competition to get that plum job. They will hold the carrot out in front of the crowd and say its there for those who put in the hours. If you want promotion, you have to pay the price. It is a self-perpetuating system, as the boss who had to go through the hoops will put others through the same rigmarole because he or she had too. The Peter Principle states that "in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence", meaning that employees tend to be promoted until they reach a position at which they cannot work competently.
The Kingdom of God does not work the same way. It is not age related or self-determined by our own personal effort. You have Timothy being exhorted by Paul in 1 Timothy 4:12 “Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” Then you have Moses becoming the leader of Israel when he was 80. He had tried at the age of 40 to defend them and had to flee to the wilderness to save his life. The corporate world of today would not promote an 80-year-old man to CEO. But God did!
God’s route to leadership is very different from what any of us would expect. The route to promotion in God’s Kingdom seems to be in exactly the opposite direction from where you would expect to go. Look at Joseph. He was his father’s favourite son, given a richly ornamented robe, which spoke of his authority within the family. He had dreams of his promotion over his brothers and the whole family. The envy and hatred of his brothers was palpable. They almost killed him but his oldest brother, Rubin, convinced them to sell him into slavery and thereby spare his life. From Canaan he was taken to Egypt where Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guards purchased him. He was promoted within the household but was still a slave. After being falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife of impropriety, he was sent to prison. In prison he worked faithfully and was given a high level of responsibility but was still a prisoner/slave. When the time was right, God promoted him. He went from prison to second in command of all Egypt, the equivalent of being promoted to vice president of the US in this day.
Joseph did not have a sterling cv. He had not attended the right colleges, worked in government or even come from the right family. He was a Hebrew slave in prison when he was promoted. The route he took was one like Moses’ that reflected Christ’s route of promotion. Philippians 2 says: “3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
This route is one that exhibits humility. It is important because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Pride does not reflect the character of God. It was the source of Satan’s downfall. It can be a stumbling block to leadership. Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 3 verse 6 that one of the qualifications for a leader is: “He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil.” Conceited, arrogant, proud leaders are hard taskmasters.
I have shared the importance of influence as the bedrock that defines leadership. There are ways to increase that leadership. But ultimately God determines our promotion into positions of leadership. His qualification is based upon our character as believers who are reflective of Christ.