Skip to content Should you love your leader? Aug 3 · 40 min ...more
Should you love your leader?
August 3, 2023 · 40 min
How do you come under leadership? How do you lead? Join us as continue in our ‘Good Fight’ series and dive into the topic of leadership.
Series Mark Driscoll Audio August 3, 2023 · 40 min · Mark Driscoll Audio
How do you come under leadership? How do you lead? Join us as continue in our ‘Good Fight’ series and dive into the topic of leadership. ...more Show the full description Show less How do you come under leadership? How do you lead? Join us as continue in our ‘Good Fight’ series and dive into the topic of leadership.
Series Mark Driscoll Audio
384K followers
With Pastor Mark, it’s all about Jesus! He is a spiritual leader, prolific author, and compelling speaker, but at his core, he is a family man. Mark and his
384K followers
0:01 Good Fight. That's the name of our summer real men bible study. We'll be going verse by verse through first Timothy. You and me up here in the mountains, real informal, casual. 12 weeks looking at an older0:12 man named Paul building up and investing in a younger man named Timothy, teaching him how to be a man of God and fight a good fight. And I'll tell you, in a day when the world has0:24 lost its mind and everything's going to hell, A few men need to learn how to fight. I'll see you guys online this summer as we study first Timothy, the good fight. Well, do your0:36 favorite highly offensive Bible teacher with a Shrek sized head and bangs that have gone home to be with the Lord, but a varsity level beard to compensate. Back0:48 with our summer series, Good Fight, and we're going through first Timothy. It's like a spiritual father. Paul speaking to and pulling up spiritual son,1:00 Timothy. And, yeah, it's been a good series. Thanks for joining in and helping get the word out. The number of men that we're reaching is staggering. And1:12 I was even out of town at a hardware store, and dude came up and introduced himself, tunes in every single week, and I was getting roofing nails for a project. And let me just say, if you're a1:24 roofer, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Man, if the last are going to be first, roofers in heaven, we're all going to be cleaning your gutters. Man, I was up on the roof trying to nail down a flashing.1:36 We're in Arizona. I mean, it it is it is it is like 2 degrees away from hell right now. We're just we're just a a tick under hell. And1:48 and for all you guys that are working outside, you you guys that are fixing HVAC in places where it's not working and you're in the attic, it's 1000000 degrees and you roofers and you landscapers2:00 and you guys that are building homes and doing concrete work and kind of some of the stuff my dad used to do, man, thank you. Especially as we're in Arizona right now and it's 118 degrees. Thank you. Thank2:12 thank you. Nonetheless, here's today's topic, command number 10, love leaders. And in each section, Paul the spiritual father is telling Timothy the spiritual2:23 son, kind of here's here's another thing to work on, to focus on, to grow up in, to become a good man who's ready to fight for his faith and his family and his freedom,2:35 a good fight. And today we're in first Timothy chapter 5 verse 17 through chapter 6 verse 2. And it's got my notes here and let me get rid of my cough2:47 drop. And if you're a preacher, doTERRA essential oils, cough drops, or a singer, best thing in the world, change your life, save your voice, along2:59 with, an organic propolis spray. Here's my total notes. Most of this is verbal processing. You get what you pay for. This is free. Lower your expectations. We'll start with leadership. And3:10 what Paul is telling here, he's telling Timothy, a younger man, here's how you relate to leadership. And now, Timothy is exercising leadership. So previously, Paul had kind of been the first3:22 in command and Timothy was the second. Well, now Paul is out of town, if memory serves me correct. I think he's in Ephesus writing the letter. And now Timothy is the first in3:34 charge, so he's kind of taken the senior leader position. And the question is, well, how do you come under leadership? And then how do you lead? And so the key to leadership is number3:46 1, being a good follower of a good leader. And then number 2, being a good leader so that others can follow. And so you just need to know that leadership is There's a3:58 lot of definitions. I'll give you a simple 1. It's vision and influence. Number 1, a leader has vision. They see a different, better, brighter future, and4:09 they're able to compellingly articulate that, and then they are able to influence others. Now people will trust them, follow them,4:21 support them, fund them, come alongside them, aid and assist them. So leadership is vision and influence. And some guys say they're leaders, they're not. They may4:33 have vision, but they don't have influence. And there was an old preacher once said, Any guy who says he's a leader and doesn't have followers is just a fool out for a walk. And that's true. So it's vision and influence.4:44 And God works through leadership. At work, God works through your boss. That's why in the New Testament, it has a lot of things to say to employers and employees.4:57 In the church, God works through leadership starting with the senior pastor, the first in charge, the singular human head of that local church. And then God also5:08 works through leadership in the family, the husband and father being the head, and then the wife and the mother also being a co leader. So the Bible says over and over to the5:20 kids, honor and obey your mother and your father. So in every level of society, God works through leadership. He does this as well through political leadership, which is why Romans 13 says5:32 to give heed to secular governing authorities. And so what God does, God works through leadership, and to not regard leadership is to be demonic.5:44 And Satan was the first to demonstrate rebellion against authority and independence from authority. And what we have in the west tends to be a rebellion against authority and a5:56 disregard of authority, and it's demonic, and it started with Satan. And God wants leaders to be accountable to him and the people to be accountable to both him and the leaders.6:08 And that being said, God holds leaders and followers in the Bible accountable. And God does deal with ungodly leaders. Now, the problem that we have today, we have the wrong people leading and6:20 they have the wrong vision. And we have what is explained in Isaiah chapter 3, verse 12, a broken culture where children and unhealthy6:32 women are leading and men are absent. Here's what it says in Isaiah 3 12, You suppress my people, women rule over them. My people, your guides lead6:44 you astray. They turn you from the path. What Isaiah was prophesying was a day when children and youth culture and the6:55 emotional inclinations of the least mature and experienced are leading and influencing culture. And then with them are domineering, overbearing,7:07 ungodly, Jezebelian women. And that the blind guides, the leaders are saying we should be for children and women. And what they're doing7:19 is they are choosing the least healthy women and the least mature children to make the leadership decisions. If you really want to help women and children, you do what we do at Real7:31 Men, you build men up to bless women and children. That's what you do. And so here are 5 ways that if you are a leader, you can help build a culture7:43 through teaching the word of God so that it is healthy. And then if you are under authority, these are 5 ways that you can grow in submitting to and respectfully7:54 honoring and following and helping your church leadership, your business leadership, your father and your family leadership. And I always like to say that leadership is a dance. And that is that the leader needs to8:06 be humble and the people need to be honoring. And if you have a situation where the people are honoring but the leader isn't humble, it becomes domineering and overbearing. It smells like North Korea.8:18 If you have a situation where the leader is humble, but the people aren't honoring, then they use and abuse the leader. These are the people that underpay and dishonor their pastor,8:30 overwork them, and disrespect their family. The leaders being humble, but the people are not being honoring. This dance is how the leader can be humble and the people can be honoring. So number 1, you love a8:42 leader by paying them. And he says this in first Timothy 5 17 and 18, Let the elders and elders here are in the old and new testament, and lots of8:54 different churches and denominations will argue about this. I want to set that all aside. Paul says not to quibble over words. In the most basic sense, it means mature, godly, seasoned older men who know the9:06 scriptures, have the Holy Spirit and life experience, so they're in the best position to make the best decisions. We're talking about the wise, mature, sage like men. Let the elders9:18 who rule well be considered worthy of double honor. God commands honor, and God is to be honored. And when God establishes a leader, the people are to honor God by9:29 honoring the leader. If you are suspicious, jaded, have a father wound, you have a problem with authority, you are rebellious by nature, you have a problem that needs to be9:41 solved, and you need to say less about other people and ask God to speak to you about what your problem is. For the scripture says, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the9:53 grain. That's Deuteronomy 20 five:four, and quote, the laborer deserves his wages. That's what Jesus says in Luke 10 verse 7. And what we're seeing here is what I'll call10:04 governance. Leadership is what an individual has. Governance would refer to the system. So you can have a good leader in a bad system and they're going to fail10:16 because the system is really the parameters in which the leader works. Not nearly enough is written on governance. Governance is singular headship, plural leadership10:27 like the Trinity, a singular head who is the leader, and a plurality of leaders. It needs to include internal authority structures and external accountability structures.10:40 I can't get into all of this, but what we're getting into here is governance. And that is, is the church, is the business, is the family architected in such a way that those who are in authority are10:51 under God's authority, and those who are under their authority are Godly leadership for their blessing and benefit. And I believe that governance is a gift. And I believe11:03 when the Bible uses words like overseer, it's talking about governance. Some people in the Bible are also called governors. 1 of them is a man named Nehemiah. And governing is not working11:15 in the organization, it's working on the organization. It's not managing or just leading, it is architecting the entire structure, budgets, job descriptions,11:27 convictions, priorities, scheduling, all of those details. It's sequencing and architecting. It's like you build the house that everyone else lives in. So when you go to build a house, there's an11:39 architect, and then there's a builder, and then there's a resident. Well, in a church, a business, or a family, somebody's got to be the architect. That's governance. And then there's leaders, they come in11:51 and build a proverbial house. And then there are people who live within that organization. And so governance is extremely crucial. And part of our problem in America right now, not only do we have bad leadership, we have12:03 bad governance. The entire structure is quite frankly broken. It's just quite frankly broken. And what we're seeing here is local and trans local leadership. There's a local church12:15 and Paul is writing to it with translocal authority. This is important in the church. In the church, the question I always have is, and I'll talk a little bit about church leadership and governance, which12:26 tends to be broken, Who holds the pastor accountable? Well, the board. Well, who holds the board accountable? Nobody. Then that's how you get bad governance in an unjust system. There are 2 ways that a church can12:38 go wrong. The senior pastor or the board or staff. And there needs to be accountability for both. And when they have a disagreement, there needs to be external authority that has12:50 authority to come in and to render verdicts and decisions as to the local conflict. That's exactly what Paul is doing when he is writing and he is not local, he is trans local. In other places, he talks about,13:02 you know, local leaders. Yeah. But he's not local and he's exercising authority over the local leaders as a non local leader. So the big idea is this, you need accountability within the organization and outside13:14 of the organization. That being said, he says that they are worthy of those who preach and teach of double honor. Preaching and teaching therefore is the highest authority13:25 and call in the local church. If you get up, you are the singular head. And if you open the word of God, you are exercising the highest authority. You are elevated above the13:37 people, literally showing that you are in an author itative position under the authority of God, but you're literally bringing the word of God physically over the people and spiritually over the people. And13:49 you're saying, I am under God's authority. I am under the authority of God's word. I'm going to open God's word and teach you, and I expect you to honor his word and to honor his servant, and ultimately14:01 that is in honoring of his authority. And what he says is that they're worthy of double honor. And the honor there is financial remuneration.14:13 It's paying them. And so let me just talk about something that very few people want to talk about. And that is that most pastors that I know, they're woefully underpaid. And their14:24 entire family volunteers and serves in ministry unlike most other jobs. In addition, most pastors that I know give very generously to their church. Most pastors that I know, they14:36 give double tithe, 20 percent or more. And they buy people wedding presents and baby gifts, and they usually have an office in their home, and usually they're having people over for dinner and14:48 hospitality, and they're buying presents, and they're using their car to drive to a hospital and events, and they're going to people's weddings and buying them wedding presents. The number14:59 of hours and dollars that a ministry family puts into the church family that is not compensated is unbelievable and staggering. And ministry leaders know that and they sign up15:11 for that. That's why ministry leaders are not in it for the money. There's a whole lot more money to be made sector. In addition, in the for profit sector, if you found a15:23 company at the end of your tenure, you can sell it or give it to your kids, and you can sell it and monetize it and cash in. In a nonprofit, you don't own it, so you just walk away. You literally15:35 just walk away. And I've said this many times, I've had people over the years ask me, how much do you make? I've never had anybody ask me how much I give. You would be shocked. Most of you would be shocked15:47 at how little your pastor is paid, how many hours they and their family work, how many dollars they put in, and how generous they are. And so I just, I'm a defender of pastors. I'm a lover15:58 of pastors. And I believe most pastors that I know, they are not adequately compensated. And part of honoring a leader is paying them.16:10 Number 2, you love a leader by trusting them. They're not guilty till proven innocent. They're innocent till proven guilty. They're not to be held accountable by16:22 the pajama hadeen on the internet, but by godly older leaders who are ahead of them, spiritually fathering them as Paul is fathering Timothy. He says, Do not admit16:34 a charge against an elder except by the evidence of 2 or 3 witnesses. And what it's talking about here is sometimes 1 person can just be a damnable liar. Happens all the time. If you16:46 read the Bible, most of God's servants had a real problem with false witnesses. For example, just comes to mind as I'm verbal processing. Nehemiah, a legal letter was sent out by a16:58 demonic governmental leader that he had broken the law and cursed God. And it went out as a legal decree. He hadn't done anything. The days of Elijah,17:10 he was constantly falsely accused by Ahab and Jezebel. Paul was arrested multiple times because false witnesses said all kinds of terrible things17:22 about him. Jesus Christ was put on trial and crucified by the testimony of multiple false witnesses. We know that. Their stories didn't even agree with each other, let alone17:34 the truth, but they didn't care because they wanted Jesus dead. Being and bearing false witness is such a big deal that God put it in the 10 commandments. Of all the 10 things, God's like, don't bear false witness.17:46 And there are people who will bear false witness. They will lie. They will make stuff up. They will falsely accuse. They will twist the facts. They'll take out parts and change17:58 the narrative. And it happens all the time to leaders. And a leader then is in a very difficult position because if you don't respond, everybody assumes you're guilty. And if you do respond, people think you're being18:10 defensive, and as a result, you're ungodly, and you're attacking other people, and you're unloving. And so, it's what psychologists would call a double bind. A double bind is a position where you're kind of18:22 damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't. You're in a lose lose. And a false witness creates for, and false testimony creates for a leader, a double bind. I say nothing and everybody thinks it's true,18:34 or I fight back and then I'm defensive and ungodly. Guys. Pastor Mark here letting you know about the latest book, New Days Old Demons. It's a prophetic word against pathetic wokeness. You18:46 guys understand exactly what I'm talking Hopefully, it is on sale. If not, it's coming out very, very soon. Would appreciate your prayers as we punch a lot of people and things in the mouth. And if it's a help,18:58 get a copy. And so what he's saying is you respect a leader by trusting them. And he just previously rebuked those who are idlers. They're not doing anything, but they're19:09 criticizing people who are. They're gossips. They're into the latest, you know, whispering and trends in social media and posting stuff on the internet. And did you hear? And let me send you, you19:21 know, a text about what I think and just posting on the church social media, sending out emails, just all this sort of terrorist tactics in the unseen19:33 realm and busybodies, he just rebuked. People who are not busy, but busybodies. They're not doing the things in their life that God has called them to do, but they're peering in on, particularly now19:45 through social media, and they have opinions about everybody else. Oh, I don't know how many hours that leader works, and who are they accountable to, and what kind car do they drive and where do you think they live and19:55 you know, what kind of school do you think their kids go to and you know, what kind of watch do they wear and what kind of shoes do they wear and it's like, none of your business. Who cares? A leader has a right to20:06 privacy and there's a big difference between secrecy and privacy. Secrecy is covering up something that's bad. Privacy means it's just not your freaking business. It's not your business. It's just not. That's why I would20:18 encourage you to shower at home and not in the produce section of the grocery store, even though there usually is a spigot there that would make it possible. Because you have a right to privacy.20:31 And I would say this as well, and this is where I'm gonna defend pastors and leaders from young yahoos and jackalopes. If it's not your church, it's not your freaking business. If you don't attend that church,20:43 what do you care? I mean, love the people, pray for them, be friends with the godly ones, But why do you need to know everything that's going on at that church? Why do you need to know what's going on with that leader?20:54 Why do you need to know what's going on with their family? Why do you need to be into church porn on the internet? And Christians are constantly vulnerable to false witnesses who build platforms21:05 and pay bills through clicks with church porn. And church porn is disgusting. It's gossip, it's innuendo, it's scandalous. And most of the time, the difference between that21:17 and a bucket of turds is just the bucket. Bucket. Number 3, you love a leader by expecting of them. If you really love a leader, you want them to be the best version21:29 of them so that they can then unburden, bless, and benefit those who are under their leadership. Leadership. He goes on to say chapter 5 verse 20 and 21, As for those who persist in sin,21:41 rebuke them in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from21:53 partiality. What he's talking about here is when you're dealing with a leader, there are 2 ways to go if you think that there is some disqualifying sin in their life. And I will say this, there's a big difference between22:05 something that is disqualifying and something that is just a difference of opinion. You're like, I don't like the leader's style. So find another leader.22:16 I don't like their sense of humor. So find another leader. I don't like, you know, their personality. Great. Find another leader. That's a22:28 difference, not a disqualification. And we live in an age where if you want to sort of de platform, deconstruct, and destroy someone, you find 1 minor data point that22:40 you don't like, and then you magnify that into a disqualification. What we're talking about here is the leader being accused of something that is genuinely22:51 sinful and could potentially require them to go through some sort of process to, you know, sort of earn trust and heal up, or maybe even be23:03 disqualified. For example, like adultery. You commit adultery, you shouldn't be pastoring women. You should be meeting with a counselor and trying to apologize to your wife and kids.23:16 If you are taking church money and gambling it at the casino, yeah, you should not have a church credit card. There are some real things that are real problems. And then there are other things that23:28 are very minor that number 1, are just human eccentricities that we need to overlook. Number 2, personality or personal differences that we just need to get beyond. Or number 3, things that are not23:39 disqualifying, but they're areas of improvement and maturity just like every single Christian has. And what he says is don't be partial. And partiality can be in 1 of 2 ways. Number 1, you have church23:51 hurt, father wound, leaders abused and abused you, you've had a hard time, you've not healed up and forgiven. And so now every leader is guilty. And every leader is just a crook24:03 and a thief and a menace to society. And so, as soon as you hear something, you're like, I knew it. And immediately you rush to judgment. That's partiality. The other is that you love the leader24:14 so much that you'll defend them even when it's indefensible. I've seen so many churches where like pastor commits adultery, gets up and says, I'm sorry, and doesn't even get a week off and everybody defends him.24:26 I'm like, this is crazy, man. Dude, in the Old Testament, we just bury him. I mean, you'd get killed for this. It was a big deal. And so you can go 1 of 2 ways in error,24:39 rush to judgment and crucify someone wrongly, or rush to defense and allow the worst kind of sin to be at the top of the organization and then flow24:50 through. Because culture is 2 things, whether it's a church, a family, a business, or a ministry, culture is 2 things. Hear me in this. It's what you teach and what you tolerate. And you can teach things all day, but if25:02 you tolerate something different, that's the culture you're going to get. So at home, could say, kids, we honor mom. And as the boys get bigger, like, you got to honor your mom. But if you allow your boys to just25:13 cuss mom out, the culture you will get is the culture that you tolerate, not the culture that you teach. In the church, if you have a church that is abusive of the pastor,25:26 and they're constantly living under a microscope, and everything they say and do is scrutinized and criticized, that is partiality and it's abusive. Conversely, if the pastor25:38 has no accountability and there's no pastor of the pastor, and the best way for a pastor to have accountability is for the pastor to have a pastor. That's what we see here. Timothy's the pastor. He's got a25:49 pastor named Paul. And Paul pastors Timothy, he's older and wiser, spiritual father, spiritual son. And then Timothy pastors the people. That's healthy governance. Fathers and26:01 sons, and then grandfathers raising up sons to become fathers to care for the next generation, the spiritual grandchildren. And so you can get a church where there26:12 is unhealthy leadership because it's tolerated, or there's abusive culture that really treats the pastor and his wife and his family just quite frankly horribly. And I26:24 could tell you stories, it's amazing to me because you see all this church porn garbage out there. And when non Christians start picking it up on their platforms and making money off of church porn, it26:36 just sickens my soul. But what you'll never hear is the partiality and the abuse that comes to a leader's family. And I'm not defending myself. I'm defending26:47 pastors and ministry leaders. And sometimes the things that are said and done to pastors and their spouses and their children, it is reprehensible. But you're not going to find the discernment bloggers,26:59 the accountability people, or the church hurt people defending a pastor and his family or a leader in their family ever. It's all 1 way and it's a violation of 1 Timothy 527:11 and it's partiality. And it is, we will attack leaders. And when leaders are attacked, we don't say or do anything because we are anti authority. We are anti27:23 leadership, which means in our heart, we are anti Bible and anti Christ. And then number 4, and I'll say this too, sometimes partiality is their sin is my27:35 sin. So if they committed adultery, like, well, I don't want them to get fired because I committed adultery too. We need to judge by the standard of God's word, not the standard of our own shortcomings to God's word.27:47 Number 4, you love a leader by preparing them. Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands nor take part in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. Do not only drink water, but also a little wine for the sake of your27:58 stomach and frequent ailments. The sins of some people are conspicuous going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. So also good works are conspicuous and even those28:10 who are not cannot remain hidden. So a couple of things. Number 1, God cares about our physical and our spiritual well-being. He's here talking about Timothy's heart and mind and soul, but also his body. What he's saying28:22 is apparently maybe it's nerves of the job. If you're a new leader over a church, you got a bit of a stomach issue. It's like, some wine for your frequent ailments and to help calm your stomach. This is not28:33 grape juice. This is wine. Jesus' first miracle was making water into wine. If you're an alcoholic, don't drink. If you're with an alcoholic, don't drink around them and cause them to stumble. If you are of age28:45 and your conscience doesn't violate, feel free, if you want, to have a glass of wine. And for me, I didn't have any alcohol until I was 30. It was a conscience issue, not a Bible issue. And then at28:57 30, my conscience changed and, you know, I'll have a glass of wine at dinner tonight just so that I'm not a hypocrite and I practice what I preach. My wife, Grace, she could drink alcohol, didn't have a problem with it,29:08 didn't have a conscience issue, she would have a glass of wine with dinner. I would not for first, you know, almost decade of our marriage. Number 2, what he says is, don't be hasty in the laying on of hands. And what29:19 that is, is you love a leader by preparing them. There's a difference between calling, anointing, gifting, and timing. Calling is from God. Gifting is from God. Anointing29:31 is from God. Timing is something that you need to work on. And so your gifting and your calling and your anointing can get ahead of your preparing. How29:43 do I know this? I'm guilty. I got saved at 21, did not grow up in the church, didn't have I got saved at 19, married at 20 Did not grow up in the church, did not have an evangelical background, didn't have a29:54 spiritual father at that time in my life that I went into ministry. And I knew that God had called me, I knew that he had gifted me, and I knew that he had anointed me, but I got ahead of his timing.30:07 And so I rushed into ministry. And I got rushed. I mean, I'll be honest, like, had a church of under 100, mainly punk rock college kids meeting on a Sunday night. I'm working for free for the first 330:19 years as an unpaid volunteer because this is the brokeest church you've ever seen. Lo and behold, the media started calling. I'm getting awards. I'm getting called by major30:31 magazines and news outlets and they want to report on me and I'm nobody. Have no I don't have a degree yet from seminary. I would later get a master's in Bible. I'm not part of a denomination. I'm not part of a30:42 network. I don't come from an evangelical family. I hadn't written a book. Like, I'm a nobody. But all of a sudden, I got rushed and everybody's like, what do you think about culture and trends and where things are30:54 going? I was like, well, I have a big mouth, I'll talk. And boom, next thing I know, conferences. I'm getting flown around the country and put on stages, speaking to hundreds, thousands of people at a time. And31:06 at this point, like I've been a Christian for maybe 15 minutes and I'm not even yet a father, so I don't even have experience as a dad. And all of a sudden I'm on tour and then there's book31:18 deals then, you know, ABC Nylin multiple times and it just keeps going. And I wasn't a victim, not at all, because I agreed to all of that for 2 reasons, if31:30 I'm totally honest. Number 1, like, I want to get the gospel out. Number 2, I'm an arrogant, ambitious young man who got ahead of himself. So, yeah, maybe half my motives were good and half were31:42 probably something where a guy like Paul should have put his finger in my chest and said, you need to shut up and go home and read your Bible some more and wait a decade. And that would have been really good advice. I'm31:50 not sure I would have taken it. But if you're a young guy, would tell you this, don't rush ahead of God's timing. And if you're an older guy, don't take a gifted young leader and rush them. This can be in church or32:00 ministry or business or whatever. But here's what I see. Those that have public gifts, especially within the church, those who can preach, lead, their high woo, big personality, your worship leaders, your32:11 creatives, your musicians, they can get rushed. Because there's a desperate need for them. And as a result, we can have32:24 their ability get ahead of their character and rush them to the stage. This is why I've seen And now I'm 52, I've been a pastor for 30 years, senior pastor for, I don't I think32:35 28 now is what I'm coming up on. I've seen guys go up fast and come down hard because they're young and they're gifted and they're talented. Whether they're a preacher or a writer or an influencer or a32:47 musician or a creative, or a songwriter. Boom, they go up fast. But the key is not, can you get up, but can you stay up? And that's true in any business. Any32:59 ministry, any job, any company, it's not just can you get up, but can you stay up? And so those who go up fast and come down hard, usually it was hasty in the laying on of hands. We33:10 didn't train them. We didn't prepare their character. We didn't work on their private life and their morality and their marriage. And so they went up fast and they came down hard. And so my encouragement is if33:22 you're a younger guy, probably need to be more patient than you think. And if you're an older guy, don't rush them just because they're ambitious or gifted. And then number 5, you love a leader by serving them. Let33:34 all who are under the yoke as bond servants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. Those who have believing masters must not be33:45 disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers. Rather, they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved teaching urge to these33:57 things. And what he's saying is that leadership is a burden and he calls it here a yoke. And so, you know, when you're leading and serving, there's34:09 a weight on you. It's a burden. Pastor Jimmy Evans, 1 of my pastors, he told me as I was going back to plant my second church in my mid forties, kind of starting all over with a hard reset on34:21 my life, that God's been super gracious and I'm super grateful. It's the best season of my life now. But he said, being a leader is like wearing a 200 pound jacket. You never get to take it off. You wear it34:33 to bed, you wear it to dinner, you wear it to vacation, you wear it in the shower, you wear it on your day off. And you don't know how heavy it is until you take it off. Like I took a34:45 season of 18 months and I just exited ministry. I didn't defend myself, canceled my speaking engagements, my writing, social media, just exited it all. And man, immediately34:57 it was like, Oh my gosh, I've been carrying this load for so long. I didn't even realize it. And what he's saying, it is a load. And you need to respect and honor leaders who are serving. They're carrying a load35:09 that you probably don't understand. It's like the difference between a babysitter and a dad. A babysitter is like, oh, I watched the kids and I fed them and I tucked them in, I protected them. It's like, yeah, and that's35:19 great. Being the dad is totally different than being the babysitter. And what they like to say is stuff rolls downhill. It doesn't. Stuff rolls uphill. That's what John Maxwell, the great leadership expert says.35:31 If a person doesn't deal with something, eventually the leader has to deal with it. That's why the leader has the 200 pound jacket. That's why he calls it the yoke. It's this heavy weight of35:42 responsibility. So how do you honor a leader? By serving them. And it means if you have a job to do, do your job to the best of your ability so that35:53 your responsibilities don't go up and burden the leader with additional responsibilities. In addition, he says, whether it's at church or work, if your leader is a believer and you're a believer, you need to36:05 work doubly hard to do a good job because that's also your brother in Christ or sister in Christ, depending upon who the leader and overseer is. And also, it's36:17 part of your testimony and witness. And sometimes people think, well, I work for the church, so I don't have to work hard. You know, they can't fire me. Or, you know, I work for a Christian boss, you know, and he knows36:28 that my family's going through a hard time, so he'd never fire me. I kind of got him in a spot where he owes me. What he's saying is, don't think that way. If you're a believer working with or for believers, you should36:39 not do less, you should do more, you should not take advantage of the situation, you should set the best example in the organization. Okay? So 5 ways to love leaders. Pay them,36:52 trust them, have high expectations for them, prepare them, and then serve them and help them to do the things that God has called them to lead and to do. In closing,37:03 I would just ask you 2 questions. And if you've got a small group, maybe this will jumpstart your conversation. Number 1, who are you leading? Right? Who has and maybe it's not maybe37:15 it is formal. Maybe you're a leader at your church and you've got a team, maybe you're a senior pastor like me, or maybe you own a company or you're CFO or CEO or XP or whatever. Who37:27 is following you formally? Number 2, who's following you informally? Again, we established at the beginning leadership is influence. Who listens to you? Who follows you? Who imitates you? Who37:39 admires you? Who respects you? Who's copying you? Probably your kids. If you're a dad, you're a leader. If you're a husband, you have a wife, you've got a family, you're a leader.37:51 Who looks up to you? Who depends on you? Coaching at sports? Are you serving at church? Are you volunteering in the community? Like where's your sphere of influence?38:03 Who are you leading? And are you building a culture where you're humble and they're honoring so that it's healthy? Number 2, what authority are you under? Who are you following?38:15 Who's your leader? Who have you given permission to speak into your life? Who have you given permission to correct you? Who are you accountable to? Who do you submit to? Who do you defer38:27 to? And are you being honest with them? And are you being respectful of them? And if you're a guy who only has people that speak into your life that are brothers and38:39 not fathers, you're in a dangerous position and you have a father wound. And what happens is sometimes guys who have a father wound, they know they need to be under authority or accountable or following leadership, but38:50 because of their father wound, they won't follow an older man, they'll follow a brother, a big brother. And that's not the case here. Paul is the father. Timothy is the son. Paul calls Timothy, my spiritual son.39:02 And Timothy here is a leader and people are following him. And he's also under Paul who is a leader. And if you want to win at life andShow more
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Mark Driscoll
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