Is Fear a Legitimate Tool in Leadership - Part 1

Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.

Within your work or ministry life, when was the last time you did something out of the fear of the consequences or penalty? Maybe you are the kind of person who is always running late and find yourself straining to show up for work on time because of the fear of your pay being docked. Maybe you have been late so much that you now strain to show up in fear of losing your job.

When you have experienced this fear, do you feel it is fair and legitimate? Do you think any organization could function well without imposing the fear of penalty or consequence? Can anyone lead people well without having the authority to deliver some form of the fear of consequence or penalty? I would suggest that you and I cannot. Here is why. God designed this when He first created man.

An important note is that God instituted this form of leadership before man disobeyed and became sinful. I believe there are those who would argue it really is not God's will that we use fear and try to support that by saying God is all about love. They would say that he brought fear and consequence in response to the sin of mankind, therefore blaming man for creating the need to have it or use it. Based on that belief it would not be a legitimate tool or model. However, prior to sin and prior to even giving man a woman companion, he delivered to man a warning and consequence. "Do not eat of this tree or you will die." God designed leadership to deliver warnings and consequences. Even if man had remained obedient, the warnings and consequences would still be a valid deterrent today, ... in keeping man obedient. The fact that we continue to disobey gives total legitimacy to using warnings and consequences in leadership today.

In our scripture above, there is a reference to "holy fear".  Was it holy because Noah was described as a righteous and blameless man" in Genesis 6?  

Genesis 6: 9 ... Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.  

The reference to Noah being "blameless" was referring to how he was described by those that lived around him, ... evil people! To them he was considered blameless! It was not a reference from God to describe his sinless nature! In a similar but different way Noah's "righteousness" was not a result of him being compared to the others of his time. No! He was considered righteous by God in the same way true believers are today ... by faith, ... by believing! The point of all this being that the holy fear referred to here is simply the same holy fear we should have on a daily basis. The fear that comes from the knowledge of God.

Noah's holy fear was as much about his fear of drowning as it was about his fear of disobeying. Both were developed because of his faith and belief in God. He was fearful of drowning because he knew it was going to rain and that he needed a boat if he and his family were to live. His fear of drowning was because of his belief in God.

In the next issue, we will look closer at the application of the kind of fear Noah had and the fear we should have. In the meantime, reflect and try to answer this question.

What have you done lately because of your holy fear of the Lord?

From What Height Have You Fallen From?

Are you scared of heights? I am. Every time I get more than 10 feet up a ladder or look down from over 1 floor of a building I get that knot in my stomach. That knot which tells me I am too high for comfort and that I could fall and do some real damage to my body, even death. I think in a lot of ways we get scared of going high with the Lord. Some of our culture holds us back, sometimes it is the tradition in us, and sometimes we just feel like our level with Christ need not elevate any further. Some begin to feel they are high enough with the Lord. If we are high enough to get into heaven, why go any higher here on earth!

There was a church that once was commended by the Apostle Paul. Paul gave prayer and thanksgiving for the believers in ancient Ephesus when he heard of the height of their faith and love for each other. In Chapter 1 of Ephesians he prays for more growth! Ephesians 1:18-19a ^“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe… “What Paul wanted was for the Ephesians to continue higher and experience the hope that would produce great power in them.

 

Later in Revelation 2, Jesus commends the believers in Ephesus for their perseverance. However, their “fall”  and lack of growth Jesus holds against them. 

In Revelations 2: 4-5 Christ says, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. ⁵ Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 

In fact the church had fallen down to a lower foothill and found contentment in that lower height. Friends, it is at these lower heights that we will experience the LACK of the power of God. Without the power of God we find ourselves ripe for our sinful nature to take over. It is at lower heights that we will lack the power to win more battles over the devil and/or our own sinful nature.

Why is it that we such a hard time taking the next leg up in our relationship with God? I believe our religious culture holds us back and our leaders do too. I have never been able to figure out why Muslims have no problem bowing down unashamedly on mats so their heads hit the floor in acts of worship to what? … A lie!  We, on the other hand sometimes feel we have reached the pinnacle of worship when we are able to raise one hand high in worship if and when the music drives enough emotion in us… to whom?  …. The true creator and King, Jesus Christ!  Is there something wrong with that picture? Is God looking down at us and saying “Are you kidding me?”

Lately I have had a metaphoric knot in my stomach, and it is not because I am on a ladder while I type. It is because I remember the heights of my growth in Christ and I just do not feel as high today.  It has not resulted in any unbelief, but I can feel a loss of the power of Christ. I am writing most of this right now as I am up in Northern Wisconsin on a study/vacation break trying to re-climb the hill I was once on. Many of you know exactly what I am talking about. Your growth curve in Christ was once steep but you are now on top of a foothill and in the face of a larger mountain that you just might not climb. The view from the foothill you are on is just fine with you. You can see enough of God from that height and know that if you climbed higher the air might be hard to breath, and just feel powerless to muster another leg up. Some of you are like me, who were climbing up well; but then … through lack of study and faith regressed.  

I would love to re-climb and surpass the height of my former peak. I just wonder if any of you are getting a knot in your stomach and need to come along?

A Leader's Spouse and Family

Mark 3:24-25   If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 

I Timothy 3:2-5  Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.  Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,  not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.  He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)

Not enough has been written about what goes on behind the scenes in the leaders home. However, might I suggest that more be written about the danger that goes unnoticed or unchecked. Today, I have two reminders for all leaders, but especially ministry leaders.

First, like-mindedness must permeate your home. 

Secondly, your home and family must be managed well.

In our passage from Mark, the teachers of the law had accredited Jesus' healing power to the "prince of demons", namely Beelzebub. Jesus' reply in our verse above spoke to the irony and impossibility of Satan being so effective if his own kingdom contained an equally strong view that apposed himself. Jesus then brings it down to our own level by repeating the lesson in regards to our own homes. The lesson here is that the homes of leaders must contain like-mindedness.

What goes on at home can make or break a leader.  Here are three things concerning the home that you might evaluate yourself or pass on to someone that may be helped by thinking through them.

1. Are you more interested in leading others than your own family? It is hard for us leaders to admit to but there are times when thinking about vision will consume our think time, and therefore inadvertently ignoring our home responsibilities. If our spouses aren't as excited about the vision as we are, spouses can become resentful regarding the back seat they find themselves in.

2. Spouses can feel robbed of value because the unexpected "cost" of leadership. Leadership in ministry always takes more time than what expected. If the spouse of the leader cannot support the extra time the leader will be away in extra meetings and such, things will become difficult at home. A few years ago we invited the wives to a leadership class for future elders. We invited them to help them understand the "costs" of eldership for their husbands and what the Bible required of their own character and practice. I can remember how helpful it was for them to understand the expectations of their husbands and themselves. It helped some of these leaders begin with a like-mindedness at home that was worthy of note.

Be sure your children are not in control of you!

3. The children of the leader is a reflection of the leadership of the family, and therefore an indicator of the leaders qualification to lead. Managing ones family household is a journey. Be sure your children are not in control of you. There will be many mistakes, Lord knows I have made them. However, when reviewed by others there should be a foundation of home management that overshadows some of the overt mistakes we all have made. Things "under control' should far outweigh the time when things are "out of control". Behavior that is "respectful" should far outweigh and overshadow the times they were not. Fill in the blanks with other pieces of home management. You will find that effective leaders have good things happening at home. The positives at home far outweigh the negatives. 

It has been 13 years since I have been called and committed to leadership. Within those years I can remember the times when I did not lead at home because I was so exhausted from leading others. During the last 10 years I have traveled overseas teaching in Africa 5 times with another scheduled for this November. I thank the Lord that my wife has never once complained about the "costs" of these trips or other "leadership expenses", but I know she could if she was not like-minded about how God is using me. 

Some of you out there have incredible noble thoughts and desires to participate in the advancement of the kingdom of God. However, what is needed to advance your leadership lies at home. Your family needs you and you need to lead at home first and foremost, ... then let God take the good that is going on at home and then use it to lead and bless others.

How about it? Is it time for a home improvement project?

Leaders Deliver Hope in Tough Times

 I Peter 3:15 … But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have ….

In my last leadership exhortation, we looked at the reality that leaders sometimes “gotta do what they gotta do” and stated the case for that.

The challenge with this new leadership definition framework is that it might lead the leader to think that he needs to go do what HE thinks needs to be done. I would suggest that there are many time where what one thinks he "has gotta” do really is not what he “must do”. In pondering that one, how in the world do we really know? Even though I have participated and led 6 groups through Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God, sub-titled “Knowing and Doing the Will of God”, maintaining the level of spiritual discipline that he teaches through the American daily pace of rapid decision making I find quite challenging, and consciously ponder if it is possible to make every decision within the framework of God's will. How, at the end of the day can you and I sit on the edge of our beds and find contentment with the efforts we put forth during the day, along with the dozens of decisions that were made, some which significantly impact the lives of those we lead?
 
How do we do that? Today's written message is about the significance of hope.

I sense the Holy Spirit is prompting me to highlight the fact that while we are to “be ready to give the reason for the hope we have” in Christ, we also need to deliver hope to those we lead. In the same way attenders will leave a church if they lose hope for themselves, leaders and employers will lose those they lead if there is no hope for the future. Maintaining hope in those you lead is really easy when things are going good. Try maintaining hope in those you lead when times are tougher. It is really hard … I know.

While it is hard it is not impossible. Many contemporary leaders references to our scripture verse are surrounded by the exhortation to share your faith. Taken out of context, one might think that the hope Peter is referring to is in reference to some amazing transformation of what already happened within the condition of the believer in Asia Minor, and therefore with you and I, the reader. However, the hope that it is referring to is a future hope, based on our future full and final redemption in Christ. Peter was exhorting them to keep that hope in the midst of the suffering they were enduring, not primarily because they had a great testimony of hope from what they previously were delivered from, … whether that be a restored health, a better financial outcome, or otherwise. Peter knew that he had to inspire their faith so that those he was leading could endure the pain and suffering of their circumstances.

So how do we as leaders lead those we lead through hard times and suffering? We do this by providing them hope.

This hope is not a guarantee of things you wish for, nor is it just crossing your fingers.

Paul stated in Romans 8:24b-25 "…., but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it".

Friends, providing a hope for things you cannot see can be incredibly hard. Sometimes what you are asking those you lead to hope for will be seemingly out of reach for them, and maybe even for you. However, remember that hope is the expectation of a positive outcome, not the guaranteed end of a particularly hard circumstance.

Some of you may now be thinking “Come on Ron, how am I going to put a positive spin to those I lead in the midst of what they and I are dealing with? I cannot stand before them inspiring them with a future prediction I find hard to believe. I do not want to later be found to be a liar.” Friends, this is where faith meets hope. While hope is the expectation of a positive future outcome, faith is the God given assurance that the outcome will come to pass. It is based not only on the belief of it actually coming to pass, but also strengthen by what God has done in the past in your life.

In summary, in determining what must be done, a good focal point in the midst of your fast paced decision making life would be to do what you must, but do it in a way that will raise or maintain hope in those you lead.

If you doubt that you are able to do this, consider what you must do for your faith to be strengthened. Then do what must be done with yourself and ask the Lord to increase your faith!

A Better Leadership Definition

Those of you that have followed The Christian Leader or have received any emails from me know that I believed that “Leadership is the art and science of inspiring others to reach their full potential in the pursuit of a common vision”. I aspired to that definition of Dr. James Bultman for over 10 years.

A little more than a month ago I was on a golf trip. During that trip some of us began to describe what we believed leadership really was. During the discussion, one of my business friends said “A good leader gets people to do what they want to do, a great leader gets people to do what they need to do.”

Ever since that conversation I have considered that statement to test it against what I believed.  Since I believe that the core of leadership in church is the same as business, I wanted to see if this past the test of the life of Jesus Christ, and also if it fit into my business and leadership experiences. Within my review, I do feel Jesus did inspire people to do what they “need to do”. I also acknowledge that many times in my leadership experience I focused more on helping inspire people to embrace a “common vision” than I did inspiring people to do what “needed to be done”. That got me thinking. While I would attribute to the Lord for what I would believe are my leadership successes, there are those times where I have not been able to do that to everyone that I have led. Thinking about it more, it might also have led to allowing some mediocrity when it should not have been allowed. I now acknowledge that there will always be some that never agree strongly enough in the vision to work as hard as they should or do the things they should do.

While thinking about the above for weeks, I then found myself in a church service at a small church I love. The leadership of this church had just spent months pouring over where they were going for the future and had just completed the design of a new mission and vision statement. I wanted to hear the pastor preach on this so I attended one of the services to hear for myself.  The mission statement was nicely written and the pastor gave a good message about it. However, near the end of the message it was clear that the mission statement did not say it all. I remember him pausing and saying something to the effect of  "I believe in our mission but really do know one more thing, .... that at the end of the day ... we need to do what we must". It was a call to do what God says must be done, no matter what the vision said. When he said that, I believed it to be theologically true, true in my own spiritual experiences with God, consistent with my review of my friend's statement, and true as to what I need to do as a business leader. I now believe that it is even more true for a leader at some point be able to say "I gotta do, what I gotta do". I also beleive we need to be able to inspire others to do "what gotta be done".

In light of all of the above, and with two months of study, I now move forward with a newer revised definition of leadership. It now reads, "Leadership is the art and science of inspiring other to reach their full potential in the pursuit of doing what must be done".

I will have more to say about the application of this new definition. So today I must ask you three things.

1. What has God called and/or gifted you to do?
2. Who has He given you to help you do it?
3. What must you do next to get it done?

If you know the answers to these questions ... then go do it .. because you must.

Dr. John Strubhar - A Leadership Motive Check Up

Today's Guest Writer

Dr. John R. Strubhar is the Senior Pastor of Maywood Evangelical Free Church of Rockford, Illinois.

Periodically, it is good to do a “motive check-up” as a servant leader. In 1 Thessalonians 2:3 Paul explains: “For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you.” Paul’s leadership motives are neither fraudulent nor deceptive. To the contrary, his leadership is stamped with integrity! King David’s leadership in Israel is marked equally the same. Asaph, reflecting on David’s leadership records in Psalm 78:72 “And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands, he led them.”

Servant leaders of integrity refuse the art of double speaking. They say what they mean and they mean what they say. They put personal and vested interests behind them. Dwight Eisenhower, one of America’s greatest presidents put it this way, “To be a leader, a man must have followers, and to have followers, a man must have their confidence. Hence, the supreme quality for a leader is unquestionable integrity...If a man’s associates find him guilty of phoniness, if they find the he lacks forthright integrity, he will fail. His teaching and actions must square with each other. The first great need, therefore, is integrity and high purpose.”

Integrity means telling the truth all the time and not altering the truth for personal manipulation or advantage. It means that we do not change our stories when communicating with people face to face as opposed to when we are speaking about them in the presence of others. It means we “shoot straight” at all times and encourage others to hold us accountable to the “blind spots” which may exist in our own personal lives. Integrity is a life lived by principle, not personal expediency. It is a life totally open before God!

Instead of resorting to deceptive motives, authentic servant-leaders have one agenda...the approval of God (1 Thessalonians 2:4). They are driven by an overwhelming desire to please Him! Not only do authentic servant-leaders seek to avoid “deception,” they also avoid “flattery.” Again the apostle Paul models this transparently... “You know we never used flattery...” (1 Thessalonians 2:5). The late John Stott, quoting Milligan says that “flattery” is a word which describes “the torturous methods by which one man seeks to gain influence over another, generally for selfish ends.”

Chuck Swindoll in his excellent book Leadership sums it up well: “There is a fine and very definite line tween being a leader who gets along well with people and being one who must please people. Few characteristics reveal one's insecurity more than this. And talk about losing respect! Not only do others fail to respect the people pleaser, he doesn’t even respect himself. By fence-sitting, by hedging with the truth and attempting to keep peace at any price (an absolute impossibility), the leader forfeits the right to lead and becomes, as a consequence, a follower who still tries to call himself a leader.”

Authentic servant-leaders will never be able to please all of the people all of the time. Paul found this to be true in his interaction with the Thessalonians, “We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.” (1 Thessalonians 2:6) When our leadership is aimed at people pleasing, we lose our decisiveness in responding to issues. We become a slave to people rather than bond-servants of Christ. I remember during my first pastorate being jolted by Paul’s statement in Galatians 1:10 after a skirmish with people who were never satisfied with anything any pastor or church leader ever did and discovering that no matter what was said or done, it never seemingly got through, the Holy Spirit gently reminded me of Paul’s words, “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

Someone put it this way: “I don’t know the secret of success, but I do know the secret of failure: trying to please everybody.” Swindoll is again right on... “No successful leader maintains the respect of others without making decisions that will prove unpopular to some.” Flattery in leadership leads to a dead end. So also does double-speaking and people pleasing. By God’s grace, lets strive to be authentic servant-leaders driven by absolute integrity, unbiased transparency and welcomed accountability!

Leaders, Know When to Hold Your Tongue

Proverbs 17: A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered. Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.

Zechariah 8:16  These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts;...

I am sure we can all remember the times when we have led or attended meetings, and after further review, felt we should or should not have said something in that meeting. Maybe something we said hit a nerve with someone, or maybe a key point we should have uttered might have helped. After the further review of what we might feel as failures, I suggest that the underlying cause of both of these kinds of "failures" are created by fear, ... the fear that if we do say something it might lead to more stress, or if we do not speak some truth the road that is being traveled will be very bumpy. Most of us are just not sure, if we release it to speak,  what our tongue will actually do. Is the tongue's default good or evil?



The tongue is a hard limb to tame. It wants to go it own way. James 3:8 says, "but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison".  Sounds like the default is evil. Yet James points out that this restless limb of ours is the same limb whereby we profess and praise our Savior. I wonder why the creator of the universe would accept the believer's testimony spoken from such a source of restless evil?

If no one can tame the tongue, then maybe we should all keep our mouth shut all the time? ... Never say a challenging word to one another? Hm... that is not what our second scripture verse says, does it?  On the contrary, this verse emphasizes the need not only to speak but to remain accurate with the truth, as if you are in court all the time. Have you ever embellished the truth to make a point? Have you ever stretched the truth in retaliation for what someone else said against you? Friends, in those cases we need to hold back or just hold our tongue.

What about another problem with speaking truth. How about repeating the truth too many times? Many years ago I was ministering with a colleague that I respect immensely when we got into a debate about a budget matter. Since I felt he was a weaker in financial matters I continued to debate him until he became exhausted with me and said. "OK Ron, you don' t have to hammer it home". Interestingly, even though that was over 10 years ago, I never forgot those words he said to me. I know in reality my debate that I enjoy so much can become overbearing for some and I need to be more sensitive to others. I also know that there is a fine line between the spoken truth that could overlap into others sensing judgement instead of truth. Let us bath the truth with sensitivity.

Friends, the most important principle of the tongue is restraint ... but only to a point. Just because, as our scripture states, you may look wise in the eyes of men for keeping silent, a more complete examination of the text might also reveal that silence does not always reveal the wise man, ... the text says he will only appear to be wise ... when he was really a fool for not speaking up.

We must speak the truth when we must. However, let us be very careful.

Don't be silent, just know when to hold your tongue.