Monday, November 5, 2007
By Faith... the Judges, Part 17 of 62
TEXT: "Then Deborah said to Barak, 'Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before you?' So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. . . . The torrent of Kishon swept them away, that ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon. O my soul, march on in strength" (Judges 4:14, 5:21).
IDEA: The essential virtue of a leader of God’s people is a humility that comes from deep faith.
PURPOSE: To help listeners see that leaders must be people of faith above everything else.
Have you read many books on leadership? Have you found them valuable?
Do you find them lacking when it comes to responsibilities you have in leading God’s people?
Secular books talk about vision and planning and inspiring other people to buy into your vision.
I. The essential virtue of any one who proposes to be a Christian leader is that that person has to be a person of faith.
In Judges 4:14 and in Judges 5 Deborah shows the quality of her faith.
She has faith going to the battle and faith coming out of the battle.
It is not faith in faith. It is a whole-souled faith that she is about God’s business.
II. She demonstrates the humility that comes from faith.
She is willing to have Barak be centrally involved in the mission. In fact, she is willing for Barak to do it all.
You have no impression that she is shirking her own responsibility, but because this is God’s cause, she knows that it does not depend on her.
After the victory she sings a song of praise. Throughout that song she gives praise to God for the victory He has given.
She describes what she and Barak did but does not imply that the battle was won because of their shrewdness or their skills.
Do you think it’s easy to have that kind of humility when you’ve had enormous success? Yet it is the mark of a Christian leader.
An example of that is Billy Graham. In the times when I have met with him personally he is adamant that whatever was accomplished was God’s doing. At Yankee Stadium years ago, President Nixon attended the final meeting. As they walked in to a packed stadium, Nixon said, “You must be gratified by what you’ve accomplished here.” Graham replied, “God did it.”
III. This is the most essential quality in any Christian leader – a dynamic bold faith in God.
You can have all of the leadership principles in your notebook. You may be a management expert. But if you are not a person of faith, you will fail as an elder or a teacher or in whatever area you serve.
What the people I lead need more than anything else is not a great system or great motivator or a great visionary but a person who knows God.
