Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Today I am going to give you some foundational truths for the role of leaders. I have written on these in previous blogs, but I felt it important to remind us as leaders in regard to what our role is in leading others in the body of Christ.
God appoints leaders in the body of Christ for the sake of those that God leads and loves. Leaders don’t lead others for their own sake. They lead them for the sake of every believer’s relationship with God as their Father, Jesus as their Lord, and Holy Spirit as their empowerment of life in all things. Leaders inspire others to embrace a personal and powerful relationship with God in life.
What is the role of leaders? The first role of a leader is to be an example to those they lead so that those they lead can see an expression of the way, the truth, and the life in Christ. The apostle Paul wrote to his spiritual son Timothy in regard to being an example to those that God had entrusted him to lead.
1 Timothy 2:12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
To be an example in the word is not about being an example in Scripture memory. The Pharisees were excellent in Scripture memory but their use of the words of the Scriptures became weapons of death in their mouths and not words of life to those they spoke to. To be an example in the word is to be an example in the substance of the word. This is the Spirit of the word in the testimony of their flesh. Just as the word became flesh in the life of Jesus the Son of Man, leaders are to become a testimony of flesh transformed to the word of God as a life-giving testimony and expression to inspire those they lead to become the same. It is about setting an example that others can see that is true to the word of God. It is true to being an expression of God. All believers in Christ are to be an example to their world as expressions of God. They are to be true to God’s word. Leaders simply lead others in becoming true to God’s word.
Leaders are to be an example that can inspire others by their conduct in life. Leaders are not examples in conduct while believers are not. All believers in Christ are to be an example to the world as to the conduct of sons and daughters of God. How do we handle the challenges of life? How do we live our lives? How do we respond to others? Do we react to the situations in our lives, or do we make actions of faith in every circumstance of our lives? Reactions will lead us into a path of carnality and self-preservation, but actions of faith are responses to the voice of God in our hearts that always leads to new life. How do we react to others? How do we live our lives as dads, moms, brothers, sisters, grandparents, friends, and neighbors? Leaders lead for this testimony in the family of God.
What about love? How do we exhibit the character of love in our attitudes and actions in life? All believers in Christ are to exhibit the love of God to their world and leaders lead in this testimony. They demonstrate the character, nature, and way of God in their love for God and for others. True love lives to give and never to get. Leaders lead others in this testimony.
What about living lives that exhibit a supernatural connection to the Spirit? Do we manifest being spiritual people that inspire others to be the same? This is not about being religious with religious actions and the keeping of religious ceremonies. It is about being people of the spirit. This includes a discerning of spirits and a spiritual example to others in being connected to the Spirit of God at all times. For this reason, I stir up my spirit all day long in praying in the spirit. I don’t make it a religious task; I simply pray without ceasing throughout my day. I choose to have a face-to-face relationship with God all day long.
A leader is to be an example in faith. Faith is a supernatural testimony of responding to the voice of God in our hearts. The opposite of faith is natural sight, but faith is walking in a path that is inspired by God’s voice of love. It enables us to see what we could not see before, hear what we could not hear before, and to think what we could not think before. The trouble in our lives simply becomes framing material to frame our world according to God’s purpose and will.
Leaders are to be an example in purity. This is to live an innocent and sinless live. To do this requires a connection to God that inspires a change in our hearts and minds to live to be givers of life and not takers of life from others. We live for the wellbeing of others through an intimate connection with God in or hearts. We live lives empowered by God’s grace. The manifest presence of God in our hearts enables us to live lives that exhibit the holy life-giving nature of our heavenly Father in all things. Leaders give themselves to being pure to inspire those they lead to do the same.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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