What is a Biblical Leader?
1 Timothy 3:8-13, Titus 2:1-10
“Leader.”
When we hear this word thrown around in the world today, there’s so much baggage that comes with it; often there are feelings of wariness, disconcertedness, and uncertainty. A recent Pew Research Survey “shows that Americans have an overwhelming lack of trust in key groups of people who are in positions of power when accounting for factors like empathy, transparency and ethics, with at least half of Americans expecting these groups of people to behave unethically.” The general public today, whether Christian or not, seems to have a strained relationship with the idea of leadership; believing that leaders are more often than not acting upon that which is self-benefiting, self-protective, and that which allows them to receive power, influence, and money. The word “leadership” in America today is often associated with the descriptors: disconnected, cowardice, divisive, façade, and unprincipled.
Here’s the thing. Although these may be the feelings we have towards leadership or the examples of leadership we’ve seen in American culture and the world at large, the truth remains that God created leaders and leadership as a good gift to the world. How so, you might ask.
In Genesis 3, instead of trusting God’s way of order and flourishing, Adam and Eve chose their own way, believing they could find a shortcut to fulfillment and flourishing. This detrimental event ushered into the world a cataclysmic reality; sin and brokenness tainting and deforming every good thing. Because we live in a post-Genesis 3 world, sin touches and taints everything we see, including leadership. Even so, the solution to this dilemma of broken leadership is not to live devoid of being led by others or of leading others. God’s plan still remains to have His people exist to foster flourishing and bring order where there is chaos; “to work [the garden] and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Because this is the call upon the life of every Christian, we better learn what this means specifically. And there’s no better place to look than to God’s very own Word to us in 1 Timothy 3:8-13 and Titus 2:1-10 which specifically address the character God desires for leaders to have and display in the world.
God is very clear as to what the character of the leader ought to entail. Truly biblical leaders are dependent on the Spirit, respectable in character both at home and in the world. They hold fast to God’s Word even when culture despises it. They are self-controlled, humble, honest, and not gossips. They are more about empowering others than about implementing their own agendas. They are stable and consistent even in the face of immense difficulty, and most importantly, they love God above all else; even more than the good gift of leadership.
God wants you to lead people to Himself, not to yourself. Leadership is stewardship and service. It is the provision of care and clarity and patient guidance, not commandeering. It is humility and integrity, not prideful and dishonest. God cares more about the heart of the leader than the image they portray to the world around them.
God wants you to lead yourself and the people you lead into alignment with His Word, not with the culture.
Biblical Leadership does not…
Seek self-gratification, self-glorification, or self-fulfillment
Manipulate / abuse / take advantage of others
Operate out of greediness / hunger for power / pride
Fixate on getting/forcing their way
Say one thing and live another
Only do what “feels good or comfortable”
Operate in self-dependence instead of being Jesus dependent
Only engage in leading while its beneficial to self
Quit when it gets hard
Live immorally / led by the flesh
Operate corruptly / having a secret agenda
Waver with culture
Let us be a people that longs to be more and more in alignment with God’s word, even if that means looking vastly different from the world around us. When the culture around us is constantly pointing fingers to the flaws of leaders, let us be a people who take responsibility for our flaws as leaders. Let us be a people who humbly repents and turns towards the ways of God. As it says in Luke 6:42, “How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.”
Reflection:
Take some time right now to identify a few examples in the list above (“Biblical Leadership does not…”) that you can often fall into.
Once you’ve identified these, take some time to repent to God. Make a plan to repent of these things to your huddle (both the one you lead and the one you are in if such a circumstance applies to you).
Skim over the characteristics that God calls leaders to have in 1 Timothy 3:8-13 and Titus 2:1-10. Take some time to pray for God to give you His character in your leadership of others. Take some time to pray for the people that lead you.
