Sermon by Dr. Jeffrey Jeremiah
March 5, 2006

"Leadership that Makes a Difference"
Romans 1:8-16

This is a special day in the life of our church as we’re ordaining and installing deacons and elders. These are the offices of spiritual leadership, ministries that God Himself addresses in His Word. These offices have been critical to the life and growth of the church of Jesus Christ through the centuries, especially in the last 350 years. Let me quickly summarize the process that brings us to this day. Last fall, a Nominating Committee formed by you, the congregation, began to meet and seek out those they believe God had called to these offices. As candidates were identified, they were interviewed by the committee about their relationship with Jesus Christ and their willingness to serve. At our annual congregational meeting in January, we elected the candidates who were presented to us by the Nominating Committee. After that, I reviewed with our newly elected officers the ordination vows and their meaning, with special attention paid to the distinctives of our biblical and reformed faith. That brings us to today. As we prepare to set apart these men and women for these important ministries, I thought it would be helpful to look at a passage of God’s Word that speaks to the leadership these new officers (and all officers of the church) are called to. Let me say that this message speaks to all of us, not just our officers. It describes godly leadership we should all expect and be willing to follow. In addition, what’s described here should be the leadership we all aim for if we’re going to be people of influence, of impact for Jesus Christ.

The key to this passage is the Apostle Paul’s words in verse nine, "God, whom I serve with my whole heart." Two things stand out about this verse. One, leading is not described as leading, but as serving. This is totally opposite of the way we think about leading. But it’s exactly the way Jesus thought. When Jesus used the term servant, it was a synonym for greatness. The Lord of the universe, the greatest leader said, "I came not to be served, but to serve." And He said this about those who follow Him: "Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all" (Mark 10:42-43). "Servant" and "slave" do not include ideas of great honor, respect, and prestige. Jesus knew that the idea of leader as servant would not appeal to most people. Securing our own personal needs and our creature comforts is a much more common mission. But "servant" is His requirement for those who want to lead in His church. Paul writes that the spiritual leader serves, and serves with his whole heart. We’re not talking about a superficial motive here for service, but a genuine, passionate desire to serve God. Throughout the Bible we see the importance of wholehearted devotion to the Lord. Jesus said that the first and greatest commandment is "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37). God promises in Jeremiah 29:13, "You will seek me and find me." What an incredible promise! "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Proverbs 3:5 encourages you to "trust in the Lord with all your heart." How is this applied to leadership? David was a great leader because he was a man "after God’s own heart" (I Samuel 13:14), that is, passionate in his pursuit of his God. The Apostle Paul served with his whole heart because he was filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:9; 52). It’s argued that without being filled with the Spirit, spiritual leadership as it’s described in Scripture is overwhelming. What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Is it some kind of dramatic spiritual experience? At Pentecost it certainly was, and it can be still today in the lives of some individuals. But in general, being filled with the Spirit means simply that you voluntarily and completely surrender your life to the Spirit of God. Filled with the Spirit means the Spirit’s power grips your life with strength and passion, your service is magnified and multiplied. J. Oswald Sanders, in his classic work, Spiritual Leadership, wrote, "The filling of the Spirit is essential for spiritual leadership." And then he added this challenge: "And each of us is as full of the Spirit as we really want to be." That’s a challenge I often put before myself: "Each of us is as full of the Spirit as we really want to be."

From the example of Paul, being filled with the Spirit results in a number of distinctive qualities of godly leadership. A first quality of a Christian leader is a humble spirit. In verse 12 Paul looks forward to visiting the Roman Christians so that "you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith." If you think about it, this is an incredible statement! Paul was one of the greatest men, one of the greatest theologians who ever lived, but he didn’t think he was superior to other Christians. He didn’t think he was above being spiritually helped and edified by other believers, even those much less mature than he was. He was humble. Of all the traits a spiritual leader can possess, it’s argued that humility ranks the highest, because without a humble spirit no man, no woman can fully be used by God. Humility comes when your heart is so set on God that you almost forget about yourself; you place God and others at the top of your priority list.

A second feature of the spirit-filled leader is a "harvest" spirit. In verse 13 Paul writes, "I planned many times to come to you…that I might have a harvest among you." The focus of Paul’s ministry, be it preaching, teaching, writing, was harvest, that is, spiritual increase, spiritual growth in the church of Jesus Christ. There are two elements of this harvest. First and foremost, there’s the harvest of souls, the outreach, the sharing of the gospel that produces new converts to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Second, there is the "harvest of righteousness" that is the increase in maturity, impact, and effectiveness of those who are already believers in Jesus Christ. This is not an "either – or." "I will concentrate on the ‘harvest of souls’ but not the ‘harvest of righteousness.’" Or vice versa. The harvest of souls and the harvest of righteousness are both critically important to the godly leader, as both are critically important to the life and vitality of the church.

Third, the leader serving wholeheartedly is leading under the authority of Jesus Christ. "I am obligated," Paul writes in verse 14, "both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and to the foolish." Paul was not a "free agent" wandering around doing his own thing. He was under obligation to the God Who had called him, equipped him, and given him the opportunity to minister the Gospel. Spiritual leadership is always leadership under authority, under the authority of our Savior and Lord. I’m convinced that the number one responsibility of the spiritual leader in the church is to seek, to know, to declare, and to follow the leadership of Jesus Christ. He’s the head, He’s the One Who gave His very life for His church. Verse 16 says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes."

A fourth mark of the Christian leader is boldness. The greatest challenge to leaders in the American church in this 21^st century might be this point. One of the reasons the American church is so weak, so irrelevant to so many today is because many churches, in a "react" mode to our culture, have fallen into the "fortress mentality." "There’s the bad world; here’s the good church. If we let anyone from the ‘bad world’ in, they might change us, corrupt us, destroy us. We’ll build a wall between ourselves and the world to ensure we’re safe and secure and comfortable." That is not a statement of boldness, but of fear. I believe it’s a statement of boldness and courage when Paul wrote, "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do this all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings" (I Corinthians 9:19-22). In the life of our church, now, this is the time for boldness, boldness for Christ, boldness for taking His Gospel into our world, boldness in welcoming the world to Him. The spirit-filled leader is loving, humble, focused on the harvest, under authority, and bold.