Preaching the Word
Preaching the Word
Lessons from Jesus on Leadership
What does it truly mean to lead in the Spirit of Christ? Join us in our latest episode as we uncover the profound lessons on leadership and true faith drawn directly from the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. We highlight how God calls ordinary people to extraordinary purposes within His church. As we examine John chapters 7 and 8, we reveal how Jesus' life and wisdom contrast sharply with the religious leaders of His time, who valued human accolades over divine obedience. Discover how genuine leadership is steeped in humility and obedience to God's will.
True leadership isn't about personal gain; it's about glorifying God through His Son Jesus Christ. We discuss how false leadership seeks self-glorification, while true leadership acknowledges sin and embraces salvation through Jesus. By focusing on glorifying God, trusting, and obeying the Father, true leaders desire for others to have a right standing before God. Prepare to be inspired and challenged to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to whom all glory is due now and forever. Amen.
Email: nathan@nathandietsche.com
This is a sermon entitled Jesus on Leadership, and it begins a series of sermons on God's call to leadership in his church throughout history. My original plan for this series was to examine Ephesians chapter 4, where we learn that Jesus appoints leadership to his church and then take four weeks to go through specific examples of how Jesus has done this throughout history. But as I began to write this sermon series, I was even more deeply convinced of something I had been convicted of for many years how God uses ordinary men. God does not look at the things men look at, because when God calls a man, he's calling someone that he has chosen, someone that will follow him, someone that will listen to him and someone that will point to what he is doing. The more I studied the scriptures, the more strongly this was confirmed and the more I feared for what is going on in our Western church today. While much of this series focuses on God's call to leadership and what godly leadership looks like, this has practical applications in all of our lives. It helps each of us to see that our focus needs to be on the greatness of God, not on the greatness of man. It helps us to recognize the more we try to raise ourselves up, the less God can use us. But the more we humble ourselves and raise God up, the more he can.
Speaker 1:In a Bible study group that my wife and I lead, we've been diving deep into the Gospel of John. We've been so enriched by the words of our Lord Jesus and how impactful it can be to hear the teachings of our Lord. My grandfather used to say if you want to know something for sure, you got to get it straight from the horse's mouth. Well, today we're going straight to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout this series we're going to be examining differences between true faith and false religion. We'll examine ideas that have made their way into some of our Western thinking and how we need to renew our minds in Jesus. When we begin such a journey to understand these things, there is no better place than to look to the life of Jesus and his disciples and their relationship with the Jewish leadership. The bulk of today's study will come from John, chapter 7 and 8, and I encourage you to read both of those chapters, either before continuing with this sermon or after hearing it. There truly is so much that Jesus teaches about true leadership, true faith and true worship in the Gospel of John and even in the couple of chapters we're looking at today chapter 7 and 8.
Speaker 1:Let me give a little bit of context here. There's a festival happening in Jerusalem and it's called the Feast of Booths. Jesus is sending his disciples ahead of him because it's not the Father's timing for him to go into the festival yet. Jesus told his disciples that he'd be coming later after them. Jesus does have a plan to teach at this festival, but he's going to wait because there's danger both for him and his disciples.
Speaker 1:In John, chapter 7, verse 1, we read that Jesus went about in Galilee, but he would not go into Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him. The first thing I'd like to point out for clarity in this text is that throughout the Gospel of John we often see that phrase the Jews, but it's not referring to all Jews. It's referring to the Jewish leadership, and that is the case in our text today as well. While Jesus is speaking to a crowd of Jewish people at the temple, the Gospel of John uses this phrase the Jews here to refer to the Jewish leadership that wants to kill Jesus. Now let's look at verses 14 through 18, when Jesus shows up around the middle of the festival, john 7, 14 through 18 read About the middle of the feast, jesus went up into the temple and began teaching.
Speaker 1:The Jews therefore marveled, saying how is it that this man has learning when he's never studied? So Jesus answered them my teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I'm speaking of my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. The first lesson on leadership that Jesus shows us here is that true leadership glorifies God rather than self. True leadership trusts and obeys the will of the Father. In contrast, false religion and false leadership trusts in the accolades or accreditation of men. In everything Jesus did, he submitted to the Father's will. Even, as we saw earlier, waiting to come to the festival in the middle of the festival was part of Jesus' submission to the Father. So when Jesus does begin to teach in the middle of the festival was part of Jesus' submission to the Father.
Speaker 1:So when Jesus does begin to teach in the temple, the Jewish leaders start to criticize him and it says "they marveled at him, saying how is it that this man has learning when he's never studied". The Jewish leadership here is not marveling or thinking that Jesus' knowledge is a good thing. They're confused as to how Jesus could know as much as he does without being formally trained or studying under their approved programs. You see the Jewish leaders trusted in their own training programs. They trusted in the accreditations of men and we see from the Jewish leaders' statements that Jesus did not attend the formal training of the rabbis. And because Jesus did not comply with their accreditation programs, they're trying to use this as a way of discrediting Jesus.
Speaker 1:Now I want to clarify something at this point, because what Jesus is showing us can send shockwaves through our Western thinking, especially when we've come to a place that believing that higher education is so important that our government needs to pay for everybody's college education so important that our government needs to pay for everybody's college education. Jesus isn't saying that formal education by nature is bad or evil, but rather he is showing us that true leadership concerns itself with the purity of God's word rather than being accredited by men. Rather than being accredited by men, jesus is actually about to get in a very heated discussion with these quote-unquote accredited teachers, and he begins by telling them my teaching is not mine, but it's his who sent me. Let me say that what Jesus is saying here should be the heart of any church leader that seeks to truly follow God, desiring not to simply follow man's teachings, but the teachings of God, the Father. That must be the heart of any church that seeks to follow God, any church that seeks to follow God, and it certainly will be the heart of any man that's been called by God to equip the saints. Men called by God to equip the saints will seek to teach God's truth, to bring people to know the living God, rather than just teach the latest politically correct thing that may be trending in seminary.
Speaker 1:Jesus then says if anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I'm speaking of my own authority. Did you hear that I'm speaking of my own authority? Did you hear that Jesus said if anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether this teaching is from God? What Jesus is teaching isn't something that only he will understand or that he can understand. Jesus says this is something that anyone will know if their will is to do God's will. So if someone desires to genuinely obey the will of God the Father, they will know the teaching of Jesus is true.
Speaker 1:Then Jesus helps us to see what a false teacher looks like. He says that the one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory. Jesus makes it clear that false teachers teach from their own opinions, because they seek to exalt themselves rather than exalt God rather than exalt God. Jesus is our ultimate example in that he never sought to exalt himself. Rather, he came to speak the very words of God the Father, and glorify his Father in heaven. The Son who is God, emptied himself, taking on the very form of a servant and being born in the likeness of man. The Son of God is the only one who truly and fully sought the glory of God, the Father in all things. In Christ there was no falsehood.
Speaker 1:1 Corinthians, 2, 12 and 13, read Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given to us by God, and we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual In the body of believers. When we look for godly leaders, it's not the wisdom of men or the accreditation of men that we should be concerned with. Rather, we should be looking for a leader who has submitted themselves to the work and leadership of the Holy Spirit and, as in all things that Jesus did, he gave us the perfect model of this. Jesus gives the ultimate example of a godly leader, in that we are to be seeking the glory of the Father, testifying to the work of the Son and being guided by the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:For our second point that I'd like to make about Jesus on leadership, I'd like to turn to John, chapter 8, verses 39 through 46. Here the Jewish leaders are answering Jesus. It says they answered him. Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them if you were Abraham's children, you'd be doing the works that Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who's told you the truth that I've heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You're not doing the works your father did. They said to him, but he sent me. He speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies, but because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin?
Speaker 1:From here we see a lesson that Jesus teaches us again on leadership. See a lesson that Jesus teaches us again on leadership, and that is that true leadership believes the words of God concerning sin and forgiveness that come through the Son of God, jesus Christ alone, in contrast with the Jewish leaders that exalt themselves by comparing themselves to others based on their own personal merit. While Jesus began this discussion with the Jewish leaders, showing them it was not through man's wisdom or man's institutions or man's accreditations that godly leaders are made, but rather through submission to the Father and the leading of the Holy Spirit. And now Jesus concludes his discussion by highlighting why this is so important. We can't properly discern right or wrong. We couldn't understand good or evil, unless we repent of our sinful pride, until we humble ourselves before the Creator of heaven and earth. If we're attempting to exalt ourselves over others based on our own personal merits, such as higher education or our family background, we've already failed to understand the fundamental gospel message.
Speaker 1:The verses we read here in John, chapter 8, begin with the Jewish leaders using their physical ancestry to try and exalt themselves over other people. They don't understand the promise of God about Abraham's children. Why? Because they're blinded to the message about Jesus Christ. The short of it is that they're saying they're God's children because they're physical children of Abraham. But Jesus' answer to them is pointed. He says if you were Abraham's children, you'd be doing the works that Abraham did, but instead you're trying to kill me. To put this another way, jesus is telling these Jewish leaders that because they don't believe in him as the Messiah, they're not true children of Abraham, that the true children of Abraham are children through faith in him alone.
Speaker 1:The Jewish leaders understand what Jesus is saying and their reply at this point is about as scandalous as it can get. They say to Jesus while we're not born of sexual immorality, we have one Father, even God. This is a direct attack on Jesus' character. In more than one way they're trying to publicly disgrace him. One way they're trying to publicly disgrace him. The Jewish leaders are trying to validate themselves by slandering Jesus, and they're using the events that surrounded Jesus's birth. The Jewish leaders know that Mary became pregnant before she was married. They also know that Joseph was not Jesus's real father. The Jewish leaders are publicly implying here that Jesus is an illegitimate child. Make no mistake, beloved. The world attacked our Lord Jesus for not meeting their expectations and they will attack godly leaders as well. The rest of this passage is a rebuke from Jesus, publicly declaring these Jewish leaders to be children of the devil, to be liars, to not be the true followers of God. But what Jesus teaches here to these Jewish leaders and to us today again, can send shockwaves through our thinking, and it certainly did through the Jewish community. Jesus makes it clear that Jews are not God's chosen people simply because they're physical descendants of Abraham. In fact, jesus calls these Jewish leaders children of the devil.
Speaker 1:The point on leadership that Jesus teaches us here is that false leadership looks to things of the flesh. It looks for a feeling of superiority over other people. It looks for a feeling of superiority over other people. But true leadership recognizes that all mankind has fallen short of the glory of God. There's no one righteous, not one. Everyone has fallen short of God's standard and everyone is in need of a Messiah, and that Messiah is Jesus Christ. It's through Christ alone that we can find righteousness before the Father. True leadership desires to help people come back into a good standing before God.
Speaker 1:True leadership acknowledges what the scriptures have to say about sin, but, just as importantly, they acknowledge God's gracious provision for salvation from our sin through Jesus Christ. As I wrap up today, I want to again summarize these two great lessons True leadership seeks to glorify God rather than oneself, and trusts and obeys the Father. And second, true leadership believes in the words of God concerning sin and the forgiveness that comes through Jesus Christ alone. That comes through Jesus Christ alone. Beloved, may you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ. To him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.