GODLY LEADERS

(INTRO) FOLLOW THE LEADER

[1]WELCOME: Good morning Cornerstone! If you’re new with us this morning, my name is Nic Cook. If you’re new with us on campus today or online, thank you for joining us. If you wouldn’t mind, let us know that you’re here by filling out the paper connection card, or through our app, or by saying hello and liking this video online. If you have been with us from January up to Easter we had been in a… SERIES: called Anchored based on the book of Hebrews. But we didn’t finish. There was one last chapter that we hadn’t covered. So for all you type A personalities, sigh a big sigh of relief, we can say we finished Hebrews after today. Then next week we’ll start a new series on the book of Acts called THE MOVEMENT. But today we’re going to be talking about…

· LEADERSHIP: or more specifically, what a good leader looks like in the church, and what it looks like to follow those leaders. Everybody remember as kids in school how there was a line leader and then everyone else got in line behind them. There was often a rush to see who could be first in line by certain kids, and then there were the kids that had no desire to be up front. Certain people wanted to be leaders, and others were more content to follow. And wherever the leader went, the rest of the line was supposed to go. The thing is, it wasn’t important when you were a kid who was the leader. It wasn’t complicated to get to the lunch room or the playground for recess. But as adults, who we follow is incredibly important. Who you follow has a profound effect on your life. [2]WHO YOU BECOME AND THE OUTCOME OF YOUR LIFE WILL DEPEND ON WHO YOU FOLLOW. As adults, those in leadership have to ask, what kind of leader am I, and am I leading people in the right direction. I came across an article called 10 GREAT LEADERS FROM HISTORY and wanted to see who they listed. And what I found striking was alongside Gandhi, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Nelson Mandela, were the names Hitler, Mao Zedong, and Fidel Castro. Side by side were people whose leadership brought about great good and flourishing in the world with people whose leadership brought significant evil and suffering. But you can’t argue, they all had great leadership skills. They had a vision for the future, they had a strategy to accomplish the vision, they could communicate it effectively and get people to buy into the vision, and accomplish things through other people. So, here’s a couple questions, how do we know we’re following a good leader and not a bad one? And if we’re a leader, or think we may become one, how do we make sure we are leading people into good and flourishing, and not evil and destruction?In the church, this is a crucial set of questions, because it has eternal ramifications. Learning to lead and to follow has an effect on our souls. And God wants to give us wisdom in what it looks like to both lead and follow well. So let’s open our bibles to [3][Heb. 13:1-25] Let’s pray, for God to help us learn to both follow and lead his way. [4]

(TEACH/APP) FOLLOWERS FIRST (God)

LEADERS AT THAT TIME: Just a reminder, this letter was probably written to Christians living in and around the city of Rome sometime in the 60’s AD. It was a time where the Roman Empire made people say that Caesar is Lord, or God. Your countries leader is God, follow and worship him. Do what’s best for the country. On the other hand, many of the people hearing this letter would have come from Jewish backgrounds. They were used to the authorities in the Jewish community, the temple priests, the Sanhedrin, the local synagogues, and Rabbis. Follow the traditions of your family and people. If you don’t, then you’re not one of us anymore, you’re cut off from life and business with other Jews. Then there would have been the leaders in the local Church body in Rome. Unlike today in the United States, Christians then didn’t have a church building or a paid set of pastors. They had elders. For the most part, elders were unpaid people that served, led, and taught other Christians, although some elders were paid because they spent more time preparing to teach. By AD 96 there is mention of a Christian leader named Clement from Rome telling Christians in Corinth that they need to reinstate elders that they had wrongly gotten rid of. So, it’s probably a safe guess, that the church in and around Rome would have associated the word leaders with the elders of the church. So the writer of Hebrews is wrapping up his letter to them with some practical teaching on how to follow Jesus well, and how to follow the leaders that Jesus has put in place. However, it gives general expectations of everyone, which tells us…[5]

· WE ARE ALL FOLLOWERS OF JESUS FIRST: Verses 1-15 give us 5 practical things that our Lord and Leader Jesus calls us to. Learning to follow well means that we…

o FOLLOW BY LOVING FAMILY WELL AND POTENTIAL FAMILY: Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. 2 Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! [Heb. 13:1-2] The defining mark of followers of Jesus is their LOVE for ALL people. Love for other followers of Jesus and love for complete strangers. He calls other Christians “brothers” and “sisters”. Those are family terms. These are not people you sit next to once a week. They are family. Look at the person next to you. That is your family. If you call Jesus your savior, then that is your brother or sister. Jesus says, I love them, I died for them, I made them part of my family. Do you love them? Is loving family easy? That’s a rhetorical question. No, but love is not about easy. [6]It often starts as a decision. None of us are easy to love. But choosing to love will lead to feeling love. When there is hurt or arguments within the family, a great question to start with is “am I responding in hurt or love? Am I responding to them the way I would want them to respond to me?” And we’re not just called to love other followers of Jesus. We’re called to practically love “strangers.” We invite them to join us for dinner, to enter into our house and our lives. You know how people who aren’t Christians most often become Christians? Because they were invited into their life, not just invited to Church. I think we’ve overcomplicated evangelism, when it’s simply eating, listening, and then helping others, and then telling them about how Jesus loves us when they ask why. Now, it’s important to see that loving fellow Christians and others doesn’t exempt us from pain. It mentions loving and caring for those in prison. These Christians knew of people who had been thrown in jail for their commitment to Jesus. Timothy is mentioned being release from jail. What if the people who are sitting next to you today, are the ones you need to show up for you if you go to prison for your faith? How does that impact the way you see the family of Jesus. Another way we are called to[7]

o FOLLOW BY HONORING YOUR MARRIAGE AND SEXUALITY: That word “honor” is a beautiful word. It is used to talk about “precious stones” or “precious fruit from the ground” and the “precious blood of Jesus”. The idea is that both the person in the marriage and the relationship of marriage is to be extremely valued, and precious. Someone who is following Jesus well is someone who looks at their partner is says, you are extremely valuable to me and to God. I will care for you, speak to you, and speak about you as though you mean the world to me. I want to treat you like God treats you. I will refuse to talk badly to you, I will refuse to talk badly about you to others. I will build you up in private and build you up to others in public. What would marriage look like if both husband and wife looked at each other that way and treated each other that way? Imagine the impact for generations to come if our children saw that kind of example and then lived it out themselves. If Christians want the world to love Jesus, a marriage of honor is a powerful compelling case. This extends to our sexuality. Sex is meant to be a way of showing exclusive commitment and honor to a single person. We must not let anyone else share our beds other than our spouse, either in our heads, on our phones, or anywhere else. The writer of Hebrews says learning to follow means loving everyone well, honoring marriage and sexuality and also includes: [8]

§ FOLLOWING BY WANTING GOD MORE THAN WANTING STUFF, LEARNING TO LISTEN WELL, LEARNING TO DISCERN TRUTH, AND LEARNING TO SUFFER WELL. Let me do a quick check. Everybody doing these things well? Anybody thinking, yep. Nailed it. What’s next? Probably not. Can I let you in on a little secret? As a leader in the church, I fall short of just the loving people well part. All of our leaders here at Cornerstone and all of the leaders in the universal church fall short. So as hard as it is to simply follow Jesus, add to that the difficulty of leadership. We’re told that…[9]

· LEADERS ARE TO BE LIVING PICTURES OF FOLLOWING JESUS: 7 Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith. [Heb. 13:7] As leaders, we can’t expect anyone to do anything that we ourselves aren’t doing. If we want people to love well, then do we love well? Do we love EVERYONE well? Even those that disagree with us? Even those who are actively opposed to us? Our we people of hospitality and generosity? How would outsiders of the church describe us? Does our marriage, our finances, our spiritual life look like what we want the rest of the church to look like? Do we repent and apologize? Do we serve? Do we dig into God’s word on our own? Paul says, imitate me, as I imitate Christ. [1 Cor. 11:1] Take the responsibility of being and example and add the expectation that…[10]

LEADERS ARE TO WATCH OVER SOULS: The word “watch” means to stay awake, be attentive, keep on the lookout for danger, protect. It’s used to describe what it takes to make sure that when the end comes, people will be ready. When Jesus comes back, his people are ready for him. God has set aside people who are to take the responsibility of caring, comforting, confronting, people and help them to cultivate their souls. Leaders are called to be the ones who show up when people are hurting, when they’re loved ones are dying, or running away from faith. Leaders are called to be the ones who sit and cry and mourn with those that mourn and cry. They are like the Jonathans to King David, that stick close when people need them the most. But they are also the Nathans to King David that confront them with their sin. They ask the hard questions and say the uncomfortable truths. When we’re encouraging and comforting people, we’re loved. When we’re confronting sin and calling toward holiness, we’re tolerated. Ultimately however they don’t do these things because it will be appreciated. They do it because…[11]

LEADERS WILL GIVE AN ACCOUNT TO GOD: From one perspective, that’s very sobering. Our leader expects a lot out of us. We don’t want to disappoint our Savior. We often fail and hate the idea of hurting God’s people. On the other hand it’s beautiful. I love Paul’s words in [12-14][Phil. 2:14-18] Paul says, when I stand before Jesus, I want to point at your people and say, God look at what you did through me in these people. They became more like you. They shined bright in a dark world. That was worth devoting my entire life to. A good leader knows they will stand before their ultimate leader. When they do, they’re going to want him to say thank you for what you did. I know it wasn’t easy. I know it hurt. I know there were times when you wanted to quit. But you didn’t. And I used you. I’m proud of you. You’ve been faithful. I take joy in what you did for me! They don’t do it for themselves, they do it because they love the smile of their Savior. Let me end with a few practical next steps this morning. If we were to summarize[15] FOLLOWERS BECOME LIKE THE ONE THEY ARE FOLLOWING. IF WE ARE ALL FOLLOWING JESUS THEN…

(JC) THE MARK OF GOOD LEADERS AND FOLLOWERS IS LOVE

ASK, AM I LOVING WELL? The true test of being both a follower of Jesus and a leader of Jesus is asking, how am I doing at loving? The writer of Hebrews says, look at your leaders and follow their example. Then they say, by the way, they should look like Jesus. Who instead of destroying his enemies, allowed them to take him outside of the city and crucify him. He sacrificed himself because he loved even the people who hated him. Am I loving those who are hard to love? Am I loving those who have disappointed me? Am I loving those to who don’t like me? Good followers seek to bring their leader joy. Leaders seek to bring Jesus joy. So we must ask…[16]

ASK HOW CAN I HELP OUR LEADERS SERVE WITH JOY? You know what kills joy faster than anything else? Joy dies when the church becomes more about what I get, than a place where I come to love and serve. Joy dies when people talk about people to people instead of talking to God about the situation and then going directly to be reconciled to their brother and sister. Joy dies when

You know what gives our leaders the greatest sense of joy? When someone says, when you challenged us to read the bible 3x’s a week, well I just finished reading the entire bible. Joy! When someone says, I’m struggling to forgive this person, so I’ve been praying for them. Would you pray for me? Joy! When someone says, God’s working on me. I know he wants more from me in my marriage, with my kids, and with my business. Joy! When someone says, I started praying with my wife and kids this week. Joy! When someone says they took a co-worker or employee out for lunch and talked about Jesus. Joy! When someone volunteers as a coach and then prays with their team before the games. Joy! When someone says, hey I know I should be doing more than just showing up and sitting in a seat on Sundays, where can I start serving? Joy! When someone says, hey, I’m gonna get a group of guys or ladies together to talk about Jesus. Joy! I’d really love to get some people and go serve at the James Project. Joy! Your leaders deepest desire is for Jesus to be the center of your life and not an add-on. Your leaders deepest desire is to see you come alive with the Spirit of God and engage in the mission of God. It gives them joy, and they will continue to pour themselves out in service to you and to Jesus! Lastly, we’re told to…[17]

PRAY FOR YOUR LEADERS. Pray that they would cultivate their own souls well. Pray that they would feel the love of Jesus deeply. Pray that that love would transform them and flow through them into loving others. Pray for them to have wisdom. Pray that they would have boldness in leading well. Pray that they would have clear consciouses. That they would be protected from the influence of the lies and temptation of the evil one. That they would keep their eyes on Jesus and the heavenly rewards he has for his people. Pray that they would be strong, courageous, and run with endurance. We cannot tell you enough how much we both need and appreciate your prayers.