Why We Lead

“Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly – not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God.” (1 Peter 5:2 NLT)

It’s interesting to me that in the verse above Peter is essentially emphasizing to those to whom he is writing the last thing Jesus emphasized to Him in John 21:15-17 – “Then feed my sheep!” Why is that so important? Because as human beings we’re all about ourselves, even in the church. If we’re not careful, even as believers in the Lord Jesus, we get so invested in what our leadership brings to us we forget why the Lord has given us that position of authority over others in the first place.

We’re so tempted to believe our leadership is all about us and too quickly lose sight of the fact we’re only an instrument that is worthless except we’re empowered and enabled by the Spirit of God. “Great” men and women of God are often not remembered because they were necessarily great human beings.

Many were not until they became captivated by their love for and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. “Saint” Augustine was an atheist before his encounter with Christ, as was one of the most revered promoters of the Christian faith in recent years, C. S. Lewis, who didn’t come to Christ until his early 30’s. At age 18 Lewis wrote to a friend: “You ask me my religious views: you know, I think I believe in no religion. There is absolutely no proof for any of them, and from a philosophical standpoint Christianity is not even the best. All religions, that is, all mythologies, to give them their proper name, are merely man’s own invention…

Thus religion, that is to say mythology, grew up. Often, too, great men were regarded as gods after their death — such as Hercules or Odin: thus after the death of a Hebrew philosopher Yeshua (whose name we have corrupted into Jesus), he became regarded as a god, a cult sprang up, which was afterwards connected with the ancient Hebrew Yahweh-worship, and so Christianity came into being — one mythology among many.”

What’s the point? It often takes time for the Lord to wean us from ourselves. We get corrupted by our own success and wrongly believe our charisma, our personality, our charm has won us this opportunity to lead others. It takes time for us to grasp the fact that we’re not the attraction, Jesus is, or at least should be! It’s all and only about Him, and unless and until we understand that we’re destined to grave disappointment.

Dan Reiland gives us insight when he wrote: “The leader who lives first to feed the people lives dependent upon God.” Apart from the inspiration and instruction of the living Spirit of God who indwells us we have nothing to offer anyone of substance. We can only lead effectively to the glory and honor of the Lord Jesus as we are led.

To believe we can pour into others out of the little cups of ourselves is to misunderstand our role as a person of God. Jesus reminds us in John 15:5b: “For apart from Me you can do nothing.” And just to be clear, the context of Peter’s words is primarily to overseers or Pastors of congregations but is applicable to teachers and leaders in other settings as well, including children’s and youth leaders/teachers, even parents.

We’re all accountable for how we “teach” with our lives, especially when we realize we never know who is watching us and learning from what they see. This is why we lead in the first place, to influence others positively to the glory of our Savior.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊