Tag Archives: christianity

Are you becoming a dangerous leader or a biblically dangerous leader?

There are some leaders who want all the attention, overlook the needs of others, not really interested in the glory of God but love the idea of titles, making decisions and everyone respecting them.  It’s the difference between a dangerous leader and a biblically dangerous leader for God’s glory!

Malachi 1:6, “‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?’ says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’”

In the book of Malachi the people of Malachi’s day are living through a difficult season.  Their morale is low, their souls are depleted, they have lost optimism in the Lord, and their worship in the Lord is waning so much that He brings rebuke in chapter 1 to their spiritual leaders.

Up to this point the people of Israel have grown up hearing great things about the Lord through leaders like Abraham, Moses, David, Sampson, but lately the stories haven’t been that great.  

Lately they have heard about the Assyrians, a wicked people who take the 10 tribes to the north into captivity.  Then, Babylon, another wicked people who take the 2 tribes to the south into captivity.  Then, Persians, another ungodly people who take out the Babylonians and issue a decree allowing Israel to return home, which is great, but Israel is having to start all over.

They are having to rebuild their homes, restart their economy, re-establish their community, and they are still living under the oppression of the Persian government, so that their awe and worship of God is waning and it is trickling down into their relationships with one another.  But, there is HOPE.  

In Malachi 3 the Lord reminds them of His unending love, therefore, we are called to give our lives completely to Him, and when we give our lives to the Lord we will become a  biblically dangerous leader for His glory.  Here are 11 practical characteristics:

  1. Make a pact with God to meet with Him daily.  The Lord is worthy of our lives, therefore, we give ourselves to Him every day through the reading of His Word and prayer.
    • When you read the bible ask these questions, “What does the passage teach me about the character of God?  What does the passage teach me about the brokenness of humanity?  How does the passage expose our need for Jesus?”
    • When you pray add these elements into prayer:
      • Adoration:  Awe of God.
      • Submission:  Submit to His will.
      • Trust:  Ask for His help to trust Him.
      • Confession:  Confess areas of sin.
      • Protection:  Ask for help to be on guard against the evil one.  
  2. Develop an excitement for His kingdom, rather than your kingdom.  Our kingdoms are small, short-sighted, and filled with anxiety.  His Kingdom is eternal, diverse, and filled with power and joy.  Seek His kingdom!
  3. Persistent growth in personal character rather than building your reputation.  Confess sin daily.  Uproot idols with the gospel daily.  Build godly relationships with other men and women who are wanting to grow in godliness.  Read God’s Word.  Stop making excuses.  Take responsibility.  Grow in character!
  4. Expect life to bring challenges.  Life is difficult.  Build your life in preparation for that difficulty.  Roll with the punches.  Tons of people can get excited for a season, but length of time is what makes you dangerous.  
  5. Raise up others to be a biblically dangerous leader.  Pour into people.  Resist the temptation of just being satisfied with people hearing what you have to say about life.  Pour into people who will pour into people.  
  6. Love repentance.  Love confessing sin.  Love being in awe of the cross.  This is what makes you the most dangerous, because you can’t believe that God would love someone who is layered in as much death and destruction as you are in life.
  7. Rejoice in God’s grace in the life of others.  Don’t give into a competitive attitude with others.  Run your own race.  You aren’t trying to beat out the guy next to you.  You are learning about your gifts and talents that the Lord has uniquely given to you and you are doubling down on those gifts and talents.  It is easy to become critical of others but instead it would be better to be known for being an encourager of others.  
  8. Celebrate little things.  Life is hard.  There are going to be tons of misses.  If we are going to aim for becoming a biblically dangerous leader then we are going to run hard and the best medicine for running hard is celebrating little things.  
  9. Love rest.  The Sabbath is ultimately in the cross, but a biblically dangerous leader loves the idea of everything not resting on your shoulders.  You know how to turn it off.  You know how to nap.  You know how to walk with peace.  You know how to be still and know that the Lord is the Lord.  
  10. Don’t get swept up in the latest fads.  The cross is the coolest thing ever.  A new pastor, a new book, a new -ism, a new-est is just going to come and go, but you are always going to be in awe of the cross.  

Value people.  Do you care about people?  All people are made in God’s image, therefore, a biblically dangerous leader cares about people.  You care about how you build relationships with people.  You are curious about their story.  You don’t people walking away from their time with you thinking about YOUR GLORY but instead you want people to walk away and think, “I want to go read the Bible, I want to share the gospel, I want to be a better spouse.  I want to know GOD’S GLORY!”

Who Am I to Speak into Someone’s Life?

How many times do we think to ourselves, “I should probably give direction based on God’s Word about what this person should do with their life?”  There are probably some of us who can’t help ourselves, some of us who think those things internally but never say anything, and there are also some of us who think, “Why would someone listen to what we have to say?”

Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom.”

But God’s Word actually invites us to speak into the lives of other people and below are just a few responses we might give to that invitation:

  • Nobody would care what we have to say.
  • I am not qualified to speak into someone’s life.
  • I need to get my life in order before I talk to someone else.
  • I’ve made too many mistakes.

As a result, we tend to see people in our life put themselves in a harmful place and we never say anything.  Even worse, we wait till that horrible thing happens in their life and then we say under our breath, “I saw that coming a mile away!”  But let’s look at Exodus 3:

10 Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” 

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” 

12 And He said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.”

13 Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” 

Moses has all the typical excuses that we give today.  Who am I?  What will I say?  Why should they listen?  If we looked at the next chapter we would see, “What if they don’t listen? I am not good at this? You should send someone else.”

What is God’s response to all those objections?  Look at Exodus 3:

14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 

15 God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations. 

16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt. 

We tend to give excuses by focusing on ourselves, our resources, our abilities, our wisdom, our gifts but God’s response is to look at His calling, His power, His resources, His wisdom and invites us to trust in Him.  

This doesn’t mean we need to walk up to strangers and tell them what to do but God has called us to speak into the lives of others who are in Christ.  We are called by God to prayerfully consider, “Who needs to be encouraged, who needs to be challenged, who needs to be acknowledged, who needs to be served, who needs to be prayed for” and we get this opportunity every time we come together on Sunday morning for worship.