I have a simple message to give today. And that message is an exhortation and teaching that what is needed most today is for Godly men that will lead. Us men, we all beat our chests and grunt in agreement. But what that means biblically, what that means truly, perhaps will thin out the crowd.
If I lead in righteousness, in wisdom, in service, in knowledge, in authority, in providing, and yet I do not lead in love, I am not a Godly man or a Godly leader, and ultimately, I’m not effective in bringing about the result that I even think I am leading towards. What am I getting to… Where are the men that are strong enough, awake enough, aware enough, resolute, steadfast and honorable enough to actually follow the Lord and lead in love?
To lead in love, that’s a Christian. Even more so, that’s a Christian man. A Christian husband. A Christian father. A Christian worker. A Christian politician (there are none of those)! A Christian church goer. A Christian pastor…. A Christian is one who leads in love. Guys, honestly, it is SO easy to be a Christian today. Because no one does this. The type of love with which we are loved, deploy that…, no one is doing that… We have the ultimate opportunity to honor God in these last days!
Romans 5:8 is authoritative. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” While no one else was doing it, while no one else was doing what is right, while no one else was doing what was good, while no one else was walking in love, Jesus did it. That’s leadership. That’s Jesus leadership…, Godly leadershihp (and the more we decide, say to ourselves, allow God to do this work in us…, the more that is us…), the more we look like Jesus, the more we are grown. What is needed most today is not experienced, educated, culturally connected men…, what is needed most today in all venues is grown Christian men.
We want to be like Jesus before the Father but we don’t want to be like Jesus before our brother. Before our wives. Before our co-workers. Before the protesters… Doesn’t add up, y’all, and the world isn’t the way it is because of “those idiots that reject Jesus,” the world is the way it is because of those idiots that have accepted Jesus! And now we who begun in the Spirit seek to be made complete in the flesh…
A man worked 25 years at his job doing the same thing for the same pay and when he went to complain to his boss, he said, “Boss, I’ve got 25 years of experience and I’ve never gotten a raise or a promotion!” And the boss replied, “No, you have one year of experience that you’ve done 25 times.” Men, fathers, husbands, leaders…, we are to promote in the kingdom of God. Not cycle through the same mistakes over and over again that we call “lessons” when we are actually learning nothing! When 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of God!” Do you know what that means? As you mature, move forward, learn and grow up, YOU look more like Jesus!
Ephesians is a book that can be divided very cleanly into 2 partitions. The first part, Chapters 1, 2, and 3 are educational and enlightening, and encouraging, to give us all of the information in terms of what Christ has done for us… And in light of what Christ has done for us and who Christ is to us, then comes Chapters 4, 5, and 6. They are the so what chapters… All that we have in Christ, what is it that we are supposed to do with it progressively and increasingly as we walk with Him, and it’s a great verse set to continue this discussion…
Ephesians Chapter 4 Verses 1 – 16
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring (running to) to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore, He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.” Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.”
“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
Everything is being torn down and ripped off and withheld…, that’s the ploy of the world and its ways because that was the original and is the one single aim of the god of this age. And the days are getting darker! Example: I used to take my lunch to work in a Walmart bag… They took that! HA! Now I take it in a trash bag! It’s horrible! HA! But God says to Godly men, the whole body is yours to lead, to join and knit it together, and to cause growth for the edifying of itself…, and the way, the path, the truth and the life…, is LOVE.
Now, I’m not talking about kindness or affection or consideration…, primarily. I’m talking about agape. The kind of love shown and described in Romans 5:8. The kind of love put on display at the cross. The kind of love you have received and do receive from God. Unconditional, unrestrained, unmerited, unearned and really unmaintained. It’s to take self-setting-aside care of those around you… That’s the love leadership that is needed most and if you get really honest about things, that’s the definition of a Christian.
Loving our wives, or our children, or our brothers in the Lord or even our enemies is not and cannot be a means to an end or it’s not love. That’s just self-service or phileo at best. This love has no aim other than to love. That kind of love takes far more grit than quit…, and is stupidly rare in the church… Especially amongst so-called “leaders…,” and sadly definitely amongst the men of the faith. The role of the Christian man is always to bring the authority of Christ through the character of Christ!
Again…, nowadays…., it is SO easy to be a Christian because the love of many has grown cold! Leaders in love represent Christ and His authority. What we read in Ephesians, Paul says that He Himself has given some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastor teachers… That word for pastor is the word shepherd. He has given us shepherd teachers. Who is the GOOD Shepherd? That is Christ Himself. Christ refers to the instructors, the teachers, the leaders in His church by His own title. That’s who He is therefore that is who they are. A shepherd must serve His sheep not himself why? Because if you don’t serve sheep, they die… And if a shepherd serves himself amongst the sheep, they die…, because he eats them!!
Later on in Ephesians 5 we see husbands called heads of their wives. Who is the Head of the church? This is again a representation of Jesus Christ. Christ is also called the bridegroom and we are told, “husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church.” Period. And gave Himself for her that He might, check this out… cleanse her and present her to Himself spotless!
Well then you go a bit further and it says “fathers do not provoke your children to anger but bring them up in the things of the Lord.” Where did that title, “father,” come from?
Well then you go a bit further in the household talk of Ephesians and Paul brings up slaves and masters. Today we call them employees and employers. But his title “master,” who wears that one? Again, the role of the Christian man is always to bring the authority of Christ through the character of Christ!
All of the places that we share God’s title, we must also share God’s character or we are not building things up at all but we are tearing down and stealing, killing and destroying. The most necessary and needed and truly the most basic thing missing all over the place today is Godly men that will lead, and I am talking solely about leading in love…
I am responsible and will be held accountable for everywhere that God has me… But in the end, I don’t need anyone else to hold me responsible…, that’s my job. Maybe not in the first year of my job…, but definitely by the 5th…., or I’m not gaining any growth… I’m just doing my first year over and over again…
My goal is to glorify God, that is the basic basic of Christianity and I implore you to consider this for yourselves. That should be the goal of all Christians. Not to install the wisdom of the Bible to find worldly success. Not to teach, correct, instruct, or lead those around you that some sort of change will come about advantageous to you or to them. That is weak Christian leadership and will be met with tons of frustration. My goal is to glorify God because in the end I know that leading in love is rational, reasonable, and I’m just starting to be smart enough to understand that it’s the only effective leadership towards God’s purposes on earth, which is ENTIRELY to glorify Jesus!
Explanation, your Godly wisdom, your memorized command of the scripture, even the example of success in your own life, none of these things have the power on their own to call a person to repentance. And look, repentance leads to victory in Jesus! Only love, agape, non-agenda’d, gift agape, love without terms and conditions, service and kindness and joy sharing without a point or a hoped for or expected return on investment, just simply to climb up on your own cross for the hell bound doomed condemned pharisees that put you there, that kind of love changes the world. How do I know? Because it did.
I get it. That’s hard. The hardest. Of course you don’t want to do that. Neither did our Lord. And if you have not the resolve of faith to do what I have just described, to bring the authority of Christ through the character of Christ, then my exhortation to you is do not stand in the way of those that will. Stop competing, cease challenging, and start serving. One man who says something cannot be done should not interrupt the man that is doing it… Lead in love or step aside and serve in silence. This is what is most needed in the world today!
My heart’s desire is for God to fill my life with Himself. That Christ might fill my wife. That Christ might fill my children. That Christ might fill my church. That Christ might fill my place of work…., and this is the only way…, for a Godly man to lead in love and really for me to be a Godly man. Bring Christ’s authority through Christ’s character and boom… it becomes, well, back to Ephesians 4:16…, “the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
Last thing…, as we long for our wives to love us and to respect us and to live Godly lives… same thing for our children, our churches, our personal world…, Isaiah 53:5 says, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” How you gonna heal all that? Take stripes. Love. Listen. Correct and rebuke and teach far far far far less…, lead in love. And watch the body, whatever body it is, grow up and edify itself in the love of Christ.
What is needed most today is for Godly men that will lead.
