Wanted: Visionary Leaders With Spiritual Credibility ~ Joshua 1-4

Leadership Transition Series Message #5
February 7, 2010



Have you ever considered what the difference is between a manager and a leader? Leaders have to be visionaries and managers don't. As Alex Montoya writes regarding leadership, “the main difference between leadership and management [is that] leadership provides the vision, and management executes the vision.” In other words, whereas, managers know how the ladder should be climbed—leaders know where to put it!

Another way of seeing the difference between managing and leading is that whereas management is primarily concerned about doing things right leadership is concerned about doing the right things. As one writer describes the difference: “Managers run around with clipboards and whistles making sure everyone is on the trail—while leaders are blazing the trail.”

When it comes to the church, we need both. We need the more managerial types to help keep us on track but without the visionary leader types we wouldn't even be on the track. And whereas, I have found there to be a surplus of managers in most organizations including the church—there always seems to be a lack of true visionary leaders who know where they are supposed to be leading us and how to get us there.

Now, when I refer to “visionary leaders”, I am not referring to the kinds of leaders and pastors who are setting their own personal agenda for the church. I am talking about the kind of leader who because he is grounded in the Word of God, has a good grasp of church history, knows his own people well, and enjoys a vibrant prayer life has a keen sense of where, how, and to what God wants him to be leading the people under his charge because he can see what others don't. As one man has said: “We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon.” So, what I'm really talking about when I say “vision” is spiritual insight and foresight.

When it comes to spiritual leaders who had this kind of spiritual vision—some of the church's greatest examples are found in our mission's history. While most pastors and church leaders in England in the 1700s were obcessed with their own congregations, faltering budgets, and problems with the government—William Carey was staring at a world map dreaming about taking the Gospel where it had never been. And while his church was engrossed in petty squabbling, Henry Martyn saw the Muslim world and became one of the very first to take the Gospel to what we now call Iran.

You know, in a sense, the leader needs to be like Balaam's donkey back in Numbers 22:22-33. While you're turning there, let me give you the background of the story—It takes place while the Israelites are wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. Balaam, a false prophet had been requested by Balak the king of Moab to meet with him so the two could talk over plans to curse the Israelites so that the Moabites could defeat them in battle and drive them back to Egypt.

Now, let's read the story in Numbers 22:22-33.

The reason I say that the leaders of God's people need to be like Balaam's donkey is because they need to see what no one else sees so as to know what to do and what to say in order to traverse divinely ordained challenges and obstacles.

Perhaps a more positive example and one more to the liking of potential leaders than being compared to Balaam's donkey is that of Elisha who when the town he was in was surrounded by the armies of the king of Aram, who planned to kill him and his assistant—was not at all worried much to the anxiety of his assistant. And in 2 Kings 6:15-17, you have the story of what happened.

Here is a great example of the kind of vision or spiritual insight that the man of God who is to lead God's people must have. While everyone else is like Elisha's assistant and looking at the problem—the leader needs to be like Elisha and be looking for God's solution to the problem.

Spiritual leaders who know their Bibles and know their God are prepared to see what others who are not in the Word and are not intimate with God do not and cannot see. And these are the kinds of men we need in leadership—men with spiritual vision and insight. And so, the big job for the spiritual leaders of any church and especially for the leader of the leaders is to have a sense of what kinds of conquests and challenges the Lord has in mind for the church he is to lead. He needs to see not only what must be accomplished but what could be accomplished.

I love the story about the grand opening of Disney World. Walt Disney, who we all know designed and was responsible for Disney World becoming a reality—died before it actually opened. So, his wife was asked to speak at the ceremonies. She was introduced by a man who said--”Mrs. Disney, I just wish Walt could have seen this.” She stood up and politely said: “He did” and then she sat down.

But the leader can't just see what can be—he must be able to communicate that vision and furthermore instill that vision in his church. And then he must be able to inspire his church to pursue that vision. And if the leaders do not inspire, who will? So, besides being men who can see what others can't see and who can communicate what they see so that others can now see it—spiritual leaders must also be able to lead their people and inspire their people from the Word of God and through the power of the Spirit of God to pursue that vision irregardless of how many obstacles and challenges are in the way.

Biblical leaders must lead people to live above and overcome their circumstances rather than to succumb to them. This was the failure of the ten spies sent out to Canaan who upon their return to the Israelites offered a negative and pessimistic report on their ability to conquer the land (Numbers 13:26-33). And just as this story illustrates, there will always be within any group of people and leaders those who will see the glass half empty rather than half full. These are the people who, regardless of what good is occurring or what the potential for good is, cannot help but find the negative in it. And keep in mind, whereas these kinds of people may make great managers who are responsible for quality control—they don't make the best leaders as Moses found out.

This is not to say that leaders keep a blind eye to problems. It is to say that good leaders, fully aware of the potential and real problems of any endeavor, see the possibilities and forge ahead inspiring others to follow. Too many want-to-be-leaders are spreading among God’s people “a bad report” causing the people to lose heart and give in to their circumstances. I like the Chinese proverb which says: “Man who says, 'it cannot be done' should not interrupt man doing it.”

You know, when it comes right down to the nuts and bolts of church or any kind of leadership, for that matter, the leader's attitude often makes more of a difference in the end than his aptitude. But, in order to inspire others the leader himself must be inspired and that requires spending lots of time with the Lord and Head of the Church—Jesus Christ. What inspires me for leadership is God and the fact that God's purpose and God's goals and God's vision is so huge that it requires His power to accomplish it and thus being the leader of God's people in pursuing God's plans gives me a front row seat to seeing God's power at work in the accomplishing of His purposes—and that inspires me.

But, keep in mind, however inspired the leader is and no matter how great he has been able to communicate God's vision for the church—he will never be able to inspire those—whose hearts he has not won because they do not trust him. You see, for a man to win the hearts of those he is to lead spiritually so that he can inspire them to follow his leadership in spiritual endeavors—he must be a man who has spiritual credibility.

So, while the leader needs to have a spiritual vision for his people that comes from God and needs to know how to implement that vision as well as instill that vision in the people he is leading—if he does not have the necessary spiritual credibility before his people--his leadership will fail in spite of the grandeur of his vision and ability to communicate it. And today if you'll turn with me to Joshua 1, we will see this truth as well as how Joshua gained the necessary spiritual credibility so as to truly become the spiritual leader of God's people. These passages contain three important truths regarding the need for spiritual credibility.

1.Unless God's people know that God is with the leader he will never become their real spiritual leader. (Joshua 1:17)

2.Unless God works in the leader's life so as to demonstrate that He is with him—the people will not have confidence that God is truly with him and he will never become their real spiritual leader. (Joshua 3:7, 17; 4:14)


3.Unless God is with the leader he will never ever truly become a real spiritual leader whose spiritual leadership is noteworthy. (Joshua 6:27)

So, this of course begs the question—What does the leader need to do in order for God to “demonstrate that He is with him” so as to give the leader the necessary spiritual credibility to lead God's people? Look at Joshua 1:1-9. God promises Joshua that He will be with him and that He will never fail him nor forsake him twice in these 9 verses. He promises Joshua in verse 5 that He will be with Joshua just as He was with Moses and that He will never fail nor forsake Joshua. He then reiterates this promise in verse 9. Thus, God promises Joshua that He will be with him but that truth alone—as powerful and as foundational as it is—will not give Joshua the necessary credibility he needs in the eyes of the people. You see, the people needed to see that God was with Joshua in order to know and believe that He was with Joshua.

Look at Joshua 3:7 and Joshua 4:14 again. Notice that God said in 3:7 that He would exalt Joshua that day “in the sight of all Israel” and according to 4:14 that is exactly what God did—He revealed to the people that He was with Joshua so that they would follow him. Now, while God's promise was enough for Joshua to move forward and lead—it had to be demonstrated to the people for them to move forward and follow. So, how did God reveal that He was with Joshua?

Well, essentially, He made Joshua look good by fulfilling what He said He would do if Joshua obeyed Him and did exactly what God told him to do. Look at Joshua 3:7-17.
You see, Joshua took God at His Word and then expected God's people to do the same.
And because he took God seriously and expected God's people to take God seriously—God exalted Joshua in the eyes of the people so that they were not only willing to follow his leadership—they wanted too! And this is exactly what God told Joshua in Joshua 1:5-9. After giving him the promise to be with him—God then tells Joshua in verses 7 to “be careful to do according to all the Law and not turn from it . . . . so that he would have success wherever he went.” Then in verse 8, God tells Joshua to “meditate upon the law day and night so as to be careful to obey all of it. . . . for then he would make his way prosperous and have success." And success at what—we might ask? Well in Joshua's case it was success as a leader—and in particular the leader of God's people. You see even though Joshua had God's word that he would be with him just as He was with Moses—the people needed to see that Joshua was with God and that he was being blessed by God because he was following God.

In essence, that which gives the spiritual leader the credibility he needs to lead God's people is that he has a heart that takes God's Word seriously and then expects God's people to take it seriously and then is careful to do exactly what God has said to do irregardless of the obstacles or dangers involved.

Now, does this mean that Joshua was a perfect leader who made no mistakes and never failed? No, not at all. In fact, he failed many times as a leader. Ai and Gilgal were two prime examples of his not being a “perfect leader”, but even in his failures—he, once he was convicted of his sin—did exactly what God had told him to do—he repented and confessed and took responsibility and never lost the spiritual credibility necessary to lead God's people.

The point is, when we give careful attention to the Word of God to obey it and to treat it as serious—we will have spiritual credibility in our station in life whatever that may be. And likewise, if we don't treat God's Word as Holy and we disobey it—we lose spiritual credibility.

CONCLUSION

When all is said and done—it is not a man's resume or educational degrees or ability to hold a congregation spellbound by his preaching that authenticates his spiritual leadership—rather it is whether or not he treats the Word of God with the seriousness and care it deserves and believes it and obeys it.

Indeed, “obedience is better than sacrifice” as Samuel the prophet stated to Saul, a man who because he did not obey God lacked spiritual credibility before God to lead His people inspite of the fact that he had great leadership potential.

You see, in the end—what makes a leader a spiritual leader and an effective leader and a leader in whom God is pleased to use is whether he has credibility with God first.

And if you find a man who has credibility with God because he spends time with God, takes God seriously, obeys God, loves God, and is willing to put it all on the line for God—you have found a man who is prepared to see what God wants him to see, who has the ability to communicate what he sees to you, and the spiritual credibility to lead you in accomplishing it.