Jesus Christ's Qualities of Leadership

Hello and welcome to our guests and visitors here. It's nice to have you with us here today.

Over the last few weeks, we've seen some amazing spectacles unfold. First in Tunisia, in northern Africa, then in Egypt, and now in Libya. There are various tyrants who have held power for 30 or 40 years or more, have been forced from office. Or, in the case of Muammar Gaddafi, seems to be at the moment barely hanging on by a thread in that part of the world. And some of the things coming to light in the aftermath of these people being ousted are really shocking.

One of the more amazing reports I saw in the news was that the former president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, is estimated to have built a personal fortune of approximately $70 billion over the 30 years that he ruled over Egypt. Now, if true, that averages out to a little over $2 billion a year, year after year, for 30 years. Somehow, I don't think that was all his presidential salary, since if it were, he would be making approximately 75,000 times what Barack Obama makes as the president of the United States. You might wonder where in the world did this $70 billion that he's managed to accumulate come from. This problem is so bad in a lot of the third world countries that a new term was coined several years ago to describe them. We've heard of terms like democracies, which means the people are the ones who make the decisions, rule of the people, theocracies, which is a rule by the religious authority. But the new term this man coined is kleptocracies. Kleptocracies from kleptomaniacs, thieves, rule by thieves. It's somewhat humorous, but sad but true at the same time, because that is the reality of life in a lot of parts of the world there, where thieves get in power. It seems that their goal in office is to steal as much as they can, to get as much as they can while the getting is good. Thus, you have people like Saddam Hussein when he was ousted. You may remember some of the reports that came out at the end of members of his family literally fleeing the palaces with suitcases stuffed with gold bars and hauling out literally truckloads of American dollars. There are millions and millions of dollars that disappeared. And the aftermath of Saddam Hussein's overthrow there.

All of this brings to mind a particular scripture, Proverbs 29 and verse 2. Let's turn there to begin the sermon, because this scripture is as timeless and true today as it was 3,000 years ago when it was written. We've certainly seen this being played out in recent events in Tunisia and Egypt and now Libya and other places in the Arab world. It tells us a lot about leadership and governing here in Proverbs 29 and verse 2. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when a wicked man rules, the people groan. In Tunisia and then Egypt and now in Libya and other places as well, people are rising up. They're tired of groaning under the kind of oppressive rule that they've had, under the burden of corruption, which is so endemic in those places. And they've had enough of it, and they're demanding that things change, and that these leaders be ousted from office, that they get rid of this old and corrupt leadership. And that's another reason, frankly, why in so many places like this, the only way a government changes in a lot of those places in the world is through a coup, or through a violent overthrow, a revolution, like we've been seeing here lately. Someone gets into the office, and they simply never leave until they're either thrown out or they're killed. And that's been the pattern in that part of the world for thousands of years, as long as there have been human forms of government. And you actually see that reflected in the Bible. If you go through and refresh your memory, read about the history of the kings of Israel and Judah. And it's amazing how many of them left office, left ceased being king, because they were assassinated. They were assassinated or overthrown, and there were very few good or righteous rulers among them. In my last sermon here, I spoke about what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ. And I pointed out that He is our rabbi, He's our master, our teacher, our leader, and that the goal of a disciple of a Talmadeem is not just to learn what the rabbi or what the teacher knows, but to become like Him in every way. I pointed out that that requires spending time with Him, getting to know Him, and being totally committed to Him. And all of these are necessary if we are to become like our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. In today's sermon, I would like to expand and elaborate on that theme somewhat by focusing in on Jesus Christ's qualities of leadership. And that is the title for today's sermon, Jesus Christ's Qualities of Leadership. Because what kind of leader was and is Jesus Christ? And what qualities does He have that make Him a good leader? And what does He want us to learn from His example? And what does His Word, the Bible, teach us about what true leadership is and is not? And a secondary purpose for this sermon is that you'll be hearing the United Church of God talking a lot about serving and about servant leadership in such things. You may have already heard that the theme of the general conference of the elders in May is serving as Christ serves. And what does that mean?

When the council and the administration met last month and talked a lot about servant leadership and so on, what does that term mean? In this sermon, I hope you'll come to better understand what we are talking about when we use those terms and what we want the whole church to aspire to as we grow together. So what was it that made Jesus Christ the kind of leader that He was and what is His fundamental approach? Let's begin back in Matthew 20 and beginning in verse 20.

Matthew 20 and verse 20.

And here Jesus Christ talks specifically about leadership and what real leadership is and how He wants His followers to be. And there's a very important lesson in here, not just for us, but to anyone who aspires to be a leader. Matthew 20 and verse 20. Then the mother of Zebedee's sons, James and John, came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. Let me first note that this is Jesus Christ's aunt who is coming to Him. I won't go into the evidence for that. You can go back and read our booklet, Jesus Christ, the real story, and learn about some of these family connections there in the Gospels. So His aunt comes up to Jesus with her two sons, James and John, who are Jesus' cousins.

That's not a crucial factor in the story, but I think it helps us understand what we might perceive to be a rather presumptuous request on their part as we read about in the next verse. And He, Jesus, said to her, What do you wish? She said to him, Grant, that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right hand and the other on the left, in your kingdom.

But Jesus answered and said, You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink and be baptized with a baptism that I am baptized with? That's referring, of course, to the suffering and crucifixion that He would undergo in the not-too-distant future from this point. And they said to Him, We are able. So He said to them, You will indeed drink my cup and be baptized with a baptism that I am baptized with. In other words, they would in time suffer martyrdom themselves there.

But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by my Father. Verse 24, and when the other ten disciples heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. And why were they displeased? If you read through the Gospel accounts, you find that they had arguments about this very issue who was going to be the greatest among them several times over the course of Christ ministry.

And I think they were probably most displeased because they hadn't thought about it first. They hadn't thought about having their mother come to Jesus Christ to ask this on their behalf. So Jesus Christ uses this as a teaching opportunity for all of the twelve. So He calls them all together, verse 25, to Himself and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.

And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave, just as the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Now this had to be pretty shocking for those men there, the disciples, because this was turning their world upside down. They knew what it meant to be on top because they lived in a culture that was dominated by the Roman Empire, and they also knew what it meant to be on the bottom, to be a servant or a slave. And here Jesus tells them that the one who is going to be the greatest or the first will be the one who is the greatest servant or the greatest slave.

This is just totally upside down from the way most people would have thought about that. Let's take ourselves back 2,000 years to that culture in Acts. How did people rule at that time? How did the Gentiles rule that Jesus referred to here when he said the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and those who are great exercise authority over them?

What did that mean in the context of that day and age? Now the rulers in the Roman world of that time had, to a considerable extent, life and death power over their subjects. And the gospels record several examples of this. You may remember the example of King Herod when the wise man came to Jerusalem and said we've come to worship the newborn king of the Jews.

And what did Herod do? Herod, as a result of that, asked around and found that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem and to eliminate any threat to his throne and his power. He had all of the infant boys, all of the young boys from ages 2 and younger, slaughtered. Somewhere between 10 and 30, totally innocent young babies slaughtered because to him that represented a threat to his reign there. Some other people that Herod had killed during his reign were his favorite wife, Mary Amna, his brother-in-law, his father-in-law, and three of his own sons, including his first-born son, because he thought they were in some form or another trying to take power away from him, or maybe trying to take over the throne from him.

Herod was so depraved in his thinking that he was on his deathbed, knowing that he was going to die. And he had all of the leading men, the respected leaders of Israel, rounded up and locked into the stadium, the Hippodrome, near his palace in Jericho.

And he gave orders that when he died, all of those men, several hundred, maybe several thousand, were to be slaughtered so that there would be mourning in Judea at his death. He knew the people wouldn't mourn for him, so he was going to make sure that they mourn, though, by killing all of the leaders of Judea at that time. This is the kind of depraved men that Herod was. And it seems to have run in the family, because Herod's son Herod Antipas, another Herod that shows up in the Gospels quite a few times, had John the Baptist beheaded on a whim there, again showing the kind of life and death power that these rulers had over their subjects at that time.

What about some of the Roman rulers, men like Pontius Pilate, who was the governor, who presided over Jesus Christ's crucifixion there? The Jewish historian Josephus records an incident in which Pilate took money that was supposed to be spent on the temple, repairs, modifications, upgrades, that sort of thing. Instead, he spent it on an aqueduct to supply water to Jerusalem. The Jews, of course, complained about that, protested what he had done.

Herod called a meeting to discuss this. He stood up to address the crowd. What the crowd didn't know is that Herod had placed some of his soldiers in disguise among the crowd, and when he gave a signal, the soldiers in the crowd took out their weapons, their swords, and their clubs, and indiscriminately slaughtered and butchered several dozen of the people who had come there to protest Pilate's decisions. So this was the kind of ruler that Pontius Pilate was at that time.

What about some of the greatest of the rulers of Rome, the emperors at that time? Starting with Augustus Caesar, many emperors were declared to be gods, actual gods by the Roman Senate. Many of them had temples built throughout the Roman Empire to the emperors, and in some cases to their wives as well, where they were worshipped as gods and goddesses. People would even give offerings to the emperors there at these temples. The emperor Vespasian, who died in the year 79ID, said, as he was dying, it's one of history's more ironic quotes, he said, I feel myself becoming a god there, as he was dying, because he firmly believed that, yes, he would become a god when he died. The Roman emperor Caligula, who was one of the worst of the Roman emperors, so bad that he was assassinated in 41AD, was so arrogant that he appointed his horse to the Roman Senate, and also made the horse a priest in the Roman religion there. This is how arrogant and corrupt some of these leadership, some of the leaders of the Roman empire were. This is the kind of leadership that Jesus Christ is referring to, about, that existed among the Gentiles at that time. You might call it vanity bordering on insanity there. It's pretty well thought that some of these Roman emperors were literally insane. People like Nero, Caligula, and others. Some were good rulers, but a lot of them were just very disgusting and awful.

To illustrate the vanity of a lot of these ancient rulers, one of my favorite inscriptions ever discovered in archaeology. Many of you know I love archaeology. This was written by Sennacherib, who was the Assyrian king at the time of Hezekiah. If you remember the story, he's the king who surrounded Jerusalem, besieged it with an army of 185,000 soldiers, until an angel came and killed the 185,000 Assyrians. Sennacherib had to return back to his capital, where he was later assassinated by his own sons. But there was found an inscription written by Sennacherib about himself, and it shows the opinion that he had of himself, which is fairly typical of the rulers of that time. I'd like to quote this inscription. Sennacherib, the great king, the mighty king, king of the world, king of Assyria, king of the four quarters, the wise shepherd, favorite of the great gods, guardian of right, lover of justice, who lends support, who comes to the aid of the destitute, who performs pious acts, perfect hero, mighty man, first among all princes, the powerful one who consumes the insubmissive, who strikes the wicked with the thunderbolt. And of course, he doesn't even go on to describe his great humility as well. Kind of reminds me of the old song, It's Hard to be Humble When You're As Great As I Am. There, that might have been written for King Sennacherib there.

So this is the kind of attitude that was extant in the world of Jesus Christ's day, when Jesus Christ told his disciples, you shall not be like the rulers of the Gentiles and the way they operate. So what were some of the attributes of Jesus Christ that contrast with this style of leadership? I'd like to cover five primary attributes. These aren't the only ones, but five that are key to becoming the kind of leaders and servants that Jesus Christ wants us to be. And the first attribute, and this is one we just talked about here in Matthew 20, is that a true leader must have a serving attitude. A true leader must have a serving attitude. And we saw that here in verses 26 through 28. Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.

And how do we do that? Well, we do that by following the example of Jesus Christ. As it says here in verse 28, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. Jesus Christ came to earth for many reasons. We could enumerate, but one of the most important was to set a perfect example for us. To show it what it means to live a godly life. What it means to truly live by God's law, in the spirit of the law. And he did set a perfect example of serving others. He did not come to be served, but to serve others, and to live a life that shows us exactly what that means. We know that Jesus Christ did a lot of his teaching in parables. And I find it interesting that the way God's people are usually depicted in the parables, most of the time they are depicted as servants. They're not depicted as the kings, as the rulers, as the overseers, or something like that. The bosses, they are depicted as servants. And there's an important lesson that Jesus Christ is trying to tell us by that.

What about some of the roles and responsibilities in the church? Let's look back at verse 26 here again. When Jesus says, whoever desires to be great among you, let him be your servant.

Let him be your servant. The word translated servant here is diakonos. Sound familiar? Diakonos.

It's a great word from which we get the English translation, deacon. Deacon there. Same word, there. A deacon isn't some great position of rank or authority. A deacon is first and foremost a servant. In fact, that's what the word means. It's translated servant about three times as often in the Bible as it is a deacon. That's not to say that a deacon does not have any authority, but rather that the purpose of that authority is for serving other people. That's the whole point of it there.

What about another word that is regularly used in the Bible that we've used in the church for years? The word minister. The very word minister means someone who ministers.

What does the word ministers mean? It means to serve. It means to serve. And again, that is the whole point. A minister is not someone who is there to be elevated above others or to have authority over others and to have them serve him, but instead a minister is there to minister. He is there to serve others. That is the job description. Yes, again, ministers do have some degree of authority, but the authority is not used to lord it over others or to have others serve him, but rather the purpose of that authority is to serve others and to protect and to teach and to serve the flock. A minister is there to minister, to serve. And Jesus thought that this serving attitude was so important that he gives us something to do every year to specifically remind us of that. And we find that over in John 13 and verse 3. He did something here that shocked his disciples, his Talmadim, and he did this to teach them an important lesson. It's a lesson we will be participating again here in about two months coming up. John 13 and verse 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, so he is going to be returning to the Father very shortly, he rose from supper and laid aside his garments, took a towel, and girded himself. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. Skipping down to verse 12, where he goes through and washes the disciples' feet. So when he had washed their feet, taken his garments, and sat down again, he said to them, Do you know what I have done to you? You call me, teacher and Lord, and you say, Well, for so I am.

If I, then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, A servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. So by this action he showed the kind of attitude that all of us, as God's people, should have toward others. We should have the attitude of a servant, of one who lives to serve others and who is willing to take on the basis of jobs, as Jesus showed by this example here of washing another person's feet, to demonstrate that attitude of serving others. And that is an attribute of a true leader. And the second attribute, and the one pointed out here in Matthew 20 by Jesus Christ, is that a true leader must show care for others. A true leader must show care for others. And this is closely related to the first point, but a little bit different because a person can have a serving attitude, but if that attitude is never put into practice, it doesn't do anybody any good. So we have to show care for others. Now we know that Jesus Christ had a serving attitude, but how did that actually play out in his ministry? How was that attitude evident in what Jesus Christ did? Let's turn back to Matthew 14 and 13. Matthew 14 and verse 13 and read about what Jesus did in practical terms to serve others and to show his care for them during his ministry. And there are again some obvious lessons in all of these examples for us. Matthew 14 and verse 13. When Jesus heard it, he departed from there by boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities. And when Jesus went out, he saw a great multitude, and he was moved with compassion for them and healed their sick. He was moved with compassion for them and healed their sick.

Why did Jesus heal? To point people to himself? No. To draw people to what he taught? No.

To prove that he was the Messiah, the Son of God? No. He healed people because he had compassion on them. Because he cared for them. That's what Matthew tells us here. He knew the suffering that they were experiencing. He knew the hardship that it was on them and their families. He knew the kind of burden that it meant to have a chronic crippling disease or blindness or deafness or something like that. He knew the tremendous burden that this put on these people and their families who cared for them. And Jesus had compassion and he healed them because of that.

His motives were simple compassion because he cared for others and he intervened to relieve them of their suffering. Let's turn two chapters ahead to Matthew 15 and verse 29. We see a very similar situation here and another example of Jesus Christ's compassion for others and how this was played out and evident in his ministry. Matthew 15 and verse 29. It tells us Jesus departed from there, the area of Tyre and Sidon, skirted the Sea of Galilee and went up on the mountain and sat down there. Then great multitudes came to him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others. And they laid them down at Jesus' feet and he healed them.

Again, why did he heal them? Because he had compassion on them as we just read.

Verse 31. So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed, made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel.

And notice what happens next. Here, verse 32. Now Jesus called his disciples to himself and said, I have compassion on the multitude because they have now continued with me three days and have nothing to eat, and I do not want to send them away hungry lest they faint on the way.

So Jesus had been teaching and healing and people had now been following him for three days, and now the food has run out. The food might have already run out a day or two earlier than this. And now Jesus performs one of his greatest miracles, again because he has compassion on them.

Verse 33. Then his disciples said to him, Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude? It's thousands of people who are following here. We find out later. Jesus said to them, How many loaves do you have? And they said seven and a few little fish.

So he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples. And the disciples gave to the multitude. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. Now again, why did Jesus perform this great miracle? Again, it wasn't to prove he was the Messiah. It wasn't to draw attention to himself or his teaching. It was done out of simple compassion. People were hungry, had been following him for three days, their stomachs were growling. No doubt some of the children were crying from hunger there. And what did he do? He gave thousands of people a good meal. Not a fancy meal, nothing fancy, just bread and fish. But nevertheless, a good meal because he cared for them.

Because he was so thoughtful and generous that he did not want to send these thousands of people away hungry. So he performed one of his greatest miracles there. You know, it's easy for us to think that Jesus performed these miracles to draw attention to himself or to his teaching, or to prove that he was the Messiah. But that's not what Scripture says. That's not what it says. Several times when he healed others, he specifically told people not to tell others what had happened or who had healed them. Some came asking for a miraculous sign that he was a Messiah, and what did he tell them? He said you'll receive no sign but the sign of the prophet Jonah.

That as Jonah was three days and three nights in the heart of the great fish, the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. There. No, the motivation for a lot of his miracles was simple compassion, because he cared for others. And that is another attribute of a true leader. The third attribute, and this is also closely related to the first two, is that a true leader must love others. A true leader must love others, because love is what gives a person compassion and creates the kind of serving attitude. The first two attributes we talked about.

Let's take a look at a few scriptures that relate to this. One that probably comes to mind to us is 1 John 4 and verse 8. John is called the Apostle of Love because he writes about it so much.

He says here in 1 John 4.8, He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. For God is love.

This tells us that love is God's overall defining characteristics. And if we do not share this characteristic, we are not of God. It's that simple. We simply do not know God.

If we do not love. Down a few verses in verse 16, will you read again that God is love.

And John says, And he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

If we love, he who abides in love, if we live in love, we abide, we abide, we live in God, and God in turn lives in us. The main focus here is that God is love. Again, that is his overall defining characteristic. That is what sums up God's mind, God's thinking, God's character, as he is a God of love above all else. And what is love?

As we've heard over the years, the best definition of love is that it is outgoing concern for others. Outgoing concern for others, of wanting what is best for other people. And as we've seen from several examples, this exemplified the life of Jesus Christ. It sums up his whole approach to life, sums up his mission, sums up everything that he did.

Let's turn over to John 15 in verse 12 and notice some of his final instruction to his disciples on the evening before he died. And again, this is something that we read every year at the Passover.

John 15 in verse 12.

Jesus says here, This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Now, what was different about this commandment is that we are to love one another as Jesus Christ loves us. That is a very high standard. Very high standard, considering what he has done for us. And what did he do in showing his love for us? The next verse tells us, verse 13, Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends.

There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for his friends.

Jesus Christ did lay down his life, at least two ways. Figuratively and literally. Figuratively he laid down his life through everything he did during his ministry. And what was that, as we have seen before? It was healing. It was showing compassion. Feeding a hungry crowd of thousands of people. Healing those who desperately needed that. Removing those burdens and those afflictions from them. That was what he did his entire life, his entire ministry. And then, of course, he lived as a servant. And doing so, showing love, showing what it meant to live an example of God in the flesh, of showing love. Showing that God is love. And then, at the end, he literally laid down his life as a sacrifice, not just for his disciples, not just for his friends, but for the entire human race, including every one of us sitting here today. And that is the mark of a true servant leader. One who cares enough about others that he is willing to give anything and everything up to and including his own life for their sake. This is the kind of leader that we have in Jesus Christ. Let's turn back to Philippians 2 and verse 5. Notice how this is summed up here in several verses. Philippians 2 and verse 5.

And to me, this is one of the Bible's most awe-inspiring passages that tells us so much about the mind and the attitude of Jesus Christ and what he gave up to become a servant and to become a sacrifice for us. Philippians 2 and verse 5. Let this mind, this mind meaning this attitude, this outlook, this perspective on life be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.

This is a pretty bad translation right here. This word translated robbery means something to be held onto, to be tightly grasped. If you really love something, you hold onto it, you tightly grasp it, you don't want to let it go. What this is telling us here, Paul says, that Jesus Christ did not consider being equal to God, something to be held onto and never let go.

But something that Jesus Christ willingly gave up to fulfill his mission here.

Verse 7. But he made himself of no reputation taking the form of a bond servant.

Again, a servant, he becomes a servant, with a servant's heart, as we saw earlier, and coming in the likeness of men. He became a human being, but not just any human being.

He didn't come to earth as a 30- or 35-year-old, in his prime, in his strength, in his vigor, peak of his powers and physical strength and all that. How did he come to earth?

He came to earth as the most helpless of human beings, as a tiny baby that had to be fed, had to be nursed, had to be held, had to be burped, had to be cleaned up, washed up, had to have his diapers changed. Totally, totally helpless.

This was the being who created the universe, created the stars, created the sun, the moon, the galaxies, the solar system, all of that, created everything. The one who created life itself created Adam and Eve and the earth and everything in it. And how does he choose to come to earth to become a part of the creation, as the most helpless of human beings, a baby who can't do anything for himself?

So he could experience everything just as we experience everything, to be tempted in every way as we are, to know what it means to live this human life, to be totally helpless, to be totally dependent on others, to keep you alive, as any human baby is dependent on others, to keep him alive.

It's remarkable what he gave up. That is what he gave up from becoming the one who created the universe to becoming a tiny infant, totally dependent on others for everything, to keep him alive. Amazing. Verse 8, and being found in appearance is a man. Disappearance means there's no good English equivalent here. It basically means he became, in every way, a human being, a human person here. And he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. So from a being who is immortal and eternal, and who could give and even create life, the one who created all the life on the earth there in Genesis 1 and 2 and 3 there, as it describes the recreation of the earth, from being the one who could give and create life, he became subject to death so they could die for us in our place.

Verse 9, therefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And that is the kind of love that Jesus Christ had for the entire human race, for every one of us. And that kind of love is an attribute of a true leader.

The fourth attribute is that a true leader must be humble. A true leader must be humble, because only in being humble can he truly serve other people. And we just saw that Jesus Christ was incredibly humble, and that he surrendered his divinity and his power, as divine God, to become a tiny, helpless human being. I have two examples of humility I'd like to share with us here. One is that of one of America's most beloved presidents, Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln was known for being able to handle criticism, even if it was undeserved, and a lot of times it was, and also for never acting out of vengeance or out of spite. One of my favorite books is The Man Nobody Knows, written by an author by the name of Bruce Martin back in the 1920s. And he includes this anecdote, a very revealing incident about the character of Abraham Lincoln that took place during the darkest days of the American Civil War, when the pressures on President Lincoln would be almost unimaginable to most of us. And he describes something that took place during that time. I'd like to read quoting from the book The Man Nobody Knows, which incidentally is about Jesus Christ, but it draws a number of parallels between great leaders. And he says, quote, An important man left the White House in Washington, D.C., for the war office, with a letter from President Lincoln to the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton.

In a very few minutes, he was back at the White House again, bursting with indignation.

The President looked up in mild surprise. Did you give the message to Stanton? he asked. The other man nodded, too angry for words.

What did he do?

He tore it up, exclaimed the outraged citizen, and what's more, sir, he said you were a fool!

The President rose slowly from the desk, stretching his long frame to its full height, and regarded the wrath of the other with a quizzical glance.

Did Stanton call me that? he asked. He did, sir, and he repeated it.

Well, said the President with a dry laugh. I reckon it must be true, then, because Stanton is generally right. The angry gentleman waited for the storm to break, but nothing happened. Abraham Lincoln turned quietly to his desk and went on with his work.

Abraham Lincoln didn't fire his Secretary of War, as most Presidents would have done, if they especially called him a fool. Abraham Lincoln kept Edwin Stanton in his Cabinet as his Secretary of War throughout his administration, throughout the end of the war, and eventually he won Edwin Stanton over. At Lincoln's death, a man who had once called Lincoln a fool said, quote, There lies the most perfect ruler of men the world has ever seen.

End quote. What an amazing example of humility there, because what would our reaction be if somebody called us a fool? Especially somebody who worked for us? You know, if you think about it, if you hire somebody to work for you, try to hire the best, the brightest, the smartest people you can. And if somebody called you a fool, maybe you ought to think about that, because if you have hired somebody who's the best and the brightest and the smartest, maybe they've got a point.

Maybe what you did was foolish. Maybe you are a fool at some time. How many of us would stop and take it that way, take criticism that way, and stop to think that, well, maybe that person is right and maybe I am a fool? Takes true humility to have an attitude like that exhibited by Abraham Lincoln. Another example, and this one is from the Bible, is that of King Solomon, found over in 2 Chronicles 1 in verse 6. And this is early in Solomon's reign, shortly after David, his father had died, and Solomon assumes the throne over Israel and Judah. And we find here a remarkable attitude of humility exhibited by the new King Solomon. 2 Chronicles 1 and verse 6.

And Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the Eternal, which was at the tabernacle of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it. On that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, Ask, What shall I give you? And Solomon said to God, You have shown great mercy to David, my father, and have made me king in his place. Now, O eternal God, let your promise to David, my father, be established. For you have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. And notice what Solomon asked for now, verse 10. Now, give me wisdom and knowledge that I may go out and come in before this people. For who can judge this great people of yours? What a refreshing and amazing attitude here, shown by this new King Solomon. God offered to give Solomon anything that he wanted. And what did Solomon ask for? Not for money, not for power, not for wealth, not prestige, but for wisdom. And why did he ask for wisdom? So he could be a good leader of God's people. Notice also, Solomon didn't say, this people of mine that you've given me to rule over, he said, this people of yours.

Solomon knew his position as the ruler, as the king over Israel and Judah, was not to lord it over them. It was to serve them, because they were God's people. They weren't his subjects. They were God's people. What a refreshing perspective there. And he wanted to serve those people well. And God was so impressed that we should notice God's reaction in turn in verse 11. And God said to Solomon, Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked riches, or wealth, or honor, or the life of your enemies, nor have you asked long life, but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may judge my people over whom I have made you king. Wisdom and knowledge are granted to you, and I will give you riches and wealth and honor, such as none of the kings have had, who were before you, nor shall any after you have the like. So God granted Solomon not only the wisdom he had requested to be a good ruler, but also he gave him wealth and honor on top of that, all because of Solomon's humility and his attitude there. And that humility was another attribute of a true leader. And the fifth attribute I'd like to cover today is that a true leader must be close to God. A true leader must be close to God, because if you think about it otherwise, how can he be a true leader? What will his values be if he is not close to God?

To answer that, all you've got to do is look at human history and see the litany, the record of the leaders who have ruled and reigned over the years, men who were not close to God and seen their decisions, their actions, the fruits of their reigns. So what will a leader's decisions be like if he is not close to God? Jesus Christ made it very clear that he was very close to the Father, and the Father was close to him. Let's see a few examples of this. One is found over in John 14 and verse 9. This is another part of Jesus Christ's final teaching to his followers the night before he died. Jesus is here talking to his disciples, and Jesus says to Philip, Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip?

He who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, Show us the Father?

What are you saying here, Jesus is, is that he was so much like the Father that if you looked at Jesus, what you were essentially seeing was the Father himself, because they are so much alike. Jesus is the perfect reflection of the Father. They were that much alike. A little further down, John 17 and verse 20, part of the same discussion there, the night before Jesus dies, he again describes how close he and the Father are. And here he says this when he's praying for all of us, John 17 and verse 20. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. This is referring to those who would be called and converted in the future through the efforts of the original apostles. So this is referring to us that are called today. Verse 21, that they may be one as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me, and the glory which you gave me I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one. I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them as you have loved me. So again, this is talking about this perfect unity between the Father and Jesus Christ. And perhaps my favorite passage, it talks about this closeness between Jesus Christ and the Father, is found over in Hebrews 1 verses 1 through 3. And this uses a particular word picture that tells us how much and how closely alike the two of them are.

In Hebrews 1 and verses 1 through 3.

And it says here, God, who at various times and at various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, as in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds. Earlier we talked about how Jesus Christ was the one who created the universe, the stars, the sun, the solar system, all of this. This is verified here in Hebrews 1 and verse 2 through whom he made the worlds. Verse 3, though, is where I'd like to focus in on, referring to the Son, who, being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. This says that Jesus Christ is the express image of the Father's person.

Now this phrase, the express image, is what I'd like to focus in on here, because the Greek word here means a die or a tool for creating a mark on something. You might think of a coin in your pocket. You know, pull out a blinkin' on the penny there. How is that coin manufactured? It's manufactured because you have a blank piece of copper and a die, a very powerful die, comes down and it presses into that metal and forms an image there. And this Greek word here, express image, is referring to that tool, that die, because they used a similar method to make coins then. They just used essentially a hammer and a die and they would hammer it onto a piece of silver, gold, or bronze, or whatever, and create an image in there. And that express image is referring to either the tool that makes that image or the image that is a reflection of the tool. The image and the tool are so much alike that they're a perfect copy of each other, essentially is what is being said here. So you could say that the tool is God the Father and the die, the impression, is Jesus Christ. He's a perfect reflection of the Father here. That's what is conveyed in this wording here, the express image there. That means that Jesus Christ is an exact copy of the Father. And this indicates how close they are to one another and how much they are alike. Again, the closeness there between Jesus Christ as a leader and the Father. Now what does this mean in practical terms? What did God expect of rulers in ancient Israel and Judah that ties in with being close to God?

Let's turn back to Deuteronomy 17 and verse 17 and read some instruction here that God gave regarding what kings were to do when they came into office to lead God's people. And there's a very important lesson for us here as well, as there are in all of these points and passages. Deuteronomy 17 and verse 17 referring to this new king. Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, which as we know was Solomon's problem, nor shall he greatly multiply silver or gold for himself, as the problem with people like Mubarak and Amoam Arkadafi and Saddam Hussein and people like that. Also it shall be, verse 18, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priest, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the eternal his God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes. So what is this telling us here? That the new king was to personally handwrite out a copy of the law from the copy that the priest had. Most commentators believe this is referring to the book of Deuteronomy, that he would write it out by hand. Deuteronomy is the second giving of the law. That's what Deuteronomy means. And this king then was to keep that copy that he had personally written out, keep it with him, and read from it every day of his life.

And the point of this was to learn to fear and to honor and to respect God, and to keep and to apply those laws as he ruled over the people there. This was what would make him a good ruler.

But it also had a secondary purpose too, which we find in the next verse, verse 20, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren. That his heart may not be lifted above his brethren. That he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom. In other words, enjoy a long reign and a good reign, he and his children in the midst of Israel. So another point of this was that it would keep the king humble. Rulers, he would learn, would have to live by the same standard as the people that they ruled. In other words, it wouldn't be one law for the ruler and another law for the commoner, as was so often the pattern throughout human history there. Everyone was to be held by the same standard of behavior and accountability according to the law. And also the ruler knew that he was accountable to the one over him. Just as he was ruler over the people, there was somebody else who was a ruler over him. And that ruler over him was none other than God himself.

And the ruler knew from the writing out this law what would happen if he stepped out of line. That God was going to hold him accountable and would remove him from that position or worse, if he stepped out of line there, that God would deal with him. And he would learn from this that he had to be humble and close to God. And that is another attribute of a true leader.

In conclusion, what do all of these traits of leadership lead to?

In Jesus Christ's case, we find the answer back in Isaiah 9 and verse 6.

Actually, verses 6 and 7. It's a familiar passage and one that is a passage of great promise and of great hope for all of mankind and one that holds great meaning for us.

Isaiah 9 and verse 6, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice. From that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Eternal of Hosts will perform this. Because of these traits that we have covered today, of a serving attitude, of caring for others, of love for others, of humility, and of closeness to God, the world will see a Messiah, King of Kings and a Lord of Lords, who will be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

And we can have a part in that, too. As a matter of fact, we're called to have a part in that.

And what we have to do is summed up in five simple words.

Become more like Jesus Christ. Become more like Jesus Christ. That's what it's all about. That's what we're here for. To become more like Jesus Christ.