Leadership 104
Scripture Reading - Numbers 12:3 KJV
(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)
Greetings fellow believer in the Mighty Name of Jesus in today’s lesson we will continue our conversation on “Leadership”. In our first lesson Leadership 101 we taught on the three principles that every good leader should be they are 1) Open to Hear, 2) Quick to Adjust and 3) Slow to Step. Stating that a “godly leader” listens openly to hear what the group is saying to leadership, then that “leader” quickly adjusts to all good advice that was shared and after that the “godly leader” shall proceed with a clearly communicated safe pace knowing slow and steady typically gets the job done. In Leadership 102 we mentioned that a “good leader” must have “vision”. We stated that spiritual insight is a must because spiritual insight allows the leader to see some distance into the future which is necessary to see exactly where you are going. We also discussed three qualities of a Godly leader in reference to honesty, being full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom. In today’s message we will focus on a seldom mentioned but highly important characteristic of a Godly leader. The characteristic we are referring to is “meekness” which could also be called a fruit of the Holy Spirit. This brings up another point of why we believe “godly leaders” make the best “leaders”. Of course as ministers of God’s Word it seems reasonable that we would favor the “godly leader” over an ungodly “leader” simply because “godly leaders” are more likely to listen to God over the doctrines and opinions of men. This is why “meekness” is so important because the “godly leader” will consider the counsel of both God and man whereas the ungodly leader will only consider the counsel of men. It is good to consider the counsel of men but you must also realize that when you only listen to the counsel of men there is a very low probability that you would ever pioneer a new work upon the earth. Some of the greatest inventions we know of in this earth did not come solely from the counsel of men but quite often they came from the counsel of God. If we look at the definition of the word “meek” according to the American Dictionary of The English Language Noah Webster 1828 edition we read: 1) Mild of temper; soft; gentle; not easily provoked or irritated; yielding; given to forbearance under injuries. 2) humble, in an evangelical sense; submissive to the divine will; not proud, self-sufficient or refractory; not peevish and apt to complain of divine dispensations. These two definitions bear witness with Good News Bible interpretation of the reference scripture of Numbers 12:3 which states, “(Moses was a humble man, more humble than anyone else on earth.)” and the 1965 Bible in Basic English interpretation of Numbers 12:3 states: “Now the man Moses was more gentle than any other man on earth.” These two additional reference verses (one from each version) show us that true biblical “meekness” includes humbleness of mind and gentleness of spirit. Of course we all agree that having a “leader” that is not level headed is a bad thing but we could also agree that having a prideful leader can be just as destructive. We (ihlcc) do firmly agree that “meek leaders” are also more teachable because that fits with being humble. The good thing about great leaders is that they are always learning and adapting whenever necessary. This means they are teachable and value continuous learning. For a “humble leader” can always learn from any person no matter their rank, title or stature. Whereas, a prideful leader knows too much to listen and learn from you or other workers in the same field. The “meek leaders” realize by listening to others that some of the things that worked well in the past might not work as well today. We remember that Moses could only take the people so far as a “leader” until Joshua became the new “leader” with a different mode of operation than Moses. Joshua was not known for being the “meekest” man upon the face of the earth but no doubt Joshua still operated in “meekness”. We know this because Joshua displayed some of the same characteristics of Moses. We know Moses trained Joshua so it would be unreasonable to believe that Moses trained Joshua to be unlike himself. No, “good leaders” will always train their mentees to be just like them or at least operate in the same successful principles. Yes, the same “fruit of meekness” that helped Moses understand both God and people was operating regularly in Joshua and that is why The Lord God told Joshua in Joshua 1:5, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. As “leaders” in the Kingdom of God we must “maintain meekness” because having a soft heart is crucial for our own success and just as important the success of the whole team. Don’t we all like bosses that are easy to work with because they listen to our problems to work out solutions that work for us instead of against us? Don’t we appreciate those supervisors who are humble and will take the blame for the fault when actually the fault belonged to a team member? Don’t we respect the “leaders” who are gentle with us as opposed to being harsh and impersonal (inconsiderate)? Don’t we like the manager who is meek enough to admit their own personal mistakes rather than throw an innocent teammate under the bus for something the manager did wrong? Yes, “meekness” is the key to communicating well with all people because we must always remember it is not just what you say verbally to people it is also what you demonstration before their eyes. Yes, the “best leaders” have “meekness” and you can see it in their heart and hear it in their voice because they treat people like God treats us, His Own Beloved Children. Amen!