October 9, 2019
Leadership Is Not a Title!
Matthew 3
Kayla Poole
Central Truth
God, as the King of the universe, delegates leadership to mankind. As believers, we see faithful leadership modeled by John the Baptist and, ultimately, Jesus Himself. Leadership is not found in a title, but is instead demonstrated by the faithfulness of those who serve others and whose hearts follow God obediently.
Key Verse | Matthew 3:8-9
"Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham."
Matthew 3
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 1 3:2 Or the kingdom of heaven has come near 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare
2
3:3
Or crying: Prepare in the wilderness
the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’”
4 Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
The Baptism of Jesus
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, 3 3:16 Some manuscripts omit to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, 4 3:17 Or my Son, my (or the) Beloved with whom I am well pleased.”
Dive Deeper | Matthew 3
Note about me: I love band! I grew up playing the flute and even made band my career!
However, I often longed to climb the ladder of leadership within the band world. My desire was always to have the leadership title of whomever was above me, whether it was student leaders, teachers, or coworkers. Ultimately being a "Head Band Director" would give me all the control and praise, and that was my goal!
What I didn't know then, which God has graciously shown me over the past three years of being a Head Director, is that leadership is not a title. We see this clearly called out by John the Baptist in Matthew 3:8-9 when he tells the religious "leaders" that they were not necessarily leading just because they relied on their positional status in the Jewish community. They needed to be real leaders who bore fruit from their efforts to love others and who cared less about their status.
So if leadership is not the title of "Head Band Director" or "High Priest," what is it? In our passage today, we see John model leadership well. John was faithful to speak truth to others and was obedient to do what God asked him. God was able to use John because he was faithful to do what his leader, the King of the world, asked him to do, which was declaring truth, loving, and serving others. God gave John a special title in history as the forerunner of Christ, but that was not why John was a leader. It was his faithfulness to bear fruit, not a label. We see true leadership ultimately modeled in Jesus, "who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped" (Philippians 2:6). Jesus, who is publicly recognized by God as "God" through His baptism, did not regard His title as ultimate. Instead, Philippians 2:7 tells us that He "emptied himself" and became a "servant." As believers, we're all given that same objective to be faithful to love and serve those around us.
Discussion Questions
1. What opportunities to lead others has God presented to you? Think about the relationships that you have with others in your daily life.
2. For those who have put their faith in Christ, we are all delegated leadership responsibilities by God as a "royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9a). No matter where you are in the "ranks of leadership" or where God has placed you, what would being a faithful priest look like with those whom God has put in your sphere of influence today? How could you "proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9b) to those whom God has given you to shepherd?