Sermon Notes 7-23-2017

Part 7 following Jesus

Leading Great

Recap!

·      Being a sinner is a prerequisite

·      Not believing is ok

·      You should have questions

Jesus say:

·      Bring your questions to me

·      Bring your unbelief to me

·      And start a relationship with me

Jesus wants you to:

·      Have faith that overwhelms your fears

·      And every day wear:

o   Compassion

o   Kindness

o   Humility

o   Gentleness

o   Patience

o   Forgiveness

o   And love

And there is some fine print in the contract

·      At some point, you will be faced with a difficult decision

·      You will have to deny your wants and follow Jesus

·      It will be personal

·      It will be specific to you

·      And it will be a time of going against the crowd

o   Might be a job

o   Might be a friend that you need to let go of

o   But it will be your decision alone to follow Jesus, and not your natural desires

We learned that Gods hand can’t be forced, and his will can’t be thwarted!

·      No matter what you do

·      No matter how hard you try you can’t change gods mind

·      You can’t force his hand

·      Basically, you can’t get in Gods way

So, repeat after me

God help be a better follower and;

I really want to want what you want, more than I want to want what I want!

·       

Intro

We don’t usually associate leadership with the church. Leadership is about what could and should be. We assume the church is about what has been. But Jesus was the greatest leader who ever lived. He modeled a unique approach to leadership that defies our expectations but changed the world.

Jesus leveraged his authority for the bene t of those under his authority. Following Jesus means that, when we find ourselves in positions of authority, we do the same.

When we think about church great leadership is the last thing that comes to mind.

·      When we think about great leaders we think business

o   We think colleges

o   We think finance

o   We think government

·      Great leadership and Religion normally never is in the same sentence

o   Religion is normally not run well

o   And religion is normally poorly lead

·      But for Jesus to have so many followers he needs to be a great leader

o   And for you to follow, you need to trust in your leadership and leader Jesus!

·      Most portrayals of Jesus are not very leader like

o   In movies, he seems weak

o   In culture and paintings, he seems frail

o   But if he wasn’t a great leader we wouldn’t be talking about him 2000 years later!

Think about it this way!

“He built his brand in three years and has hundreds of thousands of franchises all over the world without racking up and frequent flyer miles! – Andy Stanley

The secret to great leadership!

Let’s set this up

Mark 10:32–34 (NIV)

³²They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him.

³³“We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles,

³⁴who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”

·      Jesus took the 12 aside and was trying to prepare them for what was coming

·      It was detailed and graphic

·      This was one of those tender moments between close friends where you share you heart

And they just blow right past it

Mark 10:35 (NIV)

³⁵Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

·      This ever happen to you

·      You with your kids or maybe your spouse

·      You have what you think was this very personal, kind of connection moment and then they just blow right past it!

·      Well here is a moment just like that!

And this was what they wanted

Mark 10:36–37 (NIV)

³⁶“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

³⁷They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

·      Wow

·      No concern for what he is about to go through

·      Just what he could do for them

·      Sounds like all of us

o   Someone gets bad news and we are looking to move into their office

o   Or what we can get from them

·      But here they are worried about when Jesus is king, not what he has to go thorough

o   And Jesus come right back at them!

Mark 10:38 (NIV)

³⁸“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”

And it just keeps getting better!

Mark 10:41 (NIV)

⁴¹When the ten heard about this, they became indignant (outraged) with James and John.

·      Now they weren’t mad because they offended Jesus

·      They were mad because they wanted those spots too

·      No one in this conversation was concerned for what their friend, their mentor, their teacher was about to go through

·      They were just worried about what they would get out of it!

So right then Jesus puts a stop to it all

·      They are all fighting

·      Arguing

·      And Jesus says stop

·      And instead of getting mad

·      He uses this moment to teach them what great leaderships looks like

·      And this is for us all

·      He wants us all to know if we follow him and have authority over others, this is what your leaderships should look like!

What we see everyday

Mark 10:42 (NIV)

⁴²Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.

·      Isn’t this how it works

·      Everyone that works for you, is for you

·      They serve to please you

·      The big CEO gets the big bonus, when no one gets a raise

·      Everyone serves to please and provide for them

·      That what the 12 were talking about

o   I don’t want to be Lorded over I want to lord over folks

·      They wanted all the power and so do we

Then Jesus lays the hammer down (with a smile)!

Mark 10:43–44 (NIV)

⁴³Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great (leader) among you must be your servant,

⁴⁴and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

Not so with you!

·      You know how leading works, yep, not so with you

·      But everyone should serve at your pleasure, yep, not so with you

·      Leaders should get all the rewards, yep, not so with you!

Do you want to be a great leader?

whoever wants to become great among you

·      It’s good to want to be great

·      If you want to follow Jesus

·      If you want to lead people

·      There is a different set of standards that you must follow

 This is where being a follower, is different from the world version of leadership

whoever wants to become great (leader) among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

·      I know this is a crazy thing to say

·      Leaders don’t serve, they are served

·      Slaves (workers) are leaders

·      Leaders lead, everyone else serves them

·      Not if you’re a Jesus follower!

If you want to truly follow Jesus you need to learn to lead like Jesus!

Jesus is not saying

·      That leaders are passive

·      That there shouldn’t be a person in charge

·      That we bow to everyone’s wants

What he is saying

That great leaders leverage their authority, for the benefit of those under their authority!

·      This works at home

·      In your teams

·      In your small groups

·      In non-profits

·      And for profit companies

Think about this

·      If you created an environment

·      Where people truly believed that you were looking out for them, instead of just you

·      If you worked in a place that had this value system in place

·      How much more productive it would be

In the book, good to great

·      The leaders that companies did the best

·      That had the most employee loyality

·      Where company lead jus this way

·      And Jesus would say I know, I told you 2000 years ago

This works everywhere

·      At home with your kids

·      And Little league teams

·      To major corporations

·      Whereever you have authority

·      And Jesus is saying if you follow me you need to lead this way

So how do you put this in to practice?

It’s easy with one simple questions, What can I do to help?

·      This is a powerful question

·      You are saying in this question

o   How can I loan me to you?

o   How can I bring my recourses?

o   My authority

o   My knowledge

o   My experience to you

Folks this is the Gospel! That’s is exactly what God did for us!

·      What can I do to help?

·      How can I loan you me?

·      And he delivered, His name was Jesus

·      How much better would our world be

·      How much more could we get done

·      If we simply and genuinely ask the question, What can I do to help?

·      Families would be stronger

·      Church’s would be better

·      Companies would profit more

·      And the gospel would be shared

·      With one simple question

WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP?