F.P. Examining Leadership Models

Posted on May 15, 2025 by DavidCox

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F.P. Examining Leadership Models examines both biblical and worldly leadership models, and what we must insist upon in churches.

The World’s Leadership Model

Matthew 20:25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. Mark 10:42; Luke 22:25

The world has a very distinct antibiblical model of leadership. Leadership is the use of power, control, force, to make people do what the leader wants them to do. Somehow in the secular leader’s mind and understanding, if you force people to do “what is right,” they will change in their innermost being, in their soul. This is a false conclusion, a misunderstanding of how people really are.

When a government takes away bad junk food, making it impossible to consume it, or very expensive, they think that is a solution. But people always seem to find a way to let their inner soul come out. In prohibition, alcohol which is bad for people was banned. Yet bootleggers became the way around prohibition.

This leadership model is faulty because it does not understand (1) the sinfulness of man, (2) the superiority of God’s way. God’s way changes people souls. That is why moral change is at the heart of God’s way. Repentance based on understanding the faultiness of sin and the superiority of God’s way is what changes people.

Ecclesiastes 8:9 All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.

Our understanding of the false prophet has to be focused on this issue of ruling over others, to their harm.

Ezekiel 34:4 The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.

Ruling over others by Economic Means

The false prophet is greedy and covetous. (See False Prophets Marks – Greedy, Covetousness). So the false prophet wants a rich and luxury lifestyle for himself, and he has to accept that those closest to him have to have the same or they will reveal the truth about him.

But the world in itself functions on a secular model of ruling. To sum up that model, the one who has the money makes the rules, and he forces those who want money to fall in line with all of his rules. That is basically how businesses work. With the modern advent of unions, there are other factors beyond that simplistic model. Those getting the money demand more money or they stymie the control by the ruler. This is the above ancillary concept that to keep the ruler in power, those closest to him, those he uses most importantly have to be kept content, usually by giving them luxuries, pleasures, money, and some limited power also.

All this breaks down and focuses on a simple universal law that the world obeys and respects. If there is economic benefit for me, I will play along. There is no convincing of the soul, no real soul or inner essence change in the person, they just obey the rules until it is no longer benefitting them economically.

Colossians 3:23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Colossians 3:24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

When we look to the life of a Christian, God breaks this rule for those who are truly saved. The economic benefit of what you do at a secular job, or any task you undertake, is the main consideration, but rather, what does the Lord think about what you are doing and how you are doing it.

God places our lives on a spiritual level. In other words, we are to do what we do because we feel there is some moral, spiritual obligation before God to do it. The how (how heartily we do it) of what we do is as important as what we do. The life of a Christian should be controlled and motivated by his doctrine, his faith.

God’s Leadership Model

What the Bible’s teaching here is the only acceptable style of leadership. This leadership is taken in whole from God, so we need to understand how the all powerful God allows disobedient man to have certain liberty under Him. God does not assign a legion of angels over each human He creates to make sure they obey every commandment He gives him. God wants voluntarily submission from his subjects.

Rather than give orders without further explanation, God “reasons with us.” By that, God explains the moral excellence of His commandments, His way, and His character. But he wants us to accept and make these things “truly ours.” There is a false feigned obedience that is abhorrent to God. In other words, God does not want your outward actions to align with a minimum of standards, while your soul rages with sin within. God wants your alliance in your soul, in what you are, that you are convinced of the “goodness” or superiority of God, and this is seen in how much and how we conform ourselves to the declarations of God.

We should meditate a lot on what God has done, and how He has presented our relationship to Him.

Ephesians 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
1 John 2:6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
1 Peter 2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

The key point here is to understand how God guides us. He uses an agent. This “moral agent” is called, qualified, anointed by God (empowered with the Holy Spirit), but most important of all, this moral agent (be that Christ, a prophet, a preacher, a pastor, any minister of God) ABSOLUTELY HAS TO LIVE THE MORAL PRINCIPLES IN HIS OWN LIFE TO BE QUALIFIED AS GOD’S AGENT.

So this presents a problem, a logistical problem. If Jesus is our moral pattern for conduct and ministry, and Jesus comes giving orders left and right that would appear to be whims of the moment with him, then those who also serve God would find it valid to do the same. But this is not how God wants things.

We have to insert the Trinity as necessary here. The Lord God of the Bible is a single God, not three Gods, but He exists in three persons (the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), as of necessity. Why? Because the Father is the person of the Trinity who is identified with the will of God. He makes the plans in perfect harmony with the Son and the Spirit. But the Son of God comes to “do the will of the Father.”

Hebrews 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
Hebrews 10:9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
Psalms 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
Psalms 143:10 Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.

Christ’s ministry is highly marked by this dedication to obeying the will of God, i.e. the will of God as associated with God the Father. In this point exactly, Jesus is our moral pattern to follow in our own lives. Jesus, being fully God, took upon himself the task or the trinitarian role of submission, the Person of the Trinity to be the submission example for humanity.

Hebrews 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

So no minister of God can be a dictator to “do his own will,” but all ministers must submit to the will of God as Jesus, our moral pattern, did. Here we need to note some of the overbearingly important leadership characteristics of Jesus our Captain.

Firstly, a leader must be a servant, and not a lord over other people.

From our discussion up to here (above), we clearly see that lordship is not a characteristic of how God uses human ministers. Servanthood is what is overwhelming. Jesus came not to be served, but to serve. (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45; Luke 22:27; John 13:4-17; Philippians 2;4-8)

It is important to understand that a leader must have before he can give or serve. Service is giving to people, helping them. Although many will make a line for financial handouts, few seem to be interested in receiving spiritual blessings through the Word of God, service, sacrifice, etc. But for the minister, this point of serving has to be because he is spiritually something before God. His dedication, his moral character, his personality is such that God can and wants to use him. If a person isn’t of this quality, God needs to change the person before he can really be of use to God.

Secondly, a leader must be humble, submissive.

Salvation begins with the realization that you are not the top person. In other words, there is somebody more powerful, superior to you. God exists. Salvation follows when you realize that there is a difference between you and God, and that you do not please God (you are sinful). While the Bible clearly declares that Jesus is sinless because He is God, but all other human ministers of God are still sinful even though they are saved, and therefore, they must understand their weakness, their blindness because of sin, because they have not fully engaged with God as Jesus was engaged. That makes a person humble, and listening to God as their authority.

Thirdly, a leader must be mission focused, Integral.

This is two fold, but it is really the same thing. God’s minister has a mission. The kings of Israel, the prophets, the priests, all had a mission from God to accomplish. This “mission” can be divided somewhat, person is first qualified in God’s sight because of their spiritual alignment with God’s character and purposes (David – 1 Samuel 13:14 But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee. Acts 13:22 And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. )

Being mission focused requires that the person first know and understand what their mission is. Then integrity enters into the picture. A person lacking integrity means that they delay, sidetrack, or temporarily give up on their mission for some other purpose. The false prophet is constantly sidetracked because financial success, riches, becomes his focus for a while.

Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

While greed and covetousness is common among false prophets (See False Prophets Marks – Greedy, Covetousness), other common distractions for false prophets are fame, power, control, sex, envy, destroying their enemies or competitors, etc. (See False Prophet Marks – Is envious)

Integrity in the life of God´s minister means that they know their mission, and their purposes, actions, pursuits, and heart will not move from that mission.

See [[F. P. Marks – Lacks Integrity]]
Fourthly, a Leader is Resource Conscience, he is a steward.

While God always sends out his missionaries or agents which the resources that they need, that does not include the concept of living a “high life” of luxury. A godly minister is a careful steward of whatever God places at his disposal to use to accomplish his mission.

Fifthly, a Leader is Compassionate about Caring for those people God has given him.

This means that the welfare of those under his care is a high priority with God’s minister. But it is more than just seeing that they have the minimum.

John 10:11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

The godly leader is sacrificial for the welfare of his sheep, and he is not abusive with them. See Ezequiel 34:1-10.

In leadership styles, this results in the only acceptable biblical leadership style, humble submission to the superior will of God (the Father’s will, not one’s own will). This makes leading difficult, but what it costs in difficulty it more than is worth it in maintaining God being in control when sinful men (all of God’s ministers still have their sin nature) are how God uses mankind to do His work.

Sixthly, a Leader works everything according to the Wisdom of God.

Proverbs 8 presents us with a pre-incarnate Christ who is described as the Wisdom of God. This parallels John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word, or logos in Greek, is a concept which is much different that a part of speech (Greek rhema is that concept). Logos is a principle functioning in reality, or a set of laws or spiritual and physical principles that work to make reality what it is. For example, how the human heart (Greek kardia Strongs G2588) works is based on principles that doctors understand best. Therefore, the science of understanding how the heart works is kardia+logos or cardiology.

Wisdom can best be understood as science or knowledge that is utilized so that some kind of advantage can be gained through that understanding of an area. This is a learned trait, and only people who look to God for this kind of wisdom will be of use to God, and find the blessings of God for their lives.

Psalms 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

Seventhly, a Leader is a helper of the faith of others around him.

In the 2 Corinthians 1:23-24 passage we examined above, Paul contrasts an overruling dictator type leader (which he was not) with being a helper of their faith. This is the attitude of a minister of God. He always seeks to be a spiritual blessing to others, and not use them for his own carnal purposes.

The Bible’s Only Acceptable Style of Leadership

So rather than a formal army, where soldiers do not understand much of why they are doing what they are doing, just obey, God wants us to obey because we understand the deeper underlying spiritual principles of that obedience, of that commandment, of that divine standard.

John 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

This principle is extremely important to understand in the government of the local church. God’s way is superior to every other way. There is no competition because God’s way is superior in every way. You appreciate God only when you understand this point and cede all rebellion and struggle for other ways.

So if we understand this practically in the local church context, there are no demigods nor dictators in God’s church. There are only humble servants of God which study, understand, and present God’s way. The key point to submit to here is that this “God’s way” has to be thoroughly understood and explained to every member so as to convince each and every one to submit to the “rule of God over us.” In other words, so that God the Father, our spiritual authority and teacher, has total control over our lives.

F.P. Examining Leadership Models

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