Let My Leaders Go (Perth)
Tuesday, March 26, 2013 at 04:31AM Exodus 3: God called Moses to deliver His people.
Before God can free His people, the leader must be freed
Moses is an archetype of leadership
His gift had to be developed and tempered
The first time Moses grasped at the leadership ring, someone died
He murdered a man
He went before he was sent.
How many of us established leaders have left dead bodies in our wake?
Anointing, gifting
Preparation and skill. Ex.David
When David killed someone, they were supposed to die
There was rejoicing and no regret
Our leadership is supposed to produce life, not death
We must remember that we are stewards of vision and ideas
We are leaders of people
Not just any people; “His people”
Ex 3:5. God told Moses to take his shoes off, because He was standing on holy ground.
God used shepherding to train two of the greatest leaders in the Old Testament
Shepherding involves setting boundaries for the sheep
God had to teach Moses some things about setting boundaries for himself
“This is my territory. It’s holy. If you cross this boundary, leave your shoes on the other side.
Shoes carry the residue of every place we’ve been and everything we’ve stepped in
Custom of washing feet at the entrance of Middle Eastern home
“Don’t bring your stuff into my house”
As spiritual leaders we should spend time in His presence
But we must know the boundaries for His presence
God, through Jeremiah, defines His boundaries:
“If you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman” 15:19
Things that have no value; dead works – produce no life; good intentions
Some things have been entrusted to us, but some things are to remain His.
Sometimes in our success as leaders, we think we can handle what belongs to God. It’s His church. We’re just stewards with fancy titles. He has the final say
We must learn to set appropriate boundaries for ourselves
Boundaries that will help us stay balanced
Subject to burnout
Elijah and Sampson
Sabbath:
Subject to being seduced by leadership
Guard the title rather than accomplishment of vision
Fight to stay in the position, rather than accomplishment of the purpose
Willing to slow the movement, because more concerned about personal status
Subject to the seduction of your flesh (lusts)
To be effective, boundaries must be communicated
- ·
We must teach our followers to respect the boundaries of our family and our personal time
Take your shoes off when you go home
Communicate appropriate times for calling.
Let your family know that you value time with them & don’t bring work ‘stuff’ into their time.
We must teach our family to respect boundaries for being in the presence of God
Sometimes we must bring our family into His presence with us.
Ex 3:11. But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"
Ex 4:14. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses
Thinly veiled in Moses’ resistance was disappointment
Moses had spent the last 40 years living in disappointment.
Look closely at Moses’ excuses ~vs~ his prepared for such a moment
- raised in the palace of Pharaoh,
- exposed to the affairs of state,
- taught Hebrew customs by his birth mother,
No one was better qualified than Moses for this task. No one!
First, Moses had to be delivered from disappointment
What did Moses have to be disappointed about
His life hadn’t turned out as planned.
The disappointment stemmed his attempt to fulfill his destiny
Moses had actually dreamed of coming to the rescue of the Israelites
His Hebrew brothers rejected him
Pharaoh found out and sought to kill Moses
He became a fugitive
So, instead of leading one group, he was now rejected by two groups
This rejection fostered his disappointment,
His disappointment lead to him doubting himself – esteem issues
So when destiny offered him a second chance, he declined.
We can easily hear the insecurities in his confrontation with God, but listen closer… that’s disappointment:
“I had been trained for greatness, but now I’m herding sheep.
I would have sacrificed the palace to deliver my people,
but now I’m a nomad in the desert.”
“Okay, here’s what I’m really thinking: I already tried to deliver them, but they didn’t want me.”
It’s hard when you want more for a people than they want for themselves.
Rejection and disappointment can get to us as ministers
Rejection, disappointment and discouragement are all attached to leadership
There's no secret for dealing with them
Remember God’s cure for Moses’ disappointment; “I Am with you” (Exodus 3:12-14).
Ex 3:12. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain."
Moses didn’t ask Pharaoh to free the Israelites
He asked to simply go three days journey into the desert to worship their God
Pharaoh knew that if he released them to truly worship, they could never be slaves again.
Before we can lead the people into worship, the leader must be free to worship first.
Moses spent many of his long days herding sheep in the mountain regions of the Sinai
The same area where he would later receive the 10 commandments
He only viewed it as a work place and failed to recognize it for what it truly was
Moses was on the Mount of the Lord (Ex 3:1), standing on “holy ground.”
But he was so busy in his work that he didn’t see it as a place of worship
How true is that of us as leaders?
- · How often do we miss the worship of God doing the work of God?
- · How often do we miss the presence of God because we’re consumed with the present?
God has to set a bush on fire to get our attention
The greatest leadership responsibility is to spend time in the presence of God!
Without that all of our efforts are hollow.
We must teach the people about true worship – it’s at the heart of their freedom
When Moses asked Pharaoh to let the people go worship, what did Pharaoh do?
Pharaoh increased the workload to prevent the worship
We worship on the Pharaoh’s terms:
Ex 8:25. Sacrifice in the land
Ex 10:8-11. Leave the children
Ex 10:24-26. Don’t take your offerings
Ex 34:19 “None shall appear before me empty-handed.”
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