FELLOWSHIP BIBLE CHURCH LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM Session 2: The Leader and His Doctrine: Sound Doctrine Makes Strong Leaders Intro: What makes a leader a leader? What defines a spiritual leader? Jesus: You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave. Matthew 20:25-27 Spiritual leaders are Servant leaders. J. Oswald Sanders: Spiritual leaders are not elected, appointed, or created by synods or churchly assemblies. God alone makes them. One does not become a spiritual leader by merely filling an office, taking course work in the subject, or resolving in one s own will to do this task. A person must qualify to be a spiritual leader. Spiritual Leadership - pg. 18; Moody Publishing, 1994 Spiritual leaders are Qualified leaders. George Barna: A Christian leader is someone who is called by God to lead; leads with and through Christ-like character; and demonstrates the functional competencies that permit effective leadership to take place. Leaders on Leadership pg. 25; Regal Books, 1997 Spiritual leaders are Spiritual leaders! John MacArthur: To put it simply, leadership is influence. The ideal leader is someone whose life and character motivate people to follow. The best kind of leadership derives its authority first from the force of a righteous example, and not merely from the power of prestige, personality, or position. By contrast, much of the world s leadership is nothing but manipulation of people by threats and rewards. The Book on Leadership pg.vi; Thomas Nelson Inc. 2004 Spiritual leaders are Contagious leaders.
Henry Blackaby: Spiritual leadership is moving people on to God s agenda. Spiritual Leadership pg. 20; Broadman & Holman, 2001 Spiritual Leaders are Transformative leaders. Six Essential Roles of a Leader* These are the characteristic traits of a true leader. If you are not doing these things you are not leading! * For an enjoyable read on lessons on leadership from the Acts 27-28 account of Paul s shipwreck journey, see MacArthur s The Book on Leadership, Part 1. 1. The Leader Defines Reality. (Acts 27:10-11; 21-26) The first task of the leader is to define reality...the last task is to say thank you. 2. The Leader Models Humility. (Acts 28:3) Note: I Peter 5:3-6; Matthew 20:20 28; John 13:1-20 3. The Leader Provides Stability. (Acts 27:25) Your followers are glad you are there! You make them feel safe! 4. The Leader Safeguards Community. (Acts 27:33-34a) 5. The Leader Governs Equitably. If there is any one negative quality that destroys the morale of the follower (apart from moral failure) it is partiality, and a lack of fair, just, consistent decision making on the part of the leadership. 6. The Leader Builds for Eternity. 2
The spiritual leader always has eternity in view. The concern is to not waste your life with lesser things! Matthew 6:19-20; II Corinthians 4:16-18; Hebrews 11:15-16 A classic (and powerful) illustration from John Piper... I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider a story from the February 1998 edition of Reader s Digest, which tells about a couple who took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells. At first, when I read it I thought it might be a joke. A spoof on the American Dream. But it wasn t. Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life your one and only precious, God-given life and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: Look, Lord. See my shells. That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Over against that, I put my protest: Don t buy it. Don t waste your life. John Piper, Don t Waste Your Life (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2003), 45 6. The Spiritual Leader and the Sufficiency of Scripture Before we look at the leader and his doctrine, let s lay a ground work for our thinking by considering the necessary understanding of the sufficiency of Scripture. Sufficiency = the state or quality of being sufficient or adequate. This means that our approach to our Bible is marked by a mind-set that regards Scripture as: Truth - John 17:17 Complete - Rev. 22:18 _Without Error - (Infallible; inerrant) Psalm 19:7 Sufficient - II Peter 1:1-10 Discerning - Hebrews 4:12 Inspired - II Tim. 3:16; II Peter 1:20-21 Pure - Psalm 12:6 MacArthur says: A truly Christian worldview begins with the conviction that God Himself has spoken in Scripture. As Christians, we are committed to the Bible as the inerrant and authoritative Word of God. We believe it is reliable and true from cover to cover, in every jot 3
and tittle (Matt. 5:18). Scripture, therefore, is the standard by which we must test all other truthclaims. Unless that axiom dominates our perspective on all of life, we cannot legitimately claim to have embraced a Christian worldview. Think Biblically pg. 21; John MacArthur, Gen. Ed. Published by Crossway, 2003. (See Illustration #1) The Spiritual Leader and His Doctrine Introduction: What comes to your mind when you hear the word doctrine? Does it make you sleepy? Sound boring? Irrelevant? Confusing? Perhaps, you are not even sure what the word means! In days gone by, many godly people were tortured, drowned, burned at the stake, and even eaten by lions - all for not being willing to compromise their doctrinal beliefs! I. Doctrine Defined Take the one minute (You will be timed!) and list below what might be some of the doctrinal convictions you hold. Note the ones for which you might be willing to die. Simply speaking, doctrine means teaching. It is not a scary word! When we use the word in relation to Scripture, we are entering the realm of theology. Theology is not a scary word either, it simply means the study/or teaching of God. Note: (Greek) Theo = God, and ology = from logos or word. So, doctrine, as we use the word in church-world, is the understanding of what the Bible teaches which equals what God thinks! If we are going to live and lead according to God s will and in such a way that we are blessed by God, we had better, to the best of our ability, discern what He thinks! Hence, the importance of this study in doctrinal distinctives. This also make clear why someone would die for doctrine! If a conviction is held about what God s Word teaches, which is what Almighty God thinks about the matter, 4
(and therefore expects us to believe about the matter) than how could a man or woman with biblical conviction capitulate or compromise on those beliefs? Key Verses: I Timothy 4:6; Titus 1:9; 2:9-10; II Peter 1:3-4; III John 4; Jude 3-4 (See LDP Session I, points under outline Roman numeral V.A. The Bible as our Primary Text. 1,2, &3.) Sometimes people think that doctrine is irrelevant to real life. Nothing could be further from the truth. Doctrine is the re-bar that holds our lives together! Doctrine has everything to do with our: Decisions Life-style Convictions World-view Eternal destiny (See Session 2 Illustration #2, for a sample list of questions that can only be answered by ones doctrinal beliefs. Do these things seem irrelevant? Boring?) II. Doctrinal Disregard In the climate of today s church-world doctrine is becoming less and less of a priority. Much of this can be attributed to the following: A. A post-modern mindset that has crept into the church. This is the idea that truth cannot REALLY be defined or confidently known. B. Multi-Culturalism, which gives a credence to all cultures, religions, backgrounds, and nationalities, and has made it taboo to say any one system of life or thought is superior to another. C. An entertainment based worship. For several decades in America, there has been a shift in our churches away from the pulpit and Bible exposition, and towards a feeling centered worship. Music tends to dominate the worship service, and preaching is relegated to shorter talks! It is not seen as user-friendly to have a thus sayeth the Lord voice from the pulpit. 5
D. The prophesied Last Days mindset that will not tolerate sound doctrine and preaching. I Timothy 4:1; II Timothy 3:1-7 E. Other Suggestions? III. Doctrinal Distinctives A. FBC Doctrinal Statement (See: Article III of the FBC Constitution) Notice that each of the numbered points, 1 16 deal with the major doctrinal categories of Systematic theology. 1. The Bible Bibliology 2. The Godhead Theology Proper 3. Jesus Christ Christology 4. 5. & 6. The Death of Christ -Soteriology 7. The Return of Christ Eschatology 8. Man and Sin Hamartiology-Anthropology 9. Human sexuality pertains to #8. 10. Salvation Soteriology 11. & 12. Holy Spirit Pneumatology 13. & 14. Heaven/Hell -Personal Eschatology 15. & 16. The Church Ecclisiology Any missing? Is this a good doctrinal statement? Why? Why not? How would you change it? If you were going to cut out any points from this list, which would you cut first? What would save? 6
B. FBC Doctrinal Distinctives Which doctrines particularly make FBC, FBC? In other words, which doctrines if removed or altered would change the doctrinal (or even functional) identity of FBC? 1. Orthodoxy - There are a number of doctrines that should be considered essential or distinctive to one s identity with historic Christianity. These include... a. The Trinity of the Godhead b. The Deity of Christ c. The Death, burial and Resurrection of Christ d. The Sinfulness (depravity) of man e. The return of Christ 2. Distinctive Doctrines (Note: The following list is suggested by PVM) a. The Inerrancy and Sufficiency of Scripture. b. The unconditional nature of salvation or eternal security. c. The cessation of the sign gifts of the Holy Spirit. d. Male headship of the home and church e. Literal nature of hell and punishment of the unsaved. f. Literal hermeneutic and dispensational understanding of Scripture. (This is most notable in distinguishing between Israel and the Church. (FBC is dispensational, not covenant.) Also, a pre-tribulational, pre-millenial return of Christ in our schematic of eschatology is a direct result of our hermeneutic. Homework: What is a dispensation? How many dispensations are there? Does it matter? Write at least a half of a page response after researching these questions. Email to: fbcvan@fellowshipwv.org, or turn in hard copy to PV s mail slot outside his office door. Make sure you put your name on your paper. 7
IV. Doctrinal Degrees Are all of the doctrines held at FBC of equal importance? Why? Why not? Who gets to decide? A. Primary - Essential to salvation in Christ. What are the minimums to become part of the Body of Christ? B. Secondary - Will not keep you out of heaven if you don t agree! Stop and Think: Take 2 minutes and list what you think are some of FBC s doctrinal distinctives that are primary and which are secondary. How concerned should we be over secondary doctrines? How diverse can we be on doctrinal differences and still maintain: Church Membership? Church Family Identity? Church Affiliation? Christian Fellowship? Homework: Read the book of Jude several times, and then summarize in your own words what Jude was trying to communicate to the reader. Write in paragraph form as though you were explaining to someone with limited knowledge. 8
Session 2 Illustration # 2 This sample list of questions illustrates how relevant doctrine is for every aspect of life. Why am I here? How did I get here? Who am I? Where am I going? To Whom am I accountable? What is truth? Can we know truth? Is heaven real? How can I know I will be there? What happens one minute after I die? What is sin? Does it matter? Am I a sinner? Is man inherently good, evil, or is he born a blank slate? What makes something right or wrong? What is the meaning of human history? Is mankind improving gradually, or digressing? What makes human behavior moral or immoral? Is homosexuality (or other behavioral sin) an anomaly, or is man simply advancing in his ability to love and relate to one another? What about marriage? Divorce? Remarriage? Why work? Is welfare a good thing? Is the earth fragile? Can man destroy the environment and threaten his own existence? Will medicine one day make a life-span of more than 100 years normal? How will the world end? Does man have a Spirit? Soul? Are we only physical? Is Satan real? Demons? Hell? Is there a right and wrong way to live? Is it universal or simply regional and cultural? Is the resurrection of Christ historical? Physical? Provable? What about the resurrection of humans? Do animals go to heaven? Do they have a soul? Did Christ die for everyone everywhere of all time? Did he die only for the elect? Does a human have the capacity to live without sinning? For how long? How would he know? Was creation in six literal days? Does it matter? Could Jesus have sinned if he wanted to? Does it matter as long as he didn t? Is the Anti-Christ a real person, or a figurative position? Are the Jews special to God? Is capital punishment biblical? What about war? Killing in self-defense? Is Islam and Christianity compatible? Is Roman Catholicism biblical? Are Mormons going to heaven?