THE LEADERSHIP CODE: 15 QUALITIES EVERY LEADER MUST POSSESS 1 Timothy 5:1-13 by Andy Manning The title of this article is The Leadership Code. A code is a set of rules or principles or behaviors. I want to talk to you about a set of rules, or principles, or behaviors that define an effective leader. John Maxwell said that everything rises and falls on leadership. That s why this is so important. Behind every healthy organization is effective leadership. And behind every unhealthy organization is ineffective leadership. We ve all seen how a change in leadership can turn a losing team into a winning team, a dying church into a growing church, a failing company into a profitable company, and a declining school into a thriving school. We all know the importance of leadership. So the question is, How do we identify good leaders, and how do we become good leaders? How do we identify good leaders for the church? If you are a single woman, how do you know if a man if fit to be your husband, the future leader of your family? How do you identify good leaders for the community? In business? Even athletic coaches? Or perhaps you want to become a leader, or become a better leader. How do you do that? Here s one thing we know. It doesn t take character for a leader to achieve big results. By character I m referring to moral excellence. A person doesn t have to have high morals to achieve great results. We ve all seen very sinful people build huge churches, and lead highly profitable companies, and win championships and awards. It doesn t take character for a leader to achieve big results. So how do we identify good leaders? What makes a good leader? In 1 Timothy 3:1-13, the Bible addresses the subject of leadership. It tells us how to identify good, effective leaders. It is specifically referring to church leaders, but the Bible s leadership code is applicable to leaders in any sector of society. Let s read this list together. 1 This is a trustworthy saying: If someone aspires to be an elder, he desires an honorable position. 2 So an elder must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife. He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach. 3 He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent. He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money. 4 He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and obey him. 5 For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God s church? 1
6 An elder must not be a new believer, because he might become proud, and the devil would cause him to fall. 7 Also, people outside the church must speak well of him so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the devil s trap. 8 In the same way, deacons must be well respected and have integrity. They must not be heavy drinkers or dishonest with money. 9 They must be committed to the mystery of the faith now revealed and must live with a clear conscience. 10 Before they are appointed as deacons, let them be closely examined. If they pass the test, then let them serve as deacons. 11 In the same way, their wives must be respected and must not slander others. They must exercise self-control and be faithful in everything they do. 12 A deacon must be faithful to his wife, and he must manage his children and household well. 13 Those who do well as deacons will be rewarded with respect from others and will have increased confidence in their faith in Christ Jesus. 1 What we have here is the leadership code. A code of conduct for leaders. A list of qualities to look for when selecting leaders, specifically church leaders elders and deacons. And if you just take the fifteen qualifications of an elder, only 2 have to do with skills (the ability to teach, and the ability to manage your family well), and 13 have to do with character. Almost all of the qualifications are character traits. So what s the big idea of this passage? That s an easy one. The most important leadership qualification is character. Now we already established that it doesn t take character for a leader to achieve big results. So it is very tempting for people to say, It s important for a church leader to have character, but it s not so important in other types of organizations. But I want to give you several reasons why character is the most important leadership qualification in any context. 4 REASONS CHARACTER IS KING 1. Leadership is about God s agenda, not just any agenda. We tend to think of leadership as getting a group of people to accomplish a goal, or to accomplish some agenda. But that s not a biblical view of leadership. 1 Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. 2
The best definition of leadership that I ve come across is by Henry Blackaby. The leader s task is to move people on to God s agenda, or to move people from where they are to where God wants them to be. Leadership is not merely moving people from point A to point B. It s moving people on to God s agenda. God has an agenda for every organization, and every person in that organization. And the leader s task is to move individuals and people from where they are, closer and closer to where God wants them to be. And in order to do that, the leader must have character. An ungodly leader can lead a group of people to achieve big results, but not to accomplish God s results. I ll give you an easy example. If a preacher leads a church to be mega-sized with a mega-budget with a mega-audience, is that a good leader? Not biblically. Jim Jones did all that, and he eventually led his followers to commit mass suicide. My parents recently sent me a quote that I liked. The mark of an effective church is not how many people come but how many people live differently as a result of having been there. There is nothing wrong with a mega-sized church with a mega-budget and a mega-audience, but if the gospel isn t being preached, and if people aren t growing into mature disciples, then that s not good leadership. Let me give you another example. A father can lead his three children to be very high achievers. One grows up to be a professional athlete, another a successful actress, and still another a college professor at an Ivy League school. He may have achieved big results, but if his children didn t grow to love and serve Jesus, he failed as a leader. That s why character is the most important leadership qualification. Leadership is about God s agenda, not just any agenda. It s about God s results, not just any results. A leader who isn t moving the people and the organization onto God s agenda isn t a good leader. A leader without character is like a car without a GPS. It can take you far distances, but it can t you to where you need to go. 2. Leadership is about the journey, not just the destination. Leadership is not just about taking people from point A to point B. It s not just about getting to B, regardless of the cost, regardless of what rules you have to bend or break, or how many people you have to hurt in order to get there. Leadership is not just about the ends, it s about the means. How you lead is just as important what you re trying to accomplish. If a leader grows a big company by lying and cheating and stealing and being cruel to his employees, that s not good leadership. You might say, Well, as long as profits are up. But that s not how God looks at leadership, and we shouldn t either. God cares about the journey, not just the destination. 3
Let s go back to that father of three. If all three of his children turn out to love and serve Jesus, which is great, but if he was physically and sexually abusive, or if he was absent, or if he was a bad example of what a godly man should look like, then he failed. The destination is good, but God cares about the journey, too. A leader without character may get you to the right destination, but he will fail on the journey. A leader who is willing to sin in order to reach the destination is not a good leader. 3. Leadership is about exemplification, not just delegation. Sometimes we think that leadership is simply getting things done through other people. It s about delegation. But more important than that is exemplification. A leader must be an example of the values that the members of the organization need to cultivate. Why? I ll give you two reasons. First, the organization always reflects the leader. John Maxwell has said that the speed of the leader, the speed of the team. In the same way, the values of the leader, the values of the organization. The character of the leader, the character of the organization. If the leader is shady and unethical, that will trickle down through the organization. If the leader is lazy and late, that will trickle down through the organization. If the leader is selfish, that will trickle down. If the leader is profane and immoral, that will trickle down. On the other hand, if the leader has godly character, then that will trickle down as well. Pastor John MacArthur wrote, Whatever the leaders are, the people become. A second reason the leader must be a good example is because leadership is about influence. John Maxwell writes that leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. Andy Stanley writes about this in his book, The Next Generation Leader. Every leader wears two badges: One visible, one invisible. The visible badge is your position and title. Pastor, father, husband, teacher, manager, president. The invisible badge is your moral authority. Your moral authority is based on the alignment between your beliefs and your behavior. In other words, the more you walk your talk, the more your moral authority increases. If you don t walk your talk, if you are a hypocrite, then your moral authority decreases. As your moral authority goes up, you get a thing called influence. And it s far easier to lead with influence than merely by position alone. In other words, you can only get people to push so hard, to do so much without influence. But if you want to inspire people to be their absolute best, to set aside their differences and work together to achieve amazing things, then you need more than position. You need influence. And that only comes when you have moral authority, when you walk your talk. This is why character is so important. If a person is not an example, then they are not a leader. 4. Leadership opens the door to temptations that only mature character can resist. 4
Let me put it this way. Without mature character, the leader will fail and the organization will fall. Why? Because leadership opens the door to big temptations. I ll mention just two. First, there s the temptation to cut corners. With leadership comes the pressure to achieve. The success of the organization is on your shoulders. Everyone s looking to you for answers. You better produce results or else. And the hard part is that often the easiest and quickest way to get results is to cut corners, to compromise, to be dishonest. Andy Stanley put it this way, The most direct path to where you want to be is not the most ethical one. He goes on, The day will come when progress seems to call for a compromise of conviction. And without mature character the pressure to achieve will prove too great, and the leader will take the entire organization down the wrong path. Can you imagine the pressure that Fortune 500 CEOs and high profile coaches face? Without mature character, eventually the leader will succumb to the temptation to cut corners. A second temptation of leadership is to abuse power. With leadership comes power. And that s a good thing. A leader must have power and authority or he is like a car without an engine. It can t take you anywhere. But while power doesn t corrupt, it does tempt people to be corrupt. When a leader gets power he is tempted to use it for selfish reasons rather than for the good of those under his care. When a leader gets power he is tempted to think it means he is the smartest person in the room and stop listening to wise counsel. When a leader gets power he s tempted to think that he s above the rules, that he deserves special privileges. I m reminded of the story of King David and Bathsheba. He used his power to stay home and relax while his men went to war. Then he used his power to have a married woman brought to his bedroom; then he got her pregnant; then he used his power to have her husband killed. Leadership is pressure. It is a heavy responsibility. And a leader without character is like a chair with weak legs. He may look impressive at first, but under pressure he will crack and the whole organization will crumble. This is why the most important leadership qualification is character. A true leader has character. Without character, a person is unfit to lead. And that s why the Bible goes into great detail to define the character of a leader. That s why 1 Timothy 3 gives much more attention to character than skills. So let s walk through this passage and learn what it takes to have the character necessary for leadership. Now before we get into this, it s important to realize that these character qualities are mandatory for every Christian to develop. These qualities aren t merely for leaders. The only difference is that if you haven t reached this level of maturity yet we ll pray for you and encourage you, but you can t lead in the church, and you probably shouldn t be allowed to lead any organization. The Bible says in Hebrews 13:7, Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. This is 5
list of character qualities for all Christians to aim for, and without them you don t qualify for leadership in the church. So let s take a look at the Leadership Code. 1 This is a trustworthy saying: If someone aspires to be an elder, he desires an honorable position. The actual Greek word here is better translated overseer, but the NLT uses the word elder. There are three words in the New Testament that all describe the same office in the church: Overseer or bishop (episkipos), elder (presbyteros), and pastor (poimaino). They all refer to the same position, but each word emphasizes a different aspect of church leadership. Overseer, which means superintendent, manager, guardian, watchman, emphasizes the position of a church leader one of authority and leadership. Elder emphasizes the character of a church leader that of maturity. And pastor emphasizes the tasks of a church leader, that of leading, guiding, teaching, caring for, feeding, and protecting. In the Bible, church structure was really very simple. There were pastors (or overseers or elder), deacons, and the members. Pastors were responsible for leading and teaching, setting doctrine, and church discipline. The word deacon (diakonos) means servant. Deacons were carefully selected and appointed to serve in the church so that the overseers could devote their time to leading and preaching. And every church member found a place to serve in the church. Let me tell you how this plays out at Church Acadiana. Right now we have one pastor. That s me. My responsibilities are to lead and preach. As we grow we ll add more pastors. So that I can be free to carry out my responsibilities to the best of my abilities, the church needs to have deacons. The word deacon simply means servant. A deacon in the church is a lead servant. It s one who leads others to serve in the church. A deacon is a ministry team leader, like the CA Kids Director, or a Home Group leader. And then all the other members in the church are called to find a place to serve as well. 2 So an elder must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife. He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach. 1. Above reproach: A pastor must not have any reason to be rebuked or criticized. Of course I m talking about a legitimate reason. You can always find a reason to criticize someone if you have a critical spirit. And this verse isn t talking about perfection. There s no such thing as a perfect man. This means there should be no reason to confront him and say, Hey, we need to talk about this one issue in your life. In other words, if someone said, John would make a good pastor, nobody would say, Yes, but, there s that one area of his life that isn t godly. There shouldn t be any objection. 6
2. Faithful to his wife: A pastor must be a one-woman man, physically, visually, mentally, and emotionally. Not into porn. Not into strip clubs. Not into fantasizing about other women. Not a wandering eye. Not a flirt. This doesn t mean you can t ever have sinned. It doesn t mean you can t be single. It doesn t mean you can t be divorced. It means you need a long history of sexual purity years not months before you lead the church. 3. Exercise self-control: A pastor must be in full control of his mind and body. The ESV says sober-minded. The word means clear-headed; stable; self-restrained; free from debilitating excesses or rash behavior. In other words, no addictions or mental illnesses. You aren t mastered or controlled or dominated or enslaved by anything. No drug addictions, or sexual addictions, or gambling addictions, or spending addictions. You don t struggle with depression, or schizophrenia, or any mental disorders like bipolar, panic, anxiety, and eating disorders. This doesn t mean you can t have addictions or mental illnesses in your history, but you must have a long history of freedom so that they don t interfere with your life anymore. 4. Live wisely: A pastor must display Biblical wisdom in all areas of life. Wisdom with money, time, health and relationships. 5. A good reputation: A pastor must live in a way that causes people to respect him. There shouldn t be anything in his life that makes him a bad example. He needs to be the kind of man that you can say to your sons, If you want to be a godly man, imitate the pastor. You need to be able to say to the young girls in the church, When you re looking for a husband, find someone like the pastor. 6. Enjoy having guests in his home: A pastor must view all of his material possessions as belonging to God and generously use them for God s work. Back then there were many Christians in need of a place to stay because of persecution and poverty and orphans and widows. A true display of Christian love was hospitality, or letting people stay at your place. If a man has a closed home, if he is very stingy with his money and stuff, then he certainly isn t pastor material. 7. Able to teach: A pastor must have a deep knowledge of Scripture, the ability to communicate, and the willingness to teach others. To be a pastor you need to know the word, and believe right doctrine, and be able and willing to teach others. 3 He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent. He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money. 8. Not be a heavy drinker: A pastor must not be one who gets drunk or high on drugs, ever. The Bible doesn t say that it is wrong to drink, but it is a sin to get drunk, which means it is a 7
sin to get high. What about on your honey moon? Sin. What about on New Year s Eve? Sin. What if it s not against the law? It s against God s law, and that trumps man s law. The bottom line is that you can t be your best when you are under the influence, nor can you be alert to the Holy Spirit s whispers and leadings, nor can you be on your guard against temptation, and always ready for ministry, always ready for that divine appointment. 9. Not be violent: A pastor must not be a bad-tempered, irritable, out of control individual. This is someone who gets verbally or physically violent very easily. It doesn t take much to frustrate him or set him off. You have to walk on egg-shells around him. It s someone who might actually get physically violent if you catch him at the wrong time. 10. Gentle: A pastor must stay calm and kind when he is angry. This is the opposite of violent. You have your temper fully under control. You have a long fuse. You are very patient with people. You are a forgiving person. You give people grace and mercy. You don t seek revenge. 11. Not quarrelsome: A pastor must be one who gets along with others and works well with others. It s someone who doesn t demand their way. Someone who can agree to disagree. Somebody who doesn t play the devil s advocate. It s a boat rower rather than a boat rocker. Someone who tries to avoid arguments and who seeks the peace. 12. Not love money: A pastor must not be in it for the money. A pastor s goal shouldn t be to get rich. It s not wrong to get rich. It s okay for a pastor to be rich. But that shouldn t be his goal. He shouldn t be someone who is very materialistic and all about the bling. He needs to be content and generous. He needs to be a tither. 4 He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and obey him. 5 For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God s church? 13. Manage his own family well: A pastor must have a reputation for providing for his family emotionally, spiritually and financially. He must have a happy and submissive wife, and well-behaved children. He must be a good family man. A man who can t lead his own family shouldn t be trusted to lead the church or any organization for that matter. If character is the most important leadership qualification, the home is the most important test of leadership. Can a man lead his wife and children? Do they respect him? Do they follow his lead? 6 An elder must not be a new believer, because he might become proud, and the devil would cause him to fall. 7 Also, people outside the church must speak well of him so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the devil s trap. 8
14. Not be a new believer: A pastor must not be a new Christian. There s simply no way that a man can develop all the character qualities necessary for leadership if he s a new Christian. There s no way a new believer can be knowledgeable enough to teach. And there s no way that the church can have enough time to carefully observe before giving him power. 15. People outside the church must speak well of him: A pastor must be known by nonbelievers in the community as a man of moral excellence. Just as he is above reproach in the church, he must be above reproach outside of church. Nobody in the community should have a reason to rebuke or criticize him. Fifteen character qualifications that a man must possess before he is qualified for leadership in the church. This is the leadership code. These are character qualities that all Christians should aim for, and they especially tell those in leadership what they need to do to become better leaders. Now let me offer a few applications. HOW TO FOLLOW THE CODE 1. The most important thing to look for in a leader is character. If character is the most important leadership qualification according to the Bible, then it needs to be that way for the church. It needs to be that way in every organization. It needs to be that way for young women as you are looking for a husband. Character trumps everything. Bill Hybels is the pastor of Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago, a great pastor. He says that when you are choosing a leader, remember the 3 Cs and in this order: Character, Competence, and Chemistry. Character means moral excellence. Competence means skill and knowledge. Chemistry means likability. When selecting a leader, it s very tempting to compromise on character, hoping that they will mature over time. But remember that leadership is adversity. Leadership doesn t make your life easier, it makes it harder. And adversity reveals your character. Leadership turns funny little flaws into serious sins. Leadership pushes hidden sins to the surface where they become big problems. The church must guard the gate carefully. We must have leaders of character or none at all. It is better to have fewer leaders than to have plenty of leaders with poor character. And this is true for all sectors of society. It s sad that our country no longer sees the importance of character. When our nation s President, Bill Clinton, committed adultery and then lied under oath about it, many people in our nation said, It doesn t matter; nobody s perfect; he s not a pastor, he s a president. Let me ask you something. Do you think 9
somebody who doesn t have the character to serve as the pastor of a church of 50 people should be put in charge of the most powerful and most wealthy nation in world history? Here s the bottom line. If a man isn t able to be faithful to his wife and his marriage, then it is foolish to trust him to be faithful with the charge of leadership. Leaders must have character, in the church, in business, in politics, and in the home. If a man doesn t have character, he should not be allowed to lead. Period. 2. The leader s priority must be self-leadership. If the most important leadership qualification is character, and if a lack of character disqualifies a leader, then a leader s priority must be the development and guardianship of his character. In other words, the first leadership is self-leadership. The leader needs to carefully guard his life, and keep growing deeper. Growing in character and maintaining character must come before growing a successful organization. A leader must be in the word daily, on his face in prayer, on the front row of church every Sunday, at Home Group. A leader must do whatever is necessary to develop and maintain godly character. And the organization must encourage this. 3. The leader s family must come before the organization. 1 Timothy 3 says that a leader must have a healthy marriage, be a faithful husband, and have a well-managed home with well-behaved kids. That s a steep challenge. And without this, a man is not qualified to lead in the church. What does that tell us about a leader s priorities? Family must come first. A godly leader doesn t neglect his family to succeed at the office. If necessary, he neglects the office to succeed at home. Because if you grow a great company but lose your marriage and your kids don t grow up to love Jesus, then you ve missed the point. You have failed as a leader. Let me put it this way, a leader who succeeds at work but fails at home fails at life. And if the leader s priority is family-first, then the organization needs to encourage this. Smart organizations will not overwork leaders; they will discourage workaholics; they will put systems in place to make sure that leaders have plenty of time to be proficient household managers. 10