August 11, 2024
Leadership 101
Psalm 101:1-8
A story is told of a Missionary who worked in South America, who while trying to reach a remote village in the rainforest found himself very lost. The more he tried to find his way back to his camp, the deeper and deeper he seemed to find himself in the jungle. He was beginning to think that all might be lost. Just as he was losing hope he happened upon a single small hut and a man came out to greet him. Very thankful, the missionary spoke with the man asking him to please show him the way and the man nodded his head in agreement, and they headed out into the dense forest once again. For more than an hour they hacked their way through a dense wall of vines and grasses, and it was then that the missionary began to be worried and asked, “Are you sure this is the way? I don’t see any path.” The man chuckled and said, “In this place there is no path. I am the path.” Do you realize that all of us here are just like this guide, we are the path for many people in our lives. Let me explain. You can be the path in your home when your children or grandchildren look to you to see how they are supposed to act in a certain situation. It could be you are the path at your workplace when stressful situations come up and they look to you to see how you respond. It could be you living out your faith and showing others how that is supposed to look in the real world. No matter what it looks like, the truth is in some way we are all leaders in our lives and that can be a really scary thing. It’s scary because if we are honest, we don’t want anyone to look up to us for guidance. Many times, we feel like we are barely holding it together ourselves. So why would anyone want to look at us to lead them at all? Other times it seems like the role of leader might be too big for us. It’s one God has called all of those who follow Him to in some degree or another, but God’s not going to just drop that responsibility into our laps and hope for the best. God is going to equip us as Godly leaders, because Godly leaders are not born. They are developed and they are made through obedience to God’s Word. So this morning, I want to look at a good starting point when it comes to being a Godly leader no matter the context, and that’s going to be by looking at the 101st Psalm.
Godly leaders know their source. - Psalms 101:1
I will sing of your love and justice, Lord. I will praise you with songs.
The 101st Psalm is the Psalm that is composed by King David. It originates from King David's first address to the Israelites when he became the King of Israel. It’s in this address that we see some great foundational principles for Godly leadership. David starts off with a phrase that will be repeated over and over in this Psalm and that is the phrase “I will”. Notice it’s not, “I might” or “I’ll try”, but rather it is a definitive promise. He is assuring those who will be following his lead of all the things he will do. We have heard these kinds of promises from leaders before, but with David it’s different. It’s not to himself that he is looking for the source of his ability to accomplish the promises that he is making, but rather he is relying on God as the one who is the ultimate source of what it’s going to take to be an effective leader - a Godly leader - the leader God has called him to be for the nation. He first says I will praise, and I will sing, and as we have seen a few weeks ago in our “Summer in the Psalms” series, we worship what we give the most praise and value to in our lives. David is undoubtably making it known through his praise and worship that all throughout his life it is God who has been the source of everything he has and everything that he is. We know this because of the words that David uses when he sings. He is singing “of” the love (or mercy) and justice, not just asking “for” the love, mercy, and justice of God. He had experienced it firsthand all throughout his life. He had experienced it as a young man protecting his sheep in the pastures. He experienced it when he was anointed to be the future king of Israel. He had experienced it as a seemingly under-equipped soldier who stood firm before the giant Goliath, and he had experienced it as the future leader of Israel who was on the run from the present King who wanted nothing more than to kill him. David knew that God was his source for everything and was the one who was leading him and providing him with everything that he had. So, if David was going to be a Godly leader, he was going to have to keep drawing from God as he had been and not rely upon himself to lead. Not only had God given him what he needed to be an effective leader, but He also set the standard for what a Godly leader is to look like. As Christians this must be true for us as well. We must live a life where Christ is the source and the center of everything we do, just as we looked at Christ being the center of our marriage and our homes last week. Christ has to be the center of our leadership as both the source and standard of how we lead others in many different facets and ultimately connecting them to Christ and His followers. We do have Jesus as an example, but David wasn’t that blessed at the time. When we look at how Jesus leads us, that’s how we should lead others as well. John said in his gospel that Jesus was full of grace and truth, therefore we must lead with grace and truth. Philippians 2:5-7 tells us of the humility of Jesus that we see played out all throughout the Gospels, so we must lead others with humility just like Jesus. Matthew 20:28 tells us that Jesus came to serve and again we see His servant heart all throughout the Scriptures, so we must adopt an attitude as a servant leader no matter where we find ourselves. Whether it’s leading just one or leading a multitude, we must look to Jesus in our example of how to lead. He is the source in which all our attitudes and actions will flow from when it comes to leading others. We must make sure He has the proper place in our lives, and we sing His praise at all times.
Godly leaders know it starts internally. - Psalms 101:2-4
I will be careful to live a blameless life— when will you come to help me? I will lead a life of integrity in my own home. I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar. I hate all who deal crookedly; I will have nothing to do with them. I will reject perverse ideas and stay away from every evil.
After David recognizes God as the ultimate source and standard for being a Godly leader, David continues his speech by focusing not upon the kingdom, but rather upon himself. Now he’s not doing so in a vain way, but he is focusing on himself because he knows what is inside of him will come out at some point. When he makes sure the inward things were focused on God as well, then the entire kingdom would benefit. David starts with a promise of being careful to live a blameless life. Notice it is a promise to be careful, not a promise to always be blameless. David wasn’t a fool thinking he could be perfectly blameless at all times. He was saying that he was going to do everything he could to make sure the life he lived was blameless. It was going to take effort on his part. He also knew that if it was just up to him, he would fail. That is why he cries out to God, his source, to come and help him to live blamelessly. But what does he mean by this promise to live blamelessly? Most of the time we will think it means sinlessly, but that’s not what David is talking about, even though we need to make sure we strive each and every day for holiness and obedience to God’s Word. David is speaking of integrity. Integrity is a very deep term that has many connotations. In this context I think we can describe it as being the same at home as you are in public, or maybe you could say that integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking. I say this because David promises that this will start in his home, and he wants to make sure that he is the same no matter where he is. He is genuine and wants to show his people that he can be trusted because “what you see is what you get”. He strives to be a man of integrity. We should do the same as well as we pursue Godly leadership in our lives.
David then says he refused to look at that which is vile and vulgar. I believe this is something Jesus spoke of in Matthew 6:22 when He said that “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.” David didn’t want to look at the vile and vulgar things because he knew if he were to let the “bad” light in he would find himself struggling from turning into what he exposes himself to. If he exposes himself to sin, then the end result will be sin in his life, as well. Sin is something that all Godly leaders must flee from knowing that sin has a way of slowly getting you to unknowingly fade into it (just as David wrote in the 1st Psalm). David didn’t even want to entertain the idea of sin in his life, but he specifically mentions the things that are vile and vulgar. What does he mean by vile and vulgar things? There is actually one Hebrew word that is translated as both of these English words, and it is a word that would be used by Paul as an alternative name for Satan in the New Testament. It literally means things that are worthless, but what would that look like as a Godly leader? It would be things that are vane and just bring praise to yourself. It would be things that are unsustainable in our lives, like sin (sin always has consequences). It’s seeking things that provide temporary pleasure instead of considering eternal consequences. It is trying to please everyone instead of pleasing just God, or pursuing anything with your life that is unbiblical. It makes sense because just like Satan and all his promises, these things are useless in the long run. David finishes off this introspection by promising to stay away from evil, not to even give it a moment in his life, knowing that if you give an inch to sin in your life it will always take a mile. So, the promise here is to not experience it at all in any part of his life. He knew when he kept himself to a Godly standard his leading would always be at a Godly standard as well.
Godly leaders know it has to be shown externally. - Psalms 101:5-8
I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors. I will not endure conceit and pride. I will search for faithful people to be my companions. Only those who are above reproach will be allowed to serve me. I will not allow deceivers to serve in my house, and liars will not stay in my presence. My daily task will be to ferret out the wicked and free the city of the Lord from their grip.
In verse 5, David shifts from the things he must do inwardly to things that a leader must do outwardly. As we have said, the things that are the inward focus of a Godly leader will overflow into actions of a Godly leader. Here there is one thing that David focuses on and that’s the company that the Godly leader is supposed to keep. When he says, “He will not tolerate”, he is saying not only will he stay away from these kinds of people, but if anyone he considers a friend embraces these types of behavior, he will cut these people off from his life. These are harsh responses, so it begs to question what attributes are so dire that they require you to cut off people in your life as a Godly leader? The first thing he says is to cut off those who slander or speak falsely. This can look like many different things in our lives. One way that a Godly leader will see this often is in the lives of those who refuse to take the blame for things themselves. They are ones who always blame their problems and mistakes on everyone else when they are the cause and source of the problem. David is saying that instead you need to be surrounded by those who are willing to take responsibility and learn from their mistakes.
The next attribute he mentions is those who are conceited and prideful. Nowhere in scripture is boasting or pridefulness looked upon as favorable (except when we boast in the cross). In Isaiah 2:17 we are even told that “Human pride will be humbled, and human arrogance will be brought down. Only the Lord will be exalted on that day of judgment.” God despises both of these attributes so much that in the end of it all they will be destroyed when sin is once and for all destroyed. David wants to make sure that he does not surround himself with those who are proud. His next promise is to search for those who will be faithful. This is intentional, zealous, and arduous action that David promises to find those he will allow to serve with him. Why would he put all this effort into making sure those who are slanderers, proud, and liars are not in his circle of friends? It was because he knew, just like his son wrote in Proverbs 13:20, that you will take on the qualities of the company you keep. The same thing goes for all followers of Jesus. We need to pay attention to the company we keep because your friends do have an impact on your life. Just as iron sharpens iron, you want fellow believers who will not just affirm everything you do, but rather will challenge you and hold you accountable to God’s Word. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have acquaintances who have these attributes because how else are you going to tell them about Jesus, but rather just make sure they are not close enough that they begin to influence how you live out your life.
As we said at the start of this sermon, we are all leaders in some capacity in our lives. We are a path-maker for others, but as a follower of Jesus we can’t follow the ways of the world when it comes to leading. We have to be Godly leaders, following the example of Jesus and living out His leadership style both inwardly and then outwardly, but ultimately leading people to Jesus.
