Bible Students

Reflections on “Biblical Leadership” by Forrest (chapters 5-9)

This week’s reading covered the leadership from the time of Joshua, through the time of the Judges, past the time of the united monarchy, all the way to the divided monarchy in the Old Testament. The leadership presented here is often that of godless leadership, though there are a few examples of great men of God who lead His people well. To begin, the author explains the leadership of Joshua. 

Joshua sought to follow the Lord just as Moses had followed the Lord. Joshua’s role as God’s servant is a title of his leadership as a servant of God. Leadership, in God’s eyes, should be the kind of leadership which aims to serve other people. The Lord was a servant first, and yet He is the ultimate example of leadership, being God Himself. Leaders must seek to serve first. This is exemplified by Joshua, as Joshua’s leadership is not aggressive, but slowly gains the title of servant of God. The servant leader is servant first, who happens to need to lead. He desires to serve, not to lead. The opposite is the one who wants to lead first and only serve when they have to. 

Now, though the leader must serve God’s people first, they can not only serve in the sense of doing mundane tasks apart from leadership. The call of leadership is the call to serve first, and when necessary, to lead and direct the people of God. Leaders are to call God’s people back to Himself. The leader should not hide from leading, but leadership should be their unnatural character, and servanthood their natural character. Just as God’s natural character is patience and His unnatural character is wrath, the leader’s natural character must be servanthood, and unnatural character leadership. 

Servant leaders are to humble themselves, even to death. One can serve by leading, but this must be seen as serving, not as being served. God’s people need servant leaders who point them to God. When Jesus came to serve His people, He did not do so in order to secretly be served. Jesus humbled Himself in order to demonstrate His glory and be served, yes, but on earth as a man He wholeheartedly served His people. This must be the attitude of the servant leader, which is the highest form of leadership, as it is the most like Christ’s leadership. Servant leaders should train more servant leaders. 

In the book of Judges, the pagans of the land were a test for Israel, as to whether they would follow the Lord. As shown through this book, man becomes like the one he worships. Israel became its own enemy. The role of the Judges was to deliver God’s people. The Judges were not to settle internal disputes, but to bring out God’s people from another nation. However, even the judges were not widely obedient to God at many times. The first theme of Judges covers the military compromise of Israel to not take the land. No one can follow both God and culture at the same time. Once the people compromised, they could not expect the blessing of God. The children of the people were then being brought up in evil, being taught that continually. 

The first three Judges were good leaders, pure and delivering Israel. Success for the Judges arose out of obedience to God. The men of Deborah’s time were weak, so God used Deborah. The story of Gideon is the longest in the book and is intergenerational. Gideon’s father influenced Gideon, and Gideon influences his son. No other Judge beside Gideon had so much confirmation and so much doubt. God saw a potential problem with Gideon, that he may say the victory was from the number of men, rather than from God, and so reduced the number of men before Gideon was to go out to battle. Leaders are often prone to see themselves as being more important to the story than they truly are. God is in control, not the leader. 

A leader’s position can bring them to a prideful place of feeling above the laws of God. Leaders must be wary about making a dynasty for themselves. Jephthah compromised with the culture of his time. If the leader is not able to protect or take care of their family, how can they protect or take care of the flock? Even leaders can lose sight of the vision and direction of God’s ministry. For Samson, he acted as a fool due to his sexual desires. The lack of a central spiritual leadership pointing the nation uniformly back to God resulted in the evil in the book of Judges. 

In the book of 1 Samuel, Israel needed a leader who immersed himself in God’s Law and brought the nation closer to God. Eli was a faulty leader, as he allowed his children to have sex with women at the temple and steal food. Eli gently corrected his sons, but did not command them to stop or make it happen. Samuel was a proper leader who came after Eli, and brought the nation closer to God. He depended on the Word of the Lord. Samuel strongly rebuked Saul for his disobedience, the opposite of Eli. Leaders must ground their authority in the Word. Samuel also exposed in Saul the underlying motivation for sin. Leaders must honor the Lord through their actions and rebuke those under them who are dishonoring God. Leaders can not compromise biblical truth. The Lord’s chosen leaders must grieve over the sinfulness of God’s people and seek to bring them to God. 

Moving from 1 Samuel to 2 Samuel, Saul was chosen by God, but Saul was fundamentally driven by fear. David looked to the Lord for his help and direction. When David found himself at odds with the Lord, he repented and sought the Lord. David struggles both before and after his reign with sin. Accountability for leaders is absolutely necessary. There are four questions which are especially helpful for accountability: What has the leader been reading in the Bible, who have they been telling about Jesus, where have they been sinning, and how can the person pray for them. These four questions cover much of the issues leaders need accountability with. 

The final section, which covers the divided kingdom, has one main theme. The leader will rise or fall on the hill of the God they choose. If they choose a hill of a god who is not the true God, and desire to follow that god, they will fall. If the leader chooses the hill of the true God, they will rise on that hill. Leaders who turn to the Lord are made full of character and virtue. The greatest thing a leader can do is look to the Lord, not their own strength, to lead. A leader who looks to his own strength for leadership is doomed to fail.

There are a few key themes throughout this section which especially stuck out to me. First, the leader must be one who is willing to serve first. The leader can not be one who wants only to lead and never to serve, but should be one who desires to serve and not to lead. The call to lead should be an unnatural thing. Of course, things do not always play out this way, but I believe this is a proper sign of a calling. Second, leaders must be willing to rebuke those they are leading for their wickedness, and be willing to be rebuked for their wickedness. Apart from these two things, the leadership team will fail, and the mission will be overturned due to a divided faithfulness. Lastly, the leader absolutely must choose to side with God and depend on His strength to lead. The leader can not depend on themself, but on God, who supplies the strength. This section has been helpful for uncovering some of the most helpful aspects of leadership.