This Week's Light Service Sermon

Light Service Sermons for the Month
Leadership in the 21st Century
DATE: June 6, 1999
TEXT: Exodus 3:1-10

One of my favorite Old Testament Bible persons is Moses. Moses is for me one of the best examples in the Bible of a real, live modern human being. And what is more he is a good example of the kind of person we Church people are called upon to seek. After all, Moses was first of all unchurched.
Think about it: he wasn't raised Jewish. He was an outsider to his own people. In fact, he had never even been to Israel but lived Midian. He was so unchurched that God had to come and get him. But God knew what he was doing for there in unchurched clothing was a natural born leader. Moses is one of the best reasons in the Bible why God calls upon his church of today to reach the unchurched. Moses became one of the best examples in the Bible of what it means to be a leader in the 21st Century. So lets look at this Moses and find out what we can learn. A) The first important point we can learn from Moses is that a leader must be able to adapt to change.
Once upon a time, the Egyptians and the Hebrews lived together in peace. But that was a whole generation and then some before. Now the Egyptians were the masters and the Hebrews their slaves. The world had changed. Staggering changes or shifts have changed your country dramatically in the last ten years. When I was here in South Africa two years ago, I could see these changes all around. The most obvious change is the shift from an apartheid government to a government of all the people. This has speeded up many other changes that have been going on in the world for the last forty years
1) The first of those changes is that more and more people are purposing their own goals rather than the group's goals. The older generation banded together to win their freedom. If sacrifice was called for, it showed itself in the individual sacrificing for the group. They were the Abraham's who sacrificed in order to build a nation. The lived to build. No questions asked. They knew it was all for one and one for all. The world had to change.
Now the younger generation is pursuing other goals, their own goals. Like Moses, their first thought is to do their own thing. They want to do different things. Try new ways. Be creative in pursuing their own goals. Sure we can whine about it but it won't change anything. On the one hand, the symptoms of this have been devastating: divorce, rising crime, broken homes, drugs, AIDS. On the other hand, it is what our parents fought for, freedom. The freedom to be our own person. The world has changed.
2) The second big change in our worlds is people no longer serve the institution; they expect the institution to serve the people. Once upon a time, Lutherans joined Lutheran congregations. Dutch Reformed joined Dutch Reform. Church of England joined Church of England. No longer. Loyalty to the denomination is a thing of the past. Today, in our highly individualistic society, people feel very little loyalty to join an institution just because their parents belonged. Churches can no longer build themselves on denominational loyalty. The world has changed
3) Sameness has given way to innovation. Once upon a time, a sense of sameness was the right thing to do. Conformity was expected. We were to dress the same; worship the same; act the same. Today, however, our children are rebelling against all that sameness. They value innovation, creativity. The new and "up-to-date" appeals to them more that "same old same old." God knew that if he wanted his chosen people to follow him to the Promised Land, he was going to have to do something different. And that difference was Moses. Congregations eager to reach out to new generations will have to try new innovative ways to "tell the old, old story" of Jesus.
4) Another change that is happening in my country and I suspect yours too is that congregations, not denominations are where the action is. At one time denominations inspired loyalty. They held people together across cities and states. They enabled people from all over the county to join together and do something significant. Today, denominations have lost much of their influence. That is one reason why it took God a whole lot of convincing to change Moses' mind. He was happy where he was. What did he know about Yahweh and the Hebrew people? As far as he was concerned he was a Midianite.
Today church members want to see where their money goes. People want to be where the action is. They want to see their money working in their own city, town or township. Each congregation is different. That means that each congregation will need to tailor make its ministry to fit the needs. Denominational "one-size-fits-all" programs just don't work any more. Each generation of Christians has had to wrestle with ministry in a changing culture. The same holds true today. The challenge, however, is that change today happens more quickly. The changes are becoming increasingly significant. Because the world keeps changing, the Church, to be effective, must respond with changes of its own. That may mean reevaluating or even letting go of some of yesterday's models. For what worked yesterday will not necessarily work today. That doesn't mean we devalue the great work done in generations past. It does mean that we take today's realities seriously and continue the work in new ways
B) The second lesson we can learn from this story is that a leader must lead and that can only come from having a vision. God shared with Moses that day he was tending his flocks on Mount Horeb a vision of the future. God said to Moses "I want to rescue my people. I want you to lead my people out of slavery into the freedom of the Promised Land."
God knew these people would become permanently lost if he did not do something about it. He wanted to send them Moses. He wanted to send them someone who knew the Egyptians personally, who spoke their language, who knew how to reach Pharaoh but was still one of them. And God knew that Moses would eventually prove equal to the task. But first Moses had to catch the vision. And that is where the burning bush came in. A good leader has to have a vision. Asking people to change is not easily. I don't think, for example it was the cries of the people that made God want to rescue his people from bondage. Although that was certainly a part of it. What I think of more concern to God was that they had accepted their bondage as normal. Remember what they latter said to Moses in the Wilderness? "Moses, why did you bring us all the way out here. At least back in Egypt we were content. We had a roof over our heads, food on the table, clothes on our backs. It was hard work but we managed." Time and time again, Moses had to convince his own people not to go back to Egypt and slavery. God knew that unless Moses caught the vision of God's plan, the people would perish.
Leaders are people who have seen burning bushes. They have heard God's voice. They have a clear picture in their minds of what God wants them to do. Vision enables the leader to discover, to understand, to learn God's direction. This vision gives clarity to purpose. The leader is able to clearly state the "why" and the "where" and speak with the authority of God. Your first task is to keep your eyes and ears open for God's vision coming to you.
I believe our "burning bush," our common vision brothers and sisters in Christ is bound up in the great commission of Jesus, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Our first responsibility as leaders is the same as that of Moses, to rescue the lost from the bondage to sin, death and the devil. I do not believe Jesus' Great Commission is a matter for a congregational or parish vote. Our first responsibility as Christian leaders is to do whatever it takes to win disciples for Jesus Christ. It is our responsibility to articulate, to communicate, and to tell others of the vision.
C) A third lesson we can learn from this story is a leader must have passion.
What do I mean by passion? I mean a leader must have an all-consuming desire for the realization of the vision. A leader must be a driven person. Passionate people are often misunderstood. They often rub the people the wrong way but without the passion, there is no hope of making the vision of reaching people for Jesus happen. Moses went on to become one of the half dozen great leaders of the Jewish people because of his passion to rescue his people from slavery. In spite of everything, he loved the lost above all else right to the end.
What are the characteristics of a passionate Christian leader?
1) First, a leader must have as his or her priority the lost. It took guts for Moses to face Pharaoh. Jesus was so passionate for the lost that he died on a cross. Can we be any less, the beneficiaries of God's love?
2) Second, a passion-driven leader goes out of his way to make the gospel accessible just as Jesus went out of his way to make himself accessible. In other words, whatever barrier stands between the gospel and the lost must be removed. With more and more persons growing up like Moses, outside the faith, fewer and fewer are going to be familiar with our church worship style, church language, church traditions. We are going to have to struggle with what is more important, maintaining our traditions or winning the lost for Jesus.
3) Third, a passion-driven leader accepts all people unconditionally. Jesus "ate" with sinners like Zaccheus. He forgave the woman caught in adultery. He healed the deaf, the blind. Jesus welcomed everyone into a relationship.
4) Fourth a passion-driven leader offers what will help transform people into disciples. Ours is the responsibility to energize others enthusiastically. Leaders who are grumpy, leaders who lack integrity, leaders who always focus on the negative will cause people to leave not join the church. Character counts and we must be models of the Christian life for our people.
5) Finally, a passion-driven leader can only give what he or she already has. Passion-driven leaders attend worship regularly. They have a strong personal prayer and devotional life. They are lifetime learners by attending workshops, seminars, bible studies, getting together with colleagues to study and share, they tithe and they are involved in missions of mercy. Through prayer and Bible study passion-driven leaders take the time to discover who it is God wants them to be. They seek to discover God's heart, to make God's passion for lost people theirs.
6) AND THEY TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES. They exercise. They have fun. They enjoy life. They glory in the love of Jesus Christ.
AMEN