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liberty bible church          1~/20~/08 a.M.
By Tom Zobrist
“three traits of a good church leader”
John 3:22-30
introduction
Illus. of “Lunch Break” All morning, an instructor on my staff had been explaining leadership to a class of police recruits.
Calling a man to the front of the class, he handed him a piece of paper on which was written: “You are in charge.
Get everyone out of the room without causing a panic.”
The recruit was at a loss for words and returned to his seat.
The second man summoned tried: “Everybody outside.
Go!” No one moved.
A third man glanced at the instructions, smiled and said, “All right, men.
Break for lunch.”
The room emptied in seconds.
There has been a lot of information published on leadership; good leadership and bad.
All sorts of examples and lists of what makes good leaders.
The military, corporations, and other secular institutions place a great deal of emphasis on the right type of leadership and they train their people to fit these molds.
Even the Bible has qualifications listed in 1 Timothy and Titus for both elders and deacons for the local church; but, rarely do we see them used when choosing leaders.
And even so, qualifications can only go so far.
There are some other traits that must be evident in tandem with these qualifications to really produce the type of leadership that we see in our passage today; leadership that is rare indeed in a world where church success is measured by counting noses and dollar signs.
What are these traits that are necessary in the church today and who do we see exhibit them?
OPEN to passage.
*Prop.
*In this passage, we see three traits that are needed in the local church today.
Open in PRAYER.
PREVIEW the passage.
We are in the early part of Jesus’ earthly ministry.
With the advent of His work, there is some apparent conflict with others that had been working in this region.
It’s from this so-called dispute that we see these traits evident in the life of John the Baptist.
What are they?
Trait #1.
 
  i.
a good church leader has unwavering determination vs. 22-24
Illus. of someone asked me when we were planning our first building if we should be doing that since it looked like Jesus was coming back soon.
That was almost 20 years ago and now we are planning another building.
We work and keep doing what God called us to do until He stops us.
That’s what we see here.
a. Jesus’ ministry is picking up steam
V 22a   1.
After Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, His ministry continued to grow in the Judean country.
Although most of His ministry would be in the north, His offer of the Kingdom was started in Judea, until the Pharisees put pressure on Him.
Cf. 4:4:1-3 
V 22b  2.
Jesus stayed with His disciples while they baptized these new followers.
Cf.
John 4:2 indicates that Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples did.
Whether this was a baptism of repentance or a believers’ baptism, we’re not told.
At this point, exactly who Jesus was didn’t register with the general populace; however, the Jews practiced all sorts of ceremonial washings, so baptisms were common.
Jesus and John were set apart by the large followings that they had.
One problem some saw was…
b.
John’s ministry was also still needed
V 23a   1.
Exactly where this was, we’re not sure.
It would have been in northern Judea between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, near Shechem.
They needed much water because they practiced some sort of emersion.
They went into the water.
V 23b  2.
John too continued to baptize large numbers, though it was less than Jesus.
Two reformed movements were very popular in this small region, something that alarmed the religious leaders and others that we’ll see as well.
V 24    3.
John had not yet been arrested and thrown into prison.
We see here how this Gospel compliments the others.
It assumed that the readers here already knew what had happened to John, from reading other accounts or from word of mouth.
4.
What’s important to remember here is that John did not retire after he baptized Jesus and ordained Him, as it were.
He kept preaching, confronting sin, pointing to Jesus, right up until the end.
When God wanted His ministry to end, it ended.
But, he was determined to finish strong until the very end.
*Trans.*
GOOD LEADERS NEED UNWAVERING DETERMINATION.
Second…
 
 ii.
a good church leader is unwavering in disputes vs. 25-26
Illus. of “If God Were Alive” A long-time member of a church scolded their new pastor for his radical ideas and proposed changes.
“Reverend, if God were alive today, He would be shocked at the changes in this church.”
Change is only one issue that causes disputes in the church.
There is sin that needs to be confronted, there are personality conflicts, marriage conflicts, and a host of other issues that can cause disputes.
A good leader must be unwavering when faced with these issues.
We see that in John’s ministry here.
a. john is faced with theological disputes
V 25    1.
For quite some time, John and his disciples had experienced a certain level of success, at least from a human point of view.
Not that John cared about that, but his disciples appeared to here.
2.
At this juncture, there is a dispute with some Jews over John’s baptism.
Why should they follow John.
The Pharisees practiced purification and other types of ceremonial washings.
And Jesus too was involved in this ministry.
Why should John be followed?
What makes him right?
Illus. of how ministries and churches compete for the attention of people.
It’s no longer what can I do for the church, but what can the church do for me?
It’s not really John that is dealing with this, but his disciples and they weren’t equipped to handle the theological dispute.
So…
b. john is faced with dissatisfied followers
V 26    1.
John’s disciples become frustrated and angry and jealous of their apparent failure in ministry.
“That guy you testified of, everyone is going to him now.”
They were not committed to Jesus, they were committed to their own ministry, not to what God was doing.
But, John was.
He wasn’t caught up in these petty disputes.
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