Leaders Who Love The Truth Trust God For The Outcome

Leadership is dynamite. It is necessary to build, but it can also destroy. 
The harshest judgment in the Old Testament is for bad leaders.
When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan (Pr 29:2 ESV).
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. (Jer 23:1-2 ESV) 

This week we’ve been discussing 10 traits of a good leader. 

1. Trusting God for outcomes. Fearing God. 
2. Loving the truth above all things.
3. In love with the vision (to some degree).
4. Having a reverence for other individuals.
5. Able to disillusion followers (about leader him or herself).
6. Open to criticism and questions.
7. If possible, a life that is a concrete embodiment of the vision. 
8. Confident in Christ, but not arrogant.
9. Pretty good at communicating. 
10. Nerve to move forward, though some will disagree. 

Yesterday I started with number 4. Today, let’s combine 1 and 2. 
A good leader trusts God for all outcomes. He or she fears God and that means they love the truth above all things. 
A problem arises when we leaders get captivated by a vision (and we should). 
We suddenly get stuck with a powerful confirmation bias about our wish dream and we don’t want to know if God has some other idea, especially if we thought He was the one who gave us our vision in the first place. 
But being a leader involves much more freedom than that, because when we’re called to lead, we’re not really in charge. 
Ever since Adam was given charge of the earth, it’s been understood that man’s leadership is a delegated authority. 
Peter calls shepherds in the church under shepherds. 
If God is sovereign (and He is) then CEOs are under CEOs. 
Coaches are under coaches.
Jesus is the Chief everything. We serve as leaders at His pleasure and according to His agenda. 
He will give us a vision to embody, but since our prophetic ability is fallible, we must be flexible if we find the truth contradicts our original plans. 
There is nothing more dangerous than a leader who, in spite of obvious evidence he was wrong in his original plans, keeps pushing forward toward the edge of a cliff because he is unwilling to give up this dream that possesses him. 
Instead, a leader should say to God, “This is what I think you’re doing, and until you show us otherwise, this is the direction we’ll go.” 
But if the leader fears God, he or she will love the truth. The truth is the way God primarily leads us, only sometimes intervening in more miraculous and prophetic ways. 
How freeing to wake up every day with purpose and passion for a vision…
and at the same time…
An absolute hunger for truth, even truth that changes course. 
Here’s an example: 
Bill Gates started Microsoft, but when Satya Nedella became CEO in 2014, he realized the tech landscape was changing from the dominance of traditional software products, like Windows and Office, to cloud computing and A.I.
Nedella believed he saw the truth (reality) and shifted the vision toward one that emphasized cloud services. This required a major cultural shift, but it was possible because it was based on reality. 
I am not saying Nedella believed he was doing God’s work, but since I believe God is in charge, I believe all good things come from God, whether the agent of those things knows it or not, or even believes in God. 
Or a real life example in the church: 
A man believed God called him to plant 100s of churches across the world. 
He communicated the vision powerfully and 1000s of people followed him in his vision. 
But he erroneously believed as a church leader he had authority over the will and conscience of his followers, and he shifted them at will like pawns for his agenda, which he believed was Jesus’ agenda.
It was pointed out by many that the biblical truth was that no one has responsibility for the will and conscience of a grown man except that individual.
He refused to see the truth, instead, loving his vision, his position, and what his belief about leadership afforded him. 
He loved his vision more than truth, more than God, and his church planting network crumbled as God began to judge his ministry. 
It is such a blessing not to be God. Being God would be a hard job for anyone but God, but that is exactly what leaders do who try to defy reality.
Why?
Who knows. Pride? Insecurity? Fear of looking like a failure? 
We have to get over that, because too much is at stake. If we’re going to lead anything, we have to fear God enough to fear evading truth. 
God leads through the truth. Loving truth is how we stumble towards God’s actual plan for our lives and the world. We can be entrusted to lead others only when we love God so much we trust His outcomes. 
See you tomorrow.