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Script: Yvette l Narrator: Josh l Mix: Yujie
Hello friends and a warm welcome to the sixth episode of the series on how to achieve a leadership that is exceptional.
The Lord says in Jeremiah 9: 23-24, “Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight”.
The Bible is a great book, not just a record of stories or a collection of laws or a recollection of events from thousands of years ago. It is God’s revelation of Himself. Without His written Word, there is no way we can come to know a loving God as our Creator and Saviour.
A proper biblical worldview places God at the centre of our lives. Through this we can know and understand God, and bring the witness of Scripture to bear on every part of our lives. As we obey God, we allow God to transform us. A simple prayer or believe all the right things is not enough.
To develop a biblical worldview, we have to regularly share the Word and ask questions as we hear, read, study, remember and meditate on Scriptures. This requires discipline. Intellectually, knowing the Word dimension is not sufficient. It must be completely programmed into our “systems” which is our daily lives. For example, if a Christian who is well-versed with the Scriptures becomes attached to a pre-believer, his emotion could easily overcome him. Most likely, he would forget the teaching in 2 Corinthians 6: 14-16.
As a leader, we must develop a biblical worldview. The following are some important themes and issues:
We must have a correct worldview of God - He simultaneously exercises kindness, judgement and righteousness in all that He does and in who He is. If we do not know and understand God, we will misunderstand and misrepresent Him.
One feature of the biblical worldview is that it puts no emphasis on the intelligence, ability or achievements of human beings, however brilliant people might be. Everything, particularly time, space and resources, comes under His authority and ownership.
Jeremiah 9: 24 states, “But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me,
that I am the Lord, exercising loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord.” It points out three streams of the character of God: He is loving, just and righteous. But more than that, He is simultaneously loving, just and righteous. That means God cannot be loving but unjust, or loving but unrighteous. What does this mean in practice?
We may have friends who live a promiscuous lifestyle. We must be clear in our minds on how to love them. We must draw a line that we will not cross as we walk with them. With that in mind, we resolve not to endorse their lifestyle or rationalise their behaviour.
Because God is both loving and just, He will still love them; however, their lifestyle will bring about negative consequences, such as the breakdown of relationships.
In God’s sovereignty, He has already given every one free will under His laws and principles of life. When we flow with these principles, we reap positive outcomes known as blessings. However, when we violate the laws of life, we reap negative outcomes known as curses.
God does not force anything on us. Instead, He respects our choices and invites us to follow His ways. “Choose life, that you and your descendants may live,” He says in Deuteronomy 30: 19.
However, as humans, we are still subjects to all natural laws, as instituted by God in the way He created the earth, set it in its place in the universe and made life grow on it. As Genesis 8: 22 states, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease”.
No one is exempt from these laws of life. Whether a CEO or a driver, if he continually spend more than he earns, he will eventually face financial problems. Similarly, marriages and relationships must be nurtured otherwise they will be on the rocks. And, if someone deliberately jump off the top of a tall building, it’s unlikely that God would intervene because he would clearly be violating His natural law of gravity. It doesn’t matter if the person quotes His promise of protection (Psalm 91: 11), because it would not apply under this circumstance.
In the case of nature, God does not interfere unless He purposefully chooses to do so. When He does so, these events deviate from the natural order of things and we call them miracles, signs and wonders. For instance, in Joshua 10: 12 & 13, God caused the sun to stand still for a day to aid Joshua in battle.
Another principle of life which is often found in our workplace and ministry is, if we sow sparingly, we will reap little; if we sow generously, we will reap abundantly.
Testimony: Joyce is a human resource manager. She spends time getting to know her team and takes them out for lunch on her account regularly. When they need help to cover their duties, she willingly helps out even though she is their superior. In doing so, she reaps the blessings of a team that is very supportive and close, and she enjoys the time spent with them in the office.
God is the greatest giver of blessings. He will never short-change us when we sow intentionally and with the right motives.
The richness of God’s Word and His truths are available for us to mine and apply to our lives. The psalmist reminds us in Psalm 119: 160, “The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.”
But difficulties arise when we consider the contexts of time, geography and culture that separate us from Scripture’s original authors, as well as our own pre-conditions. The Bible is written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. The Hebraic worldview, for instance, often attributes acts to the sovereignty of God, leading us to interpret that He had specially performed that action.
In addition, Scripture contains literature of many forms: stories, poetry, letters and parables, and each genre has its own principles for reading, understanding and applying its precepts. The Christian leader is a lifelong student of the Bible and should seek to know and teach it throughout his life. “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7: 10).
We know from Scripture that there are different sources of trials in our lives. Understanding these will help us to respond to them. Jesus reminds us in John 16: 33, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
The first source of trial is due to the fallenness of man (Romans 3: 23; 6: 23a). It can also be due to our own faults such as lying, drink-driving or greed leading to excessive gambling. Trials can also be due to the works of the evil one: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10: 10a).
The final source of our trials is persecution for the sake of righteousness. The apostle Peter counselled his readers in 1 Peter 2: 20, “For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.”
In the marketplace, we have to recognise that the cause of trials and suffering are mainly due to the factors above. For example, because of the fallenness of the world we live in, including economic uncertainty, retrenchments due to headcount adjustments are a reality. Therefore, we need to have the posture of holding all things loosely. If we are falling sick because of our jobs, our health is more important and we should consider changing jobs.
Understanding the root causes of suffering and trials is very important otherwise, we will blame everyone or even God for our issues. It starts with cultivating self-awareness and dealing with the root causes to prevent the problems from recurring. For example, if someone was fired because he was always late for work, then he must address the root issues, such as laziness, poor sleeping habits or other reasons, then resolve those problems.
Other themes a leader should tackle which also include:
Regarding biblical worldviews, the author of the book, Pastor Daniel Foo, said that there will be disagreement on many issues. Churches and entire denominations have split over doctrines and topics, like the timing of the rapture, whether the 1611 King James Bible is the only true Word of God in English, or whether women can preach in church. They each claim to have a Christian worldview and believe that only their view is correct.
In situation like that, we need to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” as mentioned in Ephesians 4: 3. There is a saying: “In the essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, love.” There are core doctrines of the faith that cannot be denied, such as the Atonement and the physical resurrection of Christ from the dead. Our agreement on these core doctrines is what truly matters.
On the non-essentials, the verdict will come out one day, but our relationship with each other matters more than any side issue. “We may not agree on some issues,” we can tell others, “but I love you as a brother or sister. Let’s move on.”
Augustine of Hippo wrote: “The Bible is shallow enough for a child not to drown, yet deep enough for an elephant to swim.” As we grow and learn, keep in mind the posture we must all have – a complete dependency on God.
Next Wednesday, we shall touch on ‘Building Faith Convictions’. We pray that you have learnt some outstanding skills in leadership so far, and know how to deal with the suffering and trials as mentioned above. May God open your eyes as you learn technical viewpoints with the Bible as the base. Let us meet again for more exciting discussion. Have a present week. God bless! Good bye.
Excerpted from outstanding Leader by Pastor Daniel Foo; first published by Armour Publishing Singapore and the book can be purchased from