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Which finger of yours is the leader of the pack? Is it the pointer finger? The thumb is the most important of them all. Without the thumb, you wouldn’t have a hand. To be a great leader, you need to have the hand of a leader. The hand is useful for pulling others up, teaching them, and building them. Do you have the hands of a leader?
Lead like Jesus
How many of you are leaders? Raise your hands today if you are a leader.
If you did not raise your hand, then you need to go watch or rewatch last week’s message.
Leadership is influence and everyone has influence.
Christians should be the best leaders, because Jesus is the greatest leadership model and the ost influential person to ever live.
Last week in our Lead Like Jesus series we taught you about the heart of a leader. Today we want to talk about the hands of a leader.
The Hands of a Leader
In the year 2014, at the age of 26, a man named Damien Lowe was kidnapped by a group of men. They held him for the ransom of 60,000 pounds and to show his family how serious they were, they decided to cut off one of the fingers of Damien Lowe and send it to his family.
Being the kind, sweet-hearted, domestic terrorists they were, they let Damien Lowe decide what finger he would lose. He had mere seconds to make a decision that would effect the rest of his life…
No need to worry, we aren’t going to cut anyone’s fingers off today, but I do want you to pressure you to decide RIGHT NOW what finger you are most willing to lose.
Decide right now…
Who picked the pinky?
Who picked the ring finger?
Who picked the middle finger?
There is actually a right answer to this question. Hand surgeons will tell you that if you are ever put into a situation like Damien Lowe there is one answer above the others.
Do you want to know the right answer? You are going to have to wait ‘til the end of the message.
Last week we talked about the heart of a leader. You must have the right motive in order to lead like Jesus. Once you get the heart right.. once you learn to serve out of love & care, then it is time to focus on the hands of a leader.
We need our hands to be doing the right things. We need our hands to grab a hold of the right tools. We need our hands to be working on the right projects. In order to focus on what is RIGHT we must dispel what is perhaps the greatest leadership myth of all time.
Leadership Myth: Individuals accomplish great things
Here is how this myth plays out
-We see someone ascend the stage, win the award, and achieve great success.
-We see someone parenting their kids and you see the kids thriving… How did that mom do that? How did that dad do that?
-We see a marriage that is everything a successful marriage should be…
-We see an athlete become a champion
-We see a business make great profit and a ceo rise to be on the cover of a magazine.
Leadership Myth: That individual’s greatness that makes them great
We have a tendency to see that individual at the top and think “It is that individual’s greatness that makes them great.”
It is not true. Here is what is true.
Leadership Truth: Nothing of significance has ever been done by an individual acting alone
I expect you to push back on this, but this is the truth.
That parent that seems to be so successful with their kids. I guarantee you that parent did not have everything they needed to give their kids. If you look again you will see that there was a team who helped raise those kids and not just an individual acting alone.
You see an athlete performing at the highest levels, but look closer and you will see a team around that athlete. You will see coaches, trainers, and a lot of support.
That successful businessman did not act on their own. There was a team around them.
Below the surface what seems like a solo act is actually a team effort.
Leadership Truth: Teams accomplish great things
No one accomplishes anything of significance by themselves. It takes a team.
Largely believed to be the greatest sports coach of all time, John Wooden said “It takes 10 hands to score a basket.” The wizard of Westwood lead the UCLA Bruins to 9 championships in 11 years.
What do we see when we look at the leadership model of Jesus Christ? Was Jesus a solo act? Did Jesus do it all by himself, or did Jesus put a team around him?
Jesus chose to always work through a team. Now Jesus is the one person who could probably have done it all on his own… yet when we study His life we see that Jesus insisted on working through a team.
You can’t accomplish anything of significance without a team
Do you want a life of significance? Then you better have a team.
Turn with me in your Bible to Luke 6. This is towards the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. He was setting out to do the most significant work of all, but first he did this.
Luke 6:12(NIV) 12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.
I have prayed into the night. I have woken up and prayed at night. I have gotten up early to pray while it was still dark… but Jesus spent the entire night in prayer.
To my knowledge this is the only place in Scripture where Jesus spends all night praying. Not even in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before his crucifixion, did Jesus pray all night.
What do you think caused the greatest leader of all time to climb a mountain and do all this praying?
Luke 6:13 When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them…
Jesus prayed like no other time when He was choosing His team.
I want to give you 3 leadership lessons from Jesus on teamwork.
1 Few things are as important as the team you surround yourself with
Who you surround yourself with will end up leading you. Remember we told you everyone was a leader because everyone has INFLUENCE! The people you surround yourself with will influence you.
You have probably heard this said “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.”
Young people it is so important who you have around you. Business-person it is so important who you have around you. Few things are as important as the team you surround yourself with.
If you think you don’t need a team around you, then you are foolish. You can’t possibly have all the leadership giftings needed to accomplish everything you need to accomplish.
I’ll use myself as an example. As the Lead Pastor of Redemption Church I would be considered the top leader. I want to tell you that I am not enough to lead this church on my own. Even if I studied my entire life I would never have all the skills mastered that one would need to run this organization.
Here is a short list of all I would need to handle if I were leading this church all on my own…
Theologian, preacher communicator, manager, visionary, recruiter, teambuilder, creative, writer, musician, counselor, conflict resolution arbitrator, financial expert, real estate expert, audio/visual engineer, construction engineer…
Know everything about babies, kids, students, college, singles, adults, seniors, food service, funerals, weddings, social media, marketing, crisis management, human resources, public relations, legal, web design, security… on and on
Who could do all of this? The person who could do all of this does not exist. You need a team.
We make the mistake of thinking we can do it all. If I just read enough books, study hard enough, go to enough conferences I’ll be able to do all that I need to do for success… Wrong! You can’t, but a team can.
Do you realize that God has such big dreams for you that You will not be ado it on your own. His dreams are so big that they require a team.
Lesson 2… what do you prioritize when picking out your team?
When choosing a team, prioritize teamwork over talent
In Luke 6 Jesus chose 12 people to be on his team. Do you think they were incredibly talented? Do you think that Jesus chose the most talented people in the world?
Most of them are uneducated. Most lack most of the skills you would look for in making your next hire. These were ordinary fisherman… These 12 are no where close to being the most talented people.
Here is what people saw when they saw Jesus team…
Acts 4:13(NIV) When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
Jesus did not find his team on zip-recruiter… He did not choose them because they had an amazing resume… Jesus prioritized the hearts of people above the skills of people… Jesus prioritized teamwork above talent. We should do the same.
Science and research has been catching up to what Jesus tried to teach us. In 2008, M.I.T. researchers set out to study what is more valuable attribute for team success. 699 individuals and placed them into 152 teams and gave each team the same challenging assignment… but before they separated the teams they gave all 699 people an I.Q. test. They looked at how talented and intelligent the individuals were because they wanted to study this thought… If we put the most skilled intelligent people on the same teams will they out perform the rest?
What do you think happened? They found the most talented teams with the highest I.Q. people did not even come close to outperforming the competition. In fact some the most skilled teams gave the worst results…
We intuitively think that if we just have the most talented people we will succeed, but this rarely works out.
The M.I.T. study discovered that average people working as a team will outperform teams of superstars.
Sometimes the most talented people struggle with teamwork. I have been watching a great documentary on the G.O.A.T. Michael Jordan. It was not until the greatest basketball player adopted a team mentality that the Chicago Bulls started to win chapionships.
Michael Jordan said this “Talent wins games, but teamwork wins championships.”
You might be the most talented individual on the team, but does the team perform best when you are on it?
Acts 4:13(NIV) When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
They took note that these men had been with Jesus. By being on Jesus’ team, these men had become something amazing. Why? Lesson 3…
3 Jesus prioritized investing in and empowering His team
The best leaders create strong leaders. The best leaders pour into others and equip them to do more. Leaders are used to the idea of investing, but Jesus also empowered his disciples.
We just read in Luke 6 where Jesus chooses His 12… Here is how Matthew describes it.
Matthew 10:1(NIV) Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
What did Jesus give them? AUTHORITY. The Greek word here literally means Jesus gave them the right and power to make decisions.
Jesus really did this. He invested and then empowered his team. Jesus did not make it all about Himself. Jesus valued His team.
Here is an example. Jesus performs a miracle where he fed a multitude of people with some bread and fish. With such little supply Jesus feeds thousands. We probably know about this miracle, but pay attention to how the miracle is performed.
Jesus blesses and breaks the bread and fish and then He places it in the hands of His disciples and empowers them. WHERE DOES THE MIRACLE ACTUALLY TAKE PLACE? Jesus let’s the miracle take place in the hands of His disciples. As they gave the food out it kept multiplying.
Are you controlling everything? Are you holding it all in your hands or are your hands investing in and empowering others?
This is what the hands of a leader will do.
Leaders need to learn to NOT DO EVERYTHING, but to invest & empower.
Do you have the hands of a leader?
Earlier I told you about a man named Damien Lowe who chose what finger the terrorists would cut off. Here is Damien…
Damien Lowe
You can tell by the picture what finger he chose. He chose the pinky…
Hand surgeons will tell you that the pinky is not the finger you should lose. The pinky accounts for 50% of your grip strength.
The ring finger and middle finger are attached by a tendon and together account for around 35% of your grip strength. It would not be wise to chose either of these fingers.
Hand Surgeons say that if you had to lose a finger, make it the pointer finger.
Of the fingers on our hand which finger do we think of as the leadership finger?
Leadership Finger?
We think of the pointer finger as the leadership finger.
We could do with less pointer finger leadership.
Hand surgeons will tell you that the one digit you must never lose is the thumb. In fact if you were to lose your thumb they would try to break one of your other fingers to make a thumb… because without a thumb you don’t really have a hand.
The thumb is really the leadership finger, because the thumb works jointly with all the fingers on the hand.
Jesus works with us. Jesus works within us. In order to lead like Jesus we must learn to be more like a thumb than an index finger.
Have you been a thumb or a pointer finger… in your home, your marriage, your work, your church, your school, your business?