More Righteous Than The Pharasees (Pastor Jose Jr)

The challenge of leadership is in consciously serving people that have not, and many times WILL NOT, do what you have done in order to reach the task at hand.

You are most likely a leader because:

A. You know somebody,

B. You have fooled somebody,

C. You impressed somebody,

D. Or, you ARE somebody.

But, do you have:

A. Love for those around you?

B. Love enough for God that you would give him your ALL, including your strength?

In Matthew 5:20, the Jesus tells us that we must be more righteous than the pharisees to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. What did Jesus mean?

Matthew 23 – a model of Biblical leadership, Jesus style.

I. Lesson 1: God can use the Word of an disobedient servant, as long as it is His Word (v3)

a. We must realize that the effects of ministry are solely through the grace of God

b. Our obedience to His Word makes us recipients of God’s blessings – but disobedience brings only condemnation to ourselves.

II. Lesson 2: See yourself as part of the very workers you lead. (v4)

a. Team verses army

b. Family verses hierarchy

c. Identity verses authority

III. Lesson 3: Pay no attention to who is seeing you – God Himself sees you. (v5a)

a. Self-conscious ministry distracts from selfless ministry

b. Pride and priviledge sedates the fire of God

IV. Lesson 4: Your identity and character is not influenced by your presentation (v5b)

a. A good presentation is only effective when the person who is making it can back it up.

b. You better be able to live up to what you believe.

V. Lesson 5: Save the places of honor for those whom you serve. (v6)

a. People rise up to higher expectations

b. People sit down and shut up when they feel unworthy

c. Where is the true place of honor?

VI. Lesson 6: Titles are meaningless next to purpose. Christ is the only one who is exalted in this Kingdom of God. The rest of us are all brothers. (v7-10)

a. When we choose to attach ourselves to a vision, we must submit to the vision as given by God

b. Our titles act only as a confirmation of authority and ability already issued by God, as recognized by men.

c. Whether we are qualified to have them or not, we are still responsible for the results.

VII. Lesson 7: The place of a servant is the most important position of them all (v11)

a. How are you serving the people you lead?

b. How much time do you spend serving, discipling, and enabling those in your charge?

c. How much time do you spent capacitation yourself to give out to others?

d. Are you serving, or throwing your coat?

VIII. Lesson 8: God Himself takes care of promotion and demotions (v12)

a. Promotions and demotions are not measured by title or accomplishment.

b. They are measured by the abundance of life or lack thereof.

IX. Lesson 9: The function of a Biblical leader is to enable people to enter and live in the Kingdom of God. (v13)

a. Are you looking to duplicate yourself?

b. How did you get to where you are?

c. Are you winning souls?

d. Are those under you winning souls?

X. Lesson 10: Sincerity and honesty of heart preserves the ministry and those that it serves. (v14)

a. Integrity of heart (good intentions) is crucial in leadership

b. We must examine our motives for wanting more – greed or application

XI. Lesson 11: We must take care to know the Word and teach others what is right according to it. (v15)

a. We must become evaluators of the Word

b. We must become examples of the Word

c. We must become vessels of the Word

XII. Lesson 12: The things of God are greater in significance that riches – of the Word or of the Kingdom itself. (v16-22)

a. The value of our own initiatives cannot match the glory of God’s son’s revealed

b. What could be of more significance?

XIII. Lesson 13: The need to focus on the core issues and not ignore them for the sake of any one principle. Mercy, love, wisdom, judgement …. All of these things are to balance our devotional life.(v23-24)

a. We must be careful of legalism

b. We must be careful of “Christian culture”

c. We must be careful that we understand the process of change, and understand that “Spiritual” does not always look the same.

XIV. Lesson 14: It’s prettier to God to clean your insides than to wash your outsides. (v25-26)

a. Things things in the light are much less terrifying than the things inside the darkness of our own souls

b. The private life of a leader, especially his thought life, must be subjected to passion for Christ and the internal discipline.