The leader has to say, “I am being imitated!!!” If the leader forgets the fact that he is there to set the model, then he has abandoned leadership. “In everything set them an example by doing what is good” (Titus 2:7). In everything set them a model. The leader is called to be a model. The leader’s notebook is to be a model notebook; the leader’s Bible, a model Bible; the way he handles it, a model; and his prayer book, a model prayer book. You cannot be a model in the internal things and not be a model in the external things, because people will not get into your heart to discern what is happening there. The outside tells them, “That is the man.” When the leader’s Bible is something that is torn on the outside, or some pages are running out, or he rules it with his free hand so that all is disorderly, his indiscipline is horrible. He is telling you that he is sick, and he is telling the flock: “Be like that.”
Oh that the sense of destiny would grip those who have been called to leadership! Oh that the sense of destiny would lay hold on those who are called to leadership! Oh that they would be gripped with the frightful knowledge: “I am a man of destiny”!
“ In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I come against all the wicked spirits that have bound men and caused them not to see the fact that they are men of destiny! In the Name of Jesus Christ, I come against the spirits of compromise that have caused them not to rise up to the inescapable responsibility of being men and women of destiny! I am a man of destiny! ”
Leadership is a call to spiritual imprisonment, to physical imprisonment, and to social imprisonment. There are some things that are for ever banished because a man is a leader; some places to which he may never, never go again; some things that he may never own. Yes, there are things that he may never own. Even if they were to be given to him, he may never, never, never take them. The stamp of leadership excludes him, puts him aside completely, from certain things. Being a man of destiny means that a man also says: “I shall be imitated.”
It is safe to say:
“ Everything I think will be imitated.
All that I say will be imitated.
All that I do will be imitated.
All that I own will be imitated
All that I tolerate will be imitated.”
We began to say something about this from another aspect last week, about spiritual environment. If people see Mrs. BAYIHA, the wife of the national leader, and she is a worldly woman, then it is a tragedy. But if she is a woman of the glory, then they will say, “Ah! we understand, her husband is the national leader!” They look at her from her hair to the feet, and then they draw their conclusion. It is a tragedy, something in which the devil has won such heavy ground, that many women want to enjoy the power of the position that the husbands have (I am not talking to Mrs. BAYIHA); and they dress and do many things like the women of the world, and they don’t seem to live under the woeful, “What does this mean?” Sometimes they dress like worldly women and they don’t ask: “Whose wife am I?” They own things that they ought not to own, and don’t ask, “Whose wife am I?”
I find parents buying things for their children without asking: “Whose children are these?” Know that others are asking those questions. I find parents sending their children to schools without asking, “Whose children are these?” It is part of a corruption of heart, a wickedness, a co-operation with the Enemy. It is darkness in the heart.
Last week when we went for the Philip-Ruth wedding, during the signing at the court, they called the husband and said, “Pastor!” Then the marriage registration officer asked, “Is it monogamy or polygamy?” Now, do you get the issue? The man was saying, “This title, ‘Pastor’ and the reality are not necessarily the same. You can be a polygamous pastor.”
You could be a spiritual leader with a worldly wife!
You could be a spiritual leader with a worldly daughter!
You could be a spiritual leader with a worldly son!
You could be a spiritual leader with a worldly home!
It is total darkness of heart, life and environment! But listen! From what we were saying last week about the environment, those whom you allow to come close to you could establish things such that you are a spiritual leader with a worldly secretary, or a spiritual leader with a worldly driver who fights and quarrels with people, or a spiritual leader with a worldly assistant!
And we said that it was imperative that there be radical conformity between a man and his entourage, that there be radical, total conformity between a man and those whom he allows to get close to him; that there be the same consecration, the same self-denial, the same bearing of the cross, the same denial of the world, the same denial of the things of the world, the same commitment to endure suffering for Jesus Christ, the same single-hearted commitment to the cause of the Cross, the same separation from the common, the same separation unto God; and that any- one who dared come around a spiritual man, who was not ready to put this on was a traitor!
If someone sees a man of such spiritual standing and decides to come near with- out the determination to put on what the man has put in and on, he has deliberately decided to destroy the person and his ministry. If a person has set himself apart for a simple life, to get into his life with a commitment to the worldly life is to enter to destroy. If a man has a single-hearted commitment to the Cross, and you do not want the way of the Cross, if you want the broad way or you want to negotiate, to come close is to come close to destroy. And for a person to allow those who are diametrically opposed to his thinking, speech and deeds, who are not determined to put on the same consecration, who are not prepared to tear down all that must be torn down, to come and stay near, is to permit spiritual suicide. I have some family friends who are not stationed in the city. When they came around, be- cause the only time to talk with them was when I was travelling out, I often took them along on my journeys. I want to say for ever that this will never be done again. Somewhere somebody drew my attention to it. He told me, “There are some strangers you bring here. They are not spiritual. Why do you let them come with you?” I asked this young man’s spiritual age. He was 4 years old in the Lord. I saluted him and gave him 2000frs, because he was right. He had discerned what I had not.
Nobody will come along with me on any journey, without a harsh and radical commitment to the Lord, because of the shock that it produces on others; because others expect that anybody travelling with me should be somebody with the same or nearly the same commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody should ask me to take someone in the Land Cruiser just to transport him. It is not a public transport vehicle.
The environment of a man of destiny, the leader’s environment, the people around you are a message. Their clothing, their possessions, their choices are all bearing a message. There is no doubt that what your Bible looks like is telling a story. What your notebook looks like is telling a story. A man of destiny says, “I will be remembered and I will be quoted. The things I am writing will be re-read. The things I am writing will continue to influence men long after I am gone.” And there is no way of running away from it.
The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English that I am using, which is in my office in the Chemistry Department, is the dictionary that was given to me in Form 1 in 1960 when my books were bought. Listen! The way you handle your books is telling a story. You will be imitated.
- Peoplewilldresslike
- People will buy the type of clothes you buy.
- They will go to buy from the places from where you are buying.
- They will spend about the same sums of money you are spending.
- They will furnish their houses the way you are furnishing yours.
- They will sacrifice for the Gospel as you are sacrificing.
- Or they will squander their money as you are squandering yours.
- They will make the choices you are making.
You are making men. We said that leadership is a life sacrificed on the altar for others. Therefore, the leader cannot think just about himself. He cannot just ask, “What notebook is good for me?” He must ask: “What notebook, when imitated, will leave the right marks on the total people?” What am I saying to the people? EVERY ACT OF A LEADER IS SOMETHING WRITTEN ACROSS THE SKY. It will be imitated. People will read the books you read. They will read the authors you read. They will specialize on what you specialize on. I first committed my life to the Lord Jesus Christ in 1956 when I read the tract, “Someone Died For You.” It led me to invite the Lord Jesus Christ into my heart. That was my first encounter with reality. Because my father was my model, I took an old Bible of his that he was no longer using, as I was reading my Bible, and I used to read it late into the night. My heart was aflame; I was burning to know more and more, so that between the age of 11 and 14 I read the Bible through twice. Every verse that I saw my father underline in his Bible, I also underlined in mine. I didn’t know why he underlined them, but I knew that there must be some reason for underlining some and not underlining others, and that what he underlined was what had to be underlined. EVERY ACT MAKES HISTORY. So it is absolutely not understandable that a leader should take anything lightly. What car does the leader drive? That is the car the people will aspire to drive. What does the leader wear? That is what the people will aspire to wear. How much clothing does he own? That is what the people will aspire to own. And it were better that a millstone be tied around anyone’s neck and he be thrown in the darkest sea than that on the key issues of life, the people should be led astray. It is a frightful thing to be a leader. A man must just be totally awakened, totally alert, totally confronting the issue night and day. Just to say, “I am a leader,” is also to say: “I am being imitated and I am being scrutinized.” One thing that cannot be run away from is this: For spiritual people, the thing that attracts or repels is the spiritual condition of people.
Excerpt from: The Shepherd and the Flock – Z.T. Fomum
