Being a Good Leader
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2024 · 28 April 2024
There are principles that apply to leadership in so many areas of life. All of us, to one degree or another, are engaged in leading in some way. There is a crisis of leadership in the world. We’re crying out for great, noble national leaders. And we need leaders at every level. And it comes all the way down to the church, and all the way down to every social order and right to the family.
There are books that need to be added to the endless list of others on leadership. There is a strong drive to try to develop effective leaders. And in the church we have certainly a better resource in the truth of God’s Word and in the power of the Holy Spirit than anyone else. But in the world you would usually define a leader as being a strong, natural, dominating kind of personality.
The characteristics of the leaders in the secular world would be as follows. Visionary – that is looking to the future and being able to plan ahead for the future. Action oriented –somebody who can make things happen. Courageous – if you don’t take risk, you don’t do anything new. Energetic; the high-energy people, driven kind of people. Objective oriented rather than people oriented.
Paternalistic –they see themselves as being in charge of everybody. Egocentric –to be self-absorbed. They believe in themselves. Intolerant of incompetence in other people. And lastly, Indispensable. They live with the illusion that without them, the whole system will come down. This is, the world’s picture of a leader. It’s very different from what God in Scripture says.
If you were looking into the New Testament, for someone who demonstrated leadership capability, obviously you would look to the Lord Jesus Christ, who was perfect in everything He did and was the perfect leader. But if you want a human model, nobody is better than Paul. He is a true leader of people. And the best place to see his innate, God-given leadership capability is in Acts 27.
What you have here, in Acts 27, is an interesting situation. You have the transportation of Paul from Caesarea, just a little north of the city of Tel Aviv, to Rome. Paul just came back from his third missionary journey. He had collected money from the Gentile churches, to give to the church at Jerusalem because they had so many Christians who were saved and they never went home.
When he came back; the Jews accused him of all kinds of falsehoods. They said, “He’s against the temple, and he’s against the Law of God.” And so, he was arrested. The Romans didn’t know what to do with him. They wanted to pacify the Jewish leaders who were screaming for him to be arrested because he had violated Roman law, or Jewish law, which, he hadn’t done at all.
Now, he wanted a fair and just trial, and he kept asking for it. Well, at the end of Acts 26, he convinced Agrippa that he ought to get a fair trial. He reminded them that he was a Roman citizen, and he was entitled to a fair trial. And so they say, “All right, we’ll deal with him by shipping him to Rome, and he can have his trial before Caesar, which is what he asked for.
As it unfolds, we see Paul’s leadership ability surface. At the beginning, he has no responsibility. He is a prisoner. Verse 1-2, “When it was decided that we were to sail to Italy, they handed over Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the Imperial Regiment. 2 When we had boarded a ship of Adramyttium, we put to sea, intending to sail to ports along the coast of Asia.
Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us.” Who does that “us” refer to? Luke is the writer with Paul. Aristarchus had been captured during a riot at Ephesus, and so he’s there too. The idea was that the centurion who was in charge of the prisoners, was going to ride this ship to Adramyttium, and from there he would pick up another ship that would go on to Rome. That was the plan.
Verse 3, “The next day we put in at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul kindly and allowed him to go to his friends to receive their care.” Julius is treating Paul in an unusual way after knowing him just one day, because if a Roman soldier lost his prisoner, he would pay with his life. Here’s the first principle of leadership. A leader is trusted. The centurion believed that Paul would keep his word.
A leader is someone who convinces everybody around him that it is their interests that most occupy his heart. A real leader is a person who will work hard to make everybody around him successful, work hard to make them flourish. Leaders are not people who operate for personal fulfillment or personal gain. People who do that wind up leading nobody, because everybody abandons them.
The second characteristic of leadership is taking the initiative. Verse 4, “When we had put out to sea from there, we sailed along the northern coast of Cyprus because the winds were against us.” They were there in Sidon long enough for Paul to be with his friends; when they left there, we sailed under the shelter of the island Cyprus because there was a strong headwind.
Verse 5-7, “After sailing through the open sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we reached Myra in Lycia. 6 There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy and put us on board.7 Sailing slowly for many days, with difficulty we arrived off Cnidus. Since the wind did not allow us to approach it, we sailed along the south side of Crete off Salmone.” So, they’re going slow against the headwind.
Verse 8-9, “With still more difficulty we sailed along the coast and came to a place called Fair Havens near the city of Lasea. 9 By now much time had passed, and the voyage was already dangerous. Since the Day of Atonement was already over, Paul gave his advice.” We don’t know how long they’d been at this. Sailing in the Mediterranean, from September to November is dangerous.
Nobody speaks, and so Paul just takes over. He just realized there was a problem, and he just took the initiative. Verse 10, “and told them, “Men, I can see that this voyage is headed toward disaster and heavy loss, not only of the cargo and the ship but also of our lives.” The Romans wanted to get to Rome as fast as they could. And that leads me to the third thing about leadership; it uses good judgment.
Verse 11-12, “But the centurion paid attention to the captain and the owner of the ship rather than to what Paul said. 12 Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided to set sail from there, hoping somehow to reach Phoenix, a harbor on Crete facing the southwest and northwest, and to winter there.” They took a poll, and the majority advised to set sail from there.
Verse 13-14, “When a gentle south wind sprang up, they thought they had achieved their purpose. They weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. 14 But before long, a fierce wind called the “northeaster” rushed down from the island.” This is the feared wind that comes off the mountains above Palestine, and it blows the cold winter wind right down onto that Mediterranean Sea.
Verse 15-16, “Since the ship was caught and unable to head into the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. 16 After running under the shelter of a little island called Cauda, we were barely able to get control of the skiff.” All they could do was to let the ship go and let the wind drive it. They’ve been blown away from Crete. They would just anchor the ship, and then go in on a little dinghy.
Verse 17-18, “After hoisting it up, they used ropes and tackle and girded the ship. Fearing they would run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the drift-anchor, and in this way they were driven along. 18 Because we were being severely battered by the storm, they began to jettison the cargo the next day.” They lightened the ship. That’s what they’re carrying, their cargo.
Verse 19-20, “On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 For many days neither sun nor stars appeared, and the severe storm kept raging. Finally all hope was fading that we would be saved.” In the midst of the panic, these people are just throwing everything overboard. And tackle is the equipment that put the sails up and down the rigs and everything else.
Now, Paul told them exactly this. Verse 21, “Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul then stood up among them and said, “You men should have followed my advice not to sail from Crete and sustain this damage and loss.” The fourth characteristic of leadership, he speaks with authority. Verse 22, “Now I urge you to take courage, because there will be no loss of any of your lives, but only of the ship.”
Verse 23-24, “For last night an angel of the God I belong to and serve stood by me 24 and said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul. It is necessary for you to appear before Caesar. And indeed, God has graciously given you all those who are sailing with you.” Paul speaks with confidence, with authority, because he got the word from God. Now, that’s what sets spiritual leadership apart from everything else.
And the fifth characteristic of a leader: he strengthens others. Verse 25-26, “So take courage, men, because I believe God that it will be just the way it was told to me. 26 But we have to run aground on some island.” A leader is optimistic and enthusiastic because of God. Verse 27, “When the fourteenth night came, we were drifting in the Adriatic Sea, and about midnight the sailors thought they were approaching land.”
Verse 28-29, “They took soundings and found it to be a hundred twenty feet deep; when they had sailed a little farther and sounded again, they found it to be ninety feet deep. 29 Then, fearing we might run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight to come.” A leader always trusts God in every circumstance.
Verse 30-32, “Some sailors tried to escape from the ship; they had let down the skiff into the sea, pretending that they were going to put out anchors from the bow. 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut the ropes holding the skiff and let it drop away.” They were going to sail away and save their own lives.
Now, Paul is in charge of everything. Unless these men stay in the ship, you can’t be saved.’” So, what did the soldiers do? They cut the ropes off the skiff and let it go.” They let the lifeboat go. They were so confident in what Paul said. But they had to stay to experience God’s deliverance, and he wouldn’t compromise. When God has spoken, Paul did not compromise.
Paul wouldn’t allow human works to change the purposes of God. You have to determine your absolutes. You have to determine your standards, and you never violate them. As soon as you do, you cease to be an effective leader. Paul said, “Cut those ropes, let that boat go, and if those get away, you’re going to lose your life.” God is going to show Himself powerful and mighty.
God is going to get the glory and the credit for this. Whatever those absolutes are, don’t compromise them. And then people get used to your integrity and consistency. An eighth principle of leadership is they focus on objectives. Verse 33, “When it was about daylight, Paul urged them all to take food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been waiting and going without food.”
Verse 34-35, “So I urge you to take some food. For this is for your survival, since none of you will lose a hair from your head.” 35 After he said these things and had taken some bread, he gave thanks to God in the presence of all of them, and after he broke it, he began to eat.” Paul looks right past the obstacles to the result. And then a ninth principle of leadership, he leads by example.
Verse 36-39, “They all were encouraged and took food themselves. 37 In all there were 276 of us on the ship. 38 When they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by throwing the grain overboard into the sea. 39 When daylight came, they did not recognize the land but sighted a bay with a beach. They planned to run the ship ashore if they could.” The wind was pushing them.
Verse 40-41, “After cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and headed for the beach. 41 But they struck a sandbar and ran the ship aground. The bow jammed fast and remained immovable, while the stern began to break up by the pounding of the waves.” Their boat was coming apart.
Verse 42-43, “The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners so that no one could swim away and escape. 43 But the centurion kept them from carrying out their plan because he wanted to save Paul, and so he ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.” Because they were afraid the prisoners would escape and they would lose their lives. But you see God’s providence?
Verse 44, “The rest were to follow, some on planks and some on debris from the ship. In this way, everyone safely reached the shore.” An effective leader succeeds. Paul as a leader was trusted, took the initiative, used good judgment, spoke with authority, strengthening others, was optimistic and never compromised, focusing on objectives and lead by example. Let us pray.