Godly Leadership

This morning we're talking about Nehemiah 5.

And what we're looking at is we're looking at what it means to be a godly leader.

Nehemiah is a book that is really prone to give us an exemplify exemplify Christ-like godly leadership throughout the whole book.

But here we're going to see some key factors of Nehemiah's life that really focus us into what it looks like to be a godly leader.

You see, here we're in chapter 5.

We see that this outcry starts to happen.

There's this opposition that the people of Israel continue to face in their attempts and work of rebuilding the wall.

But the problem is that this time in Nehemiah 5, the outcry, the opposition that they face is exclusively internal.

It's exclusively internal coming from within.

You see, there's dissension among the people, and there's despair among the people in Israel.

There's a famine happening.

There's financial oppression happening.

There's a neglect of God's word happening.

There's social injustices that are causing this dissent and despair in the hearts and lives of Israel.

It's actually a very contemporary chapter that we're going to find here in Nehemiah 5, having to do with things like loans, taxes, conflict, the rich abusing the poor, and more.

But right out the gate, what we're going to see in Nehemiah 5 about godly leadership is this a godly leader listens.

A godly leader listens.

Right in verse 1, we see the outcry from among the people happening in Israel.

And it's unique because this outcry is being spurred on or started from the wives of the families of Israel.

You see, they're in a unique situation.

Predominantly their husbands have been volunteer laborers to go and rebuild the wall that's been torn down.

And so there's been a priority focus amongst the majority of the men in Israel, where they were primarily focused before on the welfare of their families, on the flourishing of their families.

They're now focused primarily on rebuilding the wall.

And when that happens, neglect starts to happen in other places.

How many of you ever experienced that where you get so focused on a project or you get so focused on a task at hand that you eventually realize, oh wait, I neglected all of this.

I don't know how many times it's like we get home and it's like 8:30, 9 o'clock at night, like, oh yeah, we have to eat, right?

They might have worked so hard you just forget you have to eat.

And then you and then when you have four kids and they're like, you know, oh yeah, we have to feed children too.

Like that's a thing, right?

And so sometimes we can get so far.

So this is a this is a long-term reality for the people of Israel because they're about just over a month into the reconstruction process of the wall.

So you can imagine a month of neglect has built up, and they're in prime crop season here.

And so there's an outcry that comes forth in verse one, and it's a from the mouths of the wives of the men, but it's against their Jewish brothers.

So it's not against this like foreign enemy, it's not against some outside opposition, it's against their Jewish brothers.

We enter into a scenario where we're about a month into building the wall, and extreme measures of focusing on the work have started to take their toll throughout the whole community of Israel.

The work on the wall is taking them away from their work in the field.

Volunteer laborers are there working on the wall, and it's causing them to neglect their responsibilities and care back home.

There's kind of three distinct injustices that have crept up while the laborers were focusing so directly on this reconstruction project.

The first injustice that we see here is that there were people who were facing starvation actually due to greed.

They were facing starvation due to greed.

Yes, there was a famine in the land, uh, but there were women and children back at home who were trying to keep up with things, and the famine was negatively affecting them.

And there were wealthy uh Jewish brothers who had means, who had storehouses full of grain, and they were being greedy and not giving to uh those women and child children.

Uh women and children going hungry because others would not be generous toward them.

So those who had means would not help those who did not have means.

And that was causing conflict.

The second kind of situation and injustice that they were facing is there were people mortgaging their personal property for food.

So not only were there people being greedy and would not give out of their abundance, but there were people who were demanding that if you wanted what I had, you had to give me something of yours.

And so they were left with no other option but to actually mortgage up their personal property just to get grain, just to survive.

The famine had created a supply and demand issue, right?

And people were exploiting that reality.

They were exploiting the economic situation of their day.

The mixture of famine and the lack of labor in the field had made people desperate to survive, and they were willing to give up anything that they could just so that they could continue living.

The third injustice they were experiencing, there were people who were selling their children into slavery to pay the king's taxes.

In spite of the shortage of food, it was also tax season for the kingdom of Persia.

And the Persians were very notorious for oppressing people with very unrealistic taxes.

Since their personal property was already in the hands of their Jewish brothers just to get grain, now they were left with no other means of actually affording the king's taxes but to sell off their own children.

But here's the thing they weren't selling off their children to foreign people.

They were selling off their own children to their own Jewish brothers so that they could get silver to pay their taxes.

So imagine the injustices that were happening with inside the context of Israel.

Not from foreign enemies, not from outside opposition, but from within the community of God.

Israel was in a difficult situation.

There was the wall over halfway to completion, right?

They had seen progress, they had opposed outside enemies, they had stayed focused on the work, and now they see that it's over halfway completed, so momentum's happening.

Many of the people, specifically men, had forsaken their primary responsibilities for a season.

There was a famine in the land, and the Persian king's taxes were pressing an already pitiful state.

And it's in this place, in this tension of dissent and despair, Israel needed a godly leader.

Israel needed a godly leader, and they needed one who would listen to their outcry.

You see, Nehemiah could have refused to listen.

After all, the work of rebuilding the wall still needed to be completed, right?

He had just pushed back external threats to the work.

He could have simply said they needed to toughen up, keep their heads down, and finish the job.

But being the godly leader that he is, Nehemiah listens.

Let me put forward a couple reasons of why I think Nehemiah listened as a godly leader.

One, first thing is this I believe Nehemiah listened because he believes in a God who listens to him.

All throughout the book of Nehemiah, his response to opposition and conflict, his response to injustices in society has been to pray.

You see, Nehemiah believes in a God who desires to listen to his outcries.

And that makes him conform to that reality, to where then he listens in response to outcries that he hears among his people.

His outcry had been heard by God.

And being a man of fervent prayer, Nehemiah believed God both chose to and desired to listen to his people.

The second reason I want to put forward of why I think Nehemiah listened is because their outcry was just.

You see, in Nehemiah 4.10, when we preached on last week, there was an outcry with among the people of Israel.

What were they saying?

They were saying we are too weak to continue going on.

The rubble is too much for us to actually repair anything with it.

Actually, let's see.

We see an outcry here in Nehemiah 4.10.

It says, the strength of those who bear the burdens is failing.

There's too much rubble.

By ourselves, we would not be able to rebuild the wall.

Now Nehemiah didn't listen to this outcry that was among the people of Israel in 4.10.

He didn't give ear to that outcry.

No.

Nehemiah instead firmed up their confidence, rallied their spirits, and got back to the work at hand.

But this outcry was different.

This outcry in Nehemiah 5 was justified, and it demanded a godly listening ear.

So he listens, but then he responds.

And in Nehemiah 6 through 13, we see his response to the outcry of injustice among the people.

And so here's what we see second part.

A godly leader takes action.

A godly leader takes action.

They don't just listen, they take action.

In this passage of the text, we see Nehemiah's response to the outcry of the people.

And throughout the whole book of Nehemiah, we've been focusing and drilling down on Nehemiah and is his initial response to circumstances in his life is prayer.

And if we read through six and seven too quickly and we don't pause and really understand what's happening, we're gonna look like this is the first time that Nehemiah doesn't pray.

That's not true.

Nehemiah does pray in 6 through 7, but it's a different type of prayer.

It's a prayer not of petition, but of reflection.

It's a prayer of reflection.

You see, the gut reaction that Nehemiah had to the outcry of his people, we see in verse 6.

I was very angry when I heard the outcry of these words.

His gut reaction to the injustices that God's people were facing was anger.

A righteous anger.

Now we have to ask, right?

He's angry.

Is that a proper emotional response?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

We see throughout the scriptures that anger toward wickedness and injustice is a proper emotional response.

But Nehemiah did not let that anger control him.

Nehemiah did not let that anger manipulate the way that he would respond outwardly to people.

Though his gut reaction was anger, a righteous one, he did not allow that to control his full response.

Instead, he allowed prayer and the meditation of God's word to bring control around his emotions.

And we see this literal idea of verse 7 when it says, I took counsel with myself.

When we try to understand that in its most literal sense, here's what that means.

It means that he brought his heart under rule.

When Nehemiah says, I took counsel with myself, it means that he brought his heart under rule.

Look at the godly leadership of Nehemiah.

He had a right and proper response emotionally to the injustices that the people of God were facing.

Anger.

When we see injustice in our society, when we see people being oppressed and manipulated and used, when we see greed winning, right?

When we see all of these kinds of things happening in our culture, we should be angry.

We should be angry in our response to wickedness and sin in our culture and our world.

But we cannot allow that anger to dictate how we act.

And so Nehemiah brought his heart under rule.

A godly leader takes action.

He doesn't hear the cries of injustice and despair and sits apathetically on the sideline.

But he also doesn't act out of his feelings because they can lead to equal and greater injustices.

Right?

Have you ever seen that?

Have you ever seen someone get angry about a situation?

And that might have been a rightful response, but they didn't control that anger, and that led to an even greater injustice on the other side of the response?

No, Nehemiah doesn't allow for that to happen.

He prays in reflection and brings his heart under rule.

Anger may be appropriate, but it's not sufficient.

Anger may be appropriate in a certain situation, but ultimately it's not sufficient.

Emotional distress was taken by prayerful reflection, which created practical action.

Let me say that again.

Emotional distress was taken by prayerful reflection, which created practical action.

In the course of taking action, Nehemiah does three things.

Three things that we see in this passage here.

Number one, he clearly communicates the sin.

I think this is radically important when we understand taking action against injustice and sin and wickedness in our society.

Nehemiah doesn't say, he doesn't use ambiguous language.

Oh, I fell today.

Oh, you fell?

Did you scrape your knee?

What happened?

No.

What did you do?

Tell me what it name the sin, right?

Be very clear about that.

You ever been in a in a uh we talk about this in uh staff?

I don't pray for uh unspokens.

I just don't do it because I don't know what the mess you want me to pray for.

I don't know what's on the other side of that unspoken.

That could be some craziness.

I ain't praying for that.

Uh say it.

Name it, right?

Make it clear what it is.

And Nehemiah, when he starts to take action, he very clearly articulates the exact sin that's happening from among his community.

It was necessary to clearly communicate the sin.

They needed to hear the charges against them in a way that would strike both the mind and the heart because clarity produces sobriety.

Clarity produces sobriety.

I remember listening to Pastor Jordan.

He's a firefighter, and he was talking about in some of his training.

When they go to a home that someone has uh uh died at, they are not allowed to use language like they passed away.

They're in a better place.

So forth, so forth.

They're not allowed, they have to look that person in the eye and say, they're dead.

Why?

Because clarity brings sobriety, it wakes them up to the understanding of the situation of what's happening, and now they're able to actually get their bearings to now respond in ways that are gonna be beneficial to the situation.

Clarity brings sobriety.

Number two, he calls them back to God's word and God's glory.

I love this about Nehemiah.

What's he calling them back to?

It's an authority that's even transcendent of himself.

We're gonna see Nehemiah held a position of authority within the city of Israel.

He was a governor, but he doesn't call them to his authority, he calls them back to God's word, which is supreme authority in all of life.

And so he brings them back to that truth for the glory of God.

In verse 9, we read, the thing that you are doing is not good.

Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations, our enemies?

He calls them to a moral standard, not just good.

You're not what you're doing is not good.

He calls them to a moral standard, he calls them to a humble posture, walk in the fear of God.

He calls them to a purposeful mission to prevent the taunts of the nations.

And so calling them back to God's word in his glory, he calls them to a moral standard, he calls them to a humble posture, and he calls them to a purposeful mission.

They're breaking God's word in their practice of lending with their own people.

And so what he's referring to, what he's calling them to, is actually a law of Moses that we find in Deuteronomy 23, 19 through 20.

Here's what it says it says, You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest.

You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest.

That the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

So they're breaking the Mosaic law by charging these interests, by making them pay interest on these loans, by having them mortgage up their personal property just to be able to stay survived.

They are not living obediently to the word of God.

And because they have neglected God's word, God's glory has been jeopardized among the nations.

Because God's glory is most seen in God's people living God's way.

Let me say that again.

God's glory is most seen in God's people living God's way.

Sometimes it looks different, right?

Sometimes we have in our imagination, Lord, let your glory fill the earth like the waters fill the sea.

And you might imagine some like a weird cloud, right, with all kinds of light fractals and sparkles like just filling this earth.

And you're like, oh, that's the that's the glory of God, right?

I see it.

No, no, no, no, no.

When God says that my glory will fill this earth like the waters fill the sea, it means his image bearers who love him and are in perfect fellowship with him and communion with him, fill this earth.

What was the first command of Adam and Eve?

Be fruitful and multiply.

Why?

So that his image might fill the earth, because the radiance of his glory is seen in you and me.

And it's in the people of God, living God's way, that we actually see God's glory most manifested within the earth.

The third thing he does in this confrontation, in his taking of action, man, this is godly leadership.

He includes himself in the rebuke.

He includes himself in the rebuke.

When godly leaders start to take action, they begin with themselves.

Where am I wrong?

What fault have I done?

Where have I not lived up to the standard that I'm calling these brothers to also?

They lead in repentance to work make and work to make things right.

Nehemiah wasn't simply calling out the wrongdoing of others, but he was honest and ready to take action against the wrongdoing of his own hands.

So ultimately, the dissent and despair in the community was rooted in neglect of God's word and a lack of love for his people.

Because submission to God's word compels us to demonstrate love to his people.

They aren't honoring the spirit of Deuteronomy 15 with its reoccurring theme.

The reoccurring theme of Deuteronomy 15 is there should be no poor among you.

Deuteronomy 15, 4, 7, and 11 reiterates this.

There should be no poor among you, Israel.

The rich were not following Micah 6.8.

We see it here.

He has told you, O man, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

But to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.

The poor in Israel or the rich in Israel were not following Micah 6.8.

They were oppressing other people, and there was despair in the land because they neglected God's word for God's glory.

The wealthy should have been serving, supporting, sacrificing for the good of their brothers and sisters, but instead they took advantage of them.

Ultimately, they were not keeping the royal command: love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Greed made them reject God's word and act unloving toward his people.

Finally, Nehemiah calls them to take action also by repenting and begin walking according to the word of God.

To undo the unrighteousness, uh the unrighteous uh things that they had done, and walk with generosity from here on out.

So he's saying, undo everything you did, give them back their land, give them back their possessions, give them back their children, and not just give it back to them, but then now take a heart posture where you walk in generosity from here on out.

That's what Nehemiah calls him to.

He closes his address with a holy caution in verse 13.

He says, This so may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep his promise, so may he be shaken out and emptied.

The dissent and despair of God's people cause Nehemiah to take action.

Lastly, as we look at verses 14 through 19, what we see is that a godly leader represents.

A godly leader represents.

Here in 14 through 19, uh, we get brought up to a view, a bigger picture.

Of the life that Nehemiah led with the people of Israel.

He was appointed to the office of governor for twelve years.

In that time, he represented the life that all of Israel was to live, one of justice and one of generosity.

We see how he refused to have what he rightfully could have demanded because of the impact it made on others.

There was this governor's portion that he could have taken daily, but he talks about how that had oppressed people under former governing rulers.

He says, Neither I nor my brothers ate the food allowance of the governor.

The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people.

Even their servants lorded over the people.

So not only was what the governor's allowance causing to have happened in the city of Israel, but even the governor's servants were lording that allowance over the people of Israel.

It was abundance, it was greed, it was too much.

So he refused to take part of it.

Why did Nehemiah refuse to do what others had previously done in his position?

He says this, but I did not do so because of the fear of God.

Verse 15.

Why did Nehemiah not do that?

Because he feared the Lord.

That's why.

Not only did Nehemiah represent what God's word called his people to through refusing to imbibe, but he also represented it through radical generosity.

Verse 18 in Nehemiah, he says, Now it was prepared at my expense.

So get the picture here.

Nehemiah is a governor for twelve years.

There's a daily allowance for the governor of food that he refused to take.

He could have, he could have rightfully demanded it because of his position, but he saw it as an injustice, and because he feared God, he refused to take it.

So what did he do?

At his own expense.

This is what we read in verse 18.

Now what was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox, six choice sheep and birds, and even ten days all kinds of wine and abundance.

Yet for all this I did not demand the food allowance of the governor, because the service was too heavy on his people.

It's stated here in this passage that there was a hundred and fifty people daily who sat at Nehemiah's table that feasted out of his generosity.

So he refused to take the allowance that he could have rightfully demanded because of his position.

But because he feared the Lord, he saw that it was too much on the people.

So what did he do?

He said, Then I'm going to cook up a feast and I'm going to set the table so that the poor and downtrodden of Israel can come and feast with me.

If you do the math on that, like one ox, six choice sheep, birds, all kinds of wine for twelve years daily.

That's a ridiculous amount of generosity that Nehemiah shows in his position.

Greater than the prestige of governor, greater than the privileges of his position was the good that was to come to God's people.

Nehemiah used his position and his prosperity for the good of others.

And guess what?

The wall was built.

The wall was built.

Nehemiah didn't say, put your head down and get to work.

Nehemiah propped his head up, listened, and responded to the injustice of his community.

Because when the people were cared for, the work was even better.

In the closing of this chapter, we see a simple prayer from the heart of a godly leader.

He says this in the last verse, he says, Remember for my good.

Lord, remember for my good, for my blessing, for my standing with you.

I have worked for your glory and the good of your people.

I have worked for your glory and the good of your people.

What we see in this whole passage of the text is this God's purpose and people flourish under godly leadership.

God's purpose and people flourish under godly leadership.

Here in Nehemiah 5, God's purpose and people were at their most jeopardized state.

The injustices and greed of others in their community were crippling their ability to even carry on the work that God had ever called them to.

How would they be able to go on in such a condition?

You gotta imagine, it took them 52 days to build this wall, to rebuild everything that had been destroyed.

52 days.

They were over 30 in.

They only had about 22 more days to go.

They could have just worked, kept their head down, got busy, and Nehemiah could have been a taskmaster.

He could have supplemented or stepped into the place of Lord rather than leader.

But when the people were taken care of, when their good was sought after, when they flourished, the work that God called them to flourished with them.

It is important to realize that the previous thoughts of self-defeat had no weight in the work that lied ahead.

However, these were honest outcries of the people that needed address through godly leadership so that they could complete the wall.

And it was under the care of a godly leader who listened, who took action, and who represented that the purpose and people flourished.

Ungodly leadership might achieve the desired outcome of the work, but God and his people are often left in reproach.

And some of us have seen this in our society, in our culture, in our time.

There's achievers in the world, right?

There's people who can get stuff done.

But we have watched as some of our own churches and our own network have been led by achievers who didn't care about the welfare of the people and what they accomplished, eventually ruined because the purpose and the people were left neglected.

So there's a difference here.

There's a difference between being able to achieve.

You can achieve things and you can abuse the people underneath of you.

Maybe even work in a context where you're just a number.

Hey, this is what we're going to achieve, and I can hire 10 more of you tomorrow.

So either do the work or get out of the way.

Man, that's not the culture that God desires for his people.

Because his glory is directly tethered to the flourishing of his people.

And when his people flourish, his mission gets accomplished.

God understands that if he tries to accomplish within this earth all that he desires, he's going to bless his people in the process of it.

Yeah, we may be able to achieve, we may be able to get the desired outcome that we're looking for, but in our efforts, God and his people are often left in reproach.

Ungodly leadership often seeks to substitute lordship, and the focus becomes selfishness rather than selflessness.

It is in the face of ungodly leadership that justice and generosity are actually most fragile.

Because in the pursuit of selfishness, we must inflict injustice for power and exercise greed for provision.

We can lead in two ungodly ways that destroy the opportunity for God's purpose and people to flourish.

Number one, we don't lead with generosity.

We don't lead with generosity.

When we don't lead with generosity, we're insensitive to the needs of others around us.

Right?

We don't pay attention to what others might be lacking in their life.

We don't see the shortcomings that they may have because we're not leading out of generosity, we're leading out of greed.

And so the more that we can actually obtain for ourselves, the better.

Why?

Because we're so focused on accomplishment, we're so focused on achieving that even the possessions of others become provision for the work ahead.

And so not only do they go without, but then they go with even less.

You see, we don't use our abundance often to bless others.

We store up because a leader who is so focused on accomplishment is often driven by fear.

And you know when they're driven by fear, what they do?

They store up.

They store up because they don't want to do without.

Unhealthy, ungodly leaders are often more fearful than godly ones.

Because they don't trust.

They have to do it themselves.

And they're terrified that they won't accomplish what they set forth to do.

We often engage with others also through harsh judgment.

When we're when we don't leave a generosity, we engage with others in harsh, harsh judgment.

We may say things like this: look, I've got my stuff together.

You need to get your stuff together.

I got my situation worked out.

You need to work out your own situation.

I can't really handle them.

You know, I got to be worried about myself and getting myself together.

They got to kind of figure things out on their own.

That's not generosity.

A godly leader would not understand his success separate from the success of his brother.

A godly leader sees them so intertwined that they're inseparable from one another.

If you prosper, I prosper.

If you flourish, I flourish.

If you're successful, I'm successful.

That's the heart of a godly leader.

When we don't lead with generosity, we store up and white knuckle our stuff.

All the while God's purpose and people suffer.

But some of us we don't lead with justice.

We don't lead with justice.

Uh we are too often indifferent to the poor, the orphan, the widow, the stranger.

You see, we should be the greatest demonstration of empathy out of anybody in the world.

Why?

Because we have the gospel.

We have the God.

Who were you?

You were an orphan.

You were a stranger.

You were poor and destitute.

But God.

But God brought you in as a child, no longer an orphan.

God gave you a place in his family.

God no longer considered you a stranger, but considered you a friend.

God no longer left you poor and destitute, but he lavished upon you the riches of heaven itself.

Why should we be the most empathetic community on the face of this planet?

Because we understand the gospel.

And that should lead us to what?

Desire justice.

To hate injustice, and we should even more so hate injustices at our own hands.

We look out for ourselves and we fail to see that God has blessed us to be able to look out for others.

We talked about this a little bit a week ago or so.

Why do you think God has blessed you the way that He has?

Why do you think God has given you the financial provision that He's given you?

The talents that He's given you, the health that He's given you, the home that He's given you, the children, the marriage.

Go down the list.

Why do you think He's given you those things?

For His glory and the good of others.

That's why He's given you everything that you have.

Everything within your possession is for His glory and the good of others.

This isn't about looking out for yourself.

God saved you that you might look out for others.

Also, when we don't leave with justice, we allow sin to prosper.

Instead of being angry about its presence in our lives, our homes, in our city.

You see, if we hated sin the way God hates sin, then we would seek justice against its corruption.

We talked about this in our mission group this week.

Does God hate sin?

Simple question, right?

Oh, yeah, there we go.

Somebody had their coffee this morning.

Yes, God hates sin.

It's very clear that God hates.

That's not like a teenage girl saying, I hate you to their mom.

That's the God of all creation in the universe says, I hate something.

It carries an eternal cosmic weight to that statement.

God hates sin.

Do you want to have a heart like God's heart?

Simple question.

Then guess what?

You hate sin.

Because that's God's heart.

God hates sin.

You see, often we don't hate sin.

And we become ungodly leaders.

And instead of seeking justice in the face of injustice, we build into the catastrophe of sin around us by not engaging and just letting it happen.

We cannot strive to be godly leaders if we're going to allow injustice to prosper around us.

But the beauty of the gospel is this Jesus empowers God's purpose and people to flourish through justice and generosity.

Jesus doesn't oppress or cast down.

Jesus empowers us in the work of God to flourish.

How?

By justice and generosity.

Let's look at God's justice.

The beauty of God's justice is that he does something about sin.

You want to see how much God hates sin?

Look at the cross.

The cross is the most clear example and portrait that we can see of how much God hates sin, that he would kill his own son to confront it, to do something about it, to engage with it.

He did something about sin.

God doesn't just take our sin and sweep it under the cosmic rug of eternity and just forget it.

God isn't that dad whose family's falling apart and children are losing their mind and wife is crying in a corner and just sits there on the Xbox and doesn't pay attention to it.

God's not that.

God is a God who gets up and does something and takes action against the injustices of his people and he confronts sin.

But how does he confront it?

He doesn't confront it with sword and spear, he confronts it with wood and nails.

And it's in his suffering of his son that in the injustice of sin is confronted.

God does something about sin.

And God's generous.

God's generous because he gives us to us freely what we can never provide for ourselves.

He gave us Jesus.

He bankrupt heaven, he gave us everything to obtain us.

Look at the generosity of God that he held nothing back but gave even his own son that he might obtain us.

It is through the lens of justice and generosity that we see that Jesus empowers us, his people and his purpose to flourish.

We're able to flourish not because of godly leadership, but because of a righteous king.

That's why we're able to flourish.

Because Jesus Himself, you see, we were the people of Israel.

Think about this for yourself.

Insert yourself into the narrative of this story.

We were the people of Israel.

We were enslaved by the outcome of sin, and we were unable to provide a way out for ourselves.

Think about the outcry of the wives.

What are we to do?

We're having to sell off our own children.

We can't get out of this mess.

We're going to starve to death out here.

We have been enslaved by the corruption and injustice of sin, and there is nothing that we have in our possession to get ourselves out of this.

That was you and I.

In the face of sin, we were under its crushing weight and we had no resources to dig our way out.

But in his justice and his generosity, you and I come into new life with him and now we flourish.

We're not under the weight of sin any longer.

We're not dictated by its outcomes.

No.

We enter into new life and life more abundantly.

Amen.

And so for our hope for us this morning is this that we would be a community of godly leaders.

We would be a community of godly leaders.

Church, every single one of us should strive to be godly leaders, representatives of Christ.

Right?

We should be a people who listen to the outcries of injustice within our community and within our city, within our homes, within our workplaces.

We should be a people who listen.

Why?

Because we, in our practice of prayer and our discipline of prayer, we are in relationship with the God who listens to us.

When you pray, do you think that way?

Do you think God is actually listening to you right now?

Are you just throwing a Hail Mary?

Like maybe.

Maybe he's not busy.

Maybe this will get you know through his secretary to him.

We'll kind of see.

Or do you really believe your father is sitting with you and giving you his full attention and ear?

Man, that's the heart that we need to try to foster on ourselves.

Because when we believe that, we will be more empathetic to listen to the outcries of those who are suffering under injustice in our city, in our community, to be godly leaders who take action.

We don't just do nothing about sin.

We don't just sit here in a bomb shelter and wait for the explosion to go off.

No, we get out there and we get to work.

We take on the injustices of this world with the righteousness of Christ and the justice of God.

We proclaim the gospel.

We push back the darkness because we are light.

This is what godly leaders do.

They take action in our homes.

We take action against sin in our life.

We don't allow sin to take root in our home.

We don't allow for the serpent to dwell at the dinner table.

No, we crush its head and we cast it out from our home.

We don't allow sin to reign in our marriage.

We don't allow sin to reign in our personal life.

We're not gonna allow sin to reign in this church because we're gonna take action against wickedness because our hearts are so conformed to the heart of God that we hate and despise and will do whatever it takes to get it out from our midst.

We hate sin.

And so we take action as godly leaders against it.

But most importantly, if not fully enwrapped in all of this, we are representatives of Christ.

We are ambassadors, we are vice regents of his lording, reign, and rule.

You and I have an obligation to conform to that image.

What image?

The image of the one who has the earth as his footstool, the image of the one who has put everything under his reigning power, the image of the one who bent down low to be with us, to take on our poverty, to take on our orphan state, to take on everything that separated us from God and put it on himself so that we might be reconciled to the Father.

We are representatives of him.

Godly leaders work for the glory of God and the good of others.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's pray.