Jesus: The Perfect Leader                             P1                              08-13-2017

Your bishopric has assigned me to talk about:

Jesus Christ, as the perfect leader.

To understand this concept, We need to look beyond our Worldly view of leadership as people wielding power over us.  That is the wrong mindset for understanding Jesus Christ as a leader.  He doesn’t wield power to force us to follow him.     In fact, the Truly great leaders don’t do that.

I was in the U. S. Marines, almost 50 years ago.  They have some great leaders in the corps, as well as some not so great.   One that I admired exceedingly told me, after he retired, that he had never given a direct order during his 25 years of service as a Marine Corps officer.    The great leaders don’t go around yelling,  “That is an order, private!”        They don’t.

 Jesus never said things like that.  He was, and is, a great leader.    Let me have you open your hymnbook to # 116.  I am going to read this hymn in three parts.  First, verses  1 and 2:

1. “Come, follow me,” the Savior said.   Then, let us in his footsteps tread;

For thus alone can we be one,      With God’s own loved, begotten Son.

2. “Come, follow me,” a simple phrase,     Yet truth’s sublime, effulgent rays  are in these simple words combined,    To urge, and inspire the human mind.

The gospels contain many references to Jesus asking people to follow him, to follow his example, to follow his counsel.  For example at the very beginning of his ministry, in Mathew 4:18 – 22

18 ¶ And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.

22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

He didn’t have to yell at them, or be overbearing.  He simply showed them the way and asked them to go with him.   He was inspiring,  and he showed them the way to greatness.   They happily accepted his invitation to follow him.

Of course, not everyone was willing to follow him, just as it is today.  There is one story that I find very poignant.  It makes me quite sad.  This is found in Luke 18:  18 – 23

18 And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one,       that is, God.

20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.

21 And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

This story is striking in its similarity to how Jesus called his disciples.  You have to wonder what this man’s place would have been if he had heeded the Savior’s call, as Peter and the others had done.  He may have been one of the twelve and forever remembered for his service.  Instead, he is forgotten, except as  a bad example.    It says, in verse 18, that he was a ruler;    but of what?    We don’t know and barely even care.

So this calling was a setback, but Jesus took the opportunity to teach his disciples a very important lesson.  That they (and we) need to be focused , if they were to reach the BIG goal.

Continuing  from verse 24 thru 30:

24 And …  he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

25 For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

26 And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved?

27 And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

28 Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee.

29 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake,

30 Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time,

And,  in the world to come,  life everlasting.

From this, we know that we have to keep our eye on the long-term goal at all times, if we are to receive mansions in Heaven.  On Earth, we are often focused on things that are of little importance in that long-term goal. 

Should I buy a new car, or keep nursing this one along?

Should I invest in stocks and bonds, or flip houses?

Should I look for a new job?

Should I watch the big game on Saturday, or wash those dirty windows?

These kinds of things do not, of themselves, have much long-term impact.  But we have to keep them from distracting us from the things that DO matter. 

We need to focus on the questions that really do make a difference.  Such as:

Should I be more friendly to that check-out person who irritated me last time I bought groceries?

Should I watch the Academy Awards show or go visit my home/visiting  teaching families?

Should I prepare my lesson now so I have time to listen to the spirit this week, or wait until Sunday morning?

Should I take time to go talk to my new neighbors and welcome them to the neighborhood?

Speaking of Missionary work, consider the example of Jesus Christ as he taught a woman he met casually along the way.

Jesus was traveling through Samaria, whose people were despised by the Jews because they were descendants of Jews who had married out of the faith.  Jesus sat on the edge of Jacob’s well while his companions went into town to obtain food. 

And Jesus gives us an awesome example of doing missionary work.

This is John 4, starting with verse 7:

7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?

12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.

17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:

18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.

19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

. . .               skipping down

25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.

26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.   …

28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,

29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?

30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.

  He simply talked to the woman in a simple, friendly way, but it led to a discussion which ended with her village coming to hear him.   He said things that surprised her, and that led to more discussion. 

We might not have the perception and insight of the Savior, but we have the ability to be friendly to all the people we meet.  And we have the ability to talk to them.  If the opportunity arises, we even have the ability to introduce them to the missionaries.

Great leaders show us the way to go forward. 

Continuing with the hymn, verses 3-5:

3. Is it enough     alone to know       That we must follow him below,  while trav’ling thru this vale of tears?     No, this extends to holier spheres.

4. Not only shall we emulate His course while in this earthly state,

But also when we’re freed from present cares,    IF with our Lord we would be heirs.

5. We must the onward path pursue,  As wider fields expand to view,

And follow him unceasingly,   Whate’er our lot or sphere may be.

For the past several years, I have been trying to re-mold myself as more of a man of God.  When I started down this path, I had a couple of things I wanted to work on that I knew would make me a better man.  I focused on those things and made them part of my life. 

For example, my wife and I started the daily habit of  praying together and then reading the scriptures together – every night,  no matter what.  We had done both those things before, but let things interfere now and then, and did  not often do both of them together.   Now we make the effort, every, single day.  We haven’t missed a day in years, even though we are not always together.  For example, sometimes I travel alone up to Utah and spend up to a month; with our kids when they need help, or when I have a big project to do.  During those times, we do our prayer and scripture study, but over the phone.   Sometimes when we have guests, rather than let them take us out of our plan, we invite them to join us and let them take turns reading.

As I focused on those things I wanted to do to lead me towards becoming a man of God, I noticed other things I should do.   When I addressed them, I realized there were more.

Brothers and sisters, I do not think there is an end to this process.  We will always have at least one thing to do.  We all have trials.  And we all have weaknesses to counter our strengths.    BUT    If we are going to follow our great leader, Jesus Christ, we have to carry on, and continually strive to “UP our game” to the next level.  

Remember that in our own way we should identify our “one thing” to work on.  Consider again Jesus’ advice to the young ruler:

Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

If he had done that, he would have had another “one thing” to do for his next step on the path to eternal glory.

And finally verse 6 of the hymn:

6. For thrones, dominions, kingdoms, pow’rs,   And glory great and bliss are ours,

If we, throughout eternity,     Obey his words, “Come, follow me.”

And I say this . . .