In my first Doctor of Ministry cohort, I assigned The Peter Principle, which is absolutely hilarious. Surprisingly, I still had a job afterwards, it is so dated and politically incorrect. The point is that I have tried to live by that principle, i.e., not to get promoted beyond my level of competence. But to those who actually do have gifts for institutional leadership and seek to development them: good for you. Here are three biblical leadership principles that you will likely never find in the leadership literature, at least not in their original settings. They are, however, divinely inspired, so even if they rub pragmatic leaders the wrong way and seem counter-intuitive, as they likely will, they promise real blessing to those humble enough to act on them.
(1) Do not be Rehoboam. Rehoboam inherited the throne of a united Israel from his father Solomon. He asked advice of his counselors, and the old ones told him to lighten the load of his subjects. If he would do so, they said, the people would be loyal to him for life. Instead, he listened to his younger advisors, who told him to demand more and more and more of his subjects. They even crudely made it all about who had the bigger manhood, him or his father. As a result of following their counsel, he pissed everyone off, found himself facing a rebellion, and lost the larger part of his kingdom, ten of the twelve tribes he inherited. He should have listened to his older counselors. He would have had loyal subjects for his entire reign. [See 1Kings 12.] Don't be Rehoboam.
The other two principles I hastily bookmarked in a previous post, but let me explain them here.
(2) This one is mentioned three separate times in the Bible, which conveys remarkably strong reinforcement:
"Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." (Deuteronomy 25:4)
"Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." (1Corinthians 9:9)
"Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." (1Timothy 5:11)
Paul tells us this is not just about oxen, but about human workers, as well. So, if it is about humans as well as oxen, we can ask: What do muzzles do? And we can answer: They muffle speech, they inhibit proper breathing, and the prevent someone from eating and taking refreshment. If your workers have no way to send you critical feedback, if your leadership structure allows for no one to lobby or advocate for those under them, if your style does not convey openness to suggestion or critique, if the workspace is a cage and the workload relentless and ever increasing, you risk killing the goose that lays your golden egg. If your mission really is "all" about your customers, clients, students, etc., and you show no interest in how much work your people are doing, how much it has been increasing, how often you have been asking them to do more with less, over and over again, you will not only fail, but you will deserve to fail. Because muzzling an ox while it is treading out the grain is not only bad management, it is cruel. [See (1) above.]
(3) Do not presume to appropriate divine promises of prosperity by wrenching them out of context. Here is an example that hits close to home for many evangelicals, but read the two blue verses first (vv. 10 and 12), then go back and read the middle one (v. 11).
10 "This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. (Jer 29:10-12)
Those seventy years refer to the Babylonian exile, after Jerusalem had been besieged, starved, and resorted to cannibalism, her leaders killed or captured. The Spirit of the Lord had departed the city. Ezekiel saw it happen. And the Lord set the sentence for the exiles at 70 years. Why? To ensure the land was given its sabbatical years, every year an earned sabbatical that had been withheld by the leaders. That is how serious the Lord was and is about observing sabbatical years, serious as a 70-year exile. In this case the context places substantial conditions around the promise people try to appropriate, but without regard to the conditions: Then and when.
Every preaching textbook, every Bible exegesis course, teaches the interpreter to look at what comes immediately before and immediately after the text in question. Good leaders should do the same. In this case, the context says: the middle verse is not for you unless you are prepared to honor its terms and conditions.
All of these principles pose a serious question and a challenge to those who seek to lead faithfully: Do you trust God and his Word, do you trust him to provide through sabbatical years (which are spiritually regenerative), when your most productive Presbyterian elders and deacons are constitutionally required to take a year off, to provide when the muzzle is off and the yoke is untied? Do you trust him more than the bottom-line experts who constantly goad you to demand more and more and more from your people and to do so with less (time) and less (freedom) and less (resources) and less (rest)?
May you choose wisely and lead well.
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