The Cost to Leadership — Stephen Olford

This morning I dealt with the theme of the call to leadership. Can you remember the three C's that I feel always mark a true leader? The first is character, correct. The second is conduct. And the third is that's right.

And it's absolutely imperative that we keep that in mind. We were dealing with the call to leadership. The Lord Jesus called, called whom he himself would. And what did he do with them? He invited them, next he instructed them, and thirdly he inspired them.

All together, he invited them, he instructed them, he inspired them. And he instructed them in the word of God by teaching. He instructed them in the work of God by training. He instructed them in the will of God by testing them.

Jesus’ Restoration of Peter at the Seashore

Now I want you to turn with me to John's Gospel and the very last chapter. John's Gospel and the very last chapter. I want to read just verses 15 to 22, 15 to 22, and just remind you of the context. The Lord Jesus is risen again from the dead, and this is one of his post-resurrection appearances.

And he appears on the beach, on the seashore there, making a breakfast for the disciples who had gone out with Peter fishing and had caught nothing. And then that wonderful miracle was performed when they drew in a haul of fish.

And of course Jesus was recognized. That wonderful disciple John recognized him and swam to shore. Disciples gathered around, Jesus gave them a wonderful fish breakfast. That's far better than Burger King or McDonald's.

And then something happened which is really our text, and I'm calling it the cost of leadership. There is a cost to leadership. You've heard a preacher here who has a membership in his church of 25 ,000, who has a radio and television ministry reaching every part of the world, literally.

But it came through conflict. There was a cost, there was a cost involved. And I want you to keep that in mind as we read these verses. Verse 15, so when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?

He said to him, yes Lord you know that I love you. He said to him, feed my lambs. He said to him again the second time, Simon son of Jonah, do you love me? He said to him, yes Lord you know that I love you.

He said to him, tend my sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon son of Jonah, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord you know all things.

You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Now mark these words carefully, feed my sheep. Most assuredly I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished.

But when you're old, you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. And then the Holy Spirit adds, this spoke he, signifying by what death he would glorify God.

And when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me. Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, who also had leaned on his breast at supper and said, Lord, who is the one who betrays you?

Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, but Lord, what about this man? What about this man? Jesus said to him, if I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you altogether? You follow, this is the word of the Lord.

We thank you, Lord, for the message we have heard, the deep principles we have learned and the challenge we have sensed. Now as we turn to your word for this final session, speak to us yet again, quicken our minds, our hearts, and our wills to respond to the challenge of your word and to the cost of leadership.

We ask it for your dear name's sake and all God's people said, amen, amen. As you know, Peter had failed his Lord. He denied him with oaths and curses. He cringed at the challenge of a little maid girl.

But he is now broken, repentant, and has been restored. He's already met with the risen Lord, one of the very first ones Jesus encountered. And now he's ready for action, that's what impetuously led him to go out fishing.

In a little while, he's going to be endued with power from on high. The Holy Spirit is going to come upon him and literally clothe him. And he's going to be the spokesman for the first days of the church.

He's going to preach that great Pentecostal sermon. But not before he measures the cost. Not before he measures the cost. And so this amazing confrontation that the Holy Spirit has left for us in order that we may learn what is the cost of leadership.

And once again, I want to broaden this to the mother here with her children, father, to those of you who are Sunday school teachers, and of course to you who are pastors here, evangelists and missionaries.

Love as the First Motivation for Leadership

The cost of leadership. Principle number one, look at it from the text. I want to expound these words out of the text. First of all, there must be the cost of true motivation. I don't believe anybody can really serve the Lord in any form leave alone.

The form of leadership without motivation. Motivation, there must be the cost of motivation. And Jesus tests this cost of motivation. Simon son of Jonah, do you love me? Verse 15, also verses 16 and 17.

Now it's instructive to observe folks that Jesus did not challenge his faith. Jesus did not challenge his theology. Jesus challenged his love. And the greatest motivating power in all the universe is love.

Is love. You remember he didn't lose his faith, why? Because Jesus prayed for him. Simon, Simon, Satan has asked for you and is going to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith fail not.

It wasn't his faith, it wasn't his theology, it was his love. Simon son of Jonah, do you love me? Folk, this is not a cliche, this is not just evangelical jargon. I say to you, eyeball to eyeball, listen to me very carefully.

The most important thing in your life is your love for Jesus. Your love for the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to catch a picture for a moment. The risen Lord is looking over those seven churches in the book of the Revelation.

For most of them it's condemnation. And particularly the church at Ephesus. But the amazing thing about the church at Ephesus was this, everything was in order. Their doctrine was in order. Their ceremonies were in order.

Their pageantry was in order. They were dead against the Nicolaitans, the Errorists. Those who are of doctrinal deviations. They were absolutely a superb, fundamentalist, evangelical church in every way.

And yet as the Lord Jesus searched that church, He said, I've got something against you. You have fallen. You have fallen. What a statement. You have fallen. You have fallen because you have left, listen carefully, your first love.

It didn't say you lost your love. You have left your first, your first love. The basic love was there, but that glowing, warm, healthy, fresh, full love was gone. And Jesus made a statement that frightens me from the top of my head to the sole of my feet and should challenge any one of us here who's a pastor.

Jesus said, unless you get back, unless you repent, unless you return to your first works, unless you get back to that first love, I will take the candle of your witness and your testimony right out of the church.

And it's one of the most terrifying things to me as a minister to realize that you can have the most fundamental church. You could have great expository preaching. You can have every conceivable element in the evangelical schedule absolutely in place.

And yet Jesus can come and take the candle of your witness right out. I'm talking about the motivation of love, the motivation of love. Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? Do you love me? He said, Lord, you know, I love you.

You know, I love you. It wasn't enough. He had lost that first love. My question to you is, have you lost your love? You can never be a leader without the motivation of love. Well, what is Jesus really talking about here?

Follow these three points very carefully. Jesus put three questions to him. He answered three questions. What does that remind you? It reminds you of the probing and searching, denial with oaths and curses.

Three times Peter denied his Lord. Three times Jesus challenges his love. Why three times? First of all, true motivation must be prompted by a loyalty of love to Christ his Lord. Did you get my word? Loyalty, underscore that, write it down.

True motivation must be prompted by a loyalty of love to Christ his Lord. Why do I say that? Because the text teaches us that. Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these? More than these. Now scholars down through the ages have argued as to what that phrase means.

Was it the fish or fishing? Do you love me more than this fishing business? Or was it a question of loving something else in his life more than Jesus? I believe that the Lord Jesus was referring directly to the statement he made when he asserted with arrogance and boldness, Listen, John will leave you.

James will leave you. Thaddeus will leave you. All the other disciples will leave you. They will leave you. Why? Because they don't love you. But Lord I love you so much, so much. I will stand with you.

I will die with you. And when it came to the moment of, not because he didn't love Jesus, but he didn't have the loyalty of love. There is a loyalty of love. He could have said, yes I love him. But the loyalty of love cracked.

He became a disloyal disciple. I want you to think about this just for a moment. I know, I know that we talk about love in a sort of mushy, unrealistic way. But I'm personally convinced that Jesus is reminding Peter here of his boastful assertions and reminding him here that he was disloyal, that though he said he loved his Lord, his loyalty cracked.

He didn't lose his love because faith worked through love and Jesus had prayed for his faith. It was his loyalty, his loyalty. This is why we need to examine our own hearts here this afternoon. If we would be leaders, pastoral leaders, Bible class leaders, home leaders, nothing destroys the trust of a congregation.

Nothing destroys the trust of your Bible class. Nothing destroys the trust of your home than disloyalty. The greatest temptation pointed out in the New Testament and evidenced in our contemporary world is disloyalty in these areas.

Disloyalty in the area of ministry. Disloyalty in the area of ministry. There are ministers now in London, in Britain, in America who are disloyal to their Lord. Not only disloyalty in the area of ministry, but disloyal in the area of marriage.

Disloyal in the area of marriage. It's true in Britain, it's true in America, it's true everywhere else. Preachers are disloyal in the area of their marriage. If you read Chuck Colson's book, The Body, you'll read statistics there that'll make your hair stand right up.

That the disloyalty in marriage vows amongst preachers is exceeding that of men in the world today. Disloyalty in marriage. We've had the deepest and greatest and most painful demonstration of that in the president of the United States of America.

Not only disloyalty in the area of marriage and money, but morals. Morals. Morals. Do you know that people couldn't care less what's happening in America right now because the economy is great. We're going to have a crash, I believe, if God doesn't preserve in his sovereignty the national affairs of that land or of this land.

But people don't worry two hoots unless something happens in their pockets. The economy is fine. The economy is fine. David, my son, and I were in a conference just recently. The chaplains of correctional institutions giving some lectures.

And a gentleman came in, one of the pastors there, and lifted up a poster to show us. And it was a picture that in some ways was comical but absolutely tragic. It pictured, it pictured Moses coming down from Mount Sinai with face aglow, with face aglow, holding the Ten Commandments in his arms.

Two tablets of the Ten Commandments in his arms. And he's coming down from that mountain and suddenly his eyes see absolute prostitution of God's laws. The most dreadful corruption, perverted corruption going on with a babble of noise and people bowing down to a golden calf.

And his face is distorted with concern. He's about to throw the tablets and Aaron comes running out of the camp. It's Aaron all right, coming out of the camp. He's the priest, he's the high priest. He's running out of the camp and he says, hold it, hold it, don't be concerned.

We're having a booming economy down here. Disloyalty. Disloyalty. Peter do you really love me or will you follow through on loyalty? But notice secondly, the true motivation must be prompted not only by a loyalty of love.

Notice a loyalty of love but secondly a constancy of love. You got that word? Constancy of love. Simon son of Jonah, do you love me? Using the same verb agapeo, Jesus now challenges the constancy of love.

You see true agape love never, never fails. It's always constant. God's love never goes up and down. God's love never rides on a yo-yo. God's love is constant. You say to me, Stephen Alford tell me, how can I know a constancy of love?

I'll tell you very simply, very simply. Go to Ephesians 5 18. What does it say? Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess. Don't go the world's way. They're up and down just like that yo-yo. Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be filled with a spirit.

You know that that verb is in the imperative. It's not an option. It's not an option. It's an obligation. Be filled with a spirit. It's a command. It's an imperative. C .H. Spurgeon said that's not a promise to keep.

It's a command to obey. Not only is it the imperative mood, it's the passive voice. Be controlled by the spirit. It's not only a verb but it's the present verb. It's go on being filled, go on being filled, go on being filled.

Here's the word, go on be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit. And what is the fruit of the spirit? Love. Peter, up until now you've been a yo-yo. I want you to be filled with the spirit and so he was on the day of Pentecost and go on being filled with the spirit for that's the secret of a constancy of love.

But thirdly, and this is so terrific, look at it carefully. True motivation must be prompted by a loyalty of love to Christ as Lord. A constancy of love to Christ as Lord. And thirdly, a fervency of love to Christ as Lord.

I mean that word, fervency of love to Christ as Lord. Now look at the text very carefully. Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? This third time Jesus employs, employs Peter's word, Peter's word. Peter's word was a lower word than the higher word.

He didn't use the word agape, he used the word phileo. Phileo, in other words, a lesser, lesser concept of love, a lesser concept of love. That's why Peter was grieved in his heart that Jesus came down from that high grave.

Wonderful word, agape love, God's love, to phileo, to phileo. He had lost the fervency of love. There are a number of reasons why Peter was grieved, but whatever our speculations or suggestions, one thing is clear.

Jesus wanted to start a fire in the heart of Peter once again. A fire that would never die out, a fire that would never die out. My dear friends here this afternoon, the mark of a surrendered life is fervency in all areas of Christian service.

Paul makes this clear in that great surrender chapter, that great consecration chapter, the hinged chapter in Romans, where having shown the wonderful glories of the gospel, defended that gospel, displayed that gospel, he starts with a therefore.

Therefore, beloved brethren, I beseech you by the mercy of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will.

And down in verse 11 it says, and not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Paul had to say to Timothy, his beloved son, stir up the gift that is in you, stir up the gift that is in you.

You've allowed the flame to burn low, to burn low. The cost of leadership is true motivation, true motivation. What is the greatest force of motivation in all the universe? The very heart of God, the love of God.

Well, what kind of love? Loyal love, constant love, fervent love. And who is the author of that? The Holy Spirit. And how can I know it in my life daily? By being filled with the Holy Spirit. Not just day by day, not just hour by hour, but moment.

Amen? Challenge number one. Challenge number two. There must be the cost of true obligation in leadership. Not just motivation in leadership, that basic. But obligation in leadership, obligation in leadership.

Look at verses 15, 16 and 17. Jesus said, all right, you say you love me, feed my lambs. You say you love me, tend my sheep. You say you love me, feed my sheep. Now if you remove one of those, because twice the word feed is used, you're led with two words.

Feeding the flock, leading the flock. Feeding the flock, leading the flock. And whether that flock are your children, or your grandchildren, or your Bible class, or that workshop that you lead year day by day, month by month, year by year, or you as a pastor leading your flock.

Now I want you to look at this very carefully. We're talking about leadership here. We're talking about leadership here. Number one, the pastor leader must feed his flock, must feed the flock of God. Feed my lambs, feed my sheep, the little ones as well as the sheep.

And whether you're ministering to younger or older believers, your task is to feed them, to feed them and to feed them. How many of you know the name of W .E. Vine, the great Greek scholar now in heaven?

Put your hand right the way up. Ah, look at that, look at that. You go to his commentary on this very text. You go to his commentary on this very text. W .E. Vine was a father in Christ to me. In my student days here in this country, I used to go and see him often in the Bath office of Echoes of Service.

And I understudied him in a lot of his preaching. And he helped me enormously, especially in trying to get to grips with this wonderful language of Greek. Commenting on this passage, this is what he says.

Listen very carefully to the words. Remember the text, feed my lambs, feed my sheep. The pastor leader must feed the flock of God. Listen to him. He says, in the spiritual care of God's children, the feeding of the flock from the Word of God is a constant and regular necessity.

It is to have foremost place in the ministry. And then he adds, the tending, the tending consists of other acts such as discipline, authority, restoration, material assistance of individuals. But they are incidental in comparison with feeding the flock.

I said it earlier this morning and you all shouted amen and waved hands and all the rest of it. I want to say it again this afternoon. The most important thing in the religious life of our beloved country, and remember I'm still a British citizen and I have a burden for London.

I have a burden for Britain. The most important thing in religious life in this country is a return to anointed expository preaching in the pulpits of our land. I knew you would agree. I knew you would agree.

Nothing can take the place of the Word of God. We fire our understanding of the Word of God by prayer and by the illumination of the Holy Spirit. But God has left his Word to lead us in all matters of faith and practice.

And obedience to that Word as we've heard so eloquently this afternoon is the most important responsibility of everyone in this room this afternoon. Yes, the pastor leader must lead, must feed the flock of God.

But secondly, of course, it's right there, verse 16, the pastor leader must lead the flock of God. Tend my sheep. Listen to these words. I'm quoting from John 10. Jesus said, my sheep, what, hear my voice.

And they followed him. You see, it's the voice, first of all. The sheep hear the voice, then they follow. If you do not lead, it's because you do not feed. Sheep will follow any shepherd who takes them to green pastures.

If you feed the flock of God, if they hear your voice, they'll follow you. Do you remember what he said in that same passage? A stranger will they not follow. Because they do not understand his voice.

He has no authority. They only follow the man who speaks the Word of God, who speaks the Word of God. That equivalent, of course, is found in a passage that many people never even look at. Pastors never attempt to preach on that text.

And members of the church daren't even look at it. But three times over in the 13th chapter of Hebrews, the writer speaks of leaders as rulers, as rulers, not only as leaders, but as rulers. Remember those rulers who taught you the Word of God, whose faith followed, considering how they lived.

And then there comes that tremendous verse. Obey them that have the rule over you, who have the leadership over you. Obey them, obey them, as those who must give an account that they may do it with joy and not with grief.

For that would be a groaning, a sorrow, a brokenness of spirit before the judgment seat of prayer. I don't know if you see the wonderful marriage between what I'm saying and all you heard from Dr. Charles Stanley this afternoon.

You remember how he said it was the Word, the Word, the Word. I just preached the Word. I just preached the Word. When they attacked me, I didn't defend myself. I kept my silence, just like the Lord Jesus before his judges, before the cross.

He spoke to never a word so that the very, the very leaders couldn't get over the fact. He only opened his mouth when he was defending the glory of God. When they asked him, what do you mean by truth?

He said, for this purpose, I came forth that I might declare, be a witness. But you see, when you lead God's people in the Word, they follow you, they follow you. So what is the cost of true motivation?

Love. What is the cost of true obligation? I'll tell you, feeding God's sheep. Leading, you say, is there a cost to that? Absolutely. And for the pastor especially, it's the cost of spending hours and hours in the Word of God, hours and hours in prayer, giving preeminence to that than anything else in the life of the church.

Do you remember what happened on the day of Pentecost and just a little after? There was a murmuring amongst the Hellenistic Jews because they felt they were being discriminated against and not giving the clothes and money and food that they deserved.

And the apostles with tender hearts wanted to drop everything and go and tend to that matter. And God broke through from heaven and said, not in your life, not in your life. You're not going to do this.

You're not going to do this. You choose out men who are qualified to do this, a task force, and you ask them to deal with that matter that you give yourself exclusively to the ministry of the Word of God in prayer.

That's how important it is. And many pastors won't be popular when they take time to do that. One day they'll be vindicated because the sheep grow and others come in and are saved and they grow. My last point, the cost of leadership is not only motivation, not only obligation, but true dedication.

Selflessness and Sacrifice in Leadership

True motivation, true obligation, but here dedication. And with this, I conclude. You remember I told you to listen carefully as I read those verses 18 through 19. Let's read them again. Most assuredly, I say to you, Peter, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished.

But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. This he spoke signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, Peter, beloved, if we're going to mean business in our calling, in leadership, whatever level of leadership we have, we must be willing for all that's implied in that amazing statement of Jesus addressed to Peter before Pentecost.

What does it mean? Here it is. Look carefully at it. Number one, a life of selflessness. No leader can lead without paying the cost of a life of selflessness. I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished.

And when you're old, another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. I love Peter. I love Peter. He's dominant in the gospels, dominant in the early days of Pentecost. But with all my love for him, Peter was an egocentric, self-assured man who was not broken until this point in his life.

He dodged the cross. He always dodged the cross. He wanted something which was comfortable. You remember when he gave that great confession of faith? He said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus said, flesh and blood has revealed you this, but my spirit wishes in heaven. Only hours later, Jesus said, I must go to the cross. I'm going to be crucified. I'm going to be taken by wicked men and nailed to a cross.

And Peter came and grabbed him and shook him and rebuked him and said, far be it from you, Lord. You're not going to the cross. You're not going to suffer like that. That's not for you. And Jesus had to turn around to Peter and say, get thee behind me, Satan.

You're savoring the things that be of man and not of God and rebuked him. Same thing happened even after Pentecost, alas, alas. And Peter had to rebuke, Paul had to rebuke Peter yet again on the issue of the true meaning of the cross.

In Galatians chapter two, read it for yourself. Friends, if you're going to be a leader, it's got to be selfless. And sometimes your hands will be bound and you'll be taken where you wouldn't normally go.

But since you are totally committed to God, you don't care where it is as long as you obey God and leave all the consequences to Him. I'm quoting now from Dr. Charles Stanley, a life of selflessness. Listen, folks, it might sound easy to say that, easy to say that, but we're living in the most selfish, selfish, selfish age of the entire church.

Never have been more demonstrated by all our advertising, all our radio, all our television, all our manner of living, I don't care where you are, that we're the most selfish people in the Western world.

Selfish people in the Western world. That's why we can't lead. That's why we can't lead. Jesus went the selfish way. He was born in a stable, had no place to lay his head during his life, was buried in a borrowed tomb, cruelly murdered the church in our generation.

Number two, look at it, a life of sacrifice, which of course is allied to that. Selfishness, sacrifice. You will stretch out your hands. This Jesus spoke signifying by what death he would glorify God.

What was the Lord Jesus saying to him? Listen, Peter, not only have you to demonstrate a life of selflessness, but sacrifice. And that sacrifice is going to lead you even to death. You're going to die for me.

You're going to die for me. And there is an implication here, you notice in the language, an implication here, you're going to die for me and you're going to die on a cross. Your arms are going to be stretched out.

And this he spake signifying by what death he would glorify God. And history has it on very, very strong grounds that he was in fact in A .D. 68 crucified upside. Because when he came to it, he said, no, I'm not going to be crucified with my head up.

Jesus, my Lord, was crucified that way. I'm not worthy of that. And he was crucified upside down. Are we ready for sacrifice? That's leadership. That's the cost of leadership. And finally, and this perhaps is the most important thing I can share with you today, a life of steadfastness.

Steadfastly Following Christ’s Call

Not only selflessness, not only sacrifice, but steadfastness. Twice over, Jesus said to Peter, notice verses 19 and 22, follow me. May I inform you that that's in the present tense. That's in the present tense.

Go on following me. Go on following me. Keep on following me. Yes, said Peter, I'm willing to do that. I'm willing to do that. But listen, there's a fellow here called John. John, John, come over here a minute.

Come over here a minute. Lord Jesus, what is this man going to do? What is this man going to do? You remember what Jesus said? That's not your business. You go on following me. You know, one of our problems as preachers is looking at one another.

Looking down the street to that church. I wonder how many they had. How many came forward? How many baptisms? What program have they that we don't have? Are they whipping us with a choir? And we're looking at others.

What shall this man do? What shall this man do? Jesus said, that's none of your business. You keep on following me. And no leader can really follow, follow the Lord Jesus in order for others to follow him who keeps on looking around, right?

He's got his eyes right ahead, right ahead. Keep on following me. I want to say from the depths of my heart as I prayed over these notes, remember Paul's words to Timothy. Preach the word, the instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

For the time will come when they will not, people will not endure sound doctrines. They will stop their ears just like the murderers of Stephen did as they dashed him to death with stones. Yes, they will run around getting preachers who scratched their backs.

And the cry from the pew is, scratch me where I itch, scratch me where I itch. And they will not as sound doctrine. They'll go after fables and everything else. But in the midst of that, you preach the word, the instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

And then he says, fulfill your ministry, carry it through to the end. Don't give up, don't quit. Right after that, Paul says, I have fought a good fight. I have kept the faith. I have finished my course.

Henceforth it is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me at that day. And not to me only, but unto them also who love his appearing. Steadfastness, right through, true motivation, true obligation, true, listen to this very carefully.

What would have happened if the Lord Jesus hadn't gone on?