Leadership in Lockdown

In R.Kent Hughes excellent commentary on Genesis, he tells the story of Robert Dick Wilson one of the great professors of Princeton Theological Seminary.  One of Professor Wilson's students came back to Miller Chapel to preach 12 years after graduating.  The old professor, having listened intently to his former student, came forward after the service and held his hand out:

"If you come back again, I will not come to hear you preach.  I only come once.  I am glad to see that you are a big-godder.  When my boys come back, I come to see if they are big-godders or little godders, and then I know what their ministry will be."  His former student asked him to explain, and he replied, " Well, some men have a little god, and they are always in trouble with him.  He can't do any miracles.  He can't take care of the inspiration and transmission of the Scripture to us.  He doesn't intervene on behalf of his people.  They have a little god and I call them little-godders.  Then, there are those who have a great God.  He speaks and it is done. He commands and it stands fast.  He knows how to show himself strong on behalf of them that fear him.  You have a  great God; and he will bless your ministry." He paused a moment, smiled, said, "God bless you," and turned and walked out.

The last year has tested the best of us. Who hasn't struggled for energy and wisdom during lockdown? Recently I heard of a death every day for a week of people close to me. Social media has become a place of fear, discouragement and the home of every conspiracy theory imaginable. As Michael Reeves says in his new book 'Rejoice and Tremble': 'With society having lost God as the proper object of healthy fear, our culture is necessarily becoming ever more neurotic, ever more anxious about the unknown - indeed more anxious about anything and everything...In ousting God from our culture, other concerns - from personal health to the health of the planet - have assumed a divine ultimacy in our minds. Good things have become cruel and pitiless idols. And thus we feel helplessly fragile. No longer anchored, society fills with free-floating anxieties.'

So how do we respond?  Some Christian leaders seem paralysed by inertia.  It is largely business as usual.  There is no special call to prayer, there is no special love for the people in their care, they can't reach out because they seem immune to people's pain.  There is little empathy, little love and little connection.  Others have risen to the challenge.  They have found new and creative ways to express pastoral care and love.  Many people have rediscovered letter writing and many of us have found the power of a well timed text or email.   Thankfully the gospel is not in lockdown and genuine love will always find a way to express itself.  God's word has been heard and downloaded more over the last year than ever before.  Rather than the gospel being preached to dozens we are seeing millions being reached through online services and new and innovative ways of evangelism. God is at work in surprising and amazing ways.  We all hate lockdown but leadership needs to adapt in such unprecedented times. 

One of the great examples of leadership in very tough times is Joseph in the book of Genesis.  Despite being his fathers favourite son, Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and sold in to slavery in Egypt.  Little did Joseph know that this would be the start of 13 years of setbacks and discouragements.  But God was preparing Joseph for greatness.  The route to the palace was through the prison.  Joseph didn't rail against his enforced lockdown, he didn't seek to appeal against his false accusation, he accepted that God was at work and as we see in Genesis 41-50 Joseph was just as faithful in times of prosperity and power as he was in poverty and prison.

In Genesis 41 we read that Joseph is finally exalted. In this remarkable chapter we see Joseph plucked from prison and finds himself shaved and perfumed and thrust before Pharaoh to interpret his strange dreams. We see this solitary Hebrew man standing before this Egyptian deity at the zenith of his power. How does he respond? How does he show leadership in a strange and pagan land? Does he appeal to the law? Does he complain about how badly he has been treated and appeal for better human rights? No, he points to the greatness of God regardless of the consequences. Joseph gives us an example of great leadership in a pagan country during testing times. What lessons can we learn?

1. He was foundationally God-centred.

Pharaoh flatters Joseph in chapter 41 v 15 as the great interpreter of dreams.  He is dangling greatness and power in front of a powerless slave.  Who wouldn't take the bait?  Joseph responds with one word.  In our translation it reads 'I am not able to' but in the Hebrew it is one word 'not I'.  Literally it means that 'the answer lies outside of me'.  Joseph is saying 'I can't interpret your dream but the true and living God can'. The stakes are very high.  One wrong word and Joseph's head will be separated from his torso.  Who wouldn't have buckled before such raw power?  

As he stands before this Egyptian deity, Joseph points to ha Elohim - the God.  Through one word of explosive self deprecation Joseph confesses the true and living God at the epicentre of pagan power.  The arrogant, self assured teenager was gone and a more mature, deeper Joseph stands before the most powerful man on earth without fear.  Thirteen years of suffering had made him God centred instead of self centred.  As Hughes says 'Through Joseph, God was advertising and asserting himself in Egypt.'  Christians so often think they need power to exert power and influence.  What we need is trust in a great God.

2. He was fearlessly honest. 

Joseph could have softened his answer to Pharaoh but he didn't.  The prospect of power and favour didn't change Joseph.  He was the same with his fellow prisoners as he was with the most powerful leader in the world.   As Hughes says 'Joseph had not changed one whit in his trip from the pit to the palace.  This thirteen years of preparation were now paying huge dividends.'  Through setbacks and disappointments Joseph had learned a steeliness and fearless honesty all too rare in most leaders.  Most seek position and comfort but not Joseph.  He was like Daniels three friends about to be thrown in to the fiery furnace in Daniel 3 v 16-18.  The true Christian leader does the right thing and leaves the consequences to God.  

But honesty also involves vulnerability.  One of the best things I have heard in recent months was from Jonathan Lamb at Crieff who said; 'the opposite of fear is not courage, but trust'.  Many of us wake up on Monday mornings (or for preachers Sunday) and we don't feel very brave.  We often feel empty and weak.  But so often this is when God will do great things.  God emptied Joseph of himself so he could fill him with the Holy Spirit.  Isn't this what we see time and time again?  In Geneses 39 v 21 - 23 we read that 'the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him.'  Its not talent and bravery we need during a national pandemic but more trust in the living God.  This is what will give us fearless honesty. 

3.  He learned to listen

When we go back to Genesis 37 we read about Joseph telling his brothers about his dreams.  There is no mention of God and we read the word 'me' and 'I' over and over again.  The great sign of immaturity is that we talk a lot about ourselves.  Our opinions are all that matter.  This is seen on social media, the most frequent contributors are often the most immature.  Everything is simple and black and white.  People post without thinking, without praying, without considering.  

As we grow and mature and go through adversity we see that life is painful, complex and often there are no easy answers.  We learn to listen more and talk less.  This is what Joseph had learned.  He lets Pharaoh speak.  He doesn't interrupt him. Pharaoh pours out his dreams from verses 17-24 of chapter 41.  Great leaders are great listeners.  They take an interest in what their team or their congregation think.  They take advice easily, they are easily entreated.  They are constantly learning and reflecting, they are enthusiastic learners.  They read widely but discerningly, they like to have their thinking challenged.  Great leaders are nearly always team players and good delegators.  They hold power lightly because it is a gift from God.

4. He was given Godly understanding 

True wisdom comes from the fear of the Lord.  It was because Joseph truly feared the Lord that he had no fear of Pharaoh and was able to interpret his dreams.  The fear of God is not a popular subject today even in Christian circles.  The Puritan William Bates said 'there is nothing more fearful than an ingenious love, and nothing more loving than a filial fear.' It is only as we fear God in a fatherly way that we are given understanding of things often hidden to the world.  Joseph's interpretation of the Pharaoh's dream was devastatingly simple but it was kept from the magicians and revealed to Joseph.  This is what we see in great leaders. God gives them supernatural understanding not because they are gifted or talented but because they are dependent on God.  They are men and women saturated in the word, humble, prayerful and filled with a spirit of worship.  We are to call out to insight and lift our voice to understanding, to seek for it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure (Proverbs 2 v 3,4).

5. He was given confidence and wise advice

Isn't it amazing after Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dream that this pagan deity recognises the spirit of God in Joseph (Genesis 41 v 38)?  Isn't that an encouragement for those of us who lead in secular environments to stand tall for God?  People may not like our Christianity but they see us as people with integrity and wisdom.

Pharaoh now turns to Joseph for wise advice.  Joseph shows one of the great traits of a great leader and encourages Pharaoh to make some very tough decisions.  One of these is to put taxes up by 20% over the next 7 years of abundance.  His other pieces of advice were to appoint a national overseer, appoint regional governors and build more storage facilities to store food in the years of plenty.  What an amazing business plan!  Save up while you can so that when famine and recession come you will have enough to feed society.  Leaders often come up with the most incredible responses to situations of crisis.  People wonder where they get their wisdom from.  How can they come up with solutions so quickly?  As Daniel would say many years later '...the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits' (Daniel 11 v 32).  Joseph was a type of Christ who was prepared and sent to bring redemption to a starving people.  Joseph was a forerunner of the great bread of life who would come in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

We are in a new and uncertain landscape. It needs a new kind of leadership. Not the leadership of grievance and conspiracy, but the joy filled leadership that points to a great-God who is always working even in the midst of setbacks and disappointments. Most of all Joseph reminds us that God keeps his promises as we see all of Egypt bowing down to him in Genesis 41 v 43. They cried out with the word 'abreka' which means 'kneel'. Genesis 37 is fulfilled in Genesis 41 and again in Genesis 42 as his brothers kneel before him.

God is able to bring great good out of immense evil and suffering.  Joseph points us to the greater Joseph who died on a cross and accomplished the most incredible act of redemption the world has ever seen.  He too brought great good out of evil and could say with Joseph 'But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.' (Genesis 50 v 20).  

Joseph remained humble because he believed in a big God.  When God called him to lead in extraordinary times he was ready.  He remained God focussed, humble, prayerful and free from bitterness.  We see this in the names of his children: Manasseh (God has made me forget my hardship) and Ephraim (God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction).  God is calling us to lead in extraordinary times.  Leadership in lockdown has been and is very tough.  We need other leaders around us, supporting us and praying with us.  We need to be 'big-godders' like Joseph.  Lets remian faithful in tough times and rather than trying to be brave, lets trust in the God of Joseph who is doing all things well.  

For further study I have particularly enjoyed David C Searle's 'Joseph - His Arms Were Made Strong' by the Banner of Truth.  Also David Kingdon's Mysterious Ways is very helpful.  Joel Beeke's sermon series is invaluable as is Sinclair Fergusons sermons.