Leadership Sins and the Gospel Solution

A sin is simply: the failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude or nature. So a leadership sin is when a person with the responsibility of other people fail to serve them through their selfishly motivated, rebellious, and irrational acts and attitudes. As a leader, we are all guilty of committing sins (having attitudes or actions) that fail the people we lead.

Let’s look at five ways sin can infiltrate our leadership and negatively impact our legacy and ability to lead.

• Overconfidence – is a sin by which a leader has a tendency to overpromise and develop unrealistic expectations. This creates unnecessary anxiety for people. These leaders suffer from myopia and worst of all, alienates their direct reports and peers
• Impulsiveness – is the “shiny object” sin. Leaders tempted and engaging in this sin can’t resist the titillation of a new idea or the latest fad. They want the newest and latest no matter the cost. People following this type of leader become victimized by failure and shortsightedness
• Micro-management – Do I have to explain why this is a sin?
• Insecurity – is the sin that worries about what others think. Vision doesn’t last long here when pressure mounts, leaving the people around the leader fending for themselves
• Narcissism – is a sin when there are no real relationships forming. These leaders have difficulty forging long-term relationships. Being led by this type of leader will lead to little credit or recognition because there is a narcissist hogging the praise

The Gospel, or Good News, is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Understanding how the life, death, and resurrection impacts your leadership and the activities within, will surely make all of your leadership a witness to the good news of Jesus. But here’s the real problem for Christian leaders, and in particular ministry leaders: sin is a function of actions and attitudes, but the gospel is a matter of belief. We call it “faith.” So how do we apply “belief” in our actions and attitudes?

John 6:22-40 illustrates how sometimes well-intentioned Christians go after actions and attitudes of sin without actually addressing the underlying belief behind the sin. Read the whole passage on your own, let me pick up some key verses here for us.

²⁸ Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” ²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”….

³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst….

⁴⁰ For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 6:28-29, 35, 40 (ESV)

From these select verses, observe the following: the application of belief (vv28-29); the immediate result of application (v35); the long term vision for the application (v40). Simply put: when we apply faith in the power of the gospel in our leadership, we find a vision to lead people like Jesus leads us.

Five Ways to Enable Gospel Leadership

I learned this from George Costanza from Seinfeld but it’s absolutely the key to making sure we are applying the gospel in our everyday leadership.

1. Listening effectively – Stop talking and pay attention to what others are saying
2. Having integrity – Do what you said you would do and don’t make promises you can’t or won’t keep
3. Building relationships – Stop thinking just about tasks and outcomes and start focusing on how you love on others
4. Sharing gospel perspectives – Stop thinking about immediate concerns and situations and consider the long-term implications of the gospel
5. Collaborating with others – Focus less on yourself and your inputs, and invite others into the dialog