Conclusion of Followership...


I'm coming down to an important  realization for 
which groundwork has been laid. That is to not 
follow God, does not remove him from his position 
as leader. Satan found out what it was to test 
the authoritative position of God. If a student 
were to not obey their teacher or professor in 
college, that does not remove them from being 
their teacher or professor. It will just get them 
an "F."  It does not remove either of them from 
their positions as leader and follower. The 
student will have to take it again next year, and 
they will take it until they say "yes" when the 
answer is "yes", no matter what they believe it is.

There are three simple ways to find out if you 
are a leader or a follower in life. You'll need 
to survey each area of your life and ask yourself 
"Am I a leader here or a follower here?" But God 
has provided a way to make that determination.

1. God's specific written word. God's Word 
plainly speaks to many areas of life and tells us 
if we are a leader or a follower. If God's Word 
is already predetermined and has given His Word 
on a matter or category, then we fit in that 
category. The Bible instructs children to obey 
their parents.  Parents then are leaders and 
children are followers. There is no use praying 
to try to move God to change those positions. 
There are no reasons to think there are 
special  exemptions why that does not apply to us 
in any case. If you are a child, you are a 
follower in that child -parent relationship.  If 
you're a parent you are a leader in that 
child-parent relationship. If you are a leader 
you are responsible to lead, if you are a 
follower you are responsible for following. Very 
simply, if God already tells your position in his 
Word, then you know what to do. If God does not 
say it in very plain language such as 
parent-child for example, there is still…

2. Biblical examples. God's Word shows clear 
Biblical  examples, patterns and principles that 
show a predetermination how leaders and followers 
should flow. He said in Romans 13 for us to obey 
those that have the rule over us. He is talking 
about policemen, kings, and governments. If an 
individual is riding down the road at fifty miles 
an hour in a fifty-five mile an hour zone, and a 
policeman puts on his red lights behind them, 
that does not give them the right  to not stop. 
If the  policeman then says they were going 
sixty-five in a fifty-five mile an hour zone, 
begins to write the ticket, and because the 
individual does not think that the policeman is 
right they begin to argue. They had better find 
submission there somewhere, because if they don't 
they are going to make things worse. They are not 
going to change the policeman's mind. They will 
have to appeal to a higher authority. If they 
continue to fuss and fight with him, they might 
end up with a larger penalty or jail time if they 
let it get out of hand. If an individual does not 
agree with those in a position of authority or 
leader, they need to submit, remain loyal, and 
talk to the leader's authority about it. If they 
complain to other people about it, it is 
disloyalty. They can go talk to the judge about 
it, then it is not disloyalty, and They are not causing problems.

3. Who works for who? one of the best ways for 
people to determine if they are a leader or a 
follower is to ask themselves… who hired me? Who 
hired who and who can fire who? If I hire an 
Associate Pastor, I am his or her boss. I can and 
would be responsible if need be to fire them. I 
hired them, so I can fire them. That is basic. In 
that situation I'm the leader and they're the 
follower. They ought to obey my instruction. 
However, if we come to a time when he/she does 
not want to do what I instruct them, they will 
need to find submission. They are welcome to 
bring all their counsel to the table, and any and 
everything to support their view. In reality, 
often they have done that and changed my mind. It 
is good to have a leader in which you can change 
his or her mind. A leader finds wisdom in 
understanding that there are others that are 
smarter, wiser, or better than he or she  in some 
areas. Leaders value that, but at the end of the 
day if the leader says to do it anyway? The 
follower needs to find submission. Once submitted 
the follower needs to enter into loyalty in 
supporting the leader by not complaining to others.

Those are simple ways of finding out if you are a 
leader or a follower. I ran into one of my dear 
friends who is one of the great youth pastor's in 
America. He finally found disagreement with the 
elders of his church and his pastor. At that 
point he realized he didn't have a youth group, 
they did. He had a mortgage, he had a car payment 
and kids to raise, but he didn't have a job. He 
didn't have a place to preach. He told me, "I 
built that youth group", I said to him "Yes, and 
you got paid for it, but you found out who it 
belonged to didn't you?"  Who's the leader? Who's 
the follower? That's really pretty simple in most 
areas of life. If a student in class or an 
employee in their office, stands up at their desk 
and tells a teacher or employer they are just not 
going to do what was instructed to them, if they 
have any doubts, they'll find out very  soon 
who's the leader and who is the follower. 
Followers are responsible to follow, to obey when 
they agree, to submit when they don't, and to be loyal at all cost.

There are areas of people's life that they are in 
a position of follower, and there are areas of 
their life which they are in a position of 
leader. Please look at the areas of your life. If 
you are a leader in an area, lead with grace and 
gentleness,  embracing the idea that others that 
you lead are wiser and smarter; more able and 
stronger  than you are in their respective areas. 
If you are a leader and not leading people that 
are more capable than you, you will need to look 
at your leadership principles. A good leader 
should lead based upon the greater strength of 
those who he leads. David did not overtake as 
many  people as  his mighty men did, because he 
understood their strengths. He embraced their 
strengths letting them lead under his authority 
of leadership, but they followed him as their 
leader. If you're a follower work on the times 
you're faced with doing something you don't agree 
with. It's easy to do the things you agree with. 
Work on loyalty and not complaining about it. If 
we follow the pattern of Satan's disagreement 
rebellion and  disobedience to God, his example 
of leader and not followership, we can see what 
it will cost, and that is not a road that we want to travel.