How do you know who is the right leader? People use various criteria in answering that question. Desire, education, past success, and interpersonal skills often head the list. These are important, but they are not the things that are mentioned in our text. Paul begins the letter by saying that he was made an apostle of Jesus Christ by the command of God. He continues in this vein by saying that his leadership is empowered by the strength of God and certified by the appointment of God.

A biblical mark of a leader is integrity. They really practice what they preach. Paul said to the Philippians, whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put into practice (Philippians 4:9). Paul put his life example on the line. He was not perfect, but he was living the life that he taught. Integrity means that you are one person. Your loyalties and motivation are not split between two opposing things (that would be duplicity). Integrity develops trust. No one follows a leader he cannot trust.

When God places a leader in a place of influence, it is not just the sense of call in the heart or the initial feeling that God gives. God continues to empower that person for the task of leadership he is in. God leads through the leader just as God ministers through the gifts he gives every Christian. Leaders are not set apart by God and then left to themselves. The Holy Spirit continues to empower and thus the Holy Spirit is the one leading through the individuals.

What happens when leaders are not empowered by the Holy Spirit? If you are using all your gifts and resources, doing everything you can with your talented and creative self and still you are frustrated, joyless and ineffective, then there is a good chance you are leading in your own strength and not the Lord’s. It is time to turn it over to Jesus. Time to take a breath and pray. It is time to get hooked up again with the source of power and wait for God. If you don’t have the strength you think you need, it is time to tell Jesus about it.

Followers need to follow. Too many people think their job is to watch others do all the work and to offer helpful criticism. Leaders are supposed to delegate, but when people refuse to help, the leaders become doers. Then ministry shrinks because one person can never accomplish what a team can do. God provides the leader’s strength and sometimes it is in the form of others who come along side to join in the ministry.

Paul goes on thanking the Lord who considered me faithful, appointing me to his service (v 12). Paul was schooled by the best of teachers in the Bible. He was zealous for God. He was from the best of families. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, after all. But all those credentials did not stop him from opposing God before he was converted. He was a blasphemer and a violent man. He calls himself the worst of sinners. How could God use a man like that? Some people will not follow a man who has a wicked past. Could such a man be the right leader?

Because of Paul’s past, God’s mercy is more clearly shown. Others who have had wicked pasts can take heart. God really converts and forgives. If God can change the great persecutor of the church into his apostle, can he not also use you for his purposes? Having a wicked past does not prevent someone from leadership in the church. Having a wicked present does. Leaders in the church are not ordained until some demonstration of the genuineness of their call is seen.

This passage tells the leaders how to lead: in the strength and appointment of God. That’s what the right leaders do. They are in submission to those in authority over them. They are humble and teachable in heart. They lead from the Word of God and not the latest gimmick or fad.

By implication, it tells everyone else whom they should follow and how they should follow. You have vowed to give encouragement, support, assistance and obedience to your leaders. These requirements are not given to annoy you. That are given so that we might flourish here and God would be glorified through the making and nurturing of disciples of Jesus Christ.