Effective Delegation
When we delegate responsibilities,
we are to select individuals who have
both a strong relationship with God and
a high level of integrity with people.
Here's Gene:
When we look at this Principle,
we see two dimensions
right there in that Principle.
There's the strong relationship with God,
which is the vertical.
And there is a high level of integrity with people.
And that's horizontal.
And we see this, obviously,
in Nehemiah's life in this great
challenge of rebuilding these walls.
And we come at this point to delegation.
You see, the more responsibility people have,
the more important it is that they're
qualified for that responsibility.
And we see Nehemiah giving attention
to that Principle. Here in
Nehemiah chapter 7, verses 1 and 2:
When the wall had been rebuilt
and I had the doors installed,
the gatekeepers, singers,
and Levites were appointed. ...
But then notice we're going to
a much higher level of responsibility.
You have the gatekeepers.
Well that's important.
You have the singers. That's important.
You have the Levites.
That certainly is very important.
But when you have leadership at the higher level,
you really have to give attention to qualifications.
And so we read about that:
...Then I put my brother Hanani
in charge of Jerusalem...
Whoa. That's huge.
Now he knew his brother was a man of integrity.
Remember his brother was one of the
men who brought the report that the
walls had been broken down.
And that's what caused Nehemiah
to begin to really pray and agonize to
be able do something about rebuilding those walls.
Obviously, Hanani was a man of integrity--
a man who really trusted God.
But notice, we also read this:
...[Not only did he put] Hanani in charge of Jerusalem,
along with Hananiah, commander of the fortress...
Now here we're getting into military activity,
which is indeed very important as well.
And why did he appoint him to this position?
Well Nehemiah tells us:
...because he was a faithful man
who feared God more than most. ...
He was a faithful man who
feared God more than most.
In other words, he stood out above others
that Nehemiah knew that may have been
able to be appointed to that position.
You know, when I was thinking about this,
my mind went back.
I wonder if Nehemiah really was
thinking at this point of the challenge
that Moses faced when he came to Mount Sinai.
Leading 2 million plus people out of Egypt.
And he was trying to be judge.
He was trying to be the one
who was counseling them.
He was trying to resolve all their issues.
The fact of the matter is there at Mount Sinai,
at 2 million plus people,
that's the size of the city of Dallas.
They had no laws to govern their activities.
They'd come out of all the carnality of Egypt.
They had been worshiping false gods.
Here's Moses out here trying to deal
with all these issues, all these problems.
People were lining up, and he was trying
to solve every problem.
He was trying to solve problems of neighbors
who were stealing from their neighbors.
He was trying to deal with problems of
immorality because that's what
they knew in Egypt.
So his father-in-law Jethro,
who was a pagan at the time,
saw what was happening.
He said: Moses, you're going to
die of a heart attack.
You need to get others to help you.
And Moses took it to the Lord.
God approved it.
Jethro, in the process, I think became
a believer. But notice what Jethro said.
Here's his advice:
But you should select from all the
people able men...
Yes, able men, qualified, skilled, but:
...God-fearing, trustworthy, and hating bribes. ...
Think about that.
People who are able men, God-fearing,
trustworthy, hating bribes.
No money under the table. Which would
be a tremendous temptation out there
in the wilderness in view of what
they saw going on in Egypt.
You know, I'll give attention
to your problem, you know.
Boy, that's a cultural thing you see
all over the world.
But notice Jethro said:
...Place them over the people as
commanders of thousands, hundreds,
fifties, and tens.
And so consequently, God blessed that.
And it's a great model.
And here is Nehemiah practicing the
same basic model in terms of the
appointment of leadership.
Particularly at high levels.
And I thought about the apostles
because the apostles, when the church
was born there in Jerusalem, faced a
very similar situation.
Because the widows were being
neglected in the daily distribution of food.
These were the Grecian widows that
had come from all over the Roman world
for the great celebration--
the 50-day celebration.
Where Jews came to worship in the temple.
And the God-fearing Grecian widows
who came ran out of money first.
And when the Holy Spirit came
and the church was born, they'd decided to stay.
There was plenty of money for the
Hebrew widows who became believers.
They had family that lived there.
But what about those Grecian widows
from all over the Roman world?
And it was a real problem.
And notice what happened in
Acts chapter 6, verse 2:
Then the Twelve summoned the whole
company of the disciples and said,
"It would not be right for us to give up
preaching about God to handle financial matters. ...
And there basically, more literally I think,
a better translation is "hand-waiting tables."
You know, serving these widows.
Taking care of meeting their physical needs.
And so they said:
...Therefore, brothers, select from among you
seven men of good reputation,
full of the Spirit and wisdom,
whom we can appoint to this duty.
And again, we see a similar model
in relationship to the appointment
of qualified people.
The interesting thing is here,
this is not rebuilding the walls
or being governor of Jerusalem.
This is waiting tables and taking care of
the widows to make sure that they were cared for.
A great model of all levels in terms of
why we need qualified individuals to help us.
Which leads to a Reflection
and Response question:
What are some of the specific ways
problems are compounded when
we assign men and women to significant
leadership roles who are not spiritually qualified?
Well I'm sure we can think of
a lot of things that happen.
One thing that happens,
if people don't have a good reputation,
if leaders don't have a good reputation,
people are not going to trust their decisions.
And that's a downward spiral right there.
If people don't trust you
because they don't trust your decisions.
Because of your reputation. I mean,
it can only go one way.
And that's down.
Another thing, if they're not wise--
if people are not wise in their decisions
and judgments, then they'll make bad decisions.
And that compounds the problem.
Now we all make mistakes
when it comes to decisions.
I remember a man said to me one time.
He said: Gene, you're always going
to make mistakes.
But try the very best to keep it minimal.
Try really hard to make sure
you don't make big mistakes.
You're going to make mistakes.
But really work at making good decisions
because that builds trust.
Also if people are in positions of leadership
and they're not living according to the Holy Spirit.
If they're not walking with the Lord,
then they're going to make decisions
that are what? Self-serving.
They're going to make decisions for
their own good.
What they can get out of it.
And you know what happens
when that takes place?
Again, trust deteriorates
because people can see through
self-serving people. Manipulative people.
And that happens when people
aren't qualified. Because people who love God,
and love Jesus, and who really want
to serve Jesus, are going to
make decisions for only one major
purpose when they're leading others.
And that's to help the people, not themselves.
And I've worked with men
over the years in eldership.
And that's one of the things I've seen in their lives.
And we take the qualities very seriously.
Their decisions are made,
not for their position or their power,
but for the people.
That's good leadership.
And that's what God wants to happen.
The result if we don't make good decisions.
If we take advantage of people.
If we're self-serving. What happens?
It leads to disunity every time.
Lack of trust, breakdown of communication,
and disunity, following the metaphor,
leads to a fractured body--the church.
And when I think of that,
I see a body that's bruised.
I see broken limbs.
I see infections.
I see all kinds of problems that happen
to that body.
And you can take that metaphor and say
that's what happens in the church.
So here's the Principle from Nehemiah:
When we delegate responsibilities,
we are to select individuals who have
both a strong relationship with God and
a high level of integrity with people.