A God-honoring leader’s life will demonstrate integrity, not hypocrisy. Read Matthew 23:1-36.

Jesus continued to prove He was the promised Messiah by daily giving additional information to His disciples and the crowds. At the same time, He became more and more at odds with the religious leaders of the day. These leaders had established positions of power and authority and had chosen to enforce only selected portions of the laws God had given through Moses and the prophets. The Pharisees did not match their personal actions to the known scriptures of the day and, in fact, twisted them for their own personal gain.

A leader’s character is under constant scrutiny. Read Matthew 22:15-46.

Jesus’ words concerning the religious leader’s lack of character triggered their anger and they determined to embarrass Him publicly. The two most powerful religious groups, the Pharisees and Sadducees, sent representatives to ask Jesus difficult questions about Judaism, hoping to show the people that Jesus was not a prophet but a fake who should not be trusted and should, in fact, be killed for violations to the faith. These leaders tried to trap Jesus concerning payment of taxes, His beliefs concerning heaven and the resurrection of the dead, and His beliefs concerning the commandments and the laws of Moses. In their society, wrong answers to these questions could bring a death sentence.

Leaders must always be watchful that they do not put their trust in expendable commodities. Read Matthew 19:16-30.

As Jesus’ popularity grew among the Jewish people a few individuals wanted to join Him and become a disciple so they could receive more intimate teaching. Jesus had a way of helping people see the commitment that would be required to be His disciple and to help them understand their motives for seeking to be close to Him. The man described in today’s verses had money, power, a good reputation, and good intentions. He also had up-side-down priorities. He had placed a high value on wealth and had placed his trust in his ability to influence others and situations with his financial prowess. The man was broken hearted when he realized his true value system revolved around trust in his financial independence rather than trusting in the eternal perspectives Jesus was offering free of charge.

Leaders effectively communicate vision when they use terms, examples, and word pictures that their audience can understand. Read Matthew 13:1-52.

Jesus was a master teacher. In His public ministry He often had crowds with varied backgrounds; some educated, some illiterate, some leaders, some laborers, some religious, some agnostic, some who preferred to work with their hands, some who worked with their mind, some honest, and some who did not know what an honest day’s work was. In chapter 13, Jesus uses a style of communication that effectively cast a vision for the Kingdom of Heaven which created a longing in the heart of virtually everyone in the crowd. Jesus’ use of parables and word pictures did not trivialize the profound truths about heaven but captured the imagination and heart and riveted His hearers’ attention on the kingdom He proclaimed.

Leaders give their attention to what they value most. Read Matthew 6:1-7:27 focusing on 6:19-21.

In the first of Jesus’ recorded sermons, He puts a major emphasis on values. Without values any action to achieve the goal would be an acceptable action, but for Christ’s team that would not be acceptable. Jesus made His vision clear when He said they would be “…fishers of men” but in chapter 6, He established the acceptable values that would drive His team’s behavior as they accomplished that goal. Jesus’ words got His team to confront foundational core truths early in their time on His team and verses 19-21 were the focus of His lesson. He insisted that their heart’s focus, attention, and affection center on pleasing God, a heavenly focus, not on pleasing the religious leaders of the day.