the leader as teacher…
NOTE: I have returned from my trip. However, with the recent Fourth of July holiday, I have one more devotional from a distinguished leader in the Foursquare denomination to share with you. My “pen” will return on July 19… and you might (rightfully) prefer their reflections to mine!
This week’s devotional comes from the pen of Pastor Jeff Roper. Jeff is the Foursquare Global Area Director, resourcing global workers in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia. If that didn’t keep him busy enough, he is working on his Ph.D. and recently completed his first book, Following Wisdom, Leading Wisely: Proverbs as Ancient Wisdom for Today's Leader.
When God called Moses to lead the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, Moses pleaded, “My Lord, I’ve never been able to speak well, not yesterday, not the day before, and certainly not now since you’ve been talking to your servant. I have a slow mouth and a thick tongue” (Exod 4:10, CEB). I suppose forty years of tending sheep in an isolated desert doesn’t do much for building your vocabulary or cultivating eloquence. Moses entered his calling with a profound sense of unworthiness due to his inarticulate speech, yet when he reached the end of his leadership, we see a different man. Moses knows his time as leader is ending. He appointed Joshua as his successor. It would be Joshua, not Moses, who would lead the people across the Jordan into the Promised Land. Moses had achieved everything he was destined to achieve. There would be no more battles to fight or miracles to perform and no more prayers to offer.
Then we witness one of the great moments of personal transformation. It is what Moses did next that bears the mark of greatness: Moses, the liberator, miracle worker, and lawgiver, becomes “Moses, our teacher.” For the final month of his life, Moses stood before the people and delivered the series of addresses we know as the book of Deuteronomy. The Hebrew title is Devarim, literally “words.” He meticulously retraced the people’s past and foresaw their future. He taught the people to see themselves as those on whom God had set his love, a chosen people consecrated by the very hand of God. He taught them that their existence bore witness to a transcendent purpose, they testify to something beyond themselves. A glimpse into his prayer, encapsulated in Deuteronomy 32:1–2, reveals his yearning:
Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb. For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God!
Moses the tongue-tied is now Moses the teacher. This transformative event reshapes our understanding of leadership itself. Moses demonstrates that the highest form of leadership takes place when the leader becomes a teacher, when the leader realizes that true greatness is not in what they do, but rather in what they help others do. Moses knew that his greatest achievements would not last forever. The people he had rescued would one day suffer exile and persecution again. The next time, though, they would not have a Moses to do miracles. However, through his words, he planted a strength in their souls that would sustain and renew them like rain renews the tender grass.
When leaders become teachers, they wield the power to change lives, for “the teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death” (Prov 13:14). Teachers are the architects of the future, and if you want to make lasting change, you too must do like Moses and become a teacher. The leader as teacher uses influence, not power, spiritual and intellectual authority, rather than coercive force, to empower others and shape the future. This is the ultimate power of wise leaders, and it is a power conveyed through words.
Is there any greater accolade than hearing someone say, “You taught me”? To hear one say, “I learned the ways of God from you,” or “Your life taught me how to live.” This is higher praise than any award or monument can bestow. Teaching may include preaching, lectures, and lessons, but it is far more than these. It includes mentoring, coaching, instructing, and guiding; these pursuits shape the heart and mind. For the leader who has walked the path of wisdom and embodied the righteous character of the wise, their entire life becomes a university. The sage becomes the classroom, the textbook, and the living example of wisdom encased in a human life. This is the highest form of teaching, for while we teach what we know, we reproduce what we are.
Adapted from Jeff’s new book, Following Wisdom, Leading Wisely: Proverbs as Ancient Wisdom for Today’s Leader(Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock, 2024). Available wherever you buy your books.
