I am so glad to welcome you this week's edition of Leaderview. I hope your week has been great? We bless God it is Wednesday. It is an opportunity for us to learn more about leadership, for us to think leadership and to grow to become better leaders. Today, we are looking at something very important in the leadership trip to Genesis. We are considering, as the Lord helps us, The Fruit of Leadership. There is something about leadership that we want to understand today and we want to become much more conscious of. For many of us, this is not a new thing. But for a lot of us, it is going to be a form of reminder and a way of reawakening us to the reality of what goes on, perhaps within or sometimes, around is.
So, let us quickly go to the book of Genesis chapter 30. We are going to briefly examine something from the life of Jacob about leadership. We want to see the fruit of his leadership. In Genesis 30, the Bible shows us how Jacob had been with his father in law, Laban for years. I am sure you remember that we mention the fact that at the beginning of their relationship, Jacob decided to serve his father in law so that he would be rewarded with a woman, a lady called Rachael. But haven completed the service for the first seven years, he was given the elder sister called Leah. And so, haven gotten married to Leah, and realizing that that was not his original desire and goal, he decided to serve another seven years for Rachael, the woman that he so much loves.
Listen to Podcast: THE FRUIT OF LEADERSHIP: DISCOVER THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE TO YOUR GROWTH
Now, he has served fourteen years for the two ladies, and they became eventually, his wives. Now, there is something I want to read in the first two verses of Genesis 30, to build a background in our hearts, as a kind of follow up from where we stopped. Genesis 30:1-2, the Bible says:
"Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I die!” 2 And Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?"
So, it was supposed that as soon as they got married, as soon as Rachael became the wife of Jacob, she was expected to bear fruit, and that fruit was called the fruit of the womb. Now today, our consideration is not on the fruit of the womb, but on the fruit of leadership. One of the things that we must note is that Rachael observed that Leah, the elder sister had given birth to children, while she has not. She saw that God had not given her the opportunity to have children yet while the second wife had already. And so, the Bible says she became envious, and in that envy; she went to her husband to demand for children. she said to him…"Give me children or I die…" That actually shows that in the core of Rachael is a strong desire to have children for Jacob.
She felt the meaning of her life would have been enhanced by her fruitfulness. In fact, it was so strong that it was only by bearing children that she could become fulfilled in life. And so, if she cannot bear children, she is as good as dead. Now the husband was so angry and he said to her…"Am I in the place of God who has withheld you from giving birth?" I am sure you understand the story. What could make a man who was in love to get to that point of uttering such a line to her wife? Could it have been that Rachael got things wrong? Could have been that she had a wrong attitude or she was wrongly focused? Was she targeting the right question to the wrong person? These are questions that I want us to meditate on today. Now, children competition actually began from there. Because she couldn't have a child herself, she gave her maid to her husband, thinking if her maid can give birth for her husband, she is as good as the one doing it.
And so, it became a competition. Then, the maid started having children. The other wife also gave her husband one of her maids, and so they started producing children. If all that was expected of them was to bear children, then they could have been said to be fulfilled by the reason of the reproduction of children. But what I want us to note today is actually about Jacob, but we are going to look at him with the goggle of fruitfulness, which the wives demonstrated. Now, Jacob existed in the generation of his own wives, when the wives felt they will become fulfilled only when they have children, you should understand that the fulfillment of Jacob was also tied to his own fruitfulness. But was it fruitfulness of his own womb, which he does not have. It is not! It is the fruitfulness of his leadership.
Now, I am sure you understand that among other things, leadership is about service. It is about you serving your generation, serving a team, serving your people, serving your family, with your capacity, your life, your giftedness, with your talent and resources as well. It is about you making yourself available as an offering of help and of service as well. So, if a man offers himself up to be useful, then he is in a way of making himself available for leadership. I am sure you know, that each time politicians come out to campaign, they usually say they want to offer themselves for service. However, when they are given the opportunity, they become leaders.
So, Jacob became a leader simply by service offering. He offered himself up for service and he did it with the hope of being rewarded with a woman. Now, later on, he discovered that his leadership went beyond having a wife or having wives, he discovered that his leadership got to the point of having children and increasing in resources, and net worth and value. Now, if I may want to conclude that point with the last verse of that chapter 30 of the book of Genesis that we read. The Bible says from verse 42, that Jacob did something that became productive at a rate that was alarming. Genesis 30:42, the Bible says:
"But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s. 43 Thus the man became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys."
The question is: Did he arrive at the house of Laban with these things? No! In fact, he didn't get to Laban's house with children, neither did he arrive with wives. It was when he got there, and became a servant leader that he began to grow and increase. Now let us see something that happened before then. There was a conversation that took place between Laban and Jacob in verse 27. But let us read from verse 25 so that we would get things very clearly.
25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my country. 26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you.”
Another way we can put it is you know my leadership impact and contribution. Let us go to verse 27.
27 And Laban said to him, “Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake.” 28 Then he said, “Name me your wages, and I will give it.” 29 So Jacob said to him, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock has been with me. 30 For what you had before I came was little, and it has increased to a great amount; the Lord has blessed you since my coming. And now, when shall I also provide for my own house?”
That question is a leadership question and I believe you understand. And he was very clear about the changes that has taken place since he came. You were little when I came but now the Lord has increased you. My leadership has brought increase in your affairs, your business and your organization. My contribution has increased the net worth of this organization, now when will I begin to provide for my own house? so, you understand from the conclusion that we saw in verse 43, the Bible says he became a prosperous man. He had large flocks, female and male servants, camels and donkeys.
Your leadership is not expected to remain at the same spot. And don't forget, you don't become a leader simply because men gives you title. The moment you offer yourself up for service, to an organization, to a team, to your family or to your generation, or to a nation, you become a leader! Your leadership is tied to your service and that service is expected to bear fruits. As a woman feels a form of frustration for her childlessness, that is how a serving leader in a way becomes frustrated for his fruitlessness and his inability to grow. Effective leaders delights in growth. They are not comfortable remaining on the same spot for a while. They want to shift forward, they want to increase. They want to enlarge the tents of their responsibilities and authorities and accountability as well.
The Bible says Jacob increased, he had large flocks, large female and male servants, large camels and donkeys as well. That tells you that he increased in everything that he had. How was he able to increase? What produced the increase? However, for you to ever increase, there is something you must never do. You must never become envious of the persons that are growing around you. Now when Rachael was barren as it were, Leah was bearing children and she became envious. One thing we did not see with Jacob is that Jacob did not become envious of Laban. No! He committed himself to the service. In fact, he so much served without envy that Laban observed that the Lord has blessed him because of Jacob. Would it be said that the Lord has blessed the people you are working with or serving because of you?
Or would it be obvious that you are an envious woman or an envious man? Envy is an obstacle to growth. So, if your leadership must bear fruit, you must stop becoming envious. It is not good. In fact, envy is not one of the fruit of the Spirit of God. A man who is envious would be bitter. And a man who is bitter would love to pull down others to rise up. Leadership growth is not about you pulling down others, it is about you rising with others. It is about you helping others and helping more people. It is about more, more responsibility, more fruitfulness, more authority, more accountability.
I pray that God who has given us the opportunity to learn together about the fruit of leadership today is going to bless us and help us, and He is going to ensure that our leadership is actually a fruitful one. Thank you for the gift of your time and my name is Gboyega Adedeji. You have been watching Leaderview, and perhaps you have been listening to the podcast as well, this is leaderview. It is a great moment and it is great time. I believe you have been blessed. If you have any question, feel free to share them with me, or if you have anything at all whatsoever, perhaps a contribution or a comment, feel free to share it with us and let us learn from you.
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