The Fruits of Leadership

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Matthew 7:16-20

There is a ton of confusion about Biblical patriarchy nowadays. And, unfortunately, a lot of it tends to come from men who are trying to be Biblical patriarchs! Or think they are, anyway. But they seem clueless about what leadership is, and how to go about it.

If you’re Complaining, you’re not Leading

Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches

II Corinthians 11:23-28

A Godly leader doesn’t complain. Not never, I wouldn’t say that. But it isn’t what they are known for. When I see these men sitting on their couch wondering why their wife hasn’t brought them a sandwich, or sitting playing their video games, I am very tempted to ask them… have you read about any Bible characters?

And when they get on Facebook and complain about how their wife isn’t bringing them a sandwich or their children are whiners, I want to beat them about the head. Have you read your Scriptures at all??

The Scriptures literally say, frequently, that the road to Godliness leads through trials… but you sit there complaining?

If you’re Lazy, you’re not Leading

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

Genesis 22:3

There’s a pretty common phrase in Scripture, “Early in the morning”. Some man of God is given a task, or takes a task upon themselves, and they get up… early in the morning.

If you aren’t finding your leadership working ask yourself… how early are you getting up? Not just literally. You get home from work, and your house is a mess. The easy thing to do is to scrape away a few piles of clothes and toys from the couch, get out your phone, and start reading Substack or playing games. You know what’s hard? Finding out why the house is a mess and doing something about it.

You want patriarchy? You want male headship?? I’m not talking merely some mollycoddle ‘Oh, my wife is tired, I’m going to help clean.” No, I’m talking about doing what a leader does and finding out… why the house is filthy.

Are your children so poorly trained that they make the mess but don’t clean it up? Are they so disobedient that they refused to clean it up? Are they so lazy or slow that what you see is what it looks like when they work all day at cleaning it up?

You want patriarchy? Now do the same analysis for your wife. Has she been spending all day on her phone? Does she have no clue how to train her children? Does she think it is her job to do all of the cleaning?

Guess what… in all of those cases it isn’t your job to sit there and complain about the wife you chose, or the children God gave you… but to get off your sofa and start… leading. Finding a problem, determining the source, and fixing it.

If you’re Wandering, you’re not Leading

But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.

Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

Matthew 15:13-14

They say if you don’t know where you’re going any road will get you there. It’s a lie. If you don’t know where you’re going, no road will get you there, because there is no there there. Everyone likes to make fun of companies when they spend all this money and time and effort working on their ‘mission statement’. But that’s because it is mostly just some politically correct sound bite.

When, on the other hand, the general in charge of an operation hands out a mission statement, no one is laughing. “We need to take Hill 406 to eliminate the ability of the enemies artillery to interdict our movement (a military term meaning kill us as we try to move) down highway seven…” There is nothing funny in that. There is nothing funny in the dead soldiers that will result because some luitenant failed to read his map and took Hill 405 instead of 406.

As Christians we have lots of mission statements. Broad ones, and specific ones. As husband’s, fathers, and patriarchs we are also given both broad and specific goals. We need to learn those goals, memorise those goals, communicate those goals, and implement those goals.

If it isn’t Working, you’re not Leading

A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;

One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;

(For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)

I Timothy 3:2-5

Scripture clearly teaches something that everyone hates. Scripture clearly teaches that if you are leading right, you will get results. And if you aren’t getting results, you aren’t leading right. That the way to tell that you are leading right, is by the results you get. So if you’re sitting there complaining about your messed up family… you’re complaining about yourself.

Conclusion

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

II Peter 1:4-9

The problem with most patriarch nowadays isn’t that men are being too patriarchal… it is that they are not being patriarchal enough. They treat patriarchy as if it were something that just happened, instead of a life goal that needs to be a focus of attention and effort every day, indeed every minute of every day.

Patriarchy cannot be accomplished by sitting on your couch, calling for a sandwhich, and posting dank memes. It takes hard work. Hard theological work and hard practical work. Daily work. Work when you get up, work when you get home, work when you go to bed.

Hard work.

Thank you for reading Von’s Substack. I would love it if you commented! I love hearing from readers, especially critical comments. I would love to start more letter exchanges, so if there’s a subject you’re interested in, get writing and tag me!

Being ‘restacked’ and mentioned in ‘notes’ is very important for lesser-known stacks so… feel free! I’m semi-retired and write as a ministry (and for fun) so you don’t need to feel guilty you aren’t paying for anything, but if you enjoy my writing (even if you dramatically disagree with it), then restack, please! Or mention me in one of your own posts.

If I don’t write you back it is almost certain that I didn’t see it, so please feel free to comment and link to your post. Or if you just think I would be interested in your post!

If you get lost, check out my ‘Table of Contents’ which I try to keep up to date.

Von also writes as ‘Arthur Yeomans’. Under that name he writes children’s, YA, and adult fiction from a Christian perspective. His books are published by Wise Path Books and include the children’s/YA books:

The Bobtails meet the Preacher’s Kid

The Bobtails and the Cousins

The Bobtails go to France

and

No Ordinary School

As well as GK Chesterton’s wonderful book, “What’s Wrong with the World”, for which ‘Arthur’ wrote most of the annotations.

Arthur also has a substack, and a website.

Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,

Von

Links