Redeemers’ International Leadership Academy (RILA) 2018 Post Graduation Ceremony

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REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, ACTING PRESIDENT, THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, AT THE AT THE  REDEEMERS’ INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP ACADEMY (RILA) 2018 POST GRADUATION CEREMONY IN OGUN STATE, ON SATURDAY, 11^TH AUGUST, 2018

 PROTOCOLS

Let me first say that l have been teaching about transformational leadership for many years and l have during the course of that time, had admiration about various ideas of leadership. Sometimes if you want to be in leadership, especially political leadership, then there is a sense in which your interests and participation in it, will probably land you somewhere.

l tried to study the fact and influence of the gospel of Jesus Christ  from leadership and to see how the gospel of Jesus Christ  has transformed  nations and transformed communities. It has not had the same impact, so as l said, for a very long time we have been talking about visionary and transformational  leadership, especially  looking at how the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ and especially the observance of those principles in transforming communities and  nations.

First by way of these definitions, of course, you know that transformational leadership is sort of leadership that seeks to renew attitudes, change own ways of thinking and doing things. It is a leadership that seeks to transform and change things in old way to define what had been in the past, change old ways of thinking and doing things.

In our country, for example, we know that over the years, our country has been corrupted and you find that the corruption in our country is systemic and it is accepted by political leadership and to a very good extent, the religious leaders.

So corruption is something that is fundamentally destroying the nation and it is accepted and it is something that people don’t see anything wrong in it. People assume that if you are in political leadership, it is an opportunity for you to enrich yourself and family and even your church members. So it is acceptable in our society. The wrong that our country has experienced over the years is systemic and if you challenge it you are going against the system. But the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only message that claims the renewal of a person. It is the only message that says the purpose of this message is to renew.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

That is the only message that shows that a human attitude can only be transformed, the old person disappears and a new person will come

Romans 12:2 the scripture says…And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

So there is a transformation and renewing of the human mind and only the gospel of Jesus Christ that dares to say that it is possible and that indeed the mission of the gospel is to transform. To transform not just the human mind, but also communities.

The second thing of the gospel is it’s a mandate of the great commission

Matthew 18:20, Jesus said that all power is given to me in heaven and earth. 19 Go ye therefore and (teach) make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the age.

There is a clear mandate that we are supposed to disciple the nation, disciplining means training a nation, to train people.

2. The believer’s five-fold mandate. Gen 1:2

SUBDUING A NATION: A WORKING DEFINITION

According to Matthew 28: 18 – 20, you have not subdued a nation until the principles, the values and virtues of the kingdom of God have been accepted as a normal way of life in society. This is what it means to “go teach them to observe and to do all things whatsoever he has commanded us.

We have been given a clear command of what we are to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the moment we understand that, it sets a completely different standard for us, a completely  different approach and when we recognise that,  we have a fresh commission, we have to ask ourselves why. But the truth of the matter is that by and  large, communities and nations that are transformed, have been transformed on the principles of Jesus Christ. That is what has happened to communities  such as Europe and America and you will see how the Japanese and China have been transformed by this same gospel of Jesus Christ. But how does that happen?

It is the pulpit that determines the fate of the nation; every one of us is called to preach the Word, that is the mandate for all of us. What we are teaching is what determines the future of our nation, so that our nation will be transformed or remain the same.

We are equipped.  The moment we repented, the scripture says in MATT. 5.13 and 14 “You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world.”

So we are spiritually equipped when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and saviour, then we are the light which is meant to conquer the world. And also salt suggests that we don’t have to be large in other to make a difference.

The scripture also says in ROMANS 8.19 “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.”

In other words, the whole of creation is awaiting our actions as the children of God. The first point l will like to make about the gospel of Jesus Christ is that we are clearly told that the church has an authority, we have the pillar and the foundation of truth. In other words, what the church says, how the church reacts, what the church does as the church, is absolutely important.

The church has given us authority; the pillar and foundation of truth. So when the church makes a declaration, it is going to be established because we are described as the pillar of truth. If the church made wrong declarations, it means we are no longer the pillar of the truth. Many people will say the truth is bitter and it makes people uncomfortable.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is a contrarian gospel, in other words, it doesn’t agrees with our flesh. It doesn’t agree with our notion in ways to act and that is why it is a contrarian gospel and that is why the scripture refers that the foolishness of God is wiser than men. And if you look at the gospel in John 10:11, it is very clear that it is not meant to satisfy the flesh, but it is meant to challenge us. The gospel is not meant to feed our flesh

The Principles of Contrarian

Isaiah 55:9

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are my ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts.

Galatians 5:17

For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish. So there is a difference between the spirit and the flesh. They are constantly fighting each other.

On Righteousness:

When the righteous are in power, the people rejoice.

Proverbs 29:2

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;

But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.

Righteousness exalts a nation. But the moment we do not practice righteousness, we cannot see the exaltation and promotion.

2 Chronicles 7:14 says “if my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

It is to turn from their evil ways that is the problem;  it is very easy to pray and fast but the great challenge is to turn from our evil ways. We are expected to turn to righteousness and this is what we are expected to do. And if you look at what our flesh agrees with, you will find out that the core of the teaching of scriptures is what our flesh does not obviously agree with.

The scripture says in John 12:23-25, l will die so that you can live. But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.

25. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Look at that principle, how many people want to die in other to live?

The gospel of Jesus Christ is contrarian. The scripture says that greatness as far as the gospel of Jesus Christ is concerned, comes from serving. The only way to be exalted is by humbling yourself. Matthew 18:4 “Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 6:32-33

For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Luke 12:29-31

“And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.

The greatest is the servant…

Mark 10:43-45

Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Pray for your enemies, bless those who curse you…

Matthew 5:43-46

Love Your Enemies

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the ground just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

Do not revenge

Romans 12:19-20

Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

If he is thirsty, give him a drink;

For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

The gospel of Jesus Christ is contrarian, it preaches love; it is not like any other religion, and every other religion preaches revenge. It gives you parameter for revenge but because the gospel of Jesus Christ does not depend on us, it doesn’t depend on how you feel, it is the word of God in the wisdom of God and his ways are higher than your ways because that is the case. That is why it is capable of changing nations and changing the ways of man.

The reason why the gospel of Jesus Christ has worked and where it has worked is that it has been observed and it is completely contrarian, it does not agree with anyone’s flesh.  Anybody who tries to preach the gospel in a way that it agrees with our flesh is not preaching true gospel and that is why today we have millions of persons who are born again and our nation remains where it was and in some cases even worse.

I have just come back to the question of righteousness because that is fundamental. Righteousness exalts a nation, so a nation where we glorify cheating, stealing, corruption, will not be exalted unless we are called by the name of Jesus Christ and set a standard, if we are not prepared to set a standard, nothing will work.

The reason why our country is where it is today is that people made the wrong choices.

In our society, unrighteousness is systemic; it is our way of life and that is why our country is where it is today and l can assure you that it is the biggest problem our country has. Take a contract for the building of Lagos-Ibadan expressway. Lagos-Ibadan expressway has been in the works for 10 years, 120km road, something that ordinarily could have been completed.

Every year, there has been a budget and it disappears. Any road contract that you see, a road that can be N1 billion to build, when you look at the contract it is N5 billion, why? Because there is a N4 billion that the people want to share aside. Don’t ever be deceived by people that all you need is to have a Christian in office everything will not be the same.  It is a lie; let me tell you why it is a lie. I look at charge sheets, you will never fine three Moslems charged with conspiracy. You will find one Christian, one Moslem and maybe the one that says he doesn’t believe in God or two Christians and one Moslem. You will never find that it is only Moslems or even Christians just as we have honest Christians we have honest Moslems.

When people steal money, from the charge sheet, you will see equal representation of Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba and they work closely to fight, fend and pray for each other, because they work together and that is the truth of the matter. So anybody who deceives you and says that the problem we have now is because we don’t have Christians is not true because the Christians are not going by the gospels of Jesus Christ which is a contrarian gospel, it is not a gospel that agrees with our flesh. Christians are under pressure even from the church with other believers, to do what is wrong.

So unless we understand where this is all at, we understand that we must challenge ourselves as individuals, and say l will not do this every day.

People believe a political position is a way to enrich themselves and impoverish the people. Every act of corruption kills the nation.

We have been able to tackle grand corruption where the President signs and takes money out of Central Bank and shares it

By just a single signature, you can take out  $100billion, $200 billion regularly and that is what we have been able to stop. But by stopping grand corruption, we are able to save up to 60 percent of resources.

So that is why our major problem is that of corruption and the bigger problem is that it is accepted by all. People are not bothered by it, they don’t want to talk about it. How many times on our pulpit, people stand and preach about corruption, you will never hear it and that is why other nations has been transformed.

About the reasons why the gospel of Jesus Christ transformed Europe and America,

The first thing that the gospel of Jesus Christ taught is righteousness. A French philosopher called Alexis de Tocqueville asked a question, he said in 1830, he went to the United States of America and he said that he wanted to find out why this country was doing so well, why is it doing so well, he said, “when l came to the churches and heard the gospel they were preaching of the pulpit, let your yes be yes and your no be no, l knew why the country was great.”

They were preaching against bribery and corruption and against stealing. They analysed stealing in various ways and taught the people integrity, if you borrow money you must repay because the scripture says that it is the wicked that borrows and does not repay and that it is sinners that borrow and don’t repay.

They were teaching principles of integrity  so that when a Christian  says that I am a Christian, everybody knows that there are certain thing that cannot be  expected from him and they were not very many but they transformed their society. It is the same as all the counties of Europe.

In fact, you will find that when you look at what happened in England, Germany, was that they started making the first mechanical clocks, why did they make those mechanical clocks? Because they  have the hour they started working, and the hourly pay, because each person who works in the factory wants to work for a precise hour to be able to pay for a precise time because of the  mechanical clock so that they ensure that they will be able to work the right hour and pay the right time.

That is the level of acceptance and understanding of the gospel that they have. In fact, the catechism in many of the German churches, the catechism where you had all the Ten Commandments, where you had rules, clearly spelt out what you cannot do, what you must not do. And so when you look at a lot of Europeans and when you look at the integrity in many of these European countries, the reason is that generations after generations, even those who said they don’t even believe in Christ or don’t believe in God, have operated under the influence of the gospel.

Once l was in The Hague in Holland and l went on a tramp, when you go on a tramp, you are expected  to pay right but there’s  nobody  checking, no conductor,  so l asked one of my friends  who was working  at there at the time, if they don’t  have anybody checking. He said they don’t have anybody, that people will pay. They are so confident that people will just do the right thing and it is very rare for people to be dishonest, why? Because the gospel of Jesus firmly established has become cultural for them and when you distinguish, you may discover that those same people do not believe in God.

The transformation of  these countries  gave birth to many of what you saw in the industrial revolution. How? Because people were very honest and so if you lend money and they lend each other money between the believers, they gave each other money and on the pain of the debt you had to return the money, why ? Because it is a matter of integrity. You are considered a sinner, you are considered wicked if you did not return it.

I recall many years ago while in school in England, at a point, I was finding it difficult to  get my money through  the Central Bank in almost a whole term, so I told a counsellor in the university and he said why don’t you just take a loan from the bank and l didn’t have collateral but he asked if l have a bank account and l said yes. Across the counter, the lady looked at my ledger and asked me how much l needed and l said £600 and the money was given to me without any collateral and l was able to pay my fees.

But that was in 1980, by 1984, Nigerians could not open accounts or borrow money in most banks in England. Why? Because many people were using credit card buying cars and sending them home and that’s why they stopped opening bank accounts for many Nigerians.

And this is really the point, the system that works everywhere in the world is based on trust and righteousness. If there is no righteousness, nothing works.

l want to say that the most important obligation that we have as Christians and as leaders is that of doing what may be painful or difficult, that which involves sacrifice which is not just talking about the gospel, but practicing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The only way by which we can transform our community, even our offices wherever we are, the only way we can begin to change anything is by recognising that the gospel of Jesus Christ involves sacrifice. It is the exact opposite of what we want to do and exact opposite of what is accepted in our society and that is where the change of our society comes. It is the gospel that will transform our society.

Transformational leadership that is based on gospel that is contrarian; that which doesn’t agree with our flesh, and our community. In order to be successful, we must be prepared to fight against the system.

God has guaranteed us that because we are the light, because we are righteous, there will be a difference in our communities and it might not look as if that difference is clear yet, but there will be a difference.

If more of us who are Christians are prepared to stand by the gospel, we will transform this nation completely.

Thank you very much.