We who are leading churches must be examples to others in our churches, by walking along the way of the Cross. We must have a great longing to be their servants, just as Jesus Himself was – and not to be their leaders. Jesus said “The kings and great men of the earth lord it over the people; but among you it is different. Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be greatest of all must be the slave of all. For even I, the Messiah, am not here to be served, but to help others” (Mark10:42–45).
We must never love our position nor any title as ‘Leader’ (Matt.23:10). We must not imagine ourselves to be greater in any way than any of the other brothers and sisters in the church. In fact, we are commanded to consider all others in the church as more important than ourselves – not as more spiritual (that is impossible) but as more important. (Phil, 2:3).
We must be a fellow-brother to others first before we can be their leader. The apostle John, when writing to the churches at the age of 95, calls himself, “I John, your brother…” (Rev.1:9). Unfortunately, many leaders think of themselves only as leaders. We must always seek God for grace to remain as ordinary brothers in the church at all times. And if we are to live like this, then we must live in a close “face-to-face” relationship with God at all times.
Spiritual authority, being God-given, is not something that we must ever assert over others or force others to submit to. We must never compel others to obey us, and we must never strive with anyone (2 Timothy 2:24, 25). If God is backing us, we will never have to defend our position, because God Himself will defend us and establish our authority. If however, anyone is seeking to assert his authority over others himself, then that would be the clearest proof that his authority is not God-given.
A spiritual leader will never defend himself or seek to justify himself, when attacked or slandered. The Bible says, “Christ is your example. Follow in His steps… He never answered back when insulted; when He suffered He did not threaten to get even; He left His case in the hands of God Who always judges fairly” (1 Peter 2:21, 23).
Jesus never strove with men to assert His rule over them. He left it to God to defend Him and to vindicate Him. This is the path that all leaders in the Church must walk in. If we live under God’s authority ourselves, we can safely leave our cause in God’s Hands. We can ignore all slander and criticism and backbiting against us, for God’s promise is that He Himself will defend His servants against such attacks. No weapon formed by others to attack a spiritual leader will ever succeed (Isaiah 54:17). I have experienced the reality of this again and again in my life. It is blessed to have such experiences.
The church today suffers greatly because of the great lack of such spiritually-minded leaders. Jesus once looked out at the crowds that came to him and felt great pity for them. “The people were like sheep without a shepherd and their problems were so great and they didn’t know what to do or where to go for help” (Matt. 9:36 - Living Bible). The situation is just the same today. We desperately need leaders who have the heart of a shepherd and the spirit of a servant, men who fear God and tremble at His Word – to help the needy people in the churches.
We must also never allow people to become our admirers. Otherwise they will never grow up to have a personal connection with Christ as their Head. We must never attach anyone to ourselves. Instead, we should urge everyone to live before God’s face alone. They must not seek for our approval in the things that they do. And if we do find anyone becoming attached to us, we must shake him off immediately. When we give advice to others, we must also give them the freedom to disagree with us, and to do things the way they feel free to do it themselves. And if, as a result, they bungle up matters, we must be quick to help them, and never tell them, “I told you so.” That is the way a truly spiritual leader will react.
“Be filled with the Spirit….and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ” (Eph.5:18,21).
Jesus is our Example in the way He submitted to His earthly circumstances and to the authority of His earthly parents for 30 years. Only after He had been faithful in these areas, did His Father give Him this certificate at His baptism: “This is my Beloved Son in Whom I am well-pleased”. That is the way for us leaders to go too.
The Bible says “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.” (Hebrews 13:17). And that command is for leaders too. We must submit to the circumstances God places us in and also to any authority that God places over us – both in the world and in the church. Then we too can get a similar testimony from God – that we are pleasing to Him.
We must never demand that anyone should submit to us. If we demand submission from others just because we are leaders, that would indicate that we are insecure and don’t really know God – because God gives freedom to people either to submit to Him or to rebel against Him – and we are not greater than God. So we have no right as leaders to demand submission from anyone. We are called to serve, not to demand submission.
We must be careful that we don’t get anyone to submit to us through the power of our personality. It is very easy for a strong-minded leader to have a hold on others in the church by the power of his personality! That is evil. Such soul-power must be put to death. People in the church must feel free to disagree with us. Nobody should be afraid of us. Jesus allowed Peter even to rebuke Him (Matt.16:22). Ask yourself if your brothers feel free to rebuke you? If not, you will need to work out your salvation from your self-exaltation and humble yourself to be like Jesus was, when He walked on this earth.
We must never run the church like a dictatorship, where the brothers and sisters live under the burden of many rules and regulations. That will make the church a legalistic club, in which truly godly brothers and sisters will never feel at home. But, instead, carnal ‘Yes-men’ (who implicitly obey you) will get power. That is evil.
We cannot produce holiness in others by making many rules in our churches. We must preach the Word, but not force people to conform to a particular pattern. If people do things merely to please us, without personal conviction, their actions will be mere dead works, even if those works look “righteous” and good in man’s eyes.
Dead works are works that are done to please or impress people. But all dead works are unacceptable to God. The works that God accepts are those that are done to please Him alone. If we are to lead the brothers and sisters to do such works, then they must be left free – as free as God Himself left Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. True holiness can be perfected only in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1), and not through the fear of any church-leader.
If God raises up younger brothers in your church to a place of ministry, where people have more confidence in them than in you, then you must acknowledge this as God’s doing, and graciously give such anointed younger brothers prominence in the church. Otherwise you will find yourself fighting against God.
If you are a loving earthly father, you will definitely long that your children get more education than you did. A true spiritual father will also have a similar longing – that his spiritual children should advance beyond him spiritually. If you don’t have such a longing for those whom your serve, you are not a spiritual father. Then you are unfit to be an leader. You will then be a hindrance to the building of Christ’s Body in your locality.
Leaders who have authoritarian attitudes and who show partiality to their friends in the church may imagine that they have escaped God’s judgment for such sinful conduct. But the Lord takes note of everything and keeps an accurate record of such matters. At His appointed time, He will judge such unfaithful leaders severely. Then everyone will see that the Lord does not spare even a leader who is a hypocrite, or who lords it over his flock, or who rules over others with severity, etc. There is no partiality with God! So, “let everyone who thinks he is standing take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).
Hebrews 12:26–28 tells us that “God will shake and remove all the things that can be shaken, so that those things that cannot be shaken may remain.”
Around us, in Christendom, we see great preachers falling into sin, and churches that seemed to be following the New-Testament pattern, splitting and being shaken to the core. If we are to build the Body of Christ unshakable in the midst of all this shaking that is going on today, in the midst of the worldliness and compromise that we see on the one hand in Christendom, and all the legalism and Phariseeism that is found on the other hand, then we must serve God, “with reverence and awe – because our God is a consuming fire” (Heb.12:29).
May we walk along the path of humility at all times, until the end of our life. Amen.
