Church Leaders

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning the 25th of October, 2020, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  This was an abbreviated service, also streamed live, due to constraints put in place from the COVID-19 pandemic.  Our YouTube streaming channel is:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

We will be electing our church officers in a little over a month, those who will serve on our governing body for the next term, representing all of us, all the church family.  We call these officers Elders and Deacons and our church Constitution lays out how they are to serve in those positions.  This is quite common in the modern church, but the early church had a slightly different view.

Hopefully we’re all familiar with how the Apostle Paul started churches during his missionary trips throughout the known world at the time.  At each church, Paul would appoint leaders, looking into a person’s heart to see how they would best serve the church.  One of those leaders was his young protégé Timothy.  As Timothy was about to take over one of those early churches as the pastor, or head of the church, Paul gave him some instructions on what to look for in those who would be leaders in that church family.

Please listen and follow along as I read from the 3rd chapter of Paul’s 1st letter to Timothy, verses 1 through 13, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 This is a trustworthy saying: “If someone aspires to be a church leader, he desires an honorable position.” 2 So a church leader must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife. He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach. 3 He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent. He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money. 4 He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and obey him. 5 For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church?

6 A church leader must not be a new believer, because he might become proud, and the devil would cause him to fall. 7 Also, people outside the church must speak well of him so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the devil’s trap.

8 In the same way, deacons must be well respected and have integrity. They must not be heavy drinkers or dishonest with money. 9 They must be committed to the mystery of the faith now revealed and must live with a clear conscience. 10 Before they are appointed as deacons, let them be closely examined. If they pass the test, then let them serve as deacons.

11 In the same way, their wives must be respected and must not slander others. They must exercise self-control and be faithful in everything they do.

12 A deacon must be faithful to his wife, and he must manage his children and household well. 13 Those who do well as deacons will be rewarded with respect from others and will have increased confidence in their faith in Christ Jesus.

--1 Timothy 3:1-13 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for giving us snapshots of the life of the early church so that we can try to model ourselves after them.  Through Paul’s letters and the Apostle Luke’s Book of the Acts of the Apostles, we can see how the early church functioned, and flourished.  We can also see how, in all things, they sought guidance from You.  Thank You, Father, for showing us what is important in Your eyes.  Please help us to follow the example of the early church so that we might better serve our Lord Jesus.  And Father, please protect us from all the disease and craziness that’s going on in the world right now.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and purpose in our love and worship, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us for this day.  Give us clearer insight into Your will for our lives.  Help us accept Your guidance through Your Holy Spirit and the leaders You appoint over us.  This we pray under the blood and in the name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

A 1994 article in Bits & Pieces magazine quoted Dwight D. Eisenhower as having said:   

"In order to be a leader a man must have followers. And to have followers, a man must have their confidence. Hence the supreme quality of a leader is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, on a football field, in an army, or in an office. If a man's associates find him guilty of phoniness, if they find that he lacks forthright integrity, he will fail. His teachings and actions must square with each other. The first great need, therefore, is integrity and high purpose."

The first great need for a leader is integrity and high purpose.  President Eisenhower pretty well summed up what Paul described.  Paul acknowledged that a church leader must be well respected by others and have integrity.  And as for a high purpose, what higher purpose could there be than to serve our Lord Jesus by serving His people in His church.  So in effect, I think President Eisenhower took Paul’s qualifications for church leaders and applied them to any leader in general.  I also believe we would do well to follow that example.

We are rapidly coming up on the time when we decide those persons who will stand as our representative leaders of this church family.  And even sooner, we will elect those who will represent us at most levels of civil government.  We should hold all candidates – both church and civil - to the same level of scrutiny and maturity that Paul describes.  The first great need is integrity and high purpose.

As Paul notes, being a church leader is an honorable position.  But it is more than just an honor – it is a responsibility.  Like any institution or organization, a church can be led to success and to do great things, or it can be led to failure and destruction.  And the leadership plays a huge role in which way the church will go.  That is why it is so important for us to listen closely to the guidance Paul gives.

One thing we need to understand, though, is that the qualifications that Paul provides us are all marks of spiritual leadership.  One who would serve as a leader in the church should have a certain level of spiritual maturity.  And they should be expected to grow in that maturity while in their role as church leader.

The qualifications Paul gives can be considered targets, to a degree, goals that we should all strive for, but especially our leaders.  Listen to what Paul told Timothy, and us, a little earlier in this 1st letter, in verses 5 through 7 of the 1st chapter…

5 The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith. 6 But some people have missed this whole point. They have turned away from these things and spend their time in meaningless discussions. 7 They want to be known as teachers of the law of Moses, but they don’t know what they are talking about, even though they speak so confidently.

--1 Timothy 1:5-7 (NLT)

That part about spending our time in meaningless discussions sounds too much like some of our committee meetings, doesn’t it.  But Paul’s desired goal in all this is that all believers – all believers, not just our leaders – should be filled with love, a love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and true, genuine faith.  By this we see that our leaders should lead with love, acting on faith, expecting no personal gain of any kind.

Now, when we consider all that Paul went through and all he accomplished, it’s easy to see him as a great leader of the early church, one above reproach and having attained great spiritual maturity.  But Paul might humbly beg to differ.  In his letter to the Philippians, chapter 3 verses 12 through 15, Paul acknowledges that not even he has attained perfection…

12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not yet achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. 

15 Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you.

--Philippians 3:12-15 (NLT)

All of us must press on as we strive toward greater spiritual maturity, but this is especially true for those who would lead us.  As leaders, we must press on to be above reproach, to be faithful to our families, to exercise good self-control, to live wisely and have a good reputation in our community.  We must have integrity and serve a higher purpose.

From what Paul tells us and as further noted by President Eisenhower, we can see that a leader must lead.  Arguably the best way to lead is by example.  So a church leader should set a good example for others in the church family to follow.  A leader must be present to lead, must be seen leading, or else the example is lost.

You know, we're all different.  We come from diverse backgrounds, with our own opinions on how things should be done.  So we're going to argue at times, debate the issues, hopefully with gentleness and love.  But once a decision is made, those in the position of leadership must speak and act in one voice.  If the leadership appears to be splintered, the church family will fracture.

Right now Satan is trying his best to do just that, to splinter the church, the body of Christ Jesus left here on earth, and in so doing destroy Christ.  And family, he’s doing a bang-up job of it!  This new disease that has paralyzed the entire world is his latest tool.  The mask issue alone is driving a wedge between us, even within the church body.  According to those who monitor such things, the greatest fear we have right now is of each other!

We certainly can’t look to our nation’s leaders for guidance.  As is readily evident in the current election cycle, our leaders seem intent on further splitting us apart rather than uniting us.

So who do we look toward for leadership?  Christ Jesus, our Lord.  We can look to His life for an example of how to live ours.  We can look to how He led His followers for how those in a position of authority over us should lead.

And we can look to the church to take a more active leadership role in the community.  The church must provide a beacon, must be a light for the people to follow out of the darkness and chaos.  It must stand united in love and in service to Christ Jesus.  It’s leaders must look back to the early church and follow the lead that Jesus and Paul set.  It’s time to return to our roots.

We’re about to elect leaders, for our church government and for man’s government.  Let’s strive to follow Paul’s guidance in these elections.  And let’s seek God’s guidance in all our personal decisions.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, our Savior, the one true Son of God.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for giving us leaders.  No one can serve in a position of authority over us unless appointed by you.  Help us to accept their authority and to pray for them.  Thank You for giving us the example of the early church to use as a foundation for our church.  Help us, please Father, to be more like those early believers, and help our leaders to lead by their example, with integrity and in service to You.  And Father, help us be more loving, more trusting, more merciful, and more kindhearted toward others in our daily walk.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You straight from our hearts, promising to repent of our sinful ways, seeking Your forgiveness and Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, it is so important for us to choose people of great integrity to serve as our leaders.  Please give us those who will have our best interests at heart, who will serve You by serving us.  Give us true, God-fearing leaders and not those who just give lip service to our Father.  Forgive us, Jesus, for not respecting those who have been placed in positions of authority over us.  Forgive us when we let the troubles of the world control our thoughts and our actions rather than coming to You for leadership and guidance.  Help our leaders to pattern their lives after the example You set, to be more like You so that we have good examples to follow.  Help us to be more loving, Lord.  Help us to love one another as You love us, to see one another as You see us.  Give us Your heart for loving others.  Strengthen us, Jesus, through these dark times.  And Lord, please heal the divisions between us, that creep in and separate us, even within Your church family.  Help us remain faithful and obedient through the storms raging around us, concerned more with the needs of others than with our own wants and desires.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.