Over the years I have thought much about the subject matter that I will
present in this article. Now, after listening to Jimmy Carter’s latest
book on CD entitled "Our Endangered Values", I’ve thought
about it again. One point that Jimmy Carter spoke about was the change
that took place in 2000 in the Southern Baptist Convention, his own
denomination. At that time the Southern Baptists adopted a new "Faith
and Message Statement". It replaced the previous statement that
acknowledged the sole authority for faith and practice was found in Jesus
and the Scriptures. According to Carter, this change made it possible to
elevate the new statement and the authority it gave to local pastors over
the Scriptures and Jesus Himself.
I believe Jimmy Carter has a point to be considered. I have noted such
changes taking place in certain areas of the church to one degree or
other. This is a general trend and does not apply to every or any
particular church.
With this in mind, I ask the following question. When Jesus said
"that the leaders of this world lord it over them", what did He
mean? (see Luke 22:24-27 – "lord it over" is a NIV term)
In the first century the Roman system of government was very much a
dictatorship, backed by military force. You had to submit to the ruling
authority or else. Rulers lorded it over their people, just as Jesus said.
Yet when Jesus spoke about these things, He did not stop with merely
pointing out this dictatorial system of leadership. Jesus specifically
said that "you should not be like that". Dictatorial rule should
not be found in God’s people. What did Jesus mean by this?
The answer is simple. Christian leaders are not to be dictators. They
are not to be self serving. They are not to promote their own personal
preferences over the preferences of others. They are not to arrange
"yes men" under their rule. They are not to demand strict
allegiance and obedience to themselves and their style of rule. Christian
leaders should not lead as many secular leaders lead, over-emphasizing the
authority of their position.
The potential problem with leadership, both within the church and in
the world is the tendency towards dictatorship, to over-emphasize one’s
authority. This has always been the tendency and most likely will be to
the end. Don’t get me wrong. I am not against Biblical based leadership
in the church.
Jesus tells us that the way we run the affairs of the church should be
different than the way the world runs the affairs of government and
business. Its sad to say, but we in the North American church are no
different than the secular world around us in many respects.
Examples of such leadership are as follows. We jostle for pre-eminence
within the local church. We elect church leaders as if it was a political
contest. We understand leadership to be a career and not a calling from
Jesus. We manipulate things towards our own preferences, neglecting the
idea that we are all members of one body, joined together to serve the
Head, which is Jesus. We fail to understand that all earthly leaders are
subject to Jesus and Biblical truth. The list can go on.
So how does Jesus want us to lead? Jesus told us the answer to this
question in Luke 22:24-26. He expects church leaders under Him to lead by
serving, just as He did. Instead of being over top and lording it over
people, leaders are to be under God’s people, helping, supporting and
lifting them up. Leaders care for people, and give themselves to them with
a heart of compassion.
Most of us like the recognition and authority that comes with being in
visible leadership, especially if we can get behind the pulpit every
Sunday. This tendency is much like the Pharisees of the New Testament, and
we know what Jesus thought of them. In reality most of the duties of a
good leader are done far from the spot light of the pulpit. On a daily
basis Godly leaders serve and care for God’s people, whether others
notice it or not, and if others don’t notice, better for the leader. His
reward is waiting for him in Heaven.
The tendency to lord it over others is not new. In the second century,
the church evolved towards a dictatorial style of leadership to solve its
problem of disunity. This did not happen over night. Roughly, from about
100 AD to about 200 AD teaching on submission to leadership went through
an evolutionary process.
In Paul’s day, church leadership (especially among Gentile churches)
consisted of a plurality of elders, not just one pre-eminent pastor in
charge, as we have today. A group of elders worked together in unison to
care for God’s people.
Around 100 AD plurality of leadership gave way to one man rule.
Whereas, once a group of men served the church, now one man out of that
group rose to be head or senior leader, and the rest of the group looked
towards that one man for leadership. The idea was this. Unity would come
to the church through strict loyalty and submission to the head leader, or
senior pastor as we would call it today. By the way, I don’t call unity
based on forced loyalty real unity.
With this change in leadership style came the idea of unity at the
expense of truth, although it was not so clearly stated. You submitted to
the man in the office whether he was leading according to Scripture or
not, hopefully creating unity. The office of the leader became more
important than the duties of the leader. Even if the leader was not
leading according to Scripture, you still submit because of the importance
of the office. Unity became more important than the truth found in
Scripture. Yet if a leader is acting inappropriately, he should be judged
by the truth of Scripture, just as you or I are to be judged. No one is
above Scriptural truth. Our allegiance is first to the truth of Scripture,
then towards unity and leadership.
So the next step in the progression of pre-eminent rule came when this
one man became God’s representative to the church. This meant that God
spoke through the one leader to the people. They had no other way to hear
from God. They could not hear from God on their own. You can see how the
authority of this one man was strengthened.
Finally, around the end of the second century this one local leader
became the representative of the individual in the church to God. No
longer could the individual come before God on his own. He went to his
leader which in turn went to God on his behalf. At this point the
individual lost what we call the "priesthood of the believer".
An individual could only approach their Lord through one man who led them.
Once again, the authority of this one man grew immensely.
So by roughly 200 AD or so, individuals could no longer hear from their
Lord on their own, nor approach Him on their own. One man became a
mediator between God and man. I guess they forgot that this was Jesus’
job. This negated all that happened on the day of Pentecost when believers
were united with their Lord when they received the Holy Spirit.
You might suggest that the apostle Paul spoke and ruled with much
apostolic authority. This is not so. If you study carefully Paul’s
second letter to the Corinthians you will understand that Paul demanded
nothing from God’s people. He "appealed" to them with great
love, as if he were their servant. He was not demanding, nor did he want
the Corinthians to follow him based on force and manipulation. As an
aside, if you want to see Paul’s feelings, Paul’s emotional state,
study 2 Corinthians. Paul was not only a man of great joy, but was a man
burdened down with sadness, even depression at times, all because he cared
so much for God’s people.
So the tendency towards heavy handed authority in leadership in the
church is nothing new . This all comes about because of a failure to
follow Jesus in what He says about how we should lead His people. Note,
leaders lead God’s people, not own people.
In one way or another we all are leaders, so we should all remember
that Jesus told us to be servant leaders. We consider those we care for
over our ourselves. Church leaders are care givers, not lords. Church
leaders should have the same heart of compassion for God’s people as
Jesus Himself has. Leaders position themselves under those they lead,
love, and care for.
As the apostle Paul once said, "consider what I say and the Lord
give you the understanding in all things". (2 Tim. 2:7)
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