feast: Principles of Church Leadership

Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Given 20-Oct-16; Sermon #FT16-04; 84 minutes

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Despite the fact that it has been 30 years since Mr. Armstrong died, and 24-plus years since the founding of Church of the Great God in January of 1992, and 21 years since the mass exodus from the Worldwide Church of God that happened in 1995, we are still living in a time of scattering of the church of God. It is difficult to say how many church groups there are (it is in the hundreds), and each time one group splits, it just adds to the confusion out there. But there are the major groups. We all know them; churches like United Church of God, Living Church of God, Philadelphia Church of God, Restored Church of God, Church of God a Worldwide Association, and some of the others, who have a few hundred to several thousand members. But compared to the early days, and compared to those times after 1995, there is really very little movement between the churches. Most people just seem to be going their own ways. And even the churches seem to be going their own ways.

With that said, though, I do not believe that organizational unity is a prime goal of the church. Obviously, the real goal that we are looking for is spiritual unity with God and the brethren. That is what we are really trying to do. The groups that are there are of God’s doing, and because of the situation, our job is to try to be one with Him no matter what or where we are. Of course, once we do that, we are one with each other.

Please turn to John 17. This is in the prayer that Jesus Christ gave just before He was arrested. It is a prayer about us—the church. It is a prayer for us.

John 17:20-23 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

Jesus’ prayer just before He was arrested, and then beaten and bloodied and then killed, was that we would be one—one with Him and one with the Father, and one with each other. He wants us to be in perfect agreement with God—in everything that we think, say, and do. With this as a goal, physical distance, organizational structure, whether we are united in one group or not; these things are of little consequence in terms of unity through God’s Spirit.

Nevertheless, the church is not united in one organization; we are not doing a unified work for God. And there are reasons for this. The most important reason being that God has not moved—notice!—God has not moved to bring us all together like we were in the Worldwide Church of God. He still has cause—whatever that cause is, there may be many causes—to keep us divided in smaller groups under various leaders, moving in different directions. The church—and I am meaning all of it here, not the Church of the Great God, but the whole church, the Body of Christ, its leadership, and its membership—has more to learn and overcome. God knows that it is better done this way, than another way.

One of the things I think is most important that He is trying to get us to understand and grow in is, after doctrinal disagreement, the church leadership has done the most to divide the church. And in order to produce leaders that He can use in the World Tomorrow, He wants to work with us in small groups; to give more of us an opportunity to lead and show that servant leadership He wants.

So, in an overall sense, I think the leaders of the church have the most to learn and the most to overcome. But that does not mean that those who are not leading do not have anything to learn or overcome. I believe He is putting us in this situation so that we can fill leadership positions here and now so that we will be prepared for what is coming.

Today, I will propose to you what I feel are the most important principles of church leadership. They are not new ideas at all. But perhaps the order and the emphasis I give today will give us a fresh perspective—a perspective that will lead to greater unity. It will not give us unity right now. This is something that will happen over time as we grow in these principles. I hope I am preaching to the choir, and that you all agree with me on these things. But we will see if you do agree with them.

The first point of leadership we all have to have in mind (and we all have to have in mind all the time), is that God is Sovereign. I think this goes pretty much without saying, but I just said it.

God’s sovereignty is self-evident. It should be very evident to all of us because He is first in our lives. Turn to I Timothy 6. I want you to see how Paul thought of the Father, and kept this in mind, and wanted to pass it on to Timothy. The books of Timothy and Titus are addressed to younger ministers (younger than Paul at least), and he was giving them advice on how to be leaders in the church; how to be ministers; how to approach certain situations; and certain attitudes that they needed to have. And so, this is one of the things that he left Timothy with; one of the final shots, you might say, in this first epistle.

I Timothy 6:15-16 [Christ’s appearing] Which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.

This is the concept of God that we must have. He is bigger, greater, more powerful, more deserving of honor and glory than anything or anyone. I know we know this; we have read our scriptures; we listened to countless sermons; we have seen God work in our lives. But if you are anything like me, we do not consider it enough! We do not realize just how all-encompassing God’s sovereignty is.

Perhaps I should put it another way: Our appreciation of God’s sovereignty tends to be intellectual rather than practical. We know it. It is in our minds. We have the understanding that He is sovereign. He is greater than anything. He made the universe. He governs it all. But do we really know it deep down in our bones? Do we use it in our choices and decisions we make every day? We know that God is all mighty. We know He is all knowing. He has everything planned out to the smallest detail. He does everything right on time, as it says in Ecclesiastes 3:11. He has everything at its perfect time. And it comes out beautifully.

We know intellectually that He has all the hairs on our heads numbered. And He knows when a sparrow falls (Matthew 10)! We know these things. We can quote the scriptures. But always speaking and acting in response to this fact has not become habitual for most of us; that we do not think of God first, and what God is doing, and what would He think about what we are going to do? We need to cultivate this practice of remembering His sovereignty at all times.

So, we have to be reminded; sometimes by admonition, sometimes by very hard experience(s) in the school of hard knocks that God is always in control. It does not matter the situation. God is always in control. That is part of His sovereignty. Turn to Isaiah 45 where He says something astounding that we need to understand; that we have to make a part of our constant awareness of Him. Notice what He says about Himself:

Isaiah 45:5-12 I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.' "Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I, the LORD, have created it.

Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' Or shall your handiwork say, 'He has no hands'? Woe to him who says to his father, 'What are you begetting?' Or to the woman, 'What have you brought forth?'" Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: "Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons; and concerning the work of My hands, you command Me. I have made the earth, and created man on it. I—My hands—stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded.”

Do you get the point? God is involved in everything. God is there at all times. He is behind everything that goes on. And even when things seem to be out of control, He is in control. He will use tumult and catastrophe, and things that make us weep and cry out in pain to bring out His purpose. He even used Satan and His demons to test His sons. We saw that the other day in II Samuel 24. It is clearer in I Chronicles 21. He sent a demon—Satan—to test David and it ended in the deaths of 70,000 people in that plague. God will use whatever is at His disposal to test His sons and daughters so that they will build righteous character and enter His Kingdom. That is far more important than what we may be feeling or thinking that what we are going through is so terrible.

I do not want to minimize those feelings and what you are going through, but God is in control. That is the point! He is not going to test you beyond what you are able. We just heard that. So, we need to understand that God’s sovereignty is always at work whether the situation is good, or the situation is evil. If we are living in the light, or whether we are in the darkness, He probably created both of them; one for one situation, and the other for a different situation. And He wants us to make the right decisions in both cases. Whether we are at peace, whether there is calamity going on around us, He wants us to remember that He is sovereign and in control and to choose the right way.

So, members of God’s church have to keep this principle—this truth—firmly in mind at all times. If things are going well, and smoothly, God is responsible. And we need to take advantage of the fact that He has blessed His people, and use that time for good; redeem the time, as it says in Ephesians 5:16.

On the other hand, if turmoil and upset rule the day, and things are going horribly, and we think that our world is ending, well, guess what? God is responsible! He has allowed you, or various ones of His people to experience trial, or punishment—or both!—to see how we react, and to give us an opportunity for overcoming and growth. We need to take advantage of that situation, too.

We always have to have in mind that God is in control; He is responsible for the situation we are in, and we need to take advantage of it. There is always a way to grow from it.

If we apply faith, which is usually the way out of a situation (remember He provides a way of escape), the way He always provides is going to take faith. He is not going to give you an easy escape, because He does not want to waste the opportunity for you to grow in character. So the way of escape that He provides is going to stretch you a little bit. It is going to require you to trust Him. But the way of escape is the one that leads to good things.

Though you may have to buckle down and trust Him, and walk through that valley of the shadow of death, or whatever it may be to reach your escape point, He is there and in control, and will lead you to a better resolution than the escape you think you should take.

A leader in the church, which we are all growing up to be (because of this fact knowing that God is sovereign, God is in control), again a leader in the church can keep his head while everyone around him is losing theirs. He sees God in the mix; actually, he sees God being the Mixer! He is in total control of the cake He is baking.

Turn to II Timothy 4. This is what happened to Paul. He was on trial for his life before Caesar, and he says:

II Timothy 4:16-18 At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!

You see? Paul understood this principle. God is sovereign. God is in control. God is there. God is working toward one specific goal to get him and every other person He has called into His Kingdom. And Jesus Christ, our Savior, the Head of the Body, will work, and work, and work, and work, to make sure that happens. We just have to keep that in mind whatever the situation. And when we do, we make good decisions.

Point number two is a very obvious point (which I just mentioned), is that Jesus Christ is the Head of the church.

We would call this a “well, duh” statement. You must be thinking, “Tell us something we don’t know.” But we need to be reminded every once in a while. Turn to Ephesians 1.

Ephesians 1:22-23 And He [the Father] put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Now, just drop down to Colossians 1 where Paul says something similar:

Colossians 1:18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

I am sure we have read these verses dozens or scores of times. Yet, out of sight, out of mind! How often does that happen?

Think about this: If we see a man running a corporation out in the world, we can see him. He is real to us. He is there. Joe Smith is CEO of XYZ Corp., and he runs this and that, and he has all these people working under him. And this company makes this widget or that gadget, and we can all see that; it is very plain to us. We can see him going out and speaking, and acting on behalf of the corporation, and we know that is how things are. We can see the chain of command. We can see the things that he says actually get done by the corporation. It is all right there for us to see.

But our CEO—Jesus Christ—is in heaven. We cannot see Him. And because of that He can seem to be remote to us, almost out of touch. If it gets too bad, we can even think Him inconsequential to what is going on, because minister X or evangelist Y is the one running things, right? He is the figurehead that we see doing things.

No way! He is not the one in control or actually in charge. It is Jesus Christ, who is the Head of the church, who is in charge. Not evangelist Y or minister X or the prophet Z, or whoever it happens to be. It is Jesus Christ! We may never consciously think these things that Christ is not in control or not leading things, but it is our human nature to ignore His headship in favor of something we can see—a person. And if we go too far in all this, we appropriate the headship to ourselves! We do tend to ignore His headship and take more to ourselves than is absolutely right.

This is often seen in the fact that we think we have to do something! Some problem will come up, and we think we have to go in there and solve it ourselves. The intention is not bad, but we are taking the leadership to ourselves rather than remembering that Christ is the head of the church. I am talking about a church problem. I am not necessarily thinking of simple things you can take care of. That is not my intention, here. I am talking about things that happen in the church, and we think we have to go out there and manage it ourselves. We often have to do a part of that. I am not saying that is necessarily wrong. What is wrong is thinking that we have the authority and the leadership abilities to solve these problems on our own without the leadership of Jesus Christ who is the One running the show.

Turn to Matthew 28. This passage is about when the resurrected Christ is about to ascend to heaven, and He tells His disciples something that He wants to stick with them. Remember, He is just about ready to fling them out upon the world in their job as apostles; so He is giving them a great deal of responsibility in what they have to do. And so He leaves them with this important point:

Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

The first thing He hits them with in this astounding marching order that He gives them is, “Guys, remember I have all authority in heaven and on earth.” And so, He says:

Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and [He leaves them with something very important] lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

This is very interesting! This hardly sounds like an absentee boss. He has not only been appointed as Head of the church—that is just one of His hats—He has all authority at His disposal in and out of the church. He upholds all things by the word of His power (Hebrews 1).

And because of this power that He has, this authority that He is been given, He gives us our marching orders reminding us: “I am with you always.” And then He adds, “Even unto the end of the age,” which brings it down to our day. Could that be a subtle hint from our Savior that those of us at the end of the age will tend to forget that He is in charge? I will just leave it at that.

What He said there to those disciples is still true today. He has all authority; He wants us to do our jobs, and He wants us to know that He is right there watching; and He will give us the power and help that we need. He did not just fling the church out into the world and leave it on its own. Even though He cannot be seen, even though He is in heaven, He is in charge with all authority. He is there watching our every move. Because it is His church; it is His responsibility. And He is going to make sure that it produces what He wants it to produce.

Turn back to John 10. Those who tend to forget that Christ is the Head of the church also tend to forget that the members are His sheep. Let us read this:

John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.”

John 10:27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

That is right here (pointing to the church shield on the front of the lectern). This is the verse we have taken as our church motto here on the shield.

John 10:27-30 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one."

He wants us to know that He is the shepherd; He is the One doing the leading and the working and tending even though He has men assigned to that task. This idea, that some of the leaders in the church tend to forget that the sheep are Christ’s sheep, is a major problem in the church today. Each group’s leadership assumes, presumes that the church members are theirs, and that they have the right and responsibility to accumulate as many of them into their church as possible. So we have what we have humorously called, “sheep rustling,” and “sheep wars” among the various churches. There is a bit of thievery going on trying to poach sheep from one flock to the next, from where Jesus Christ Himself put them.

You are not our sheep. You all are God’s sheep, Christ’s sheep. And He will put you in the flock He wants you to be in.

Romans 14:4 Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

Since Jesus Christ is the Master, here, the Head of the church, all of the members of His church are His servants, and He places them where He wants them. He tells them what to do in terms of doing a work for Him. So, who are we to judge how He directs them? They are going to stand or fall to Him. Just as it says here, “To his own master he stands or falls.”

So, wherever He happens to put any lay member or minister in the church, well, that is His problem, that is their problem, not ours. We cannot judge what He is doing with them. He will move us and them wherever He wills.

Turn to I Corinthians 12. If you know your chapters, you know where I am heading here; this is the analogy of the church as the body of Christ.

I Corinthians 12:17-21 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."

What Paul is saying here is that we do not have the right to go rearranging Christ’s body for Him. Just because another group is doing something different from what we are doing, or just because we do not know why one group is doing one thing or another, does not mean that they are not doing something that God wants them to do. We do not have the same marching orders as United Church of God; United Church of God does not have the same marching orders as Church of God a Worldwide Association; Church of God a Worldwide Association does not have the same marching orders as Living Church of God; Living Church of God does not have the same marching orders as Philadelphia Church of God; Philadelphia Church of God does not have the same marching orders as Restored Church of God, and we could go on and on for several more minutes. None of them are being told to do the exact same thing. And so we should not be judging what they are doing, or what those other ones are doing, because Jesus Christ is the Head of the church. He is in control of them, and He is working with them in their sphere of preaching the gospel and feeding the flock.

And so, we just need to leave them alone to do their Christ-assigned tasks. What do we do in the meantime? We keep on doing what He has given us to do—in faith!

Think about Hebrews 11 and those men and women who are the heroes of faith. Did any of them have the same tasks? Did Abel have the same task as Enoch? Did Enoch have the same task as Noah? Did Noah have the same task as Abraham? Did he even have the same task as Sarah? Well, they obviously had a son together, but think about it: Did Abraham have the same task as Isaac his son? Did Isaac have the same task as Jacob his son? Did Jacob have the same task as Joseph his son? And Moses? And David? And Barak? And Samuel? And all those others that we could go through. None of them did the same thing! But they were all on the same team, all going for the same goal. We do not need to interfere one with the other, because if we are all going in the same direction under Jesus Christ, then that is fine.

A leader in the church must always be mindful that he is under Christ’s authority, and therefore under His judgment for what he specifically has to do. And this applies to everyone, whether a leader in the church or not. But we all have to remember that we are all under Jesus Christ’ authority and under His judgment. We have to take care of what He has given to us to do, and not be pointing fingers at another man’s servant. In fact, a leader, as James 3:1 says, as a teacher, he is under stricter judgment, and must give account to Christ for his words and deeds. And that is plenty to keep track of without trying to keep track of somebody else’s words and deeds.

So, a person in the church, especially those in leadership positions, must temper their leadership, acknowledging his limitations under Christ; that he is a servant under Christ; he is not in charge ultimately. He must do this, that is, he must temper his leadership by an acknowledgement of his limitations under Christ rather than assuming or presuming additional authority. We need to be humble under the mighty hand of God, and stay within our sphere, as Paul says in II Corinthians 12.

Remember Uzziah the king and what he did? He thought he was something special and he presumed to function as a priest. He was of the line of David, a Jew. He was not allowed to be a priest. Priests were Levites. And he was going completely outside of his sphere that God had given him to do, which was to rule Judah. But he did not, and he ended up with leprosy for the rest of his life. A terrible example that we need to remember every now and then when we think about trying to take a little more than what we have been given.

It is better that we have the attitude of the apostle Paul. Turn to I Timothy 1.

I Timothy 1:12-14 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

So even though he was given a great responsibility to take the gospel to the Gentiles, he was aware that he was under authority, and he was thankful that God had shown him grace and mercy, and he was not going to go beyond what he had been given.

That leads in to my third point: Ministers are servants (or stewards), not lords. There is only one Lord, the rest of us are servants.

Our experiences in the Worldwide Church of God have made this a hard point for many in God’s church to learn, because we have been conditioned. We were conditioned in the Worldwide Church of God under many ministers to think that the ministry was something special in a physical sense. Many ministers have fallen for the lie that because of their positions they deserve more and better than the lay members, their brethren. Rather than serve, they were served. They forgot that the word minister is just an old, more impressive synonym for servant. One who ministers is a servant. It is the equivalent of calling a gas station attendant a petroleum transfer engineer. We need to call a spade a spade. A minister is a servant.

Turn back to Matthew 20 where Jesus Himself explains this concept to His disciples, because He knew human nature, He knew what they would think, what their ambitions would drive them to do, so He said:

Matthew 20:25-27 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

That kind of an attitude is much different from we saw in earlier years. Christian leadership is sacrifice and service just as seen in the person of Jesus Christ—the chief example.

As we move “higher” in the church (I am going to put that in quotes), as we move up the ranks as it used to be said in the church, the service that we perform may change, and you might become more responsible (and it usually is), but whatever its form, whatever it happens to be, it definitely becomes more demanding, time consuming, more responsible, more all encompassing, requiring greater service. As we know from men like Paul, and the other apostles and evangelists in the first century church, it utterly consumed them. It became their lives. Like Paul said, and others said, they truly spent themselves in service to Christ and His church. It was not a perk to be a minister. It was sacrifice. It was giving their all.

Notice: let us flip through the openings of several of these epistles starting with Titus. I want you to hear the attitude of these men:

Titus 1:1 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness.

James 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.

II Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ.

Jude 1 Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, . . .

Do you know who Jude was? He was the half-brother of Jesus Christ. They had the same mother—Mary. But he does not presume upon that. He says he is a servant of Jesus Christ, and the brother of James, another servant of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to show to His servants—things which must shortly come take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John.

How many did we go through here? Paul, Peter, James, Jude, John. Five of the big luminaries of the first century church; and they all considered themselves servants.

These men knew their places. They were bondservants. They were bought and paid for. He had bought them lock, stock, and barrel. They were totally under authority—His authority. They owed Him their lives, and they willingly gave them up in life and death to carry out His commission to them. It should be no different for any leader within the church of God.

Let us change the imagery a bit. Turn to I Corinthians 4.

I Corinthians 4:1-4 Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord.

So ministers are not only servants, but stewards. Stewards are simply specialized servants. They are still servants, but now they have a special authority over a particular function in their master’s house. They have been given something specific to watch over. Some stewards kept the books. Some stewards looked after various groups of servants. Other stewards maintained the inventories of food and wine, and other household goods and necessities. Whatever his responsibility was, as Paul mentions, his chief requirement was to be trustworthy; was to be faithful; was to do the job he had been given to do to the best of his ability, and for as long as it took. That was his job as a steward.

He was to do his job with great care and faithfulness to his Master’s instructions, and in everything he was to look out for the best interests of His Master. In other words, His Master’s will be done.

Turn to I Thessalonians 2. We could read quite a bit, here, because this is how Paul conducted himself among the people and did his job.

I Thessalonians 2:1-12 For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain. But even after we had suffered before and were spitefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict. For our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it in deceit. But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts. For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ.

But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

That was how Paul approached his job, his place of service in that household of God. He willingly poured himself out for them in order to please his Master.

Jesus did the same thing that Paul did and to an even greater extent. And leaders in the church should do no less.

Matthew 11:27 “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

He is setting up the fact as we saw in Matthew 28, He has all authority in heaven and on earth. He has been given this tremendous responsibility, and He has everything going for Him. The only One who knows Him is the Father, the greatest Being in all the universe, and as the Son, He really knows the Father! You can see what He is doing is showing His position relative to the Father, and it is super high and mighty and great. But then we come to verse 28:

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

He is saying, “I may be #2 in all the universe, and I know the Father, and He knows Me, but you don’t need to be afraid of Me, because I’m here to serve. I’m here to help, I’m here to comfort; I’m here to put a yoke on you, yes, because that’s how work gets done.” But that yoke is not difficult, if you submit to the Son.

So, what we have to do as Peter said in I Peter 5,

I Peter 5:6-7 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

That “due time” is very important. It is not for now; we are in the humbling of ourselves stage right now. God will determine the time for the exalting stage. And so, what must we do? Cast all your cares upon Him for He cares for you.

Point four is the authority of the leadership in the church is spiritual. Not physical, spiritual.

Now these principles are slowly becoming more specific, here, but again they are things we know. I am not telling you anything new. But I hope they are reminders and will put things in perspective. Turn to I Timothy 5.

I Timothy 5:17 Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.

Turn to Hebrews 13.

Hebrews 13:7 Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.

Hebrews 13:17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

Hebrews 13:24 Greet all those who rule over you, and all the saints.

The Bible uses the word “rule” to describe a function of the ministry. The Greek word in I Timothy 5:17 rendered “rule,” is proistemi, which means “to preside over; to stand before.” It implies an overseer, manager, or director. We can describe the job or person as, “One to whom a thing is given to care for.” So, if someone gave you a bouquet of flowers, asked you to keep these for them until pickup tomorrow, you would be a proistemi; one who is given something to care for. It is your job to take care of it to the best of your ability.

The New King James Version in Hebrews 13 includes a marginal reference, saying that the Greek word used here, hegeomai, means not “rule” but “lead.” It means to have influence and authority; to govern. And it is essentially what Jesus speaks about in Luke 22:26.

Luke 22:26 “But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves."

So this hegeomai which means “lead,” Jesus defines it for us as “He who serves.” It is very similar to the idea that we are supposed to see in the American Republic that the people who are our representatives are servants of the people. We do not see that anymore, because they have lifted themselves up to be our rulers, but the idea that Jesus is looking for in the leadership of His church are people who are willing to serve their brethren.

I do not want you to get the idea that ministers have no authority. They do have authority. The authority is there. Clearly in these words we see that ministers have the job of governing and directing and overseeing and managing and presiding over and leading the brethren whom they serve.

However, there are limits to this authority. A major limitation of ministerial authority is that it is spiritual. Not physical, not civil, not political. We—and I can tell you this from personal experience—we are not yet kings and priests in the Kingdom of God. We are flesh and blood mortals just like you are—human servants entrusted with the tasks of Ephesians 4:12-13, our job is to equip the saints for service, and to build up the body of Christ in unity and knowledge. These are spiritual tasks requiring spiritual authority.

If you will, turn to II Corinthians 5. This is Paul speaking, giving an idea to the people in Corinth and to us, about what kind of job he really had; what his authority was.

II Corinthians 5:9-11 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. [As a minister of Christ his first responsibility was to please Jesus Christ, the Head of the church.] For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord [the fear of God], we persuade men [Notice what he said: We persuade men as ministers of God]; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences [meaning you know this is the way he was].

Think about that. The overall aim of a minister of God is to please Him as a good and faithful servant. We know that we are under judgment according to our works. Meaning, how well we accomplish our assigned tasks from Him.

So, in the fear of God, knowing He is watching us, and He is there, and He has all authority in heaven and on earth, we persuade people. We do not browbeat them. We do not force them to do one thing or another. We persuade them.

Our job as ministers is to lead you by our powers of persuasion, however good or bad they may be, to an inescapable conclusion. That is, you say, “But of course! That’s what God wants of us.” because we are reading it from the Scripture, we are expounding it out of our experiences, we are allowing the Spirit of God to inspire us to say the things that will strike you in a way that you will be persuaded to do what is good and right.

And do you know what? If we do our jobs right, you will follow. We do not have to drag you anywhere, we do not have to get behind you with a stick or lash or cattle prod or whatever, if you are persuaded, you will follow; you will do what is right on your own. We do not have to make you do anything, or force you to do anything, because in the fear of God, we are using the gifts that God has given us to persuade you that this is the right way to go.

Think of this. What was just said in II Corinthians 5:9-11 was written by the same man who had the authority from the priests in Jerusalem to hail men and women out of their homes into prison, because they were in a “sect” following a man named Jesus. He knew the difference between the physical, civil, political type of power that the Jews gave men like Saul, and what Jesus Christ demanded of apostles like Paul. He knew the difference between physical and spiritual authority from personal experience, and he said that this is the way of Christ. Not that other way that the high priest was using in Jerusalem.

Let us see where his argument leads. Let us continue in II Corinthians 5 where Paul reaches a conclusion:

II Corinthians 5:16-20 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. [Notice how far he had come from physical authority to spiritual authority. He is saying, “I’ve come so far that I don’t regard anybody in terms of their flesh—their physicality.] Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. [Things have moved into a spiritual condition, a spiritual circumstance, a spiritual sphere of awareness.] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

He pleads; he implores; he persuades.

So, Paul looks on the people of God as all new creations of God to be treated with great care and respect because God has chosen them, and formed them into what they are now, putting them on the path that is crossed with His, and he, having the spiritual authority of an apostle of God, had to care for them with kid-gloves. His ministry to the church, then, was one of reconciliation—that is, he felt that it was his job as an apostle and minister of God to do what he could to erase the differences between us who have been called into the church, and God. He wants to do what he can to persuade us to do the things that will erase the differences between us and God that keep us apart. He is trying to bring us back together.

That is what we do. We see, maybe, trends, or know of a specific instance, or whatever it is, we know that is dividing us from God. And it is our job to persuade you to overcome that problem so that we are all drawn closer to God and be reconciled with Him. And when we do this, when we work on erasing those differences between us and God, that is, helping you to become more godly, then we also take a great step forward in erasing the differences between and among ourselves. Because we are all becoming more like God, and we are all going to get along that much better. So, he calls his job that of an ambassador who pleads and implores two opposing sides to come together to reach agreement.

So, a church leader cannot make or force anyone to do anything. We do not have the authority to run people’s lives! I do not want the pressure of running anybody’s life. I have a hard enough time with my own! We do not have the right or the authority to make decisions for you. We persuade you to make the right decisions on spiritual matters, on moral choices, on behaviors that involve God, because there are some behaviors that God does not care a whole lot about, like what model car you drive. Or what color it should be. So what kind of car you drive is probably out of bounds. But if you are driving your spouse to drink, that is a whole other matter! That is a spiritual matter, and we may have to say something.

Where you live may makes no difference at all in the greater scheme of things, but how you live as Christians makes all the difference in the world. And that is where our comments are directed.

It used to be that way in the Worldwide Church of God; people would come and ask the minister, “What color should I paint my living room?” Or “Should I drive a Mazda or get the Toyota?” Those things are not in our purview. I may have a few opinions about things, what is that going to get you?

But, when it comes to spiritual matters, that is where our authority kicks in.

The fifth and final point regarding principles of church leadership is, the job description of a minister is shepherd.

Turn to I Peter 5.

I Peter 5:1-4 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder [This is Peter! He is not saying that with all his authority he is going to tell you what to do.] and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by constraint but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

Ministers, leaders in the church, whatever your position, need to keep this exhortation constantly in mind when dealing with the brethren. We have been called to be shepherds; to lead, to feed, and tend God’s sheep for as long as they are in our care, from wherever they come. Shepherds are not like cattle drovers.

Shepherds lead sheep. They do not drive them. They walk in front of the flock, and the flock, knowing their shepherd’s voice, follows. Shepherds must provide a diet that is good for the sheep, not necessarily what the sheep want to eat, you are not goats which are notorious for eating anything, and sheep will do the same thing unless they are led to green pastures.

Finally, sheep require a lot of care, because sheep, though not stupid animals, are apt to wander off, apt to get into trouble, apt to pick up diseases, and apt to being anxious and nervous and uncertain.

You may want to find a copy of Philip Keller’s, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, because he has a lot of good stories in there about how sheep need to be treated. It is very insightful.

It is a minister’s job to know his flock, and to be helpful in ways that will cause them to follow him as he follows Christ into the Kingdom of God.

What did Jesus tell Peter to do? It was the exact same thing we find in John 21.

John 21:15-17 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Feed My lambs." He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Tend My sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep.”

Why did Peter exhort us to do this as elders and servants in the church of God? Because that is exactly what Jesus Christ told him to do. He was just passing on the instructions—feed My lambs; tend My sheep; feed My sheep. This is what he needed to do as a servant of Christ out of love for Christ. That is why Jesus asked the question, “Do you love Me?” And he said, “Of course I do.” Well then, Christ said, “Show Me! Feed My sheep.” Because what you do for the sheep is what you do for the Great Shepherd of the sheep. So essentially, He says to Peter, if you love Me, Peter, you will feed and tend My flock. That will show your love for Me.” And should our service in the church of God reflect our love for Him.

So, using Peter’s experience, which he concentrates in I Peter 5:2-3, our service as shepherds should be done willingly, eagerly; and place heavy emphasis on being godly examples to the flock. And He follows this with another exhortation to submission and humility in,

I Peter 5:5-7 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.

Let us finish in John 10. John 10 and Psalm 23 speak a lot about the shepherd/sheep relationship. What we have to understand overall, is that shepherds know their sheep, and they provide what their sheep need; and the sheep need to know their shepherd. And when they do, they willingly and even eagerly follow him because he sacrifices himself to give them what they need.

John 10:14-15 “I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.”

This kind of attitude, this kind of service produces respect and loyalty. Whereas an authoritarian approach, which was often used in the Worldwide Church of God, which frankly, probably came out of the military at some point, will produce abuses, and disaffection. And that is exactly what it did over time.

The church leader, then, following Christ’s example as Chief Shepherd must make leading, tending, and feeding his foremost activities in his ministry. Like Paul being willing to spend his life for the benefit of the brethren, and not himself. A minister—any leader in the church—cannot go wrong following the example of Jesus Christ as the Great Shepherd of the Sheep. That is our aim.