A Biblical Leader

Here is the conclusion of my kingship series.

Part 1 (Principles for a King)
Part 2 (Ignoring the Principles)
Part 3 (Our Selfish Reasons for a King)
Part 4 (The Problem with a King)

I do not want to be misconstrued as teaching that there is no such thing as leadership in the church. We see in the New Testament that God appointed elders and deacons to oversee and take care of the ministries of the church, but I think what we read in the New Testament is much different than what is experienced in most churches in America today.

We see throughout the Old Testament that God desired for His people to not have an earthly king. Nothing in the New Testament overturns this, so the style of leadership that we should see in the church should not be the top-down authoritarian leadership of a king.

The style of leadership that we are to model is the style Jesus used and taught.

In Mark 9:33-35, we see a great picture of true biblical leadership: “Then they came to Capernaum; and when the was in the house he asked them, 'What were you arguing about on the way?' But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, 'Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.'”

Not only did Jesus teach servant leadership, we see this leadership modeled by Jesus throughout the Gospels. We see it most dramatically at the time when Jesus washed the disciples' feet and at the cross. Jesus did not have to get on his hands and knees to clean the dirty feet of his followers, but that is what true biblical leadership does. He did not have to hang on the cross and sacrifice his life so that others might live, but that is what true biblical leadership does. True biblical leadership is self-sacrificing and seeks the needs of others before their own.

Kingly leadership and top-down corporate leadership is about making decisions and having people below you implement those decisions. Biblical leadership is about getting your hands and knees dirty cleaning off the filth of those around you. It is about taking on as much of the burden of a brother or sister as you can to help them through a tough situation. It is about being the least in a real, literal sense.

These leadership principles do not just apply to leadership in a church. We are all leaders in some area of our life, whether it is to our family, our community, our friends, or our neighbors. We must make sure that we do not lord things over others but sacrifice ourselves for their best interests. That is what Jesus did, and that is what we are called to do. I want to leave us with these words of Jesus. If they apply to every Christian, they definitely apply to leaders.

Matthew 16:24-26
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?”

The Problem with a King

This is part 4 of my articles on kingship.

Part 1 (Principles for a King)
Part 2 (Ignoring the Principles)
Part 3 (Our Selfish Reasons for a King)

In 1 Samuel 12:11-25, God deals with some of the consequences of having a king.
Verse 14 contains the scariest scenario about setting up leaders above us: "If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well."

Once we have placed leadership over us, our wellness is no longer just dependent upon our faithfulness in serving the Lord. It becomes dependent upon our leader also faithfully serving the Lord. It is only when we are faithful serving the Lord and when our leader is also faithful in serving the Lord that all will be well. When we place ourselves under formal leadership, our blessings and curses appear to be linked with those that the leadership will receive.

Asking for a king was a great wickedness for the people of Israel. Even through the people committed this great wickedness, God was still going to use them to bring about His will for His name's sake. God had chosen to link Himself to the people of Israel; other nation's image of God would be based upon the actions of His people. Despite their great wickedness, He would continue to bring about His will through them. God commanded them to not be afraid of this evil act they committed. They could correct their wrong decisions if they would continue to serve the Lord with all of their heart and not chase after empty things.

We find ourselves in a similar situation. We have made "kings" all around us. We might call them Pope, presidents, chairmen, pastors, or ministers. These people are any that we place in a position between us and Him. But we need not lose hope. Just as Samuel vowed to continue to pray for those who had made the great wicked mistake of choosing a king, we should continue to pray for ourselves and our brothers and sisters. All the while we need to focus on fearing the Lord and serving Him faithfully with all of our heart. We need no king but God.

Our Selfish Reasons for a King

This is Part 3 of my articles on kingship.

Part 1 (Principles for a King)
Part 2 (Ignoring the Principles)

Our Selfish Reasons For A King

Israel desired a king for what appears like three reasons. The judges that followed Samuel were corrupt and they wanted someone to rule over them rightly, all the other nations had one, and they wanted someone to fight their battles.

I think those are some of the same reasons we want formal leadership in our religious organizations. We get sick of the wrong decisions being made and feel that if we appoint a leader, then right decisions will be made. We feel that we need to look like all of the other organizations in our culture that are respected. And we don't want to struggle and do things on our own. We want our leaders to make our role as Christians easier to carry.

The thing is that God is willing to do those things for us already. God is at work in our midst without formal leaders. History has shown that having formal leaders brings about just as many - maybe even more - problems than not having them brought. Our structure will not be what gains us respect by those around us; it is faithfulness to God that should do that. If our faithfulness doesn't gain respect, then respect really isn't something that we should care about attaining. When it comes to our own battles, we can be assured that God is willing to make our burden just what we can carry. He states that he will be with us to take care of that burden when it becomes too much. We can trust God to rule over us rightly, to provide the proper structure for us, and to equip us to fight our battles.

God submitted his actions to the will of his people despite that will being wrong. That is an amazing and disturbing thing about God. When His people will something, He will let them attain what they will. He seems to hope that through attaining their wrong desires people's hearts will be transformed into desiring that which God really wants for them.

The people wanted a king. God did not want the people to have any other king besides Himself. In the end, God gave the people the king they wanted. I think the same has happened with the church in America. God has given us all of the wrong things we have desired in the hope that in the end we will desire what God wants us to desire. We are to be God's people under His leadership. We need no middlemen. We need no mammoth organizations that require us to have the leadership structures necessary to run them. We need to be a collection of people fully committed to being the people of God, bringing His will into our reality, and sharing His redeeming light to everyone around us. When we are the people of God all other things will line up into proper perspective.

Part 4 will be next week.