Spiritual Leadership
We should always select and appoint
leaders in the church who are qualified spiritually.
Here's Gene to explain this Principle:
How do we get from the book of Judges
to the church?
Well in looking at Principles that emerge
from the Bible and particularly from
the Old Testament, we want to learn
what God is saying to us.
Not just from a particular passage
in the Old Testament but how God's plan
unfolds all the way to the New Testament.
And what His ultimate plan is.
And so we're dealing with a Principle of leadership
here which I think is very, very significant
as we look at the whole of Scripture.
So let's go to Judges chapter 3, verses 9 and following.
And this is what we read:
The Israelites cried out to the LORD. ...
They're in the midst now of their sinful behavior.
They're in the midst of being captured
by their enemies. Subdued by their enemies:
...[And so] the Israelites cried out to the LORD.
So the LORD raised up Othniel son of Kenaz,
Caleb's youngest brother as a deliverer
to save the Israelites...
And this is one of the first judges that was raised up
when they cried out to the Lord.
And notice it says:
...The Spirit of the LORD was on him,
and he judged Israel.
Now I want to make a couple of observations
here that I think will help us
to understand something.
Because when you see the words
"the Spirit of the Lord was on him",
you would assume that that man would be
a spiritual man. But not necessarily so.
Now in this particular case we know
that this was Caleb's youngest brother.
But we don't know whether he was more spiritual
than Caleb or less spiritual.
Caleb was indeed a godly man, along with Joshua.
Remember Joshua and Caleb
who obeyed the Lord.
But we really don't know anything
about his brother--his younger brother
in terms of his spiritual status.
Now here is a very important observation
that we need to understand.
This is the first observation I'd like to make
from what's happening here.
The fact that God's Spirit came on these judges,
giving them unusual power and insight,
in no way guaranteed that they measured up
to God's standard spiritually.
That's a very important observation.
For example, later on you're going to see Samson.
Samson was not a high-quality person
when it came to spirituality. And yet God chose him.
And we see that all the way through the book of Judges.
We actually see God's sovereign mercy
and grace in raising up individuals
to give direction to the children of Israel,
to lead them out of their idolatry.
It doesn't mean that they were spiritual men
and that's why they were chosen.
That may sound strange but it's true.
The fact is that God didn't really have anything
to choose from in terms of being men
who really followed God.
So God in His sovereignty used people--
came on them with His Holy Spirit--
regardless of their spiritual condition.
If we understand that Principle, you understand
some unique things even in the New Testament.
Now the second observation shows
God's mercy when we notice this:
To comprehend why this happened
during the period of the judges--
that is, the selection of these individuals
with the Spirit of God came on them,
in spite of their spiritual status.
To comprehend why this happened
during the period of judges, we must understand
that God chose to use people as they were,
not because of godly character.
Just as He chose Abraham out of a pagan world
while he was yet worshipping false gods,
so He appointed judges to deliver Israel
from their enemies, without regard
to their spiritual status.
When God chose Abraham, he was a pagan.
He was an idolater.
He was worshiping false gods.
But God began with people where they were.
And in that particular situation
there was hardly anyone righteous--no, not one.
Job may have been an exception,
living sometime in that particular era.
But God chose Abraham and later
God chose these judges.
Now there's an interesting development here.
And this is one of the things that's important
when you're studying the Bible,
is to see the unfolding of God's revelation.
Because once God chose Abraham--
gave him the promise.
Moses came along.
The children of Israel--actually through Joseph--
came down into Egypt.
We see the people expanding, growing.
God's blessing because His plan is on schedule
to eventually bring the seed of Abraham.
That was Jesus Christ. To bring salvation to the world.
We see the children of Israel led, then, out of Egypt
by Moses and came to Mount Sinai.
And in some respects you have a new era
in terms of people knowing right from wrong.
And so if you go to the book of Exodus
when Moses was incredibly under pressure,
leading the children of Israel.
When his father-in-law Jethro came. And saw
that Moses was wearing out these two-million-plus
people that were there in the wilderness.
And he was the judge and the jury.
And so Jethro--under I think God's guidance--
gave him some wisdom:
[But] you should select from all the people
[and notice] able men, God-fearing,
trustworthy, and hating bribes. ...
In other words, there were people that came
out of Egypt that were exposed eventually
to God's leadership and God's laws.
That began to live a different lifestyle
than those that were in Egypt--
at least the bulk of those that were in Egypt.
And they were to:
...Place them over the people
as officials of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.
So here we see a very important emphasis
on the selection and appointing of leaders
who are qualified spiritually.
Because it's very specific here.
They were to be able men, god-fearing,
trustworthy, hating bribes.
By the way, that did not define
most of the judges later on.
That didn't define them.
And one of the reasons it doesn't define them
is that they did not exist--
men of that kind of character.
So what we have here is:
During the time of Moses, we began to see
the law being given.
An exposure to what is right and what is wrong
as we see it in the Ten Commandments.
We see Joshua then replacing Moses
after the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness
for forty years because of their disobedience.
And by the way, because of a lot of failure
on the part of leaders who failed God.
And even the spies that went in.
It was Joshua and Caleb that came back
and says: We can do it.
They were men of character.
But the number of men of character was very small
in terms of the leadership in Israel.
And of course, Joshua continued that leadership--
leading up to the end of the taking of the land.
Where he challenged them and said:
Choose this day whom you're going to serve.
As for me and my house,
we're going to serve the Lord.
Well that generation did serve the Lord
until after Joshua died.
And we read about it earlier. That a whole
new generation arose that didn't know the Lord.
And from that point forward, things
went downhill--really went downhill.
And you see, that leads us
into the period of the judges.
And from the period of the judges, you go in
as we'll see, to the appointment of kings.
With Saul being the first king.
Then we see eventually the kingdom is split.
And you have the northern kingdoms.
And most of the kings of Israel
were reprobate--idolaters, evil men.
They were not godly men.
You had a few kings in Judah
--the southern tribes--that were godly.
Rediscovering the law. Teaching the people.
But generally speaking, you do not have examples
in the Old Testament of godly leaders.
So God used what He could in order to lead
these people and to be merciful to these people.
Now another observation is,
it comes up to the time of Jesus.
And when Jesus Christ came into this world,
He didn't find twelve mature men.
The apostles, when He chose them,
were not mature, godly men.
And that's what this third observation is all about:
Even Jesus Christ launched His ministry
with very immature men.
He did not choose the apostles
based on their spiritual maturity,
but rather on their potential
to become dedicated followers.
And you might say: Well why didn't He choose
dedicated followers if He's
going to launch a church?
It's very easy--there weren't any.
That was the state of Israel.
Now that doesn't mean that there weren't some
that were more godly perhaps, like Simeon.
But he was a man that was ready to die.
And he had been a worshipful man.
Along with [Anna]--who was in the temple--
who was a godly woman.
But these are exceptions in Israel.
So you see, God in a sense, is repeating the story
as He comes into this new era of the new covenant
and the New Testament.
And beginning with these men.
And even there of course, one of them
turned against Jesus--Judas himself.
So eleven out of these men
then became godly men.
And once the Holy Spirit came. And once the church
was born. Then we move into a whole new development
in terms of spiritual leadership.
And that's why it's important
to see this whole flow, you see.
From the choosing of Abraham--
after Noah of course.
And Abraham and then the unfolding
of this whole story regarding leadership.
And of course, the book of Judges is really
one of the low points.
Though the kings were certainly representative
of a low point in Israel as well.
And so with the coming of Jesus and launching
the church, He introduced us to a whole new concept.
And that's why this Principle is so important--
built out of this Old Testament story.
And let me just read the Principle again
so you'll have focus:
We should always select and appoint leaders
in the church who are qualified spiritually.
So that's a very important Principle.
So that leads us to this question:
Since we are to appoint men and women
to leadership in the church
only if they're qualified spiritually,
what are some practical ideas
for preparing potential leaders?
Well one of the things that I think is very important
that's illustrated even in the New Testament.
Even in pagan cities. Is that when Paul
and Barnabas appointed elders, for example,
in Lystra and Iconium and Antioch,
on their first missionary journey.
And they did appoint elders about a year
and a half in, after establishing churches
in those pagan cities.
They went back through those cities,
we read in Acts chapter 14.
Appointed elders in every church.
And the question is: Where did they find men
that were mature enough to appoint them
as spiritual leaders that quickly?
And I think the answer is that there were
God-fearing individuals that matured rather quickly.
And even were godly in some respects
--at least they were committed to biblical values--
before they became believers.
An example of that would be a man like Barnabas
who was from Crete.
Who was converted to Christ.
Became an incredible example.
Eventually became a missionary. A godly man.
You have the seven deacons that were selected
in Acts chapter 6.
They all have Greek names which means
they were Grecian Jews.
And they were God-fearing.
That doesn't mean they were believers
until they became believers
when the Holy Spirit came. They heard the gospel.
They became believers and their lives
were transformed very quickly.
We need to follow Jesus' model.
And that is that there are people that need
mentoring over a long period of time.
They need experience.
But you see, there are people that came to the Lord--
as Paul, and Barnabas, and Timothy as they traveled.
And later Paul and Silas on the journeys
--Gentiles who came to Christ.
But it took them a lot longer to become godly men
and women in order to fulfill those roles.
And yet that's a process that needs to be in place--
is the equipping of people over a process of time.
Through mentoring, through small groups,
through serving as assistant leaders,
through training classes, and so forth.
So in order to carry out this Principle,
we need a plan for equipping leaders.