Qualifications for Leadership
When we select leaders for the church,
we are to focus on internal spiritual qualities.
And that is in contrast to what we see in
the Old Testament. Because the focus in
the Old Testament was on external qualities.
Now there's a reason for that.
For one reason, they didn't have any
internal qualities; those were beginning to develop.
And it's amazing how God used people in
spite of their weaknesses--their sins.
You see that throughout the book of Judges,
where God just revealed Himself.
And He chose people--even people like
Samson, the judges, even a man like Gideon.
And you look at their lives.
They were living really in idolatry.
And many times God just chose them to be a leader.
And He didn't choose them based upon
their internal qualities.
But once you get to the New Testament
you have a whole different perspective.
Now let's go back to Leviticus and you
see the emphasis on external qualities.
The LORD spoke to Moses:
"Tell Aaron: None of your descendants
throughout your generation who has a
physical defect is to come near to
present the food of his God."
In other words, as much as humanly possible,
these priests were to be
individuals who did not have any malformities.
They were to be as perfect as possible
without physical defect--like blindness,
or hearing problems, or other problems with limbs,
of this type of thing.
And so here we have a statement of that.
Moving on a little bit further,
in verses 23 and 24:
"But because he has a defect, he must
not go near the curtain or approach the altar.
He is not to desecrate My sanctuaries,
for I am the LORD who sets them apart. ..."
And by the way, that's a very significant word--
God set them apart.
Regardless of their internal qualities,
He set them apart based on their external qualities.
...Moses said this to Aaron and his sons
and to all the Israelites.
And then of course if you go to verse 9,
we read this:
They must keep My instruction[s]
or they will be guilty and die
because they profane it;
I am the Lord who sets them apart.
I mean this is a serious business and so
God is selecting these individuals.
Now the interesting thing is that this
physical wholeness applied to animals--
the sacrifices--it had to be a lamb without blemish.
And that was external.
And obviously, here with the priests and
the Levites who served, they would be
selected based upon these physical qualities.
The interesting thing is--and let me give
you a summary statement:
From an external point of view, Jesus
Christ would not have qualified to be a
priest in Israel according to the
specifications outlined in Leviticus.
Yet, today He sits at the right hand of
God as our mediator and intercessor.
Today Jesus Christ sits at the right hand
of God and we're not sure--
I've been thinking a lot about that lately
as I've been praying and thinking in my mind.
There's Jesus in this physical form sitting
at the right hand of the Father,
which is hard to even conceive of
because God is Spirit. He's everywhere.
And when we pray, Jesus is that
mediator that is representing us to the
Father because of His perfect sacrifice,
in spite of the fact that He was bruised
and bleeding, and He has those nail prints in His hands.
And will have throughout all eternity.
When we see Jesus Christ we'll be able,
probably, to see those nail prints.
He is not going to have a perfect body in
the sense of "without blemish."
It'll be a glorified body, but those
nail prints will probably still be there.
At least I think that's probably what will happen.
We know that when He arose from the
grave and He appeared to Thomas in His
glorified body, He said:
Come and put your fingers in the nail prints;
put your hand in My side.
Now the point I'm making is that even
Jesus Christ would not have been
qualified to serve as a priest in Israel.
He was bruised and bleeding.
And in Isaiah, if you want to read an
incredible graphic presentation of what
He looked like, Isaiah 53:2:
He had no form or splendor that we should look at Him, no appearance that we should desire Him.
And you see a picture of Jesus Christ in
His imperfections when He went to the cross.
And particularly when He died for
the sins of the world. Now that's interesting.
The other interesting thing I want to
point out to you is that the apostle Paul,
who is the great apostle to the Gentiles,
would have been disqualified from being
a great missionary and a great apostle if
he were chosen based on his perfections.
We read in Galatians 6:17:
From now on, let no one cause me trouble,
because I carry the marks of Jesus on my body.
And what's he talking about?
Well if you read, in 2nd Corinthians
particularly, he was beaten five times
with forty lashes, minus one.
He was bruised; he was bleeding;
he was stoned, and left for dead.
He probably had blemishes in his eyes
because we think that might have been
his thorn in the flesh that he asked the
Lord to remove, and God said: My grace
is sufficient for you.
And in one place he said: You'll see with
what's large letters I sign this
document, this letter.
He would dictate the letter and he'd
have a stenographer who would take it down.
But he couldn't even see what was
written because of his eyesight, probably.
So here's a man--a great man of God who
was not physically perfect.
He would not have qualified to be
a priest in Israel.
Interesting, interesting difference, isn't it?
So you come to the New Testament,
and you have a whole new concept which
emphasizes the internal, not the external.
And there's a Principle that we stated from 1st Timothy.
And it comes from chapter 3, particularly.
And the Principle is this, that:
Leaders who are appointed to serve in
shepherding roles in the church are to be
selected based on a comprehensive
biblical criteria for measuring Christian maturity.
And that biblical criteria is not based on externals.
It's not based on our physical appearance.
It's based on our internal qualities.
It's based upon our character.
And so you see a whole different
perspective, now that Jesus Christ died
for the sins of the world, was resurrected.
We're born again--able to serve Him
based upon a changed heart.
And so consequently God requires that
those of us who are spiritual leaders
under the new covenant, manifest
certain qualities that are very significant
and very important to be a spiritual leader.
That profile--let me just run through the passage,
particularly 1st Timothy chapter 3,
and you have 15 qualities there.
And if you go to Titus you have some
additional qualities.
But let me just walk you through these very quickly. For example:
Above reproach means having a good reputation.
And that good reputation is not based
upon what we look like physically--
it's based upon what we look like in our hearts.
And one of the most important qualities
that we're to reflect as a spiritual
leader is the second [quality].
As a spiritual leader is moral purity.
It simply means being a man of one woman.
It means being morally pure--
not guilty of sexual immorality.
And that's interesting because that is a
very significant reflection of who we are
in terms of character.
Number 3: We are to be self-controlled,
balanced in words and actions.
That's not a physical quality.
That's an internal quality that is reflected
through the way we speak, the way we talk,
the way we relate to people.
Another quality is sensible--
wise, humble.
Again you have an internal quality.
Number 5: Respectable--a good role model.
Respectable comes from a Greek word
"kosmios," which is a word from which we
get the English word "cosmetics."
Our lives would be like cosmetics to the gospel--kosmios.
"Kosmeo" is the verb that is used,
which sometimes is translated "to adorn."
Our lives are to adorn the gospel.
That means being respectable--
making the gospel look good to people because
of the way we live.
Number 6: Hospitable--these are all
stated there in 1st Timothy chapter 3,
for the selection of spiritual leaders--
which means "unselfish."
It means that we're generous.
Number 7: An able teacher--more aptly
actually, translated I think,
"able to teach"--a capacity to communicate sensitively.
It's not talking about our method as
much it is the spirit in which we
communicate. And that's a powerful internal quality.
Number 8: We're not to be addicted to wine--
not addicted to any substances, obviously.
Not to be controlled by these external substances.
Number 9: not a bully--not abusive.
And you know you can be abusive--
not just with your fists but with your words.
You can tear people apart with your words.
You can leave them really in a state of
utter despair just with words.
And so consequently we are to be people
who are sensitive in our language and
when we communicate and certainly
not physically abusive.
Number 10: Gentle--and these of course
are elaborating on what we just looked at--
being sensitive, loving, kind.
Number 11 is: Not quarrelsome--
not argumentative, not divisive.
You see an inter-relationship here in these qualities.
It's not just: You're this and this and this and this.
But You're this and this and this.
And they're all interrelated,
which is really a reflection of
Jesus Christ and who He really is.
And that is what we're to be like.
And these are goals for every Christian,
but especially if we're going to be a
spiritual leader in the church.
So number 12 is: Not greedy--not materialistic.
Number 13: Manages his own household competently.
That's how you shepherd, how you lead
as a good husband, as a father,
if indeed you're married.
Number 14 is: Not to be a new convert--
that is, to be a seasoned Christian,
a mature Christian, one who's learned over the years.
Number 15: A good reputation, even among unbelievers.
And so, even as unbelievers look at who we
are as spiritual leaders.
From the way we live our lives we
develop a good reputation.
Not just with those in the church
but those outside the church.
Now, you say: You know, that's an incredibly high standard.
It is. But these are really goals for every Christian.
And this is how we develop that good reputation.
These qualities of life.
And those are goals that we will really have
for our lives, the rest of our life,
until Jesus takes us home and conforms
us totally into His image.
So what we have here in the New Testament is an emphasis on the internal, not the external.
Now you say: Why the difference?
Well, where was God going to find
individuals in the Old Testament who
reflected these qualities?
Basically there weren't any.
Even Moses was not one of those men.
God chose Moses. In 40 years, growing up in Egypt,
in some respects some say he learned to be somebody.
At least he thought he was.
And then 40 years in the wilderness to learn
to be nobody. To the place where he was humbled.
And then another 40 years for God to use
him through what he learned in the first 80 years.
So God--even when God chose him,
God took him through an incredible process of growth.
And you see that in his life throughout his
career as a leader in Israel.
So God had to equip these
men on the run, as it were.
He couldn't wait to find mature individuals;
He had to begin with what He had.
And you see that all the way through
the Old Testament.
And of course, obviously there were men
like Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and
men of character, but they were few
and far between.
So basically God was establishing and
setting the stage for the coming of
Jesus Christ, so that we really know what maturity is.
And Jesus reflected that maturity.
And this profile is really a reflection of Jesus Christ,
which is a lifetime process of being
set apart, as it were, for ministry and serving.
Or as a Christian because these are goals really for every Christian.