Selecting Spiritual Leaders
Spiritual qualifications that reflect
godly character are to be used when
appointing spiritual leaders.
Here's Gene:
This principle actually illustrates the unfolding nature of the redemptive story. Because as
Luke was writing what we call the book of Acts, he's unfolding a story--things that
are happening. Things that have happened. That he's actually been a witness to himself.
As he's writing this letter--composing this, while he's by Paul's side--probably there in
Rome when Paul was chained to a Roman guard.
So notice the unfolding story. And I've already underscored this. But let me just review it.
"So when they had come together,
they asked him,
"Lord, are you restoring the kingdom
to Israel at this time?..."
And what did Jesus say?
In essence he said:
This is an unfolding story. You're going to find out more as you obey me.
But he said to them,
"It is not for you to know times or
periods that the Father has set
by his own authority."
And of course, he then told them to go back to
Jerusalem to wait the coming of the Spirit,
and then they would be his witnesses beginning in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and then to
the ends of the earth.
But we see the unfolding, now, of the leadership story.
You see, there are sub-themes that work through an overall story.
And one of the themes that goes through the book of Acts is the story of the appointing
of leadership.
And that's one of the first things that we see here.
Because Peter gets up and he quotes a psalm, which is prophetic.
He actually states it in Acts 1:20, but this is actually a prophecy from Psalm 109, verse 8.
"It is written in the book of Psalms: Let his dwelling become desolate; let no one live
in it; and let someone else take his position."
David was prophesying what would happen to Judas--his betrayal.
But he was also prophesying--and Peter quotes this prophecy--that we've got to replace Judas.
But notice what they did, which is really fascinating.
First of all, Peter said, the man who replaces Judas has to have specific apostolic qualifications.
What were those qualifications?
"Therefore, from among the men who have accompanied us during the whole time the Lord Jesus
went in and out among us--beginning from the baptism of John until the day he was taken up from us--..."
from among these, it is necessary that one become a witness with us of his resurrection."
Now think about that.
He says, these two men--and there are two of them. But one of these men has to have been a witness
of everything from the time of the baptism of John, when John baptized Jesus.
It means that this this man that they're going to choose, no doubt traveled with Jesus
many times. No doubt saw the miracles that Jesus worked. We don't know which ones because
Jesus worked a lot of miracles.
He no doubt was at the crucifixion, standing among the crowd.
He was probably among those who saw Jesus after the resurrection.
We don't know exactly where or when.
And perhaps he was on the Mt. of Olives when Jesus ascended. And was listening to what
the angels in white said to the apostles.
But what we have here now, next, is two candidates which I've called, The Selection Process.
"So they proposed two: Joseph,
called Barsabbas, who was also known
as Justus, and Matthias. ..."
Mathias then was the second indiviual.
And then they, that is the apostles, prayed,
"...You, Lord, know everyone's hearts;
show which of these two you have
chosen to take the place in this
apostolic ministry that Judas left to
go where he belongs."
Those are tragic words, by the way.
And then we read:
"They cast lots for them,
and the lot fell on Matthias
and he was added to the eleven apostles."
So once again they have twelve apostles.
Now the interesting thing is that they were following a methodology that was actually
referred to in the Old Testament.
For example, Proverbs 16:33, Casting Lots.
"The lot is cast into the lap, but its every
decision is from the LORD."
God used this methodology.
But the interesting thing is we never see this repeated in any other place in the
book of Acts--following what they did in choosing Matthias.
Now we do see that in the Gospels, they were still practicing in the priesthood with Zechariah.
Remember? And Luke made reference to this
right at the very beginning of the Gospel.
"In the days of King Herod of Judea,
there was a priest of Abijah's division named Zechariah.
When his division was on duty and
he was serving as priest before God,
it happened that he was chosen
[How?] by lot, according to the custom
of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary
of the Lord and burn incense."
Now at this point in time, I'm not sure how much this was a spiritual process, because
there was a lot of carnality within Judaism.
But we see that casting of the lots was done in Judaism, even during the time of Jesus.
Now later, as you follow the unfolding story, in terms of leadership, we see revelation
by the Spirit.
This happened quite a few years later.
The church at Antioch has been started. A Gentile church of believers.
And notice we read,
"Now in the church in Antioch there
were prophets and teachers..."
Those are very special gifts
because in Corinthians Paul referred to the
greater gifts, which were apostles, prophets, and teachers.
And so here we have prophets and teachers.
Who were they?
"...Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, a close friend of Herod
the tetrarch, and Saul. ..."
He wasn't yet called Paul.
"As they were worshiping the Lord
and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
"Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul
for the work to which I have called them."
"[And] then after they had fasted, prayed,
and laid hands on them, they sent them off."
Now it's interesting, that as I said, in the book of Acts you never see them using
the method again of casting lots.
And I would also say, you never see specifically, the Holy Spirit speaking directly to a group
of men and saying, quote,
set apart for me Barnabas and Saul.
You see the story is unfolding, and as you move along in the unfolding story, the next
thing you see is selection by character.
And you see that happening when Paul chose Timothy--when he came back from Lystra on
the second missionary journey.
"Paul went on to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a
disciple named Timothy, the son of a
believing Jewish woman..."
She probably came to Christ
when Paul was there on his first journey.
"...but his father was a Greek..."
In other words, his father was a pagan--
probably worshiping the Greek gods in the temple of
Zeus right outside the city of Lystra.
"The brothers and sisters of Lystra and
Iconium spoke highly of him."
Now think about that.
Spoke highly of whom? Timothy.
And Paul wanted Timothy to go with him.
What was the basis of his selection?
Timothy's reputation and Timothy's character.
Now, the story continues to unfold and gets more specific, because once Paul got out of
prison, the first time, he went to Crete.
He went, actually, back to Ephesus as well.
And when he wrote letters to Timothy and Titus, he spelled out specifically how we should
select spiritual leaders in the church.
Not just good reputation.
But what is a good reputation?
How do you determine it?
And so we see, just for example.
Look at Titus, a letter to Titus.
Titus. He left him on the Island of Crete
to appoint elders in every church and in every city.
And so Paul says specifically,
"As an overseer [or as an elder
or as a pastor] of God's household,
[God's church,] he must be blameless..."
which means: he must have a good reputation.
And how do you determine a good reputation?
Well Paul goes on to say:
"...not arrogant, not hot-tempered,
not an excessive drinker, not a bully,
not greedy for money,
but [by contrast,]
hospitable, loving what is good,
sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled,
...holding to the faithful message as taught,
so that he will be able both
to encourage with sound teaching
and to refute those who contradict it."
So, what is the principle that emerges from the unfolding story in the book of Acts in
terms of appointing leaders in the church?
Here it is:
Spiritual qualifications that reflect
godly character are to be used when
appointing spiritual leaders."
And that's the norm today.
And so here's the Reflection and the Response question:
"Why is character so important in selecting
and appointing spiritual leaders?"
This is extremely important because if you appoint men without character, they can have
a lot of skill.
They may have a lot of ability.
They may have a lot of knowledge.
But if they don't have character, they can use that knowledge and that skill to lead
the church astray. To influence people negatively.
So Paul said one of the first things you look for is character. And you build on character.
And that is so important in relationship to appointing people who are
serving in the church of Jesus Christ.
People have asked me:
Gene, what is one of the most significant
things you've learned in all of your
church-planting experience?
And I've been in church planting directly since 1972.
And if you're listening 10 years from now you can calculate.
Because I'll probably be with the Lord Jesus in heaven.
But the fact of the matter is, one of the greatest lessons that I learned is
to appoint spiritual leaders who have character.
That take these qualities seriously.
And when I have violated that principle, it has always created problems and heartaches
in relationship to the church.
So this is a powerful Principle to Live By that we need to take very, very seriously.