Spiritual Leadership
To carry out God's work in the world,
we should appoint qualified spiritual leaders.
Now that's an interesting Principle
because if you look at the context you'll
see a very significant contrast here.
Let's look at the passage. Numbers chapter 3:
The LORD spoke to Moses...
There's that phrase again.
...The Lord spoke to Moses:
Bring the tribe of Levi near and present
them to Aaron the priest to assist him.
They are to perform duties for him and
the entire community before the tent of meeting
by attending to the service of the tabernacle.
Now it's really interesting that in the Old Testament:
Qualifications for selection were based
solely on genetics--a tribal group.
It doesn't say anything about spiritual maturity.
And the reason--one of the major reasons--
if they had to be spiritually mature,
there wouldn't be anybody.
Because they were all immature,
basically, including Aaron.
Including Moses when God called him
out of the wilderness.
So we have here a selection based on genetics,
basically--tribal group.
God then proceeded to instruct the
priests and Levites regarding how to
conduct their lives.
So that's the process that we see God
established right from the
very beginning there at Mount Sinai.
And beginning to develop a leadership group
that would lead these people spiritually.
Particularly worship in the tabernacle.
Now when you go to Jesus' initial ministry,
you see in many respects that
he followed this sequence.
And there's a reason.
It's the same reason.
Let me just read this statement:
In many respects, Jesus followed this
sequence when He chose the twelve apostles.
They were not mature simply because
few if any men in Israel were qualified spiritually.
Jesus had to begin with what he had.
And I think anybody who reads the
Gospels would not say that James and
John were mature.
They were "Sons of Thunder."
They were egocentric.
They weren't ready for spiritual leadership
really, until after Jesus Christ had
ministered to them three and a half years.
And after the resurrection when they
really understood what was going on.
So Jesus, you see, had to begin with what He had.
And so you see the transition from the
Old Testament to when Jesus came to
something that is going to be very much
in contrast to leadership selection
in the Old Testament.
And in this--this transition that Jesus
brought when he came and worked
with these twelve men.
See, after Jesus equipped the apostles
and launched the church on the Day of Pentecost,
this process was reversed.
All leaders were to be born-again Christians.
And they were to manifest the
fruit of the Holy Spirit.
And you see the reason that Paul was
able to do this was because of the
coming of the Holy Spirit.
The birth of the church.
And people understanding what it
means to be mature.
And having the strength of the Holy Spirit
to be able to live for Jesus Christ
through a born-again experience.
So you see why it's so important to follow
the unfolding of the biblical story.
Because it is an unfolding story.
And that brings us to this very, very
important Principle where Paul was able
to say to the Corinthians:
Be imitators of me as I also am of Christ.
Because they were able to reflect the
image of Jesus Christ because of the
new birth and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
And this is a very, very powerful
Principle in relationship to the
New Testament and the church.
And how the church should function.
And that gives birth really to a
New Testament Principle that is focused
particularly in Paul's letter to Timothy.
1 Timothy chapter 3 and Titus chapter 1.
Where you have the qualifications for
being a spiritual leader in the church.
And I call this Principle the Doctrine of Character.
And you'll see why in a few moments.
And here's the Principle:
When using Paul's criteria...
which is outlined there in 1 Timothy chapter 3.
It's outlined in Titus chapter 1
...when using Paul's criteria for selecting
spiritual leaders, we should allow a
certain amount of freedom so as to be
culturally relevant, but we should never
compromise God's standards for maturity.
Now what do we mean by that?
What do we mean by cultural freedom?
Well, let me show you some interesting comparisons.
If you go to 1 Timothy and to Titus you
have these characteristics repeated in
both passages. For example:
Being above reproach or blameless
or having a good reputation.
Being a husband of one wife or morally pure.
Manages your own household well.
Basically those are repeated in
1 Timothy and Titus even though we're
in two different locations.
Timothy was in Ephesus, Titus was in Crete--
establishing the churches and appointing leaders.
Self-controlled is repeated in both
passages, or being sensible.
Being hospitable.
Not addicted to wine.
Not a bully.
Not greedy for money.
So you see both in those passages,
if you look at both passages you see
these characteristics repeated.
However, let's go to 1 Timothy.
And here you have characteristics you don't see in Titus:
Self-controlled, temperate. Respectable.
Able to teach is really a better way of saying that.
Gentle. Not quarrelsome.
Not a new convert.
Good reputation among outsiders.
Now if you look at what was going on in Ephesus,
you'll see why Paul zeroed in on those
particular characteristics when he wrote to Timothy.
Well, when you go to Titus, you have
characteristics that are not in 1 Timothy.
You have: Not arrogant.
Not quick tempered. Loving what is good.
Righteous. Holy. Self-controlled.
Holding to the faithful message.
So you have a certain deal of liberty and cultural freedom depending on the
needs of that particular culture.
But overall you have a Doctrine of Character.
When you put all this together, one of
the things that really becomes clear is
that spiritual leaders in the church
should have character.
And that character should be a
reflection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So we have three profiles here.
It demonstrates the cultural freedom.
But overall we see the Doctrine of Character.
But here's the other important thing:
As you look at the whole of the New Testament,
you see that these characteristics--
this Doctrine of Character--applies to every believer.
Whether you're a leader or whether you're not.
This is what God wants us to become.
By the way this is what makes a good husband,
a good wife, a good father, a good mother.
And of course, that's a significant
leadership position in itself.
So here you have a Doctrine of Character.
And these in turn--these characteristics--
become goals for every believer.
And it was on the basis of these characteristics--
putting them all together--
that I wrote a little book that God has
used for a number of years
called The Measure of a Man.
Really could be called The Measure of a Christian.
Because most of these Principles apply,
or characteristics apply, to both men and women.
So the Principle basically is:
To carry out God's work in the world,
we should appoint qualified spiritual leaders.
This is the key to a successful church ministry.
To a successful outreach.
To reach the world for Jesus Christ.
And to build up the body of Jesus Christ.
Now here is a very important question. And that is:
How does this principle apply to Christian ministries that are broader than the local church?
You see there are a lot of Christian
ministries that exist today that don't call
themselves local churches per se.
There are seminaries, there are Bible colleges,
there are evangelistic ministries.
And that's one of the freedoms that God
has given us in the Scriptures,
is to develop ministries beyond the local church.
And God has used these ministries in
tremendous ways, such as Campus Crusade,
and The Navigators, and InterVarsity
Christian Fellowship, and all the seminaries,
and the Bible colleges, and the Bible institutes,
and all of these ministries.
So the question you see is:
Since the Bible doesn't talk about these
parachurch ministries--
it doesn't talk about them specifically--
it talks about the local church.
But that doesn't limit us from having these ministries.
So the question is basically saying:
How does this Principle of the
Doctrine of Character apply to Christian ministries
that are broader than the local church?
And basically what I'd like to say in
answer to that question is that this is a
foundational Principle for all ministries--
local church and beyond.
You see when the church came into existence,
that's the only ministry that existed.
Now from that, as the Christianity spread,
and particularly in the Western culture,
I believe there was a need for broader ministries.
And we have many of them through
television and radio, and all kinds of
prison ministries, and so forth.
How does the Principle of the Doctrine
of Character relate to these ministries
since they're not mentioned in the Bible?
Well, it applies in this sense:
That this is a foundational Principle.
And if it applies in the local church,
it should apply in every other Christian ministry
that's carrying out the Great Commission.
Now why is this important?
Because I think people dichotomize here.
For example, I was talking with a
professor one day that I really admire.
He's now with Jesus.
And he could teach the Bible far better
than I could ever teach the Bible.
He was a great scholar.
He was a linguist.
I mean he could teach it from the original Greek.
He could teach it from the Hebrew.
He was a linguist.
And he was [a] very brilliant man.
He was a theologian in many respects as well.
And we're having a discussion one day.
And the discussion centered around
what should be the qualifications for a
faculty member who teaches at a seminary?
And in that discussion, I heard him respond
and say something that troubled me.
And I inserted the statement is that
I believe that all the professors in this
particular seminary ought to measure
up to the qualities of an elder as they're
outlined in the New Testament.
His response that troubled me was:
Oh no, we're not a local church.
Therefore that doesn't apply to the
faculty members here at this particular seminary.
And my response was, sensitively I think. I said:
Are you meaning to tell me that
professors who are preparing men to be elders
should not be qualified the same way as
those that are going to become elders
out at the local church level?
And there was silence in the conversation.
Because that's an inconsistency to say
that those of us who are equipping men
and women to be spiritual leaders in the church,
we should have the same qualifications.
And to say we shouldn't is hypocritical.
Now that's just a simple point of logic.
Because sometimes within our
academic institutions the requirements
are academic.
And we don't focus on the spiritual.
We may focus on the theological in the sense
of being able to cross t's and dot i's theologically.
But what about character?
See, character is foundational to
all ministries as far as leadership is concerned.
And that's where Jesus Christ began
with those twelve men, was to develop character.
To develop character in the twelve apostles.
And there's a there's a powerful,
powerful lesson here that applies,
I think, to all aspects of carrying out
the Great Commission regardless of the organization.