Leadership Accountability
Spiritual leaders in the church
should be accountable both to God
and to fellow Christians.
Here now is Gene Getz:
What we see here in the book of Malachi
is that this prophet,
through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
first of all addressed all of Israel.
His message was to everybody.
But at this point here in
Malachi chapter 2, verses 1 and 2,
he zeroes in on leaders,
and particularly the priests.
And this is what he says:
Therefore, this decree is for you priests:
If you don't listen, and if you
don't take it to heart to honor My name,"
says Yahweh of Hosts,
"I will send a curse among you,
and I will curse your blessings. ...
In other words, these are the leaders in Israel.
...In fact, [He says--God says]
I have already begun to curse them
because you are not taking it to heart."
He goes on to explain why--
that is God--why He's unhappy with the priests.
Now if you can imagine, these are the ones
from the tribe of Levi that had been
set aside to lead the people.
To lead them in worship.
To teach them.
And what we have here in
verses 7 to 9, chapter 2--
I've called Bad Examples/
False Instructions.
And Malachi just spells it out
through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:
For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge...
That should be your purpose, guard knowledge.
...and people should seek instruction
from his mouth, because he is
the messenger of the Lord of Hosts. ...
They're looking to you as priests
to teach the truth.
To give knowledge that comes from God.
But on the other hand, He says:
..."You, on the other hand,
have turned from the way.
You have caused many to stumble
by your instruction. ...
See that's why they're moving
in the wrong direction.
It's because of their leaders.
You--you priests:
...You have violated the covenant of Levi," ...
And of course, they came from the tribe of Levi.
...says the Lord of Hosts.
"So I in turn have made you despised
and humiliated before all the people
because you are not keeping My ways
but are showing partiality in your instruction."
In other words, you're not teaching
the whole counsel of God.
You're choosing what you want to teach.
And what you want to teach
is the opposite of what God says
people should know.
And so He's addressing the leaders
here in Israel.
Which explains why these people
were going astray--to a great extent at least.
Now it's interesting, once you
get into the New Testament,
you have false prophets
that are infiltrating the church.
We see it happening, even among
the people and the family of God.
And so we read in
2nd Peter chapter 2, verses 1 to 3:
But there were also false prophets
among the people...
Who are those false prophets
among the people?
Well we just read about them.
Malachi addressed that.
We see that throughout the Old Testament.
And then he says:
...just as there will be false teachers
among you [the church, believers].
They will secretly bring in destructive heresies,
even denying the Master who bought them,
and will bring swift destruction
on themselves. ...
God is saying: I will judge them.
...Many will follow their unrestrained ways,
and the way of truth will be blasphemed
because of them.
They will exploit you in their greed
with deceptive words. ...
Again, if you watched any television lately
where you've seen so-called religious leaders
actually exploiting people in their greed.
With deceptive words--
another translation says they make up stories
in order to manipulate and to control people.
That's sad.
...Their condemnation, pronounced long ago,
is not idle, and their destruction
does not sleep.
God has a long grace rope.
There comes a point in time
where He pulls that rope in and says:
No farther.
And ultimately, obviously, it will happen
in judgment when Christ returns.
James understood the seriousness of this.
And this, by the way, is a very
challenging statement for someone
who's standing here teaching the Word of God.
James said this:
Not many should become teachers,
my brothers, knowing that we will
receive a stricter judgment...
That's an awesome statement.
And I take that very seriously.
And that's why I pray and I want people
to pray that I can teach the truth.
And whatever I teach is false,
that somehow it'll be corrected.
That I'll understand that it's false.
Because very clearly, those of us
who teach will be held to
a higher standard, a stricter judgment.
...for we all stumble in many ways [we're human].
If anyone does not stumble in what he says,
he is a mature man who is also
able to control his whole body.
That's the goal.
That should be the goal of everyone of us
who has a responsibility of being teachers.
And by the way, those of us who are parents,
we don't have any choice.
We are teachers.
And that's an awesome responsibility
with our children.
And yet God is there to help us
in relationship to what He wants us to do
in fulfilling His will as spiritual leaders.
So here's a Reflection and Response question:
How do Paul's exhortations
in his first letter to the Corinthians
relate to Malachi's warnings
to the priests in Israel?
Well listen to these words.
This is what Paul wrote to the
church in Corinth when he said this--
and here we have a Principle.
Principle number 8 in Corinthians,
which I call The True Foundation:
We are faithfully to build the church on Christ--
who He is and what He taught.
And now Paul is speaking to spiritual leaders
here in this Corinthian letter.
And he says this:
For we are God's coworkers. ...
Paul's including himself, along with Timothy
and others that were traveling with him.
...You are God's field, God's building.
According to God's grace that was given to me,
I have laid a foundation
as a skilled master builder,
and another builds on it. ...
I laid the foundation.
But others are building on that foundation.
...But each one must be careful
how he builds on it.
He's speaking specifically to leaders--
spiritual leaders.
...For no one can lay any other foundation
than what has been laid down.
That foundation is Jesus Christ. ...
And of course, that correlates
with what Paul warned the Ephesian elders.
That there would be those who'd come in
with destructive heresies.
That is not the foundation of Jesus Christ.
Here Paul goes on with the Corinthians. He said:
...If anyone builds on that foundation
with gold, silver, [and] costly stones,
[or] wood, hay, or straw,
each one's work will become obvious,
for the day will disclose it...
In other words, there is work that will last.
There's work that will be burned up
because it is not of the Spirit.
It's of the flesh.
And so Paul goes on to say:
...because it will be revealed by fire; ...
That is the wood, the hay, the stubble.
The works of the leader
who is building for himself,
rather than building for the glory of God.
...If anyone's work that he has built survives,
he will receive a reward.
If anyone's work is burned up,
it will be lost, but he will be saved;
yet it will be like an escape through fire.
In other words, there are some spiritual leaders
who are believers according to the
apostle Paul who will stand before
the judgment seat of Christ.
They'll have absolutely no rewards
because all their work has been
destroyed and burned up.
The only thing they bring to the situation--
thankfully, is their salvation.
But they have no rewards to offer
the Son of God for everything
that He has done for them.
Those are challenging words.
But here is an even more
challenging statement.
And it's a serious, serious warning
for those of us who are in spiritual leadership.
1st Corinthians 3:16 and 17.
Here in the same context.
This is what Paul wrote:
Don't you yourselves know
that you are God's sanctuary...
And there you can substitute
you are God's church.
You are God's people.
You're God's family.
You're God's sanctuary.
...and [don't you know] that the
Spirit of God lives in you? ...
As a body of believers.
And then here's the warning I think
that everyone of us should take seriously.
Not just leaders.
...If anyone destroys God's sanctuary...
God's church, God's family.
...God will destroy him;
for God's sanctuary is holy,
and that is what you are.
Now at this point in time,
I cannot be judgmental.
But I've seen situations where spiritual leaders
have purposely set out to destroy God's church.
And I have literally seen God destroy them.
Now only God knows. But it appears that
in that destruction--and only God
is fair and honest and just--
but I've seen families deteriorate.
I've seen divorces take place.
I've seen children walk away from God
because of fathers, husbands
who've destroyed God's church.
And it's impacted not only
the individual who sinned
but it's impacted everybody around them.
You see, the Word of God says
we should make every effort
to maintain the spirit of unity in God's church.
The spirit of peace.
Now this doesn't mean that
we cannot deal with issues
that need to be dealt with.
That's building God's church.
This is talking about for selfish reasons,
destroying God's church.
For power. For lust.
For other motives that are totally
out of the will of God.
So in writing to the Corinthians--
who were not very exemplary
either in their leadership
or in their whole church family--
God is speaking through Paul
with some very, very specific
challenging statements.
So let's remember this Principle to Live By
that comes out of Malachi.
And not only out of Malachi
but the other prophets that had to
deal with the sins that existed in Israel:
Spiritual leaders in the church
should be accountable both to God
and to fellow Christians.