In his book Good to Great, management expert Jim Collins’ research into
successful major U.S. corporations led him to the conclusion that the principal
factor in their advancement was humble, focused leadership from the top. Ironically,
it seems to me that Collins might have come to the same conclusion if he had
studied the Bible and not the growth charts of successful American businesses.
(However, I admit that his book probably would not have been the best seller
that it was if he had!) Think of Moses, for example, the towering leader of the
Old Testament, whose imprint remains on the Jewish people (and ourselves) to
this day. How does the Bible describe him? “Now Moses was a very humble man,
more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3).
It should come as no surprise, then, that a
number of passages in the New Testament are devoted to the subject of leadership
in the church. Allow me to share a few of them with you:
• Whoever aspires to be an
overseer desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach,
faithful in marriage, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able
to teach… (1 Timothy 3:1-2)
• Keep watch over yourselves
and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds
of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. (Acts 20:28)
• [An overseer] must be
hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy
and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been
taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who
oppose it. (Titus 1:8-9)
• To the elders among you, I
appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will
share in the glory to be revealed: be shepherds of God’s flock that is under
your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are
willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to
serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the
flock. (1 Peter 5:1-3)
• Have confidence in your
leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as
those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a
burden, for that would be of no benefit to you. (Hebrews 13:17)
In this morning’s reading from Acts we are
with Jesus’ followers just days after his ascension. And what do we find them
doing? Looking for a new leader to replace Judas Iscariot. I believe it is
significant that they saw as their very first priority the necessity of filling
this gap in their leadership—and they didn’t waste any time in doing it. I also
believe that there are some important principles we can draw from their
experience about leadership in the church.
Leaders are not above criticism
The first lesson I glean from this passage
seems fairly obvious. It is that leaders in the church are not above criticism.
Peter speaks fairly, even fondly perhaps, of Judas Iscariot as “one of our
number”, one who “shared in our ministry”. Yet he does not make any attempt to
cover up Judas’ act of deceit and betrayal, turning Jesus over into the hands
of his persecutors. Nor do the gospel writers make any effort to gloss over
Peter’s own cowardly denial of Jesus on the eve of his crucifixion or James’
and John’s unseemly wrangling over who should sit at Jesus’ right and left in
his kingdom. No, the New Testament is very clear that these men whom the church
honours as apostles are human beings, sinners like the rest of us. And we find
the same is true in the Old Testament a well. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the
patriarchs of the Israelite nation, Moses its mighty liberator and giver of the
Law, David and Solomon its greatest kings, are all depicted not only with their
tremendous strengths but also with their weaknesses and shortcomings, some of
them truly grievous—“warts and all” as the expression goes.
One of the clearest examples is the apostle
Paul, who at a relatively early point in his ministry calls himself “the least
of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church
of God”. At a later point he confesses to being “less than the least of all
God’s people”. Then finally, as his ministry and his life are nearing a close,
he describes himself (in the colourful words of The Message) as “Public Sinner Number One” (1 Corinthians
15:9; Ephesians 3:8; 1 Timothy 1:15).
We do the church and we do the church’s
mission a terrible disservice when we place our leaders on a pedestal beyond
reproach. Now I am not encouraging the petty passive-aggressive, destructive
criticism that can be poisonous in any community. That is another issue
entirely. What I am talking about is genuinely caring enough for our leaders to
be honest with them.
Bill Hybels is the founding pastor of
Willow Creek Church in suburban Chicago. It is one of the United States’
largest megachurches, with a weekly attendance of more than 20,000. He tells
the story of how, one evening after putting his children to bed, he zipped down
to the church for just a few moments and parked his car between the auditorium
and the parking lot. In his mailbox the next morning he found a note from one
of his staff, which read, “Bill, a small thing, but Tuesday night … you parked
at the side of the lobby, in the no-parking area… We try hard not to allow
people, even workers, to park anywhere other than the parking lots. I would
appreciate your cooperation too.” Hybels’ reflection on the incident was this:
“His stock went up in my book, because he had the courage to write me about
what could be a little slippage in my character. Because you know what I
thought as I drove up here? I thought, I shouldn't park illegally there, but I
mean, I am the pastor. Which translates: ‘I’m an exception.’ ” He went on
to comment, “If you people allow me to take three steps down the road of saying
that I’m an exception to the rules, I am in big trouble. I am not the
exception.”[1]
Leaders are not above criticism. They need
correction as much as anyone else, but make sure it is done in a spirit of
gentleness and humility, as the Bible instructs (Galatians 6:1), and in love. How grateful I am to those along my
way who have cared enough for me and for the church to take me aside and steer
me (sometimes painfully) back onto the track!
Leaders must know Christ
The second principle about leadership in
the church that I glean from this passage—and this may seem like a no-brainer—is
that those who are chosen to exercise it should have a personal relationship
with Jesus Christ. For the apostles it was essential that the candidate to make
up their number be one who had accompanied them “the whole time the Lord Jesus
was living among [them], beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus
was taken up”. Obviously that qualification ended with the first generation of
the church. But I believe that by extension our leaders in the church need to
be men and women who are engaged in an ongoing walk with Christ, who are being
transformed by the love of Christ. Not that they are perfect. As we have seen,
even the apostles weren’t perfect. But that they are living in a relationship
with Jesus and actively yielding themselves to him as their Lord and Master.
It is very easy to be swayed by eloquent
speech, dashing good looks, a brilliant academic record, success in the
business world or some other external attraction. But we must remember that God
looks on the heart. Think of David and his seven strapping brothers. From all
outward appearances he seemed the least likely candidate to lead God’s people.
Yet it was he who proved to be the man after God’s own heart.
In my own experience I think of a man who
was initially refused for ordination in my denomination because of a severe
physical disability. Yet I know that in the course of his ministry God used him
to touch deeply the lives of many. I remember going far out to the edge of the
city to hear him one Sunday morning in one of the little churches where he
served. It was nearly fifty years ago and I can still vividly remember the
sermon—one of the most powerful and moving expositions of justification by
faith I have ever heard. His physical disability may have made him an unlikely
candidate for leadership in the church. Yet his experience of Jesus Christ made
him eminently qualified.
Now I am not saying that that is the only
requirement for leadership in the church. Read Acts 6 or 1 Timothy 3 or
Titus 1 or 1 Peter 5 and you will see that there are many more. But
beneath them all there needs to be that foundation of an active, living,
growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
Leaders are called by God
Following along the same line from that is
that leaders in the church need to be called by God. Not every Christian is a
leader for a whole variety of reasons. The New Testament lists all kinds of
ways in which the gifts of the Holy Spirit can be used to build the church and
to carry forward the mission of Christ—prophecy, teaching, healing, helping,
guidance, tongues, serving, encouraging, giving, caring, administration, to
name a few. Not all of them involve leadership. But each of them plays an
irreplaceable part in making the church the living, healing body of Christ in
the world.
So how did those first followers of Jesus
make sure that the one they were identifying to fill Judas’ place was genuinely
God’s choice? Well, to begin with they did the obvious thing: they prayed. They
asked God for guidance to select the right person for the job. Then they did
something that many people would say was foolhardy. They cast lots. Now I
haven’t been around All Nations to know how you choose your leaders. But I’m
fairly certain it isn’t by casting lots. And I’m not about to suggest that you
initiate the practice.[2] (Although I do think that in the case of our neighbours to the
south it might be a far less painful procedure than what they are going through
now to find a president!)
But let me ask, why cast lots? Why not vote?
In response, think of it this way: Both candidates were equally qualified for the
ministry. They both met all the criteria, and I can only imagine that both were
excellent men. Casting lots in their case was not an act of naivety or desperation.
Rather, it was a way of giving the final say to God. “The lot is cast into the
lap, but its every decision is from the Lord,” says the book of Proverbs (16:33). And the apostles were determined
to give their decision-making over to the Lord, to make sure that the person
filling this key position in the church really was God’s choice and not just
theirs. It was a way of giving God the final say. And it’s not that Justus didn’t
go on to serve the Lord. Tradition has it that he became the first bishop in
what is now the Arab Palestinian village of Bayt Jibrin, and later became one
of the church’s early martyrs.
Looking at this church for just a moment, I
am so grateful, as I’m sure you are, for the leaders that God has given us here—women
and men in whose lives the presence of Jesus is clearly evident. And I pray
that we will all do our part to stand alongside them and to continue that
tradition of leadership, that together we may be faithful and effective in
carrying forward Christ’s mission in the world.
[1] Bill Hybels, “The
Pastor Is Not an Exception”, Preaching
Today, October 1997 http://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/1997/october/4793.html
[2] After the service I was
informed that this is how a decision is made at this church if there are two
qualified candidates for an office!
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