More on Christian Leadership

 

A key spiritual qualification of a Christian leader is calling. When the church

ordains men to office it is not conferring upon them a call to office; nor is it

mystically empowering them with the gifts necessary to carry out their duties.

Rather, what the church is doing is confirming what they believe God has told

them about this individual: he is called to this position in the church. We can

read a description of just such a situation in Acts 6:1-6. What do we see here?

·  There was a need. The Apostles could not do all the teaching and preaching and still have time to take care of these physical needs. So they sought help. (This reminds me of the advice given Moses by his father-in-law, Jethro in Exodus 18:14-23. He told him that he needed spiritually qualified help to carry on the work God had give him).

·  They sought men who were known to be full of the spirit and wisdom. In other words, these were Christian men. They were called to this particular task because they were Christians – or stated another way they were called to this particular task by virtue of their obvious Christian character.

·  They were not the Apostles.  This is important. These were guys from the pews.

Now, I am well aware that there are different kinds of gifts; different levels of leadership. Not all in the church will be elders or teachers. But, the Apostle Paul directed his Epistle to the Romans to members of the congregations in Rome,

including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:6-7)

Later, in chapter eight, Paul writes, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." (8:28).

In 1st Corinthians, Paul reminds his brothers to, "...consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth." (1:26).

Then, in the Epistle to the Galatians, this same Paul writes, "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." (Galatians 5:13)

There are many others verses on calling, but I think that last one is a clincher. You were called. You’re a Christian, a saint. What’s your job? Service to God through service to man. What’s that called: Leadership!

Now look at 1 Peter 4:10. This says that if you are a Christian you have been given gifts. What are you going to do with them? Since we know that you have gifts and we know that they came from God, shouldn’t we all be seeking to develop those gifts and offering them to the family, the church and/or the community?

Now again, we know that we have been called by God and we know that He gives us gifts so that we can carry out the duties of our calling. Now hear this:  “God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29.)

More to come on this topic. Again, I ask, "what do you think about this topic?"