Many
of us think that we are not called to lead.
We would prefer to leave this job to others, yet maybe we need to
reconsider this. You see, the decision
is not really ours. There is one clear
thing the Bible says about leaders; leaders are called & appointed by God
ONLY and are held to a great responsibility by Him.
Ephesians
4:8-11 shows us that:
- Jesus is the one that gives some to be “apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;”
- He did this for “the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”
- This giving (appointing) is to last until:
·
We
all come in the unity of the faith
·
The
knowledge of the Son of God
·
A
perfect man, and
·
Until
the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ
- This makes it obvious that when God calls a leader for His Body, the leader MUST be a believer, otherwise how could he mature and grow, fulfilling the calling of “the perfecting of the saints…”
1
Timothy 3:2-15 shows us that God has set standards for the leader He calls; the
leader must be:
- Living so as to give no grounds for accusation
- The husband of one wife
- Circumspect, temperate and self controlled
- Sensible and well behaved
- Dignified
- Leading an orderly, disciplined life
- Hospitable
- Being a friend to the believers, strangers or foreigners
- A capable and qualified teacher
- Not given to wine
- Not combative
- Gentle and considerate
- Not quarrelsome
- Forbearing
- Peaceable
- Not a lover of money
- Keeping his children under control WITH TRUE DIGNITY
- commanding their respect and keeping them respectful
- Not a new convert
- Of good reputation
- Worthy of respect
So,
does the scare you off even more about becoming a leader? It should not, because these standards could
and should apply to ANY believer. So,
what is so special about the person that God would call them to be a
leader? Next week we will review a
number of leaders to see what we can glean from their lives to understand this.
