Putting God First Through Choosing Godly Leaders
Exodus 20:1-3
Jim Davis
The first commandment says, "You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:1 NIV). Whatever or whomever becomes God of your life occupies first place, for only that which has primary importance in your life can be your God.
It is that which occupies primary importance in our lives that gives us purpose and direction. What truly defines the purpose and direction of your life? The answer to this primary question will reveal the God of your life.
Sadly, religion doesn't always leave us with a sense of purpose and direction. We may embrace a form of religion that we feel is sufficient to alleviate our guilt, but is inadequate to give us direction for living. Many church members lack meaningful direction because they come to God for forgiveness while refusing God's primary purpose for living.
Rejecting God's Purpose and Direction
The purpose and direction we seek for our lives reveal the God we serve. It may only be a god, but when it directs and gives us our purpose for living it becomes our God. Nothing reveals our purpose and direction as a church more than the leaders we choose to lead us. It is possible to choose leaders to lead us away from God. Sometimes God gives us a choice of leaders that test and reveal the direction of our lives.
Deuteronomy 13:1-5
If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you. (NIV)When we choose leaders who lead us in the ways of the world, we fail to put God first. In the days of the judges God anointed Samuel as judge and prophet in Israel, Israel chose to replace Samuel with a king and God considered their choice a rejection of Him.
1 Samuel 8:6-9
But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do."This was merely a test given by God, but they failed. Amazingly, Israel always had difficulty accepting God as sovereign ruler. Despite the wonders of God as he led them out of Egypt, Israel was at the foot of Mt. Sinai worshipping a golden calf as Moses was on the mountain receiving the instruction from God. When Israel grumbled and rebelled against Moses' and Aaron's leadership, Moses told them, "You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD" (Exodus 16:8). When we fail to choose the kind of leaders God desires and reject Godly leaders, we reject God.
God will allow us to choose ungodly leaders; he will give us what we want in spite of our rejection of him. When the Israelites wanted a king God told Samuel, "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king." I think that God had to allow them to learn some lessons in life through the University of Hard Knocks. After all, it seemed to be Israel's favorite way to learn. Sometimes I think that it is our favorite way to learn. Although, sometimes I think some of us are very slow learners. They were warned of the hardships of their choices, but they persisted in their self-chosen purpose.
1 Samuel 8:10-20
Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, "This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day."But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles." (NIV)
We make our circumstances difficult when we place leaders over us who do not meet God's requirements for leadership. This is especially true when we choose self-willed leaders who are more interested in their own agenda than they are the agenda of God for his people. I was always told as I was growing up, "If you make your bed hard you will have to sleep in it." Another saying was, "Your chickens will come home to roost."
Samuel helped Israel find a king, and he anointed Saul as king. It was obvious that Samuel's rejection was not because of his failure as a prophet and judge, but they were rejecting God. Listen to Samuel's resignation speech as their leader.
1 Samuel 12:1-4
Samuel said to all Israel, "I have listened to everything you said to me and have set a king over you. Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day. Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the LORD and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these, I will make it right." "You have not cheated or oppressed us," they replied. "You have not taken anything from anyone's hand." (NIV)Samuel called upon God as his witness to the evil they had done in rejecting God.
1 Samuel 12:16-19
"Now then, stand still and see this great thing the LORD is about to do before your eyes! Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call upon the LORD to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the LORD when you asked for a king." Then Samuel called upon the LORD, and that same day the LORD sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the LORD and of Samuel. The people all said to Samuel, "Pray to the LORD your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king." (NIV)The thunder and rain during the dry season was a sign from God that what Samuel said was true. Sometimes I wonder, when a stormy atmosphere takes place in churches, is it because the members have rejected God.
We must look beyond strong personalities and popularity to ascertain the will of God. Because of their choices Samuel stood on the sidelines the rest of his life observing what was wrong, but he was powerless to do anything about it. We must look beyond the world's requirement of leadership if we wish to be different from the world. We need spiritual leaders who are led by God. However, he remained faithful to God. When Paul went to Berea, the Bereans wanted to make sure that he was a man with a message from God. They searched the scriptures daily to ascertain the truth of the apostle's message.
Acts 20:28-32
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. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. "Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (NIV)Rejecting God's Direction in Relationships
Our relationships with others also test whether we have put God first. The Ten Commandments revolve around our relationship with God and one another. If God has first place in your lives, you will be deeply concerned about the welfare of your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Deuteronomy 15:12-18
If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you must let him go free. And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed. Supply him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today. But if your servant says to you, "I do not want to leave you," because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, then take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your maidservant. Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because his service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do. (NIV)Moses says, "Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you." They were to be concerned about the plight of the less fortunate. They were to be concerned about others in spite of the hardships it placed upon them.
Matthew 7:12-14
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it .Do you want a church that is blessed by God? Consider the needs of fellow Christians, "And the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do" (Deuteronomy 15:18 NIV).
There is nothing that tests our primary direction as a church more than our willingness or unwillingness to consider the feelings of others as we make decisions that will affect them. This is the greatest test of the ability of leaders. We should always observe whether the people we are looking too as leaders are self-willed or willing to seek to the good of others. Moses was a leader who was concerned about others despite the hardships it caused him.
We would do ourselves a great service if we observed how others lived before God, before we commit ourselves to them as our leaders. To do otherwise will hamper our efforts to put God first. It will greatly hamper the efforts of the congregation.
If you desire to be a leader of God's people you need to go to the Bible and determine the qualifications for doing so. You need to learn what kind of person you need to be to earn the respect that you will need to lead the church spiritually. You need to earn the right to lead. If you grab the authority you desire without earning it the church will suffer---you will suffer---your family will suffer.
The Bible is the only book that can instruct you in the principles of spiritual leadership. To many leaders are subconsciously chosen by many who unknowingly look to people who have strong personalities traits or are popular. These are not the qualifications for spiritual leadership. I am always amazed at how superficial the elections in our country are. We elect people to positions of leadership like we used to elect the king and queen for the high school prom. It is so superficial.
If you desire to be in a place of spiritual leadership, do you know how to make decisions according to God's will that takes into consideration the needs and spiritual welfare of the weakest person in the congregation as well as the spiritually strong. Decisions must be made to maintain the unity of the church among those of different levels of maturity.
Romans 14:1-3
Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. (NIV)Luke 17:1-4
Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves. "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him." (NIV)Since God has accepted the weak, maybe we ought to be concerned about the weak. Sadly many of those in leadership positions today don't even know who is the weakest member of the congregation they lead. They are too focused on what they want. They don't even notice when people walk out the door over the decisions they have made. If they do notice, they dismiss it as immaterial. God will not allow us to be tested beyond what we can endure, but he will test us to see if we are putting him first. How we deal with the difficulties within God's family reveal much about us. Listen to what Paul says to the Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 11:18-19
In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. (NIV)If you want to know how you measure up as a potential leader, ask yourself how you score on God's test when he allows difficulties to come your way. You can know that you don't measure up when people begin walking out the door because of the decisions you make.
2 Timothy 2:24-26
And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. (NIV)Leaders are a reflection of the values we hold. Nothing tests our willingness to follow God more than the leaders we choose to lead us. Too often we blame those who are leading us for our problems, but we have chosen them as our leaders. We make our beds hard and we have to sleep in them. I was reminded the other day that you spend one-third of your life in bed, so why shouldn't we want the best bed to sleep in. As a congregation make a good bed for yourself. Why should sleep in a bed that has been short-sheeted?
Another test of leadership for those who wish to put God first is how do those who wish to lead you take rebuke when they do wrong. I have worked for many leaders in the church that you dare not rebuke.
1 Timothy 5:19-22
Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning. I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism. Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. (NIV)Keep in mind that leaders in tune to God’s will are individuals in tune to the needs of those they lead. They should also be in tune to be rebuked if necessary.
Conclusion:
It is essential that the church grow up in Christ.
Ephesians 4:14
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. (NIV)In order to grow up in Christ we need mature leaders. Keep in mind that we can be deceived by those wishing to lead us in their own self-willed ways.
1 John 4:1-3
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. (NIV)2 Thessalonians 2:11-12
For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. (NIV)Keep in mind that God’s love for us involves allowing us to be tested by the leaders we choose.
Psalms 66:10
For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. (NIV)