Leadership in the Church

 

Three thousand years ago, Israel was a theocracy ; God was their King, and the people of Israel were being led spiritually, albeit poorly, by the high priest Eli.  But neither he nor his sons well-represented their King before the people of Israel:

 

            “Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the LORD.” – 1 Samuel 2:12

 

As God Himself said to Samuel:

 

“For I have told him (i.e., Eli) that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them.” – Samuel 1 3:13

 

That is, Eli, the high priest, the chief representative of God to the people of Israel, did NOTHING to stop his sons from sinning against the people.  And what was the consequence of this:

 

“Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD, for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.” – 1 Samuel 2:17

 

And this is the tragedy.  The gross misrepresentation of God led to people abhorring the worship of the Lord.  And so, in the middle of this disaster, God declares that he will cut off the house of Eli from the priesthood, and He makes a beautiful promise:

 

“Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever.” – 1 Samuel 2:35

 

This prophecy was fulfilled in the short term with Zadok, who served alongside Abiathar under King David, and whose descendents served as high priests until the time of Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabees, i.e., for about 800 years!  However, this prophecy was ultimately fulfilled by … who? … the Messiah, King Jesus. 

 

In the meantime, after the death of Eli, the prophet Samuel became God’s chief representative to the people of Israel, and for several decades he served them as judge over the people.  We pick up on the history in 1 Samuel, chapter 8:

 

 1 Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel.

 

First off: who made Samuel judge over Israel?  The Lord made Samuel judge over Israel.

 

 “Samuel ministered before the Lord, even as a child” – 2:18

 

 “the child Samuel grew before the Lord” –2:21b

 

 “the child Samuel grew in stature, in favor both with the Lord and men.” –2:26

 

“So Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the LORD.” 3:19-20

 

And who made Samuel’s sons judges over Israel?  Samuel.  Samuel!  Did the Lord prompt Samuel to do this?  We don’t know.  The Scripture doesn’t explicitly say.  But as we learn more of the character of Samuel’s sons, the more I’m convinced that indeed it was Samuel, not the Lord, who made them judges over Israel.  And this should be a strong warning to those in leadership in the church:

 

Only anoint or lay hands onto those that the Lord has already anointed.

 

Why? 

Our leaders have the responsibility of representing God to His people and to the lost.  And if our leaders misrepresent God to His people, then the people may respond in the way that the people responded to the ways of Eli and his sons three millennia ago; they will abhor the worship of the Lord.  Here’s a contemporary example : the child abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic church. Need I say more?

So then, who’s qualified to lead a church? 

 

Paul answers this in several epistles, such as 1 Timothy 3:1-7:

 

“This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”

 

Clearly, neither Eli nor his sons fit this description well.  How about Samuel’s sons?

Moving back to 1 Samuel 8 :

1 Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel.

 

2 The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba.

 

            Joel – his name either means “YHWH is God” or “God is willing.”

 

            Abijah – his name means “my Father is YHWH”

 

Now these are magnificent names, given by a servant of the Lord to his sons, as a testimony to Samuel’s faith in and service to YHWH.

 

3 But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.

How sad! Samuel’s sons were just like Eli’s sons, wicked.  How this must have broken Samuel’s heart!

 

So then, are you in a position of leadership in the body of Christ?  Have you been anointed by God to serve in said position?  Are you “qualified” to be in said position?  Do you have authority to anoint others to positions of leadership?  Be cautious, dear leaders, for Christ is the head of His body, the church, and He expects the leaders in His body, as well as those whom these leaders anoint, to follow Him, exclusively.

 

 

 

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