RELATING TO CHURCH LEADERSHIP - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

RELATING TO CHURCH LEADERSHIP

I

.

INTRO

Throughout

the

O.T.,

God provided leaders for His people Israel, and the welfare of that nation was largely dependent on the effectiveness of its leaders (cf. Prov 29:12)

.

~

How the people responded to their

leadership

was also a significant

factor

in whether the nation would

be

blessed or judged by God

.Slide2

~ 1Chron 16:22

~

Neh

9:26-27

God

has instituted positions of leadership within the New Testament church, and He is greatly concerned that they be recognized and maintained in the manner He has prescribed in Scripture

.

~ Members must understand

and live

out

the biblical principles pertaining to

their

relationship with their leaders.

Slide3

~

There are Christians who struggle

with

this biblical concept primarily

because

our sinful nature rejects the

idea

of

accountability

.

Unfortunately

, unbiblical extremes characterize many churches in this regard

.

~

One extreme is an outright denial or

ignorance

of the need for a

functioning

authority structure in the

church; the other

extreme is an

enslaving

authoritarianism that

cripples

the body.

Slide4

~ For

the authority structure of a church

to

function as God designed,

each

member

must be aware of his or her

responsibilities

to the leadership and

diligently

attempt to fulfill them (cf.

1Cor

12:12-30)

.

A

verse that speaks clearly and directly to the issue of our relationship to church leaders is

Heb

13:

17

.Slide5

II.

RECOGNIZING THE AUTHORITY OF

LEADERS

The Command to Obey

The

Greek word

for

peithō

literally

means “to be continually persuaded.

”

~

The idea is clearly that we are

required

to constantly allow the

teaching

and counsel of our

leaders

to be very persuasive in

our

hearts and lives

.Slide6

~

“Obey

”

here does

not only denote a

willing

reception of teaching and

counsel.

~

It also carries an undeniable

connotation

of compliance to

directions

.

~

T

he KJV

rightly translates

“leaders”

as

“

them that have the rule over you.”

Slide7

This

command to obey our leaders contains an unmistakable emphasis on the authority of their words in our

lives.

~ But

does that mean we are required

to

comply

unquestioningly

with

anything

they tell us to do?

~

Not according to John’s third epistle

.

~ See

3Jn 9-11

.Slide8

According

to that passage, God does not want us to obey church leaders if they tell us to do evil; we should obey them only when they tell us to do good.

~ Cf. Acts 5:29

The

following questions will help us to determine whether we should obey our leaders in specific

circumstances

:

Is our objection a matter of conscience or merely preference?

Slide9

~

Keep

in

mind

that

the evaluation of

the

conscience is

based on the

knowledge

that our mind

possesses

,

so emotions or feelings

are

not the issue in such

decisions

.

WE MUST ALSO BE CAREFUL NOT TO CONFUSE THE CONVICTIONS OF OUR CONSCIENCE WITH OUR PREFERENCES.Slide10

Is their leadership causing us to sin, or is it confronting our sin?

Many

times it seems that our objections to the teaching or rules of the church arise simply because we are fallen, sinful creatures

who tend to resist any authority in our lives

.

~

When we find ourselves resisting our

leadership

for some reason other than

a

biblical

conviction

, hear Paul’s words in

Gal 5:7-8

.

Slide11

Finally

, is the leadership issuing commands or merely offering counsel?

What

Heb

13:17 does not demand is that we comply or even agree with the suggestions proffered by our leadership

.

~

It would be wrong for us to allow

our

leaders to do all our thinking

for

us.

That

is

not

to say that the counsel of our leaders is unimportant

.

~ Prov 15:22 & 20:18Slide12

~

Not only are we commanded by

Scripture

to obey the dogmatic

directions

of our leaders, we are

also

commanded to consider very

carefully

the advice they have to

offer

.