OPEN: At a hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, on Election Day, nurses went in to the room of a 72-yr-old woman to prepare her for open-heart surgery, only to find that the woman wasn’t there.
Instead they found a note which read, “Gone to vote, back in 30 minutes.”
An election official later confirmed an elderly woman had indeed come in to vote and that it seemed odd because she had IVs coming out of her arms.
(Uncle John’s Extra Large Bathroom Reader, p. 376)
I don’t know if you noticed… but we had a major election last Tuesday.
People came out in droves to vote for their party/politician.
But on Facebook I read an interesting comment that was repeated by others on that site:
“Quit Calling Elected Officials My Leaders
They are Not My Leaders!
They Are Public Servants!”
Now I understand the sentiment.
Too often elected officials don’t do what they say they’ll do.
And – of course, in America – if these officials don’t do their job we can fire them
We just don’t vote for them the next time around.
But essentially - the statement above is pure nonsense.
It is basically saying – I don’t have to OBEY these people, they have to obey me.
Carried to its logical conclusion it would mean – if I don’t want to obey this or that law I don’t have to, because the public servants are my servants, not my leaders.
That’s a recipe for chaos.
Society would fall apart.
There would be rioting… Oh yeah, there is rioting going on.
But that’s a different topic.
God’s people, are not allowed to do that.
The Bible tells us to “Obey your leaders and submit to them” Hebrews 13:17
But someone might say “Isn’t that just talking about CHURCH leaders.”
Well, yeah – in that verse.
But the principle is repeated across the board to include civil and religious authorities.
Romans 13:1-2 says: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.
For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.”
Now, granted, people back in Paul’s day didn’t get to elect their officials.
But frankly, that doesn’t matter.
God expects HIS people to honor those in positions of authority over them.
It’s not an option.
Now - that said - the guy on Facebook had a point.
Leaders SHOULD be servants.
Jesus said: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must BE YOUR SERVANT, and whoever would be first among you must BE YOUR SLAVE, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:25-28
You see, in the church, Elders/ Preachers/Deacons/ Sunday School Teachers/anyone in ministry of any kind - all these people are called to be SERVANTS
The Greatest among the leaders is the one who doesn’t think of it being THEIR church.
They’re not worried about THEIR agenda.
They’re not thinking about whether or not THEY are obeyed.
They become the greatest by being the servant of others.
And do you know why they're willing to be servants?
Because it’s not their church.
Well, whose church is it? (God's)
You can tell when someone forgets that.
If a leader or church member gets angry,
Or if they feel like they’re not being respected,
Or if they feels like no one has consulted them.
Those are markers that they’ve forgotten who the church belongs to.
There are people who want CONTROL.
And if they push their desire to control hard enough – one day they’ll stand before God… and God will deal with them.
That's not a pleasant prospect.
ILLUS: My home church had a massive pipe organ. It was a thing of beauty.
This was a church (at the time) of 600 people and they had three organists.
These organists would often get angry because at times they didn't get to play that organ as much as the next organ player did.
Do you know why they got angry?
Because they forgot whose organ that was.
To them, it wasn’t God’s pipe organ… it was theirs.
ILLUS: I heard of a church where the chairman of the Elders decided that the hired staff would not be allowed to be part of Elder meetings. Why? Because he felt that the Elders should RUN the staff, and if the staff were in those Elders meetings they might end getting too much authority that the chairman believed belonged to the Elders alone.
Now, there’s something highly unhealthy about that kind of thinking.
In a healthy church, the Elders don’t “run” the staff.
The Elders are the shepherds of the flock and the staff is part of their flock.
The Elders are called to protect the staff (as part of the flock)… not "run" them.
Now if the someone on the staff engaged in immorality or heresy, THEN the Elders would need to call them on the carpet. But other than that, the Elders were called by God to protect the staff not hold them under their thumb.
On the flip-side, the staff should always protect and uphold the Eldership. There are times when the preacher may have to call the Elders on the carpet if there is immorality or heresy, but other than that the preacher must protect and uphold their ministry.
That chairman of the Elders forgot whose church he was serving.
He thought it was his church… he forgot it belonged to God.
ILLUS: Years ago we had a youth minister named Brad here. I have always had a standard policy with our staff. I protect them if at all possible. The reason that is so important to me is because I encountered a church where the preacher ran off 3 youth ministers in 5 years. He ran them off because they intimidated him and he felt threatened. I swore that would never happen in my ministry.
But then there was Brad.
Brad was good – very good – at his job. And there seemed to be indications that he might even want to take over the pulpit here. Just to be clear, I wasn’t of a mind to pass the pulpit over to him… and I became intimidated. And there actually came a point where I began to consider undermining Brad’s ministry so the threat could be eliminated.
Do you know why I considered that?
Because I forgot whose church this was.
For about a week I struggled with that temptation. I didn’t do anything to him or hurt his ministry – but I thought about it. Then one day I got on my knees to God and I asked forgiveness for forgetting whose church and whose pulpit this was. I turned everything over to God and told Him that if He wanted He could give Brad the pulpit and I would trust Him for my future.
Hebrews 13:17 says “Obey your leaders and submit to them.”
It’s really easy to obey and submit and honor leaders who are good, decent men.
We are blessed here to have such men in leadership.
Men who are servants and who honor God.
But what do you do if the leaders are JERKS?
What if they’re driven by pride and selfishness and a love of power?
I mean it happens all the time in politics.
And it happens (way too often) with church leaders.
There are Elders and Preachers and folks in all kinds of ministries who behave like that
And Proverbs 29:2 tells us that happens:
“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules, the people groan.” NKJV
The Bible recognizes that there will be times when wicked men will rule.
They’ll do it in civil govt. and they’ll do it in churches.
When that happens, how should we (as Christians) respond?
We should respond the way God wants us to… don’t you think?
So how should we do respond?
FIRST – we must not curse the ruler of our people… God hates that.
In Exodus 22:28 “Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.”
Notice both of those are in the same sentence:
Don’t blaspheme God and don’t curse the ruler.
It’s almost as if both of those are equal in God’s eyes.
Why?
Well because in Romans 13:2 we’re told: “he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves”
When you curse the ruler, you’re cursing God’s messenger.
By extension, you’re cursing God.
ILLUS: In our Saturday morning Prayer Breakfast we studied an Old Testament King named Baasha. Baasha turned out to be a bad king, but what’s interesting is this comment in I Kings 16:1-2
“the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, “Since I exalted you out of the dust and MADE YOU LEADER over my people Israel”
Baasha – a bad king - had been made the leader of Israel by God!
We’d like to think that God only put good Kings into office. Not so.
But (someone will say) Exodus is in the OLD testament… we live in the NEW Testament. And that’s true. But it’s no excuse.
In Acts 23:3-5 we’re told that “Paul said to (the High Priest – who had ordered Paul struck), "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!"
Those who were standing near Paul said, "You dare to insult God’s high priest?"
Paul replied, "Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’"
Now where do you suppose Paul got that quote from?
From Exodus 22:28.
And Paul applied it to expected Christian behavior.
The High Priest of that day was as politically corrupt as any politician you’ve ever heard of, and yet Paul repents of insulting him… because he is the ruler of the people.
So, we can’t curse the ruler of our people… God gets REALLY upset with that.
SECOND – we are not to do wrong because we don’t like the person in authority.
Romans 13:3-5 says this:
“Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.”
In other words, whether Trump or Clinton had won on Tuesday… we were commanded by God to not do wrong if we didn’t like them.
ILLUS: I don’t know how many of you have seen on the news about the riots and flag burning and civil disobedience that have taken place since Donald Trump won the Presidency.
(We showed a picture of the rioters burning a US flag)
How do you feel about this behavior?
Me too. The disrespect and hatred here is angering.
And that’s how God feels when His people don’t trust Him enough to obey Him in this.
Now, does this kind of behavior ever happen in the church?
Does it ever happen that “Christians” mistreat those they don’t like in a congregation?
I’m afraid so.
There are churches across the land that have been split because people got mad.
They couldn’t get their way... so they threw a hissy fit and left.
Now why did they throw a hissy fit?
They threw a hissy fit because they didn’t trust God to fix the problem.
They thought THEY could it fix it better than God could.
ILLUS: Years ago I heard about a congregation where people had formed a "Committee of the Concerned". They didn’t like the preacher and were intent on removing him from the pulpit. Someone had gotten mad at something the preacher said… and then someone else got mad at something he did or didn’t do. And on and on and on. By themselves the hurts were minor and insignificant, but take together they were almost insurmountable.
Well, it just so happened that that night the church was having a highly respected preacher speak, and the committee asked if he would listen to their complaints (they actually just wanted him to take their side).
When the guest speaker entered the room, he was met by a lot of angry people. He looked out over the assembled group and asked
“Who is the leader of this group?"
On man toward the back said "I am".
"OK (the speaker said) I expect that you have gathered because you are a group of spiritual people who are concerned about your preacher's many faults?"
And when he said that, it was like the floodgates opened. The group began to list off their complaints. They vented their spleens for several minutes, but when they were through, the speaker said:
"Well then, since you are spiritual people, then the scripture from Galatians 6 should be your guide "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself lest thou also be tempted."
The leader practically sprang out of his chair "I'm not about to restore that preacher!"
"Well then, by this you are indicating that you are either unspiritual or rebellious... which is it?"
At that the man stormed out of the room.
Let me repeat, God’s people must not do wrong when they don’t like a leader.
It’s an evil thing and it reflects rebellion and and a disobedient heart.
THIRD – the ONLY time we’re allowed to disobey an authority is when that person in authority asks us to disobey God.
Back in the book of Acts we’re told of the time that Peter and John were dragged before the Sanhedrin (the ruling body of the Jews). The Sanhedrin was angry that these men had been preaching about Jesus and “they… commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
But Peter and John replied, ‘Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.’” (Acts 4:18-19)
When they went out and preached again about Jesus the Sanhedrin dragged them in again and asked why they continued to preach when they’d been commanded not to
Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!” (Acts 5:29)
Deciding what to do when faced by this kind of conflict can be difficult.
ILLUS: At the first church I served, there was a deacon who was committing adultery.
Stan, one of the Elders (the “chief” Elder and a cousin to this deacon) was on vacation in Florida but I consulted with the other 2 Elders and we confronted the Deacon.
I explained to the Deacon that we’d been told of his adultery and he rather flippantly said “Well, I’ll just resign my deaconship.”
There something in his tone that angered me and I said “I don’t think you understand – you don’t get to resign, you’re fired.”
That didn’t go down real well with him.
But then Stan, the cousin and vacationing Elder, returned and called a Board Meeting. He made sure they reinstated the Deacon and perverted Scriptures in ways I didn’t think anyone was capable of doing. He explained to me that the Deacon had repented.
When I said “he hasn’t told me he’s repentant” Stan responded: “Well, he’s mad at you!”
That made it pretty obvious that the Deacon had not changed his attitude.
In addition, the Elders (actually Stan) ordered that I was not to bring this matter up again.
Now, I had a problem.
I was commanded in Scripture to honor the Elders.
But they were commanding me accept this Deacon as repentant (which he wasn’t)
And I didn’t have the resources or the ability to FIX the sin in that church.
So if I could not fix the problem… who would???
That’s right – God would.
I’m not going to go into the details of what happened, but suffice it to say
I NEVER back talked those Elders
I NEVER rebelled against them.
But I NEVER accepted the sin of that Deacon – and it drove them nuts!!!
Do you think God fixed that problem? (Yes, He did)
Granted, I got fired.
But...
Because I trusted God
And because I refused to attack the Elders
And I because refused to accept the sin...
in less than a year, the Deacon and his Elder/cousin lost their offices in the church.
God cleaned house.
ONE LAST THING - at this church you’ve got great leaders.
You have leaders that are servants of God and of you.
You have leaders who remember who owns this church.
You have leaders take their responsibility before God VERY seriously.
It’s a joy to honor and submit to these Elders.
Hebrews 13:17 “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”
You have great Elders/ Deacons.
You have great men and women who lead in all kinds of ministry.
Our command is to submit to them so that they can do their ministries in joy.
ESPECIALLY those who keep watch over your souls (and my soul) – the ELDERS.
But you should do this - not because they’re always right or because you agree with them.
They won’t necessarily always be right.
And you won't always agree with their decisions.
But you must honor them anyway
Why? Because you love God enough to trust Him.
And you trust God enough to pray to Him.
And you pray to God because you have faith that - if necessary - He’ll turn things around.
Repeatedly throughout the Bible God would say:
“Stand still and see the salvation of God”
And then God would go and trounce the enemy.
CLOSE: One of the oddest stories out of the Old Testament is that of Moses in Pharaoh’s court.
Moses went to Pharaoh said:
“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go’”
“Let my people go????”
That sounds like God was asking Pharaoh’s permission.
Now think about this:
Why didn’t God simply slaughter all the Egyptians and just take His people out by force?
Why? Because Pharaoh was the RULER of the land.
Pharaoh had to give permission for this take place.
Did Pharaoh give permission?
Oh yeah.
Now granted, it took 10 plagues… but ultimately we’re told:
“During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, ‘Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested.’” (Exodus 12:31)
Does that sound like Pharaoh gave his permission?
Yes, it does.
Now, the next day Pharaoh had 2nd thoughts and he gathered up his chariots and horsemen and they pursued and trapped the Israelites that the Red Sea. And the people were frightened.
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:13-14
Think about this.
Moses and the Israelites did not gain their freedom by anger.
And they didn’t gain their freedom by force of arms.
They gained it by obeying God… standing firm… and letting God fight for them.
INVITATION
