Sermon from Rev George Hemmings
Yesterday was a very important day for Australia. Yesterday, we exercised our power to elect a new government. Regardless of what you thought about the main candidates and parties, or their policies, voting is a great privilege and a big responsibility. We get to decide who our leaders should be.
Here at St. Thomas’ we regularly face the same question. We’re about to start a new playgroup, and one of the things we’ve got to work out is who should be the leader? Earlier this year we had to ask, who should we appoint as our Mandarin minister? Every year we have to ask ourselves who will be our leaders on vestry? In a few years, when we let Chris retire, we’ll have to work out who should replace him? Who should serve as a warden? And who should lead our bible studies, our music ministry, our kids clubs and Sunday school? But what should we look for in our leaders?
Well, the question of leadership was one that the church in Ephesus was also grappling with. If you remember back to chapter one, the church had been troubled by false teachers, who were promoting things other than the true gospel. They’d been leading people off course. They’d caused all sorts of damage within, and without, the church. As a result two of them, Hymenaeus and Alexander, had been expelled by Paul. The question the church faced was who should replace them? Who in their right mind would want the job?
Leadership he says is no small thing, it’s not to be entered into lightly. But despite the disrepute that the others might’ve brought to the role, desiring to be a leader is to desire a noble thing. Leading God’s church involves the care and nurture of God’s people. It is a good work, a great honour. But just having a desire to lead isn’t enough. Paul goes on to describe what we should look for when appointing leaders.
In doing so, Paul talks about two types of leaders, translated in the NRSV as ‘bishops’ and ‘deacons’. The terms he uses though are literally ‘overseer’ and ‘servant’. He doesn’t go into much detail about the different roles and what they involve. So we have to be careful not to jump to thinking he’s talking about bishops and deacons in a modern, Anglican sense. It’s safer to think of what he has to say as addressing any leaders who oversee or manage a ministry or church, and those who assist in leading, perhaps in doing the hands-on, practical, day to day work. The qualifications Paul describes as being necessary for leadership don’t just apply to bishops, priests and deacons as we have them today, but to all leaders within the church.
As you may have noticed the requirements for overseers and servants is very similar. This isn’t really surprising as you want the same kind of qualities in a leader, no matter what they’re in charge of. So it’s reasonable to look at the two together. Though of course, with the higher responsibility, they’re a higher standard in place.
So what should we be looking for in our leaders? Surprisingly Paul doesn’t talk much about the skills, gifts or experience that are necessary. There’s no mention of the kinds of things we might look for in a resume. About all that’s mentioned is an ability to teach and possession of management skills. This isn’t to say those things aren’t important, more likely they’re just assumed. Instead the focus is on the character of the leader. What’s more important is the kind of person the leader is, rather than what they can do.
Right at the top of the list, Paul says leaders must be above reproach. It’s a pretty broad term, covering all aspects of our behavior, inward and outward. There’s to be no observable grounds for blame, no accusation that can be raised against them. It’s not that they must be perfect, otherwise we’d all be disqualified! To help the church know what that looks like, Paul goes on to describe how to measure it. It’s about checking out the length, depth and width of a potential leader. Actually it’s more about knowing the length, depth and breadth of Christ in them. Paul says we must look at how much Christ has impacted on a person’s life before we consider appointing them to a position of leadership.
Length
The easiest thing on the list to discern, is a leader’s length. That is, how long have they been a Christian? In verse 6, Paul says they mustn’t be a recent convert. The phrase he uses is ‘newly planted.’ It brings to mind the parable of the sower and the seeds. There’s no way of telling, without time passing, whether a new plant will wither and die because it’s fallen in rocky soil. You can’t tell whether it will get chocked out by weeds or produce a harvest, unless you give it time. A person needs to have put down roots and grown in Christ before they’re suitable to be leaders. A similar thing is said of deacons in verse 10, they must first be tested, they must have demonstrated their character over time, before they are appointed. They need to demonstrate commitment and maturity in their faith, before they can be considered.
Because if this isn’t the case, there’s a danger that they might become proud of their power and authority. Then, they fall into the same trap as the devil, and will face the same condemnation and judgment. So leaders must be seasoned, tested and tried, people who’ve learnt humility.
Depth
But the length of time a person has been a Christian isn’t the only criteria. Simply being old (in the faith) isn’t enough. It’s also about the depth that Christ has penetrated into a person’s life. In fact, most of the passage is directed towards examining how Christ-like a leader is meant to be. Is their obedience to Christ shallow or deep? Are they stable in their faith or shaky? How firm are their foundations?
The first place to look Paul says, is at their marriages, if they are married. After being above reproach, Paul says leaders must be ‘married only once.’ The phrase Paul uses is difficult to interpret. He could mean that leaders mustn’t be single, except that at times Paul endorses celibacy. It could be disqualifying polygamists; leaders can only be married to one person, not five or six. But this seems redundant as by this time polygamy wasn’t widely practiced in society, let alone the church. It could be a prohibition against people who’ve remarried after being widowed, expected then Paul would seem to be saying the opposite in chapter 5. Likewise it could prohibit remarriage following divorce, although again, in limited circumstances Paul does allow this. Given the thrust of this passage, it’s perhaps better to understand it as stating that leaders must be completely faithful in marriage. Leaders, must uphold their marriage vows, they must be innocent of any inappropriate sexual immorality. In this most intimate and personal relationship they must demonstrate their faithfulness. Being faithful in marriage is a good sign that a leader will be faithful in other areas.
Beyond their fidelity, Paul urges the church to look at a leader’s conduct across the board. Leaders he says, must have a good control over themselves. They must be temperate, stable and well balanced in their reasoning and judgment. They must have self-control, with the ability to keep their passions and impulses in check. This is demonstrated outwardly by their respectability. In describing deacons Paul says they must be serious, which isn’t to say that they mustn’t have a sense of humour, but they must be dignified. If a leader hasn’t mastered self-control, if they can’t manage themselves in their behavior and conduct, what hope do they have of managing others? If a church can’t respect its leader, how will they ever follow them?
Our self-control is often put to the test when we disagree with someone. So leaders must demonstrate that they can handle differences and conflict well. They mustn’t resort to violence or be quarrelsome. If you remember from chapter 1 the false teachers were just like that. Instead they must be gentle. The model we have is of Christ, who spoke the truth, but with love.
Furthermore, leaders must be blameless in regards to the vices, the traps of the world around us. They mustn’t be addicted to wine, but self-controlled in how they indulge in it. Likewise leaders mustn’t be driven by a love of money. Jesus made it pretty clear that we can’t serve God and money! And as we’ll see in chapter 6, love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. However, it seems that the false teachers in Ephesus desired to be rich, believing that godliness was a means of gain (6:5,9). But striving after their own profit meant that they’d wandered away from the faith and were leading others astray too!
The contrast comes in the instruction that leaders be hospitable, just as all believers must be. Leaders must demonstrate what it means to open up our lives to each other. They must show the way in being generous with their gifts and possessions. Rather than hoarding them up for their own benefit, leaders should be generous in using them to serve others.
All these are different aspects of showing how much Christ has taken root in a person’s life. A leader must be someone who demonstrates that they’re being transformed by Christ. That they’re constantly seeking to turn from sin, turning to righteousness. It’s summed up well in the instructions to deacons – they must hold to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. This is what Paul wrote all of us must do, back in chapter 1 – that we might fight the good fight, having faith and a good conscience! Leaders must exemplify what it means to follow Christ. After all, if we’re to follow them, their lives must be pointing the right way!
Width
Along with depth though, there must be width. Some of us have this dimension down pat! But rather than physical width, Paul says a leader’s faith must be widely evident. There needs to be no division between their public and private life and faith.
So Paul says a leader must demonstrate that they can manage their household well. In Paul’s day the home wasn’t considered private, but public. A household was more than just a nuclear family, it included the extended family too. I think perhaps Chinese families are more like this than Western ones! Though in Paul’s day a household also included servants and slaves. The family was the fundamental unit of society, it was often the place of business and politics. So a leader must demonstrate they can manage the relationships, and the affairs of the household faithfully. The household was the perfect place for a leader to demonstrate their abilities to manage and direct others! If they couldn’t manage their own household well, how could anyone be trusted with managing God’s household, the church?
Beyond their homes, leaders must also be well thought of by the wider community. The term Paul uses here is ‘outsiders’. It means those outside the church! To the widest possible audience a leader must be above reproach.
Ultimately, this is for the good of the church and our ability to speak the gospel. It’s about removing obstacles to people hearing the good news about Jesus. This was the situation that Timothy was faced with in Ephesus. The false teachers hadn’t just bought themselves into disrepute, but the whole church. It was, as we saw at the end of chapter 1, the faith that was threatened with shipwreck by poor leadership. This is why leaders must have a good reputation, even amongst those outside the church. There’s a danger that they might fall into disgrace and bring the church down with them!
If people see someone appointed to leadership within the church, but know they struggle to deal honestly with others at work, or see their violent temper, or their lack of scruples, they will question the church. The ability to be witnesses in the world will be hampered. If they are failing to exhibit godly standards the whole mission of the church is adversely affected. When a prominent Christian leader’s shameful sins are exposed, the whole church suffers. So a leader must have a good standing within the community.
Leaders must demonstrate that Christ rules over the whole width of their life. Whether at home, at work, out shopping, in whatever aspect of their lives that is examined, they must be above reproach.
Long, Deep and Wide Leaders
Our leaders need to be people who are long, deep and wide. Of course the more important the ministry, the longer, deeper and wider they need to be! They need to be mature, godly believers, who are striving to live obedient to Christ. Our leaders have to be people who can demonstrate by example what it means to follow Christ. They must be people who are so grounded in God that they can handle the challenges that come with leading the church. And they have to be people whose lives promote the gospel and the ministry of the church to the world, rather than hindering it.
When we come to appoint new leaders, we need to be looking at this, as much as we look for someone with the right skills and abilities. And we need to be praying for the leaders we do have, and encouraging them to be long, deep and wide!
