If one is in a leadership position of a church of believers and he doesn't love correction; I'm going to dare to say, "with all (his) heart and soul and might", then he can't lead.
We all have to aquire wisdom as we can, and when you have it handed to you by a friend or brother, well that's a freebee. Valuable stuff. "For wisdom is better than jewels". "And he who is wise wins souls".
"Reprove a wise man and he will love you."
"But he who listens to reproof aquires understanding."
"But he who regards reproof is sensible."
"But he who ignores reproof goes astray".
"Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, But he who hates reproof is stupid."
"A wise man will hear and increase in learning."
I believe it's accurate to say there is no leader(post-apostolic anyway) in the church who is above being corrected. I've met so many of them who have needed it that how could this not be true?
"Better is open rebuke than love that is concealed"When Heb. 13:17 says, "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you", it can only be referring to the leaders Paul and the apostles or men directly under their teaching in Christ. Not someone who simply started a church or even worked their way up a church hierarchy to a leadership position. That may be a form of church leadership but such has no authority beyond routine church management. The only real true leaders of the church are the ones chosen and taught directly by Christ. Anyone else could, nevertheless, surely lead in a church, not having any authority in themselves but mere management authority within their own church walls. Leaders come and go, rise and fall, but the only biblical church leaders are the apostles themselves, and their own appointees under their direct supervision. Everyone else is hit and miss. A leader of sorts, but not the leaders that Hebrews is referring to. So be careful what leaders you obey or submit to, because there are plenty of wolves in sheep's clothing out there as well, who love to use this verse in Hebrews for their own purposes.
In any case, don't be afraid to question your leader, because I believe his response will provide you with insight into his leadership capabilities. If he welcomes correction he is a wise man. If he gets defensive then he needs to sit down again, be a student in how to teach, and..."heed instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it".
"Give {instruction} to a wise man and he will be still wiser, teach a righteous man and he will increase {his} learning".
Any self-proclaimed leader should be wise and love correction, and love the one who corrects him.
"Reprove a wise man and he will love you."
If someone corrects him wrongly, then he should love the opportunity to be useful to the Lord, pattern himself after the actual church leaders, and using the authority those church leaders have, teach the would-be corrector rightly, as the original leaders had taught.
"A man will be praised according to his insight."
Seems as though scripture gives me by it's authority, the assurance to say that.
11 comments:
Yeah!
Not bad Todd Saunders!
Good stuff!
Hey, much obliged!
I agree Todd, maybe you should go into ministry. You are very good at reasoning and preach the Word. Alice
Thanks Alice but I can't think on my feet. Even sitting down, it takes me a very long time to get these words out the right way.
Not my gift. But God uses the weak so I sure feel like I have the resume for it. And I truly would like to, so who knows if I'll surprise myself or not. Hope so.
In the meantime, the only real value I have to anyone is to my daughter as a father. So there's one ministerial task I can strive to accomplish.
Glad you stopped by.
I enjoy reading your stuff. It brings me closer to our Lord and helps me focus on His Word. God bless you. I will stop by again. You are doing a great job eing a dad. Alice
Thanks Alice, I appreciate that.
This morning, the leader of my new church remarked that we should all be invite and welcome correction. Hallelujah!
I just couldn't believe the lesson in judging that he gave. The judging we must do continuously in the form of making wise choices. And on the important difference which we must always bear in mind between judging and condemning. The one we can do and the other we can't.
It is unfortunate that this is so untrue of most leaders as this is viewed as weakness. Most leaders feel they earned the credibility to get into the position they are in and that they should be the ones correcting others and are no longer in need of correction and insight from the ones they are leading. They tend to know it all and not even consider any ideas others would give. Still there are some who listen and seek advice.
grace upon grace,
Brian
So true Brian. Even Peter stood condemned and corrected by Paul for ignoring important parts of the gospel which he had been taught, and later extended his right hand of fellowship with Paul. I'd be willing to bet that Peter helped and encouraged Paul during the rare occassions that they met.
Paul was abandoned more than once by his closest comrades who fell victim to wayward teaching. All of those leaders in training had to be open to correction.
The party of the circumcision, James, John and others had to be amenable to correction and were. Pricilla and her husband are on record as making corrections amongst the apostle's trainees. I believe Apollos is on record as being corrected. All of these people deferred to the Truth and humbled their pride before each other in order to get the gospel right.
There are an abundance of great teachers today who benefit each other by correction and encouragement.
all joy,
Todd
Look in 3 John, where Diotrephes, the leader of a church John was referring to, was putting John's men out of the church.
Compared that to Demetrius, farther down the page, who recieved a good testimony from "the truth itself", as well as good testimony from John and others. What does being backed-up by, "the truth itself", say about the legitimacy of a leader as needing to be backed up by scripture itself?
I think that starts to get to the core of the definition of a post-apostolic church leader.
Yes Todd. Very excellent Holy Spirit led insight. You are spending time with the Lord. You have been with Jesus.
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