1 Tim. 3, Mosaic Leadership in the Body of Christ

Let’s take this post to continue thinking about leadership, but let’s see it in the Body of Christ.  Moses selected judges who feared God and were trustworthy.  This approach was also what Paul advised for the Church, with 1 Tim. 3 and Titus 1 being key passages containing a description of godly men.  The lists are similar though not identical.  The point is that one key aspect of leadership is “leadership by example.”  In addition, of course, trustworthy men will make better decisions.  The judges appointed by Moses were taught the law by Moses.  So, in the NT, leaders in the Church must have a solid handle on the Word of God. 

These lists are a “must.”  But we should remember.  This is not another “law.”  The qualities are, for the most part, general terms.  A man should be known by “gentleness,” for example, but that shows up in different ways.  It’s not that he has never failed; it is that he is known for gentleness.  And remember that these are attained by grace.  The NT leader is a man who has an abiding relationship with Christ, who knows what it is to walk in faith, love and the Holy Spirit.

If we revert to a legalistic approach to attaining these or even defining them, we will find ourselves in the same mucky cistern the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day were in.  Jesus addressed this in Matt. 23.  Here are some of the sins in which they were trapped and that we must avoid when we look for godly leaders.

·       23:3: hypocrisy.  They didn’t practice what they preached.

·       23:4: finger-pointing. They tied up heavy loads of moral obligation and put them on men’s shoulders.

·       23:5: show-business.  Everything was done just for people to see.  23:25-28: You clean the outside of the cup/dish but inside you are full of greed and self-indulgence … You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.

·       23:8-12: doctor-it is.  They loved to be called rabbi or father or whatever made them sound important.

·       23:13: counter-productive.  You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces.

·       23:16-22: nitpickiness.  They highlighted minor things.  saying that swearing by the temple means nothing but swearing by the gold of the temple is binding.

·       23:24: perfectionism.  They demanded and bragged about perfection in little things they were good at while botching it in bigger things. 

Our point is that evaluating a person’s character can lead off into a quagmire of legalism.  When grace and faith rule the day, this is the product of a “born again” relationship with Christ whereby we are not under law (Rom. 6:14) or being tutored by the law (Gal. 3:25).  A godly life is one where Christ is and has been the focus (Rom. 13:14; 2 Cor. 3:18; Col. 3:1-4).