The Heart Behind Leadership.

Hebrews 3:17

“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.”

Here is one of the closing instructions in the letter to the Hebrews. If you will it is like when a speaker stands before and says I'm almost out of time but here are some very important things I want you to know.

Obey and submit to spiritual leaders. How many of you have had a youth pastor or pastor that really cared about keeping watch over your souls? I loved the way my youth pastors expounded the word of God, it was simple and easy to understand, but the parts that were not they had trouble answering. Don't get wrong they didn't pull answers out of nowhere but when they explained the different doctrines on the subject it wasn't very comforting nor did I have the ability at that time to discern what may or may not be true. Again I think they cared but were just young in the Lord and still learning to work in ministry.

In the middle of high school my parents had us switch churches. The church I grew up in had a lot of pastoral changes recently and they felt it had changed enough in staff and theology that it was time to leave. This was very difficult for me, being the introvert I was, I had only in the last year or so made any real connections. Two of my siblings rebelled and stayed at the church we were attending before because they wanted to stay and minister to the friends they had there. They had seen a lot of other teens run off to college and leave them, they didn't want to do that to anyone else. I prayed about it, and felt God was calling to honor my parents, I told my small group of friends that I would be transitioning to a new church, let them know that I cared a lot about them but felt God was asking me to be obedient in this area of my life.

We switched to the church that I now attend, a Calvary Chapel in southern WA. After the first Sunday there I think I had learned more in sermon than I had anywhere else in my life. The style of preaching was so different from the topical studies we had done at my last church, being fearful at the time about my salvation I wanted to speak with the pastor after church, and that's something else that was different. This pastor invited anyone who had questions or needed prayer to come talk with him, I had heard this a few times at my old church but he was so genuine in his preaching I felt totally comfortable speaking with him. I spoke with him for a long while, about the things going through my mind. The church was renting a high school facility at the time so he had to go and help put things away, but had his wife speak with me and console and comfort me on many subjects.

Here is what I'm getting at, and why I am sharing all of this. These spiritual leaders cared, They cared very deeply about the condition of my soul, and they took time to show it. I think the youth pastor I had at my last church cared too, but there many more people and it was more difficult for them to show it.

Here I also have a deep sense of the leadership caring. However whether I see it clearly as I do here, and at my home church, or I don't see it as clearly as I did at my first church, spiritual leaders care for the souls of those in their flock. Pastors also must suffer a stricter judgment at the throne of God. All this to say, God has put them over us for a reason, and we aught to obey them for these reasons, so long as they are not asking us to sin.

Are there false teachers? Yes

Do they care for their flocks? No

But God has given us through His Word ways to see whether they be false or in the Faith and says clearly we are not to listen to false teachers. God does not ask us to blindly trust man, nor does He give us loopholes to ignore the instruments may use to bring us to repentance.

And I think when we see this clearly we find ourselves, hopefully being a joy to those put over us. There is nothing that brings joy to a shepherd like seeing his flock grow strong and healthy.

There is nothing that brings joy to a pastor like seeing the congregation grow in discernment and spiritual maturity. There is nothing that makes a pastors heart break more than seeing someone walk away from the faith.

They care about us, because God cares for them and us, obey them, God knows what He's doing by putting them there.

Application.

Obey those in leadership over you.

How?

Today I will raise my hand every time leadership asks us to pray.