Musings on Leadership (7)
Care and protection for all
54. ‘Shepherds’ in the OT embraced more than what Christians know as NT ‘elders’. It embraced all those in power whether they were princes, local judges, kings, prophets or priests. In short, those who were granted power over others. In Ezek 34:1-6 the leaders are scathed by God. As Joseph Parker put it, God wasn’t angry because they had won no battles in his name nor filled his coffers with the booty, it wasn’t because they had not gone over the earth to make converts and swell the number of his people. No. It was because he saw his people as sheep without shepherds. No sick were healed, no weak were strengthened, no injured were in splints, no strays were guided back and the lost were left out there wandering in the darkness.
55. And because the shepherds looked after themselves there comes a word from God like the crack of doom (34:7-10) that he would become the enemy of those shepherds. Without them, God would see to it that the flock was fed and watered and protected. Without them God would deliver the flock from being plundered and raped.
56. The feeble and injured and straying need help! Giftedness and authority is for the good of the people. There must be compassion, patience and attention given to the needy among God’s people. In the context of material impoverishment, God calls for kindness from those who have, saying that “the poor will never cease out of the land” (Deut 15:11). If they are kind-hearted in their helping the needy, God assures them their compassion and benevolence will not go unnoticed. The lyrics of a song from Paul Williams (“You And Me Against The World”) keep ringing in my ears:
Remember when the circus came to town,
You were frightened by the clown,
Wasn’t it nice to be around.
Someone that you knew
Someone that was big and strong
and looking out for you...
We see authority and leadership in a vivid and lovely way when we see a five year old boy, in trouble, look to his eight year old brother for protection and the answers to the crisis they’re both facing. No arguments, no jealousy and no sense of superiority. And the eight year old feels the need and fear of his little brother and shoulders the responsibility to give guidance and protection though he himself doesn’t feel so wise or strong.
57. I know leaders get tired and suffer compassion fatigue--at my age how can I not know that?--but people need more than programmes and classes, more than one more Bible study on “growth”. They need to know there are people who are big and strong and looking out for them. I know leaders can’t handle it all alone (and they shouldn’t be expected to) but until we accept that this is indeed a crucial role leaders take on (that of caring for and helping people), we’ll be more easily tempted to call out decisions and ultimatums across a gulf and opt out of costly caring. People need to see leaders caring, doing something.
58. In a speech on ethics, Christina Sommers, gives the essence of a story in a collection of Jewish stories called If Not Higher (edited by Saul Bellow). There was a rabbi in a little Jewish village in Russia, says the story, who vanished every Friday morning for at least several hours. His devoted disciples boasted that during these hours their rabbi ascended to heaven and talked with God. A sceptical newcomer made up his mind to discover where he really went and so one Friday morning he spied on him. After prayers the rabbi dressed in peasant clothes, picked up an axe and headed off into the forest. He cut down a tree, gathered a lot of wood and carried it to a shack in the poorest section of the area where an old woman and her sick son lived. The rabbi left them enough wood to carry them through the week then discreetly returned to his own house. The story concludes, Sommers tells us, with the newcomer staying in the village and becoming a disciple of the rabbi. And whenever one of his fellow villagers would say: “On Friday morning our rabbi ascends all the way to heaven,” the former sceptic would murmur: “If not higher.” The story (like all good stories) has tremendous power to warm and inspire. It makes its demands on everyone and certainly on sensitive leaders. To see and hear leaders in the caring process both matures and sustains and inspires people.
And Truth for all
59. We’ve seen that leaders were appointed, in part, so that believers could be grounded in the truth of God. No error can be prized! We ought to make it our aim to know the truth about anything with which we have to do. Just the same, while Truth is objective and there are absolute truths, people are intellectually capable of error and because of their sinfulness they can miss truth (see John 5:44). This means, while we strive after truth we confess we all err (even those who don’t think they make mistakes make them anyway). The good news is: not every error is life-destroying! But as in OT faith so in NT faith, some errors, can destroy the possibility of life with God.
60. It is for leaders (especially those who are equipped in the Word) to protect the flock against false teachings and those who would lead believers away from foundational truths. See how Deut 13:1-5 and 1 Cor 12:3 use foundational confessions by which everything is to be tested. Central truths are repeated again and again in the OT and around these the worship, ordinances and teaching of Israel were grouped. The same is true in the NT. There is plain talk about heresies which destroy men, demonic teachings that ensnare people (2 Pet 2:1ff) and the People of God are called to pay attention to the words of the apostles and NT prophets (2 Pet 3:2 and elsewhere). 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 is not there for nothing.
61. In ancient times the foundational truths were attacked in various ways and the NT literature responded to it. Wise leaders will protect the life of the Body by responding to modern attacks on those same foundational truths. They will hear what the ‘modern mind’ has to say or ask and expound the changeless truths of the Gospel in response to these new questions or new assaults. They will not seek to shape the Body into a ‘consumer oriented’ club by removing genuine biblical ‘scandals’ in a cowardly compromise but they will genuinely listen to the concerns and difficulties of a modern society and present biblical wisdom adapted to those particular needs. The importance of this role in leadership can hardly be overstated.
62. But it is not required of leadership that it hand down an ‘accepted view’ on every question or in every dispute. There are some questions which cannot be settled beyond dispute. Good men, despite being gifted by God with wisdom and knowledge differ on what the Bible teaches in numerous areas (e.g., War, ‘Social drinking’, divorce, ‘which are essential doctrines?’). Wise men, perhaps, but they aren’t infallible or omniscient. Their business is to discriminate the jugular from the important but not absolutely essential and teach accordingly. (They will answer to God for their judgements in this area.)
To "get it right" in fundamental matters is vitally important because what we believe (our "doctrine") has ethical and moral consequences as well as theological. It was in the middle of a discussion about the bodily resurrection that Paul said (REB, 1 Corinthians 15:33): "Make no mistake: bad company ruins good character."
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, theabidingword.com.
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