SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/13/2014 10:24 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Family
Leadership PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1
Thessalonians 5:12
Message of the
verses: “12 But we request of you,
brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have
charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction,”
We are going to be talking about the church, the local
church today, and the reason for the title of “Family Leadership” is because
the local church is a family made up of leaders who would be the Pastors,
deacons, elders of the church, and the rest of the people are like those who
are under the authority of the leaders.
Jesus Christ is the head of the church as He is the Great Shepherd, and
as we look at the church today we see other leaders as mentioned earlier who
are the sheep. As we look back at the
creation of planet earth we see that God spent most of the first six days to
create the earth for His prize creation, which is man. After God created Adam and after Adam named
all of the animals God put Adam to sleep and then created Eve from one of
Adam’s ribs thus we have the first marriage.
After the fall Adam and Eve they had many children, thus we have the
first family. The family is the
lifeblood of the nation, for as goes the family so eventually goes the
nation. The family is supposed to be
made up of a father, a mother, and children with the father or husband as the
leader of the family. So when we compare
the local church to the family we can understand better how it is suppose to
operate.
We have mentioned that Paul was not at Thessalonica for a
very long time before he was run out of there by persecution and so it is
understandable that after he was forced out of there that he had great concern
for this very young (in the Lord church) and so he sent Timothy to see how they
were doing and finds out that they were growing in the Lord, doing what a
church was suppose to do. I suppose that
it is possible that Timothy, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, chose
leaders for this small church, but perhaps Paul had already done this task
before he was forced to leave, at any rate we can see from verse twelve that
they had leaders placed in the church.
John MacArthur in his commentary writes about the different words used
in the NT that speak of leaders: “Four
basic New Testament terms identify and describe church leaders. First is the familiar term elder (presbuteros), which characterizes leaders as spiritually mature and
wise (Acts 15:2ff.; 20:17; 1 Tim. 5:17, 19; Titus 1:5; James 5:14; 1 Peter 5:1,
5; 2 John 1; 3 John 1). Second is the
word overseer (episkops; Acts 20:28;
Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:1-2; Titus 1:7), which describes the leader’s spiritual
oversight and authority. (Except in Acts
20:28, the KJV renders the term ‘bishop’ in the preceding references.) Third, the familiar term pastor (poimen)
emphasizes the leader’s responsibility to feed and protect his flock (Eph.
4:11; cf. Matt. 9:36; Mark 6:34).
Finally, the term leader (hegemon) indicates that the church
leader must be able to provide spiritual discernment and guidance for his flock
(cf. Heb. 13:7, 17, and 24).”
We need to understand that the Church was started by our
Lord Jesus Christ, and that He paid for the sins of those in the Church. The church still has problems with sin and
with Satan, but Christ’s promise is that the Church will survive even thought
there are times of troubles in it.
Paul is writing about the Shepherds’ responsibility to
the sheep in verse twelve, and that is what we will be looking at in the rest
of this SD. Warren Wiersbe writes in his
commentary on this chapter that the members in the church are to accept their
leaders, appreciate their leaders, and obey their leaders.
Accept them: “They
are God’s gifts to the church. They have
spiritual authority from the Lord and we should accept them in the Lord. They are not dictators, but leaders and examples. As they follow the Lord, we must follow
them.” When he writes “they are not
dictators” it is possible for them to become dictators, and have become
dictators in different local churches. I
think that people fear this of their leaders if they are not walking with the
Lord, believing that He chose and put in place the leaders that they have. We mentioned sin and Satan as problems in the
church, and it is either sin or Satan or both that can turn a leader into a
dictator. I have been in a church were
this began to happen and after talking about it with the pastor I decided it
was best for me to go elsewhere, which I did, but it was a very difficult
decision that I had to make around four years ago. I attended that church for over 32 years and
it was one of the most painful things that I ever had to do. Through God’s grace my wife and I go to a
wonderful church at this time.
Appreciate them:
In the KJV the word “exhortation” is used while in the NASB the word
appreciate is used. As members of the
local church we are to appreciate our leaders for true leaders are called by
the Lord and work very hard leading the flock that God has given to them. The pastor that we have has a great love for
the Lord and for the flock that God has given him. I have seen him weep many times from the
pulpit, especially when a person comes to know the Lord as their personal
Savior.
Love them: Dr.
Wiersbe writes “as brothers, the leaders are ‘among us’; and as leaders, they
are ‘over us in the Lord.’” The first
pastor that I had after being saved told me that one of the most difficult
things that he went through as a pastor was that he could not have any really
close friends, for if he did then this could have caused problems in the
church. I believe that this is something
that perhaps could be lacking in our churches today that is that some leaders
can become buddy, buddy with members of the church they are in and this can
cause problems like jealously and it can also cause problems of being
influenced by their close friends.
Obey Them: We are to
obey our leaders in the Lord, and like I said this has to be of the Lord. Paul writes that children are to obey their
parents, and because the church is like a family we are to also obey our
leaders. Now if the leader is doing
something that is against what the Scriptures have to say then they should be confronted
with the issue, and if they do not confess of their wrong doing that there
should be something done to remove him if the charges are true and if they are
against the teaching of the Scriptures.
James writes the following “Jas 3:1 Let not many of you become teachers,
my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I desire to be an
obedient member of the church that the Lord has placed me in; doing things that
will bring honor and glory to the Lord.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord, through His Spirit, to search
my heart in order that I may not have any unconfessed sin in my life.
Memory verses for the
week: Colossians 3:1-5.
1 Therefore if you have
been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set
your mind on things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden
with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who
is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in
glory. 5 Therefore consider the members
of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and
greed, which amounts to idolatry.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “They did not believe in the
resurrection of the dead”
Today’s Bible
question: “Complete the beatitude
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall…’”
Answer in our next SD.
8/13/2014 11:29 AM
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