Rev (Dr) Quek Suan Yew

God’s Leaders in the Past and the Present!

God has always used leaders in all His work to accomplish His plan throughout history. People will lead people. This will not change. It is still the best choice to have people lead other people. This includes leaders who lead God’s people throughout different periods of history. Before the nation of Israel was born, the witness of God’s grace and mercies in Christ was through the individual godly families sprinkled all over the world. This was true before Noah’s flood as seen in the godly lineage in Genesis 5. It ended with Noah. Methuselah was the last to die just before the Flood. After the Flood, the individual family witness continues until the formation of Israel in the time of Moses. This is seen in the testimonies of Job, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the book of Genesis. The people of God called Israel came out of Egypt after 400 years of slavery. From this point onwards the witness was no longer through individual families but through the nation of Israel. The people of God were gathered by God to form a national witness.

I. Leaders in the Wilderness – Soon after 2 million plus Israelites came out of Egypt, issues and problems arose that required Moses’ attention. He was the only one who helped them. The queue was long. The people were exhausted standing in line waiting to seek Moses’ counsel. Moses was also exhausted meeting one Israelite after another without a break. Jethro saw what happened and suggested that he appointed able men who could assist him. This was acceptable to God and to Moses. The qualifications or definition of these able men are found in these passages of the Bible. Exodus 18:21-23 “Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace.” And Deuteronomy 1:15-18 “So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it. And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.”

These verses reveal to us that the qualifications of these leaders included: the fear of God so that they will not fear any man; men of truth so that they would always obey the Bible and base their judgements on truth and not the faces of men; and finally men who hate covetousness so that they would not be bought by money or anything to corrupt justice. These seem to be the very basic qualifications of the leaders to assist Moses in taking care of the needs of God’s people as they wandered in the wilderness.

II. Leaders in Israel under Theocracy – After Israel entered the Promised Land and became a nation, God would be the King of Israel. God needs no armies to protect Israel. God needs no one to provide for Israel. The ones whom God appointed to assist Him in taking care of Israel were the Levites and judges and officers. Deuteronomy 16:18-20 “Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment. Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” These judges and officers were to judge justly. Their qualifications were similar to the “able men” above. To help them become just judges and officers, God gave them the Levites who were the teachers and guardians of God’s Word. They did not own any land in Israel so that they could focus on spiritual matters only. Their physical needs were looked after by the 12 tribes through the giving of the first fruits, tithes and offerings.

Deuteronomy 17:8-13 “If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose; And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment: And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee: According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.” There did not seem to be any special qualifications for the many priests and Levites. They were born into this position of leadership. Their duty as students of God’s Word so that they could be teachers of God’s Word to the 12 tribes served as the “qualification” needed in assisting God during this time of theocracy. This means that bad priests and good priests coexisted during the theocratic rule. There was no “qualification” for leadership but by birth.

III. Leaders in Israel under Monarchy – The priests and the Levites failed the Lord miserably. The period of theocracy was a period of the Judges when Israel did what was right in their own eyes. This happened when the priests and Levites failed to teach Israel the Word of God. This period of Judges lasted more than 350 years. God sent judges to deliver Israel when Israel was under oppressors. Israel repented. God sent judges to deliver. After the death of these judges, Israel went back to her old ways of idolatry. The last Judge to rule Israel was Samuel. When Samuel was old, the people of Israel wanted to be like the Gentile nations around them and demanded a human king rather than the LORD. God acceded to their demand. God had already given Israel the qualifications of a human king who could rule Israel. Deuteronomy 17:14-20 “When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.”

These qualifications of an Israelite king were very specific. They applied only to kings as only kings would possess great power that would fall into the dangers warned by God in these qualifications. The king must be an Israelite. A non-Israelite was forbidden to rule over God’s people. The king must not multiply horses, wives and silver and gold. God did not say that they could not have silver or gold or marry or have horses but that they were not allowed to multiply them. To multiply horses meant that the king would depend on military might rather than on the might of God to protect Israel. To multiply wives would mean that the king would transgress and bow down to idols and his family life would be sorrowful. To multiply silver and gold would mean that the king would lean upon these “treasures” and be filled with pride and sin against God. The king must also copy the Scriptures and lead God’s people according to the Scriptures. These qualifications were designed to regulate the spiritual conduct of only the king.

IV. Leaders in the Early Church – The local church was made up of Gentile believers from all walks of life. They had different cultures and languages as they witnessed for Christ on earth. These cultures originated from idolatry. The languages they read and spoke were not Bible languages. They needed to have the Word of God translated so that they could understand and obey the Word of God. In other words, leaders of local churches who look after the people of God are the most difficult to find. They have the cultures and language limitations which previous leaders did not have because they all spoke Hebrew. The first Gentile believers spoke Greek but the Gentiles of the uttermost part of the world did not. To bring the love of God in Christ to the rest of the world, the Word of God had to be translated to hundreds of languages. God did that. When these Gentile Christians became leaders of God’s church, God required qualifications that only truly born again believers could meet. These qualifications must be followed rigidly at all costs to protect God’s people and God’s witness through the church. If they are not followed stringently, the church will suffer and die. The danger was that these Gentile churches were rooted in idolatry because all the cultures of Gentiles originated from idolatry.

1 Timothy 3:1-13 “This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

From this passage in 1Timothy, we see that the qualifications of church leaders are the most stringent of all compared to all the qualifications of the previous leaders of God’s people. The reason is obvious. God used people who were once not His people to become His people to lead His people. With such poor material to work with, God raised the standard of leadership in churches to the highest level. All the qualifications are spiritual in nature. These are the qualifications found only in mature believers and not novices. The leader must possess all of them and not some or even most of them. They must possess these qualifications first before they become leaders and not become leaders first and hope that these qualifications will soon be found in their lives. Churches that defy God’s list of qualifications and appoint leaders based upon carnal qualifications have paid the ultimate price. Their churches have died spiritually. They may exist like a church but the glory of God has already departed from them. They are nothing but a shell of a church where Christ is no more the Lord and Satan has become their God, for the Bible is only talked about but never obeyed.

Conclusion -- All leaders of churches, from pastors and elders to deacons and deaconesses, must realize the grave and great responsibilities entrusted to them. They are to protect, feed and nurture, and help, and at times to discipline God’s flock so that they will grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord. The fear of God must be found in every leader’s heart. They have to give an account to God on the day of judgement on how they have looked after God’s flock.

Dear congregation, please pray for God’s leaders that they do not fail Him as they feed and protect His flock. Leaders of God’s flock, pray for strength to serve God and His people faithfully and diligently. Pray also for the fear of God to be found in our hearts to live holy lives before God and all men. Amen.