Likewise, the poor condition of the Church today can often be traced back to its leadership. In our assessments of the failures of the Church today, we should particularly look at those who are leading it. This is exactly what Jesus did, saving his most scathing remarks for the Scribes and Pharisees. Jesus did not blast the prostitutes and tax collectors. He did not lash out at the woman at the well in Samaria. But to the so-called leaders of Israel our Lord said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in” (Matt. 23.13).
The Church suffers from leaders who are selfish and using the Church to make a living or establish a career and reputation rather than caring for the Body. But all true leaders are those who care for the Church and sacrifice their own lives for her, following after the example of the Good Shepherd Himself. Unfortunately there are still many hirelings who care nothing for the flock because they are nothing like the Chief Shepherd (John 10.12-13; 1 Pet. 5.1-4).
Some would say that the solution is not to have leaders at all, but that is not supported by the New Testament. Clearly there are leaders who are gifted for the ministry and should be recognized by the Body as such. The answer is not to do away with leadership, but to have the right leaders.
The Church does not make its own leaders. The Holy Spirit makes leaders and the Church, if following the Spirit, recognizes the leaders it has been given by the Lord (See Eph 4.11). And to recognize the right leaders we must have the right model or standard for leadership in the Body of Christ.
A Model for Church Leadership
Paul the Apostle provides such a model, particularly in his letters to the Corinthians.
There were serious problems in the Corinthian Church. Yet Paul does not write them off, he writes to them! He does not say they are not a real Church, just because of their shortcomings. Every fellowship has flaws because every fellowship has people. And people are flawed. But Paul still addressed Corinth as if they are a Church. The Church at Corinth was still a Church, though not a very good one.
The churches must be held accountable for their sins. (Remember as we assess other churches we must also assess ourselves!) But only the Lord can remove a Candlestick from its place, or take out a dead Branch from the Vine, in final and absolute judgment.
The second epistle to Corinth gives us an inside view of the mind of the greatest Christian leader, and perhaps the greatest Christian, to ever live. Paul speaks very personally about his approach to the ministry in the Church.
Leaders must be both gentle and bold.
Though Paul had brought the Corinthians to Christ and founded the Church, he still had to defend his ministry there in Corinth. (This shows the consequences of being in the Flesh: that it would even cause the Corinthians to reject Paul!)
He did not want to have to speak this way, but the Corinthians forced him to. Paul preferred being gentle with them, but he could also be bold and forceful, as he had written them in his first epistle.
We see in Paul this rare combination of gentleness and boldness. This is actually a Divine characteristic that we see in the Lord Jesus. Jesus could be gentle with the Samaritan woman and yet thunder at the Pharisees.
This balance of gentleness and boldness is a quality that can only be expressed in a person who has humility before God. Humility cures the fear of man and sets a person free to really care for the souls of people.
Paul does not deny his authority as an Apostle, but he wants to use that authority to build up the Corinthians instead of having to criticize and correct them.
Leaders must view the ministry as warfare, but renounce carnal tactics.
Paul compares the ministry to warfare, but he himself refuses to use carnal tactics. He chooses to rely on the power of God to make his ministry effectual.
Unlike many leaders today, Paul was not constantly comparing himself and his ministry to that of other men, which is a carnal standard of measurement. He was content doing what God had given him to do and he did not go beyond that, placing his confidence in the Lord for the performance of that ministry to which God had called him. This calling included his ministry to the Corinthians (See Acts 18.1-17). Paul was only interested in pleasing the Lord and fulfilling the calling that he had received from the Lord. Paul was not a people-pleaser, including pleasing himself. He did not have his own, private agenda for which he was using the Corinthian church.
But some other men had come into the Church there and were also claiming to themselves be Apostles of Christ like Paul. In fact, they were claiming superiority over Paul. But Paul likens them to Satan, who also likes to wear disguises. One of Satan’s tactics is to send his servants to infiltrate the Church. So Paul felt a godly jealousy for this Church. He was not willing to just allow the people to be stolen away by false teachers. These teachers had attacked Paul, attempting to turn the Corinthians against him. And they were apparently winning an audience!
How could Paul get the Corinthians back? Well, he wasn’t going to go down to the carnal level of these false apostles!
Paul wants to show the difference between his ministry and the ministry of these carnal infiltrators. He reminds the Corinthians that he had preached to them without considering his own personal needs. He gave to the Church and did not take from them. One of the marks of a false teacher is that he is in it for financial gain rather than caring for the people of God. The mark of a true minister, however, is a giving and unselfish spirit. This is the spirit of Christ, who gave Himself for the Church.
Leaders must embrace suffering for Jesus.
It is interesting that Paul says that he wants to “boast” but his boasts are not typical things that worldly men take pride in and talk about to others! For example, part of Paul's boasting is in his sufferings for Christ. In other words, Paul is proud that he has suffered for Jesus’ sake!
Other men would boast in their intellect, education, or number of converts and accomplishments. But Paul’s resume is filled with suffering! What minister today would put suffering on his resume and what Church today would accept this as proof of ministerial credentials? Paul himself would never get hired as a pastor today!
But Paul is “proud” of his suffering and “boasts” in it. This is his proof that he is from Christ. And this makes sense because Paul has been sent as an Apostle of a Crucified Lord! An association with Jesus will bring the same kinds of suffering, persecution, and rejection by man. Most young men who want to go into the ministry as a career do not sign up for suffering. But it cannot be avoided if you want to really serve God. If you have suffered for serving Jesus, you should not be ashamed. You should be boasting! You are like Paul and the other Apostles, all the Prophets, and the Lord Jesus Himself.
These sufferings showed Paul's weakness and that his ministry was not based on his ability. There is no way Paul could perform this ministry on his own. There has to be a greater power at work in Paul. Where does this willingness to suffering come from if not from Jesus? True servants are willing to suffer. A normal man operating in his own strength for his own gain would not be willing or able to suffer like Paul did for the sake of the Churches. This reflects the life and power of Christ at work in Paul's life and ministry. The false apostles at Corinth did not have this kind of resume! And neither do the spurious leaders today.
Leaders must manifest sacrificial love for the Body of Christ.
It is vital to see that all of Paul’s suffering and weakness were for the sake of the Churches, including the messed-up Corinthians. And so Paul really cared for the Churches and was not passive when he found them in disarray. He still mourned for those who had not repented of sins. And he was still concerned that he would come back to Corinth only to find disorder and disunity in the assembly of the Church there.
Unlike the false teachers at Corinth, Paul loved them as a Father loved his children and he wanted them to love him back. He wanted to give to them, not take from them. He wanted them, not just their earthly goods.
Paul had become their father through the Gospel and now he reflects the very heart of the heavenly Father in his care and concern for them. One cannot be close to God without having the same concerns the Father has!
Paul was glad to give of himself for the sake of this Church, just like Jesus gave himself for His Church. Paul owed them nothing, but they were debtors to him! Such is our relationship to the Lord and it is illustrated and lived out for all to see in the great Apostle Paul. True Christian leaders who care for the Church will reflect this same attitude that we see in Paul and his dealings with the difficult Corinthians.
The Care of all the Churches
So we see that in the midst of all of Paul’s recounting of his sufferings for the Gospel, and in all of his concern for the Corinthians, Paul also had to bear the burden of his care for ALL the Churches. Not just of Corinth, but all of them! These were no doubt many of the Churches he himself had established.
What is this care?
Whoever is concerned about the Church must bear a heavy burden, which presses upon his shoulders like a heavy weight. Most men have enough trouble with one Church, but Paul was bearing the weight of ALL the Churches! What a picture we have here of a minister. And this care caused Paul to DO SOMETHING! So he instructs, encourages, and corrects.
From Paul’s words we may gather that no one can have a heartfelt concern for the Churches without being harassed by many difficulties. The care of the Church is no pleasant hobby, but is hard warfare, as Paul has previously mentioned (2 Cor. 10:4). Satan gives us as much trouble as he can.
How many there are that see all the troubles of the Church and go on their own way without any concern, like the priest and the Levite who walked around the man waylaid by robbers in Jesus’ parable. And then there are those who despise the infirmities of believers or harshly trample them underfoot in wrath and criticism, but never actually help them. This comes from having no care for the Churches!
Paul cared for the CHURCHES, not just for the Church. Until the Lord comes to gather His Church, what we have on earth are churches – real, local congregations of people. These are people who have not yet been perfected, many of whom have just barely escaped from the World and from sin, gathering together in the name of Christ. Many people say they love the Church, but they do not necessarily love churches. (Some even speak of the “invisible Church.”)
How much easier it is to love the invisible Church than to love visible churches. Some love the idea of the Church, which makes no demands on them personally, but they do not love the churches. How much easier it is to love an idea than to actually love real churches!
Do we have this same care?
Do you have the care of all the churches? How do you know if you do or if you don’t? If we don’t, then how can we develop this care for the churches? (Understand that you don’t have to be a leader in the Body to share in the care of all the churches!)
1. You must be in fellowship with Christ.
The care of all the churches is not something that can be taught, but it has to be caught.
You can’t simply have a class or a lecture on the care of the churches and expect that alone to cause people to start caring, really caring, about the churches. We can make it clear what it means to have the care of the churches and we can all agree that we ought to care, but that alone does not make us care. We could all very easily agree with this intellectually, as a very necessary and biblical idea, but not really care at all about the churches.
Actually there are many things like this in Christianity. There are things that require some kind of inner transformation and cannot be accomplished with a commandment or a feeling of obligation.
In his vision on the isle of Patmos, John saw the exalted Christ standing in the midst of seven candlesticks, which represented the seven churches of Asia. And the Lord personally addressed those churches. There we see the Chief Shepherd Himself caring for His Church, which is His Body. And the Lord was also interested in CHURCHES – specific, local congregations of people. Many of these congregations addressed in Revelation had serious errors and were going to be disciplined severely or even judged by the Lord. It is impossible to see Jesus correctly and not see His care for the churches.
If we ourselves get close to Jesus we will also begin to feel this same care because our hearts will be beating in synch with the heart of Jesus. This kind of private spirituality that exists today, saying “I love Jesus but not the Church” is spurious. This is an example of another Jesus, one who caters to the personal goals of people, rather than the Christ of Patmos who walks in the midst of the candlesticks.
2. You must have a burden to see saints perfected.
By perfected I mean complete or mature. I do not mean this as without a flaw or faultless. We cannot expect the Church to be without spot or wrinkle until all the hindrances of the Flesh are removed in Glory. Until that time the churches are filled with people who are in the midst of a process of change.
Now if we share the heart of the apostle Paul and the Lord Himself, we want to see this transformation of sinners into saints continue unhindered. The burden comes from knowing that this process is not automatic, as some believe, and it can be obstructed.
This is why Paul spent so much time writing to churches and urging believers to put off the Old Man and put on the New Man, to walk in the Spirit and to mortify the deeds of the Flesh, and to be transformed by the renewing of the mind rather than conforming to the pattern of the World.
When it comes to our sanctification, we must “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” But many churches do not “perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord.” Many churches remain infantile, ignorant, carnal, and worldly. This condition is not acceptable and it should be the business of leaders to make this clear so that people can repent, pick up their crosses, and get back on the narrow way which leads to life. This seems to be a part of the care of all the churches that is missing in the ministries of church leaders today. Many church leaders today are not maturing the people or challenging them to be holy. Church leaders claim to follow the so-called Great Commission, but they have actually made a Great Omission! They are not in the business of making disciples and teaching them so that they grow up in Christ.
3. You must have a desire to reach lost people.
Now this seems to contradict what I have just said, but it doesn’t. Much of the trouble we have in the churches today comes from going to extremes. There are churches that claim to be all about winning people to Christ. But there are other churches who say that teaching and Biblical knowledge is the main thing. It should be clear from Scripture that the salvation of lost people AND the edification of saints are both vital for the churches. What most people, including leaders, do not see is how these two activities work together, each fueling the other, and are in fact just aspects of a single purpose and mission.
A proper balance can be realized when we ask a simple question: which people are bringing lost people to Jesus? The answer is that believers are the people who bring the Gospel to lost people. This means that everything must be done to make sure believers are strong, spiritually healthy, and holy so that they can effectively do the work of the ministry. In other words, the best way to reach lost people is to have healthy churches filled with mature and maturing disciples. Therefore, the care of all the churches includes caring also about lost people coming to Jesus. If we do not see large numbers of people coming to Jesus, and if most Christians never share their faith and are not equipped to do so, that means that the churches are in a state of decline. A living church has never had trouble making converts.
One of the problems facing the churches is the clergy/laity model when professional pastors and evangelists do all the work of the ministry while everyone else is a spectator. This is completely antithetical to Paul’s model of equipping the Body (Eph. 4.11-16).
In Paul’s model the Church has been given leaders with various functions so that the Body can be built up and equipped to do the work of the ministry. Evangelists are given to the Body, not to the unbelieving World, so that they can equip believers to do the work of evangelism effectively. So caring for churches is the best way to care for lost people. All efforts to evangelize the lost apart from also caring for the churches are not balanced or Biblical.
4. You must be aware of spiritual warfare.
The care of the churches begins to come upon you when you consider the opposition that is arrayed against God’s people in the world. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, men are not the real enemy, but we wrestle with the spiritual forces of darkness (Eph. 6.12). The Forces in opposition to the Church, if we could actually see them, would probably freeze the blood in our veins! These enemies are much too high and powerful for us to combat on our own.
The Church is in a real danger zone while still in the World. There are doctrines that would make believers think that this is not so, that once you are saved you are always saved, no matter what you might do. But the enemy is real and the danger is real. There is security for believers, but ONLY if we appropriate the spiritual resources and weaponry that God has supplied. We must PUT ON the full armor of God. It is an intentional process. And it seems that many churches are not doing this. We must be alert for our enemy, who is on the prowl like a hungry lion, and we must be aware of his schemes. If we are not suited up with the armor of God and if we are not alert the Devil can overcome us. I am not saying the Devil is all-powerful. But in his realm he does have power. The closer believers live to the world, which is the Devil’s domain, and the more we walk after the Flesh, the more exposed we are to Satan’s devices.
The care of the churches comes upon us when we realize how vulnerable some believers really are. The churches today, like a city without walls, have made themselves open to Satan’s attacks!
Jesus taught us that this world will contain a mixture of wheat and tares: God’s people and the children of the Devil occupying the same world until the End comes and a final separation is made. The trouble is that before maturity is reached wheat and tares look alike. And removing the tares may also accidentally lead to removing the wheat as well. They must be allowed to grow together until the End! This situation causes the care of the churches to come upon us, because we know that every church is a field where wheat and tares may be growing. Until the final separation, we feel coming upon us the care of all the churches.
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