Importance of Godly Leadership

Trouble In the Church

As the church continued to grow so did the ministry needs. One of the ministry needs was the daily distribution of food to the widows. In this time it was the churches responsibility to care for the widows. James 1:27

James 1:27 NASB95

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Widows had no way to care for themselves so they were dependent on the church for their needs. There was cultural diversity in the church that caused a dilemma. The Hellenistic widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. This is because they were seen as second class Jews. Hellenistic Jews were those who were Jewish but spoke Greek. The traditional Jews only spoke in Hebrew and Aramaic language. They believed themselves to be “true” Jews. As a result of this division the Hellenistic widows were not getting their distribution of food.

This caused a disruption in the church. This is the second recorded disruption in the church. The first was with Ananias and Sapphira. God put an end to that quickly by their immediate death. Satan tried another tactic to destroy the church. This tactic is internal division. He knew that if he could get the church members to fight against themselves it would weaken the church. Even Jesus made mention of this in Matt. 12:25

Matthew 12:25 NASB95

And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand.

So Satan leveraged the cultural difference in the church to try to divide it.

Application

Whenever a church begins to make strides for the Kingdom of God, Satan will try to thwart its efforts. The best way to do this is to cause internal fighting in the church. If Satan can get the members of the church fighting against one another then he knows that that church will not be able to be effective in building the kingdom of God.

I was a member of a church that had internal fighting. The fighting was over a building plan. It was a matter of control. Unfortunately, the church split and continues to die even today of it hasn’t already died.

Churches that are doing good things for the Lord must be alert to the attacks of Satan on them. They must be prepared to deal with issues quickly and effectively. Otherwise the issues will continue to grow and cause division among the church.

The church must remember two promises of the Lord. the First is found in Rev. 2:4-5

Revelation 2:4–5 (NASB95)

‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.

The church at Ephesus was a strong church that was doing everything correctly. However, they were functionally strong but spiritually weak. They had all the right structure and programs but they lost their love for Jesus. They were functioning for the purpose of the church and not for Christ.

Jesus promised to remove their lampstand. This means that He would remove His presence from the church. They would no longer be His church.

The second promise is God will always protect His church when it makes Christ and His gospel the center of the church. Matt. 16:16-18

Matthew 16:16–18 (NASB95)

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

Jesus promised that when we recognize Jesus as the Son of God and make that central to the church, Satan will not be able to overcome the church. It is our relationship with Christ that is central to the unity and health of the church.

So how did the church deal with the issue?

Godly Leadership Corrects Church Issues

The issue became so bad that it got to the twelve apostles. The apostles gave the solution to the problem. In Acts 6:2-4

Acts 6:2–4 NASB95

So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

Understand your role

The first thing the apostles did was delegate the problem to others. Their role was not to fix the problem. Their role was to prayer and preaching. They knew that getting involved in the issue of widow distribution would be a distraction from what they were called to do.

The Apostles knew that their communication with God and teaching others was vital to the early church. Getting distracted would hinder the growth and effectiveness of the church.

There is a similar story in the old testament book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was commanded to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. Some of his enemies did not want him to finish the wall and asked him to come down off of the wall so they could discuss the situation. His response was Neh. 6:2-4

Nehemiah 6:2–4 (NASB95)

then Sanballat and Geshem sent a message to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together at Chephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to harm me. So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” They sent messages to me four times in this manner, and I answered them in the same way.

Nehemiah was called build the wall and did not need a distraction. He stayed and built the wall.

Folks, can I be brutally honest with you this morning? There are some issues in the church that I do not have any business fooling with. I know you may be thinking, “Well you are the pastor and need fix all the problems in the church.” I can’t and I won’t.

I understand my role is much the same as the apostles. I must put a lot of time into prayer, bible study, sermon preparation and making disciples. My Charge is clear Eph. 4:11-13 I cannot get involved in issues that will hinder my role as a pastor.

Ephesians 4:11–13 (NASB95)

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

It is my responsibility to equip the saints for the work of the Lord!

I must entrust the issues of the church to other people. Who?

Godly Leaders

The Apostles gave the qualifications for the people that were to solve the issue of the food distribution in Acts 6:3

Acts 6:3 NASB95

“Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.

Select people from among you. This means that the church was not to go outside the church to find an answer to their problem. They needed other believers to solve this problem. This is important for us today. We do not need a secular organization to solve issues in the church. We must find fellow believers to do this.

The apostles designated this task to men. This does not mean that women do not play a vital role in the church. This is shown by the impact of Lydia, Phoebe, Priscilla, and Dorcas on the first century church. Though they played vital roles they were not in leadership. God has ordained that to the men of the church. Men are called to the leadership of the church not because they are more important than women. They are called because that is the way God ordained it. 1 Tim. 2:11-12

1 Timothy 2:11–12 (NASB95)

A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.

3. The man must be of good reputation. They must be a person that has integrity, honesty, and able to manage difficult situations with grace and love.

4. The man must be full of the Spirit. This means that every aspect of the mans life is touched by the Spirit. His marriage, parenting, working, and decision making must be Spirit led.

5. The man must be wise. The godly leader must know the Bible and be able to employ the principles of the Bible to the circumstances that he is called to solve or mitigate. He must be able to make righteous decisions.

The Word Continued to Spread

The church selected 7 men. Ironically all seven men were Greeks. We can tell this by their Greek names. It is also important to note that they were brought before the Apostles for their approval. The Apostles approved them and laid hands on them.

The laying on of hands is important. It not only shows approval but delegation of authority. The apostles saw these men as godly and delegated them the authority to solve the issue of the distribution of food. This means that they would be trusted with the allocation of money used for the food as well as the management of the distribution.

Obviously, this worked and the problem of the distribution of food was solved. Acts 6 :7

Acts 6:7 NASB95

The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.

The crisis was averted, the mission continued, and people continued to get saved. It went so far that even the Jewish priests were becoming obedient to the faith.

Application

Issues in the church are inevitable. Churches must be prepared to handle them. They must have people that understand their roles. They have to have Godly leaders in order to handle the issues of the church. It is the pastors responsibility to make sure that he prepares the leadership to handle the issues of the church.

This will allow a church to flourish and be significant in sharing the gospel and build Christ’s kingdom.