Godly Leadership

  • Jason Smith
  • Feb 28, 2010
  • Series: When God is Gone: A Study of the Book of Malachi

Like all of you during my lifetime I have been exposed to several types of leaders: coaches, teachers, bosses, pastors, and parents. Some have been good examples and some have served as examples of how not to lead. As I think back over those who have come in and out of my life, I begin to wonder how people view me as a leader. I am sure that there has been many times where people have seen me as a leader that didn't know what I was doing and that I wasn't leading very well at all. I hope that there are some who look back and see God's hand working through a sinner like me to produce some good fruit in their life and through the ministry that God has given to me.

This week, as I have been pouring over the words of Malachi 2:1-9 my heart has been pierced with the contrast between spiritual leaders whose lives are in submission to God and "religious" leaders whose lives are under their own control. What has struck me is the harsh treatment that is reserved for those who "caused many people to stumble" and the immense blessing that awaits those who "stand in awe" of God's name. This passage should humble anyone who has been placed, either officially or unofficially, in any kind of leadership position within the church or for that matter anywhere, because we will be judged for the way that we lead. The author of Hebrews reminds of this in Hebrews 13:17, "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account..." I honestly don't think that any of the leaders within the church that I have been exposed to over the years knowingly and wantonly abandoned God in their leadership, but instead they drifted from their awareness of His holiness and from their sinfulness slowly over time. My hope is that today will be a wakeup call for all leaders, including myself, that Jesus has given us the opportunity to accomplish "even greater things" as we depend on the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to convict, teach, and guide us in the way that we should live our lives and lead those who have been entrusted to us.

Join with me in our passage for today, Malachi 2:1-9. Let’s begin in verse 1, "And now, O priests, this command is for you. As Devin described last week, the priest had allowed the people of God to serve seconds to a Holy God. The people were sinning in their half-hearted worship, but the priests were equally in contempt for allowing the practice to continue. They were to guide the people of God through the Word of God to worship Him and Him alone; yet they were failing miserably in their leadership. The reason that God gets in their face here is because the spiritual lives of the people of God very rarely surpass the spiritual lives of its leaders. That is as true today as it was for Malachi’s audience 2400 years ago. If those in leadership abandon God, even in subtle ways, the people whom they are leading will abandon Him to an even greater degree. So, God calls them out and seeks to correction. One of the greatest signs of a good leader is that they are open to correction and respond in repentance and faith. The question is how far gone were the priest of Malachi’s day, would they listen and learn from God’s command? But more importantly, will we as God’s people here at Harvest Pointe listen and learn as God calls out to us.

Look at what God said to the leaders in verse 2, If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. The priests were set apart to be a special group of people whose work and worship was to honor the name of God. Yet, from last week we saw that they did not show honor to God. If they continued down that road, God make a promise that they will no longer be under His favor, but instead will be cursed; that the blessings that they have personally and those that they extend to the people, who are coming to bring sacrifices, will be cursed. We see here that God’s judgment has already been dispensed because of the hard-heartedness of the priest to repent and return to the LORD. Notice that God points to their hearts, not their actions, as the evidence that He holds against them. They had been faking honor on the outside, but the LORD seeks beyond the façade to our very core. You can fake it with those who are following you, but you can fool God; He knows your heart.

What else is God going to do about these irresponsible leaders? Malachi tells us in verse 3, Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. In vivid language, Malachi pronounces three punishments against the priests. First, their descendents will be affected by their poor leadership of the people. Both their position, as the spiritual leaders of the people, and their blessing, as the intermediary between God and man, will be snuffed out. We know that this is what eventually happened because the Levitical priesthood effectively died out. Second, God is going to humiliate the priests by taking the junk leftover from the defiled offerings and smear them in their faces. This may seem pretty disgusting, but there is even more meaning behind it than just humiliating the priests. What this is meant to communicate is that God will make them an unclean people, unfit for carrying out their role among the people of God. Remember back in 1:7, they had polluted God and so now God is polluting them. Third, as a result of them being made unclean the will have to be taken away outside of the city to the dung-heap; God is not only removing their position, but is removing them from His people.

We get an indication why God is going to such extreme measures in verse 4, So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the LORD of hosts. God had made a covenant with Levi, which we find in Numbers 25:12-13, of a perpetual priesthood who would make atonement for the people of Israel. The priests in Malachi’s day had perverted that covenant, but God was still committed to fulfilling His purposes and plans for His people. In order for that to happen, God needed to sweep away the current priests who were profaning the covenant, in order to usher in a priesthood who would turn the hearts of the people back to God. Based on what we will learn later in Malachi and also from the New Testament, I believe that God was preparing the way for Jesus to fulfill this role for His people and then those us who are not called a royal priesthood as believers in Jesus Christ. Jesus is now the High Priest and we are those who serve in Him to lead His people today. The question is, what kind of leader will you be?

In the remaining verses, Malachi contrasts the example of Levi and the priests of Malachi’s day. He begins by describing Levi in verses 5-7, My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. Here we see the leadership qualities that made the early priest so effective and honored by God. First, these priests had a great awareness of the greatness of our God. They realized that He is the one who had given them not only their role as priests, but also their very lives. They had a proper fear and awe of God. “Spiritual” leadership starts with acknowledging God in our heart, mind, and soul that He is God and that I am not. Second, these priests spoke the truth of God’s Word with clarity and preciseness. They were sound in their Biblical teaching. They were very careful to preserve what God had given to them. They didn’t tell people what they wanted to hear, but instead called people to know and experience the truth of God through His Word and nothing else. Third, these priests lived holy lives worthy of imitation. They not only talked the talk, but they walked the walk. Fourth, these priest lead people to turn away from a selfish, vain life to worship the one and only God. They pointed people not to themselves, but to the one who had redeemed them. As a result of this, God chose to use them to share His truth as His messengers and called His people to listen to them.

That was the way that is was meant to always be, but we know from Malachi that was not the case with the current priests. Look what he says of them in verses 8-9, But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction. We know from the previous verses that these priests did not honor God as God. Here we see that their teaching was not sound Biblically. They had corrupted the covenant that God had given to Levi. Their teaching and lives drew people away from God instead of leading people to God. As a result of their abandonment of God, they were no longer going to be the instrument that God would use to bless His people. Ultimately, He rejected them so that His only and only Son could take their place as the High Priest of the people of God and as His ambassadors we now stand as His earthly representatives to lead His people.

Here is the main question that each of us must answer today: Are you leading people to Jesus or away from Jesus? Are you in awe of God? Are you teaching sound Biblical truth? Does your life line up with what your teaching? Are people responding to the truth of God’s Word?

With those questions in mind, I to wrap up by sharing a few of the most important leadership principles that have been invested in me over the years about what a spiritual leader looks like:

• A spiritual leader is one who walks with God (character) and works with people (equipping) to accomplish a vision.

• A spiritual leader's intimacy with God (abiding in Christ) is directly related to their ability to influence others (bearing fruit) in their life and ministry. (John 15:1-17)

• A spiritual leader follows an incarnational, instead of informational, model of ministry calling others to "follow me as I follow Christ" in order to make disciples not just well informed spectators. (1 Cor. 11:1)

• A spiritual leader is humbled by their calling resulting in them leading from the position of a servant, in the same way that Christ leads His people. (Matthew 20:25-28)

There are many other principles that I have been privileged to learn from those God has used to shape me into the leader that I am today. I am a work in progress, but I pray that each day I am growing more and more into a spiritual leader that recognizes God for who He is and honors the labor of those who have gone before me, including those who have lead me throughout the years.

My prayer is that the LORD will speak of us as He did of Levi in Malachi 2:5b-7, "...he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts." Let us not be a generation of leaders that abandons God and does what is right in our own eyes. If you want to avoid a leadership crisis ask yourself, "Who am I following?" If the answer is anyone or anything besides Jesus Christ, then quickly repent and return to trusting Him to lead you; only then will you be able to lead others to experience the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is one lesson that I will never forget.