Beloved: Grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to another week of this year. And I pray that God will keep your heart right and humble before Him all the time, so that you will not experience any kind of downfall but elevation this year, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
As the bible tells us, pride is one of the major reasons people experience downfall or are prevented from experiencing elevation in life. If we are walking in pride, then, we may just be brought down from whatever position of advantage we are or prevented from rising beyond where we are in life. So, watch out for every form of pride and see to it that it is not allowed to take root in your life. (Cf. Prov 16:18; James 4:6-7; 1Pet 5:5-6)
Now one form of pride that God’s people don’t easily recognise but that is very much present in many of us is that which has to do with disobedience to spiritual authority. And when I am talking about spiritual authority, I am talking about those leaders that God has placed over you in your Christian assembly. These ones have been ordained by Him to feed you with His word and to watch over your soul through prayer and fellowship. So, I am not saying that every pastor, prophet, evangelist or apostle you meet is your spiritual leader and that you must obey them.
If someone is not your church leader, you are not under any obligation to follow any instruction he gives you, right or wrong, unless you have a relationship with the person and sees him as trustworthy. But if someone is your church leader, you are under an obligation to obey his instructions, as long as those instructions are consistent with the will of God. It is a shame, however, that we often find God’s people showing much regard for church leaders that are not directly over them while despising the ones that are directly over them in their Christian assemblies.
But this is wrong and contrary to the will of God for our lives. Paul, while addressing the Corinthians on this note, says that if they were supporting and respecting church leaders who were not directly over them, should they not support and respect him all the more, since he was their father in the faith and had never stopped ministering to them in the word of God and in prayer? They should. (Cf. 1Cor 9:11-12) In like manner, if you too find it convenient to support and respect church leaders that are not directly watching over you in the faith or that you have never even met, why should you find it hard to respect and support the leaders of your local assembly that are continually ministering to you even more? Well, one of the reasons we disrespect our church leaders in this manner is pride. When we feel that a church leader does not know enough or is not old enough or is not smart enough or is not educated enough to instruct or lead us, we will not obey them or take them seriously.
Also, when we are ignorant of the consequences of disobeying or disrespecting our church leaders, and many in the church today are ignorant of these things, we may freely disobey or despise them. But as we see in Scriptures, there are very terrible consequences for despising our spiritual leaders or encouraging rebellion against them, regardless of how young or unimpressive they may appear. So, warn yourself concerning these things. Otherwise, you may soon enough get into problems that God won’t save you from. (Cf. Num 12&17)
Finally, Paul says this to us about how we should relate to those who don’t take our leaders in the church seriously: “If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.” (2Thess 3:14-15NIV) Did you see that? We are told to take special note of anyone in our Christian assembly that does not take our leaders seriously, talks anyhow about them or encourages rebellion against their instructions. Why? First, it is so that we may warn them. Second, it is so that if they do not take warning, we can separate ourselves from them. Otherwise, we may end up partaking in the consequences of their disobedience.
So, always watch how the people you move with in the church relate to spiritual authority, regardless of how much you like them. Then you will know whether they will contribute to your growth in the kingdom of God or to your downfall. And may God fill you with sufficient understanding, strength and boldness to do this, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Have a splendid week.
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