I love the way the Apostle Paul articulates. If you read through his writings, it is helpful to remember that the translation into the English language (and particularly the Old English Language) can at times seem like a woven labyrinth of literary mystery. When that happens, it sometimes clouds the simple eloquence of what is communicated.
Paul addresses the church at Corinth and speaks to the divisions which are occurring among the people based on whose teaching they chose to follow. He made a point of communicating the fact that the leaders of the church were people who were gifted and anointed of God to carry forward the message of the Gospel. They were also, simply stated, people. He further identified that there was danger in failing to recognize the common goal of the leaders because in doing so, one can easily divide Christ and his purpose in their life. Such action creates for men to seemingly identify the Gospel based on how it fits their desire. It “makes wise” one who begins to believe he knows more than what he really does, and in so doing, creates a distortion of the Gospel in both their thinking and in the thoughts of others.
In the third chapter, Paul stated that he could not speak to the church members of Corinth as “spiritual people” but as “carnal people” – a distinction he identified in several places within his writings. He constantly focused on man’s ability to discover and discern the “mystery of God” – to identify life on Kingdom terms.
I like how the Message communicates this thought.
1 Cor. 3:1-4 "But for right now friends, I am, completely frustrated with your dealings with each other and with God. You are acting like infants in relation o Christ, capable of nothing more than nursing at the breast. Well then, I’ll nurse you since you do not seem to be capable of doing anything more.. As long as you grab for what makes you feel good or makes you look important, are you really much different than a babe at the breast, content only when everything is going your way? When one of you says, “I am on Paul’s side,” or “I’m for Apollos,” aren’t you being totally infantile?"
There are two things I want to consider here. One is that
Believers often have a tendency to gravitate to a teaching or to a leader who leads in the direction they most want to go.
They embrace the doctrine that suits them or is comfortable for them. They resist anything taught that stands in opposition to aspects of their lifestyle they do not want to change. Or, they religiously hold to what they have always heard, as Paul often communicated when speaking to people bound by both tradition and law. People can vest themselves in problems on both sides of this fence. They either become so “free of the law” that the law carries no value in their life, or they hold to the law with such tenacity that they miss the purpose of its fulfillment. Worse, they are so blinded by what they hold to, that they miss the value of what God really wants to do in their lives. Jesus came, not to bind us to the law, but to fulfill the law in us – that the lessons learned in keeping the law would reveal to us a much greater purpose – a more complete way.
The second issue is that
living through this dichotomy in a personal level tends to damage your ability to lead in the manner in which God called you.
You can lead strongly in the areas that you are comfortable – even to the point that you can unwittingly lead people in a wrong direction because of how you embrace it. Or, you take the lead in certain areas, but avoid leading in others because to touch those areas means that you have to deal with those same areas in your own life. You become weak as true leaders in the kingdom because what invariably occurs through this process is a diatribe certain to overpower almost every voice of reason.
Paul identifies something else, which I believe speaks on several levels. He discusses what a leader really is and isn’t. In doing so, he defines those you follow, but I believe also sets the stage for leaders to recognize who they are in their own estimation.
Look at 1 Cor. 4:1-5 (the Message)
“Don't imagine us leaders to be something we aren't. We are servants of Christ, not his masters. We are guides into God's most sublime secrets, not security guards posted to protect them. The requirements for a good guide are reliability and accurate knowledge. It matters very little to me what you think of me, even less where I rank in popular opinion. I don't even rank myself. Comparisons in these matters are pointless. I'm not aware of anything that would disqualify me from being a good guide for you, but that doesn't mean much. The Master makes that judgment. So don't get ahead of the Master and jump to conclusions with your judgments before all the evidence is in. When He comes, He will bring out in the open and place in evidence all kinds of things we never even dreamed of—inner motives and purposes and prayers. Only then will any one of us get to hear the "Well done!" of God."
I find in most cases that how a leader responds to situations identifies a lot about his own heart.
If a leader is a servant of Christ, he is a steward
of the mysteries of God.
In keeping with how Jesus taught, such a person will be far more interested in guiding (or leading) someone into the mysteries and workings of God, than he will be as an enforcer. Earthly enforcers tend to enforce what matters to them. This is true in every aspect of earthly life, from law enforcement to our judicial system. Government and education are all guided by the law, but the law winds up being interpreted and enforced based on what matters to the enforcers.
It is because of this that people tend to gravitate to the leaders who “think in kind.” Such division has polarized our nation. I believe that it polarized the church beforehand. If you look hard, you find that polarization in the family unit. Look even harder, you find it in man. James 1:8 identifies that a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways.
Paul reminds people to be careful of whom they follow. He cautions them to be careful of how they view who they follow. He reminds everyone, both the leader and the led, that God chooses the true qualification for leadership, not man. He warns the church to avoid jumping to conclusions about what He does in people before the evidence is in.
Many relationships are destroyed because people speak against their perception of something without realizing what God is really doing that they cannot yet see.
In so doing, they will fail to see what God will do next because their eyes as well as their hearts toward that relationship will be blinded by their judgment.
Consider who you follow. Consider who you lead. Consider the “hows” and the “whys” of both. Are you an encourager or a “scourger.” Do you prove a point or make a plea? Do you issue an edict or extend an invitation? All of these things speak to how you rightly divide the Gospel. It will help you answer the question,
“What Kind of Leader Are You?"
