The Lord's Army. A focused fighting fraternity engaged in God’s redemptive plan for mankind. The Leaders are men of God on a straight and narrow path, pointing the way forward and Leading the charge. Our role as foot soldiers is to put on the armor, Follow Their Lead and fulfill our individual task for Team Jesus. Everyone has a job to do. Everyone is “Essential.” The wounded are never left behind. Martyrs are honored. Onward Christian soldiers!
It would be foolhardy to aspire to a leadership position in such an epic crusade. A sober minded soldier would shutter at the thought of such responsibility. Ambition for authority, position, privilege and the possibility of public acclaim might motivate a few. Treasures and titles would attract glory seekers. But no mature member of the Lord‘s Army would stoop to such immoral depths. Or would they? Jesus clearly confirmed it would be so. He minced no words in warning us...
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
A Hireling has selfish motivations. Often so hidden and deep he does not recognize them in himself. But a lack of self-examination or self-awareness does not excuse Sin. It simply makes the Sin that much more insidious. The kind of sin that leads others astray, stumbles the discerning and scatters the flock. We've had more than a few such Pastors and Ministry Leaders pass through the DSM Bible Schools. Ours is not to harass or condemn them. Our piece has been to accept them where they are...But never let them stay as they came. God expects us to move towards Holiness, Perfection and Completion as a New Man in Christ. It will be a lifelong journey, but all are compelled to be on that straight and narrow path. It's when the bullets start flying that we look to our Leaders to lead The charge, to show us the way, to exhibit righteous behavior and Christ-like courage. No time for sideline coaching from Hirelings. We need “mighty men of valor”...with calloused knees from prayer...not coiffed hairstyles and stage makeup for Zoom.
So how do we discern Shepherds from hirelings?
Pastors from Charlatans? God's chosen Leaders from Hirelings who chose themselves. Here we must tread an oftentimes thin line of Spiritual Discernment. It is all too easy to quickly and casually discount a Pastor or Ministry Leader as a fraud. Social media is full of so-called “Watchmen” whose sole “ministry” is publicly tearing down Leaders in The Lord’s Army. Church splits are commonplace today. Conspirators cunningly characterize them as church multiplication successes! Carnal congregational revolts have hamstrung innumerable men of God from implementing much needed correction and spiritual housecleaning. Our Leadership ranks have been decimated by vicious mobs of unruly goats.
Let us be careful. Let us be moved by the Holy Spirit, not the fickle fancies of a religious mob or the cunning undercurrents of spiritual populism. God's prophets were never comfortable people to be around. They were most often messengers of Chastising and Correction. That’s why they were mocked, ignored, despised and murdered. Before we dishonorably discharge a Leader, we best get clear and certain confirmation from God. Approach accusations against Elders with fear and trembling...
“Let the Elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the Word and doctrine... Do not receive an accusation against an Elder except from two or three witnesses.”
Pastors and Ministry Leaders must Be Free To Lead.
Unshackled, unfettered and uninhibited by those called to Follow. If everyone and anyone can be a Leader, then no one is Following. There is a never- ending litany of “Leadership” classes, training and programs. When do we get to one on “Follow-ship"? Our most prevalent church problems stem more from failure to yield and submit, than from any imagined deficit in the quantity of those called to Lead. We have inadvertently fostered a carnal Ambition For Leadership in The Lord’s Army. We're simply adding fuel to the fire! Our sole ambition should be to do the Will of the Father. And for 99.99% of us, that means nothing more (or less) that being an enlisted foot soldier. Or more biblically, “bondservants” and “slaves”. Have we overlooked the caution flag on the road to Leadership?
“My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.”
Which brings us to a pivot. What about the Hirelings, the false teachers and false shepherds leading churches and ministries? Are we so exceedingly “careful” and scrupulous that we never get to the biblically required Remedies? Trying times like these make it difficult for hirelings to hide. It’s the perfect time to clean the ranks. Church members are looking for mighty men of God to lead with courage, zeal, compassion, truth and love. But instead, the sheep are seeing timidity, carnal “caution”, compromise, double-mindedness and utter silence from Church & Ministry “Leaders”. Many pastors profess a passion to imitate the “early church”. Yet the only ministry they provide is digital, virtual, electronic, sanitized, masked and socially distant. A flu virus has Spiritual “Leaders” cowering in bunkers of Self-Preservation.
Where is the example of Self-Sacrifice? Where is the laying down of one’s life? Who will touch the contagious leper? Where is the Samaritan? Who is leading the charge up the hill?
The elderly are languishing in “medical” solitary confinement, a pandemic of suicides has swept the world, evangelism has been banished from the public square. The laity are begging for direction, counsel and courage from church leaders. All too often the only Dispatch is a carefully scripted “update” that “Leadership is continuing to assess the situation” and that the foot soldiers should stand down. “Attention! At Ease!” Bunny slippers in the bunker instead of boots on the ground...as D-Day approaches. A dishonorable discharge of duties of epic proportions.
By God’s grace and counsel, our Pastors & Ministry Leaders at the DSM Bible Schools are not at ease. They are leading by example. They are pressing onward in places where mandatory face masks, nightly curfews, 100% school closures and onerous restrictions remain in place. Countless Pastors & Ministry Leaders are exhibiting Christ-like compassion, Acts-like courage and Revelation-like urgency on a daily, practical, visible (and often illegal) basis. That alone does not make them exemplary. The fact that they are sensitive and obedient to the consistent counsel of the Holy Spirit does. By God's grace alone, the DSM Bible Schools are open. The only ones in the nation. His Grace is sufficient...but we it must exercised in the face of opposition. Pulpit pundits like to applaud the “underground” churches and martyrs in other parts of the world. But who is willing to Lead the charge right here, right now?
In times like these, we need to see Church Leaders humbly but firmly standing on the Rock. Not being tossed about by every whim of Caesar's ever-shifting proclamations, prescriptions and penalties. God's all sufficient Grace to be courageous has been supplied. Now it must be exercised. For the sake of the unsaved, the wayward, the needy and the flock. The Urgency to Act has never been greater. The Temptation to Delay has never been more enticing.
Shepherds lead the way. Hirelings run and hide. We Can't lay down our life from a bunker
