| “Do not deceive yourselves.” |
| —1 Corinthians 3:18a |
All too often, controversy swirls around spiritual leaders. Occasionally, the charges are proven false. Most of the time, a close examination validates the charges and sadly discloses even greater sinfulness. How can believers avoid following unworthy spiritual leaders? One way involves using the measuring stick of the Apostle Paul’s careful instruction found in 1 Corinthians 3:18-23; 4:1-2:
Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”
So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants [bond-slaves] of Christ and as [stewards] those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
Over the years, I have written several times about this passage of Scripture, and pointed my readers to Deuteronomy 15:12-18 for the explanation of the word “bond-slave,” or in New Testament Koine Greek, “doulos.”
If any of your people—Hebrew men or women—sell themselves to you and serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them go free. And when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed. Supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to them as the Lord your God has blessed you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.
But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, then take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life.
[That is, a “bond-slave”—one who binds himself or herself to his or her master.]
Do the same for your female servant. Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because their service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
So, the message of these two passages of Scripture is clear. Instead of self-glorification, genuine spiritual leaders must view themselves as “bond-slaves of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” Making this important distinction can profoundly transform the ministry of any spiritual leader.
A steward is, by definition, “a slave elevated to a position of responsibility in his or her master’s household.” Still a slave, a steward thinks only of the interests of the master. A steward never thinks of his own self or her own self, and never has a personal agenda. Please allow me to repeat: a steward never has a personal agenda!
What better description could ever exist of genuine spiritual leaders than that they humble themselves—utterly and completely—as enabled by the Holy Spirit, to become “bond-slaves of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” And, equally important: “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” Therefore, and it is worth repeating, a genuine and trustworthy spiritual leader is one who has become a doulos—a bond-slave for Christ and a steward of the mysteries of God, who having been given a trust, consistently proves himself or herself as one who is faithful.
As a wise pastor once told me: “May it be so and more so, also.”
Based on a blog originally posted on Friday, May 1, 2015
