They are to “work hard at preaching and teaching” and they are to “rule well.” The Greek word for “work hard” has the idea of agonizing in their study of God’s Word and their preparation for teaching and preaching. Pastors and leaders who have little depth in their message or come unprepared are guilty of not “working hard” and, even worse, they are not spiritually growing as a result of not being in the Word very much. Many pastors will admit they start preparing Saturday night for the Sunday morning sermon and due to experience, their Sunday morning messages appear good. God says the one who works hard, the one who agonizes, the one who grows tired in the study of the Word is the one who should be honored!

The second major responsibility of church leaders is to “rule well.” The word literally means ‘standing before.’ It has the idea of someone being in charge. In Hebrews 13:17 the Greek words for “obey” and “submit” have the idea of “to be persuaded” and “yield, give way, or submit to someone’s authority.”

The person in this case is a spiritual leader. This is a command and Hebrews 13:7 tells us to “imitate” or “mimic” these leaders only after we consider their Christian faith. This means their walk with God and their doctrine is consistent with scripture. This includes their lifestyle and spiritual maturity (the result of their conduct).

I heard of a pastor who was in the middle of a controversy within his church. He was apparently the central issue. Upon being confronted by a church member he told this member that to disobey him was to disobey the Holy Spirit. It should remind us of 1 Peter 5:3,

“Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.” – 1 Peter 5:3

The word for “lording” comes from the Greek word “kurios” which the New Testament uses for “lord.” We use it for the name of Jesus – our Lord Jesus. Spiritual leaders are not to act as a lord, master, boss, or supervisor.

As we saw in Hebrews 13:17 above, we are to submit to the Word of Truth that our leaders teach us. We are also to submit to our leaders as they implement church discipline as outlined in Matthew 18:15-20. Scripture also encourages us to mimic the godly faith of our leaders (Heb. 13:7). Finally, we are to submit to the administrative guidelines and regulations of the church as outlined by our leaders because God has given them the responsibility of ruling well.

But there are exceptions! We are told to reject false teachers (Galatians 1:6-9; 2 John 1:7-11). We are told to discipline leaders who sin according to 1 Timothy 5:19-21 (see the example in Gal. 2:11-15). Hebrews 13:7 also implies that if a leader’s life or conduct does not demonstrate godly faith, we are not to follow him. Obedience is not blind. Our leaders are accountable too!

Conclusion: Jesus’ idea of leadership is to serve others – not to be served. We humans are funny creatures who always seem to want to control others. Listen to Jesus’ words,

“But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:25-28

Jesus calls church leaders to humility. Would it not be wonderful if church leaders started voluntarily resigning when and if they became disqualified due to sin in their life. That would spiritually transform churches and glorify God!

source:neverthirsty.org