Leadership & Righteousness

Leadership & Righteousness

“If anyone is blameless, husband of one wife,
having faithful children,(who are)
not in accusation of loose behavior, or disobedient”
TITUS 1:6

Religion has a way of circumventing truth. When men in leadership fail to live according to the standards presented in scripture, a moral decline permeates the household of faith. If the faith of a man does not work within his own house, how can he be equipped to function within the local assembly? Titus and Timothy were commissioned to ordain Elders throughout the Church of God in their day. Paul gave instructions so that the quality of faith and wisdom would be passed along by men who had proved themselves faithful in their homes and within the community in which they lived.

“…for if a man does not know how to rule his own house,
how will he take care of the church of God?”
1 TIMOTHY 3:5

In this day of apathy, standards have been lowered to such a level that a few years in a Bible school is all required for leadership. When such low expectations are placed on leadership, we must expect a compromised truth to be passed on to those they teach. This results in a subtle and downward spiral within the church with all manner of sexual immorality, divorce, remarriage, and faithless lives. Congregations with unsaved men and women are impervious to the conviction of the Holy Spirit because the fear of God is no longer known by the people of God. Accountability has been replaced with a gospel of tolerance, and men are no longer expected to live Godly and Righteous lives.

Today’s church leaders are often from elsewhere and not known by the local community of faith, contrary to the instructions outlined in scripture. We end up with men who have no personal testimony locally (as they are brought in from outside the local community). They are not required to live righteously before being qualified for leadership within the local church. The scriptures teach that the leadership OF the local assembly is to be raised up FROM the community IN which they live. They are to be men known by the people locally, those who have proven their faith and wisdom, and those who love their wives and raise godly children in a godless world.

It does matter how we live, and our faith is proven in our homes. Men who do not stand for truth in the home have no business being involved in the leadership of God’s people. The priesthood of every man starts in his own home. When we water down truth to be merely a teaching rather than a life of example, the power of God will be lacking in the community of faith. Truth is not a teaching. It is a life, and how a man lives reveals the truth he holds. Truth is a power that enables us to live righteous lives. It transforms men and makes them strong in Christ.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ…
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.”
ROMANS 1:17-18

The Gospel of Christ is meant to produce lives that reveal the righteousness of God from faith to faith. As our faith grows, so will the revelation of the righteousness of God in our lives. That is why faith and righteousness are inextricably linked in the New Testament. Faith is the means by which we can live Godly in this world. That is why the LEADERSHIP of the Church of God must be men who have proven their FAITH by how they live.

“Let a man so account of us,
as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”
1 CORINTHIANS 4:2

We must return to the scriptures, repent from the ways of men that have produced worldly organizations rather than a living organism called the Body of Christ, and examine our place in the home, workplace, fellowship of believers, and personal secret lives. Righteousness is the product of a living faith. Sound teaching must come from a life that resembles the truth it proclaims.

“But you speak things which become sound doctrine: aged men to be temperate, sensible, discreet, sound in faith, in love, in patience; aged women likewise in reverent behavior, not slanderers, not being enslaved by much wine, teachers of good, that they might train the young women to be lovers of husbands, lovers of children, discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, subject to their own husbands, so that the Word of God may not be blasphemed, the younger men in the same way exhort to be discreet; holding forth yourself as a pattern of good works about all things in doctrine, in purity, sensibleness, incorruption, in sound speech, without condemnation, that he of opposition may he ashamed, having nothing bad to say about you.”
TITUS 2:1-8 (LITV)

See Related Post: Goodness and Admonition

“We need a baptism of clear seeing. We desperately need seers who can see through the mist–Christian leaders with prophetic vision. Unless they come soon, it will be too late for this generation. And if they do come, we will no doubt crucify a few of them in the name of our worldly orthodoxy.”
– A.W. Tozer

Brian Troxel