The Heart Attitudes: Part 8Sample

  

Heart Attitude #7 – Follow spiritual leadership within Scriptural limits.

Hebrews 13:17 “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.”

3 John 1:11 “Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.”

We are to follow within Scriptural limits. That means there are certain limits to who and what we are to follow. Today we will look at the who. Tomorrow we will look at what.

I Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 contain lists of qualities that need to be present for people to serve as leaders within the church. These lists provide a high bar for those who desire to serve in these positions. Many of us know of leaders or know leaders who were gifted in speaking or leading but failed to live up to the moral and ethical standards described in these passages.

It is relatively easy to follow someone who is great example of those capacities. In the little letter of Third John, John deals with what to do when you find someone who does not live up to those standards. In verses 9-12 he contrasts the leadership of Diotrephes who had gained a prominent position in the church yet failed to live up to the standards for leaders. His failure is compared to the success of Demetrius, another leader in the church. 

John tells his friend to follow the one who does good and avoid the one who does evil. If your leader proves to be like Diotrephes who loves to be first, it might be time to find a new leader to follow! Someone like Demetrius who has a good reputation among others and the truth itself! Make sure that the leader you follow is doing so within Scriptural limits.