It is a path often only partly travelled. Though most who aspire to responsible leadership are on it; few will follow it to the end. The Problem? Apostolic leadership is not a journey up, it is a journey down.
God has chosen the weak instead of the strong; the foolish over the wise. The world has one vision of capable leadership; God has another. The journey into true spiritual authority is diametrically opposed to conventional thought. So if we long for the respect of the masses, we cannot help but choose the wrong path. Make no mistake about it! The road IS narrow, and few there be that find it.
Our Deceptive Hearts
My greatest fear in writing this article is because of man's 'chameleon like' heart. It works like this: Wherever there is a ladder to climb, a position to aspire toward, or influence to wield, I will do what it takes to appear perfect for the job. It's not that we openly conspire to deceive, rather, the heart of man deceives his mind.
The ambition in a man's heart will deceive him into playing. a part. He may not believe himself to be anything other than deeply sincere, but after all, that is the nature of deception; we become duped. By articulating the truth in this article we risk outlining another form; another role for would be actors. I suppose this is to some degree inevitable.
Nevertheless, for those who want to be more than actors I exhort the following: The issue is not about 'what we do' or 'what we say', it's all about the motivation of our hearts. The driving force in man's heart is 'ambition'. "We want to succeed, we want to do better, we want to climb to the top."
These desires work in so many ways it is not possible to isolate them all. It is enough to say that ambition is at the very heart of earthly authority, while humility is at the root of Spiritual Authority. Ambition and humility stand on opposite ends of the court. We can even make it our goal to avoid ambition, and still be doing it to get ahead.
Just because we can restrain ambition does not mean we are free. True spiritual authority does not come from stopping ambition; it comes from a heart trained by the hand of God. Guarding the issues of the heart is a desirable first step, but it should never suggest an arrival.
For these reasons we will find two types of people aspiring to spiritual authority. Some are sincere but carnal. That is, they love the Lord and want to serve Him, but their hearts are yet filled with ambition. They cannot see the difference between spirit and soul. As such, they cannot see much beyond human gifting and charisma. They are easily impressed by apparent deep devotion, concentrated prayer, and passionate speakers.
These will mature through time, accountable service, and the discipline of the Lord. The second group are not so; these are corrupt to the core. They are whisperers and backbiters of whom the Apostles wrote. "These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water,... ", "wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." (Jude 12-13)
Peter writes concerning them as well. "By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; ..those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed." (2 Peter 2:3 & 10)
This second group are deceivers who are themselves deceived. Their authority is primarily in the power of their speech. They have no true authority; they speak 'great swelling words of emptiness' exploit the immature. These are a grave danger to the true sheep. They are the wolves in the truest sense.
Thankfully they are a small minority. However their ambition can harness the support of sincere but carnal men. They rise on a platform of popular opinion and not divine inspiration. The Apostle Paul's battle in Corinth was primarily against these deceivers. The style of leadership they bring has the appearance of power, but it does not build the kingdom of God.
Corinth
The Church of Corinth distinguished itself especially in the area of the supernatural. This made it a prime attraction for both the immature and the deceived to exercise their ambition. Supernatural power draws the ambitious like a moth to a flame.
You might remember the encounter with the sorcerer in Acts who offered money for divine authority. Peter responded saying, "You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you."(Acts 8:21-22)
This is why Charismatic Churches are often plagued with people of this particular profile. It is not because the power is wrong; rather, the ambitious are drawn to the exercise of influence of any kind.
In the Corinthian Church there was an intense battle for control. In 1st and 2nd Corinthians Paul reveals two significant things: The spirit of carnal ambition and the humility by which we can identify true spiritual leadership.
His letters were not a term paper or dissertation on the subject, so we wont find a point by point expose. But sprinkled throughout the epistles we find language clearly underlining the battle between true and false authority. The central issue surrounds how leadership presents itself, and what motivates it.
Viewing Anointed Leadership
The Church had become fragmented into various divisive groups, each purporting to follow one or another of the Church leaders. Each was trying to raise the profile of the person they followed in order to elevate themselves.
Today we can find ourselves doing the same thing. We may not be so foolish as to declare ourselves the greatest, but we often praise the leader we are most like.
In this round about manner we seek to promote ourselves. Paul undermines the hierarchy by lifting Christ and demoting the Apostles to servant status. "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase." (1 Cor. 3:5-7)
Paul flatly states there is no room for any boasting saying, 'We are nothing but people who told you what was told us'. We merely passed along what the Lord Jesus gave to us. Every good thing in us is the product of God, so why should we compete? "For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?" (1 Cor. 4:7)
Like most deceptions this one is built on perceptions. Men who covet power and influence revel in making themselves out to be something more than what they really are.
This is the essence of false authority. The false Apostles worked at creating an aura of mystery, sophistication and power. So much so that Paul feared 'lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds (the Corinthians) may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ'.
The agenda of the false authority is to gain the attention and esteem of men by making themselves seem superior to others. Consider this contrast as you read the following illustration.
The Game of Control
Imagine a group of several thousand people who find themselves huddled together in some remote barren location. They are all near starvation until along comes an anonymous benefactor. He randomly chooses fifty men to follow him down the road until they come to a large truck.
Opening the rear gate he begins to distribute to the fifty as he commissions them to feed the multitude. The men begin to freely distribute; their hearts run over with gratitude toward the benefactor.
The crowd, unaware of what has happened, see only these men handing out bread. Some fall at the feet of the distributors thanking them with tears and deep affection. The men rejoice in the opportunity to bring such joy but declare themselves unworthy of this outpouring of affection.
Out of this crowd two types of people will begin to emerge. One group simply wants to help in the distribution. They see the vast crowd and instinctively know their assistance is needed. Others however, are more concerned with the people's response to the food.
Seeing the gracious flow of love and thanksgiving, their covetous hearts are stirred. They want to be the objects of this affection; they want this appreciation. And so they step forward; not to give, but to receive.
As they gain opportunity their hunger for the people's affection grows. In time they devise elaborate strategies for extracting greater amounts of affection. Some go so far as to create exclusive distributor clubs, compelling 'want-to-be's' to serve them, before giving them a loaf to distribute.
Before long, the labor of love and gratitude becomes a promotional system catering to the ambitions of selfish men. It was this spirit which the Lord judged in Acts 5.
Acts chapter five brings us the story of Ananias and Sapphira. They rise against the backdrop of rampant benevolence. People were selling houses and lands, sharing the proceeds with reckless abandon. Barnabas is specifically mentioned as one who sold land and brought it to the Apostles feet.
Then came the infamous husband and wife team. They pretended to do the same, deliberately making themselves out to be something they were not. The reward of their ambition was swift and sudden death. While we may think them evil, their condition was no worse than what we currently see in the Church.
The harsh judgment was not over their degree of sin, but because of the extent of the Lord's power being poured out. With greater power comes greater accountability. Today, the withholding of power is for our preservation. When He pours out more power we will see more judgment. While we have space, we should pay special attention to the problem of pride and ambition.
The Paradox of Power and Weakness
Ananias and Sapphira fell because they could not see the humility and brokenness behind the Apostle's authority. The problem with carnal people is that they mistake others as being like themselves. Since they are filled with ambition, they cannot see others are any different. When they see power, they can only see 'privilege'.
They imagine this person is revelling in their authority. This is where the amazing paradox of Apostolic Authority comes into focus.
The carnal man is hungry for the aura of strength which come with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The humble man is only aware of his own need for Jesus to work and minister.
Paul discovered that more power was released when he became aware of his weakness! The more he saw His own weakness the more the Lord used him. This again made him hunger to glory in his weakness that the strength of the Lord could show itself.
He saw that the Lord wanted to preserve the dichotomy of strength housed in weakness. The spiritually immature would do away with weakness to amplify their strength. But this only brings glory to man. This was the essence of Paul's message to the false Apostles and to those who esteemed them.
The false Apostles loved to be the focus of people's admiration. And so they made it their lifestyle to appear strong and in command of every situation. This orientation made weakness something to be despised.
If you were not 'on top and rising', something must be dreadfully wrong with your faith. They would ridicule weakness because to their carnal minds it was not compatible with spiritual authority. To them Paul was disqualified as a true Apostle.(2 Cor. 13:7)
Of course since they themselves had no real authority, they were left with their rhetoric. This took on two forms: First, they would belittle Paul and what they considered weakness.
Example "For his letters, they say, are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible."/i(2 Cor. 10:10) Remember, their entire understanding of leadership surrounded a show of strength. They could not and would not allow themselves to fail or be seen as falling short in any way.
Paul responds by asking the Corinthians, "Do you look at things according to the outward appearance?"/i(vs.7)
For the record we should note that few things are as revolting as false humility. People 'acting' humble are nauseating. The one caught up in trying to be strong will point to this as a reason for not seeking humility.
This is no excuse! It is like refusing to serve God because of the hypocrites. Secondly, when it comes to false humility, we should be careful how we judge. To the carnal mind, all humility is false humility, since it cannot understand what it cannot possess.
False humility is not desirable for obvious reasons. But neither is true humility. For true humility is like foolishness to him. The carnal mind cannot grasp the wisdom of God and so tries to categorize weakness as failure.
The earthly view of authority cannot accept weakness in any form. So then, not only did the false Apostles criticise Paul, the boasted in their strength.
Self-Promotion
The false Apostles used their rhetoric for elevating themselves. Paul responds saying, "For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends. "(2 Cor. 10:18) In turn he boasts in weakness, "If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity." And again, "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor. 12:10)
This is the height of spiritual wisdom. There is no hidden mystery, it means exactly what it says.
The natural mind cannot compute this without in some way changing the meaning of what was spoken. But it can only be understood by revelation. It came this way to Paul when the Lord said, "...My strength is made perfect in weakness."(2 Cor. 12:9)
Further underlining the pattern of real power, Paul refers to the cross saying: "For though He was crucified in weakness [not compatible with carnal view of leaders] yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, [same thing] but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you." (2 Cor. 13:4)
The crucifixion looked like weakness and defeat, but to the spiritual eye it was the secret of victory. For veiled behind the mask of weakness is the infinite might of Almighty God.
This is the mystery of the Gospel and its power: Christ in us the hope of glory!
In these weak, fragile and very temporal vessels of clay is the 'fullness of God'.(Eph.3:19) It is foolishness to try to escape the weakness of the vessel. This is the genius of God at work!
When we deny the paradox we nullify the mystery. On the other hand, when we see the mystery we are free to declare our weakness, knowing it does not impede the power of Christ, it releases it.
Finally, Paul makes reference to the nonsense of the rhetoric. He does not have the speaking talent of the false Apostles; nor does he possess the magnetic personality which so impresses the carnal man. But he underscores the fact that visible strength and powerful oration are not necessarily signs of spiritual authority.
"Even though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in knowledge."(2 Cor. 11:6) And again, "For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power."(2 Cor. 4:20) He also reminded them of how he came "in weakness, not with persuasive words of human wisdom."(1 Cor. 2:4)
The Corinthian Church had become overrun by a carnal view of leadership. They had come to rely on a worldly profile of spiritual leadership. Today we are dealing with the identical problem, but the time has come for us to change our focus. Perhaps one final look at the profile of Christ's ministry will help us.
Looking to Jesus
The Father chose a manger. Of all the families of Israel He chose an inconsequential portion of David's lineage in Joseph and Mary. While Jerusalem symbolised the height of spiritual significance Bethlehem and Nazareth became His birthplace and hometown.
He had every opportunity to distinguish Himself in the sight of men but instead described himself as 'meek and lowly'. He was neither arrogant, presumptuous or driven by a personal agenda. He lived a simple life of obedience before God never doing or speaking anything without the permission of His Father.
Does this profile match what most of us believe anointed authority is supposed to look like? Before we begin to clothe ourselves in human glory we should remember Jesus.
"He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him."(Isaiah 53:2b-3)
God has not changed. He continues to use what the world considers useless.
This article was submitted for us and reprinted
by permission from Robert Holmes