In these last days there is a great need for consecrated leaders who will not compromise on godly standards of worship. Sadly, many of those leading out and holding positions in the church today are neither spiritually nor mentally prepared for such responsible positions. Where there is a lack of consecration to God, a wrong impression is given both in the church and in the community about true Christianity and the result is a weakened church.
This crisis is evident as I travel around ministering to the people. I truly believe that we are living in the end of time and it is critical that we sincerely examine our own hearts to “see if there be any wicked way in me.” Psalm 139:24. Never was there a more urgent time to completely surrender to the Lord and allow Him to develop a spiritual maturity than right now. Now is the time to be ready to meet the Lord when He comes.
The same condition prevailed when Isaiah said, “For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water. The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counselor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.” Isaiah 3:1–3.
Because of the inadequacy of the leaders, God said that children would rule over them in Judea and Jerusalem. Some of these young rulers are listed in II Kings 15:32, 33. It says that Jotham, a good ruler, was 25 years of age when he took the throne to be ruler. Aza, an evil ruler, was only 20 years old when he became king (II Kings 16:2). Then Hezekiah, who was a good ruler, was only 25 years old when he began to rule (II Kings 18:2). But Azariah, also a good ruler, was only 16 years old when he took the throne (II King 15:2). Manesseh, an evil ruler, was only 12 years of age when he became a ruler and Josiah, a good ruler, was only 8 years old when he became a ruler (II Kings 22:1). These rulers were aged from 8 to 25 years old. Precisely what Isaiah prophesied about children came true.
The Lord said He would take the mighty men out, the intellectual men; the judges and children would lead the nation. There was not a man in that nation who was able to stand up and take the position and lead out a nation; therefore, the Lord used children.
These rulers represented a lack of maturity and experience, but the biggest lack of all was that of their relationship with God and lack of consecration in their lives. What we often see today around the world is exactly what happened back then—a lack of maturity, lack of consecration, lack of holiness and lack of humility. There is a lack of desiring to develop qualities for the honor and glory of God and to be able to lead a congregation and the churches today to reflect the spiritual level of those church leaders, the elders and those people who are holding positions in the church.
God has said that His people will be holy. He has said that they will keep His commandments and have the faith of Jesus and do His will. In other words, they will apply the principles and statutes that are in the Word of God and in the Spirit of Prophecy to their lives and be able to lead, to represent, to teach and preach the Word of God to the people.
Many today are living a relaxed and comfortable lifestyle and are so wrapped up in working many hours in the secular world, not even thinking upon spiritual things. Some who are holding positions in the church do not have time to do the work of the Lord, to come to prayer meeting or to visit a brother in need. How then can these people lead others?
The church today is embracing a lifestyle that is of the world and foreign to God’s ways. Leaders should themselves be connected to the Source of Light and be able to lead others to Jesus.
The reality is that the closer the walk with the Lord and the closer the connection with God, the further away from the world we will become. It is the duty of every leader to know the way and what it takes to inherit the kingdom of heaven so their lives, their behavior and attitude, will reflect that relationship with God.
There are many who want to hold positions in the church for their own personal agenda and to implement the same into their churches, which causes conflict with the ones who want to do God’s will and to implement a program to God’s glory.
The illustration in Isaiah is relevant today because we also are in need of men who will exhibit these godly characteristics. There are too many who are devoid of the characteristics necessary but who are still holding positions for which they are not qualified according to God’s requirements. However, the Lord does allow people their free choice of who to put into offices even though He knows that they have no relationship with Him.
For example, the people in Samuel’s day were not satisfied with God ruling over them and wanted a king like the other nations. God then sent Samuel to anoint Saul. See I Samuel 10:1. Saul was selected to be king; however, he did not perfect a relationship with God. It was not God’s choice that they have a king, but because the people insisted, Saul was selected. It becomes an individual responsibility to examine oneself to know whether he/she is spiritually ready to hold a position. It might be well to recognize that a person may desire to serve in that position when their heart and mind is ready and they realize that they need to spend some time with God before serving in that capacity.
We are living in the last days of this earth’s history and there is a battle raging. There are two sides in this war and some people are making choices daily to do things God’s way and others are deciding that they would do things man’s way. This war has also crept into the Christian church where genuine reverent worship has been replaced by a superficial worship style that pleases the senses instead of glorifying God. In Isaiah 5:7 the vineyard represents the nation of Israel. Keep in mind that we are spiritual Israel. The civil and the religious leaders were the keepers of the vineyard. The religious leaders were supposed to lead the nation but instead they ate away at the vine. In their self-interest and in their own selfish ways they did not take the time to motivate themselves or others to worship in the way that appealed to God. We have a similar situation today.
Today there are still two divisions of authority, the civil and the religious. Civil authority governs the secular side of things and the church governs the Christian field. One works man’s ways and the other works God’s ways.
However, today the popular teaching around the world is that we should embrace man’s ways and forget about God, that it is impossible to overcome and we will be sinning all the way until the Lord comes. That is worldly philosophy! It is a lie!
Unfortunately, most have embraced this lie which has caused a tremendous crisis in the churches and why we are declining spiritually. If the leaders, whether they be pastors, elders or deacons, are not connected to God and do not encourage the people to lift the standards, the vine will be eaten and eventually destroyed.
In Isaiah chapter 3 we read that it was the leaders, lacking in maturity, knowledge, understanding and wisdom that caused the ruin of the nations. The same will happen again and we are going to be spiritually destroyed if we do not keep constantly elevating ourselves toward God. The devil is ready to devour whoever is wandering from God’s protection and to destroy them. As a result of the lack of consecration, the devil is walking around like a roaring lion seeking whom he will devour (I Peter 5:8).
The leaders have a holy responsibility to do God’s will and not to do their own.
“God has not changed toward His faithful servants who are keeping their garments spotless. But many are crying, ‘Peace and safety,’ while sudden destruction is coming upon them. Unless there is thorough repentance, unless men humble their hearts by confession and receive the truth as it is in Jesus, they will never enter heaven. When purification shall take place in our ranks, we shall no longer rest at ease, boasting of being rich and increased with goods, in need of nothing.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 250.
God wants to send showers of blessings to His people but we are not prepared to receive them. We are so consumed in such a lifestyle of business and self-importance that we are in danger of losing our connection with God. We have a serious crisis today and need to start listening to what God is saying to each one of us.
“With unerring accuracy the Infinite One still keeps an account with all nations. While His mercy is tendered with calls to repentance, this account will remain open; but when the figures reach a certain amount which God has fixed, the ministry of His wrath commences. The account is closed. Divine patience ceases. There is no more pleading of mercy in their behalf.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 208.
What does this mean, that He will close the account? It means that we have refused to become obedient and remain disobedient. We are not willing to cooperate with God and not willing to invite God into our hearts and to cleanse us. We hear the Word, but it is not being applied to our daily life. God will shut the door on those who refuse to apply it.
A call for reformation is being sounded now. There was a time when Moses was leading the people that he could no longer handle the situation by himself so the Lord sent his father-in-law, Jethro, to instruct or advise him.
“The time and strength of those who in the providence of God have been placed in leading positions of responsibility in the church, should be spent in dealing with the weightier matters demanding special wisdom and largeness of heart. It is not in the order of God that such men should be appealed to for the adjustment of minor matters that others are well qualified to handle. ‘Every great matter they shall bring unto thee,’ Jethro proposed to Moses, ‘but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace.’
“In harmony with this plan, ‘Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.’ Exodus 18:19–26.
“Later, when choosing seventy elders to share with him the responsibilities of leadership, Moses was careful to select, as his helpers, men possessing dignity, sound judgment, and experience. In his charge to these elders at the time of their ordination, he outlined some of the qualifications that fit a man to be a wise ruler in the church.” The Acts of the Apostles, 93, 94.
Jethro told Moses that the whole package was too big for him. Select individuals who have wisdom and who have the right character. Why not select people who have a relationship with God, who have a union with God and who by their own behavior give glory to God? People who do not possess those characteristics should not be selected, regardless of their seniority or social status in the church. By choosing the wrong people to lead is the very reason the situation today is out of control. There is need to rebuke sin, to call it by its right name. Time is running out! We need to ask people to stand up for the Lord and to consecrate themselves to the Lord through His Word and the blood of Jesus Christ.
There is a great work to be done in the churches and in the communities where we live. What are we doing today to hasten the Lord’s coming? Are we applying ideas and principles of the world and not using the Word of God? The Lord says that if you love me, you will keep my commandments (John 14:15). We have been blessed by the gift of the Spirit of Prophecy where we can look for counsel from Sister White, but most continually fall into the trap and go to secular materials. Philosophies written by doctors or professors, etc., are promoted, forgetting the light shown in the Spirit of Prophecy.
The only way to establish leadership in our churches today, the only way to have the right team for the Lord is by personal consecration to the Lord. We do not want to bring any shame upon our Lord Jesus Christ.
Today many look for positions in the church, but before accepting any position, a self-examination should take place to see if God wants us in a particular position. We should ask the Lord what part of the vineyard we are to labor in and then serve Him with our whole heart.
“King David, toward the close of his reign, delivered a solemn charge to those bearing the burden of the work of God in his day. Summoning to Jerusalem ‘all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies that ministered to the king by course, and the captains over the thousands, and captains over the hundreds, and the stewards over all the substance and possession of the king, and of his sons, with the officers, and with the mighty men, and with all the valiant men,’ the aged king solemnly charged them, ‘in the sight of all Israel the congregation of the Lord, and in the audience of our God,’ to ‘keep and seek for all the commandments of the Lord your God.’ 1 Chronicles 28:1, 8.
“To Solomon, as one called to occupy a position of leading responsibility, David gave a special charge: ‘Thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek Him, He will be found of thee; but if thou forsake Him, He will cast thee off forever. Take heed now; for the Lord hath chosen thee: … be strong.’ I Chronicles 28:9, 10.” The Acts of the Apostles, 94, 95.
David gathered them all together and said, you know your responsibilities and know that every thought that comes into your mind the Lord knows. Keep that in mind, for we are going to give to God an account of every thought and feeling. David told Solomon that God knows his heart. He knows the way of every man. If you honor Him, God will honor and protect you. But if you will not honor Him, He will pull Himself from you and you will no longer be under the protection of God.
We have a responsibility today in the churches to make sure that we daily prepare ourselves, our heart, mind and soul for God. Pray for the Spirit that will make us grow more like Christ every day and pray especially for those who are holding responsible positions in the church. They must have a connection to God, for all are going to give an account to God for neglected responsibilities.
I have heard people say that their job as a deacon or an elder is no big deal. Their job every Sabbath is to read the Scripture and participate in the service and then it is over, but it is much more beyond that. In Ezekiel, chapter 3, God said unto those people who hold positions, You are the watchmen of my people. You are to sound the trumpet when the enemy is approaching the tent or the camp. If you don’t, you are responsible for their blood. You are responsible to tell them what they are doing wrong and if they refuse it, then their blood will not be on you.
We can do that today by becoming true Christians and having a relationship with God, by being disciplined and applying every principle from the Word of God to our lives so that we may be worthy to hold a position to the honor and glory of God and to lead others to the kingdom of God. We want to be able to say to the Lord that we will serve Him and do all we can according to His will.
Those who take church offices lightly should consider the two sons of Aaron and how they presented themselves into the presence of God (Leviticus 10) with their clothes not even fixed right. They presumptuously went into the Holy Place with strange fire and God struck them both down. The strange fire was not approved by God. These same principles are applied today to the leaders of God’s churches. We need to be clear on this issue and acknowledge that God requires holiness. God requires a pure heart and a pure mind in those who serve and hold a position in the name of the Lord and to rebuke self and the world. Those people will serve the Lord according to His purpose.
Jesus said, “Father, Thy will be done.” Matthew 26:42. Are we willing to say that today? “Father, Thy will be done in my life.”
Pastor Domingo Nunez is Director of Outreach Ministry for Steps to Life. He is involved in the coordination of world mission projects and he travels extensively, encouraging the many home churches supported by Steps to Life. He can be contacted at: (316) 788-5559 or by email at: domingonunez@stepstolife.org.