Mark 10:35-45; Hebrews 12:2; 1 Corinthians 10:12.
This morning we are considering the training of spiritual leadership. We shall see the cost of spiritual leadership, the reward of spiritual leadership, and finally the danger, or peril, of spiritual leadership.
Spiritual leadership is chosen according to the sovereignty of God. It is not up to man, nor is it through the agency of man. It is altogether according to God’s sovereignty.
God does not choose a person because that person possesses great natural ability. Indeed, if a person possesses too many natural things, they may become a hindrance, because he has a tendency to rely upon himself.
God chooses not the noble, but the humble; not many mighty, but the weak; not many wise, but the foolish; not many who have something, but those who have nothing. Therefore, no one can boast before God.
When God chooses a person, He does not look at the external appearance. He does not choose according to natural resources. There is one thing that He looks for: that person must have a heart toward God.
Even though a person may be humble, foolish, and have nothing, if his heart turns toward the Lord, then God will choose him. God chooses him because He desires to work in him.
It is not that, once a man is chosen by God, he instantly becomes a useful vessel in God’s hand. God chooses a person because he has a heart that allows God the opportunity to train him.
Training is necessary to fulfil the calling. There is no such thing as being chosen and immediately being ready for God to use.
We can see this in the history of Paul. Before he knew the Lord, he was already receiving much training. He was a Pharisee and was well acquainted with the law. Yet his understanding of the law was not proper, because all that he knew was according to the tradition of the fathers.
Paul did not approach the law according to Christ. He was well acquainted with the Scriptures, but he relied upon himself and upon the traditions of the fathers. There was no revelation within him, and he had never humbled himself before the Lord.
Therefore, he could not be used by the Lord. In fact, he was doing great damage to God’s work.
When the light shone upon him on the way to Damascus, he fell to the ground. He saw the Righteous One, heard the voice from heaven, and submitted himself unconditionally.
For a short time, Paul testified that Jesus is the Son of God. But he was not yet the vessel in God’s hand that God could fully use.
In the Arabian desert, Paul learned before the Lord. He discovered the Scriptures in the light of Christ. He was being educated in the school of Christ, and afterward he continued to pass through much training until the Lord could use him.
The training of spiritual leadership is therefore vital. In spiritual leadership, there is no such thing as mere talent. We must learn all the lessons that need to be learned before we can be useful.
Spiritual training cannot be obtained in an ordinary school, a seminary, or a special training class for spiritual leaders. If we organised a class to produce spiritual leaders, we would discover that the product of such training could become the greatest hindrance.
Those trained merely in this way may think that they have acquired sufficient knowledge and are qualified to lead. They may become jealous of leaders and think that intellectual knowledge is enough. But mental knowledge is not spirituality.
To be a leader, one must be a spiritual person. In other words, spiritual education cannot be produced by man. Spiritual education can only be given by the Holy Spirit.
The only Teacher who can train us spiritually is the Lord Jesus Himself. Only in the school of Christ can we learn Christ.
When the Lord was on earth, He chose twelve and trained them for approximately three and a half years. Today the Lord is not physically on earth, but the Holy Spirit is here. Therefore, the work of training is now in the hands of the Holy Spirit.
We must be in the school of God, under the instruction of the Holy Spirit. The lessons that we need to learn are spiritual lessons.
The best example is the way the Lord took His disciples and trained them to become leaders. At that time, many people followed the Lord, and great multitudes pressed around Him.
He looked upon them with compassion, as sheep without a shepherd. Yet during those years, He was not concentrated upon the multitude. He was concentrated upon the twelve whom He had chosen.
Spiritual leaders cannot be mass-produced. They must be trained individually, one by one, by the Lord Himself.
Even twelve were too many, in a sense. The condition of the twelve was not simple. They had many difficulties in their personal lives, and all these things had to be dealt with by the Lord.
The Lord chose them according to His will. After He chose them, the Scripture says that He brought them to be with Him. He wanted them to be with Him.
Wherever the Lord went, they were with Him. As they were continually with the Lord Himself, they had opportunity to know Him.
By knowing the Lord, they began to know themselves. Brothers and sisters, none of us really knows ourselves. The Scripture says that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately corrupt.
We not only deceive others; we even deceive ourselves. We do not know ourselves. The only way to know ourselves is in the light of the Lord.
The Lord brought the twelve to Himself and allowed them to see Him, hear His words, observe His works, and walk with Him. As they beheld Him, they began to see how unworthy and corrupt they were.
They allowed the Lord to work in their lives and were willing to receive the work of the cross, until transformation took place in them.
The most important matter in the training of spiritual leadership is beholding Him. As we behold Him, gradually we lose ourselves and become willing to let ourselves go.
We do not naturally want to let ourselves go, because we think that we are good and possess many qualifications. But when we realise that we are nothing and that our natural glory is corruption, we allow the Lord to remove these things.
We do not merely hold on to our natural goodness and natural beauty; we even want to improve them. But as we behold the Lord in His glory, we come to see that what we thought was our glory is corruption.
Daniel was, in a sense, a most excellent person. Yet when the Lord revealed Himself to Daniel, he fell to the ground as though dead.
Daniel discovered that his glory was turned into corruption. All that he had considered to be his glory became nothing in the light of the Lord.
If we desire to be spiritual, we need this kind of training. We must be with the Lord continually, beholding Him.
If a person goes through training and remains the same as before—having acquired only mental knowledge while preserving all his natural beauty and glory—then he has received no education before God. He may have education from man, but he has not received spiritual training.
This kind of person is not ready to be a spiritual leader. We need to see the Lord, see ourselves, and see that our glory is corruption.
The training of spiritual leadership is not a matter of intellectual understanding. It concerns the whole person, particularly spiritual character.
The Lord did not chiefly emphasise methods of work. Of course, the disciples followed Him, listened to His teaching, witnessed His works, and were sent out to gain experience. But the Lord was primarily dealing with their character.
In the work of the Lord, the most important thing is the worker. If the Lord cannot work in us and form spiritual character in us, then the work will suffer damage.
Many works of the Lord have suffered great loss, not because the method was inadequate and not because there was a lack of knowledge, but because there was a problem in the character of the vessel.
If there is a problem in character, then after we have built something up, we may destroy it ourselves. We accomplish nothing.
When the Lord trained the future leaders, He paid much attention to their character. Consider Peter: he liked to take the lead, he spoke much, and he was impulsive. The Lord dealt with him in all these matters.
Consider John. The Lord also worked deeply in his life. The important matter in spiritual leadership is spiritual character. It is not external knowledge, nor is it the method of our work.
How is spiritual character changed? Scripture tells us that as we turn our face toward the Lord, we begin to change. We are transformed from glory to glory by the Holy Spirit.
We look and behold. As we come face to face with Him, the Holy Spirit works transformation within us. We are transformed into His likeness, from glory to glory.
This is the training of character. When there is this training of character, then there will be help in the work. This is the principle of spiritual training.
The first matter is to bring us to a real knowledge of the Lord Himself. We cannot know the Lord merely according to man’s teaching. We can know Him only by revelation.
When the Lord asked His disciples who He was, Simon Peter answered:
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
The Lord told him that flesh and blood had not revealed this to him, but His Father who is in heaven. The knowledge of the Lord must be firsthand and according to revelation.
Where does this revelation come from? It comes when we are near the Lord and when we are being dealt with by Him. Through this mutual dealing between us and the Lord, we come into a real knowledge of the Lord Himself.
The Lord is the One who deals with us, enlightens us, and teaches us. Through these dealings, we learn the lessons that we ought to learn.
The training of spiritual leadership is the training of knowing the Lord Himself: knowing Christ in relation to God’s purpose, knowing Christ in relation to the church, and knowing Christ in all that pertains to life. In all these matters, we need to experience the Lord.
A spiritual leader must learn the lessons of the cross. If he has not learned real lessons from the cross, he cannot be used.
Our Lord is the crucified Lord. Without the cross, there is no entrance into glory. He accomplished redemption upon the cross and entered into resurrection through the cross.
The Lord repeatedly brought the cross before the disciples. To be a disciple is not an easy matter. The Lord never deceived anyone concerning this.
If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
If we are not willing to deny ourselves and take up our cross, we cannot be His disciples.
The cross needs to deal with our mind. Much of our thinking is natural. Our thoughts may appear very good according to man, but our mind needs to be cleansed and renewed.
We have many opinions and many ways. The more we think ourselves wise, the more we insist upon our own thoughts. But the natural self is tied to itself, and we must be willing to let ourselves go.
This is the work of the cross in our mind. The cross also needs to deal with our emotions.
Some people are very emotional, while some are more intellectual. The Lord does not mean that we should not love our parents, children, wife, or husband. But He must be first, even before our own life.
Often our emotion belongs to the flesh and is under the control of fallen nature. When uncontrolled emotion is expressed, it can do much harm and create many problems. Therefore, emotion needs to be dealt with by the cross.
The will also needs the work of the cross. Some people have no will and are blown about by every wind. Others have a will as strong as iron, and no one can move them.
The one who has no will needs his will strengthened by the grace of God so that he may desire what God desires. The one with a strong will needs the cross so that he can say, “Not my will, but Thine be done.”
Sometimes our will needs to be strengthened by the grace of the Lord, and sometimes it needs to be weakened by the work of the cross. These are practical lessons that we must learn.
This is not merely teaching about the cross; it is the application of the work of the cross in our lives.
Paul said:
From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus.
The marks of the Lord Jesus are the wounds of the cross. There are wounds, and through these wounds the treasure shines forth.
The Lord continually taught His disciples the lesson of humility. Though the twelve were weak and had nothing in themselves, they still argued among themselves about who would be greatest.
The Lord placed a child before them and taught them that unless they were changed and became as little children, they could not enter the kingdom of God.
To become like a little child does not mean to be childish. It means humility. A child knows that he has nothing and can do nothing; he must rely upon another.
Brothers and sisters, we must see that we are like children. We have nothing, we can do nothing, and we must trust the Lord. We need to be humbled.
Job was a perfect and upright man, but he was self-righteous. He wanted to preserve his perfection. Yet God dealt with him until Job was no longer merely a perfect person; he became a broken person.
Because of brokenness, the person of God can flow through him. Are we broken persons, or are we still perfect persons who have never been broken?
In the Old Testament, wine that had never been poured from vessel to vessel retained its original taste and impurities. Many servants of God and many who serve in the church have never been emptied or poured out.
Because of this, how can the Lord bless His work through them? Those whom the Lord can use are broken vessels. Sometimes we are too perfect for the Lord to have a way through us.
But if we are broken vessels, the Lord has a way through. We have this treasure in earthen vessels.
We are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair;
pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed.
There are many wounds, and therefore the treasure shines. This is the lesson of the cross.
The Lord taught His disciples the lessons of prayer. Sometimes He prayed in order to set an example, and when they saw Him praying, they asked Him to teach them how to pray.
He taught them that they must watch and pray, lest they enter into temptation. This is a lesson that every spiritual leader must learn.
Many leaders today can do much before people, but they do not have a quiet life before the Lord. They do not know how to pray or how to labour through prayer.
All such work is temporary and momentary. There may be excitement for a time, but when the excitement is gone, the work is gone. Spiritual leaders must learn the lesson of prayer.
What is done in secret is crucial. God’s work is not done merely by the hand or by the mouth. It is done upon the knees.
Hudson Taylor is greatly honoured among Chinese believers because the Lord used him to bring the gospel to China. One of the chief lessons seen in his life was that he knew prayer.
Through true prayer, God rises up and works. Prayer gives God the way to work.
This is how the Lord trains His disciples. If we have a heart toward Him and are chosen by Him, the Lord will begin His training. He will train us in many ways so that we may become useful vessels.
To be a spiritual leader is costly. Many desire to be leaders, but they do not desire to pay the cost.
If we are not willing to allow the cross to do its work, if we have no price to pay for others, how can we be leaders?
Have we been quiet before the Lord and counted the cost? Many have not counted the cost. They are moved merely by emotion.
The speaker recalled being young during a time of revival. At the end of a series of meetings, there was a message on consecration. In those days, people often thought consecration meant that one had to become a preacher or missionary.
But every Christian is a consecrated person. Consecration means allowing the Lord to work in our lives; it does not merely mean that we work for Him.
A large map of China was displayed, and those present were urged to consecrate themselves to go wherever they wished. Being young and emotional, the speaker thought, “I love the Lord. I want to go to the most difficult place.”
He volunteered to go to Mongolia, one of the most difficult places in China. For the first year he prayed for Mongolia and read books about it. Yet the Lord did not allow him to go, and even to this day he had not been to Mongolia.
If we desire to be a vessel in God’s hand, we must be willing to count the cost. What is that cost? The cost is our very life.
The Lord does not merely want something that belongs to us. He has the right to require our life because He is the One who has given His life for us.
The cost of discipleship is our very life. The Lord said that He came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
We also ought to love the brethren and lay down our lives for them. Spiritual leadership requires our very life. Those who preserve themselves cannot become leaders.
Another cost is loneliness. A leader often sees something that God has shown him, but others have not yet seen it. Therefore, he must walk a lonely way.
Like a shepherd, he cannot remain within the flock; he must walk before the flock. That position is lonely.
The speaker recalled a brother who was a pastor in a Baptist church. The Lord revealed to him the heavenly nature of the church. For one year he preached what the Lord had shown him, but only one brother and one deacon saw it.
Moses also was a lonely person. He went up the mountain alone for forty days. To be a leader is often to live a lonely life, even though one may have companions and fellow workers.
At the end, Paul said that all those in Asia had turned away from him. If we desire to be spiritual leaders, we must be prepared to live a lonely life.
Another cost is persecution, criticism, misunderstanding, and rejection. A leader may serve the Lord faithfully and think that others will appreciate his devotion. Yet sometimes they criticise him instead.
If the Lord has committed something to a leader, he must be faithful to carry it out, even when he is misunderstood. He must continue faithfully before the Lord.
Many times, while a leader is still living, people do not appreciate him. After he has passed on, they may build a monument to him. Such is often the experience of those who lead.
The cost does not mean that there is no reward. The reward of spiritual leadership is the Lord Himself.
The Lord gives more of Himself to the one who faithfully serves Him. The comfort of a leader is to see the Lord satisfied with His work.
Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
This is the reward of faithful service. We shall be glorified with Him.
There are also dangers in leadership. Scripture says:
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
Those in leadership face greater temptations. The first danger is pride.
When we are used by God, it is easy to become proud. We may think that the Lord blesses us because we are worthy of His blessing or because He has found something good in us.
Some people are used by the Lord and become very proud. Then God cannot use them further. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Many servants of God have failed in this matter. David was mightily used by God, yet at the end of his life he numbered Israel because he wanted to know how many troops he had and how strong he was.
God dealt severely with David, but David repented. Through repentance, God gave him further grace and showed him the place for the temple.
Uzziah became strong and prosperous, but he became proud. He entered the temple to burn incense because he thought that he was qualified to do so. Leprosy came upon him.
Hezekiah was used by the Lord and was blessed by Him. But at the end of his days, he displayed all the treasures of his house to the king of Babylon. Later, those treasures and the people were carried away into captivity.
That is the result of pride. Those in spiritual leadership must take heed in this matter.
Charles Spurgeon was greatly used by God. He recognised that pride could enter the heart. He remembered that all the works were the works of the Lord, and if the Lord did not use him, the Lord could use somebody else.
Because of this, the Lord kept him in a humble spirit. Brothers and sisters, we must take heed to this matter.
The second danger is jealousy. When we see others being used more than ourselves, we may become envious.
Envy or jealousy is one of the greatest temptations for a leader. Scripture tells us that jealousy is the rottenness of the bones.
The Lord raised up Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Moses was the leader, Aaron was the priest, and Miriam was the prophetess. Together they were used by the Lord to bring His people out of Egypt.
But Aaron and Miriam became jealous of Moses. They said, in effect, “Does the Lord speak only through Moses? Does He not speak through us also?”
Moses did not defend himself. Scripture says that he was very meek. When his brother and sister became jealous, he did not open his mouth. That is humility.
The Lord defended Moses. Miriam became leprous, and Moses prayed for her. She was healed.
Jealousy is a great temptation. Those who lead must be very careful.
Another danger is the approval of man—popularity. Who does not want to be popular? Who does not want the support of others?
When God is using someone, people may uplift him. There is a natural joy when we see that the Lord’s work is important to others. But we must not allow people to worship us, for then we become an idol.
Some servants of God have failed because they accepted the honour of people as though it belonged to them.
Solomon was exceedingly wise. People from every part of the world came to hear his wisdom. He experienced everything upon the earth, but in the end his wisdom did not preserve him.
He had many wives, and he became a very unwise person. Allowing people to approve and exalt us is a great danger. We must take heed.
The assumption of infallibility is also a great danger. It is true that a spiritual person has less opportunity to make mistakes because the Holy Spirit leads him. Yet he is still a man and can be wrong.
We must never arrive at the point where we think that everything we do is correct, every direction we give is right, and every interpretation we make is correct. If we arrive at such a point, we have already fallen.
There is not one person who does not make mistakes. We must confess that we make mistakes, humble ourselves, and accept correction.
Peter was a great leader. He saw the heavenly vision of the sheet being let down, and he heard the voice telling him to arise and eat. He saw that the Lord had broken down the distinction between Jew and Gentile.
But later, at Antioch, Peter withdrew from eating with Gentile believers when men came from James. Paul saw that this was not in line with the truth of the gospel, and he corrected Peter.
Thank God that Peter did not claim that he could never be wrong. He received correction.
Finally, a leader must not assume that he is indispensable. No one is indispensable.
If the Lord can use us, we should thank Him. But we must not think that without us God has no way. We must not hold on to a position or territory as though everything depends upon us.
The Lord raised up Joshua after Moses, Elisha after Elijah, and Timothy, Titus, Silas, and others through Paul. No one is indispensable.
Do not think too much of yourself. God can use somebody else. Humble yourself and allow Him to go on. Do not stand in His way as though you are indispensable.
All these are temptations that spiritual leaders face. Therefore, let us take heed, remain humble, receive the training of the Lord, learn the lessons of the cross, and allow the Holy Spirit to form Christ within us.