Watchmen who must give an account

24 Jul, 2016 - 00:07 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Pastor Ian Rea

Church leaders have a Biblical mandate to watch over themselves and their congregations.

in his farewell to the elders of the Ephesian church, Paul said, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.

“Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood (Acts 20:28)”.

Congregations do not belong to their leaders, they belong to God, for He bought them with the blood of His own dear Son.

Therefore, church leaders are only to act as watchmen, not owners.

In a similar vein, the writer of Hebrews wrote, “(Church leaders) keep watch over you as men who must give an account” (13:17).

He then goes on to say, “Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honourably in every way” (13:18).

It is sobering to realise that God has given us the responsibility of watching over His church, and one day, He will ask us to account for this.

I hope that you have a clear conscience in this regard and “desire to live honourably in every way”.

But what does it mean to be a watchman?

In the Olivet Discourse (recorded in Matthew 24 & 25), Jesus answers two questions posed by the disciples – “When will this (the destruction of the Temple) happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matt. 24:3).

In answer to the second question, Jesus described the signs that would point to his second coming.

However, He then went on to explain that although the signs would give a general indication of the time, the specific date is known only to God.

In fact, Christ’s return will be sudden and unexpected (24:36-41).

On the basis of this, Jesus makes an inference, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come (24:42)”.

Jesus then told five parables to illustrate what keeping watch looks like. If we want to know what it means to be watchmen, we would do well to study and understand these parables.

The parable of the two servants (the 2nd parable) is particularly relevant to us as church leaders.

Jesus sets up a scenario with two possible outcomes. A master notices a servant who appears to have good qualities, so he gives him greater responsibility before leaving on a long trip.

The servant’s new responsibility requires him to give the other servants their food at the proper time.

If the master returns unexpectedly to find the servant fulfilling his responsibilities, the servant is revealed to be genuine, and the master will reward him (outcome one).

In the same way, Christ has given you responsibility to “feed” your congregation.

If He finds you doing this when He returns unexpectedly, your heart will be revealed as true and you will be rewarded.

The second outcome has an appalling ending.

The long absence exposes the servant’s heart as untrue. His only desire is to please himself rather than to obey and please his master.

He only acts as faithful and
wise when his master is watching but in the master’s absence, the wicked servant fails to watch over himself and begins to behave sinfully, resulting in him failing to watch over his fellow servants.

When the master returns, he punishes the wicked servant, assigning him a place of suffering with other hypocrites.

We as church leaders are hypocrites when we appear to be working for God when in actual fact we are serving our own interests.

Sons and daughters of God do not produce the fruit of hypocrisy.

Leaders that are true children of God watch over themselves and the church.

As we have learned from the parable of the two servants, a watchman is responsible. We do not live responsibly to earn the right to be sons.

John tells us that you only become a child of God when He gives you the right, and God gives the right to those who receive Christ and believe in His name (John 1:12-13).

Let us spend some time in self-reflection with the Holy Spirit.

What are our motives for leading a church? Are we leading as hypocrites for our own interests or as children for God’s pleasure?

Let us be responsible watchmen.

 

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