Ezra 8:35 (ESV)
At that time those who had come from captivity, the returned exiles,
offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bulls for all Israel,
ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and as a sin offering twelve male goats.
All this was a burnt offering to the LORD.
I
have been writing about what to look for in a pastor. First, look for a pastor with
a servant’s heart. Second, look for a pastor and church leaders who understand
how to discern God’s leading and who respond to God’s leading with patience,
wisdom, and humility. Third, look for a pastor and church leaders who point
people to God and not to themselves. Three times in Ezra 8 it says that the
good hand of God or of the LORD was on Ezra. Ezra makes sure that the credit
goes to God and not to himself. When the assembly met to leave Babylon for the
homeland Ezra called for a time of fasting first. The first thing that the
returning exiles did when they arrived in Jerusalem was to offer a burnt
offering to the LORD. Ezra continually pointed those he was leading to God.
[22] For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and
horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the
king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of
his wrath is against all who forsake him.” [23] So we fasted and implored our
God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.
This
was not about Ezra’s reputation. This was about the reputation of God. Ezra had
told the King about the power of God. Now if he went back to the King and asked
for protection that would undermine his own faith. How could he say that God
will protect us and then ask the King to protect them? Ezra’s primary concern
was the reputation of God.
We
do not need charismatic leaders who draw people to themselves. If we are to be
healthy churches and healthy believers then we need leaders who constantly
point people to God. We need leaders who are more concerned about what people
think about God than what people think about themselves. It is easy for leaders
to begin to think highly of themselves when things are going well. There are principles
of leadership, and some practice those principles better than others. Some leaders
are just more effective. Some seem to draw people around them like bees to a
soda can. But the leaders that are effective for eternity, the leaders whom God
uses to transform lives by His grace are the leaders who continually point
people toward God and not toward themselves. We need pastors and church leaders
who are more concerned about God than about themselves.
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