Living Room Study

Numbers 27

“When the community quarreled in the Wilderness of Zin, both you and your brother Aaron rebelled against My command to uphold My holiness in their sight at the waters.  Those were the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin.  So Moses appealed to the Lord, ‘May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the community who will go out before them and come back in before them, and who will bring them out and bring them in, so that the Lord’s community won’t be like sheep without a shepherd.”  Numbers 27:14-17

Among church congregations, the subject of leadership & succession is of high importance.  That is, “Who is going to lead us?” and “Who will replace our leader when he is gone?”

Some congregations are governed by a “board of elders” or “deacon committee”, who are afraid of a renegade pastor amassing too much power.  The preacher basically works under the authority & advisement of a group.  The “group” government only works to the extent that the group is seeking the Lord and shares a clear vision of God’s leading.

Other congregations allow the pastor to be the sole authority.  This form of government is called the “Moses” model.  The “Moses” model only works to the extent that the leader is humble and seeks the Lord’s will above his own…and receives wise counsel from others.

The purpose of any congregational leadership model is to uphold the Lord’s holiness in the sight of the people.  Any leader, or body of leaders, which fails to uphold His holiness will never see all that God desires for their community of believers.

A flawed component of earthly leaders is that they are human!  No human (or group of humans) will ever completely uphold God’s holiness.  Still, God chooses and installs human leaders.  Furthermore, we should submit to them because they are His provision.  

Let’s consider the “kind” of leader Moses petitioned the Lord for, on behalf of Israel.  That is, one who had gone out & come back in, in order to lead out, and bring back in.

Moses came out of Egypt, then he came back into Egypt, to lead Israel out…  Sadly, he was unable to lead them into the Promised Land, possibly because he had never been there.  But Joshua had.  He and Caleb had both been there, as young scouts.  Their faithful report earned them the right to re-enter the Canaan and lead others there, as well.

Jesus came from Heaven, and by virtue of His resurrection, He has returned there.  Jesus told His disciples He was going to prepare a place, and that He will, someday, return to bring us back with Him.  The first “Joshua” led Israel to an earthly “promised land”, and Messuah Y’shua (Hebrew: Jesus Christ…Y’shua was a Hebrew equivalent of “Joshua”) will lead “spiritual Israel” to the “Promised Land” of Heaven. (John 14:2-3)

Blessings.

Steve Wiggins