|
Over the past two weeks we have noted that good leaders are to be honoured and bad ones corrected. Before leaving the subject of leadership for a final time it is worth reflecting on what Paul says to Timothy about appointing leaders. Care taken in this step can save a church from a heap of heartache.
What advice does Paul have to offer his young associate about appointing leaders? The first thing he says is that Timothy is "not be hasty in the laying on of hands" (1 Timothy 5:22). Presumably he means that Timothy is not to be in a rush to set aside people (through the laying on of hands) for leadership roles. Haste in such a matter is fraught with danger. John Stott is right when he says, "It is a common human tendency to make premature and ill-considered decisions, to be hasty when we should rather be cautious. Although the opposite fault is to be indecisive, yet in leaders it is better to take time to make judgments and form decisions than to be precipitate and live to regret it" (pp. 139-40).
Paul seems to hint at one of the consequences of unwise appointments when he says to Timothy, "do not share in the sins of others." He is probably thinking of the way in which Timothy could easily become implicated in the sins of men he appoints to leadership. "If through excessive haste," Stott writes, "a mistake is made, and a scandal arises, Timothy will ... find himself implicated in other people's misdeeds" (p. 140). People will blame him for the unwise appointment and hold him accountable for the trouble that it has brought. That's a good reason for not being in an undue hurry to "lay hands" on potential leaders.
Verses 24-25 highlight another. Paul puts it this way: "The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not cannot be hidden." In essence what he is saying is that we need to be careful when appointing church leaders because people are not always what they seem to be on the surface.
Again, Stott puts it well when he writes, "Human beings are frequently different from what they appear at first sight. They may seem initially either better or worse than they really are, for both their good and bad points may take a while to surface. Therefore time is needed in which to discover the truth about a candidate for the pastorate" (p. 141).
This is true with respect to both the faults and strengths of people. Some people's sins (faults) are obvious, Paul says, indeed, they are so blatant that they are evident long before they are brought to a process of trial. But that is not true of all. With others, it takes time for faults to emerge. And the same is true of good works (strengths). Some are immediately recognizable, but others surface slowly. "It is the iceberg principle," Stott writes, "namely, that nine-tenths of a person are hidden from view. This is why Timothy must give himself time in which to form an accurate assessment of people's character. Attractive personalities often have hidden weaknesses, whereas unprepossessing people often have hidden strengths. Timothy must learn to discern between the seen and the unseen, the surface and the depth, the appearance and the reality" (p. 141).
Caution and discernment - if these two rules were consistently applied in selecting leaders churches would be saved a great deal of trouble. "Mistakes would be avoided, peace and love would be preserved, and God's name would not be dishonoured" (p. 142)