How Do You Spell Leadership? #8

Handle God's Word

Obviously, we cannot go into much detail on this point. However, just as Hosea wrote "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6), we need to take the need for the knowledge of God's Word seriously today.

Many passages teach this importance. There is the need to "search the scriptures" (Acts 17:11). There is the need to "rightly divide the Word" (2 Timothy 2:15). There is the need to "grow in knowledge" (2 Peter 3:18). There is the need to be "filled with knowledge" (Col. 1:9-10).

What happens when God's leaders lack knowledge? The answer is often seen in two extremes. First, some become liberal in their dealings with the Word. In other words, they go beyond the Will of God. Second, some become traditionalist. What I mean by this is that they do things based solely on the way they have seen things done in the past. An example of this can be seen in the old practice of covering the emblems of the Lord's Supper with some kind of cloth before it is served. Of course, this was done to keep flies off the emblems in the days before air conditioners. Yet, some people attached spiritual significance to the old covering. They did this not based on scripture, but based on their tradition.

Paul summed this up best when he wrote to Timothy saying, "Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee" (1 Timothy 4:16).