In our text for this last Sunday in the Easter season, we are at that awkward time for the new church, the time between ascension and Pentecost. Jesus is gone, but his spirit has not yet come. In this time of waiting, we are told that the first thing the church did was to fill a leadership vacancy created by faithless Judas, a leader who betrayed the movement.
Yes, the very first act of the church had to do with getting organized. So the observation has been made that at first and perhaps even second glance, our text is not particularly inspiring or interesting. Who can get excited about nominating committees, council elections and such things as administration, organization, management, and leadership? Those words and ideas seem out of place in this place of worship. Frequently I have heard the same fear expressed in these passionate words, "We are supposed to be missionaries, not managers. The church is becoming just like another business." On the cover of one of our religious journals there is the cartoon of two clergy shaking hands, one saying to the other, "Welcome to our parish where we’ve brainstormed our problems, prioritized our goals, formalized our strategies and maximized our ineffectuality."1 Their sarcasm expresses what many feel today about the science of management taking over the church.
Remember this old spiritual?
Ezekiel saw a wheel
Way up in the middle of the air;
A wheel in a wheel,
Way up in the middle of the air;
And the big wheel ran by faith,
And the little wheel ran by the grace of God;
A wheel in a wheel
Way up in the middle of the air.2
The big wheel represents organizational structure and the little wheel stands for the Spirit of God. There is tension between the two - between God’s rule and the rules and procedures of an organization. There are a number of Christians who suspect that the big wheel is getting far too much attention. They have a concern that organization, if it is not the death of, surely it is the enemy of spontaneity and enthusiasm. How can one talk seriously about managing the Spirit, which is like the coming and going of the wind, working when and where it will.
Yet a high priority for this new church was focused on the big wheel. It seemed to be of great importance to this small group of Jesus’ followers to bring the apostolic leadership back up to the number twelve. This is somewhat hard to understand because the apostles do not play much of a role in the book of Acts and we never again hear of the new replacement, Matthias. Neither do we hear of any more apostolic elections. When the apostles died they were not replaced. The crucial factor in this special election seems to have been the defection of Judas. That scandal had to be corrected. He had to be replaced. We also remember the twelve had been appointed by the earthly Jesus and sent out to proclaim the gospel. The number twelve was a strong symbol. It brought to mind the twelve sons, the tribes of Jacob/Israel, and so symbolically linked the old Israel with the beginnings of the new church. Apparently this connection between the old and the new was so important that the first item of business was to fill the office abandoned by Judas.
This was done by using the ancient Israelite device of casting lots. We are not sure how this lottery was done. The Old Testament refers to decisions by lot, but leaves us in the dark as to how. Somehow two candidates were nominated for the same position. Perhaps two sticks bearing the names of the candidates were placed in a container which was shaken until one fell out. It seems that this selection via lottery was to highlight God’s direct involvement and to reduce if not prevent undue human (political) influence in the election process.
Though this particular election and text may not be high on our interest scale, it does convey three truths that are worthy of our remembering.
The first truth is obvious, but sometimes forgotten, and that is the importance and necessity of organization. Without some sort of structure and organization there would be chaos. This was made very clear already in the book of Exodus. Moses was in charge of a congregation that was getting too large for him to handle alone. We also know it wasn’t an ideal congregation. It was a congregation on the move, looking for a building site and it was full of complainers. We are told the members were lined up outside his office door from morning until evening. It was not a good situation. Moses was wearing out and so were the people. I am reminded of one of my favorite old, old stories. It goes way back, coming from the "Amos And Andy" radio series. There was a delightful character on that program by the name of Kingfish. He owned a construction company. One day he received a phone call informing him that his construction company had torn down the wrong building. There was a long pause. Finally Kingfish replied in these words, "Let’s both hang up and don’t nobody call nobody back!" Those of us who have been in the middle of disagreements and controversies can identify with Kingfish’s desire. It sounds like Moses was in a similar predicament. But at this providential moment he received a crash course in church management. The teacher was Jethro, his father-in-law. He said to Moses:
"What you are doing is not good. You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. Now listen to me. I will give you counsel ..." (Exodus 18:13-27)
His counsel was to get help and to get organized so that the burden of ministry might not only be shared, but be done more effectively. Moses listened and appointed and organized God-fearing people to help him. You can read all about it in the 18th chapter of Exodus. This people called by God needed some organization if it was going to fulfill God’s mission. So it is important to remember that good administration is ministry. Jesus demonstrated such ministry when he appointed seventy additional workers and sent them on ahead. Paul used his administrative skills in raising money for the Jerusalem congregation. We also remember from the book of Acts that when the church grew in numbers, a special group was organized to take care of the widows and the poor.
Structures are needed for effective ministry. Good administration of those structures is also vital, not only to define goals, but also to reach them. Congregations with their councils, boards, committees, and task forces have been compared to a can of worms. The comparison may not be flattering, but it is realistic. We who do some fishing know that the worms will always be found at the bottom of the can in a tight, wiggling, squirming mess. You don’t know where one begins and another ends. When you reach in and grab one, it is like you grab a ball of worms. You can’t jerk lest you tear the worm in two, but you must exert steady pressure if you are going to secure your worm.
So it is in many congregations, with people involved in different projects, concerns, and meetings, moving in many different directions. Yet there is much overlapping and interconnecting which requires organizational and communication skills lest there be misunderstandings and confusion. So it is not a question of organization or no organization. The question is whether or not it is good or bad organization. Like the early church, we too need to take seriously, not only the power of the Spirit, but that things be done "decently and in good order."
This brings us to the second truth, and that is "good organization comes from good leadership." We don’t know if Matthias was a good leader. We do know that the early church took great care in selecting their leader. Undoubtedly they knew what we sometimes forget, and that is that the "church goes and grows as the leaders lead." It has been my experience that the single most important factor that influences how a congregation will function, is the nature of its leadership.
By leadership, I mean the "art of influencing people to work for the achievement of individual or group goals." There is no substitute for this kind of leadership. A few years ago in his commencement sermon to the graduates of Princeton Seminary, the preacher said these words, "More churches have been hurt by leadership default than leadership domination" (Ernest Campbell).
Good leaders do not wake up in "neutral" or in "park." Leaders have vision. They are more in tune with challenge than with comfort. They tend to focus more on people than on tasks. They see beyond the day’s crisis and budget deficit. Leaders place a heavy emphasis on values and motivation and have a healthy intuition for those intangibles that unify rather than divide. Strong healthy leaders are always thinking in terms of renewal and change. They are suspicious of that which becomes routine, for that means the "rut" is not far behind. Leaders do not push the panic button in the face of conflict; rather they know that conflict and good leadership go together. Congregations need structure and organization, which in turn requires good and imaginative leaders.
But with leadership go many temptations. One of the great dangers in the matter of leadership is that we can forget whom we are following. We see this in what happened to Judas.
We are familiar with his tragic story. We cannot ferret out all the motives leading to Judas’ betrayal, but there can be little question that money was an important factor. Apparently money was not a problem in the beginning, else why would he follow a leader who paid no salaries and owned not a place to lay his own head. But money can and does exert a subtle and demonic power. In many instances its power grows slowly but inexorably until one is ensnared in its bondage. This seems to have been the case with Judas. Though he heard about "the imperishable treasure that thieves cannot take or moths and rust cannot destroy," yet the desire for more money grew. Though he saw signs and wonders that Jesus did and was a living witness to his unselfish love, the sin of covetousness would not be arrested. The sin grew. That is probably why he could gripe and complain about waste when Mary anointed Jesus with the expensive perfume; why he could go secretly to the palace of the high priest and offer his services in the now infamous words, "How much will you give me if I betray him into your hands?"
Judas’ betrayal for money is a warning to all followers of Christ, but especially the leadership of the church. Under the lordship of mammon our needs and desires become insatiable. I am discovering that the sins and temptations of the flesh have a way of diminishing in intensity with the advancing years. But not my greed. My fascination with the toys of the world grows stronger with the years. I don’t lust after women, I lust after comfort and things.
That is why leaders dare not forget the one they are following. Under Christ, leading and loving go together. There is an excellent text in 1 Peter that brings this leadership business into healthy focus:
"I exhort the elders (leaders) among you to tend the flock of God that is in your charge, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do it - not for sordid gain, but eagerly. Do not lord it over those in your charge, be examples to the flock." (v. 1-3)
Our best example of leadership is Jesus Christ. In these important words, he warned his disciples about the perils of leadership:
But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave." (Matthew 20:25-26)
For too many of us, leadership means going up the ladder, but leadership for Jesus had a downward beat to it. On his last night on earth, he didn’t point his followers to positions of honor, but he pointed them to a towel. The "son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, to give his live as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). Leadership is built on trust, and trust comes through service. Service, not domination. Servant leadership is the stamp of those who bear his name.
So our text reminds us, not only of the necessity of good organization but also the need for trustworthy, serving leaders. In all of this process of leader replacement and selection, we see God’s care and concern for the continuity of the church after the death of Jesus. This is the third truth coming through God’s word for today.
I am reminded of those great words from 1 Peter:
"You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, a people claimed by God for his own, to proclaim the triumphs of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (2:9-10)
In the organization called the church there are to be no distinctions between laity and clergy, men and women, Jews or Gentiles. Because of our new life in Christ, we are organized as a community - a community that lives to make God central in our lives by the way we use our gifts to help others. We know this community of "sinners" will not always handle these responsibilities in the best fashion, and our leaders will not always be the bold, unselfish servants we would like. But it is and remains a community "claimed as God’s own." The best administration is done when we have a clear and confident sense of to whom we belong. It is the faithful God of the covenant who remains the creator and sustainer of our congregations. God, through the presence and power of the Spirit, remains, the "wheel within the wheel." Amen.
1. Richard O. Hutcheson Jr., Wheel Within The Wheel, John Knox, 1979, p. 16.
2. Ibid., p. 1.