What do you do when the leaders want to follow after other
gods? You see it today in some churches
with leaders becoming either bored or doubtful about the faith once delivered
to the saints and then they lead the flock under their care astray. We’ve seen it in our own tradition, it is the
reason we exist today at our little church in Asheville. I know of two places where there were good,
evangelical bishops of the church who retired and when they did the laity
replaced them with men who were definitely not committed to upholding the faith
and I watched dozens of churches spring up from the faithful who left their
former churches. I have seen what
happens afterward with the persecution of those who leave. They are sued for their buildings, threatened
with taking away pensions of clergy and other forms of harassment. When the leaders commit themselves to walking
away, their hearts become hardened in a way that makes them enemies of the true
Gospel. Zechariah found out that
speaking the truth to those who have chosen a different path, the path that
leads to darkness, is a dangerous business but he also knew that it was the
only thing to do.
When the church began after Pentecost there was no
organization. There were eleven men who
chose another to fill out the complement of twelve. Soon, they were overwhelmed by the remarkable
growth of the church and the needs of those who looked to them to provide food
on a daily basis, the widows and orphans who had previously received from the
temple. The apostles had to make a
decision about what to do and they chose to create their own group of
semi-Levitical servants, the deacons.
They had the community choose men with specific skills, “men of good
repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.” This was so the apostles could devote
themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. There was much to study and learn in order to
understand all they had seen and heard over the past three years and assimilate
what it all meant and teach the people to understand. The last little bit of that lesson always
amazes me, “a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” These men had to give up everything,
prestige, their birthright, family, etc in order to do this. When you recognize truth you can do nothing
but walk in it, whatever the cost.
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