Elihu Root, an American statesman, diplomat, and principal cabinet member in both the administrations of both Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, is quoted as having said, “I observe that there are two entirely different theories according to which individual men seek to get on in the world. One theory leads a man to pull down everybody around him in order to climb up on them to a higher place. The other leads a man to help everybody around him in order that he may grow up with them.”
It seems Mr. Root had it about right. A political appointee for better than 38 years, he had a prospective of those around him which served well as his authority in the matter of leadership. The political spectacle of our modern era, observed even casually, reveals the rough-and-tumble characters as they struggle to demean their opponents so that they come out prominent with voters. Sadly, the political arena isn’t the only place such “characters” are found. Among members of the church, their craft is similarly observed.
Once guilty himself of demeaning others to keep his position of prominence, the apostle Peter later argued for the essence of leadership: “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;…” (1 Peter 5:2-3).
Elders absolutely mustn’t be hypocrites (cp. Matthew 23:3), but before anyone goes too far, their oversight includes more than just leadership by example. They have the right to reprove and rebuke as well as encourage and support. Church members agree to obey their leaders, and leaders hold members accountable to God in the same fashion in which leaders “give account” to God when the judgment day comes (Hebrews 13:17).
Adapted From Michael W. McLemore