“Humble Yourself; Build Others Up”

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

There is a major difference between our God-given responsibility to "build one another up" (1 Thess. 5:11) and our presumed ambition to "keep somebody humble." The reality is that no human can truly make another human humble. We can humiliate someone, but that is not our scriptural responsibility. We can discourage someone, but neither is that our scriptural responsibility.

The scriptures put your responsibility for humility squarely in your lap. "Humble yourselves before the Lord," said the apostle James (4:10). So it is each one's job to keep himself humble in his attitude before God, and it is the each one's job to honor his brother in the Lord.

It is with this in mind that I would encourage you with a couple ways to show honor to the leaders of your church. 1 Timothy 5:7 says, "Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching." So here are five things that our shepherds need to hear from us on a regular basis—ways to show them the double honor of which they have proven themselves worthy.

1) I pray for you. The weight of responsibility God has given them is great. We all need to pray for them regularly, and they need to know that we're doing that.

2) I trust you. Humans have a tendency to distrust anyone in any position of authority, but this human tendency must be overcome within the church. Yes, they will make mistakes. But we need to trust that our shepherds' desires are only to do what is best for the church always.

3) I pray for your wife. She needs your prayers, too, and elders need to know that the members do not treat their wives as some group of “others,” but as dear sisters who need our prayers.

4) I think our future is bright. Elders are frequently hear from us about how things “used to be.” Many conversations with them begin with "back when we were..." And while that certainly has its place, the elders need to know that you think the congregation has a bright future by God's power. They need to know that we see the value of their vision to draw us closer to God.

5) Thank you. Long hours, heart-wrenching prayers, and sleepless nights are the parts of the work that most of us do not see. And yet, it is obvious that our Eastland shepherds give in these and many other ways. Let's be sure they know how grateful we are.

Obviously, our shepherds did not ask me to write this brief exhortation. These are some ideas I recently encountered and wished to pass along. I believe all of these ideas are eminently Biblical as they help us fulfill God's direct commandment to show honor to our leaders.

- Dan Lankford, minister

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