"Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you."

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The sessions resumed with Dr Tong's return from a packed summer schedule of preaching and teaching in the USA, London, Paris, Barcelona and Madrid. Before he started on Hebrews, he shared a little on the many gospel rallies that were conducted, and how there are now many mainland Chinese in the US and Europe, all needing to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. He also shared a piece of sad news, on how his key deacon was murdered right after he has completed a major milestone in their church's building project. I met with deacon Angsono when I went to Jakarta to preach at Dr Tong's church, so I too was saddened that a faithful servant of God would die such a tragic death. But Dr Tong emphasized that the key thing we need to ask ourselves is what we have accomplished for our LORD in the time He has allowed us to have on earth, and the deacon was indeed faithful to his calling.

Dr Tong then returned to the text for the evening, reminding the congregation that the last time we met, the focus was on how we need to bear sacrifices of praise and share with one another. The focus of the evening's text was on leadership, and why Christians need to be submissive to their leaders. Dr Tong started by declaring that there is a very big difference between a leader and a ruler. A leader is a person who is an example to all by his exemplary character and moral behaviour. A ruler on the other hand, is a person who achieves a certain position due to organisational or constitutional provisions.

In the midst of great crisis, a nation needs great leaders to come forth and stand at the fore front, facing the enemies and leading the people. These leaders are able to emphasize with the people, and are able to be the voice and conscience of their people. They are always moving right ahead of everyone else, labouring without complain, bearing a heavier burden, paying a higher price, having a wider vision, not compromising with the opposing forces. These are the reasons why the people would follow them willingly. Every great era was brought about by great leaders.

This principle applies to politics, academia and even the spiritual arena. Politically, the 20th century produced many great leaders who awaken their people and brought about great changes to their nations. But when the political change took place and the situation began to stabilize, people with selfish ambitions would rise, and take power through their craftiness and manipulation of the system. These are the rulers. They would very often enrich themselves and their cronies, and create massive problems for their nations and people. A leader is not a ruler; nor is a ruler a leader.

This would be the case in the society, and even in church. If the church behaves like the rest of the world, the church would lose the mark of heaven. During the French Revolution, philosophers from the encyclopedic school of thought hated the church. They proclaimed that peace can only come when the last pope is strangled dead using the intestine of the last bishop. Such words of hatred resulted from the fact that while the people were suffering in poverty and pain, the leaders of the church back then were enjoying the same privileges as the oppressing upper class. During the revolution itself, many churches were burned and destroyed.

As church leaders, we need to understand the means through which we earn the respect of the people. We are called to be obedient to our leaders, meaning people who led us to the truth of God, people who led us to see our LORD, people who fought spiritual battles for us. This was how the LORD Jesus Christ led us. He suffered, was unjustly treated, crucified, died and received power via His resurrection. His leadership is well-deserved. He did not rule by force.

People like Dr Sun Yat San, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela are leaders. They suffered for their people, were jailed, assassinated. But people like Joseph Stalin, Mao Tze Tong, Saddam Hussein, Ferdinard Marcos are all rulers. They got their position through deceit and manipulation, and brought disasters upon disasters for their nation and people.

Taking Indonesia as an example, Sukanrno would be considered as a leader; while Suharto a ruler. When Sukarno led the people to fight against the Dutch for independence, he was imprisoned many times, and exiled many times. But he brought about a great nationalistic pride among his people, who were taught that they too have rights as human beings. When Sukarno died, his children were all poor and did not enjoy any special privileges in business or politics. This was not the case for Suharto. His children had great powers and could violate the nation's laws at will. They could take over the property of the people without compensation. One of his children owned an aircraft company that made use of petroleum from the country without ever paying for it. Another bought tangerines from the people at the lowest price and sold them for great profit. All these created a situation whereby the Indonesians have a saying, that the Dutch were cruel, but Suharto's children more so.

Many churches today were built by people with great vision. But people of selfish ambitions took them over. Many churches are led by people who love power and want to exercise authority. What is the difference between King David and King Saul? Saul was a person who only cared for himself and his own 'face'. David however, was not a person that who abuse his power and took vengeance on his enemies. When Dr Tong was younger, he used to read about the last words of David, how he warned Solomon against different persons. Dr Tong said that initially, he did not think much of David, since at his deathbed he still remembered the trespasses of others. But when he grew older, he realised that King David could have simply slaughtered all his opponents as King. Instead, he did not seek vengeance for himself, and left everything to the LORD instead, and gave advise to his son to be cautious.

The Bible has never stopped anyone from accomplishing great task. The Bible has never stopped us from aspiring to be leaders. Jesus Christ said that if you want to first (Matthew 20:27) you have to serve the rest. This means that Christ does not stop us from being first, or wanting to do great things in life. Some people may point out that Jeremiah told Baruch that he is not to seek for great things (Jer 45:5). Dr Tong reminded the people that the verse actually says that we are not to seek for great things for ourselves. Therefore, it is right that the church seeks to do great things for the LORD. Many Christians have false humility. They think that by not growing, they are being humble. When there are little people in our prayer meetings, we say that Christ is with us when two or more gather in His name. When there are few in attendance during our gospel rally, we say that we place emphasis on quality and not quantity. Dr Tong said that Christians are the most apt at consoling ourselves with Bible verses when in reality, we are simply lazy and incompetent.

William Carey said that we are to ask God for great tasks, and accomplish great tasks for God. Biblical principle for greatness comes through true humility, not simple passiveness. We need to serve others fervently before we are to be lifted up as leaders. We need to understand these principles correctly. When we are easily satisfied and stagnant in our pursuit of the Truth, we are not being humble, we are being inferior. When we do not want to take lead, we are not hiding our gifts, we are burying it. Such behaviour is not self-denying, it is self-depreciating.

The Bible says that God opposes the proud and give grace to the humble (James 4:6). The verse preceded with 'But He gives us more grace'. Why would the humble need more grace? The answer lies in the fact that humility is not the same as passive contentment. If your humility is passive, you cannot grow. But if your humility is dynamic in nature, you will seek to grow all your life, never considering yourself to have arrived. This is what true humility is all about. Dr Tong said that when a person simply declare that he is satisfied with whatever the present situation is, he is actually no different from a pig, for a pig would never seek for anything beyond its miserable existence.

The apostle Peter also reminded us in 1 Peter 5 that we are to be overseers with a willing heart. We are not to rule over the flock, but to be examples to the flock, willingly, truthfully. When we meet leaders like that in church, we are to be submissive to them. In some denominations, ministers are afraid of their supervisors or bishops because they could be assigned to faraway places. So such churches often have cases of abuse of power, because many people obey because of the power of their superiors, not because they respect the authority naturally. But if the leaders led by moral example, we are to be obedient to their leadership.

The LORD Jesus said that a good shepherd leads because he loves his flock, while a hired hand would run away at the slightest problem, because he is motivated by money. When the church has leaders that would compromise with more powerful authorities, or have leaders that would abandon the church in times of difficulties, these people cannot be considered as leaders, only hired hands. The flock would then have no obligation or responsibility to obey these hired hands. But if our leaders suffered for us, are standing right at the front line of battle for us, face dangers and crisis for our sake, we ought to obey them, for they are so precious and honorable.

Do we want respect and honour? Dr Tong asked how much have we done for others? Do we want our flock to obey us? Dr Tong asked if there are marks of the nail on our palms? He reminded all that respect is earned, not demanded. If we deserved honour, it will come naturally and willingly from others. If we do not, people may pretend to honour our titles and our positions, but their hearts will be far, far away from us. All leaders need to know that they must pay the price, since the Bible says we are to give account for our flock, always watching over their spirituality.

When all church leaders, from the pastor to the Sunday school teacher understand this principle of accountability, the church would be blessed. Every leader must know that he is accountable to God and not men. Dr Tong said that any people that understand this principle would produce the best product. The best products today are from Protestant countries, countries where people understand that they are to do their best for God. So Germany produces the best cars, Switzerland the best watches; while France could only produce fancy watches.

This sense of responsibility marks the leaders. Dr Tong said that there are two marks of maturity. Firstly, a matured person would have unselfish love for others. He does not base his decision on his own profit and loss. Secondly, a matured person has a deep sense of responsibility. He does not blame others or try to escape accountability, but would complete his assigned task and give an account to it.

The last portion of the text today talks about bringing comfort and joy to our leaders. Dr Tong said that this is something we do not do anymore. Many churches would get rid of aging pastors, resulting in these pastors consolidating their power so that no one can get rid of them. We also simply forget those who laboured for us as missionaries. Dr Tong said that he once visited a retirement home for missionaries in America for missionaries to China. He found the place to shabby and backwards, and the residents shunned by the local Christians because they have been in China for too long, and had lost touch with the local culture. Dr Tong asked why these missionaries cannot be sent back to China where people respect the old. The answer was that they wanted young missionaries, so that Christianity would not be despised, an answer which saddened him greatly.

In another incident, Dr Tong visited his ex-lecturer in Canada, a woman who lived with her two sisters. All three were retired missionaries who lived on their miserable retirement funds in a mobile home. When Dr Tong visited her, one sister had died. He asked her if she would like to visit Indonesia again, and she said she should do it soon or she would not be able to move anymore. So Dr Tong and his brother pooled some money together to buy air tickets for these sisters, and brought them to Indonesia. He drove them personally from Malang to East Java, Central Java and West Java for more than 1200 km before sending them home. The sisters have since died. Dr Tong said that he wanted them to know that someone still remember them, and love them and cared for them during the last stage of their lives.

The session ended with Dr Tong encouraging all to really understand the Biblical model of leadership, fulfilling our responsibilities as servants of God.

Disclaimer: This summary does NOT represent the official position of STEMI (Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministry International), and is the personal opinion of the author, expressed without prejudice. Expressed opinions are meant for academic discussions only.