It is amazing to me how people can claim to believe in an All-Wise, All-Knowing, and All-Powerful God and claim they trust in Him and believe He knows what is best for them and even claim to acknowledge Him as Lord and then turn around and flagrantly disobey His commands.
I have come to the conclusion most people have no concept of what having Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour means. Most people seem to think mentally believing in God and saying Jesus Christ is their personal Saviour is all acknowledging Jesus as the Lord of their lives entails. When you look at many of these people who claim to be Christians and they take pride in lifestyles given to drugs and alcohol, their significant others are clearly not their spouses, and they seem to change spouses as often as their moods or their feelings change. Is this what God meant when He told us to be holy as He was holy? I think not. God expects us to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.
Clearly many people today do not realize that having Jesus as their Lord, means they must examine themselves and change their lifestyles to be pleasing to God. Christianity is a lifestyle which involves the daily choices one makes to submit their will to God on a daily basis. While a Christian is not perfect, we must realize we can no longer make stupid silly excuses to justify not living for God. Claiming we are not perfect is not an answer God will accept anymore than He will accept Satan.
Submission to God, then to the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ is something we as Christians must realize is important in our Christian growth. Jesus shows this clearly where He says in Matthew 20:25-28 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Jesus makes it clear the leaders in His Kingdom, the Church do not exercise dominion or authority over the flock. Rather in the Church, the leaders govern through a unique method, that of serving the members of the congregation. This does not mean leaders serve by ordering the members around and telling them what to do. But rather, they serve by ministering to the members, finding out the spiritual needs of the congregation and filling those needs.
This can be further seen in 1 Peter 5:3-6 "Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:"
The way leaders in the Kingdom of Heaven, the Church, rule is not by being lords over the flock, but by being examples. This is the only way we have record of in the Bible, that leaders in the Church rule. They rule by submitting to the congregation in such a way the examples they set are an inspiration for the flock. Though this example those who are younger learn how in turn submit to the elder and everyone else in the congregation. This shows the importance of the example of the leaders, which would be the Elders, the Evangelists, and teachers within the congregation.
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