Leaders Beware
This judgment coming to the northern kingdom of Israel was for the
whole of the people. All would be
implicated within it. But notice that
the tenor of the first few verses is not focused upon the people in
general. Again, it is the leaders of the
northern kingdom that have the true attention of God. The spiritual leaders and the governmental
leaders both are indicted.
The more I read through the Old Testament, the more importance I
see upon the spiritual leadership of a community. Yes, every person is accountable for their own
relationship with God. But the
leadership of a place will make that easier or harder to achieve.
Think about it. Take a
person who is attending a church because they truly hear from God through the
teachings, study, and missional work of a congregation. Then take that same person and put them in a
context where the leadership is poor and there is no great teaching, study, and
missional work. Where will that person
grow the most? Where will that person grow
the best? Yes, it is up to the person to
grow. No leader can make a person
grow. But leadership can certainly make a
context in which it is easier or harder for people to grow.
This idea often causes me to mourn when I consider my context
within American Christianity. How many
places of worship are really focused on paying the bills and keeping the lights
on? How many places of worship are
caught up in maintaining the status quo?
How many places of worship are more interested in tradition and history
than in spirituality? How many places
are more interested in appearances and not mission?
How many leaders foster that kind of environment? How many leaders allow the people to
naturally go that way rather than continue to focus the people back onto what
really matters? This is really why my
heart mourns. Too many spiritual leaders
are occupational and not living out of their call. Too many spiritual leaders are afraid of
losing their livelihood and therefore they no longer challenge the people. Soon they have compromised true faith and are
joining the people in the slide down to sin.
That’s the main issue here in the early verses of this chapter. Spiritual leaders are called to rise above
and call people back to God. It’s plain
and simple. We spiritual leaders are
called to be holy – set apart, different.
Too many spiritual leaders are interested in being “one of the crowd.”
Two Phenomenal Images of Decay
As we progress through this chapter, we hear God say that He is
like a “moth” and like “rottenness.”
This honestly made me laugh today as I read these words. If I came up to you and said, “You remind me
of a piece of fruit that is rotting,” how long would it take you to slap
me? Yet that is precisely the imagery
that God gives for us to see Him.
Yet, think about this. What
does the moth destroy? Clothing. What does rottenness destroy? Organic material. God’s being rather blunt here. God will destroy their society. He will even destroy the people within the
society. Everything will be taken
away. God will be the source of their
decay. God’s punishment will destroy
everything that they have built for themselves in their lusting after anything
but God.
Root of the Problem
At the end of the chapter we really see where God gets upset. When the nation of Israel was in political
distress, to whom did they turn? They
didn’t turn to God. They didn’t ask God
to protect them. Instead they called
upon Assyria and begged for their assistance.
Idolatry. They turned to
something other than God.
If I take this macroscopic problem and bring it down to the
microscopic level, I have to wonder about my own life. How often do I solve my own problems without
asking God for His input? How often do I
turn to other people without asking God to whom He would like me to go?
It is easy to categorize things like the love of money and power
as idolatry. It is easy to categorize
things like the love of possessions and status as idolatry. But here in Hosea we see that God isn’t
satisfied with only defining the big and obvious things as idolatry. Any time we step out on our own and don’t
turn to God we are actually demonstrating idolatrous behavior. When I step out and try and fix my own
problem before turning to God, it is actually evidence of idolatry in my heart. In a very small way, I am telling God that I
am bigger than Him in doing so.
Wow. I’ll be honest. I didn’t see that coming in Hosea 5. When I use that definition of idolatry, I’ve
got to confess something. I’m idolatrous
often.
This is why I love the prophets.
You never know what is going to hit you and from where it is going to
come. But I think this is a huge moment
for me to “walk the circle” today. I
think it’s time to go and figure out not just what God is trying to say to me,
but what on earth I’m going to do about a problem that is so inherently rooted
into my core being.
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment