Spiritual Leadership in the Home

This past Sunday at FBC Rockport we continued our sermon series on images of spiritual leadership from 1 Samuel. For two weeks now we have looked at what spiritual leadership in the home might look like. We have some good images from Elkanah and Hannah, the parents of Samuel. We have some poor images from Eli, the priest at the Tabernacle who raised Samuel. Yahweh’s accusation against Eli was that he honored his two sons more than he honored God. Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were terrible priests because they did not do what God wanted, they did as they wanted. Their poor public behavior was actually hindering the worship life of Israel and keeping people away from God. God held Eli responsible, at least in part, for their sin, and promised dire consequences for Eli’s entire family. At the same time, Yahweh promised to raise up for Himself a faithful priest who would do what was in God’s heart and mind.

I am telling our people that this is the essence of spiritual leadership: God is the leader, God chooses His servants, and servants obey and follow God. This theme will surface again and again as we study 1 Samuel, and can be found throughout scripture. If parents want to be spiritual leaders in their homes then they must follow God’s leadership and no one else’s, including their own!

I used an example Sunday that stirred up some people. I pointed out how it is common for families to struggle with allowing their children to miss church activities on a consistent basis in order to participate in other things: little league, school sports and activities, band, dance, a job, etc. I am often asked what I think about this. The truth is, I think there are occasions when it is right and good for our kids to miss church activities for other important things, but I think those occasions are rare. Two things come into play here that parents have to take into consideration before they make a decision like this. First, who tells parents they can keep their kids out of church? On whose authority are they making that decision? Their kids’ authority? Their own authority? The authority of the coach, league, teacher, or boss? There are many voices in our culture that will tell us what to do with our children, how to do it and when to do it. As Christians, we need not be servants of those voices. We are to be servants of Christ. Your child’s boss schedules your child to work every Sunday. The little league schedules games on Wednesday nights. Band camp falls during Youth Camp. What do you decide to do? Parents need to be sure to seek the Lord’s mind and heart on these matters and follow no one else’s leadership, including their own or their child’s. This is what got Eli and his sons in trouble.

The second thing that comes into play when making a decision like this is the very public nature of our faith in Christ. Jesus expects us to make decisions to follow him even if those decisions incur public rebuke, persecution or other consequences. These kinds of decisions to honor and follow Christ publically at great cost draw attention to Christ, showing that he is more desirable than anything in this world. Whether parents want to admit this or not, consistent, public decisions to keep kids out of church in order to participate in other activities influence other people – both believers and unbelievers. By being casual about our commitment to participate in the Body of Christ, we may actually be leading others away from Christ instead of to Christ. Eli and his sons were doing this, and their public sin drew very public consequences and disaster that made examples of this family for all of Israel.

There are consequences for us and our kids when we decide to keep them out of certain activities in order to be involved in church activities. There are also consequences when we keep them out of church in order to be involved in other things. These are difficult decisions and should never be made lightly or hastily. If parents are to be spiritual leaders, they must seek the mind and heart of God on these matters until He leads them in the way they are to go. Parents must also take into consideration what God has already said in His word about following, obeying, and honoring Christ in public. Our decisions matter because they influence people. Who is leading your family?