he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness” (Ro 12:6-8).

Before studying any of the gifts, it seems fitting to first clear up some confusion about “he who leads”, that is, the gift of leading. In the truest sense of the word, leading is a greater gift.

The true and certain, regular and ordinary, main Biblical meaning, sense, or use of the word is to lead others vs. follow. For example, in the Greek, “leads” (Ro 12:8) here primarily means to be over, to rule, to have charge over, specifically people, to be exact, God’s people. For example, in the O.T., Moses appointed certain men to be leaders who were also heads of families. “So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and appointed them heads over you, leaders of thousands and of hundreds, of fifties and of tens, and officers for your tribes” (Deut 1:15). To be “head of” someone is to be his leader. For example, in the N.T., “God is the head of Christ” (1 Cor 11:3), meaning that the Father leads the Son.

[1] Any Christian who claims to be a leader in a secondary sense is just being deceptive and misleading. For example, somebody might say, “You could lead a project or task. Therefore, you can be a leader in that sense.” But even the one who claims to be a leader in a secondary or lesser sense is still claiming to be a leader in the church, the kingdom of God. This claim is grossly inaccurate in respect to the very essence, meaning, and purpose of the actual gift of leading. The New Testament does not simply introduce this word “leads” into its text and use it loosely or apply it to everything or every other gift. Instead it links it to having charge over God’s people vs. a task. It is a greater gift than a task manager. In the sense that the word is used and defined by the New Testament, leaders are responsible for the souls of people, not tasks. There is a difference between the two. “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account” (He 13:17). And so we see that “leaders” are in charge of “souls”, while the other types of gifts are responsible for ministering to a certain need of a soul (eg. helps, deacons, admins). So in the kingdom of God a true leader is in charge of souls.

[3] Someone might say, “If the greater gifts are the leading gifts then why did Paul separate the gift of ‘leads’ from the gifts of teaching and prophecy in Romans 12:6-8?” Evidently there is one gift that he did not mention in this list which has the ultimate responsibility to lead a church, pastors. Take note, for example, that both Peter and Paul singled out pastors [i.e. shepherds] to take the leading oversight of a church, not teachers or evangelists (Ac 20:17, 28; 1 Pe 5:1-4). In fact, evangelists are to guide/teach churches in selecting pastors (Titus 1:5-14; 1 Tim 3:1-7). So it is understood then that pastoring is the lead gift of a church. It is God’s will that certain men who meet the Biblical requirements/qualities of a pastor [aka elder/overseer] are to lead a church in the truest sense of the word. Biblical tests for the greater gifts, including the gift of pastor, as well as apostle, prophet, evangelist, and teacher are included in this study. You should test yourself for all of the greater gifts.

Every Christian ought to be diligent with his gift, but the Bible especially admonishes those who lead others to be diligent. As Paul said, in order to properly use the gift of leading it must be used with diligence: “exercise them [i.e. gifts] accordingly... he who leads, with diligence” (Ro 12: 6, 8). Thus, it is fitting for leaders to be diligent. In the Greek “diligence” here means haste, with haste. So he who leads must lead with haste, with great speed and effort; speedily, like Jesus who will “quickly” bring about justice for His elect (Lk 18:8). Now the opposite of diligence is to be negligent, slow, slothful, or effortless, which is not fitting for a leader of God’s people. Instead of shrinking back, leaders must be forward and hasten to accomplish or follow-through with the work of God in Christ Jesus.

Now inherent in the meaning of the word “sluggard” is laziness. The opposite of laziness is diligence. So here Solomon admonished people who lacked diligence, sloths, to study the ant because the ant is not a sloth. Instead the ant is diligent. Ants are not lazy. Therefore, diligent people are not lazy.

Ants are not managed. They are not ruled over. They do not need a chief, a leader. Therefore, diligent people do not need ruled over. Even more, a diligent person will usually lead. “The hand of the diligent will rule, But the slack hand will be put to forced labor” (Pr 12:24). You have to force the sloth to do his work because he is lazy. You must understand this truth about the relationship between a sloth and his leader. The leader must, at times, rule over him, even forcefully or in an overbearing way to get him to start or to finish his work. This is not a joy to any leader, but a grief. As the saying goes, if you do not know what to do, you will be told what to do. And if you do not do what you are supposed to do, you just might be forced to do it. Even more, in verse 9, Solomon wisely and directly questioned the sloth, saying “how long will you” hesitate or wait to get moving and “when will you” get going on it to get it done, so to speak. You have to question lazy people about their responsibilities. This is another indication or bit of evidence that proves that sloths need managed or ruled over like an irresponsible child. But again, you do not need to ask these kinds of motivating questions of a diligent person.

Diligent people are forward-looking, but not just for the purpose of just thinking about the future. They take the necessary steps to be ready for the future. A Christian leader, first and foremost, must especially be diligent in preparing himself and the flock for the return of Jesus Christ so that he and the flock will be accepted vs. rejected by Him (consider the story of the five wise and the five foolish virgins). An ant knows that there will be a time when he cannot work; winter. So he labors all the more while he has an opportunity to work; summer. For some, winter is coming and no harvesting can be done. For others, their family will be grown and they will not get a second chance to diligently labor in training them up in the Lord. For others, they know that they could die tomorrow, so they labor diligently today. In contrast, the sluggard does not take advantage of the time that he has to do work. Instead, he wastes his time by sleeping or relaxing or with other distractions that make him unproductive. When we consider the difference between a sluggard and a diligent person, no wonder Solomon could say that: “the precious possession of a man is diligence” (Pr 12:27). Do you have this precious possession? You must have it if you are leading others.

“But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men... They love... respectful greetings... and being called by men, Rabbi [teacher]. But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. But the greatest among you will be your servant. And whoever exalts himself [i.e with religious titles] shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted” (Mt 23:5-12).

To those who lead, Jesus said, “do not be called” certain things. Leading Christians must not exult themselves with religious titles or use their calling as a title, such as teacher or leader. If you lead, do you forbid or do you allow people to exult or honor you with titles? Do you love respectfully titled greetings? When people greet you, what do they say to you? What do you want people to say to you when they greet, address, or introduce you to others? How do you introduce yourself to others?

Remember that the Christian religion is about renouncing things that are wrong. This means that if you have been seeking, using, and accepting elevated religious titles to promote yourself (titles like these: reverend, archbishop, pope, cardinal, high priest, father, emeritus, doctor, master, rabbi, etc.), you are to totally remove any trace of them, getting rid of them completely from your life. If you leading others in the kingdom of God, be committed to avoid man-made titles that exalt you. Get them off of your name. Get them off of your walls. Get them off of your business cards and your periodicals. Do not let people call you by these things. As Jesus said, “do not be called” these things. And do not use your calling as a title, such as teacher, leader, etc.

To those who follow, Jesus said, “do not call” those who lead certain things. Christians must not exalt those who lead them with religious titles or use their calling as a title, such as teacher, leader, etc. If you follow, do you exult or honor those who lead you with titles? When you greet them, what do you say to them? How do you introduce them to others? Churches love to have the ones with the biggest man-made titles come to teach or to lead them. Churches enjoy and take great pride in introducing them with their exulted titles. A church introduces one teacher as “brother” and another teacher as “Dr.”, all depending on whether or not he has obtained that hypocritical religious title or not. One teacher puts “Doctor” on his license plate, but instead he should put brother on it! This behavior reveals that churches and Christians have become outspoken judges with evil motives in regards to titles among the membership. “Have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?” (Ja 2:4). “But if you show partiality, you are committing sin” (Ja 2:9). Partiality (favoritism) is sin, especially in the form religious titles. Why do Christians even dare to open their mouths to make a man-made title distinction between one teaching member and another teaching member? Why exalt the one and humble the other? Instead Christians ought to humble the one with the exalted title by only calling him brother. This leads to the next point.

This is the solution to the title craze! Listen carefully. While pointing out the haughtiness of titles, Jesus gave us insight on what we should call each other, even if we are in a leading ministry. He simply concluded about these high-minded religious titles by saying, “you are all brothers”. That was the reasoning that He gave to us in opposition to elevating one member over another with titles. [The most important point/attitude here is that “I am no different than you”, brother.] Therefore, calling someone “brother” is an accurate and humble greeting. It does not elevate or exalt one over another. It’s a common term, and even a family term, which is to be applied to all Christian men. Why would you seek an uncommon one? Why would you seek to differentiate yourself? Are we not all God’s children?

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