Jesus Speaks to Heads of Households ~ Part 2 ~ Leadership
Posted by John Reuther on January 27, 2010
In Part 1 of th
is article we thought about the conversion of the scribe and the care of a household. We move on here in Part 2 to give our attention to the functions of the head of a household.
The Head of a Household is a Leader
This is carefully stated in the parable of Matt. 13:52. Jesus was speaking to His disciples, and after setting many parables before them He asked them, “Have you understood all these things?” “And they said Him, ‘Yes’” (Matt. 13:51). The “therefore” of 13:52, which begins the parable of the householder, is the application of the parable directly to them in their leadership role in the kingdom. They have become disciples of the kingdom and they are like scribes (converted) who bring out of their treasure things new and old. The head of the household therefore is a leader.
What can we say about the leadership which a head of a household exercises? He will be a man of movement. He will not be a sitter, but the runner of the race of life; He will not be a stagnating pond, but a rolling river bringing fresh life to his household, his wife, family, church. Like the merchant of the earlier parable of Matthew 13, he will be a seeker of fine pearls, finding them in Christ, and filling his treasure with jewels for his family (Matthew 13:45-46). He will be drawing closer to the kingdom of God each day in this world himself, and seeking to lead his wife and family to the kingdom that is delighting him with its treasures. This also applies, as mentioned in the first article, to the teaching role of women in their households. It applies to the disciples in their role as leaders, teachers, and preachers in the church, and it applies to pastors today. We must be men of movement, always seeking, studying, praying, working, going, and growing.
But the movements of a household leader are in the context of the struggles and challenges of daily life. Spiritual leadership in this world involves leading a household through the darkness into the light, and making our own aware of the dangers as we lead them to safety in Christ and God’s word.
If Jesus is your greatest treasure, then your leadership in the home or in the church will be characterized by dynamic movement and patterned after the movements of Jesus whose call to discipleship is to follow Him.
But he will also be a man of motivation. The head on our physical body provides the source of power and direction to the whole body. The head is the coordinator and the communicator. In the same way, a spiritual leader motivates his household by utilizing the treasures of the kingdom that fill his own heart. He thinks God’s thoughts and feels God’s truth with a burning passion, and wants his household to share them with him. His thought life is not of the ivory-tower, arm-chair theologian type. He is not a heady thinker, but a hearty thinker whose heart and mind are joined in an inseparable union. A man may imagine that he knows the Bible from cover to cover, but if he does not bring out of his treasure things new and old he may really know very little.
Prayerfully meditate on the leadership of Jesus and ask God to make you a motivator like Him. How did He do it? He displayed the treasures of His Father and drew His hearers with the beauty and glory of God’s kingdom! He saw the glory of God; He saw the presence of the kingdom while the scribes and leaders of Israel saw only their traditions and their own expectations. He saw God’s plan being fulfilled in Himself and set out to accomplish God’s will in the world to which He was sent.
The Head of a Household is a Provider
As a provider, he will be a man who is rich in resources which he has for himself and for those committed to his care. This involves two things.
First, it means that he will gather and get riches. No one has a treasure chest unless he first gathers the treasures. Jesus said: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:19-21). Solomon, earlier in history, taught us that “Wise men store up knowledge” (Prov. 10:14). “Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser. Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Prov. 9:9-10).
It also means that he will give those riches to others. He gathers not to horde them and imagine himself great in Scripture knowledge, but to talk about them, draw attention to them, and present them with enthusiasm, energy, and conviction to his household.
John Crotts gives an outstanding presentation of learning and living wisdom for leadership in the home. He develops the theme that heads of households are really like craftsmen who are building and maintaining a household which will be filled with treasure. He writes:
“T
rue wisdom is more than just sitting under a tree and philosophizing about life. It involves the hard work of craftsmanship. The wise craftsman searches out inspired truth from the Book of God and then carefully seeks to apply those truths to real-life situations. The result of this lifestyle craftsmanship is not about a bald head, beard, and a permanent spot on a high hill for people to come to seek out your wisdom, but a life that others recognize as skillfully lived. A wise life is a life worth living and a life worth following.”[1]
Matthew 13:52 is saying just that. The householder brings out of his treasure things new and old. He knows what valuables he possesses in Christ; he knows the needs of his wife and family; and He displays and dispenses the treasures for their benefit and prosperity, mixing new and old in a helpful balance. Pastoral ministry is shepherding ministry with wisdom and skill, studying the Scripture, studying the heart of man, and knowing the people of God committed to our charge.
Gathering and giving out God’s treasures to one’s household is like maintaining real estate. Think about the house that you live in. It has a foundation which is firm. There is little that you need to do with the stone foundation. If it was properly laid, it is solid and holds up the house. On it the frame and the rooms and the roof were built. These things demand constant care and home improvement. The foundation compares to the old things that Jesus spoke about in the parable, and the rest of the house is the new: foundation and fulfillment.
If we do not keep up with the house it begins to fall into disrepair, its rooms become shabby, and the atmosphere of the house becomes depressing and unattractive. God designed a home to be kept up and filled with rich treasures. “By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established. And by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. A wise man is strong, and a man of knowledge increases power” (Prov. 24:3-5).
A good man is able to lead his family in communicating those foundational truths which give solid support to our personal, family, church, civil, and social lives. These things include understanding God’s work in the Old Testament, the moral and ethical foundation of the Law of God, the Ten Commandments and their summary; the fear of the Lord and discipline for all true learning in life; The Sermon on the Mount; the Fruit of the Spirit; the meaning and application of God’s covenant in our lives; and the place of prophetic preaching in the plan and purpose of God as illustrated in the ministry of men like Moses and the Prophets.
A good householder is Christ-centered and fixed on Jesus. After all, He is the “pearl of great value.” He has sold the world to have Christ in the treasure of His heart, and his greatest desire is to lead his household in seeing and seeking that treasure.
He understands the newness of Christ and the changes that He brings for the good. He realizes that coming to Christ will mean repentance for his family also, and reformation for godliness. He understands that Christ’s Spirit has regenerated us and given us a new birth that renews, reforms, and restores us into His glorious image. He trusts in God to grant this for his wife and family, and for His church.
There is freshness about his perspective on life too. Like Paul he says: “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14). He does not live in the past, being forever wounded by life’s losses, or burdened with past struggles. He does not want to repeat past sins or foolishness, nor let them sideline him for future usefulness. He will not give up; he will not be pessimistic or cynical just because things did not work out for him in previous situations. He will not allow the devil to discourage or depress him. He believes that God gives fresh wisdom and new solutions to life’s ongoing difficulties. He will do what James 1:5 directs a leader to do: plead for wisdom from God and believe that God will give it. Wisdom is new light on old truths, new solutions to old problems, hope for seemingly hopeless situations.
In the final installment of this article (Part 3), we will think about whether our “houses” are filled with trash, trivia, or treasure!
John Reuther,
Pastor, Covenant Baptist Church, Lumberton, NJ
Professor, Reformed Baptist Seminary, Taylors, SC.
[1]John Crotts, Craftsmen: Skillfully Leading Your family For Christ (Wapwallopen, PA: Shepherd Press, 2005) p. 27.
3 Responses to “Jesus Speaks to Heads of Households ~ Part 2 ~ Leadership”
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January 31st, 2010 at 4:46 pm
[...] what does this mean for the head of a household today? Look for the second installment in this three-part series [...]
January 31st, 2010 at 4:47 pm
[...] you have been following this three-part series on the parable of the householder (see Part 1 and Part 2), you are surely thinking of how it applies to us in practical ways. If we have any [...]
February 1st, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Thank you for your excellent teaching. This is a lesson for leaders of today. Keep it up because it will bring hope to the hopeless. The type of leadership we have today has made many to be discouraged.