The Positive Example of Leadership

Matthew 23 / Rick McNally / June 2025

But you…

Now for the fix, or the alternative.  How do we avoid the fake faith and oppressive leadership tendencies of the scribes and Pharisees?  Do you really want to know?  Are we willing to examine our own hearts to see what should be done?  The following is not one of Jesus’ more popular sermon passages — few people understand it, and I think that makes it easier for people to not apply it.

You are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.

Well, let’s brush this one aside.  Let’s use a bit of theological magic and push this one off the theoretical cliff.  Pastors like to be called “teacher.”  I know, I tend to like it.

All that glory that you get from being called rabbi or teacher by others should be avoided. Why?  Because of two reasons.

First, if we love to be called teacher, it gets in the way of us knowing the true teacher and sitting at his feet like Mary.  We must not usurp God’s role in our lives, or in the lives of others. We have but one teacher. When we ignore our own responsibility to read, study, and know God’s word firsthand, we miss so much in this life.  Whatever deep study I do is good for my soul and limitedly helpful for you.  When I eat a sandwich, it helps you very little, but when you eat it, it helps you.  You need a direct contact with God and a direct contact with his sustenance.  

Secondly, we can begin to get “puffed up” with knowledge and think we are above others around us. This is so common.  Teachers of God’s word seem to think that they are nearly “like unto God” and that their very words are powerful.  In reality, they are the same as everyone else.  Even the kings of Israel were commanded to write the law in their own hands so that they would “fear God” and also so that his heart would not be “lifted up above his brothers” (Deuteronomy 17:20ff).  The Pharisees had lost sight of humility and thought they were superior, and others were simply less.

So, we do use the term “teacher” in our world, but never let your heart think that you are “the” teacher.  Remind yourselves that God is actually everyone’s teacher, and that as a pastor or leader you are a gentle reminder that God alone is God.

We have a brotherhood in Christianity; we are all equal in Christ.  We are all free.

You should be guarded and suspicious of people who think they are “your” teacher.  You already have one.  You should be guarded and not think of others as your teacher; Christ is.

The idea: God alone is the teacher that you need, not other mere mortals.  False leaders tell you that you need to listen to them.  Tell them no.  You have been given teachers in your lives, and you ought to, as Hebrews 13:17 says, listen to them and “consider the reasonableness of what they are saying.”  This, not a strict do-what-I-say “obedience,” is what that passage is talking about.  The agency belongs to you, not them.

And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.

This is not about not using the term father.  I am a proud father of five, and I am their father.  There is nothing wrong with that.  What is at stake here is the “authority,” and that idea of “spiritual authority” that men love to take unto themselves in a very abusive way.  His words are plain and clear; can no man your “father” or authority here on earth.

There are two reasons given, one implicit and one explicit.

First, building on the idea expressed right before this phrase, “and you are all brothers.”  We are not each other’s “spiritual fathers,” but rather brothers; we are equal.  We have no spiritual authority in each other’s lives outside of what God tells us.  I may have the authority to share God’s word with you, but you have as much spiritual authority to return that favor and that accountability.  We are equal.  We are brothers.

Second, we are not responsible to each other as much as we are to God.  He made us; he has the right to be our authority.  We have one Father, and he is not walking around on Earth.

It has been my experience that the more authority people assume to have in other people’s lives, the more opportunity and propensity they have to be abusive and harmful to them.  This is not a guess; it is also the experiences we have all seen in other areas of life.  Power corrupts.  The more power you assume to have, the more dangerous you become.

To avoid such abuses, do not let others rule you.  Let God alone be your Father.  To recover from such abuses, do not let others rule you.  Let God alone be your Father.

The Idea: God is your only authority.  False teachers are ones who clamor for your obedience and push for your submission.  Do not trust this.

Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.

This is very similar to what he said above about not being called rabbi.  There is only a subtle difference between this term and the other.  This refers to a guide, a leader, a master.  It has both the ideas of “teaching” and “leading.”

Guess what, you don’t need a leader — you have Christ. 

When we push people into following ourselves, our church, our movement, we usurp God’s place in an inappropriate manner.  Of course, there is leadership in the church — it’s just supposed to look different than in the world (see Mark 10).

The Idea: You have one leader, Christ.  False teachers will encourage you to follow them.

Putting the last three sentences together

So we see the following

• In the realm of truth and learning, no man is your teacher, you have one teacher, and are all just brothers.
• In the realm of authority, no man is your “father,” we have one Father in heaven.
• In the realm of guidance and leadership, no man is your instructor, you have Christ.

Notice one other thing about these commands from Jesus.  This regards who is responsible for these actions.

• You are not to be called…
• Call no man…
• Neither be called…

Here we find a bit of information that might be passed by. The responsibility here is twofold.    First, you are not to let others call you these things.  And second, you are not to call others these things.  Don’t encourage yourself to enjoy public acclaim and authority, and don’t let others enjoy them either.   Stay grounded and humble and don’t be an enabler of other people’s arrogance.  Above all, keep God as the highest high — and no man.

Let’s take those last three ideas side by side one more time.

• You are not to be called rabbi For you have one teacher and are all brothers
• Call no man your father on earth For you have one Father who is in heaven
• Neither be called instructors For you have one instructor, the Christ.

Notice the poeticism here.  The repetition, the culmination of, the emphasis of the ideas that are in play.  This is about the equalization of people, and the keeping of domineering behavior from happening.  They are in a triplet for emphasis.  Jesus is making his point quite strongly.

One truth source, one authority source, one leadership source. That is all.  We should neither usurp God’s role nor let others usurp it.

There is something else here: Divine Jealousy

At the tail end of this triad is the phrase “one instructor, the Christ.” The one speaking is the Christ. These people, the scribes and Pharisees, are directly getting between God and his people. This is one of the reasons for his anger; he is jealous.

Divine jealousy is not a one-to-one equivalent to human-to-human jealousy. Here Jesus is jealous of his solitary role as teacher-authority-leader in the lives of his people and knows that he is the only one who fulfills those roles in people’s lives. It is our arrogance that seeks to have that role in other people’s lives.

Even as parents our goal is not to be a person’s ultimate teacher-authority-leader, we are to be stewards of leadership to young people, with the goal of handing them off over time to their true Lord. The same is to be said about the pastor or elder; they are not to be the intermediary between Christ and others, but one who equips others to better understand that role and then get increasingly out of the way.

But sin causes us to want to usurp the role of the Lord. Like Denethor II in the Lord of the Rings saga, what should have been a stewardship becomes more of an arrogant kingship in everything but name only. When the true king of Gondor showed up, he wanted nothing to do with him, much like the tenants in the vineyard in the parable of Jesus.

Perhaps this happens because we doubt the idea that the Lord is able to teach others without us. Perhaps we think we could fill those roles better ourselves. This is nothing but arrogance.

Jesus is Jealous of his role as our sole teacher

In the book of Jeremiah, we find another passage that is dripping with divine jealousy as he talks about a new covenant that is coming.

Behold, the days are coming declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isreal and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and brother, saying ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Jeremiah 31:33-34

Similarly, from the book of Joel;

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. Joel 2:28-29

This was fulfilled in Jesus and on Pentecost when the disciples received the Holy Spirit (Acts 2) and again when even the Gentiles first believed in Jesus (Acts 10). There are many, many ramifications of this theological reality. But for our purposes, his ability to teach us in a new and living way is paramount.

Notice what John says about the Lord’s ability to teach us, and our lack of need for other teachers. What is the thing that makes this possible, or even necessary? Is it not the Spirit living inside of his people?

 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. 1 John 2:26-27

Read that again. The Apostle John states that the people he was writing to did not need even him or anyone else that God’s Spirit abiding in them will do that job, especially if they abide in him. John can confidently proclaim this because he heard the truth of the Spirit’s teaching power in the lives of people from Jesus’ very mouth;

The Spirit of truth…dwells with you and will be in you… John 14:17

The Helper, the Holy Spirit… will teach you all things… John 14:26

He will guide you into all truth… John 16:31

Could this be any clearer?

Jesus is jealous of this pharisaical overreach of position because it short-circuits his own ministry in people’s lives. People are listening to the wrong people, for they are listening to people primarily. Let him be your teacher — read and know the word for yourself. John mentions this whole subject in the context of false teachers, who only muck up the situation – his fix was for people to listen to the Spirit.

Instead, tell him today these things;

Lord, you are my teacher, my only rabbi.

God, you are my Father, my only true authority for you made me

Christ Jesus, you are my leader and I ask you to let me follow you anew.

How can we avoid being these things, usurping his role in the lives of people? He gives us some tips! Let’s listen in.

The greatest among you shall be your servant

What?  Is this just an exaggerated teaching tool, a snappy sentence that grabs attention and has no other purpose?  Or is it true truth?  Can a servant be the greatest? This is God’s mathematics, God’s politics, God’s methodology.  It is 180 degrees out of phase with worldly wisdom and fleshly thinking. This is the language that states the first shall be last.  Jesus is being deadly serious.

Christ Jesus himself came as a servant; he was known as the suffering servant in the book of Isaiah. One of his greatest moments was when he removed his outer clothing and put on a towel.  He washed the grubby feet of a few tax collectors and fishermen.  He told them to do likewise.

This was the greatest man who ever lived life. He is gentle and lowly of heart.  This is his very nature.  He was not play acting servanthood, he lived what he was.

Any fool can command, belittle, and cajole and attempt to make others submissive.  Jesus was none of these things.  He was the exact opposite of these things.

He was a servant and died as a servant.  This is his calling for you and for me.  It’s better to suffer being a humble servant than to rule being a cruel and hypocritical lord.  God sees through these things to our hearts and will judge us based on the reality of our lives. He knows what exists not in the external world only but in the hearts and thoughts and intents of the heart of men.

Consider Tozer’s words; 

 A true and safe leader is likely to be one who has no desire to lead, but is forced into a position of leadership by the inward pressure of the Holy Spirit and the press of the external situation. Such were Moses and David and the Old Testament prophets. I think there was hardly a great leader from Paul to the present day but that was drafted by the Holy Spirit for the task, and commissioned by the Lord of the Church to fill a position he had little heart for. I believe it might be accepted as a fairly reliable rule of thumb that the man who is ambitious to lead is disqualified as a leader. The true leader will have no desire to lord it over God’s heritage, but will be humble, gentle, self-sacrificing, and altogether as ready to follow as to lead, when the Spirit makes it clear that a wiser and more gifted man than himself has appeared. — A. W. Tozer

And MacArthur’s; 

To put it simply, leadership is influence. The ideal leader is someone whose life and character motivate people to follow. The best kind of leadership derives its authority first from the force of a righteous example, and not merely from the power of prestige, personality, or position. By contrast, much of the world’s “leadership” is nothing but manipulation of people by threats and rewards. That is not true leadership; it’s exploitation. Real leadership seeks to motivate people from the inside, by an appeal to the heart, not by external pressure and coercion.

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

God is the keeper of records and the one who knows all things.  It will be his job to right the wrongs, and he will.  This verse makes this very clear.  The people described above who are fake and external in their thinking, who like to be in control, who like to look righteous, who like to put others below them have a reckoning coming.

We have a reckoning coming.  God will judge these things.  The problem is some of us say we believe and then live as if God is never coming back to judge the quick and the dead.

Are we going to be lords or servants? Are we going to demand obedience or submit to one another? These are definitely words for pastors and teachers to take to heart and to do all they can to make sure they treat others with a sense of humility and respect that is due them.

These are Jesus’ harsh words, and they are full of warning and import.

We must not pass them by or disrespect them by treating them lightly.

Even though these words are heavy, his next few statements make these look like flowers in a vase, as Jesus delves into one of the most verbally combative sermons he gave.

When Someone Doesn’t Want Accountability, They Probably Need It.

Since this push for unaccountability and authority is the problem, combined with the deviousness of hypocrisy, what can people do about it?  

Here are some thoughts: 

So, what is the measure we are to use to measure our elders? Their adherence to the authority above them of course, and that is the teachings of the apostles and ultimately Christ. As the primary differentiator between the two offices of the church (elder and deacon), elders are apt to teach. The best way to question and test the elders is in their adherence to the doctrine of the authority above them, that is the biblical foundation of the church, the teachings of the apostles. Both orthodoxy (right doctrine) and orthopraxy (right behaviors) are to be assessed. In the church, members are to be like the Bereans (Acts 17:11), testing the teaching of the leaders of the church to see if the things they say and do measure up with the truth, freedom, gentleness, love, and mercy we have in Christ. This lays a responsibility on the members to thinking and learning and understanding for themselves, and not fully relying on the teaching of the pastor or elders. Does the word of God really mean those things? And does the life of the leader measure up?

Roles of “authority” are more about being accountable and honest and less about telling others what they can and cannot do.  How can we be examples to others if we are walking all over them?  How can we be servants when we are busy commanding the sheep?  How can we be selfless while getting our own way?  Are we prepared to go to the Shepherd and confess our wayward leadership styles and ask him to forgive?  Are we going to make things right and change our behavior?  Jesus would have us do so if we have overstepped the bounds — especially if we have hurt people in the bargain.

The next section takes these ideas and expands upon them into specific abuses of power that the leaders of Jesus’ day perpetrated.  There are modern equivalences.  These are not simply academic examples, but practical examples from us to listen to and learn from.

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Quotes:

• Tozer / quoted by Hans Finzel, The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make (Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook, 2013), 34.
• John MacArthur, The Book on Leadership: The Power of a Godly Influence (Nashville, TN: T. Nelson Publishers, 2004), vi–vii. 
• Keith Gordon Ford, Bitter Fruit: Dysfunction and Abuse in the Local Church (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock, 2021).