Leading and Following - Hebrews 13:17–19

As the book of Hebrews draws to a close, the writer makes some final statements, and he addresses the relationships between the leaders and the congregation of the church. You can tell he’s doing some relationship maintenance. All human relationships have challenges, but the leader/follower relationship is a unique one, isn’t it?

Let’s leave the church context for a moment and think about leading and following in general. This goes on in your workplace, your school, your home, perhaps your neighborhood. Leading and following. There are many pitfalls in leading and following.

Leading involves setting an example for others to follow. It involves being in charge of something, organizing and directing. Leaders make key decisions and instruct others in what to do. So they carry great responsibility.

But leaders can prioritize their own goals or timeline over the individuals they lead. They can care more about a project than about a person. Leaders can dismiss the abilities or values of those they lead. Puffed up with self-reliance, they can forge ahead without seeking God’s guidance or carefully discerning and surrendering to His will.

Leaders can act selfishly. There are many more ways leaders can go wrong, but the same is also true of followers. Followers can scoff at good leaders or go against them unnecessarily. A follower can neglect their responsibilities. And leaders are easy to criticize, so followers can develop a critical attitude.

Also, followers can dismiss the plans of God as He works through good leaders. Followers also can act selfishly. There are many ways that both leaders and followers can err, and this is interesting because as we go through our lives, we all find ourselves leading at times and following at other times, depending on the circumstances. And we naturally sin both as leaders and as followers. We’re obviously created by God to be both, and we fall short of His glory as both.

But God sent Jesus Christ into the world to save and sanctify sinners. Jesus came to redeem and to restore, to judge wickedness and uphold righteousness. He was born and lived to walk in the place of His people, and one aspect of Jesus’ work is that He led and He followed in perfect accordance with God’s law on our behalf.

This morning, we are going to look closer at Jesus the follower and Jesus the leader, because our aim should be to glorify God, whether as leaders or as followers, whatever the circumstances may be, just as Jesus did.

But how do we do that? It sounds difficult, and it does not come naturally. But true preaching, according to the gospel, will tell you that we do it by first looking to, and continually looking to, Jesus our Savior and our Lord.

But even there we can quickly go wrong. Let me explain. Think about a parent of two children. When one child misbehaves or fails, one thing the parent should not do is disapprovingly say, “Why can’t you be more like your brother? Why can’t you be more like your sister?” God the Father is often presented this way, as if he sent Jesus into the world to do everything right so He could look at the Church and say, “Why can’t you be more like Jesus?”

Now, certainly, we should be more like Him. But the basis of Jesus as our example is that Jesus was first our substitute. He fulfilled all righteousness according to the moral law of God, then died in our place. He earned a righteous record before the Father, then paid the penalty for our guilty record.

Certainly, those who are born again must walk as Jesus did. We must seek to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. But the motivation is not shame, it’s love. The inspiration is not fear of God’s wrath; it’s confidence, confidence in the person and work of Jesus.

Therefore, we can glorify God when we lead and when we follow. I have an outline for you on page 6 in the WG. In circumstances where we are ordained by God to follow, we must do so with hearts and minds fixed on the person and work of Jesus the follower, and in circumstances where we are ordained by God to lead, we must do so with hearts and minds fixed on the person and work of Jesus the leader.

When we look to Jesus we find relief from shame; we find cover from judgment, we find hope to change, we find joy that we don’t deserve, we find renewed determination to pursue holiness and to live for God and not for ourselves. In Matthew 11, Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

The Father is not standing, arms crossed, with a disappointed look, shaking His head and saying, “Why can’t you be more like Jesus?” But He does stand before us, upholding both His grace and His law, calling us to be more like Jesus because of who He is and what He has done for us and in us. So let’s look at these together.

Verse [17], says, “Obey your leaders.” Back in verse 7, which we looked at last Sunday, the writer stated, “Remember your leaders.” The leaders in view in that verse were previous leaders, ones now passed away, but here, he speaks of the present leaders.

These are the leaders dealing with the “diverse and strange teachings” mentioned in verse 9. These are the leaders attempting to shepherd these folks amid persecution and temptation for church members to abandon the Christian faith and return to Judaism. He literally tells them, “Trust your leaders. Believe your overseers. Be persuaded, not by false teachers, but by those installed as shepherds according to the plans and ways of God.” He goes on to say, “and submit to them.” Yield to their authority. Take their warnings seriously, warnings based on the truth of God, rooted in His promises that belong to those with saving faith in Jesus.

In our world today, “obey” and “submit” can sound restrictive and controlling. Certainly, many leaders have given leadership a bad name. But why should these listeners obey and submit? Notice the next phrase, “for they (the leaders) are keeping watch over your souls.” This writer validates their leadership in that church. Leadership not a license for leaders to do whatever they want. In fact, elsewhere in the NT we see clear qualifications for church leaders.

But elders especially have a key job, and you see it here. They keep watch. This is interesting language. The Greek words mean constant attention, vigilance, being eagle-eyed, so to speak. Alert, not asleep. This is one job of good undershepherds of Jesus the Chief Shepherd, as the apostle Peter refers to Him in 1 Peter 5.

The pastor and elders of the church, and the leaders who assist them, should be wide awake and on guard when it comes to the care of God’s people. They are imperfect men, (I can attest to that), but God’s perfect plan makes use of imperfect people.

The souls of the flock are of the utmost importance to God. So important, in fact, that those ordained to care for the people must do so, you see the next phrase, “as those who will have to give an account.” Jesus Christ rules His church, by His Word and His Spirit, and He deploys His undershepherds, who take cues from and answer to Him.

The leaders are evaluated on whether or not, in their leadership, they obey Christ; therefore, leaders who preach Christ and speak His words and follow His example can be trusted and believed. Church leaders must be submitting to Jesus, that they may be submitted to by the congregation. One way that the church submits to Jesus is by submitting to the ordained leaders of the church.

This absolutely does not mean the leaders can run your life or control you. It does not mean that leaders never make mistakes. Rather, it means that they are qualified to speak the gospel to you, to warn you against sin, and to urge you to repentance and faith. It means that the church can trust the decisions of faithful leaders in God-ordained authority.

Unless the leaders are in defiance of the Word of God, the congregation should listen to them and accept their decisions, recommendations, warnings and commands. The writer of Hebrews then makes an interesting statement, perhaps based on His own experience or on things that were happening in that church. Look at the rest of verse 17, “Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.” There’s no profit for the church, in fact, it’s harmful to grieve godly leaders by arguing and criticising and constantly questioning.

That certainly does not mean the congregation cannot ask questions; and of course, the congregation must be fully informed of decisions and processes. But the goal is joy for everyone, groaning and trouble for no one. The goal is God-centered peace and Christ-centered love.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you right now as a follower? This is a unique passage to preach. To be clear, I have no axes to grind here. We have tremendous unity here at GS. But think about your role as a follower here and in other places as well.

Jesus Christ was a leader, but He was a follower, too. In John 5, Jesus says, “the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” According to His human nature, Jesus willingly submitted to and followed the Father’s will. He even says, “Not my will, but Yours be done.” In His human nature, Jesus dreaded the cross, but He followed the Father’s direction.

Jesus was a godly follower. Faith in Him is the only hope you and I have that God will ever see us as godly followers. In circumstances where we are ordained by God to follow, we must do so with hearts and minds fixed on the person and work of Jesus the follower. Have you trusted in Jesus in this way?

Now look at verse [18], he says, “Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.” We can tell, through this verse and verse 19, that this sermon was not delivered in person by the one who composed it. There is no signature in the letter. We can’t be positive about who wrote it.

Many believe it was Paul; perhaps it was. It was normal for Paul to be involved in the founding of a church, then move on and write letters to the churches. But other apostles did that also. At any rate, the basic idea of having a clear conscience is being free from guilt and being aware of having done right. Verse 17 actually indicates characteristics of a good leader even as it addresses the followers.

For instance, leading in a way that they should be trusted and obeyed, diligently performing the work of watching over souls, fulfilling the office so that as they stand before God, they are found faithful: these would qualify as acting “honorably in all things.”

Sinful people do not act honorably in all things without God’s help. Prayer is vital. It’s no coincidence that even the Lord Jesus withdrew from others to pray and be alone with the Father. It takes such discipline for busy, motivated people to do this.

But this is where the leader finds rest, comfort, direction, correction, and peace. It’s essential to pray while on the move, but also, to be still and meditate on God. And we should pray for our leaders, for their integrity and character, for deliverance from temptation, for strength, discernment, and self-control. Leadership is not easy.

The leader writing Hebrews desperately desired prayer, look at verse [19] “I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.” Scholars do not know the specific history of this situation. We don’t know why the writer couldn’t deliver the message in person. It probably had something to do with persecution during that time, but we shouldn’t speculate. Suffice it to say, this leader loved and cared for these people, he wanted to see them and address them in person, but he recognized the leaders God had ordained to care for them.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you right now as a leader? Are you a godly leader? Do you lead your families with “a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things?” Do you get things done, but run over others in the process? Do you communicate the right things to do, but in a wrong way?

In circumstances where you are ordained by God to lead, you must do so with a heart and mind fixed on the person and work of Jesus the leader. We must see our failures in leadership, and bow our hearts before our savior Jesus, who led without sin. We must trust in Him. Only then, in His power and by His grace, can we hope to lead well.

Jesus suffered and was crucified, treated like a sinful follower, treated like a sinful leader, so that you and I could stand before God as if we had followed and led in a godly manner all our lives. Confess your failure to Him, turn from them, and surrender to His ways.

Let’s pray together.