Read
Leadership is Defined by God
Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”
- Ex 32:3-4
“If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.”
- 1 Kings 12:27-28
At first, I was struck by the similarity of these two statements, but as I looked at them more closely, they show two very different situations.
In Exodus, the people look on Aaron as a leader perhaps because of his role in meting out God's wrath on Egypt. He's also the brother of the legitimate leader, Moses. However, as we see in Exodus 32, he's not leading at all. Rather, he's being led by the people. The people desire idols, and he follows their impulse. He appears to be a leader because he acts on behalf of the people, but he's merely doing what he's been told to do. Confirming who is in the position of leadership, the PEOPLE make the proclamation "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt," not Aaron.
In the case of Rehoboam, he is indeed leading the people, but he's leading in an ungodly manner. The people have a habit (God-mandated habit) of going to Jerusalem for worship and sacrifices, but Rehoboam wants them to stay in the borders of the northern kingdom. He leads them into idolatry by proclaiming "behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt."
What is leadership? What is good or bad leadership? Philosophers and political scientists have wrangled with those questions for millenia and will continue to do so, but, as with all of the 'big questions' of life, the answer comes from God. It's easy to see that Aaron isn't a leader because he simply obeys the masses. His position is permitted as long as he says and does what the people want him to. He is influenced. He doesn't influence. Rehoboam, while leading, led the people away from God. That makes him a bad leader. We know this because of God's reaction. His position was given to him by God, and, due to this sin of idolatry, God takes this position away from his household.
In reality, there are very few 'pure' leaders or followers. We are all some combination of the two. So, then, how will we lead? Who will we follow? We must not fall into the trap of thinking that these decisions can be made apart from our walk with God. We should lead as He leads. We should follow those who walk with Him, not away from Him.
Being perfect in all things, Jesus shows us how to lead and who to follow. He led by both word and example. He didn't need to hold an office to lead. Nearly every time the masses ascribe authority to Jesus, it has to do with His teaching, not His signs. What do you teach? Do you teach others the things of God or of men? Are your actions commensurate with your words? Jesus didn't follow men. Rather, He said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner" (Jn 5:19). Are you able to say that? That's how we must follow the Father as well.
You are leading people, so lead them in a godly way. You are following someone. Is it Jehovah?
