"FOLLOW THE LEADER"

Here is a verse that we used in Sunday's message that some folks don't understand the intention of this verse...

Hebrews 13:17 (ESV) Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

To help break this verse down and get a better understanding, we first need to go back to verse 7 of the same chapter...

Hebrews 13:7 (ESV) Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

It is important to recognize which leaders we are to submit to and why we should submit to our leaders.  Verse 7 says we are to imitate their faith after remembering how they lead and considering the outcome of their lifestyle.

So as we look at verse 17, why are we supposed to obey our leaders and submit to them?  Here is an answer from one of the commentaries that I read...

1.  God called leaders to watch over our souls. They are concerned about our welfare, growth, holiness, purity, knowledge, faith, love—about our trials and temptations—about our sicknesses and diseases and suffering. Therefore, we should listen to them and obey their counsel and exhortation.

2.  God called leaders to know their accountability. This keeps the leader from abusing us. The leader knows that he is accountable to God and will stand before God to give an account as to how he led. Therefore, we can rest assured that if a leader is God-called, he will not mislead us. He is accountable to God and he knows it.

3.  God-called leaders can be grieved and hurt. If we follow them, they are filled with joy because the work of Christ goes forth. The world is reached for Christ and people are ministered to. But if we fail to follow our leaders, they are hurt and grieved, for the work of Christ is hampered and we are not growing in Christ like we should. When we oppose our leaders, we stymie our growth. We stop growing and begin to cause hurt and pain and division in the body of Christ. We become tools of destruction instead of instruments of love and care and nourishment.

And note: our disobedience and rebellion affects us. It does not profit us. We lose out on the contribution and growth the leader could have contributed to our lives.
Preacher's Outline and Sermon Bible - Commentary - The Preacher's Outline & Sermon Bible – Hebrew, James.

So follow your leaders so that all might grow in unity and in faith as illustrated in this passage from Ephesians...
Ephesians 4:11-16 (ESV) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.