"Rebellion in the Leadership"

The vast majority of churches today have problems with rebellion in the leadership. Just about every pastor I know complains about problems he has with his leadership. Whether it be people who go off and do their own thing, or leaders who talk against the pastor, or just plain lazy leaders who don't do what they are supposed to, all are various forms of rebellion.

I'm not saying that the pastor should be a control freak, or that every action of every person in the church needs the pastor's approval. We've had that in the church as well, and that doesn't work. The pastor doesn't need to give people permission to get a job, or buy a car. But, he does need leaders who support the vision that God's given him, instead of trying to change the vision to something else.

Where does this root of rebellion come from? And, what do we do about it? How can we prevent the rebellion in the church and leadership from destroying the church?

First of all, we must understand that all authority comes from God. Therefore all rebellion starts as rebellion against God. It is literally the oldest of sins. Before the foundation of the world, rebellion existed. Satan, then known as Lucifer, started a rebellion in heaven, planning to overthrow God's position of kingship, and take it for himself.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! ¹³ For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: ¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Isa 14:12-14

In an effort to accomplish this goal, Lucifer led a rebellion against the King of Glory. He succeeded in convincing a third of the angels to join him in this rebellion. But, it wasn't successful. Instead of overthrowing God's Holy Throne, he himself was thrown out of heaven, ending up here on this earth.

And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Lk 10:18

This defeat didn't destroy Satan's rebellion however. The seed of rebellion doesn't die quickly, and once it takes root in a heart, it is very hard to remove. Satan continued to look for an opportunity to rebel against his creator.

When God gave dominion over the earth to Adam (Gen 1:26 & 28), Satan saw his opportunity to try again. He might not be able to take God's throne away from Him, but he could take man's throne away. That would allow him, at least to some extent, to get even with God for kicking him out of heaven.

Satan started this new rebellion by following a similar pattern to what he did before, seeking out coworkers. He needed help to overthrow the prince of this world. So, instead of attacking the prince, he went after the one under the prince's authority, Eve.

By going to Eve, Satan could accomplish one of two things, or possibly even both at the same time. The first possibility is that he could use Eve to help him co-opt Adam in his plans for rebellion. If this didn't work, he could as a minimum, cause rebellion against Adam. Although this second possibility wasn't as good, in Satan's eyes, as the first, it would be better than nothing.

Satan used one of the most common means available to foster this rebellion, deception. He convinced Eve that the King of Kings was being unfair to her and her husband, by being dishonest with them and withholding something from them that would be to their benefit. He also sowed the seed of doubt in her mind that God was not really worthy to be King, and that she had as much ability and right to be king as God did.

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Gen 3:4-5

After hearing Satan's words, Eve began justifying the rebellion that was birthed in her heart. Justifying one's self in one's own mind is always part of the rebellion process. Before taking action, we seem to need to convince ourselves that the thoughts and feelings that we have are the right ones, and that the action we are contemplating is the appropriate action to respond to the problem we are seeing.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Gen 3:6

There were three different points in which Eve justified herself. First of all, "the tree was good for food," then, "it was pleasant to the eyes," and finally, "desired to make one wise." By having three different points, she surely convinced herself that her rebellion was correct, and took action.

As you can see, Satan accomplished his goal. Eve rebelled against God. Then, following Satan's system, she went to deceive her husband.

Adam was faced with the hardest decision ever. He had to choose between his wife whom he loved, and his God whom he also loved. Being a man, he chose to side with his wife, and took the rebellion against God's kingdom to the next step.

God, as the ultimate father, knew that this would happen and prophesied it in Genesis 2:24, when He said, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, as the mother, were the parents of Adam. Adam left his father and mother in order to be one with his wife. His choice to cleave to his wife was good, but his choice to rebel was not.

I must say here that God gave the right of freedom of choice to Adam when He created him. This means that God gave Adam the right and ability to rebel. That doesn't mean that God wanted him to rebel. But, in order to give Adam the capacity to love God Himself, He had to give Adam the ability to choose. That's where the ability to rebel came from.

Eve's rebellion didn't cause any obvious change. God did not come down to earth, did not make any declarations, and didn't kick them out of Eden. That's because she was under her husband's authority, and it was his responsibility to take action. It wasn't until after Adam joined her rebellion that God had to take action.

All rebellion stems from this root of Adam and Eve's rebellion against God. Satan succeeded in creating a rebellion that has lasted until today, and according to the prophecy written in the book of Revelations, will continue for quite some time to come.

Mankind is living under a generational curse of rebellion; passed on from generation to generation to generation. It has become part of the "human condition" and part of our character. We grow up rebellious because we see it modeled all around us. Children are rebellious because their parents are rebellious. Parents are rebellious because their leaders are rebellious. Leaders are rebellious because their pastors are rebellious.

On top of that, many of our nations were founded in rebellion. The United States was founded because the original colonists rebelled against the English. Mexico was founded because the Mexican people rebelled against Spain. The list goes on, and on, and on.

Rebellion is such an integral part of our lives that we think it is normal. When our children become teens, we expect them to rebel against us. We even modify scripture to accommodate this belief.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Pr 22:6

Please notice, this scripture doesn't say anything about rebellion. But, I've heard this scripture quoted more often to console a parent whose teen is in rebellion, than I have for any other reason. We say it more often with the meaning of, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and after his teen years, when he's through rebelling, he will return to God's way." That's not what the scripture says, it says "he will not depart from it."

Or, how about the example of driving a car. Almost every believer I know, and all of the unbelievers, regularly drive faster then the speed limit. We ignore the authority of government over us, even though scripture tells us to "be subject to the authorities over us" (Tit 3:1).

It would be bad enough if these rebellious attitudes only existed in the world, but they are in the church as well. Most churches, instead of being planted by a mother church, are birthed out of rebellion.

It's never the new believers, or the wishy-washy Christians that start church splits. It's always some leader that causes the problem. An associate pastor, or an elder, or even a worship leader that's disgruntled with the pastor and the church.

For some reason, these leaders decide that rebellion and strife are better solutions than submission and forgiveness. Satan works on their hearts until they decide that a split is the only solution to their dissatisfaction, and all the problems in the church. They feel that there is no reason to try and work it out with the pastor and instead feel they have to leave, taking others with them.

Once the rebellion has grown sufficiently in the leader's heart, he will work to spread it to others. This leader will start speaking badly about the pastor and the church to friends within the church, both to rationalize his behavior and to convince others to join him in his rebellion.

Here is where church splits come from. A single seed of rebellion, given time to grow and mature in the heart of a leader, brings a harvest of rebellion in the form of a church split.

A pastor needs to be constantly aware of what the leaders of the church are saying and the attitudes in their hearts. It is always much easier to confront someone in whatever problem while it is small, instead of waiting until the sin comes forth in full bloom. Rebellion is easy to stop when it is in it's early stages, but the longer one waits to stop it, the harder a work it is to change that person's heart.

These leaders need to understand (but rarely do) that if God wanted them to have the church, He would have given it to them. He gave it to the pastor, because he wanted that pastor to be in that place. If God wants someone to pastor a church, He will raise them up, prepare them, and properly birth the church; not cause a rebellion.

Please note that these three things that Satan used against Eve are the same three that leaders in the church use to start and justify rebellion in the church. Let's go back a moment and look at that verse.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Gen 3:6

First of all, Eve saw that "the tree was good for food." In other words, it was a good thing to disobey and rebel, because what God was telling them to do was not to their benefit. Rebellion would accrue greater benefit to them than obedience.

God tells us to "obey the authorities appointed over us" (Heb 13:17). In Spanish, it is even clearer than in English, because it says to "obey your pastors." Even with this admonition, many rebel against their pastors. Why? Because it looks like a good thing to do. Those in rebellion rationalize in their own minds that they will be better off in rebellion than in obedience.

Secondly, Eve saw that "the tree was pleasant to the eyes." It appealed to her vanity and her sense of decorum. There was nothing spiritual here. This was a purely fleshly reaction to the tree.

Rebellion and church splits are also a fleshly reaction. Satan appeals to the vanity and sense of decorum of those he has chosen to start the rebellion. These people are able to rationalize all sorts of great reasons why they should rebel; many of which even sound like spiritual reasons. But, at the root, all of these supposed reasons boil down to their own fleshly desires.

Finally, Eve saw that "the tree was desired to make one wise." It appealed to her desire for position, honor, and recognition; in other words, to her pride. Pride is one of the deadliest sins in the universe. Of all sins, it is the subtlest, the easiest to rationalize, the easiest to accept, and the hardest to combat. Satan's original sin was pride, and he is an expert at using it to help others fall as low as he has.

Leaders who are starting to cause a rebellion always speak against the existing authority. They always try and prove how they are better than that authority, even tell others how they are better than the authority.

In the church, there is a certain amount of honor and position in being a pastor, or other leader. Those who are seeking to cause rebellion and church splits often have in the back of their minds that honor and position. They see themselves in that position, and are warmed by the fact that they will soon be looked up to as a more spiritual, godly person.

For all these supposed good reasons, the leader feels that he must leave, and must cause a church division in the process. Although his reasoning and rationalization is wrong, his is always sincere in his desire to accomplish what he feels is the right thing. Unfortunately, it isn't God's thing, it's his own. Whenever we walk outside of God's perfect will and plan, in order to accomplish what we think is a good work for God, we ultimately fail.

Unfortunately, in many cases, those people that leave in the split don't end up in any church anywhere. Because the church they leave to start is started in rebellion, it is cursed. God, speaking through the prophet Samuel, said, "rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft" (1 Sam 15:23).

God is always against witchcraft (Nahum 3:4-5). So, since He sees rebellion and witchcraft as being equal, he is also against rebellion. What God has cursed cannot be blessed.

A cursed church cannot become a blessed church. Any church that is birthed out of rebellion, that manages to continue keeping it's doors open, does so only out of the work of the pastor and congregation, and not out of the blessing and anointing of God.

However, most of these churches close their doors in six months or less. The people who were tricked into joining the rebellion are then left without a pastor, without a church home, and without the fellowship of other believers. In most cases, because of pride, or shame, those people don't return to their previous church home, and end up lost to the Kingdom of God.

Our communities are full of people who used to attend one church or another. Unfortunately, due to some church split in the past, these people found themselves without a church home. They are hurt, bitter, and in desperate need of ministry. But, hardly anyone ever seeks them out.

If we are going to eliminate rebellion in the church, we must start by searching our own hearts. Just as authority flows "downhill" from God's throne, rebellion will too. There's a saying in the church that goes, "As the pastor goes, so goes the church." In other words, if the pastor has a problem, sin, or fault in an area of his life, the members of the church will follow after him and have the same problem, sin, or fault.

In the light of this, we need to realize that churches which have been started through rebellion will always have problems with rebellion. If the pastor rebelled against another pastor and caused a church split, he will reap the fruit of that in his own church, by constantly having to deal with rebellious leaders who cause his church to split, time after time after time.

The usual solution that a pastor in this situation ends up trying is to become a controller. He tries to maintain such tight control over his congregation, and especially his leaders, that there isn't the opportunity to rebel. However, just like teenagers with an overly strict parent, this actually has the opposite effect, pushing the leaders to be more likely to rebel against the authority of the pastor.

So, if controlling doesn't work, what should a pastor who's rebelled in the past do?

The first, and most important thing a pastor with a rebellious church needs to do is search his own heart. Where are the roots of rebellion within him? Ask the Holy Spirit to help, for He is an expert at uncovering long dead things in human hearts.

Once these roots of rebellion have been uncovered, the pastor must repent of them and ask God's help in truly burying them, not back in his heart, but in the graveyard of things that have been consumed by holy fire upon the altar.

If the pastor started his church in rebellion to another pastor, he must not only repent to the Lord, but also to the other pastor. There has to be a restoration of relationship in order to bring true healing. That doesn't mean that you have to be the best of friends, but you have to at least be on speaking terms.

After this, the pastor must break the curse of rebellion over his church. In a sense, this is a generational curse, because the members of the church, and especially the leaders, are the pastor's spiritual sons. By breaking the generational curse, the pastor insures that it will not continue on through the following generations of the church.

Breaking this curse is essential. It is part of having a healthy church, with healthy leadership. If there is any doubt whatsoever in your mind, don't wait, break the root of rebellion in your heart and in your church.

This doesn't mean that there won't be any future rebellion. Unfortunately, rebellion is part of the human character. However, it will insure that the curse of rebellion is eliminated.