(_An Ordination Sermon._)
ix. 15, 16. _The prophet that teacheth lies, he is the
tail, &c._
+I. The world is so constituted that leaders of the people are at
present a necessity.+ It is no disparagement of oak trees to say that
few of them are sixty feet high; and it is no disparagement of our
fellow-men to say that few of them are qualified to lead others. In
both cases we have to do with an ordinance of God. We are all
included in it. We all need, in some respect or other, to be led.
This arises from the disparity between human needs and human powers.
Our faculties and time are too limited to allow any man to dispense
with guidance. Even the accomplished statesman needs to be guided in
the matter of health by the physician; the skilled physician needs to
be guided in building by an architect, and so on through all the
grades of human life. Men need guidance in commerce, politics,
literature, art, philosophy, and in religion. There is to be a time
when in this last respect guidance will not be needed (Jer. xxxi. 33,
34), but that time is not yet. The people still need guidance in
religion, because, 1. While in some of its aspects it is so simple
that a child is capable of it, in others it is so profound that they
need the most thoughtful instruction concerning it. 2. There are many
false forms of religion seeking to win acceptance (Matt. xxiv. 24;
2 Pet. ii. 1; 1 John iv. 1). 3. The natural tendency of the human
heart inclines it to the acceptance of those forms of faith which are
most unscriptural. This is the real secret to the power of Romanism.
To-day, therefore, the people still need religious leaders, and
leaders of the highest order. Even with the Bible in their hands,
most men need guidance (Acts ix. 30, 31). Woe to them, if they take
as their guides men who have not themselves been taught of the Holy
Ghost!
+II. Leadership involves for the leaders the highest honour or the
deepest shame.+ Many aspire to lead: few think of the difficulties
and responsibilities of leadership. 1. _The man who leads his
fellow-men well is entitled to the highest honour._ He cannot do it
without noble qualities of mind and heart. Those who are well-led
are, as a rule, not slow to acknowledge and reward the service that
has been rendered them. 2. _But leadership does not necessarily
involve any honour at all._ The post of prominence may only bring out
into view the leader's incompetency, mental and moral. "The fierce
light that beats upon a throne," and upon a pulpit, reveals every
speck and flaw in its occupant. It is a perilous thing to exchange
the pew for the pulpit. 3. _Through leadership a man may reach the
most utter degradation and shame._ He may do this (1.) through his
_incompetency._ Admiral Byng might have lived and died a respectable
English gentleman, if he had not been made an admiral. Many envied
him when he was so gazetted: none envied him when he was shot. Many a
"stickit minister" would have made a highly respectable and useful
church-member. (2.) Through his _dishonesty._ Many a leader, claiming
to be the head of a community, has really been its "tail," carried by
it, not carrying it on in paths of truth and honesty. His aim has
been, not the welfare of his followers, but his own aggrandisement
and popularity; his concern has been, not to speak the truth, but to
say what would be pleasant. His was the sin of many who claimed to be
prophets in Israel (Isaiah iii. 12, v. 20; Jer. v. 31). It is a
common sin to-day, both in the political and religious world. Let
those who claim to be ministers of God shun it. Self-seeking,
everywhere despicable, is in the pulpit most hateful and criminal
(P. D. 2482). Let every preacher regard as warnings those base
prophets of Israel; let him endeavour to realise that wonderful
picture of a true leader drawn by Christ's enemies (Matt. xxii. 16).
+III. Leadership involves for the led salvation or destruction.+ It
is not a trivial matter to be well or ill led. How true this is
politically, commercially, legally; it is not less true religiously.
That community shows little wisdom that chooses its leaders
carelessly. That community is insane which demands that its prophets
shall prophesy unto it only smooth things (Isa. xxx. 10). The
following of religious leaders who are themselves led by the Spirit
of God will result in temporal and eternal well-being; but trust in
"religious" demagogues, whose aim is not to speak the truth, but to
flatter those who listen to them, results inevitably in social and
spiritual ruin. In self-defence, then, demand of your minister that
he speak to you, not what is pleasant, but what is true; and count
him not your enemy, but your best friend when he utters what, just
because it is the truth of God, shall smite and wound as if it were a
sharp two-edged sword (Heb. iv. 12).