Let's look at what may happen when leaders actually despise God. This post will include a lot of scripture.

Matthew 21:33-39
³³"Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. ³⁴When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

³⁵"The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. ³⁶Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. ³⁷Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said.

³⁸"But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' ³⁹So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

Look at the different groups in this scripture. You have the landowner (God), the farmers (the Pharisees), the servants (prophets, teachers), and the son (Jesus). The farmers were leaders charged with tending the vineyard. The servants were leaders charged with manifesting what was in peoples' lives (wine, fruit). The landowner and the son were in authority over all of them.

When Jesus dealt with the Pharisees he wasn't dealing with religious leaders or a government. He was dealing with people who were under his authority and who had been set over his vineyard, over his sheep, by God. The Pharisees were accountable to Jesus. They were supposed to deliver a wine and had instead consumed it themselves. Even the servants that were sent were sent to help manifest the wine, or fruit, God was looking for.They weren't sent to condemn the farmers.

My point here is that we don't have the authority to talk to religious leaders the way Jesus did. Even churches that vote to put someone in leadership don't have the authority over those leaders like Jesus. But if we are not careful we can usurp Jesus' authority over leadership and end up falling into arrogance. Be careful with your words.

Matthew 23:1-12
 ¹Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ²"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. ³So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. ⁴They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

 ⁵"Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; ⁶they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; ⁷they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'

 ⁸"But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. ⁹And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. ¹⁰Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. ¹¹The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹²For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Two things here. One is the recognition that there is authority in leadership. In all that Jesus said about the Pharisees he never said they didn't have authority. God may put someone in a leadership role with an amount of authority. Their falling into sin does not change that. Only God can remove the authority he has given. We need to recognize that.

Second is, again, the recognition that we are all accountable for what is happening. Some people read verses 8-12 and decide that no one is over them, no one is their teacher. These people ignore verses 11-12. If no one is over you, if no one is your teacher, then you are no one's servant. This goes back to what I discussed in pt 1. We are all accountable. We are all brothers. We have been graced with different ministries to build each other up. Leaders are not people we follow as if we are dumb sheep. That is what Jesus is talking about here. When leaders have a servant's heart they will serve the local church. When we have a servant's heart we will respond to these human gifts God has given us. If someone in leadership looses their servant's heart the rest of the church can still operate in a servant's heart. We can keep our peace. Do not act like a "Rabbi" is responsible, or a "father" is responsible, or a "teacher" is responsible. We are all responsible. We are all brothers.

We can keep our peace.