On the next day Moses said to the people, “You yourselves have committed a great sin; and now I am going up to the LORD, perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” Then Moses returned to the LORD, and said, “Alas, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made a god of gold for themselves.  But now, if You will, forgive their sin–and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!” – Exodus 32:30-32 (NASB)

In the verses above from Exodus 32, we have the account of Moses descending from Mt. Sinai to confront Aaron and the Israelites for their idolatrous rebellion against God.  By verse 30 Moses seeks an audience with God to atone for the Israelite’s sin.  In a foreshadowing of things to come, Moses is even willing to give his life as atonement (vs. 32).

Most, if not all, of you know I am winding down more than 20 years of service as an Army Offier.  One of the fundamentals of leadership I learned as a ROTC cadet that is still applicable today is “a leader is responsible for all his followers do or fail to do”.  During the event in Exodus 32, Moses is demonstrating the same fundamental leadership principle I learned as a cadet.  A careful study of the book of Exodus reveals Moses did not naturally come to demonstrate this principle on his own.   In fact, up to Chapter 32 Moses constantly referred to the Israelites as “this people”, “Your people”, and “these people” in conversations with God.   There was never a sense of ownership or understanding on Moses’ part that the Israelites were also his people.  However, given everything Moses had learned during approximately 40 years in Midian, and then what he learned as God’s chosen man to lead approximately two million Israelites out of Egyptian slavery, and then God plainly telling him in 32:7 that the Israelites are his people, I believe Moses finally gets the point.

Church leaders today have the same responsibility and a few months ago I witnessed this principle in action.  One of our leaders and a friend of mine stepped down from the awesome responsibility that comes with serving as an elder.  He did not go into all the details and there were also other reasons, but one of the reasons he stepped down was some of the people he was responsible for as a leader had made some mistakes and sinned.  He felt he would lose credibility with our congregation of 200+ members due to the actions of those involved, his relationships with them, and the damage done to relationships in the congregation.  He did not want to lose credibility by continuing to serve, so he stepped down.  None of the rest of us wanted to see him go, but based on his reasons we could not argue with his decision.

This elder demonstrated the leadership principle of taking responsibility for your follower’s actions.  Given the context, this elder demonstrated spiritual leadership as well, which is what this blog is all about.  Whether there are two, two hunderd, or two million followers, the principle applies just the same.  It took courage for Moses to offer himself as atonement for the Israelites’ sin.  It took courage for my elder friend to take responsibility and step down.  Thank you my friend for being a spiritual leader.  My prayer is for you to serve as a leader again one day, and for all of us to learn from your example.

May the Lord bless you today as he has me. – DEM