And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the children of Israel and get from them a rod from each father’s house, all their leaders according to their fathers’ houses—twelve rods. Write each man’s name on his rod. And you shall write Aaron’s name on the rod of Levi. For there shall be one rod for the head of each father’s house. Then you shall place them in the tabernacle of meeting before the Testimony, where I meet with you. And it shall be that the rod of the man whom I choose will blossom; thus I will rid Myself of the complaints of the children of Israel, which they make against you.”So Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and each of their leaders gave him a rod apiece, for each leader according to their fathers’ houses, twelve rods; and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. And Moses placed the rods before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness.Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses went into the tabernacle of
witness, and behold, the rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds. Then Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his rod.
First, this activity revealed God’s selection for leadership. Secondly, it also tells us of the requirements for leadership. Contrary to popular belief, the requirement for leadership is not spiritual maturity.
The requirement for leadership in the ekklesia is LIFE.
Some areas of a leader’s life will be mature (ripe almonds), but other areas of their life will be various stages of maturity. There will even be areas of the leader’s life that have just begun to take shape (sprouts) into Christ-likeness. God’s requirement for leadership is LIFE in all areas of life, not maturity in all areas of life.
Seek Blessings
Psalm 67 (among other scripture describing our status as Children of God, Kings, and Priests) shows us that we are all leaders within the ekklesia:
God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us (selah). That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations.
In other words, we are to seek and receive the blessings of God, not for ourselves, but so that others may know Him and His salvation. It is through those blessings that we gain His Life into all areas of our life, and thereby release His presence into the world.
The good news is this: it doesn’t matter where you are in your walk with God. You are currently enabled to bring His presence into the world. Our job is to learn how to submit to His blessings so that the world will know what He is like.
A Recovering Legalist 