True Church Government

The Church’s Government and Why It Matters

Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day Sermon. We pray that as we declare the Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthened in your faith and that you would catch a greater vision of who Christ is.

May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you two words You normally don't hear together is transparency in government or trust in government or Or joy and government and yet government is critical to the health of any organization.

Government is absolutely critical and something that I didn't write this down, but I was thinking about it before I walked up is That knowing something about the government is actually quite healthy. So for instance today, we're gonna pull back the veil a little bit we're gonna lift the hood a little bit of the Shepherd's Church and how the Shepherd's Church is governed and That's healthy and that's good.

I remember as a kid my grandpa Taught me how to mow the yard and he opened up the hood and he showed me all these fascinating parts that I have no idea What they were and as a result, I ended up breaking the lawnmower Multiple times because I didn't understand the machine.

My grandpa never broke the lawnmower because he understood what it was for. I Look at the government of a healthy church. It's healthy for all of us. It lets you know how the church is to be governed according to Scripture.

But it also it allows us to be able to share with you how things run in a faithful church. Now, like I said healthy government is critical to the health of any organization. You can think of a club a city a business a nation a corporation.

Whatever you want to look at if it has a healthy government structure, then it will be healthy and if it doesn't Then it will become sick and invalid and it will die. You think about it. This is all this is true all throughout the General revelation not just in Scripture.

You think about the animal world animals have a sort of system of government as well. That's why wolves have packs and alpha male leaders. That's why bees have Queens and and very highly designated jobs.

That's why female Robins build nests while the male Robins out grabbing worms. There's government Embedded in the natural world. There's order their structure. So much so that we can't avoid it. You look at the cell.

The cell is a fascinating thing. It has a nucleus an epicenter where it issues commands to the cell. That's like sort of like its central headquarters. Everything is built with this sort of order and if that order is healthy.

Then the organization the business the city the nation whatever you want to say will also in turn be healthy. Now the reason that we're covering this topic today is not because we pre-planned this according to the election and honestly just fell naturally.

I love how God does that. But we're talking about this because every church has a government. Whether a church wants to have a government or not That doesn't matter every church will have a way that it organizes itself a way that it does things.

And the question that we need to wrestle with is is that biblical? If every church is gonna have a government if every church is gonna have a structure is their structure biblical. Can it be found in the Bible and I think it's in a topic that we Have to look at if we're gonna be a biblical church if we're gonna be a true church.

We have to look at what is a true church government? Now in the history of the church, I can't cover this to any great extent. But in the history of the church, there's basically been three styles of church government that a church can fall into.

There's congregational. There's Episcopal and there's Presbyterian. Now it makes matters even more confusing confusing because we have churches today that are called congregational churches churches that are called Episcopalian churches and churches that are called Presbyterian churches.

Those are not necessarily the same thing. I'm talking about a government style. So for instance a congregational style of church government is what you think it's ruled by the people where they have elections for committee members and secret ballots for carpet color and.

Such important matters is that? These kinds of churches show up in the Western world primarily among democratic thinking people people who've been used to democracy in Fact they're they gain a lot of what they are from John Locke and his democratic theory even more so than scripture.

The Bible actually does not give warrant for a congregational style of government. The God the Bible does not say that we all get together and we have secret ballots. That we all get together and have elections.

The Bible is a book written by a king to his subjects not a politician to an electorate. The Bible is a monarchial book. The Bible is not democratic. Our faith is not democratic if you think about it.

If you want to have a law change you appeal to the the legislator or you vote him out. You can't vote out God and you can't change the standard. He says what is and we obey. He didn't ask her opinion.

So a government that emphasizes that a church government that emphasizes democracy. I think it's out of step with the Bible. We can't comport our Americanism into the church. I know it feels like we've existed for a really long time.

But before 1776 the church still existed for 1 ,700 years prior. This idea of government by the people for the people. Can't be found in Scripture. So we throw that out. Now there are churches like some Baptist churches congregational churches some non-denominational churches that adopt that model.

But I would argue that they do so on the basis of what they see in culture. Not what they see in Scripture because there is no text that I could point to you. That gives this sort of model the second kind of government that is that has been throughout church history.

Goes all the way back to the very beginning and it's called the Episcopal form of government. Now the Episcopal form of government is where a bishop is in charge of multiple churches in a region that bishop reports to an archbishop and then if you're in the Catholic model those archbishops report to Cardinals who report to Popes and The further up you go you realize that this is actually not a biblical model either.

Now I will say that it's more biblical than the congregational model because at least the word Episcopal comes from the scripture. It comes from the Greek word Episcopal which means overseer or ruler.

There's actually two words that the English translations normally translate as elder. It's what Episcopal is one of them. Presbyteros is the other so the Episcopal Church takes this word and says this is a ruling function where all the local churches report to a bishop who reports to archbishops who report to in the Catholic Church a Pope.

Which again cannot be substantiated in Scripture. Now there's non Catholic churches that follow this model. You think of that some Methodist churches Lutheran churches Episcopalian churches. It would be really strange if the Episcopals didn't follow the Episcopal model.

They do. There's also reformed churches that follow this model. Not all reformed churches are Presbyterian. There are reformed Anglican churches that are very faithful to the scriptures and who adopt this model.

One of my favorite guys in history that I love to read JC. Ryle Was a bishop in the Anglican Church, so I'm not saying that this one is is awful I'm just saying that I don't think it's the most biblical Model for church government.

What I would argue is the most biblical model for church government is the Presbyterian model. Now we are a Presbyterian Church and they're actually believe it or not. This makes it even more confusing.

There are Baptist churches that are Presbyterian churches. You're like, how can that be because they're organized? According to a Presbyterian form of government, even if they don't accept every Presbyterian doctrine.

So what I'd like to do today is I'd like to talk about this Presbyterian model, which is ruled. The local church is ruled by elders those elders are elected by the congregation and ordained by the elders and They serve the local church they report to a group of people called a Presbyterian which we won't actually have time to get into that.

But I want us to look at a healthy church model that is ruled by elders and deacons. For the good and the benefit of the local church. So we're gonna cite scripture in that. We're gonna examine things in that and with that let us pray and we will get started this morning Lord Jesus.

Thank you that you have not made the government of your church a mystery to us. Thank you that Every topic that we can look at that there is that there is clear scripture. Where we can say that is what God desires.

Lord, we thank you that your scripture can be known that we can read it. Lord I thank you so much that that even down to what kind of government a church ought to have that you have spoken about it. And Lord, let that encourage us that in every aspect of our lives you have spoken and you have given us either clear teaching or clear implications of what it is that you would have us to do.

Lord, I pray for this church. I pray that as we Continue to serve you. Lord, I pray that you would keep us faithful. Lord, I pray that you would keep us focused on Christ and his gospel. Lord, I pray that you would never allow us to be Obsessed with our own traditions and our own distinctives.

Lord, let us be obsessed with Christ his gospel and Declaring it to the nation's and it's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen. When you're talking about church government, you have to begin at the beginning.

I know that sounds strange. But you have to the Bible paints a glorious picture of how to begin at the beginning. It begins with a God who has infinity authority and he creates the world by the word of his mouth.

And then we see Satan Who is sabotaging that authority. God installed Adam and Eve to be his vice regents in the garden he installed them to take his authority and extend it to the ends of the earth and yet Satan comes in and Dupes Adam and causes him to exchange his crown for shackles his throne for subjugation.

But the story does not end there. You see in Isaiah 700 years before the New Testament God is giving his answer to the fall of man and the fall of man Affected many things that affected the male-female dynamic.

It affected our relationship vertically with God, but also affected the way that we organize ourself in government. So what is God gonna do? He's gonna bring redemption to every single aspect that has fallen and in Christ he's going to restore The government of God look at what it says in Isaiah 9 6 through 7 Christmas passage.

We're very familiar with this for a child will be born to us a son will be given to us and the government will rest on his shoulders and His name will be called wonderful counselor mighty God eternal father prince of peace.

There will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and Righteousness from then on and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord will accomplish this now in that passage. There's a lot of phrases that stick out to us. A child will be born. You go to a Christmas card store. Especially Christian ones in a Christian bookstore.

A child to us is born right there on the cover. Wonderful counselor mighty God Prince of Peace. How do we talk about that? The government is Gonna rest on his shoulders. The government is in between the son is born and wonderful counselor this idea.

That the rule of God is going to be restored under the Son of God is beautiful and for in the forefront of Isaiah chapter 9 What this means is when Christ came The rule of God came back to the earth. Now many Christians will say we don't live in a theocracy.

Oh, yes, we do if God's Rule is on the earth. And the government rests on his shoulders and his the increase of his government will not end. My dear friends we live in a theocracy. We live in the rule of the Son of God.

We do not belong primarily to democracies. Our identity has not been written and defined by the Constitution or by federalism or by bureaucracies or tyrannies or anything of that nature. Our Americanism is has to bow the knee to our Christianity in that we live under the government of Christ first and foremost and primarily our identity as a Subject of the king not a citizen of this nation in the end America will die in the end.

China Russia North Korea Will go the death of every single nation that has ever preceded it and the kingdom of God will continue to stand. Because the increase of his kingdom will not end. Take a moment.

To appreciate the significance of that statement. It doesn't say the increase of wickedness will not end. It doesn't say the increase of this country will not end. It says that the Incremental increase of Jesus's kingdom will not stop until as we sang before God's glory covers the entire earth.

Why do we get so depressed as Christians? We are Decades centuries. I don't know how long. But we are waiting on Christ to come to finish the victory that he's been promising us for 2 ,000 years. And that alone we can hold our head up high and say That Christ will be victorious.

Now when we come to questions about authority in the church we have to begin here. Where Christ has all authority. Matthew 28 18 says this is after now Jesus has come. And after he's died on the cross after he's resurrected from the dead.

He came up and he spoke to them saying all Authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Now just so we're clear Jesus wasn't mistaken on the scope. When he said all authority on earth Belongs to him that means no one on earth has authority other than him.

Nations rulers presidents kings Potentates dictators, whatever you want to call them. They have borrowed Authority that belongs to Christ and they will be held accountable To the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords on how they steward that authority.

You and I have no authority. We often as Americans we like to we like to put forth our individualism as the sacred thing. I have a right. I have a vote. I have a choice. That's what the entire abortion industry is built upon my body my choice, but if you're a Christian You're the person who knows that you have no rights.

You're the person who knows that you have no choices. You're the person who knows that you were transferred out of darkness and into life you were the one who was dead and Now you've been made alive. If you're a member of the world and you are not saved you don't know this is true, but you will on the day of Christ.

When the king is standing in all of his glory, you will either bow and worship or you will bow in terror. Because there is no authority. Except what belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. We can spend our life trying to amass wealth like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos we could spend our life trying to get in limitless power like Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping we could we could spend our life trying to amass materials and in the end Realize that we were nothing more than a runaway slave who had no good master.

Over us as Christians. We know we have a master who loves us as Christians we know that we have a master who cares for us who died for us who brought us into his kingdom. But if you're in the world and that's what you're chasing after if you have these gods before you you will stand before the king of kings naked with nothing.

Because you would have offended the only one with power and what a terror that would be. That's why the Bible says that it will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now One of the most important lessons that I learned as a Christian Was that I'm a slave of Christ.

One of the most important things in fact in our Bibles, they often translate it servant. They soften it. The word is slave. Now in Biblical times Slavery existed. We live in a country where slavery existed and it was wicked in the Bible.

Slavery existed and it depended on your master how things went for you. If you had a wicked and a cruel master Then you would be treated terribly and with great shame. But if you had a good master and a faithful master, you would rejoice in your servitude.

How much better of a master can we have than the Lord Jesus Christ? This means dear friends that our opinions Must be submitted to the will of our Lord. That means every aspect of your life belongs to him.

That's why Abraham Kuyper the Dutch theologian could say when you look out across every square inch of the cosmos. Every part of it every molecule belongs to Jesus Christ. That means our will our emotions our affections the things we own the things we do the people We love every bit of it belongs to him and it's not ours.

Everything we have we hold with an open hand because when we hold it with a closed hand, that's the picture of idolatry. That we've made something other than our master and Lord Savior in our life. When we understand that we were bought and paid for and that he owns us and That every decision that we make now is in light of this new Lord that we have.

We've not been transferred out of slavery into Libertine freedom. We've been transferred out of slavery to send a slavery to Christ. When we understand that it gives us the greatest freedom that can ever be had.

You think about a fish in the water. A fish is not free. You say hey fish. Why don't you try living on land and they suffocate and die? Right. A fish is most happy When it's bound to the circumstance called water.

You and I are most happy and most joyful when we are bound To the circumstance of being in relationship with this good master Jesus Christ. We thrive there. We live there. We live and move and have our being there.

To try to depart from Christ and live with closed hands and say this is my life my stuff. It's like a fish trying to live outside of the water. You'll suffocate. That kind of slavery to Jesus is life-giving and good.

It goes even beyond that though. Because the Bible says that Jesus owns everything but for the church, it says that he is our head. Which isn't a fascinating thing to say For all the world. The Bible says that Jesus will put those who hate him under his feet.

But for the church, she will be connected to his head. What a beautiful picture. We're not under his feet. We're not triumphed over by the King of Kings. He brought us up to him connected us to him. That's why the Bible says that we are in Christ.

What master would do that for his slaves. What master would do that for his enemies. A King goes and he conquers rebels and then he makes them his family members. That's what God has done. Ephesians 122 says he has put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him his head over all things to the church.

Brothers and sisters you are not second-rate citizens to God. He made you a part of him. You are in union with him. He connected you to himself. While all the governor's princess King's prime ministers will be put under Jesus's feet if they don't bow the knee to Christ.

You and I have been clothed in his radiant love. You think about what a head does for a body? It's kind of important. I can chop off a hand or mop off a leg and survive. Try chopping off your head. You won't make it too far.

A Head feeds your body. A head gives instructions to every cell in your body. There's nothing that happens in your body that doesn't go through the head. Think about from the from the tiniest toe wiggle to a full-on sprint.

Every movement your body undergoes every cellular Function is controlled by your head and think about how that relates to Christ. Every movement every thought. Every action is controlled by the word Jesus Christ.

The question is are we a healthy body? Are we at war with our head or we submitted to the life-giving love of our head? Jesus Christ look at what Ephesians 4 15 says. But speaking the truth and love we grow up in all aspects into him who is the head.

Even Christ. So headship not only means that he's connected to us. But it also means that he is feeding us and that we grow up in him. You think about it like this a Toddler a two-year-old they have heads too.

I'm just making sure we're all on the same page biologically. Their head controls their growth. My two-year-old has no choice on whether he grows into a three-year-old and eventually a six foot six linebacker or whatever.

He's gonna be. My child grows without his free will involved in the slightest because his head is executing the DNA functions that God re that God wrote on His body and it's happening without him even thinking about it.

He goes to sleep and he grows. He wakes up and he grows whether he likes it or not. He grows. What Christ is saying through the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 4 is that if we are connected to his head We will grow.

We will grow. Now it doesn't mean we grow immediately like toddlers still have the terrible twos. Teenagers still have their thing. Adults in this country still have their thing. We may waffle about in moments of immaturity.

But the trajectory of our life is growth if we're connected to Jesus Christ. You are not the same person you were last year in a decade ago if you are in Christ. If there is no growth. Maybe there is no connection to Christ the head.

Because that will guarantee that you grow. Paul says in Colossians 1 18 he is the head of the body the church and He is the beginning the firstborn of the dead so that he himself will come to have first place in everything.

He not only has connected us to him. He not only will grow us in him, but he will also transform our priorities. So that he becomes first in everything. So that he eventually becomes first among the nations.

So that he becomes first in the church so that he becomes first in your marriage. So that he becomes first in your parenting first in your singleness first in your work first in your career first in your the things that you own first in everything if You're connected to Christ.

Try making things other than him a priority. It will not work for long because he is invested in being first in your life in everything. Why fight it? Especially when we thrive under his lordship and under his leadership his headship.

Guarantees that we prioritize him. Now we began here because a healthy church has to be governed by Christ. It says that Christ is the head of the church. There is no human man who is head over any church.

I Know this is silly. But I do not like it when pastors say at my church we do this and at my church we do that. Because it is not our church. It is the Lord Jesus Christ Church. I know that might be silly and it's a function of language, but I.

It's his church. Why do you think we named it the shepherds church? Because it's not ours. Paul says in Acts 20 28. When he's talking about now, okay, Jesus is Lord over the church. But we also need rulers.

We also need leaders. We also need all of this involved. This is what he says be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock. He doesn't say your flock. Be on guard for yourself, but be on guard for the flock.

Among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to the shepherd the Church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. Immediately we see in this passage that the church belongs to him. He paid for it.

He purchased it. He died for it. It's his. So when we talk about the government of the church, we have to begin with Christ. Because there is no government apart from Christ. It does say that leaders are appointed by the Spirit of God.

It says among which the Holy Spirit made you overseers. This tells me that Every person in church leadership must be appointed by the Spirit of Christ. They must be appointed and we will go through how that happens because it's not abundantly clear.

We don't receive a telegram from the Spirit that says hey pick so-and-so to be a leader in the church. So we have to be Understanding of what the Bible saying when it says that the Spirit sets apart people for the office of elder or deacon.

But that doesn't negate the fact that it says that the Holy Spirit has made them overseers. The Holy Spirit is involved in Bringing up leaders into Christ Church. You think about a government. Think about England and its monarchy.

They have Dukes and Earls and they have people who are over various little regions and sectors, but there's one King right. There's one King in the kingdom of God and that it's Christ and he has installed Overseers in the church by the power of the Holy Spirit.

How does that happen? Well act 6 3 through 6 gives us a a good look into how this happens. It says therefore brethren select from among you seven men of good reputation full of the Spirit and of wisdom.

Whom we may put in charge of this task, but we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. The statement found approval with the whole congregation and they chose Stephen a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit and Philip Prochorus and I canner Timmon Parmenas and Nicholas a proselyte from Antioch and These they brought before the Apostles and after praying they laid their hands on them.

Now the thing we need to see here, there's a lot that we could talk about in this passage. This passage is primarily about deacons, but what I want you to see is that the Holy Spirit in Acts 14 says I set apart these leaders and The first evidence that the Holy Spirit set them apart is that they were full of the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit doesn't set apart leaders who are empty of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a set apart leaders who are Marginally in Need or in being affected by the Spirit? No, the Holy Spirit sets apart people who are full of the Spirit full of faith full of wisdom.

That is a sign to the church. That this particular person has the anointing of God on their life. Now we don't have time to get into it today but all throughout the scriptures you have you have faithful men Who are full of the Spirit being raised up into leadership.

I wish we had time to go into the complementarian versus egalitarian. Can women be in leadership discussion? We don't have time for that. Maybe in another sermon. I will tell you that men are in leadership in the church.

If you like we can talk more about that later but the first thing we have to see is that a Man who is raised up into leadership in the church is raised up by the Holy Spirit being poured out on him in full.

So when we look around as a church and we say does that kind of man exist in this church? I mean, it's full of the Spirit full of wisdom full of faith. That's the kind of leader that the congregation is involved in and that's the second evidence of the Holy Spirit.

Is that the congregation says we want this guy in leadership? Now we're a young church we have two elders and we have a deacon candidate whose name is Dan. We're learning on how this works. We haven't been around the block forever.

We're three years old. But it seems to me that two of the evidences that the Holy Spirit has set apart a man for the job is that he's full of the Holy Spirit and that the Congregation approves of it and not only approves of it, but they put him forward and say this man.

Among us is a man that we would like to be in leadership. Two evidences that the Holy Spirit's involved. So therefore let's let's cross-examine this if he's not full of the Spirit and If the congregation says no, I don't think so.

That man's not called a leadership. Both of those things have to be true. Luke says in Acts chapter 14 again. After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples and returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch strengthening the souls of the disciples.

Encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying through many tribulations. We must enter the kingdom of God. When they had appointed elders from them in every church having prayed with fasting. They commended them in the Lord in whom they had believed.

So now let's add this on top of what we saw in Acts 6. We've got men who are full of the Spirit called by the congregation. Why? So that the elders can pour into them and disciple them and ordain them.

Paul actually has a beautiful here seven-step model for church planting. Paul's model for church planting is you go to a city. You make disciples you strengthen them in the gospel. You identify the men who are full of the Spirit.

You have the congregation put those men forward. You have the elders and stall and ordain them and then Paul says then it's time for me to leave and go and do it somewhere else. Where are we at as a church?

Well, we're at the place now. Where we're begging the Lord to identify men who are full of the Spirit so that they can be put forward. So they can be discipled so they can be raised up into leadership.

Why with the hope that one day. That we can go plant more churches that we can plant churches in every town in New England even. This church is actually a pretty geographically disparate church. We have people we used to have people on our western border in Fitchburg.

We have people in Merrimack, New Hampshire. We have people on the south shore of Massachusetts and we have people in Peabody and Danvers. We have people driving 45 minutes from all four cardinal directions.

What is a way that we can help in? That is pray that the Holy Spirit would pour out his love on two men. That those men would be raised up installed in the office of elder and deacon that we would have a full Eldership body a full deacon community a full consistory, which is just a Presbyterian word for elders and deacons and.

And we do it over and over and over again until we die and we go meet Jesus. That's what we want. This area of the country is too important to give up on. So we want to do what Paul did and our our model is coming right out of the scriptures.

We see those two things that the Holy Spirit is poured out onto people. Those people are given over to the elders. Why are they given over to the elders? There's two things that the elders are supposed to do in this process.

When the Holy Spirit shows that that man is marked out for ministry the elders the current elders of the church do two things. Number one they have to identify and cross-examine and evaluate that man's character and then they have to train him in his core competencies.

Both are important. An officer who's been raised up into the church must have exemplary character and. They must have the competency to serve the people of God first. Timothy three and Titus two. We cannot spend a lot of time on this gives 26 character qualifications for an elder.

It is not a low bar. He gives 12 qualifications for a deacon, which doesn't mean that deacons are more than halfway less righteous. That's not what that means. The deacon qualifications are more overarching.

The elder qualifications are more granular. Both men are called to holiness of life for instance. The first elder trait is that the man would have a godly desire to be an elder. The first trait is that they would have an ambition to serve Jesus's Church and then after that.

The elders evaluate their character. It says that they must be mature not self-willed not quick-tempered not fond of sordid gain. Not addicted to wine not pugnacious but be temperate prudent respectable gentle peaceable free of the love of money.

Loving what is good hating what is evil sensible just devout self-controlled. Husband of one wife who manages his household. Well is a dignified parent. Has obedient children. Has a good reputation in the community is above reproach and character doctrine.

Able to teach the Word of God and always ready to hold fast to the gospel. That's what an elder is. If he's not We ask ourself the question, how does the Holy Spirit set apart people for service? He pours out his spirit on them.

The congregation put them forward and he goes through a process with the elders. If he is deficient in one of these character traits the 26 and he's unwilling to repent unwilling to grow. It doesn't mean that he's not a Christian.

It doesn't mean that he won't be a great church member, but it just means he's not an elder. The Holy Spirit. Again, that's the third evidence has showed us who will be called to ministry. The one who is called to ministry will not only have their entire life gone through with a fine-tooth comb.

But they'll be happy about it and they'll still be willing to serve as elder at the end of it. Now I understand we're a young church. Many people ask me. Why don't we have more elders? The scripture is why we don't have more elders yet.

Because I'm not willing To put forth somebody to check off a box because that's damaging to them and it's damaging to us as a church. I would rather wait on Elders that are biblically qualified than to check off boxes because we think that we have an elder need.

We do have an elder need. But we're not going to do it in a way that the Bible doesn't give us an option for. The Bible tells us that we have to evaluate the character of church officers. 26 character traits for elders 12 for deacons.