True Church Government

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 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 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 wanted 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 1700 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 Episcopal's 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 is 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 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 in 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

Realized 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 its 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 princes

Kings 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 Lord 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 going to 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 118 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 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 then 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 to 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, where's 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 Then in that we send them out a couple of them out to plant more churches 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 on two people. Those people are given over the 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 3 and Titus 2 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 the second part of that evaluation process

After the character has been gone through is that core competencies are taught to that man for the deacon?

And I'm just very overarching Strokes at this point. I can't get into specifics, but the deacon in general is supposed to be an expert in discipleship

He's to hold to the mystery of the faith He's to be able to diagnose ascertain and come alongside of people in their financial needs and their emotional needs and their physical needs wherever Poverty exists in the church whether it's mental spiritual physical or emotional the deacon

Serves and he serves to the glory of God the elders on the other hand are

More of the spiritual leaders of the church They're the ones that oversee worship

They're the ones that lead in the spiritual realm if you want to take think about it. This is sort of overly reductionistic, but the deacon deals with physical poverty and Then the elder deals with spiritual

Poverty or spiritual discipleship teaching for instance. Look at what Paul says in first Timothy 413.

This is what an elders job description is He's talking to Timothy until I come

Give attention to the public reading of Scripture to the exhortation and the teaching of the

Word of God So now we have three things on the job description of an elder there to read the

Scriptures publicly to the people of God They're to teach the Scriptures publicly to the people of God They're to exhort the people in the

Scriptures to the glory of God that means That if there is someone in the congregation who is more gifted in Communication than us than the elders if there's someone who's a better guitar player than Derek If there's someone who's a better singer than even me

Just kidding that's everyone in the room That is not a metric for whether or not they lead worship

I've been to churches all my life who the most talented musician was the worship leader. The most talented speaker was the preacher and When we do that based off talent

Our metric is not scriptural the reason that someone leads in the church is because the

Holy Spirit's poured out his spirit upon them the congregation has Acknowledged them the elders have trained them and the elders have ordained them has nothing to do with talent

In fact, if you get to know pastors, they're screwed up There's some of the most weird people

Idiosyncratic Strange Loners weird

It is it is God in his humor Getting glory in his church

That anyone who stands up here and especially me Could declare the truth of the

Word of God. I was in As a kid, I was in special ed classes and I read four grades below my reading level almost until high school.

I Have no idea why I'm standing here talking to you Other than God has given me a lot of grace and He's helped me in a lot of ways that were not true of me before I went into ministry

He gave me gifts that I didn't have before. He gave me memory that I didn't have before He gave me grace that I didn't have before so therefore

I can't boast in me. I can only boast in Christ Elders are called to preach the

Word of God with truth and with conviction They are not called to give stories and anecdotes and marvel

Demonstrations about the MCU and how it applies to Christ They are not to give watered -down truisms that avoid sin and avoid obedience and Are entertaining to listen to we are to cling to the scriptures as if they're our only life raft.

Look at what Paul says Second Timothy 4 1 through 5 I Solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ.

It's the most terrifying verse to me as a pastor solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ who is to judge the living and the dead and By his appearing and his kingdom

Timothy when he read this passage was probably like, you know what I could probably go into computer programming instead

This ministry thing is dangerous Paul says all those things and then he says preach the word

Be ready in season and out of season reprove rebuke

Exhort with great patience and instruction for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine

But wanting to have their ears tickled they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires

And will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths but you

Be sober and all things endure hardship Do the work of an evangelist and fulfill your ministry he says something very similar in first Timothy 4 6 in Pointing out these things these doctrines to the brethren.

You will be a good servant of Christ Jesus Constantly nourished on the words of faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following Paul is saying

That if a pastor wants to be nourished and wants to be well -fed then he must preach God's Word because it's that word

He's preaching that will either nourish him Corrupt him feed him or leave him starving.

I Have to preach the Word of God for my own soul as well as for the health of this church

There's other duties of an elder again, I wish we had I wish we had multiple hours

Maybe I'm the only one but I wish that we did The elders to give the church direction on where they're supposed to go first Peter 5 to The elder is supposed to be a

Christlike example for the flock of God first Peter 5 3 The elder is supposed to pray for the sick.

That's why we pray for the sick in church every single week That's James 5 14. The elder is supposed to be consumed with the ministry of word and prayer

That's act 6 for the elder the most popular aspect of an elders life

The one that that everyone rejoices in is that he also is the one who oversees church discipline Matthew 18 15 through 20 a fellow a faithful elder does not ask whether a thing is popular a

Faithful elder asked whether a thing is in the Bible and if it is he must do it

You know the older I get The more I feel like this the book of Jeremiah and the book of Lamentations really resonates with me

I Feel like I've woken up in a country. That is gone crazy. I Was a small -town southern boy and every every front porch had a flag

Every relative had joined some branch of the military. I grew up and joined the army And I look at the country that we live in now and I don't even recognize it

When I read I'm reading Jeremiah right now in my in my personal Bible time and I read him say

The reason that I preach is Because it's like a fire that's down on my bones that I can't get out.

He's saying I'm not preaching for popularity I'm not preaching because everybody wants to hear this but I'm preaching because if I don't woe is me

Because it's like a fire in my bones an Elder who serves for the glory of man or for the glory of himself is not a biblical elder

I've said this many times It is a burden To be an officer in the church.

It is a blessing. Let me be on. Let me be very clear It is a blessing, but if you don't understand that it's a burden

You will treat it as though it's about your enjoyment About your status about how big your podcast is about how important your blog is about what?

Conferences you're being invited to and you will make it about you and it's not

We see six things so far that the Holy Spirit's involved in he sets apart the man The congregation puts that man forward the elders evaluate that man's character

The elders then train that man or evaluate his character then the elders train that man and his competencies so that the man can serve

Preach lead encourage read the scriptures pray over the congregation administer the sacraments

Minister the word and prayer and oversee church discipline and that's just a beginning of the job description for an elder

Again, we're not going to be able to get into all the specifics of elders and deacons, but it is a heavy Burden now,

I'd like to transition Because there's a temptation in a Presbyterian Church and I mean government style

We're also Presbyterian in our doctrine, but I'm just meaning government style right now There's a temptation

For everyone to look at the front and say this is what the elders do. This is what the deacons do.

What do I do? I Don't do anything. That's not true

In a congregational system everybody feels like they have a purpose I get to vote I Went to a congregational church one time that voted down keeping the budget for discipleship a thousand dollars a year and They voted it to 500 a year but voted up the parking lot budget from 25 ,000 to 50

Talk about a miss misplaced priorities But in a congregational church you feel like you have a say

At a congregational church when a membership meeting happens. Everybody comes even people. You don't even know her members people you thought had died

You're like, who are you I Was one of the founding members of this church. Have you been since it was founded?

No, but it's a membership meeting today. I get my vote in a Presbyterian Church, though. It's not like that We don't have a hundred percent attendance at our membership meetings

We don't have people who who feel like this is my role This is my job because often it feels like that It's top -down in a way that the elders do their thing.

The deacons do their thing and I just receive and go home That's not true Which is why I want to highlight that in Scripture.

What is the role of the congregation in a faithful church? Well, it says in first Thessalonians 5 12

One of the things that you can do to come alongside of the members as citizens in the kingdom of heaven

It says this but we request of you. This is Paul requesting to the Thessalonian Church brethren that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you and have charge over you in the

Lord and Give you instruction and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work and that you live in peace with one another

Hebrews 13 17 says obey your leaders and submit to them

For they keep watch over your soul as those who will have to give an account before God Let them let the pastors do this with joy and not with grief for that would be unprofitable for you

We hate the word submission in our society. We hate the word obey

It strikes at our beautiful Self -indulgence and importance doesn't it?

But Paul says the reason that we go to a church where there's healthy leaders that we are joyfully submitting to it's because it profits us

Think about it if you're the congregation that put forward a man and Then the elders raise him up and ordain them then it profits you to come under that man's leadership because he serves you

He cares for you now I'm not talking about unfaithful churches where people abuse

God's sheep and where people run over them or Examples like at Mark Driscoll's church

He's no longer a pastor, but he said by the Lord's grace There'll be a thousand people that this church runs over by the time it's over It's sick

But if you're in a faithful church Where your pastor cares for you and it's praying for you and loves you

And obey the leadership submit to the leadership Help your pastors have joy

If that's not the case if you believe that that's not true here go somewhere else where you can find that The goal is to find a place where you have a healthy church where you can submit under those leaders and bring joy

To them to esteem them and appreciate them being loving to them and not a burden to them

Now listen, I'm gonna I'm gonna pull back the hood a little bit here and talk about things

That most people won't say but one of the most consistent problems in evangelicalism is

How churches? view and treat their pastors Now I'm not saying that there's not doctrinal issues.

There are but these trends these these go beyond doctrinal issues This is true in Presbyterian and in Methodist.

This is true in Anglican and in non -denominational. I have met a hundred pastors to one

Who are who were happy? I mean, I've met one pastor to a hundred is what I mean who are thriving in their ministry right now

When you get to know pastors, they're broken people They've got scars There have been situations where people have misrepresented what they've said

Where people have falsely accused them where people have left the church because there was a gossip ring in the church

Who was talking about them and your pastor bears those scars in a way that they just don't they just don't translate to the church

Every pastor I've talked to has had a moment in his ministry where he felt like quitting Every pastor has had a moment in his ministry where he's on Zillow looking at properties in Wyoming pastors and This is just from my experience.

So it's anecdotal but are the most And this is across evangelicalism.

I'm speaking about this church I'm speaking about the church the big church the pastors the most underappreciated under loved undervalued underfunded and overburdened people that I've ever met and I know that's a strange thing for me to say

Cuz I'm a pastor You know, what's he talking about? What's he really getting at here?

I'm saying these things because the scripture says these things a Pastor is called to love you.

Even when he doesn't feel loved a Pastor is called to be gracious. Even when people have not been gracious a

Pastor doesn't have a stress card that he can pull a Pastor doesn't have a mental health day a

Pastor can't call in sick when the sermon has to be delivered and there's no one else to give it He must give

Jesus's people Jesus's Word because he will stand before the Living God on what he does But I would be a fool to say to you that every day is sunshine and roses in ministry

Roses have thorns and they hurt The role is heavy

There are days when a pastor will wake up almost in tears If you remember the the faithful pastor

Charles Spurgeon there were days he couldn't get out of the bed because of his depression. He was honest enough to admit that there was a moment in Charles Spurgeon's ministry where a fire happened in his church and The town blamed him for it and he carried that for 30 years

He would wake up and he would feel almost despondent and it would cause him to run to Christ I've learned over the course of Time and ministry, which has not been forever

But I've learned that the Lord afflicts my heart Most strongly when he wants me to run most ardently to him

Because I think about it if my heart wasn't afflicted what I run to him what I cling to him Pastors carry a massive burden

That's why I think the scriptures say that the congregation has got to love appreciate and Care for their pastors, whether you go here or whether you go to another church or whether you you go to You move out of state whatever

I'm pleading in a sense with you not because it affects me I'm I'm saying because the scripture says this

To love and care for your ministers because it's a heavy role Believe what

Paul says in 1st 1st Thessalonians 525 a short verse. He says brethren pray for us.

I Appreciate the brevity of that statement He could go on Paul Paul can go on in the original

Greek Romans chapter 1 verses 1 through 8 is a sentence That's one sentence

Paul can go on But here with great brevity says brethren pray for us, it's one of the best things you could possibly do for us

It's just pray for us Paul knows that ministry is bigger than any man can carry

Like I told you earlier. We're the fools of this world Ministry is bigger than us if we don't have

Christ above all else The Spirit interceding us for us constantly the love and support of a community and people who are praying for us

We're Dan we're in danger Don't idolize your pastor

Whether it's this church or another church don't There is nothing special about being a pastor and there's nothing special about your pastor

Life is not a video game and I'm not on a different level. I Need prayer Derek needs prayer our future deacons and elders need prayer for our family for our marriage for our holiness for our faith

For our children for our personal time with Jesus For wisdom discernment resilience, would you pray

That there be a day where I don't give up and say this is too hard moving to Wyoming These are areas where the church can be faithful citizens in the kingdom and just loving caring and praying

I had in my first sermon that I ever preached. This is an example It's funny but There's a point in the first example a first sermon

I ever preached a guy came up to me and said that was really great but next time Maybe maybe try to cry a little bit so that we actually know that you care.

That was exactly how he said it I'm not even embellishing and I was like Thank you, maybe

I went home and looked up computer programming degrees These tasks are heavy we need your love support and your prayer

Pastors also need financial support in order to keep doing the work. I know we're

We're a church that doesn't talk about finance as often So the fact that we've talked about it two weeks in a row is interesting to me

We have adopted sort of a George Mueller approach to finances that God has got the cattle on a thousand hills and we don't need

To beg and manipulate people to give God will bring us what we need But the Bible does talk about giving

The Bible talks about it a lot actually and it talks about how the burden of ministry is so important that it must be funded

That a pastor must be able to pay his bills now listen, I Despise with a pure and perfect hatred

Instagram channels like preachers and sneakers Where pastors have a thousand dollar dubs?

That's ridiculous That's disgusting Where a pastor is riding to church in a

Lamborghini or guinea Harvey pronounce it a Pastor must receive a wage.

He must be able to pay his bills, but he is a profit on the church He doesn't abuse the church, he doesn't ride his jet like Creflo dollar down in Georgia To go spread the gospel to the nations.

No, he can do that on in a Honda Civic Or Corolla or whatever?

You see I know That we see these examples About pastors who are abusing churches and we we scoff and we hate that and we should

But again, I've met more pastors who are on the poverty line than I have on pastors that are living large and abusing the church

I've met more pastors who have to work two jobs just to be able to financially support their family I've met more pastors who are below the poverty line on state insurance

Because they can't afford to live this is an expensive area the country to live in Amen As a church if we don't have a vision that involves financing the kingdom

Then the kingdom won't move forward here There there could come a day

Where I can't pay my bills. I Go get a second job Finances continue to crumble and the church has to close down because of something silly like finances

We can't let the light of the gospel go out in New England because of money Especially when

God owns everything Ministry is too important. I believe that with all my heart.

I believe this area is too important To let something like that cause us to shut our doors a

Congregation can be involved in the life of a pastor by encouraging loving praying supporting and financing his ministry

Paul gives an example of this in 1st Corinthians 9 7 through 14 Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense?

Who plants a vineyard and doesn't eat the fruit of it? Who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock?

I'm not speaking of these things according to human judgment. Am I or does the law not also say these same things?

For it is written in the law of Moses. You shall not muzzle the ox While he is treading or threshing

God is not concerned about oxen is he? Or is he speaking altogether for our sake?

Yes for our sake it was written because the plowman ought to plow in hope and the thresher ought to thresh in hope of sharing the crops if We sowed spiritual things among you.

Is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share that the right over you do we not more

Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ Paul is a great example of this

Paul was a tent maker Paul worked tirelessly to get an income for himself so that he could serve but at multiple points in his ministry

He thanks God for the gift that someone gave him so he didn't have to make tents Paul saying there's nothing wrong with making tents

The gospel has to go forward But if we don't have to make tents and we can build Jesus's kingdom, that would be better and to the

Philippian Church He says I praise God for you that you supplied my ministry Nevertheless, we do not use this right, but we endure all things so that we cause no hindrance of the gospel

Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple those who attend?

Regularly to the altar share from the altar so that the Lord has directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel

First Timothy 5 17 through 18 says it as well elders who rule well and who are considered worthy of double honor

Shall get their wages from their labor. That's he says the laborer is worthy of his wages. I Share these things because ministry is a taxing thing

It is emotionally spiritually Mentally draining and if a pastor says that it's not he just is not willing to admit it publicly

The congregation is integral in the health and life of the church and supporting and helping and praying and ministering

I Mean, I know that I look like I've got things together But every now and then a pat on the back and say thank you so much

I promise if it goes to my head you can smack me across the head Sometimes we're so afraid to let things go to our heads that we don't actually

Encourage each other and it isn't just me. We we don't encourage each other as much as we all

This life's hard That's why Jesus gave us a family That's why

Jesus gave us a body to help us bear the burden together If we can't look out for each other

And You think the enemy is not going to exploit that and take advantage of that and and cause all kinds of problems for us

The church is Governed by men who've been set apart by the Holy Spirit of God appointed by the congregation given over to the elders

Evaluated in their character trained up in the ministry or ordained for service and then the congregation

Reciprocates by coming alongside of them loving encouraging praying and supporting and when all of that is done well

The church has a healthy government and the church can thrive and the gospel will go forward and that's what

I pray for us Let's pray Lord Jesus, thank you that even down to the bones of what a church government looks like you have given us truth

Lord we thank you that on the cross you became our our King and you delivered us from slavery to sin and you have made us slaves to righteousness and Lord you have appointed under shepherds who are weak and who are broken and Who need you in?

Order to serve on a local level in your kingdom and Lord you've given congregations to support that work

So that when the elders and the deacons and the congregations are working together the missio day the mission of God goes forward

Lord if we want to see you move If we want to see revival

Lord, let us not forget That it takes all of us doing our role

The elders the deacons and the congregation or let us do that role To your glory for your honor to see your kingdom advance and it's in Christ's name we pray.