Sunday, March 16, 2025 AM

The Privilege and Responsibility of Elders

Would you bow your heads and pray with me? Lord, we thank you for the blessing of this time this morning. Thank you for the gift of music, of words that convey truth to our hearts, of melodies that stick in our minds so that we might sing in our hearts and make melody to the Lord of all creation.

Lord, we pray for your blessing upon your word just now. Lord, we confess that we are a needy people. There is no good thing in us, but how we thank you for your grace and your mercy upon us that we should enjoy the blessings of every good and perfect gift from your hand by faith in Christ.

Lord, may you give us ears to hear this morning, not my wisdom, but the wisdom that is from above, that is pure and peaceable, full of good fruit. So, Lord, as we open our Bibles, may we open our hearts to you this morning, and we give you thanks in the name of Jesus.

Amen. If you have your Bible with you, I would encourage you to turn to 1 Peter 5, and we're going to be looking at verses 1 through 5 this morning. So, as I've had opportunities over the years to fill in and preach, I've been working through 1 Peter, and so we're to chapter 5, finally.

Some of you thought we would never get to chapter 5. My Sunday school class thinks we'll never get out of the book of Hebrews. So, anyway, we're making progress. So, 1 Peter 5, we'll be reading verses 1 through 5 in a moment.

Everyone ought to have the opportunity to serve one term on the school board and one term as an elder. Those words were spoken to me by a man by the name of Ken Willard. He's gone on to be with the Lord at this point, but at that point in time, he was an older gentleman who served as an elder in a congregation that I served at one time, and he made that comment to point out that unless people have personally experienced the role of a school board member or an elder, they have a limited understanding of the difficulty of the job.

Certainly, the job of being a school board member is not an easy one. Generally, when your phone rings, it's not because someone wants to tell you you're doing a great job. To represent the community and meeting the educational needs of their children is a big responsibility, and for elders to stand before not only the congregation, but to stand before God as being responsible for the spiritual needs of the church is a far greater responsibility than being a school board member because it has eternal implications.

In Peter's day, as we've pointed out as we've been working through 1 Peter, in Peter's day, the church faced many pressures, not the least of which, and this is a theme throughout 1 Peter, not the least of which was suffering and persecution.

The church today also faces all kinds of pressures, and it doesn't matter if it's a small congregation in the middle of Oklahoma City or a church in Paris, France, or a body of believers in Kenya. Wherever the church is, the church is always under pressure, and there's one particular group of men that are given the responsibility by God to lead and to guard the church, regardless of the external pressures or the internal conflicts that they may face, and those are the elders.

In light of the difficult circumstances which the church was facing then and the church still faces today, Peter here calls upon the elders to fulfill their God-given responsibilities in caring for the church.

I don't know if you're going to get anything at all about this, if this is going to mean anything at all to you, this message today, but it has been a blessing for me to prepare for this. As an elder, to be reminded of both the high privilege and the high responsibility that God has called me to, along with several other men in this congregation, it is a blessing to be an elder.

It's not always easy, but it is a blessing, and I want to thank you as a faithful body of believers that you make this work more often than not a blessing and not a burden. So this morning, as we look at 1 Peter 3, chapter 5, the title of the sermon is An Exhortation to Elders, but it really is a message for the whole church, and Peter comes around to that at the very end.

But what Peter has to say to elders in some ways has application for all of us as followers of Christ and how we are to conduct ourselves, how we are to live our lives with one another and before the world.

So take your Bible in hand, and if you would, read with me here. 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 1 through 5. I'm reading from the English Standard Version. Peter says this, So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

There are three things that I want you to see in this morning. The first is the wisdom of an elder. The second is the work of the elders. And the last is the reward of an elder. I was going to say we would like Elma Fudd, just to make it another W word, but I didn't think that would probably be good.

Anyway, that would be the one thing you probably take home from this message, by the way, which I probably shouldn't have said that. Anyway, first of all, the wisdom of an elder, okay? Verse 1, so I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.

Peter has reminded the believers to whom he is writing that there are difficult circumstances that they are facing. In fact, right before this, in verses 12 through 19, at the end of chapter 4, Peter has talked about those difficult circumstances, the fiery trials that are coming upon them to test them and how they are to walk through that, how they are to deal with that.

In verse 17, he says, for it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God. And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel? Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good.

So, I exhort the elders among you, in some versions may say, therefore. In other words, verses 1 through 5 is a continuation and application of what he's just talked about at the end of chapter 4, in light of the difficult circumstances that the church is facing.

Elders, here's how you need to respond. Here's how you should do your work. Here's how you need to take care of the flock. Peter feels like it is necessary to bring a word of exhortation to the leaders of the church, to the elders.

And the wisdom that Peter shares here doesn't just come from time in the study, but it comes from personal experience. He has faced difficult times before himself, and so he appeals to the elders. And it's interesting that as Peter calls upon the elders, the word, therefore, elder, is a word that is rooted in one's character and experience.

And so here in verse 1, Peter shares the reasons why he has the wisdom to make this exhortation. Okay, he's not just talking out of theory here, he's talking out of his own life and what it means to be an elder.

And he's addressing elders in five regions of Northwest Asia Minor. If you go back to chapter 1 in 1 Peter, verse 1, it says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

So he's talking to elders over a broad region who are serving a lot of different churches in a lot of different places under a lot of different circumstances. But he comes to them and says, I'm in the same boat with you.

I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder. When he started the letter, he says, Peter, an apostle. But at this point, he doesn't pull out the apostle card. Okay, he says, I exhort you as a fellow elder.

It's interesting that Peter's fellow apostle, John, does the same thing in 2 John, verse 1, and in 3 John, verse 1, where he too references his own role as an elder. As Peter does this, he exhorts them as a fellow elder.

Peter is emphasizing to these men his own humanity, his own humility. Whenever people hear about Peter, surely one of the things that we think of are his denials. Peter was not a perfect man. Regardless of the whole Peter was the first pope kind of thing, the whole papacy deal, Peter was not infallible.

In fact, he fell greatly. And so as Peter says, I exhort the fellow elders among you, Peter is mindful of the fact of his own shortcomings, that he's not a perfect man, and he doesn't expect that these elders are perfect either.

And can I just say to you all, though you know this, we are not perfect. We fall short in many ways. We don't always shepherd well. We can be inconsistent in our prayer life, in our study life, in our home life.

We're not perfect. That is both a challenge and a comfort. And so Peter appeals to his fellow elders to exhort them in their work as an elder. He says, I come to you as your peer. I also come to you as one who has been approved, a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ.

Back in Acts chapter two, Peter speaks of the sufferings of Christ in his Pentecost sermon. I just want to refer to that for just a second. In Acts chapter two, as Peter spoke of the sufferings of Christ, he says, men of Israel, hear these words.

Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

And God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. A witness of the sufferings of Christ. In fact, that was part of the requirement for being an apostle was to have been with Jesus through all of that.

If you go back to Acts chapter one, when they were looking for someone to replace Judas after he had gone out and hanged himself, as they were thinking through who's going to take his place, who's going to fulfill that office, they said, so one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us, one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.

Peter says, I am one of those men, a witness of the sufferings of Christ. And Peter uses that word witness, an interesting word from which we get our English word martyr. And those who were faithful witnesses often were martyred in those days for their faith.

And so Peter is reminding these elders that, yes, he is their peer, but he is also one who has been approved for this task of not only being an apostle, but an elder by being a witness of the suffering and to the sufferings of Christ.

The third thing that he points to in regards to his wisdom as an elder is not just that he's their peer as an elder, that he's been approved by being a witness of the sufferings of Christ, but that he also will be a partaker of the glory that is to be revealed.

In doing this, Peter looks back to that amazing moment that he was personally present for, the transfiguration, when the appearance of Jesus changes. And he looks back to that and looks forward then to that coming day when we will all be partakers in that similar kind of transformation, that similar kind of glory.

And so Peter, based on his present, his past, and his future experiences, says, I have some things that I want to share with my fellow elders and with the church concerning the work of an elder. And that brings us to the second point, okay, the work of the elders.

So verse 1 was the wisdom of an elder, verses 2 and 3, Peter talks about the work of the elders. Michael is preaching through the book of Acts. We're in Acts chapter 20, and he is about to launch into a similar passage of in Acts chapter 20, where Paul addresses the Ephesian elders in kind of a farewell address.

Some people think that this section here in 1 Peter is similar because it also serves as sort of Peter's farewell address to the elders in Northwest Asia Minor. So it's not surprising that there's some overlap here, but I just want to read, I'm not going to try to steal Michael's thunder in all of this, all right, but I do want to read one verse from Acts chapter 20, and verse 28, where Paul says to the Ephesian elders, pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

It sounds a whole lot like what Peter says here in 1 Peter chapter 5. Peter addresses, first of all, the manner of the work of an elder. What is the primary task? To shepherd the church, to shepherd the flock of God.

Paul said, to shepherd the flock of God that is under your care, the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you an overseer. Thirty-five years before this was written in 1 Peter chapter 5, Jesus exhorted Peter to shepherd the flock.

If you turn back to John chapter 21, this is after Jesus' crucifixion, after his resurrection, Jesus appears to the disciples. In John chapter 21, starting in verse 15, when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, feed my lambs. He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

He said to him, tend my sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? No doubt he's remembering his own three denials, and he said to him, Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you.

Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Herein is the great work of the elder, to shepherd the flock. It is the primary task, it is the primary calling of an elder. We're not that familiar with shepherding here in Oklahoma City, in the heart of cattle country, but most of us have read enough in the Bible to get a glimpse of what shepherding is about.

We're familiar with the life of David. We know about Moses' time as a shepherd in Midian. What is the task of a shepherd? To lead, to feed, to guide, to protect the flock. That's the work of a shepherd.

Not all shepherds are good shepherds. Not all shepherds are faithful shepherds. In fact, some shepherds fall under great condemnation. Back in the Old Testament, in Ezekiel chapter 34, the Lord speaks to the shepherds of Israel and condemns them for their lack of diligence in their work.

Ezekiel 34 verse 1 says, the word of the Lord came to me, son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, even to the shepherds, thus says the Lord God, ah, shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding yourselves, should not shepherds feed the sheep?

Just in that one simple question, it's right at the heart of what an elder is called to do. Should not shepherds feed the sheep? So verse 11, for thus says the Lord, behold, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out as a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered.

So I will seek out my sheep and I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and I will bring them into their own land and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel by the ravines and in all the inhabited places of the country.

I will feed them with good pasture and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel and I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep.

I will make them lie down declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost. I will bring back the strayed and I will bind up the injured and I will strengthen the weak and the fat and the strong I will destroy.

I will feed them in justice. Here is how God intends for elders to shepherd after his own example to lead, to feed, to guide, to protect. And just note again back in 1 Peter how Peter says to the elders, shepherd the flock of God.

It is not their church. It is the flock of God. Thus this flock is a special flock because it belongs to God. You are God's own possession, dear flock. And myself and the other men who serve as elders, we are just under shepherds.

And we seek to do our work as unto the Lord and often we fail. For that we ask your forgiveness and we seek your prayers. But we want to faithfully remember that you all are God's possession, not ours.

We are here to serve you, not you to serve us. Those characteristics that God said that he would fulfill in being a faithful shepherd are the very same characteristics that elders today are called upon to exercise.

So they are to shepherd the flock. They are to exercise oversight of the flock. That's the next thing that Peter says, exercising oversight. It's interesting the words that are used for pastor, elder, bishop.

There are three words in the Greek. One has to do directly with the idea of being a shepherd. Okay, that's pastor. And then there is the word that is presbyteros, which we get our word presbyter. Okay, that's elder.

And then there is episkopos. We get our English word episcopal from that. That has to do with the idea of being an overseer. All three are descriptive of the work of an elder. To shepherd, to provide wisdom towards because of age and experience, and to exercise oversight.

The word there for oversight is an interesting word. It's that word episkopos. It's a word that comes out of civil government primarily. It's where it starts. So city managers, mayors, okay, they had oversight of the city to manage us.

Talking with Terry about his new job as deputy fire chief and the administrative element of that and how important giving oversight and administration to is to the work of all the other firefighters. It's a similar thing for elders in the church.

Part of the duty of an elder is to provide oversight and to do so not for the purpose of lording it over but for the purpose of leading, of serving. As Peter calls upon the elders to give oversight, exercise oversight of the flock, the implication here is that they know what the needs of the flock are so that they can give proper oversight to the flock.

Proverbs 27 23 says, know well the condition of your flocks and pay attention to your herds, cattle ranchers and pig farmers and sheep herders. If they're going to make money at what they're doing, they better be paying attention to the condition of their animals.

Elders are called to be attentive to the needs of the flock, to know well the condition of our people and so it's a two-fold task. It involves being among the people, okay, that's the task of the shepherd but at the same time it is to a certain degree to be over the people to provide oversight in order to lead them.

It's a both and thing and it's it is a difficult balance at times to maintain and so that's the manner of the elders work to shepherd the flock and to exercise oversight of the flock. Peter goes on then to talk concerning the work of the elders about the motivation for their work, the motivation for their work, exercising oversight not under compulsion but willingly as God would have you, not for shameful gain but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock.

It's interesting how Peter has these couplets of a negative and a positive in all of these. So the first thing that he says is not under compulsion, not under compulsion but willingly, voluntarily, not under compulsion.

That the word is an interesting word. It's sort of like the idea of being conscripted into the military, being drafted. I didn't volunteer for this. That's the idea here, not under compulsion. How can someone become an elder and be under compulsion?

On the one hand, Paul writes about compulsion in a positive way. You know, the love of Christ compels us. That's a good thing but in this case compulsion is not a good thing. So how can one be an elder under compulsion?

Well, you might feel pressured by people to do so. People keep urging you to serve in that capacity and yet you feel no desire to do so but you give into it because of the pressure of people continually saying, you should do this, you should do this, I think you do well at this.

Now that doesn't mean perhaps maybe what they're telling you is really true, okay, but at the same time understand that just because someone says you can do it doesn't mean you can do it and in the end it's God who has to give you the desire for it.

So you can be forced by others and be under compulsion. You can be forced by a sense of duty and the pressure of circumstances. If I don't do it, who will? Well, that may be true to some extent but that's in the long run usually not a good motivation.

There will be no desire and no joy in the work if you just do it to say, I don't know who else will. You can be forced by compulsion to serve as an elder and if you do so that becomes both draining and deadening both for you and the church.

So Paul says, serve but not under compulsion but willingly, voluntarily, out of a sense of divine calling and a love for the church. Again, Paul says, for the love of Christ compels us. When you are called by God to a task, any task, but especially that of leadership in the church, of being an elder, when you do so because it is the love of Christ that compels you, it doesn't mean that there won't be difficult days and hard decisions but there will be a joy and a sense of fulfillment in that work that positively motivates you and encourages you to motivate others under your care.

So, not under compulsion but willingly, not for shameful gain or sordid gain as way another other translations put it, sordid or shameful. That means stingy, stingy, withholding from others in order to keep for yourself.

Okay, we saw that back in Ezekiel that they were withholding from the flock so they could have for themselves. So I remember when he was growing up, Kyle's favorite book was the Guinness Book of World Records.

He had a paperback copy that I think you got through Scholastic Books at school or something and he would take that to breakfast every morning and read it. And I remember one of the stories in there was about Hetty Green.

You ever heard of Hetty Green? According to the world's greatest miser, she ate cold oatmeal because it cost money to heat it. Her son had to have a limb amputated because she delayed in taking him to the doctor because he had an infection.

The world's greatest miser. That's the idea that Peter brings here when he talks about shameful or sordid gain, to be stingy with your love, with your time, with your wealth. Serve as a shepherd, not for shameful or sordid gain.

And by gain, Peter isn't just talking about money here. There's a whole lot more than just money involved. It can be for the praise of people, to have a position, to have power. Paul says, shepherd the flock, not for shameful or sordid gain, but with eagerness.

And Peter uses a very strong word here for the word eagerness. I think about Friday, my last class period of the day is seniors, and it is right before spring break, and they are not with me. I mean, they're there, but they're not with me.

And I said, come on, I need you to pay attention here, stick with me. And one of them said, you are the only thing standing between us and spring break. I said, I know that, pay attention. Okay, they were eager, eager for spring break.

Peter enjoins the elders to serve, to shepherd the flock of God, not for what they can get, but for what they can give, with eagerness, a willingness to do the work, even if there are no personal benefits, perhaps especially if there is a personal cost involved.

Oswald Sanders, in a really good book entitled Spiritual Leadership, said this, he said, the master principle of spiritual leadership is this, true greatness, true leadership is achieved not by reducing men to one's service, but in giving oneself in selfless service to them, and that is never done without cost.

Shepherd the flock willingly, as God would have you. So, the motivation, the manner, the motivation, and thirdly, the method of their work, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock, not lording it over them, not domineering over them.

To be an elder in the church is not to be a tyrant, it's not to be a dictator, it's not to stand before and say, you do, I'm not going to, but you do. Okay, it's not that. That sort of approach is the pattern of worldly leadership.

Jesus talked about that. The leaders of the Gentiles lord it over. It's a top-down kind of thing. Leadership in the church, particularly from elders, is we are here to serve you. It is a bottom-up. We're, and we're at the bottom.

We are here as one who serves. We're following the example of Jesus, who said, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life. That's the calling of the elder, not lording it over the flock, but setting an example for the flock.

Elders are called to be men whose lives are worthy of imitation. To my fellow elders, you know this, but just by way of reminder, people are watching us. The congregation pays attention to how you and I live our lives.

I remember years ago, Charles Barkley, when he was playing basketball for the Phoenix Suns, had done some Barkleyan kind of stuff and was being chastised for that, and he sought to excuse it by saying, look, I'm not a role model.

Well, no, you're not, but yes, you are. Brothers, we are called to be role models. Set an example for the flock. In many ways, elders set the tone for the church, for the congregation, for the flock. Paul wrote to Timothy as a pastor, as an elder.

He wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 4, and he said this to Timothy, Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

Skip down to verse 15. Practice these things. Immerse yourself in them so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Set an example for the flock. Point number three. We'll cover this quickly. Okay, we've talked about the wisdom of an elder, the work of the elder. Lastly, the reward of an elder. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. As elders, we serve, as I said, as under shepherds.

Under shepherds of the chief shepherd. Peter is referred to Jesus as the chief shepherd back in chapter 2, verse 25. Jesus calls himself the good shepherd in John chapter 10. And in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 20, reminds us that we are under the loving hand of the great shepherd.

Elders receive a great reward for their work. Paul told Timothy in seeking out men to serve as elders that the task of an elder is a noble task. A noble task. They do a noble work. And in the end, they receive a noble reward.

One of my favorite commentators, Warren Weersbe, writes this. He says, today a Christian worker may labor for many different kinds of rewards. Some work hard to build personal empires. Others strive for the applause of men.

Still others seek promotion in their denomination. All of these things will one day fade away. The only reward we ought to strive for is the well done of the Savior and the unfading crown of glory that goes with it.

What a joy it will be to place the crown at his feet and acknowledge that all we did was because of his grace and power. We will have no desire for personal glory when we see Jesus Christ face to face.

The reward of an elder. And Paul concludes with a broader statement here, first to young men and then to the whole church. And I find it interesting that he does so. And he ends by saying, the elders have great responsibility to you, but you have a responsibility to them as well.

You who are younger, be subject to the elders. The call here is very similar to Hebrews 13, where the church is called upon to obey and submit to the elders' leadership. Okay, now this is not some sort of authoritarian or some sort of tyrannical kind of submission, but it is interesting that Peter points out something that he saw in the church and has been a pattern over the years within the church.

And that is that sometimes the greatest opposition comes from those who are younger. Younger. Alexander Strauch, in his book on biblical eldership, says this. He says, the younger men who are diligently working, who are eager for change and further service, are the ones most likely to conflict with the church elders.

He goes on to quote another man by the name of Peter David, who writes this. He says, their very readiness for service and commitment can make them impatient with the leaders who either are, now I can't read my own writing here, who either due to pastoral wisdom or the conservatism that comes with age, are not ready to move as quickly or as radically as they are.

I read that and I thought of something I just recently came across in one of my classes. We just went through the life of William Carey, and in that biography of William Carey, as he has been in India for a while, and it's not been an easy ministry, that some new missionaries came to help support the work and to carry on the work.

I just want to read to you what the biographer says. The new missionaries were all young and did not know as much about missionary work. Instead of quietly watching and listening to the older missionaries and following their advice, they soon began to hold private meetings among themselves to complain about and criticize the older missionaries' way of doing things.

That was in 1814. By 1817, the younger missionaries, because of their unwillingness to listen to or to work with the older missionaries, had left, and had started their own identical mission center just a mere 14 miles away, much to the disappointment of William Carey and the other men.

Peter's advice to younger men is sound advice, and really it's true for all of us. We can easily become critical of people in leadership when they don't do what we think they ought to do, when they don't do it the way we would do it.

We want to hear from you, so rather than complain and grumble, please talk to us. And part of that comes down to the very last part, where Peter says, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another.

Exhibit humility. The last thing that I would add to what Peter says is for me to humbly ask that you pray for us as elders. We have feet of clay, and we are not perfect, but we do desire to shepherd the flock of God that is under our care, that God has given us by his grace.

I'm grateful for this body of believers, this church that the Lord Jesus purchased with his own blood, and it is a high privilege and sometimes an overwhelming responsibility to be a shepherd. I can't tell you enough how grateful I am for my wife, who comes alongside me and helps me and in some ways does a better job of shepherding people than I do.

I'm grateful that God has called us to this ministry together, and we try to do it together, and that's true for all the elders. We're grateful for our wives, but we are especially grateful for each one of you, as I look at you and note the many ways in which God is working in and through you to build up the body of Christ and to be a blessing, to be salt and light in your homes, in your workplace, in your families, wherever he puts you.

I thank God for you, so let me pray. Lord, thank you for this church, this congregation, this body of believers that is your flock, not ours. We serve in this position because you've called us to it, and I thank you, Lord, that this congregation makes our work as elders a blessing and rarely a burden.

Lord, may you continue to build the church for your glory and help us, Lord, to be faithful until that day when either you return or you call us home. Thank you for your faithfulness. In Jesus' name, amen.

At this time, I invite you to stand as you're able for our song of benediction. Let's sing praise to God, the immortal, the invisible, the only wise God. In light inaccessible, hid from our eyes. Most blessed, most glorious, the ancient of days.