A Charge to the Elders

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Welcome everyone.
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I want to begin by thanking Pastor Brad for having me come today and participate in this important event.
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I've known the Bell family for many years.
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I served as Aaron and Allison's pastor and have had also the blessing of being their friend.
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Aaron and I have worked together both within the church and within the world.
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We've shared meals, we have shared laughs, and we have shared burdens and blessings together.
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I've also been blessed to meet the other two men who have been put forward for ordination today, Josh and Richard, and it is a blessing and an honor to stand before you all and participate in this ordination service.
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As we have already heard, the Bible says that if anyone aspires to the office of overseer, that he desires a noble task.
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You three men who have come today to be ordained do so because you have a desire in your heart.
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The church has confirmed this desire by its willingness to ordain you to the gospel ministry, and this passage reminds us that that desire is a noble desire.
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The New American Standard Bible simply calls it a fine desire, and the King James Bible calls it a good desire.
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But the word can also be translated as beautiful.
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As such, it can rightly be said that the desire that the three men have today to come is a beautiful desire.
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The Bible says, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news.
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You men are today affirming your commitment of a life of dedication to ministry.
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It is a noble thing, a fine thing, a good thing, an honorable thing, a commendable thing.
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It is a beautiful thing, and we have all come to bear witness to and participate in this commission of you three men to this beautiful task.
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My desire over the next few minutes is to remind you three men of the charge which you are taking, the charge which is laid before you by the Lord Jesus Christ through the Apostle Peter and the words of Holy Scripture.
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So our passage for the charge this morning is going, or this afternoon rather, is going to be 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 1 through 4.
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It says, 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.
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And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
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May God add his blessings to the reading and to the hearing of his word as we pray together.
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Father in heaven, I thank you for your word.
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I thank you for the truth of the word.
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And I pray now that as I give this charge from the scripture to these three men and ultimately also to the congregation under the sound of my voice, I pray Lord that you would first and foremost keep me from error.
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I am a fallible man.
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I am capable of preaching error.
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And Lord, for the sake of your people and for the sake of your name and for the sake of my conscience, I would ask that you would keep me from error.
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I pray for these three men.
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I pray that what they hear today would be an inspiration and encouragement to them, not because of my eloquence or ability to speak, but because of the word of God that it would be implanted and grow and bear fruit in their life.
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I thank you for their pastor who loves them, who has spoken well of each of them and who has a desire to see them grow in their work for the Lord.
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And I pray, Lord, now that you would bless our time together in Jesus name.
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Amen.
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The New Testament has several passages that refer to the office of the elder.
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There are, in fact, entire books that are meant to be read and used by the elders in their ministry.
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The pastoral epistles, as they're called, First and Second Timothy and Titus.
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And I'm confident that you guys, you men, you three men have examined those books.
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You've examined those passages and you know well what they say.
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Outside of those epistles, there are two other places in scripture where the elders, and by the way, that term elder is synonymous with the idea of pastor.
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That is in the Bible, those terms are used interchangeably.
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So this is this is an elder ordination.
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It's a pastoral ordination.
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And there's two other places in scripture where we find the charge being given to the elders.
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One is in Acts, chapter 20, where the apostle Paul has the Ephesian elders come and meet him on his third missionary journey.
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And he gives them a charge and he tells them, pay attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which God has made you overseers to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
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I encourage you to look at that passage and know it because it reminds you to whom you preach.
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It reminds you to whom you minister the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.
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But the second is our focus for today.
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And that is from the fifth chapter of First Peter.
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Peter is a man who needs little, if any, introduction.
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He was known as one of Christ's twelve apostles.
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He was one of Christ's inner circle, the three, Peter, James and John, having spent the most time with Jesus during his earthly ministry.
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Peter's leadership in the early church was so obvious that an entire false theological system is based around his leadership in the church.
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But I want you to notice something in this passage in First Peter five, he doesn't identify himself as the vicar of Christ.
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He doesn't identify himself as having a unique authority among the people of God, but he instead identifies himself as some past butyrus.
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Some past butyrus is the Greek for fellow elder.
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He is a fellow elder with the other men.
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He does not raise himself up above them, but he places himself squarely in the midst of them.
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And in this mutual relationship, he makes an exhortation to them regarding the responsibilities of this office.
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We are fellow elders and I speak to you as a fellow elder.
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And so today I, as an elder in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, speak to you as a fellow elder.
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And might I say before I begin the outline that I am certainly not one who has perfected any of this.
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So when I call you in this charge, I call you as one who is also weak, who has also failed and who also looks every day for the gift of grace to be able to accomplish the task set before me.
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So I look forward now to giving you some thoughts from this passage, because in this admonition, really the major point of First Peter, chapter five, verses one through four is found in five short words.
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Peter tells the elders, shepherd the flock of God, shepherd the flock of God.
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In that short sentence, there is a great depth of truth.
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Shepherd is a picture used throughout the Bible as one who gives guidance, one who gives leadership, one who gives care.
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God is identified as the great shepherd in Psalm 23.
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Jesus said, I am the good shepherd in John, chapter 10.
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And the imagery in the ancient world was unmistakable.
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The shepherd was charged with the taking care of the sheep.
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And there are four primary responsibilities of a shepherd.
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They are as follows.
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One, providing nourishing food for the sheep to protecting from the dangerous predators of the sheep.
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Three, providing for the diseased and sick among the sheep.
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And four, pursuing the wayward and wandering sheep.
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Man, might I say that these same responsibilities given to the shepherd in the ancient world are yours today.
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Those four responsibilities lay upon you when the scripture says shepherd the flock of God.
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Along with your fellow elders and praise the Lord, you won't be doing this alone.
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You're in a church that has fellow elders, not just yourself.
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But along with your fellow elders, you're going to be responsible for one, providing nourishing food.
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This, of course, is in reference to the ministry of the word of God.
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Jesus said, Man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.
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When you preach and when you teach, you have the responsibility not to simply blabber on with your vain opinions, but you have the responsibility to proclaim the nourishing food of the word of God.
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The prophet Amos spoke of a time when there would be a famine in the land.
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But he said it wasn't a famine of food or of water, but it would be a famine for hearing the word of the Lord.
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May it never be said that when you men take the pulpit, that there is a famine for hearing the word of the Lord.
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You're responsible to provide nourishing food.
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You're also responsible to protect from dangerous predators.
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So much is said in scripture about wolves who infiltrate the sheep.
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As shepherds, your duty will be to protect the sheep from danger.
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It will be to you to warn the congregation of danger.
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It will be to you to rebuke those who are bringing evil in among the flock.
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And I'm going to tell you from experience, this can be one of the hardest parts of ministry.
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But it is one from which we should never shrink.
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A shepherd who knowingly allows wolves to prowl among the flock without being addressed and sometimes even addressed face to face in confrontation is not worthy of his title.
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Thirdly, you're going to be responsible for providing care for those in distress.
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As ministers of the gospel, you're going to have the joy of sharing in some of the most wonderful moments in people's lives.
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You might be among the first to see a newborn baby.
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You might be among the one who is seated at a table of honor among your friends at a Christmas celebration or a family event or a reunion.
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But you're also going to be the first one in the midnight hour when the phone rings and death has come to call.
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In my short time in ministry, 12 years at Sovereign Grace, I have stood beside several people in their final moments and witnessed several people take their last breath and held their hands and prayed.
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You will find yourself in the midst of tragedy.
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And you may have no words to express, only an embrace to provide.
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A presence to give, a love to share.
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And a finger with which to point them to the Great Shepherd.
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For he will be the one who will ultimately carry them through their distress.
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Fourth and finally, you will be responsible to pursue the wayward and the wandering.
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Jesus tells us that the shepherd will sometimes have to move away from the 99 sheep in pursuit of the one.
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And there's safety in numbers and we don't like to move away from the ninety nine.
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The ninety nine are safe, they're comfortable, they're happy and they're not biting or kicking.
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And it's easy to focus on them.
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But it will be your responsibility to seek out and reach to those who want to hide from your sight.
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If God has placed them among you and they begin to wander, you shepherds will be tasked with pursuing them and it will not always turn out positively.
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There will be moments where the sheep turn ornery.
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And they will bite and you may not always win them back to the flock, but we must remember their value.
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And really, that's the key to it all is remembering the value of those to whom you preach.
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Why must we provide nourishment? Why must we protect from predators? Why must we provide care? Why must we pursue the wandering? Because they are God's sheep, because they are God's flock, not ours.
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Brothers, we don't own the sheep.
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We are simply stewards.
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God is the one who has the ownership and the authority over his people, and we are simply tasked with the responsibility of tending that which is his.
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Thus, when we think about the task before us, we need to keep in mind the magnitude of our calling.
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We are called to be shepherds of God's flock.
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They are his people.
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And thus, they have a value which is infinitely profound.
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And likewise, infinitely worthy of our efforts as under shepherds.
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So I charge you today, men, you three men, Aaron, Josh, Richard, shepherd God's flock.
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Nourish them, protect them, care for them, pursue them.
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In short, love them.
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Love God's people.
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And you will shepherd well.
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Let us pray.
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Father in heaven, may it be that we as ministers of the gospel heed the word of the scriptures and shepherd the flock of God that is among us.
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And let us do so by the power of the Holy Spirit and in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.
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Amen.