The Church (Part III)

Grace Fellowship Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Okay, let's pray. Father, we love you. We thank you.

00:07

We ask now that you would quiet our hearts. Help us to focus on your word, to focus on the study of your sacred scriptures, to learn and to gain insight and understanding about the offices of your church.

00:28

Help me to love you. As I open up the word and teach from it, help all of us to love you well, to worship you well by hearing and committing to understanding and obeying what we hear.

00:43

And Lord, I pray that you would accompany this time with a special unction, a special power by your

00:50

Holy Spirit, or that it would be a time of blessing for all of us. And Lord, a time in which you are glorified and honored and lifted up in our hearts.

01:00

So we give you thanks for tonight. We give you thanks for your word and help us now to worship in it.

01:08

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So tonight we're looking at the third part of our study on the doctrine of the church, and that is the doctrine of biblical church leadership or the study of biblical church government.

01:28

And even as we begin, so what I want to do with our format last time around, I said

01:33

I wanted it to be interactive, and I was already on the rails of just teaching.

01:39

I prepared to teach, and then when we had a smaller group, I thought, well, we'll do interactive, but it didn't work out that well.

01:45

Tonight I will try to stay on the more interactive route. So I've left, specifically left time for conversation and for dialogue, and so I'm hoping that when

01:59

I do ask a question, it's not just rhetorical. I am looking for a response, so feel free to respond.

02:06

Feel free to bring scripture to support your answer if you have that, or to ask a question just in the middle.

02:13

So we want it to be far more interactive than previously. So in that spirit,

02:20

I'm going to start with a question rather than with an introduction. And the question is this.

02:26

Why is biblical church government important? So why is leadership in the church, faithful to the scriptures, important for the life of the church?

02:42

No, that's a real question. Yeah, absolutely.

03:09

So God is God of order. To act outside of his word is a danger to the flock, if I were to summarize that.

03:16

Any other thoughts as to why church leadership matters, why biblical church leadership matters? Okay, if any other ideas come to you, just interrupt me.

03:33

You're absolutely right, Steve. Biblical church leadership really does matter, and the reason why biblical church leadership really does matter is because the church of God matters.

03:43

The pillar and the buttress of the truth matters. Truth matters, and the

03:49

Lord loves truth, and the Lord loves his church. And that's why we're devoting an entire evening to the study of biblical church leadership, is because it matters.

04:01

And I really want us to gain a good grasp of that, and in addition to gaining a good grasp of that,

04:07

I want there to be that expectation amongst our people that we are looking for, we are expecting biblical church leadership.

04:20

I say here the value of biblical church leadership in the life of the local church cannot be overstated.

04:27

Throughout the entirety of the Bible, we see God, who is always concerned for the character and conduct of his people, he has always placed a special emphasis on the character and the conduct of the leaders of his people.

04:44

And we see that in the laws that were given to Moses and the nation of Israel, laws concerning the prophets and the priests and the kings and the judges.

04:55

We see that in the Gospels, even in our Lord Jesus' rebukes to the leaders of that day, and maybe most notably,

05:06

I think we see that in the rebukes that God issues to those who are in leadership in the

05:13

Old Testament. I think my mind goes specifically to the prophets. So if you think about what

05:18

God said to the prophets or through the prophets to the people of Israel, this is just a small sampling.

05:26

So I just went in there and picked out a few. A few of them are from Jeremiah. You can follow along or you can just listen as I read them.

05:33

But Jeremiah 2, verse 8. So this is the Lord speaking through Jeremiah says, the priests did not say, where is the

05:43

Lord? And those who handle the law did not know me. The rulers also transgressed against me.

05:52

And the prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that did not profit.

05:59

So you see the leaders, they did not ask, where's the Lord? They didn't even know the

06:05

Lord. The rulers sinned against him. The prophets prophesied by false gods.

06:11

And they walked after things that were worthless, ultimately. If you turn a couple chapters over to Jeremiah 5, in verse 31, it says, the prophets prophesy falsely and the priests rule at their direction.

06:27

So according to their own authority, the priests ruled according to their own authority. And this is, how condemning is this?

06:34

He says, my people love to have it so. So not only did the prophets have false prophecy, not only did the leaders just do whatever was right in their own eyes, but the people love to have it that way.

06:49

Jeremiah 10 says this in verse 12, for the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the

06:59

Lord. Therefore, they have not prospered and all their flock is scattered.

07:08

So this point, is he talking about literal shepherds with literal sheep?

07:14

The answer is no. He's talking about those who were tasked with the care of God's people, those who were to lead and to guide and to feed and to protect and to care for the people of God as faithful shepherds, as one might expect a faithful shepherd who would tend for their own sheep.

07:37

In Ezekiel, this is the last example I'll give from the book of Ezekiel in chapter 34, the word of the

07:44

Lord came to me. He says, son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel.

07:49

So against the leaders of Israel, prophesy and say to them, even to the shepherds, thus says the

07:55

Lord, ah, shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding yourselves, should not shepherds feed the sheep?

08:05

You eat the fat. You clothe yourselves with the wool. You slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep.

08:14

And then listen to this example. So this is in verse four. So Ezekiel 34, verse four, the weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.

08:32

So they were scattered because there was no shepherd. So there are shepherds, but there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts.

08:42

So this is just a sampling. There are many more passages in the Old Testament where we see this condemnation of the leaders of Israel.

08:50

And the reason being is because God really does care about the leadership of his people.

08:56

He cares about the shepherds because he cares about the sheep. He cares about the flock, the good shepherd, the good shepherd who gave himself for the sheep, cares about his people, and so therefore he cares about the leaders.

09:11

Christ said at one point to the scribes and Pharisees, he said, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

09:27

And so leaders do have an impact on their people. Biblical leadership matters because the quality of life and the quality of holiness of the leaders, or sorry, the quality of life and the quality of the holiness of God's people will never surpass that or rarely surpasses that of the leaders.

09:49

Like shepherds are like sheep for the most part, and so stupid shepherds make for scattered flocks, wicked clergy make for corrupt converts, false prophets foster false assurances.

10:02

And so it's an important topic tonight. So we're going to get into the statement itself.

10:08

So in your handout you'll see at the very top, it says there, this is our statement on the church, part three.

10:17

We believe that the church is to be shepherded, cared for, and protected by a plurality of qualified elders while deacons serve and care for the practical needs within the community of believers.

10:34

So that's our statement. And what I've done really cleanly is broken it up into three different sections. So we're going to look at biblical church government.

10:41

That's our first point. What is biblical church government? What does it look like? Who makes the decisions? What are the offices?

10:48

We'll look at the office of the elder. So what is an elder? What are the functions of the elder? How are the elders qualified for that role?

10:55

And then we'll look at the office of the deacon. And again, who are they? What is their function? And who qualifies to be a deacon?

11:04

So we'll look at first biblical church government. And so depending on traditions where you guys have come from,

11:12

Nicole and I, we have a bit of a storied past. And so we've experienced some of these. But there are a variety of church governments, some of them more pure, some of them less pure.

11:24

And so what we'll do is we'll just do a survey, a 35 ,000 -foot survey of some of those different government forms.

11:31

And then I want to pose a question about which one of them is really biblical. So there's the

11:37

Presbyterian form. If you're familiar with the Presbyterian form of government, it starts with the congregation.

11:44

You'd have a congregation who amongst themselves elect elders. And those elders would then be part of a session of elders.

11:53

And that session of elders would be part of a presbytery, which would look after a number of other churches.

11:59

And then elders from that would be part of the general assembly. And so almost like a diocese or something like that, you'd have a group of churches that are overseen by a council of elders from within the congregation.

12:13

So they move upward. So congregation, session of elders, presbytery.

12:20

If you want to look at it, it's an organizational chart and then a general assembly, so kind of from the bottom up.

12:26

Yeah, please. Not quite, because what would happen is members of the general assembly and members of the presbytery would have leadership over the churches below them.

12:48

And so there would be several congregations under a presbytery and then even more under a general assembly.

12:54

And so in some ways, there is a congregational element because the leadership is coming from the congregations.

13:00

But there are people from other churches making decisions for your church, if that makes sense.

13:06

The Anglicans, or the Episcopalian if you're in the United States, are very similar but almost upside down.

13:15

And so at the very top, they would have archbishops. So an archbishop would look after a few bishops and then a few bishops would look after rectors and then those rectors would look after congregations.

13:27

And so it's more of a top -down hierarchy. And so same thing, your congregation isn't necessarily making decisions for your church.

13:36

That would be made by a rector who is overseen by a bishop who's overseen by an archbishop.

13:43

The form that we're probably most familiar with, Steve, is the congregational form of government.

13:49

So congregational form is where government happens within the congregation. But there are still several elements of congregational government.

13:58

So there's a single pastor rule or a single pastor with a board of deacons as rule.

14:06

And I'm just naming a couple of the popular ones. There are other varieties. Or a congregational leadership by pure democracy, not dictatorship.

14:16

Pure democracy. There are some, I'm sure, by pure dictatorship as well. But pure democracy, where every decision is voted on by the church in a members meeting or a business meeting.

14:27

And there's congregational leadership by a plurality of elders. So that's, like I said, a 35 ,000 foot flyby.

14:37

There's the Anglican, where it's an archbishop, bishop. Presbytery, where general assembly, presbytery.

14:47

A session of elders. And then congregational in a variety of forms. But never mind what other people do.

14:54

In terms of the Bible, can you guys think of what does biblical church leadership look like?

15:01

Biblical church government look like according to the scriptures? That's a real question.

15:16

OK, autonomy of the local church. So congregational, so the government happens within the congregation.

15:22

OK, yeah. Amy, can I put you on the spot? Do you have any thoughts there yet? If you don't, that's fine too.

15:35

Titus 2? OK, yeah, in Titus 1, verse 5, it starts.

15:50

We're going to go there again, but it's OK to go there now as well. And I think this does give us, actually, a good hint into it.

16:04

So Titus 1, 5, Paul writes to Titus, this is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what and appoint elders, plural, in every town.

16:17

So plurality of elders, excuse me, in each town, as I directed you.

16:24

And then he gives the qualifications. We'll get to the qualifications. We'll come back to that.

16:29

But maybe I'll put your two answers together. I think that a biblical church government, this is certainly what

16:36

Grace Fellowship Church believes in and teaches, is that a biblical church government is a congregational government, meaning that it is autonomous, it stands alone.

16:46

And so there is no bishop, or archbishop, or Presbytery, or Assembly, or any other synod or council that oversees us, but that each church is ultimately tasked with the care of their own flock, with the decisions, with the leadership, to use even the word, with the rule of the church.

17:08

And that's done not by one man. It's not done by one man, surrounded by a board of deacons.

17:17

It's not even a democracy within the congregation, but it's a shepherding, it's a leading, it's a ruling by a plurality of elders.

17:27

And there's biblical basis for it. And so we'll look at just a couple of those things.

17:33

So if you want to turn to Acts chapter 14, Acts chapter 14 in verse 21.

17:49

So there are mention of elders prior to this, but this is really the first major passage where we see the office of elders in the

17:58

Bible, maybe detailed in more length. And so Paul and Barnabas, if you remember, had gone on their first missionary journey.

18:07

So they left Antioch, they had moved out, they had gone through places like Lystra, and Iconium, and Antioch.

18:16

And through that area, they preached the gospel. Believers, or people came to faith and became believers in Christ.

18:23

And then on their way back, as they were going back to Antioch, to their starting point, it says this in verse 21.

18:31

And so when they had preached the gospel to that city that had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch.

18:40

And this is what they did. They strengthened the souls, so strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

18:50

This is just after Paul had been stoned. So through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God, verse 23.

18:56

And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, so elders, plurality, in every church, with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the

19:07

Lord in whom they had believed. And so elders were appointed in each church, a plurality of elders, and then they committed them to that church.

19:16

They completed the task. Just like you had pointed out,

19:21

Amy, in Titus 1, they put what remained into order, as Paul said to Titus. And to put what remained into order, namely the appointing of elders in every town.

19:34

And then we see that worked out too, even in Paul's letters. So I'm not sure if you guys have ever noticed, but in Paul's letter to the book, sorry, to the church at Philippi, to the

19:44

Philippians, he wrote in Philippians 1 .1, he greets the saints that are in Philippi, and he says, with the overseers and deacons.

19:55

So he points out the leaders of that particular church, the overseers and the deacons.

20:01

Or in 1 Timothy 4, verse 17, it's another one, sorry guys, if I'm moving too fast, just let me know.

20:09

But Paul was writing to Timothy, and he uses a word here that I want to highlight. So 4 .17,

20:15

he says, let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor.

20:22

So there's a ruling element to the leadership of the elders in the church.

20:27

And Paul used the Greek word proistemi, which means to preside, to superintend, or to act as the guardian of.

20:36

And so that is the role of the elders in the local church, is to care for, to preside, to superintend, to act as the guardians of the church.

20:50

The elders are to rule well over the local church with great care, with diligence, and then they're going to be held to account for that leadership.

20:59

So just as those elders in the cities, in Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch were commended to that service,

21:08

Hebrews 13 tells us that the church is to obey their leaders, to submit to them.

21:15

And it says, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account.

21:23

So that's Hebrews 13 .17. So they will have to give an account for their leadership.

21:29

And so the exhortation is obey, submit to those elders as ones who must give an account for your souls.

21:37

And what a fearful thought that is for anyone who aspires to the office of an elder.

21:45

To have to give an account for the souls of the people under your care is a fearful thing.

21:53

Reminds me of the passage in James, not many should aspire to be teachers for they will be judged with greater strictness.

21:59

So with greater responsibility comes greater accountability. And this is something that John MacArthur said about this.

22:06

So John MacArthur and the elders at Grace Community Church, they crafted a statement on this. And they said, because of its heritage of democratic values and its long history of congregational church government, modern

22:20

American evangelicalism, and we could say Canadian evangelicalism in there, often views the concept of elder rule with suspicion.

22:29

The clear teaching of the scripture, however, demonstrates that the biblical norm for church leadership is a plurality of God -ordained elders.

22:40

And only by following this biblical pattern will the church maximize its fruitfulness to the glory of God.

22:47

So the church is to be ruled by elders and assisted by deacons. And we'll hear more about that.

22:55

So now let's talk about the office of an elder. And again, I want to open this up and ask, what is an elder?

23:03

So in the church, what is an elder? What does an elder do?

23:08

Who is an elder? And I'll just leave that open if you guys want to tell me what you think or what you know.

23:27

Undershepherds. Amen. Undershepherds caring for God's flock, not their own.

23:46

Stewards, in a sense. Yeah. Absolutely. Any other thoughts as to what elders are? Teachers.

23:57

Yeah, that's a function of the elders. Yeah. Well, you guys have, it's interesting, you guys have kind of said something that complements each other.

24:08

And so we'll go there. So the Bible uses three terms primarily to describe elders.

24:14

And in some traditions, people view those three different terms as three different offices.

24:21

And you'll see why that is as we go through. But the three different terms that we typically see or that we always see,

24:28

I guess, in terms of the scriptural usage is the term, if we're going to use the

24:34

English terms for now, the term elder, the term overseer, and the term shepherd or pastor.

24:41

And so those are the three main titles that are given to elders.

24:48

And I'm going to submit and argue and hopefully back up that all three of those terms describe one office.

24:56

So three different vantage points of the same office rather than three terms for three different offices.

25:03

So the very first term that we see used in scripture referring to this office is the term elder.

25:09

And so that word elder appears in scripture referring to the office at least 20 times.

25:17

And then I think I did count well over 40 times, I think throughout the

25:23

New Testament, but at least over 20 times referring to the office itself. And in the biblical and the cultural...

25:31

Oh, you want to ask a question there, Steve? Okay, I was going to say in the biblical and cultural usage of the term elder, it really denotes someone who is older, an elder man, a senior, someone who is experienced, a wise old man, or maybe in a

25:49

Jewish context, someone who is a member of the great council, the Sanhedrin. But you go ahead and ask your question and I'll...

26:01

We're going to get there, yeah. That'll be the next one. Overseer or bishop, depending on your translation.

26:08

So the office of elder, though, if you were to look at it scripturally, it implies, or the term elder implies maturity, it implies experience, it implies wisdom, something that ought to come.

26:25

Doesn't always come, but something that ought to come with old age. And so we won't go there again, but we saw that in Acts 14 .23,

26:33

right? When Paul and Barnabas appointed elders. And the Greek word that's used there is the word presbyteros.

26:42

So much like Presbytery or Presbyterian, presbyteros is the

26:47

Greek word for elder. So we see it in Acts 14 .23. We see it in 1 Timothy 5.

26:55

So in verse 17, for instance, let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor.

27:01

So those are the presbyteros. In verse 19 of the same chapter, so 5 .19, do not admit a charge against an elder, presbyteros, except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

27:14

There's some accountability, like what we were talking about before we started the study. Or in James 5 .14,

27:21

where James says, if any among you sick, let him call for the elders. Let him call for the presbyteros and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the

27:34

Lord. So here we see in that, like I said, used 40 times or over 40 times, sometimes simply referring to older men, simply referring to someone who is older than a younger person, but at least 20 times used in the

27:49

New Testament to describe the actual office of an elder. So Steve, the next word that you were asking about, the next title, is the title overseer.

27:58

Like I said, if you're reading the King James, the title bishop, which can be confusing, right? That's where you see some of the, what

28:06

I would say, the less pure versions of church government come from, where there's a bishop or even an archbishop that oversees the churches.

28:15

But I'll show you in a little bit why I think that refers to elders as well.

28:21

So in this term, the idea of an overseer, it was used culturally as someone who was a caretaker or a manager or a superintendent, someone that had oversight over something.

28:37

And I like the Strong's Bible Dictionary definition. They said an overseer, culturally, was charged with the duty of seeing that things be done by others, so something that's done by others and done rightly.

28:54

And so it was an overseer's task, what you'd think of of a manager, someone that has oversight.

29:00

I think about a project manager at a construction site or something like that. There are people under them, and they are providing direction to make sure that the bridge is built, that it's built on time, and that it's built safely so that when the first truck comes across, it doesn't collapse.

29:17

And so that is an overseer. We see that in Acts 20. So when

29:23

Paul is meeting with the elders at Miletus, so the

29:28

Ephesian elders in Miletus, it uses that term episkopos, so overseers.

29:35

So you have elders are the presbyteros, overseers are the episkopos.

29:41

And so Acts 20, Paul's talking to the overseers of the church in Ephesus. In Philippians 1 .1,

29:50

when he greets the saints and the overseers and deacons, again, he's greeting the episkopos, so the overseers or the bishops.

30:01

And then 1 Timothy 3, which is probably the first text that we think about when we think about elders because it lays out the qualifications of elders.

30:09

1 Timothy 3 .1, if anyone aspires to the office of overseer, to the office of episkopos, he desires a noble task.

30:21

So we have the elders, the presbyteros, the overseers, which are the episkopos, and then lastly, the third image that we see or the third term that we see is the term shepherd or pastor, depending on your translation in the scriptures.

30:39

And that comes from the Greek word poimen, so P -O -I -M -E -N, poimen.

30:48

And if we refer back to our part one on our study referring to the metaphors of the church, we remember that one of the agricultural metaphors of the church was the flock, right?

31:01

The church is the flock of God. It is God's flock of sheep.

31:08

And so we see this pointed out in a number of different texts. This is one that is probably more argued than the other two.

31:17

There are some that think that elders or overseers should never be called pastors. While I prefer the term elder,

31:24

I think that we can make a case that to call someone a pastor isn't patently wrong.

31:30

So a good text to see that in is Ephesians chapter four in verse 11.

31:36

You guys will see there's a lot of crossovers, so we've looked at some of these now a couple weeks in a row.

31:44

But Ephesians chapter four in verse 11 says, and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

32:02

And so many would argue that these are gifts. I would agree. Others have argued through church history that these are also offices.

32:10

There certainly was the office of an apostle. There certainly were at times in redemptive history the office of a prophet, perhaps even an evangelist.

32:21

Some would argue that Timothy had the office of an evangelist. And then shepherds and teachers, because of the

32:28

Greek word usage, many people put those together. And so they would say that there are apostles, there are prophets, there are evangelists, and there are shepherd teachers.

32:39

And the Greek word that's used there for shepherds is that word poimen, where we get the term either shepherd or pastor.

32:49

Again, I'm always bringing up the Ephesian elders and Miletus, but again, it's like we're bouncing back and forth.

32:56

Acts 20, verse 28, Paul says, pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock.

33:05

Hey kids, who cares for a flock? A flock of sheep.

33:11

What would they be called? A shepherd. They'd be called a shepherd. And so it makes sense for Paul to say to the elders, to the overseers there, to pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, because they are fulfilling the function of a shepherd to the church.

33:31

And then perhaps most clearly we see it in 1 Peter 5. In 1

33:38

Peter 5, in chapter, sorry, 1 Peter 5, in verse 1,

33:49

Paul says to the elders there, so I exhort the elders among you, so I exhort the presbyteros among you as a fellow presbyteros, 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.

34:09

And that term is poimeno, which is the verb form of poimen.

34:15

So essentially saying, pastor the flock, 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.

34:36

And then in verse 4, and when the chief shepherd, that's the word archipoimen, so when the archshepherd, if there's room for one archpastor in the scriptures,

34:52

I would say it is Jesus Christ because he is the archipoimen. When the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

35:04

So three terms, one office. There's the elders, there's the overseers, and there's the pastors and shepherds.

35:11

Now, Steve, I'm going to pose this question to you, just because you're in these situations sometimes.

35:17

What if someone were to come to you and say, no, no, no, no, these are different offices. How can you say that this is only one office?

35:25

There's three different terms used. Do you think you'd have a response? And sorry if I put you on the spot.

35:31

No, that's fine. Someone had come up to me and said, well, these are three separate offices.

35:37

Three separate offices. I would go back. The reality is, and you can just go back to the

35:51

Bible, I would look at what Paul, go back to Acts 20, and look at 1 Corinthians 3. And there's no delineation between the different offices.

36:00

You can also look at Acts chapter 4, where there are two separate offices. I mean, you probably get that.

36:11

But if you go to Acts chapter 4, the elders in Acts make it distinctive that they are to preach and teach.

36:21

And although they don't instantiate the office of deacons, which you're probably going to get to, sorry, it's not

36:26

Acts 4, it's Acts 6. Yeah, there you go. I was going to let you get there. Yeah, so one is given to the practical needs.

36:44

Others give themselves to the word and prayer, right? And then you see it again, like again when

36:50

Paul writes to the Philippians, he doesn't address the elders and the overseers and the bishops, or sorry, the elders, the bishops, and the shepherds and the deacons, but the overseers and the deacons.

37:04

A really good one, I think, that clears it up really quite nicely is in Titus chapter 1.

37:10

Amy, you had pointed this there earlier. And in Titus chapter 1, you see that Paul actually uses the terms interchangeably.

37:20

And you see it, so if you have an ESV, for instance, I have an ESV, you can see it very clearly in the

37:25

ESV. He says, this is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders, so that presbyteros word, appoint elders in every town as I directed you.

37:35

And then if we fast forward to verse 7, so he's talking about, he's talking about the qualifications of an elder.

37:42

And then he says in verse 7, for an overseer, so for an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach.

37:52

And so he's using that term episkopos and that term presbyteros interchangeably.

38:00

And then again, we won't go there, but 1 Peter 5, again, you see that the elders are to do the work of a shepherd, that they're to, the elders, the presbyteros are to poimeno, they're to shepherd the flock of God that is among.

38:17

And so you see these terms used interchangeably. And I think very clearly in the biblical church government form, you see that there are two offices, elder and deacon, overseer and deacon.

38:32

And so we've already started to edge into that. But day to day, as a member of the flock, as a member of Christ's church, what should we be looking for from the overseers in terms of their day -to -day function?

38:48

What does an elder do from day to day in their service to God and to the sheep?

39:00

They read their Bible. Yeah, I think about Acts 6, committed to the word of God and prayer. Absolutely.

39:08

Absolutely. Yeah. Any other thoughts as to what the elders should be doing?

39:17

Visit people. Yeah. Pastoral care. Yeah. Shepherd.

39:52

Yeah. He defeated lions and bears.

40:06

Yeah. That's right. Protection of the flock. You guys are doing great. This is good.

40:12

Yeah. Any other thoughts? So we have really what I would call a vital spiritual life.

40:18

A man of actual substance, spiritually. That's committed to the word and prayer.

40:25

I'll include that. Someone that protects the flock. Any other? We're using some shepherding language here.

40:37

I'll propose a few different functions that an elder has. So an elder is tasked with leading the flock.

40:45

We've already talked about that in terms of church government. They have oversight. They have leadership over the church.

40:52

And so this includes decision -making and includes guidance. It includes correction.

40:59

It includes, I like the term that's used by the Grace Church, John MacArthur's congregation, direction over church policy.

41:11

It's pretty specific, but really the administration and the oversight of the church.

41:18

And we see that again, 1 Peter 5, Hebrews 13. They're exercising oversight, not domineering.

41:28

That implies that when someone is not domineering, it means that they're not abusing their powers of oversight.

41:35

The church is to obey and to submit. So they lead the flock.

41:41

They feed the flock. And so, hey kids, do you know the answer to this question?

41:47

Okay. When Jesus was tempted by the devil, and the devil was tempting him with, he said, you can turn that rock into a loaf of bread.

41:56

Do you guys remember what Jesus said? He said, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

42:06

That's right. And so you'll remember at the end of the

42:11

Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus, when he was talking to Peter, who had ultimately, he had not rejected him, but, oh,

42:21

I'm searching for the word. Essentially, he had denied. He denied Christ, and he was asking

42:27

Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? And you'll remember, he gave him three exhortations. He said, feed my lambs.

42:34

Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep. And so how does a shepherd do that? How does he tend?

42:40

How does he feed the sheep? He feeds them with what they primarily need spiritually, which is not bread, but by the word of God.

42:49

And so those who are tasked with shepherding, with overseeing, with caring for the flock, are those who give themselves to the ministry of teaching, to the ministry of the word, to the ministry of prayer.

43:03

Paul writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 5, 17, let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

43:15

And I love word studies. If you haven't already noticed that from my teaching, that I love to look at the biblical word usage.

43:24

But in chapter 5, verse 17 of 1 Timothy, when he says those who labor, he uses the word kapiea, kapiea, kapieo, that's what it is, which is to grow weary, to be tired, to become exhausted, to bear the burden of toil or grief.

43:46

So to really dig in deep, kind of like, you know, I think about someone that's digging a ditch, right?

43:53

When I think about the word toil, it's probably someone that's doing that. And not that the ministry of the word should be toilsome or grievous, but it is really hard work.

44:03

And anyone that's ever taught really begins to understand that to stand up and to say anything that is of value, anything that's going to edify the people actually comes by much work, much study alone, much,

44:17

Nicole and I were talking about it last night, sometimes the hardest part about preparing to teach is just the loneliness of study, just being alone and preparing.

44:26

And that's what an elder is to do, is to pour themselves out in their service to the church by teaching the flock.

44:34

To do like Paul in Colossians 1, he said that he, one of his main ministries was to make the word of God fully known.

44:45

And he wrote to Timothy, you'll remember from last week, that he says, until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.

44:55

And in verse 15, if we go down a couple of verses, he says, practice these things, immerse yourself in them.

45:01

And so an elder is really to do that. That's one of the functions of the deacons that we'll get to, is to free up the elder that they can immerse themselves into the ministry of God's word.

45:12

We heard it from you there, Steve. They're to protect the sheep. They're to protect the sheep from wolves.

45:18

Wolves are going to come in, wolves in sheep's clothing, like David, lions and bears. I had that example in scriptures here.

45:28

Paul writes to Titus in Titus 1, 9, he says, he must hold firm to the trustworthy word is taught so that he may be able to give instruction, sound doctrine, and hear the protecting element, and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

45:43

So there is a feeding element and there is a protecting element. So just like a good shepherd, not only does he take his sheep into green pastures, but he's always on the lookout for something that might put the sheep in danger.

46:00

Nicole, you mentioned, and I forgot to reference it, but I think you said something along the lines of visiting people.

46:06

They're tasked, just like a shepherd, with caring for, with healing the sheep. And so there's the ministry of encouragement, the ministry of visitation, of binding up broken hearts as undershepherds of God.

46:22

And I think about James 5. Is any among you sick? This is verse 13.

46:28

Sorry, is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick?

46:35

Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him. So as, like a resident under the chief physician, the shepherds are to make house calls and to visit the sick and to care for those who are in need.

46:49

And they're to live as examples of the flock. So they are to, like we saw in 1

46:56

Peter 5, but being examples of the flock, like Paul wrote to Timothy.

47:03

He said, don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

47:13

And I found an example of this in the life of Samuel Rutherford.

47:19

So he was a Scottish pastor in the 1600s. His letters, there's a book of letters that have been compiled about him that are just so sweet.

47:30

But in almost the prologue to those letters, as it lays out his ministry, it says this about him.

47:35

And I thought, Lord, I want to be like this man. Make me like this man.

47:41

It says, they wrote about him. He has time to visit, for he rises at three in the morning and at that early hour meets his

47:50

God in prayer and meditation and has space for study besides. He takes occasional days for catechizing.

47:56

He never fails to be found at the sickbeds of his people. Men say of him, he is always praying, always preaching, always visiting the sick, always catechizing, always writing and studying.

48:09

He was known to fall asleep at night talking of Christ and even to speak of him during his sleep.

48:16

So that's another one of these brilliant examples from church history that I love to bring up.

48:22

So the elders are to give themselves to this task. This is the ministry of a shepherd and the qualifications of elders.

48:32

So where would we find, I'll just ask you guys, where would we find the qualifications for elders in the Bible? 1st

48:40

Timothy 3, yeah. That's the 1st Timothy 3. There's one other section, Amy, you had pointed to it and that's

48:46

Titus chapter 1. We're not going to expound all of these, but what I would say is on your own, have a look at them and in any situation, whether you remain here or whether you're in another place, you should ask yourself as you're meeting the shepherds, elders, overseers of that particular congregation, do these men meet the criteria for what an elder is to be?

49:15

And so I'll read through them quickly and we'll just expound them very briefly. But Paul writes, 1st

49:21

Timothy chapter 3, verse 1, the saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.

49:30

Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach. The husband of one wife, sober -minded, self -controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

49:46

He must manage his own household well with all dignity, keeping his children submissive.

49:51

For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?

49:58

He must not be a recent convert or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.

50:04

Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

50:14

So one thing you'll notice there in the qualifications for eldership is that the qualifications for eldership does not primarily rely on education.

50:26

It doesn't primarily rely on stature in the community. It doesn't rely on good business acumen, but rather it falls,

50:36

I would say, into three different categories. It falls into character. It falls into calling.

50:45

And it falls into what I would call church affirmation. And I'll show you where I find those.

50:54

So if anyone aspires to the office of overseer, the very first thing that we should look for is someone who actually aspires to the office.

51:05

And not only who aspires to the office, but who aspires to the work. So John MacArthur, he wrote about this.

51:12

He said, ambition for the office corrupts. So someone who just desires the office, that will corrupt, but desire for the work purifies.

51:23

And so for those who we want to see in our elders, those who have an ambition to do the work of an elder, not merely to hold the office and to have the esteem of others, but those who will do the work of it.

51:39

The office of elder is rightly occupied by a man who has a shepherd's heart. He is not a hireling who leaves the sheep at the first sight of danger or to see what he can get from the sheep to feast on the fat ones, to shear them for their wool, but he eagerly and joyfully seeks out how he can love and serve and care for the people of God.

52:03

And this is, you see this in the, I was reading an account of one man that he was taking over as the pastor of a new church.

52:13

And he was getting the tour of the building on his first day. And the church secretary said, and this is the sanctuary and this is the foyer and this is the fellowship room.

52:23

And then she said, and this is your office. This is where you will do your studying and your work as the pastor in our church or the new pastor in our church.

52:33

And as the man was looking around, he noticed one part of the floor was damaged that the carpet was frayed.

52:40

And he said, well, what happened there? And she said, well, that's where our former pastor used to get on his knees every day and pray for the whole congregation.

52:49

And when I heard that story, I thought that is the man who aspires to the office of elder, whose heart is in it.

52:55

Not who just loves the title, but who loves the people and has a genuine care for them, a genuine desire for their welfare, for their holiness, for their maturity in Christ, for their salvation.

53:08

So unlike the false shepherds of Israel, true shepherds have a genuine desire for the work, a true care for the work.

53:17

And they're, to look at it quickly, they're to be above reproach. A noble task requires a noble life.

53:24

And so they're to be godly men. Now, above reproach, that doesn't mean that they're to be sinless.

53:30

It doesn't mean to be that they are without sin. If that was the case, then there would only be one person who qualifies for the office of elder, and that would be the

53:38

Lord Jesus Christ. Rather, what it means is that they are to, they are to be blameless, that in their day -to -day life, as you see them, it is hard to find fault with their life.

53:52

To say it another way, they live an exemplary life. And so you would do well to imitate their life.

53:58

If you were to live like them, you would do well. We see a variety of other characteristics there, to be the husband of one wife.

54:06

I want to use this opportunity to say that the office of an overseer, the office of an elder, is to be occupied by a man.

54:16

That's a controversial statement amongst many. But if you look just in the chapter before, in chapter 2, it says, 1

54:26

Timothy 2 .11, Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.

54:34

Rather, she is to remain quiet. We're not going to unpack that fully today, but in God's design for the church, he has designed the church for male leadership.

54:46

We see this historically, redemptively, in the redemptive historical narrative of Scripture, that the 12 disciples were men, that the judges, for the exception of one, were men, that the kings, for the exception of one blip on the radar, were men.

55:04

And this has nothing to do with men being more capable, more able.

55:11

We believe that God has created men and women equal and yet different. Equal and yet different, with different functions in the church.

55:19

And so we believe that the office of an overseer is to be occupied by a man. And he's to be a one -woman kind of man.

55:26

So to be the husband of one wife doesn't mean that he's never, ever had a divorce, historically.

55:33

Rather, it means that he is a man committed to one woman, namely his wife, and only his wife.

55:41

And so there are many men today that have one wife, but are not a one -woman man.

55:48

They have eyes for other women, they have heart for other women, but one of the flocks, or sorry, one of the overseers of God's flock is to be a one -woman kind of man.

56:00

They're to be clear thinkers, self -controlled, respectable, hospitable. So these are character qualifications.

56:07

A calling qualification. Able to teach. Unlike the deacons, they are to be able to teach

56:15

God's word. If we look at that Titus chapter 1 definition again, he says there, in verse 9, he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may give instruction, may be able to give instruction and sound doctrine, and also to rebuke those who contradict.

56:39

There was a man named George Liddell who wrote about the qualifications of an elder, and I find these words encouraging and challenging.

56:49

He says, Give me a man of God, one man, whose faith is master of his mind, and I will right all wrongs, and bless the name of all mankind.

57:00

Give me a man of God, one man, whose tongue is touched with heaven's fire, and I will flame the darkest hearts with the high resolve and clean desire.

57:11

Give me a man of God, one man, one mighty prophet of the Lord, and I will give you peace on earth, bought with a prayer and not with a sword.

57:21

Give me a man of God, one man, true to the vision that he sees, and I will build your broken shrines and bring the nations to their knees.

57:31

And that should be our desire for the office of an overseer. Give me a godly man, a man who is a man of character, a man who is called and able, and a man whose calling and character have been affirmed by the church.

57:46

Because ultimately it's the goal, or it's the role, I should say, of the elders to appoint other elders to recognize in man these godly attributes and to appoint them as elders.

58:00

We're going to look at deacons. It's going to be much quicker because much less is written about the deacons. But let me ask you guys, what are deacons?

58:07

There's a lot of misunderstandings about this, but what is a deacon? Deacons replace light bulbs.

58:17

Okay, that's one answer. Help care for the church.

58:25

I like that. That's a great answer, Noah. Yeah, any others? Secondary office, okay, alongside the elders or maybe under the care, under the oversight of the elders.

58:44

Yeah, okay, that's good. So the Greek word that informs the word deacon, deacon is a pure transliteration from the

58:53

Greek word diakonos. And diakonos simply means servant. So if you wanted to say a deacon, ultimately if they were to translate rather than to transliterate, it's translated to mean servant.

59:07

So a deacon is to be a servant of the church. And we see that the Greek word diakonos used in a variety of terms.

59:14

One of the places we see it, if you remember, the very first place where Jesus had his first miracle, the wedding at Cana, there were those who were serving the wine and so they were sharing the wine.

59:28

Those were diakonos. So they were table servants. They were those that were serving the wine to the guests, almost like a waiter or something like that.

59:37

And as we look through the Bible, we see that that term diakonos grows in terms of the broadness or grows in its scope of use.

59:46

And so we get from Cana in Galilee all the way to Romans chapter 13.

59:53

Those who are in a position of authority under the government are also called diakonos.

59:59

They're also servants of God as members of the government. So deacons are servants.

01:00:06

Now, Nicole, I like what you pointed out there that do deacons just change light bulbs?

01:00:13

No, they don't. The deacons are much more than that. And what we're going to do is we're going to look at the qualifications and the day -to -day tasks together because so little is written about the deacons that we find the most about their task in the qualifications.

01:00:27

So 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 8.

01:00:34

And Steve, you mentioned earlier too, you referenced the office of deacon in Acts chapter 6.

01:00:41

We won't go there, but we see there the prototype of the deacons that there was a need that arose amongst the

01:00:49

Hellenistic Jews. The widows felt they were being neglected in the provision of food for the

01:00:57

Hellenistic widows. And so deacons, a prototype, those were also called diakonos.

01:01:03

They were providing service to the church. But we see the qualifications in chapter 3 and verse 8.

01:01:09

Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double -tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.

01:01:17

They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience and let them also be tested first, then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless.

01:01:27

Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderous, but sober -minded, faithful in all things.

01:01:34

Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their own households well.

01:01:40

For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

01:01:49

And so deacons are to be dignified. Again, they're to be exemplary.

01:01:55

They're to be respectable men that the church can look at and see as an example.

01:02:02

Everyone in the church is ultimately to be a servant, and these are to be exemplary servants.

01:02:09

I think that we see one area where the deacons might have been tasked. It says that they're not to be greedy for dishonest gain.

01:02:16

Perhaps the deacons were tasked with the care of material resources or maybe even money like Judas was, only

01:02:24

Judas, we know, was stealing from the purse. And so deacons, it would certainly be,

01:02:30

I think, feasible and appropriate for deacons to be charged with the oversight of some of the financial resources.

01:02:40

If you guys were to look there at some of the qualifications, I'll open this up. What are some things that you might see the deacons, some functions you might see them perform based on their qualifications?

01:02:58

Yeah, so based on the qualifications, can you see any other functions that might be involved in their work purely based on qualification?

01:03:07

So we mentioned not greedy for dishonest gain. Yeah, there's that one.

01:03:19

I think what's interesting, too, is in verse 11, their wives, likewise, must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober -minded, faithful in all things.

01:03:29

I think the deacons probably would have access to sensitive information, and so whether that's visiting, meeting the needs of the people in the assembly.

01:03:39

And so their wives ought not to be slanderous, but faithful in all things, not gossips, sharing, oh, did you hear so -and -so lost his job or something like that.

01:03:49

It says that they're to manage their own households well, so there's, sorry, you were going to say something, so you can go ahead. There's an administrative element to that, just like the elders, they're to care for the needs of the church, and there's a managing element, a care -taking element to that, you were going to say.

01:04:13

In verse 10, it says, let them be tested first, and then let them serve as deacons. There isn't a whole lot to say about how deacons are to be tested.

01:04:25

It might be left a little bit open in that regard, that they're tested before the congregation, but one of the questions

01:04:32

I have in addition to that is their wives, I think, should be tested first. Oh, let's have a look there.

01:04:40

So, well, I think this is speaking specifically to the deacons themselves, not their wives, although I think their wives are being observed and to a certain element evaluated as the deacons are, if that makes sense.

01:04:58

And I think that we don't see it in the office or the qualifications for overseers or elders, but I think the same thing happens, and you see

01:05:09

Paul, for instance, exhort Timothy not to lay hands on suddenly, and so there's still a testing element that's happening there where they're seeing the life of the elder or they're seeing the life of the deacon and they're not laying hands on too suddenly, not joining in that sin, but they're taking a measured and careful approach to ensure that both are qualified, carefully qualified.

01:05:32

But I think that that specifically doesn't direct, it's not directing testing to the wives, if that makes sense.

01:05:39

So there's managing the church, and I think that the reason why there isn't a lot of detail given is,

01:05:49

I think, because the needs of the church are so broad that you can have deacons that can look after a variety of things.

01:05:57

Might deacons change light bulbs? I suppose. That, to me, is not the best use of a deacon.

01:06:05

I know, of course you were. You were being facetious. But it's to meet for the practical needs, it's to care for the practical needs of the church.

01:06:15

I think that deacons are to be ministers of mercy. We see that in the Act 6 model, and then people like Alexander Strauch, who've written books on this, would say that the deacons ought to be assistants to the elders.

01:06:26

And I think it's notable, the one thing that we don't see in the office of a deacon that we see in the office of the elder, does anyone know what that is?

01:06:34

It's the ability to teach. And so certainly they're able to help with the practical needs, but there isn't the teaching requirement.

01:06:44

And there are many men in the church that meet that criteria, that they have no ambition to teach, they have no desire, they feel they have no gift, and maybe that's been observed as well, and yet they are very, very capable of the office of a deacon, which in itself is a noble office.

01:07:02

So, and then I'll finish up with this thought. And when both offices are performed well, when both offices are fulfilled well, ultimately all of this points to the chief shepherd.

01:07:20

It all points to the suffering servant, which is Jesus Christ.

01:07:25

And so when a church has good biblical government, I asked at the beginning, why is it important?

01:07:32

It's because God cares for his church, it's because God cares for his glory, and ultimately when biblical church leadership is functioning well, and it's functioning appropriately, it brings glory to Christ, who is the chief shepherd, who is the great servant.

01:07:50

1 Peter 2, 24 and 25, He himself bore our sins in his body, on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

01:08:00

By his wounds you have been healed, for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseers of your souls.

01:08:10

And so Christ is the great shepherd, he is the great servant, he laid his life down for his church.

01:08:17

And when shepherds, elders, overseers lay down their lives for the flock, they bring glory to Christ.

01:08:26

And when deacons serve well, when they are ministers of mercy, when they care for the needs of the flock, and even of those outside of the household of faith, they point to the suffering servant,

01:08:37

Jesus Christ. One brother, he wrote, although the church has many leaders, this is from Mark Johnson, it has only one leader in the ultimate sense, the

01:08:48

Lord Jesus Christ. He is the great shepherd or pastor of the sheep. Though he uses men to feed and care for his flock, it is actually

01:08:56

Christ himself who works through them. Those who lead the church only do so under the oversight and supervision of the

01:09:04

Lord Jesus. He who is the head of the body of the church and the shepherd and overseer of souls.

01:09:11

So it is my prayer that as we do this, as we plant this church, and as we appoint elders, and hopefully,

01:09:20

Lord willing, as we plant other churches and appoint elders, that it does just that, that it ultimately points to the head of the body who is

01:09:29

Christ. Did you guys have any questions before we close in prayer? Okay, well, we'll pray and then you can ask after.

01:09:46

Father, we love you. We thank you. Lord, we thank you that you are a

01:09:51

God of order and that you've given order to your church and that you've ordered the leadership in such a way that it meets both our spiritual needs,

01:10:01

Lord, that we would be fed, that we would be cared for, that we would be protected, that we would be led by example, and Lord, that you've provided for our physical needs,

01:10:11

Lord, that no one amongst us would be in need, and that,

01:10:17

Lord, that we would be well cared for and looked after, and Lord, ultimately, you've put these offices in your church that we would know your love, that we would experience your love and your great care for us until you return as our chief shepherd, as the lover and the carer of our souls, and so,

01:10:40

Lord, we give you glory, we give you praise, we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. You had a question?

01:10:48

This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

01:10:55

To access other sermons or to learn more about us, please visit our website at graceedmonton .ca.