WWUTT 337 Examples to the Flock?

The Church’s Growth in Maturity and Sound Doctrine

We're gonna be in 1st Peter chapter 5 verses 1 through 5 again today. You know when it comes to growing a church in maturity and sound doctrine that's a process that takes a long time. So we need to be committed to that church when we understand the text.

You are listening to When We Understand The Text, an online Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty. Find videos and more at our website www .utt .com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you Becky. In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 we read that God gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes, rather speaking the truth in love.

We are to grow up in every way unto him who is the head into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

So we have here in Ephesians chapter 4 starting in verse 11 once again a description of the authority in the church. It begins with the authority in the church and it starts with the apostles and the prophets.

They are the first authority in the church. The apostles, as Paul explained in Ephesians chapter 2, are the foundation of the church with Christ himself being the cornerstone. So he was the first stone to be laid down, but he appointed his apostles who would go and share the gospel with the world, who would continue this foundation of the church, and then all of the stones that would be built on top of it.

As Peter described in 1 Peter chapter 2, living stones. We are all living stones being built into a spiritual house. So this is continuing the metaphor that Paul had in Ephesians 2 of Christ being the cornerstone, the apostles being the foundation of the church, and then we all are being built on top of that.

So in Ephesians 4 .11, Christ gave the apostles and the prophets, and this is talking about the apostles who wrote the New Testament and the prophets who wrote the Old Testament. So the apostles showing how what the prophets prophesied was fulfilled in Christ Jesus and how we as the church are continuing to live in the fulfillment of all of these things that were pointing toward Christ written about in the Old Testament.

God gave the apostles and the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and the teachers. And those are the next ones who are continuing this work of ministry. The evangelists are the ones who go out and from town to town, from place to place, declaring the word of God, preaching the gospel to the people who are there.

Churches are being planted and then appointed in each one of those churches is a shepherd and teacher. You have a shepherd who is the one who might be the overseer in the church. Now we have, we have it given throughout the scriptures that every time we talk about elder, it's always in the plural.

The only place where elder is referred to in singular is in first Timothy chapter three. And that's where it's talking about how an individual elder, the qualifications that he needs to meet in order to be qualified, I guess I use the word already, the qualifications he needs to meet in order to be qualified for that position as an elder in the church.

So that's why it's used there in the singular everywhere else. It's used in the plural, very clearly. We have eldership appointed in a church in the plural. There are multiple elders in a church. In my church, there are three.

I am considered to be the overseer. So I would be the elder who is worthy of double honor. The one who is a full time elder. I get paid for that position and I am referred to as the pastor. So I'm the overseer, but we still have a plurality of eldership in that all of the elders together, the three of us all have an equal vote.

So I don't have any more authority than they do. And I still have to submit to their authority as eldership. And in likewise, they submit to mine. So we, as the eldership have equal authority, I am not superior to them.

And they therefore have to do what I tell them to do. That's not necessarily how that works. That wouldn't be a functioning eldership in my point of view. I've heard John MacArthur talk about how he's been outvoted by the other elders before.

What would that be like voting against John MacArthur? But see, that's and that's the way that a functioning eldership should go. Every elder has equal authority. Now you're going to have your paid pastors, those who have committed their lives to full time ministry, an elder who is worthy of double honor, as Paul describes to Timothy.

And then you're also going to have your lay elders, those who are volunteer. But among the eldership, the paid elders do not have any more authority than the lay elders do. And and nonetheless, I would still say that a church should have a plurality eldership.

I think that's the way that we see it in the scriptures. But you do have that one that is considered the overseer. He is the one that that has been appointed, that has been called by the church to head up the teaching.

He's the one that is the primary pastor who is doing most of the teaching from the pulpit at any given time. And that's the position that I hold. James, you see, described that way over the Jerusalem church.

And more than likely, Timothy was being sent to Ephesus to be that particular elder. He's the one who is worthy of double honor. And he is the overseer who is overseeing all of the teaching that is going on there at the church in Ephesus.

So we have the the shepherds and the teachers that are described here and the shepherds and teachers might be the shepherd being the overseer and the teacher being the other elders. But this is your hierarchy of authority in the church, so to speak.

You have the apostles and the prophets. You have the evangelists who are leading people to Christ and then planting the churches in those towns. But the evangelist moves on and then he will go on to another community and bring other people to Christ.

Then you have the shepherds and the teachers who are overseeing that particular church and that particular body, the teaching that is going on in that congregation. So that is what the shepherd does in the church.

That is the calling that he is fulfilling. As Peter is talking about this here, I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder. Now, Peter, who is an apostle, still equates himself as a fellow elder.

So he's talking with authority as an apostle, but then also saying, look, the work that you're doing, I'm experienced in, I'm doing that same work where I'm at, which he describes as Babylon in verse 13.

We'll get to that tomorrow. So as a fellow elder, as one who is in a particular church and overseeing the care of those people in that congregation, as a witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.

So Peter serves as a shepherd. He serves as a pastor. But then there are also other things that he has knowledge of that most shepherds do not. Most elders are not going to have been a person who saw Christ crucified and resurrected and ascended into heaven or saw him transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration or witnessed his baptism and the voice of God coming from heaven saying, this is my son with whom I am well pleased.

These are things that Peter was privy to that most other shepherds will never have experienced. But nonetheless, Peter is saying that I know what it's like to be in long suffering over a particular body, a particular church congregation, teaching them and being faithful to that particular group.

Peter's saying that he knows what that is like. He is experienced in that. I've heard Mark Dever talk about that if a pastor is ever going to see significant gains being made in a particular congregation and a teaching that takes hold and becomes the regular tradition in that church, it's going to take something like 40 years.

So a pastor needs to have a mindset of believing that this is the church that I have been appointed to oversee and not having this mindset of, I'm going to, you know, serve in this church for a few years, maybe 5, 10, if they're lucky, and then God's going to call me on to something else and I'm going to pastor in another church.

Pastors should not have this mindset of being transient, of being the non-permanent fixture in the church. Really, the pastor needs to be committed to that body and that congregation and teaching for a long period of time.

And it could be that the Lord is going to call him on to something else. I'm not going to say that any pastor that is serving in a church for like five years and then ups and moves to another church is somehow unfaithful to that body.

I don't think that's the case at all. Every situation is different and every one is unique. But a pastor needs to have the mindset of believing that this is the church congregation that I have been entrusted to oversee.

This is the congregation where God has called me to and to care for this flock so that he's personally invested in this body and never having this idea of, you know, if it doesn't work out here, I can always go somewhere else.

He's long-suffering with this group, would even allow himself to be ridiculed by people within that body who may not be faithful to the sound teaching of the Word of God, which has happened to me in my church with people whom I have called friend who I have had in my home and we have eaten dinner together.

We've done ministry together. We have spent hours of time talking and doing things, laughing and crying together. Some people I've even baptized before, and yet there is something that I will preach and they will just snap and they will hate me for preaching what it is that I have preached and will almost instantly betray me and turn their backs on me.

One of the most notorious examples that has happened in my church involved a deacon and this was two years to the day from the time that I became the senior pastor at my church. I served for two years as an associate pastor before I was elected as the senior pastor.

So two years after that vote, I had to have a sit down with one of my deacons who had been making accusations of people that were false. And he was saying false things about me, passing emails among the deacons behind my back.

He hated the doctrine of predestination. He hated this idea that God had decided from the foundation of the world who was going to be saved and who was going to be the objects of his wrath. I had just recently preached on a passage in Second Timothy chapter one, where Paul says, therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

I was actually wrapping up a sermon series on Second Timothy and came back to that passage and then was beginning with a series in Titus and was reading in Titus 1, 1, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth with which accords with godliness.

So in two sermons in a row, I had talked about God's election and this deacon hated that doctrine. In fact, he called it a false doctrine and he called it a Pharisee, a cool doctrine. He accused me of being a hypocrite.

And instead of confronting me about that personally, and instead of asking questions about what it was that I believe, like he never asked me a single question about what I believe concerning this doctrine and what I taught, nor did he even want to understand it.

He just immediately made this decision in his mind that it was a false teaching and he was going to go behind my back to try to rally the deacons against me and also share false and slanderous accusations about me and other members of the church who believe the same way that I did behind our backs.

And so again, this was two years to the day I had to sit down and have a conversation with this deacon about the way that he was acting. We ended up removing him from his teaching position because he was teaching a Sunday school class at the time.

And so he responded by just saying, well, you know what, I'm just going to leave the church altogether. Several months later, he ended up publishing this paper, which is still online. If you're searching the right corners of the internet, you can find it, in which he slanders me in every possible way that he can.

And I won't even go into some of the things that he accuses me of, but they're all false. All of the accusations are false. And thank God that I am a part of a church with a plurality eldership. Truly, I thank the Lord for that because those elders were able to verify that all of those accusations are totally false.

These things that he says of Gabe, Gabe doesn't do that at all. And we can verify that Gabe's character is not what this man says that it is. So this is one of those instances where, as a pastor, I have been in this church for a long time, and I have been through some wonderful, wonderful things, shared some wonderful memories with people, helping families with adoptions, seeing people get saved that we've prayed for for a long time, doing baptisms.

I did a baptism of Guy two weeks before was a professing atheist, and now he was a professing Christian glorifying God for the salvation that he had in Christ Jesus and had the chance to baptize this man.

I've seen some wonderful, wonderful things happen in this church. But long suffering with this congregation, I've also had a lot of heartbreak and have had people betray me and turn their backs on me.

And the whole congregation has seen these things happen and has seen me stick through that and still continue to to defend the flock. See, I had to defend the flock from that teacher who was saying false and slanderous things and was going to attempt to divide that body of Christ.

And so it takes a pastor that is committed to his flock for for a long standing period, not saying that, you know, when the tough get when the going gets tough, the tough get going. And I'm just going to go off to another church that cannot be the mindset of a pastor.

He has got to endure even the ridicule and the persecution that is going to come at the hands of those that he thought were his friends, that he thought were brothers and sisters in Christ. And doing this is part of tending the flock.

It's part of defending the sheep from the wolves. These very people who would try to cause these divisions in the church. Paul gives instructions about that to Titus in Titus three, nine, but avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.

As for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him knowing that such a person is warped and sinful. He is self condemned. Shepherds are going to have to know that they will they have to deal with these kinds of people.

It is part of the job that an elder has, that a pastor has in caring for the flock. If a pastor can't endure those things, then he should not be a pastor. If a pastor's mindset is, you know, when the when the church gets tough on me, I'm just going to go to another church, then he should not be a pastor because he he thinks that his job as a pastor is just, hey, I can just stand up at the pulpit and teach and nobody should ever make things hard on me.

There's never going to be disagreements in my church. I'm never going to allow that to happen. Oh, sure. Of course there is, because there are different levels of maturity and spiritual growth in your church.

So you're going to have people who are going to disagree with you. The real test of their genuineness is going to be, can they disagree with you and love you as a brother in Christ anyway? And so that's the kinds of things that need to happen in the church.

And the rest of the church needs to see those things happen, that a pastor is going to be long suffering for his congregation, that he is defending them against false teachers and those who would try to cause divisions.

Shepherding by Example, Not Domination

This is part of shepherding 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 who are in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

Your position as a pastor is not a position of authority and that you can tell people what to do. And if you disagree with me, we'll get out of my church. That's not how that should go. But rather we who are mature have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak as is described in Romans chapter 15 and also Romans 12 .3.

We've talked about that before. So not domineering over those who are in your charge. I'm smarter than you. I'm better than you. I'm the pastor. And so you need to listen to what it is that I say to you.

That's not the way that a pastor should act, but rather being an example to the flock, an example of humility. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Pastor, do you not feel like you're receiving your due, your recognition, your credit for the things that it is that you do?

Don't try to take matters into your own hands and boast about your own achievements and the things that you have succeeded in doing. It is God who will give you that unfading crown of glory when he appears.

God will vindicate his own name. You will receive more than what you deserve when your reward is given you in Christ Jesus. And so we need to be examples to the flock. And I don't share these stories of mine as though to say, you know, look how much better I am than these other people.

But it's just merely to encourage a pastor in being long suffering with his congregation. And maybe you, if you are encouraging another pastor to be one that is not ready to jump ship whenever things get tough, but will stick it out for his flock.

And they will see that faithfulness and that commitment to the church, because that is an example to the rest of the church as to how we all should be to the body of Christ. None of us ever abandoning our church whenever things get tough or whenever somebody hurts our feelings or or we even see squabbles and divisions starting up in the church, but sticking with it for the sake of the faith of God's elect so that we will all grow together in love into the head who is Christ Jesus.

All of us need to be committed to the church. And that needs to start with the example of the pastor being committed to his congregation that God has entrusted to him to care for. I once served under a pastor who told me that every Monday he wrote a letter of resignation, like he would get so fed up with some of the ridicule and the criticism that he received that he would write a letter of resignation and that was therapeutic for him.

And then he would feel better about it and then be able to carry on with his week. Now at first, when he shared that story with me, I was a pretty young pastor at the time. And so I was I was like, you know, ha ha, well, that that sounds like a good way to kind of, you know, exercise the grievances that you have instead of taking that out on a brother or sister unjustly.

But in hindsight, when I look back on that, I don't think that pastor should have been a pastor. And what ended up happening is he did leave that church to start his own with its own governance from the very beginning.

It was his church so he could do whatever it was that he wanted. And the church congregation that he left behind thought very fondly of him, but he did not think very fondly of them. I never told them that, though.

I never said anything to any members of that church saying that, you know, he he did not think of you as as highly as you think that he did, which is why he never comes back around here anymore. Even though you think his heart is here, it's it's really not.

So that's that's between him and the Lord. It was not for me to to bolster myself by saying, I'm committed to you. And he wasn't, you know, but rather, I learned from that pastor's mistakes because I very likely could have come into a church situation leading that church with the same mindset that he did.

Had I not witnessed that in him first and seeing the importance of being committed to a church congregation so that they would grow in their understanding of doctrine and maturity, growing together into the head, who is Christ Jesus?

Rejecting the Disposable View of Church

We live in a very disposable culture where we think that, you know, if we don't like something, I don't like my cell phone. I can go get another one. You know, when my two year contract is up, I'm going to get a new iPhone out of this when I don't like the girl that I'm dating.

I can just dump her and I can go get another one. And we just this constant disposable culture that we are in. And so we treat the church like a girlfriend. I'm going to be in this church for a while, as long as she's doing for me what I want her to do.

And then when I'm not interested in her anymore or she doesn't look attractive to me, I can dump her and go to another church. Friend of mine, Jack Hager, came to speak in my church and he described that same thing and said, you know what that's called?

That's called adultery. When you are in a church for a little bit of time and then you go jump to another church because you like the way that this treats when it treats you better or you have this idea that nobody's ever going to hurt my feelings here like they did at this other church.

Of course they are. You know why? Because the church is full of sinners. You need to have grace and forgiveness in your heart for your brothers and sisters in Christ, because I'm going to tell you, they're gracious with you.

My church congregation puts up with a lot of stuff with me, and I put up with stuff with them as well, because we're all sinners. But we are growing in this process of sanctification, growing one another in the faith, growing into the head who is Christ, growing in maturity as men and women of God.

And that work takes a long time. So you have got to be committed to your church congregation in thick and thin. This needs to start with the pastor who sets the example for his church. And then all of the rest of us as members of a church congregation need to follow that example and be committed to that church through thick and thin.

You might attend a church where you see two, three, four pastors go through there over the span of a decade. But you be committed to that body and their growth in sound doctrine. That is a responsibility of every member of the church, not just the pastor.

But the teaching begins there with the pastor in the pulpit. I pray that your pastor is committed to the sound words, the sound teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And may we all be committed to that.

Tomorrow, we're going to talk about being humble. So the pastor is to be humble. He's to set that example for the congregation. And then we have it in verse six, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.

Did I say that yesterday? I think yesterday I said we were going to talk about that today. Well, I promise we're getting to it on Wednesday. God willing. Let us pray. Lord, thank you so much for the grace and love that you have shown to us, the forgiveness that you've given us in Christ Jesus.

Let us show that same grace to the members of the body of Christ, not being so touchy with everybody, not making everyone feel like they have to walk on eggshells with us. But just as brothers and sisters will hurt our feeling, and yet we are still a brother and sister with them.

We're still part of that family, whether we like it or not. So we have to understand the church is the same way. We're going to get our feelings hurt by people, even within the church, because we go to church with sinners.

But let us be patient with one another, forgiving one another, and so fulfilling the law of love in Jesus Christ, our Lord, in whose name we pray, amen.

This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast, or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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