TPW 70 Biblical Presbyterian Church Government and Ruling Elders

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I don't care if you're the greatest preacher since John Chrysostom, Charles Spurgeon, or Martin Lloyd -Jones.
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If you don't teach your congregations how to select godly officers, and if you don't train those men well, you are going to be slaughtered by the ministry.
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Welcome to the Protestant Witness, this is Pastor Patrick Hines here at Birtle Heights Presbyterian Church, and today
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I'm going to post the first of four sermons that I just preached on elders, and the importance of elders, and the fact that we're opening nominations for elder, and I'm hoping we'll get two or three more because we really need a few more elders, and I would certainly welcome prayer for Birtle Heights Presbyterian Church as the selection of elders is a momentous and very important part of church life.
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But in this first sermon, I address the issue of why do we practice
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Presbyterian Church government as opposed to a form of prelacy or episcopacy, and congregational or independent church government.
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Why do we believe in government by a plurality of elders, and we also believe in the regional church, a presbytery, and general assembly or synod, depending on what denomination you're in.
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Why are those things important, and why is it critical that we practice church government in a biblical fashion?
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This may seem like a bit of a dry and somewhat academic topic, but there is nothing more practical.
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I think the reason that we're seeing a lot of the fallout and a lot of the apostasy, a lot of the indifference about false doctrine that's going on today in the church, is because these elder requirements are not understood very well by congregations.
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And the fact is, congregations are to select their own elders, they are to pick men from among them who meet the qualifications and are able to teach and who know the doctrines of the faith, and also who have the stomach for the controversy that is most certainly going to accompany that office.
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And so you don't have a whole lot of men that seem to understand this, and that's why heresy runs rampant, because people are so intimidated.
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You know, I've just listened to, finished listening to part four of The Decline and Fall of Sola Fide of John Piper, and my brethren,
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Tim and Carlos, just doing a great job of pointing out the biblical teaching and the fact that this is what the historic
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Reformed confessions have always taught about this issue of justification and getting into heaven and all that.
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And one of the things that they said I thought was really spot on is, so many people are kind of waiting for a celebrity pastor to come out against John Piper, and we don't need to wait for that.
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When I was given the link to Piper's sermon, Does God Really Save Us by Faith Alone, you can watch the whole video,
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I listened to the whole sermon several times, and I knew immediately this is a false gospel. The fact is,
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I really had not really ever heard Piper address this issue, but he does it with such clarity that it's really amazing to me that so few have come out saying that no, this is not just a statement about the ordo salutis.
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He's not just saying that a changed life always accompanies justification. He's not saying this the way that our historic
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Reformed confessions or the way the Bible says it. He is asserting that what saves us at the last day is the fruits of our faith, is our works.
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And he's saying it repeatedly, emphatically, clearly, and yet there's, you know, just crickets chirping out there in the
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Reformed celebrity cult, which is why I don't put much stock in any of them anymore anyway. They sign things like the
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Manhattan Declaration, and I have all this, I just got the book Woke Church, someone forwarded me an article by Paul Tripp, horrible article, terrible article, where he finally has gotten woke to the issues of social justice, and we've been preaching a truncated gospel, blah blah blah.
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So when I finish the Woke Church, I may do a sermon or two on that, because these issues of social justice and race, all this racial stuff is just like fingernails down a chalkboard.
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So anyway, we have got to understand the office of elder, what qualifies someone to sit in that office, and what they're supposed to do in that office.
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The thing is, the Bible tells us in very simple, straightforward passages. And the book of Titus and 1
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Timothy gives us very detailed, very simple propositions about what to expect in that office, and what these men are going to have to do, what they have to be like, what their qualifications are, what the duties are, and then in Titus 2, 1 -10, the kind of model for ministry that they need to promote.
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But this first sermon is on the need for a Presbyterian form of church government, government by elders, etc.,
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and also just why the office of elder is so important, why we need elders, and why it is absolutely critical that people that sit in pews in churches, that they know these passages, because they are the ones who nominate and then elect their own elders.
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And so if there's ever been a group, it's not so much that pastors need to know these things, although they certainly do, it's the congregations, it's the people that sit in the pews.
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They need to know what their elders are supposed to, what they're supposed to be like, their qualifications, but what they're supposed to do as well.
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So I hope that you'll find this to be helpful, and edifying, this is the first of four I'm going to post on this. I am eventually going to get back to the
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Genesis stuff and to the Westminster Confession stuff, and there'll be some more programs here and there about other things, but I wanted to get these posted because I know that this is extremely important information, and we're entering into a season of nominating for elders, and once they're nominated, once men are nominated and they agree to serve, they go through a whole year of officer training, which
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I do with them. So anyway, it's a long process, but you've got to be thorough in the way you train your elders. As a great minister of the
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Word of God when I was in seminary came in and lectured us once and told us, if you don't do officer training well, I don't care if you're the best preacher since Charles Spurgeon, you are going to be slaughtered by the ministry.
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If you do not train good officers, the ministry is going to kill you. So in the interest of not having ministers killed by the ministry,
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I hope you find this to be edifying. Let's pray together, please, for God's blessing on our time in His Word.
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Father, thank you for choosing freely not to leave us in darkness, but to give us the words of eternal life.
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It truly is a blessing to have the Bible in our own language in its entirety in front of us this day.
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We know that you love us because you've spoken to us and have shown us the truth. Help us understand it.
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Help us to receive its truths with faith and love, lay them up in our hearts and practice them in our lives. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.
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Please turn your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 3. We have two passages we're going to read for our scripture readings.
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First Timothy 3, 1 through 7. First Timothy 3, 1 through 7, and then we'll look at 1
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Peter 5, 1 through 4 to the right there in your Bible just a little bit. First Timothy chapter 3, verses 1 through 7.
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This is God's Word. It is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is the fine work he desires to do.
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An overseer then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money.
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He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity.
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But if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God, and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil, and he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
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And then first Peter chapter 5, verses 1 through 4.
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First Peter 5, 1 through 4. First Peter 5, 1 through 4.
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This is God's Word. Therefore I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God, and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be 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 bless the reading of his infallible Word. I've given you a fairly detailed outline this morning there in your bulletin, also a number of things for your thoughts for Sabbath meditation.
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I would encourage you all to go through that document together, look up the passages, because it's vitally important that we understand how
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God wants us to govern our churches. This morning we are going to begin a short series of four sermons on elders because the session is planning to open up nominations for the office of elder sometime in the next couple of months.
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Because biblical church government works from the ground up and not the top down, the power resides in the hands of the communicant members of the local church to nominate men to be their elders and their deacons.
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So we do not believe in a top -down structure of church government. These scriptures teach us a bottom -up function, a bottom -up government.
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The power resides ultimately in the congregations, in the communicant membership of local churches.
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It is the congregations that are called upon by God to understand and to apply the biblical passages on elders and deacons.
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And I just want to say, if local congregations do not understand these passages that I'm going to be preaching to you, then the nomination of elders and deacons can be catastrophic.
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You all have to understand this stuff because you all select your own deacons, you all select your own elders.
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Only the congregations are qualified to make these choices because only the congregations know the people who are part of those congregations.
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When the diaconate was first formed, it was a beautiful illustration of the ground -up design of church government.
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The apostles of Christ did not decide who was going to be a deacon. They did not pick the deacons.
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In Acts chapter 6, remember, 2 -4, Then the twelve apostles summoned the multitude of the disciples and said,
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It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation.
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You see what they said? You guys pick out from among yourselves. You figure out who these men are.
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Men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business, but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.
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So they were told by the apostles, you seek out from among yourselves men of good reputation, full of wisdom, the
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Holy Spirit, etc. The congregations do this. The selection of new elders is momentous and it is far -reaching in its consequences.
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When I was in seminary, there was a local pastor that came in and lectured us for three hours, three hours on the need for good officer training and good instruction to your congregation on how to select godly elders for your church.
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And I remember writing in my notes, word for word, something that he said, he said this to us, quote,
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I don't care if you're the greatest preacher since John Chrysostom, Charles Spurgeon or Martin Lloyd Jones.
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If you don't teach your congregations how to select godly officers, and if you don't train those men well, you are going to be slaughtered by the ministry.
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Because once you get a bad guy on your session, it can take an entire generation to get rid of them.
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End quote. I wrote that down and highlighted it and put a star next to it. We're blessed in our church with peace and godliness among all of our officers.
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We are really blessed. I hope everyone here recognizes that. We are really blessed to have each other, the officers in this church.
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But in the coming months, we are hoping that a couple of men will be nominated to become elders in our church.
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This is a hugely important and also very exciting decision that you all will be making.
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You all will be making that decision. And I would ask all of you, please pray hard about it.
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In your devotions at home and your family worship time, read through first and second
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Timothy and Titus. Read the pastoral letters together as a family. Us, the adults and our covenant children, they need to understand what an elder is.
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They need to understand what a deacon is. Read Acts chapter 20, verses 17 to 28 together as families, as couples, as individuals.
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Look carefully at the qualifications and duties of elders. It's a monumental task to which
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God calls elders and it's not for the faint of heart and it's not for the weak or the cowardly either. Every elder in every local church feels and every deacon too, inadequate to the task before them.
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We all feel inadequate to the task, but in Christ, it can be done in a way that is glorifying to Christ.
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In Christ, we can do it. God calls men with hearts of gold and backbones of steel and feet of clay to be officers.
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And it's a blessing and it can also be a huge trial to do it. At times, you may have to stand alone or almost alone.
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Other times, the sweetness of brotherly unity will be enough to make your heart ache with joy.
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I think of Psalm 133 when I think about the officers of our church. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.
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It is like the precious oil upon the head running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron running down on the edge of his garments.
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In preparation for us to continue to dwell in unity and to have good and pleasant days as a church, we must rejoice in a study of the office and the qualifications of elders.
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God is very good to us to have given us such clear revelation about this office and the work of elders.
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When I worked as a computer programmer in my first line of work for 11 years before I was a pastor, the first job that I had was at a greeting card company in their information services division.
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And I couldn't help but notice after I'd been there, after I graduated out of college and was working for a few months,
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I couldn't help but notice that one of the main guys in charge of the whole division seemed to me like he didn't know anything about computers.
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And he didn't know anything about computer applications or programming and in fact didn't know anything about what we did.
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And I asked the senior guy on my work group about that. I said, that guy doesn't really seem to know what in the world it is that we actually do.
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And he chuckled and said, oh yes. They were desperate to fill that position. They were desperate to fill that position and they couldn't find anyone.
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So human resources found this guy and they really liked him. He has a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in psychology.
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And upper level management said, yeah, but he doesn't know anything about computers. And the powers that be said, here's your man.
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And upper level management said, yeah, but he doesn't know anything about capacity planning with regard to computer applications.
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And they said, here's your man. And upper level management said, yeah, but we don't know if the guy even knows how to turn on a computer.
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And the powers that be said, here's your man. You see the illustration I'm making here?
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You don't just fill offices in your church with warm bodies. You've got to understand what they need to know and what they need to be able to do to do it well.
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And that poor guy was incompetent for the job because he was unqualified for it. He didn't understand what we were doing.
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In congregation, you have to understand the biblical qualifications. You have to understand how to recognize those things before you nominate someone.
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So to begin, I'd like to start with a very convicting passage. I already read it to you. Just let me read it again. First Peter 5, 1 through 4, if you're still looking at it.
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I want you to notice especially the last phrase of verse 3, but listen to the whole passage first. Therefore, I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily according to the will of God and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, not yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.
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And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. This is at the heart of the reason for elders.
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The sheep of Christ need to have examples to follow who will protect them from error and show them true godliness in their lives.
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And for every man serving as an elder, it's always convicting to read through the list of qualifications and it's, it's convicting to read that passage.
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First Peter 5, 3, you're to be an example to the flock. What does that mean that you as a man have to be? You have to be what every man in that church aspires to be.
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That's a tough thing to think about. Am I, am I what I hope every man in this church becomes in some ways, maybe, but we're supposed to be examples, being an example to the flock.
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That's the word to pass. That's where we get the word type or typology. You are to exemplify what every man in the church should want to be when he grows up.
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That's at the heart of it. Now, no one meets these qualifications perfectly. Turn back to first Timothy chapter three.
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We're going to walk through a little bit of this, but I want to lay some preliminary groundwork here at first. I've given you a four point outline there in your bulletin.
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Number one, does it matter how we govern our churches? Does it matter how we do this? Secondly, what is a bishop?
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Thirdly, what he must be to be a bishop. And then fourthly, what his testimony must be among outsiders.
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And then this evening we're going to look in more detail at each of the qualifications that are listed there. But number one, does it matter how we govern our churches?
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In 1856, a man named Thomas Withereau, a minister in Northern Ireland, a man who, after 20 years of preaching, spent the remainder of his life as a professor of church history, wrote an excellent little book called
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The Apostolic Church, Which Is It?, in which he points out that there are basically three types of church government that exist today, and there's variations on all of these.
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But basically, if you look at the broader spectrum of what says it's Christianity today, there are three major forms of government that are listed there in your bulletin.
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The first one is called prelacy. What is that? That form of church government, which is administered by archbishops, deans, archdeacons, and other ecclesiastical office bearers, depending on that hierarchy, and is such as we see exemplified in the
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Greek church, the Church of Rome, and the Church of England. The second, independency. That form of church government whose distinctive principle is that each separate congregation is under Christ subject to no external jurisdiction whatever, but has within itself and its office bearers and members all the materials of government, and is such as is present in practical operation among congregationalists and baptists.
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And then there's presbytery. The form of church government which is dispensed by presbyters or elders, met in session, presbytery, synod, or general assembly, and is such as is presented in the several
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Presbyterian churches of Ireland, Scotland, England, and America. Now what Witherell goes on to do in his short book, this little paperback book, is he identifies six basic biblical marks of church government.
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There are six things that we know for sure that the apostolic church in the New Testament did. Six things.
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They're listed there in your bulletin if you want to look at the list. Number one, in the apostolic church, the office bearers were chosen by the people.
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You want to know why do we let the congregations nominate their own officers? Because in the
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New Testament, that's how it was done. So we're trying to follow the apostolic example. Secondly, in the apostolic church, the offices of bishop and elder were identical.
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Now slowly but surely in church history, there came to be a very hard distinction between bishops and elders, but in scripture, those two terms are interchangeable.
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That's why we don't have bishops, elders, and deacons. We have elders. Elders are our bishops.
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Elders are overseers. Overseers are elders. Thirdly, in the apostolic church, in each individual church, there was a plurality of elders.
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You never, ever see a church governed by one person. You never just have one guy running a church.
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It doesn't work that way. In scripture, there's always a plurality of elders. Fourthly, in the apostolic church, ordination was the act of the presbytery of a plurality of elders.
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You remember if you were here seven years ago when I was ordained to this call, when I was installed here, we had to elect a commission of other ministers in our presbytery and they all came and laid hands on me, kneeling right over here.
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They all, a bunch of elders laid hands on me to set me apart because that's how ordination was done in the
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New Testament. The laying on of the hands of the presbytery, of the eldership. Number five, in the apostolic church, the privilege of appeal to the assembly of elders and the right of government exercised by them in their corporate character.
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There are graded courts in the New Testament. You see the Council of Jerusalem as the example par excellence of that.
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If something goes wrong in the local church, people can appeal it to the next level. And then sixthly, in the apostolic church, the only head of the church was the
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Lord Jesus Christ. So you never had the prime minister of England as the head of the church.
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You never had the Bishop of Rome or the Patriarch of Constantinople, the head of the church is Jesus Christ and all those passages that are listed there in your bulletin,
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I would urge you to look those up and look at how the New Testament tells us to govern our churches.
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That's all we're trying to do. So here's the scorecard. Here's the scorecard for prelacy, independency, and presbytery in terms of how many marks out of the six they get.
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Prelacy, zero. How does prelacy, how they do on the scorecard, none.
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It's literally like prelacy sat down and said, let's read the scriptures and let's make sure that we don't do anything it tells us to do when it comes to church government.
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And they've been very successful at that. They don't govern their churches biblically at all. Independency, three, sometimes four out of six, and then presbyterianism, of course, six out of six, but we're a little biased here.
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But I would encourage you, seriously, look up all the passages. When I read the book, when I put those six points down,
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I pulled every single passage that he cites under each one of those headings. Look at the passages. Look them up and read them together.
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So in summary, does it matter how we do church government? Yes, it certainly does. And presbyterianism only works if we're presbyterians by conviction.
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Every conceivable argument has been used throughout church history to justify flagrant departures from biblical truth regarding church government.
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But let us remember something very biblical and very important. How does Christ execute the office of a prophet?
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Christ executes the office of a prophet in revealing to us by his word and spirit, the will of God for our salvation.
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How does Jesus govern his church? By his word and spirit. And so frankly,
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I don't care if someone claims that they have a vision of Jesus on high, telling them to govern the church in a way contrary to scripture.
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They are wrong and God's word is right. The scripture cannot be broken. God's truth is forever settled in heaven.
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What the scripture says, God says. What rule has God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?
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The word of God which is contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.
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Sola Scriptura is not just a reformation slogan, it is a way of life. It is a way of life.
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Sola Scriptura, vital truth, vital truth. Okay, secondly, what is a bishop?
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Look at 1 Timothy 3 verse 1 if you're there in your Bible. What is a bishop? Verse 1 of 1
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Timothy 3. It is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.
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Okay, stop there. It is critical to note that there are two offices in Christ's church today, that of elder and that of deacon.
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And within the office of elder, we make a distinction between teaching elders and ruling elders.
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And we do that based on several passages. 1 Timothy 5 .17 says, let the elders who rule among you, ruling elders, be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine, teaching elders.
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1 Corinthians 12 .28, and God has appointed these in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers.
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We would say those are teaching elders. After that, miracles and gifts of healings, helps, and then administrations.
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Some translations translate that as governments. Those are ruling elders. So teaching elders and ruling elders right there in 1
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Corinthians 12 and 28. Now, during the age of the apostles, there were what theologians refer to as extraordinary offices, that of apostle, evangelist, and prophet.
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And I'd like to read to you a few questions and answers from what I think is one of the best resources on church government ever written.
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It's called An Ecclesiastical Catechism of the Presbyterian Church by Thomas Smith and was published in 1843.
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Every question about church government you could ever think of, and probably a whole bunch you never could think of, are answered in this catechism.
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336 questions and answers. Our guys were really detailed about things like this. But it's a marvelous and it's an almost devotional resource to read through.
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Now, my reason for reading this short section of it to you now is this. There's a lot of confusion about church government in our time and about what offices still exist in the church.
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And there's a great deal of confusion because of the rise of the charismatic movement, because of the rise of cults that are unique to the
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American religious landscape. So here are Dr. Smith's words. Question 75, how many kinds of office bearers did
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Christ appoint in his church? Two, extraordinary and ordinary. Now, what we have today is only the ordinary.
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We don't have extraordinary offices anymore. So he divides them into those two categories, extraordinary and ordinary.
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Question 76, what do you mean by extraordinary officers of the church? Answer, the extraordinary officers of the church were persons endowed with supernatural gifts and extraordinary authority, of which kind were apostles, evangelists, and prophets.
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Question 77, for what purpose were they appointed? Why did God give the apostolic church these extraordinary offices, apostles, evangelists, and prophets?
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Answer, Christianity requiring a series of miracles to attest its divine origin and inspiration to reveal all unnecessary truth.
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These officers were appointed to make known authoritatively the will of Christ, settle the constitution of the church, and commit the administration of it to ordinary and permanent officers.
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Question 78, did they have any successors in their character and duties as extraordinary officers?
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Answer, none that we read of in the word of God. Neither are we there told that any should succeed them as apostles, evangelists, or prophets.
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So the apostles, when they went out and did their mission work, when they preached throughout the Mediterranean world, what they did was they settled into those local churches elders and deacons.
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They did not have successors in their apostolic office. The extraordinary offices die out with the apostolic age for one simple reason.
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There is no need for them anymore. And that's why Paul wrote to Titus, here's the great ministry plan,
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Titus 1 .5. For this reason I left you in Crete that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you.
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What were they supposed to do? They were supposed to settle elders. What do all the local churches need? They need to have elders in them.
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There again, you see the plurality point. Elders in every city, not an elder in each city, but elders.
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Acts 14 .23, so when they, Paul and Barnabas, had appointed elders, and that term, by the way, they weren't unilaterally doing that.
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The term that's used there for appointed means elect by a show of hands, kairontos, to elect by a show of hands elders in every church.
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And pray with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. So what you see throughout the
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New Testament is the apostles and the extraordinary officers, they settle elders into local churches, not more apostles, not more prophets, not more evangelists.
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Now, question 79 of the same catechism asks, what was necessary to constitute an apostle? Actually, I had someone tell me that they knew someone who claimed they were an apostle today, and here's what you need to be an apostle.
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It was necessary that the apostles should have personally seen the Lord Jesus Christ, have obtained their commission immediately from Christ.
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In other words, Jesus picks them himself, and be endowed with the gift of working miracles.
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Be able to communicate miraculous powers to others, and possess authority over all the churches in every part of the world.
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Obviously, there's no one that does that today. Question 80, who were evangelists? Evangelists were extraordinary officers suited to the infant state of the church, who were commissioned to travel under the direction and control of the apostles, that they might ordain ministers and settle congregations according to the system laid down by Christ and the apostles.
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Now, one thing that's important, in our former church government, in chapter 8 .6, we do allow for this in extraordinary cases.
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We will allow a man, for example, who's doing pioneering missionary work, where he's 1 ,000 miles away from the closest
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Christian church. He will have the ability for up to a year or something like that to lay hands on people by himself and ordain elders.
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But that's not a permanent thing, it's only for a short period of time. For missions and for pioneering missionary work where there's nowhere nearby, is there another church where you could have a plurality of elders do that?
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Question 81, who were prophets? They were persons who, under the direction and extraordinary influence of the
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Holy Spirit, explained the scripture, enforced its doctrines, publicly addressed the church, and foretold events.
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And then question 84, who are the ordinary officers of the Christian church? Presbyters or elders?
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Ruling elders and deacons, and by presbyter, they mean what we call a teaching elder. And then finally, question 85, is there any distinction among those who are called elders?
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Yes, elders are divided into the teaching elders or pastors, and the ruling elders or helps.
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Okay, so this brings us back here to verse one. The office of bishop is a good work, and remember that bishop and elder are exactly the same office in scripture.
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A bishop is an elder, an elder is a bishop. Let me give you an example of how the scriptures show us that they are the same office.
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Please listen carefully to Titus 1, 5 through 7, and I've got these verses in your thoughts for Sabbath meditation.
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But listen carefully to the way the terms are interchangeable. For this reason, I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you.
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That's the term presbyteroid, elders. If a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination.
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For a bishop, that's the term episkopos, must be blameless as a steward of God. See what he's saying?
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I want you to set elders over these cities, Titus, because a bishop needs to be all these qualifications.
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You see that the two terms are referring to exactly the same office in that passage. And notice again, there must be elders in every church.
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There must be a plurality of elders in each local congregation to govern. There must always be more than one.
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You have to have more than one elder. Our Book of Church Order, chapter 12 .1 says, when a church has no pastor and there are five or more ruling elders, three shall constitute a quorum.
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If there are less than five ruling elders, two shall constitute a quorum. Listen, if there is only one ruling elder, he does not constitute a session.
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Hear that? If there's only one, he doesn't constitute a session. There must always be more than one.
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No one man is capable of running a local church, no matter how gifted or brilliant or spiritually mature or efficient he may be.
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There was a church in Virginia not too long ago in our presbytery where there were two elders there. There was a teaching elder and a ruling elder.
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And when the ruling elder resigned, we had to immediately call a presbytery meeting to appoint an interim session.
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Because when that ruling elder resigned, that church ceased to be a church. It ceased to have what constitutes a session to govern it.
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And so we immediately had to appoint a couple of elders from close churches nearby to help that guy out with ruling that church.
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So it's very important that we recognize that there's got to be a plurality of elders. I cannot tell you how many times
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I've come to session meetings with the thinking, if everyone would just listen to me, we can fix this and solve it.
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And then you listen to some other guy in the session who thought of something, never occurred to you. And you drive home thinking, that would have been a disaster had they listened to me, okay?
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I don't care how brilliant, smart, gifted, whatever anyone is, you have to have more than one mind, more than one man to govern the church.
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And that is by God's direction, okay? Thirdly, what he must be, look at verses two through six of First Timothy three.
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A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach.
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Not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous, one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence.
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For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? Not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.
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Now we're gonna cover each of those attributes listed this evening. But for this morning's sermon, we're gonna take a quick look at the overall thrust of the passage.
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If you boil all these things down, there are basically three things that an elder has to be, and I've got them listed there in your outline.
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Number one, he must be a long term example of godliness in his personal life.
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He's got to be a long term example of godliness in his personal life.
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Not a novice, you see that in verse six, not a novice. He cannot be a new convert.
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So often, zealous new believers are immediately thrust into positions of leadership, or a celebrity makes a profession of faith and they're quickly pushed into the limelight in direct opposition to this passage.
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Let's say a man with a dramatic testimony at the age of 35 becomes a Christian here in our church, and let's say that they're a gifted writer and a gifted speaker.
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And they're on fire for Christ, and they're witnessing to all their friends. And they're inviting people to church, and they start up a website, and they're writing articles about Jesus.
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And lots of people start following them and looking to them. And this is only, let's say, one or two years into their new life in Christ.
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Then someone in their church, seeing their zeal and their love for the Lord, nominates them to be an elder.
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Here would be my counsel to that man. First, you need to go through a period of discipleship and catechesis with a pastor or an elder and work through the
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Westminster Standards slowly and carefully and get grounded first. You need to make sure that you're establishing a daily pattern of devotion and prayer, and if you're married, a daily pattern of family worship in your home.
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And you need to read these books that we would give you and meet regularly with your pastors and an elder or two.
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You need to prove over the long haul that you're in this, that you're not a novice.
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Don't be a victim of those who want to immediately thrust you into a position of leadership.
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You need to become grounded in the word of God first. And you need to demonstrate your calling and election and make them sure.
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Always remember Luke 8, 11. Now, the parable is this. Jesus explained it to his disciples.
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The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are those who hear. Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
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But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. And these have no root, who believe for a while, and in time of temptation, fall away.
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Now, the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with the cares and riches, pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
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The first key qualification of an elder is he must be a long -term example of godliness in his personal life.
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He has weathered some trials. He's been through some difficulties in his life, and his faith has grown through those things.
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The trials, the temptations don't break him and make him fall away. They strengthen his resolve to follow Christ. So that's the first thing, not a novice.
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Secondly, he has to be able to teach. He has to be able to teach.
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The man must be much more than a really nice guy. He must be much more than a godly man.
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He also has to have the ability and the gift to teach the word of God to the people.
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Before a man can ever be considered for the office of elder, they must prove they have this ability to teach to the local church.
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The people must look at him and say, without question, this is a man who can open the word of God and teach it and make it clear to people.
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He can teach it in a way that's understandable. This is a man who knows and understands our doctrinal standards backwards and forwards.
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This is a man whose mind is saturated with the word of God, and he reads it constantly, and you can tell it informs everything that he thinks, and he can convey that to others.
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We must not let someone run for elder or become an elder if they just woke up one day saying,
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I feel called to be an elder. Now, if a man desires that, that's a good work, our passage says, but the elder must generally meet these qualifications.
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And that means he must be catechized and well -taught in the doctrines of truth and godliness, and he must be a zealous student of Scripture and know it well.
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Why is it so important that such a man be trained in the deep things of God and know Scripture? Why is that so important?
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That he needs to know what he's doing. He needs to know the Bible. He needs to know who Zephaniah is.
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He needs to know who Malachi is. He needs to know who Jeremiah is and where he prophesied in relationship to the exile.
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He needs to know this stuff. Let's say you find out that you suddenly need very serious heart surgery, a quadruple bypass, and you go to the hospital and you meet your surgeon, and you say, so where did you go to school to become a doctor?
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And his response is, I didn't go to school. I just felt called to do heart surgery. I just let the spirit lead.
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How would you feel about that? Much more so, men who teach in Christ's church as elders, they have to know the
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Bible well. They need to be seasoned veterans. They need to know our doctrinal standards. They need to know the doctrines of Scripture.
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They need to know how to defend the gospel against its detractors. They need to know the sound truths of the word of God.
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They need to be established in the gospel. And thirdly, what he must be, he must manage his family well.
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Look at verses four and five. Real convicting stuff. One who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence, for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?
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Godly family life is an absolute prerequisite for being a leader in a local church family. It's a necessary prerequisite.
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And notice the reasoning of verse five, you see it? If a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?
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Can't take care of a smaller family, how's he gonna help rule over a much bigger family? And therefore, inquiries must be made into a man's marriage and relationship with his children before he runs for and is elected as an elder.
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Okay, fourthly, finally this morning, in your outline there, what his testimony must be among outsiders.
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Verse seven, moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside.
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What does that mean, those who are outside? That means unbelievers. The non -Christians outside of the church, that's what outside is referring to.
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Outside of your walls, they need to think well of him, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
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And John Calvin's comments on this verse are excellent. Listen to this, quote, this appears to be very difficult, that a religious man should have as witnesses of his integrity, infidels themselves, who are furiously mad to tell lies against us.
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But the apostle means that so far as relates to external behavior, even unbelievers themselves shall be constrained to acknowledge him to be a good man, for although they groundlessly slander all the children of God, yet they cannot pronounce him to be a wicked man who leads a good and inoffensive life amongst them, end quote.
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Calvin, right on. What's being sought out by the Lord here is actually very simple, consistency of character.
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He is the same man out there in the world among the infidels, as he is inside his own house, as he is inside the church.
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He's the same everywhere. He doesn't wear a mask here and put on something else other places. Everyone knows how to play the part of a
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Christian in certain contexts, but true godliness will exhibit itself everywhere in a man's life. He's the same man in his workplace, as he is at home, as he is in church.
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A Christian apologist once told the story of giving a series of lectures at a secular university.
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And an anti -Christian philosopher at that school was asked by one of his Christian students, what did you think of so and so's presentations?
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And his next two sentences, the unbelieving philosopher's sentences were very convicting. He said,
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I thought that they were very persuasive. I wonder what he's like in his private life. They wonder.
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Those outside, we have to have a good reputation among them. We have to have a good reputation among those who are outside.
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Anyone can look and play the part if they've been around the church for a while. But what's he really like? There needs to be some knowledge of this before a man is nominated to be an elder.
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And so we've looked this morning, does it matter how we govern our churches? Yes, it certainly does. We need to try to be faithful to scripture in terms of the offices that we believe exist and also the way in which they're selected and the way that it functions in the local church.
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We've seen what a bishop is. A bishop is an elder. An elder is a shepherd. A shepherd is an overseer.
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Those terms are all interchangeable in the New Testament. And we've seen at a high level three basic things that every elder has to be.
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He has to be a long term example of godliness. He cannot be a new convert or a novice. Secondly, he has to be able to teach.
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If you've not heard someone open the scriptures and teach, you can't nominate them to be an elder because you don't know if he has that ability or not.
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You need to have heard them teach. That's one reason that the elders of the church are always recruiting guys and twisting people's arms.
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We want to hear you teach, okay? It's because we'd like to hear if you can do it. We want to hear you teach.
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We want to know who's got those abilities. It's good for the congregation to see who has those abilities. And thirdly, he's got to manage his family well.
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He's got to be good at loving his wife. He's got to be good at discipling his family, his children. And then we also saw he's got to have a good testimony among unbelievers outside the church.
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He can't be known as a thief or lazy outside the church, outside the walls of the church. So this evening, we're going to walk through in detail each of the attributes in the list there in 1
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Timothy 3 and look at the high standard that God has for all who would shepherd his blood purchased sheep.
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So I hope to see you all back here this evening at six. Let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a
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God of order, that you have put an order in your church, that you have taught us how to govern it.
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It's really an amazing thing to consider, that you entrust your most prized possession, the only thing ever purchased with the blood of Jesus, your sheep.
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You entrust them to fallible men that are fallen. But Lord, it's our sincerest desire, those of us who are elders, those of us who are deacons, we really do want to serve and glorify your name in our service to those sheep that you've purchased.
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And we pray that you would raise up from in our midst godly men who would desire the office of overseer, of bishop, of presbyter, of elder, that they would meet those qualifications and that it would be very serious business to them to undertake the duties of that office with the utmost care and with a sense of the high honor of that calling.
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What a privilege it is to serve as an officer. And yet, it's also a fearful thing, because your sheep are so very valuable to you.
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So we pray, Lord, for our church and for all the churches in our presbytery that are without ministers right now, and for every church in the world.
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Lord, we know that only Jesus can give godly men to his people. Ephesians 411 teaches us that.
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It is the ascended Christ that gives these men to the church. So Lord, we would ask that you would gift us with godly men to be elders in our church.
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We pray in Jesus' wonderful name. Amen. This is
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Pastor Patrick Hines of Bridwell Heights Presbyterian Church, located at 108 Bridwell Heights Road in Kingsport, Tennessee.
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And you've been listening to the Protestant Witness podcast. Please feel free to join us for worship any Sunday morning at 11
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AM sharp, where we open the word of God together, sing his praises, and rejoice in the gospel of our risen
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Lord. You can find us on the web at www .bridwellheightspca .org.
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And may the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.