Limits and Spirit of Authority

Driving home: Much evil has been done, much good prevented by church officers assuming a power and authority that do not belong to them, to the one Lord, and encroaching on the liberties which every Christian possesses in unalienable …

Martin quotes John Brown's commentary on 1 Peter to highlight the historical dangers of both officers assuming undue power and members passively submitting to it, or members refusing legitimate authority, leading to 'much mischief' and 'much good prevented'.

Who have not been present for the series, we complete our study this morning on the biblical standard for church officers which we are determined to pursue by considering the nature, limits, and spirit of the authority connected with church officers. The nature, limits, and spirit of the authority connected with church. And I don't believe I can underscore the importance of this aspect of our study more forcefully than by reading the very perceptive words of John Brown

0:03 - 0:41 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Authority means basically the right to give commands, force obedience, take action, or make final decisions.

The chief priests and elders questioning Jesus' authority in Matthew 21:23 after he cleansed the temple is used as a biblical example of what 'authority' means and how it is challenged.

For example, in Matthew 21-23, after our Lord had done some rather radical things in the temple, casting out those who were sold and bought in the temple over through the tables of the money changers, drove out the people of the house of God, which should be a house of God, and then allowed the children to tease him in language that just oozed with messianic overtones, which came to him. Verse 23 of Matthew 21,

5:00 - 5:34 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Officer authority has a primary ground in the authority of Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture (Ephesians 2:20, Matthew 28:19-20, 1 Corinthians 14:37). A secondary ground exists…

Martin uses the example of a church policy regarding the transition time between Sunday school and corporate worship to illustrate a decision made based on 'Christian prudence' and 'light of nature' (secondary ground of authority), not explicit Scripture.

which scripture does not give us an explicit direction. It does tell us things are to be done decently and in order in any Christian congregation, but it does not tell us that when the Sunday school hour is over at 10.30, people should be asked to leave the auditorium and come back in at quarter till or ten till some of those housekeeping directives I gave you. What is that but an expression of those general principles of the word of God mingled with the observation of how society, how societies conduct their life and business in which there is no contradiction of any explicit statement in the...

15:41 - 16:23 Read in full sermon

Driving home: If your elders, teach any other doctrine, or inculcate any other duties than what Christ has left on record, obey them not. It is at your peril to resist them, for resisting them, you resist him that sent them.

Martin quotes Andrew Fuller's ordination sermon on Hebrews 13:17 to explain that submission is to Christ's will, not merely the elders' will, and that pastors are 'organs of the law' (Christ's law), not despots.

not allow things to be floated in the name of discretion. And on the other hand, there is to come up with a chapter and verse for every single decision that is made, with respect to the ordering of the circumstances concerning the worship and government, of the church. Andrew Fuller, the great Baptist theologian, speaking at the ordination of someone to the ministry, opened up Hebrews 13, 17, that familiar text,

19:24 - 20:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Know well the limits of the authority of your officers, that you will never allow this to be exceeded, and that you will not tolerate ignorant or gutless men who will not have the proper designated authority.

Examples of purchasing a car, choosing birth control, or schooling children are used to illustrate areas where officers have no right to bind a conscience beyond the explicit Word of Christ.

of God, in public and in private ministry to the people of God, are to speak with all authority. When it comes to what kind of car you are to buy, in what price bracket, what method of birth control you ought to use, if you believe that's part of your procreated stewardship, what framework should you employ in the schooling of your children, a private Christian school, home schooling? And all of those things, no office bearer has a right, in the name of Christ, and in the authority of Christ, to bind your conscience beyond the Word of Christ.

23:18 - 24:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Know well the limits of the authority of your officers, that you will never allow this to be exceeded, and that you will not tolerate ignorant or gutless men who will not have the proper designated authority.

Martin describes a scenario where a church member seeks counsel on buying a car, illustrating the difference between giving counsel (advice) and issuing a divine command, and how to help members discern this distinction.

Now, if you come seeking counsel, saying to one of your elders, I need some help, I want to make a God-honoring decision in purchasing a car, I've wrestled the thing through, my wife and I have talked, we've prayed. In other words, they aren't coming. They're coming to you to do their wrestling for them, as though they didn't have the Holy Spirit and didn't have the Scriptures. No, you've encouraged them to wrestle through, to know the development, as Hebrews 5 says, of having their senses exercised to discern good and evil.

24:05 - 24:40 Read in full sermon

The point: If anyone in this place tries to come at a congregational meeting and simply announce that so-and-so has been excommunicated... without any congregational involvement, you rise up on your hind legs and say, we will not a…

The character of Diotrephes, who 'casteth them out of the church' (3 John 9-10), is used as a negative example of a man usurping authority and a congregation allowing it, highlighting the danger of ignorance regarding the limits of pastoral authority.

not unilaterally excommunicate a church member. When power by men in the past who become modern day diatrophies. How in the world, that always puzzles me when I read that in 3 John. How in the world did this character get away with it? And somebody was allowing him to do it. Someone unto the church, John 9. But

32:48 - 33:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Exercise authority with a servant's heart, prepared to spend and be spent for the well-being of those over whom God has placed them.

Martin quotes John Owen's commentary on Matthew 20:25-28 to explain that Jesus forbade a 'lordly or despotical power' exercised by 'penal laws, courts, and coercive jurisdiction' (like Gentiles), but not spiritual authority exercised through humble application of God's Word for edification.

The spirit's position is to be radically different from that of the Gentiles. Listen to John Owen's perceptive comments on this passage. When our Savior forbade all rule unto his disciples after the manner of the Gentiles, who then possessed all sovereign power in the world and told them that it should not be so with them, that some should be great and exercise dominion over others, but that they should serve one another in love, the greatest condescension unto service being required of them who are otherwise most eminent,

39:15 - 39:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Exercise authority with a servant's heart, prepared to spend and be spent for the well-being of those over whom God has placed them.

The illustration of the unjust steward from Luke 16:1-2 is used to explain the concept of a 'steward' (economos) as someone entrusted with responsibility who will face a day of reckoning, applying this to elders.

For the bishop must be blameless as God's steward. Economos. What steward was a man that received a trust of money or of property to handle for the master with the knowledge that there would be a day of reckoning with what he did with that trust? That's what a steward was.

42:10 - 42:32 Read in full sermon

The point: Those in office must not only have a servant's heart but also a steward's conscience, recognizing their accountability to God.

Martin uses the analogy of combining a 'servant's heart' with a 'steward's conscience' to describe a balanced leader who is both tender and firm, a 'mystery to the world'.

You see, if you have merely the servant's heart but not a steward's conscience, you'll be pushed around by your people. If you only have a steward's conscience without a servant's heart, you'll be pushing your people around. But when you join a servant's heart to a steward's conscience, there you have a man that is a mystery to the world and to a lot of people in the church.

44:05 - 44:27 Read in full sermon

The point: Exercise authority with a shepherd's love, willing to lay down its life for the sheep.

The analogy of a true shepherd protecting his flock from wolves, willing to lay down his life, is used to illustrate the self-sacrificial love required of church officers.

Spirit with which that authority be exercised. A servant's heart, a steward's conscience, but then with a shepherd's love. And here in the interest of time, I can only commend to you John 10, 11 to 15 with our Lord Jesus is the great pattern of what a shepherd's love is. It's a love that gives itself to the sheep, lays down his life for the sheep.

45:33 - 46:00 Read in full sermon

The point: Lead from the posture of an exemplary life, making yourselves examples to the flock.

Martin quotes Robert Murray McShane's statement that 'a holy man is an awesome instrument in the hands of God' to emphasize the power of an exemplary life in preaching and applying God's Word, contrasting it with the desire of people for leaders to 'loosen up' to ease their own consciences.

And the God of peace shall be with you. You see, the greatest complaint any congregation has with a man who is scrupulously holy is, they'd be so much more comfortable when it comes to close application of the word to their own conscience if only they could find some glaring inconsistency in his life. Or if the parson may fiddle, may not the people dance. When you sense in your people any indications that they want you to just loosen up a bit, you know what they're saying?

48:51 - 49:24 Read in full sermon